Chapter 144 - Flight Under The Full Moon

Hotaru's POV:

How is this happening?

The growling noise I had been hearing outside had subsided as, at last, the rug was pulled out from under me.

I was becoming a fox girl.

No one said anything, up until now. And yet, it sounded like Ceres and the others must have known all along.

"Why did no one tell me sooner!?"

"Why? Because what would you have done if you had known? Simply stopped eating and drinking, to prevent the curse from taking hold? There's no escaping it, Hotaru-san—even the fish that live in the ocean around Saint's Vigil Island are known to inflict the curse on those who eat them. You would've been transformed regardless."

I couldn't argue with him there. Even if I had known, and thought to sail away, the Kitsuna only used small fishing canoes that wouldn't have taken me far, anyway.

"So, it really was hopeless from the start," I said, sighing, as I hid my face in my arms.

"We've observed it happening across many years," Ceres continued: "human sailors, whose ships had capsized and were then washed up on our shores. They would become one of us the more they ate our food and water."

"Just how old is this world anyway? And your village?" What she was saying almost sounded like an ancient tradition, but that couldn't be right!

"Old records state that the first group of settlers to arrive at Saint Vigil's Island were acolytes of a clandestine religious sect, fleeing from persecution they faced on the mainland for their radical views and inhumane experimentation."

"Experimentation…?" I felt a slight tugging on the top of my skull, and moved my hand to investigate—

Ears! I have Kitsuna ears now!

That "slight tugging" was because they were twitching with curiosity!

Ceres didn't seem to notice the terror in my face, though, as she plainly continued: "Indeed, the early settlers used their newfound privacy to freely engage in all kinds of experimentation involving; their greatest achievement being the discovery of a means through which they could artificially create an immortal race of beings, they referred to as 'Yokai:' through the act of impregnating wild foxes with spiritual energy, so that they may produce magically gifted hybrid offspring—"

"The Kitsuna," I murmured. "That means... you're all the product of that sick experimentation."

"Much of the chi they used for their experiments was made physically manifest, seeping into the water supply of this island—tainting it forever. It may perhaps never go away."

"What about the Inugami? They're Yokai as well…?"

"Correct. They bear a close relation to we Kitsuna: but feral; uncivilized, like wild animals. Physically stronger, and capable of casting chi magic, to a certain degree, although limited by their inability to grasp the complex control techniques."

"So...what do we do? Just wait here, until they find us?!"

"No. We're completely surrounded now…" —she grumbled—"thanks to that scream you made, earlier. Which means we'll have to fight our way out."

…

Ceres knew that the boy would be useless in a fight with the Inugami. As such, she would have to pull out all the stops if both of them were to survive.

Along the belt sash she wears around her waist, there is a row of pockets. And, within each of these pockets, there is an individual scroll of specially prepared mana-infused parchments, which she may use to further enhance the power of my spellcasts.

She takes one in each hand, letting them both unfurl toward the ground to reveal long strings of blue parchment inscribed with sets of mystical runes.

"They're written in the ancient language of the Kitsuna," Ceres explained, upon seeing Hotaru's eyes glaze over the peculiar markings. "Mana is stealed within these scrolls, which I may draw upon and combine with my chi, in order to attack a much larger area at once."

"So...like an AOE attack?" Hotaru asked, in wonderment.

"Eh…?" She stared at him strangely.

"N-never mind, heh" Hotaru then quickly said, wearing a new face of determination. "Is there anything I can do? Ceres-san, I promise..." he said, holding his clenched fist up with confidence. "I won't let my fear get the best of me again!"

Ceres looked him over, once, and gave a slight hint of a smile.

"You'll fight...even as you're shrinking?"

Hotaru gasped, clinging at his robes that now hung loosely off his body; whereas, just minutes before, they were the perfect fit. And also now stood at a height of less than half that of Ceres, although, just a while ago, they were seeing eye-to-eye.

"Ah! Oh crap! My manly muscles are all gone!" Hotaru squealed.

Ceres sneered, "what muscles, little girl?"

"H-hey! Don't you dare tease me!"

"But really, Hotaru-chan, do you intend to try to fight in a body that's even weaker than your previous one? I think it would be much safer if you just stayed here, and left all the fighting to me."

Hotaru shook her head. "No way! I'll never get any stronger unless I push myself!"

"These guys will eat you for breakfast…"

Hotaru was still adamant, though; bravely brandishing the small knife she'd given her, like it might as well have been a heroic knight's sword.

"Though, usually, most games have a new player start out fighting small enemies…like rats, or slimes...to build up experience points before facing something really dangerous. So, as a serious gamer, I have serious questions about my father and his team's design decisions, but that doesn't matter right now…

Right now, for starters, he needed to get a grasp of his new form's combat potential.

Ceres ran out into the forest, clutching both scrolls in her hands that flowed in her wake as she ran, while Hotaru could barely keep up with his shortened legs and constant need to catch his clothes as they were loosely falling off of him.

"You said they've surrounded us already," Hotaru said, already panting from exhaustion. "So how will we make it through, if we're outnumbered?"

"We may be outnumbered, but not outmaneuvered—just yet," Ceres answered, staying cool as a cucumber, with unbroken stamina as she kept up hwr rapid pace. "The Inugami are known to hunt in packs, and will generally try to corner their prey as a group before going in for the kill. Therefore, our best chance at escape is to break through their ranks before they've completely walled us in."

"What the—"Hotaru whined, "but that's the complete opposite of your original plan, for us to just wait it out in the tree!"

"I must apologize, sweet Hotaru-chan. I was hoping your powers might awaken at the last second, in the face of such dire odds. But unfortunately, you instead began to transform into a little girl…"

"Of course that didn't happen! This is real life—not some cheesy shonen Anime!"

"Hotaru-chan, I hope you'll survive the night; if only so that you'll tell me the meaning behind all these strange things you say. Because it's really gotten me curious."

Tch. Describing what Anime is to someone is probably harder than I would think.

However, more importantly—

"Quit calling me Hotaru-CHAN!" I ran up alongside her and yelled, breaking from our telepathic conversation. "Even if I look and sound like this, I won't put up with your teasing!"

"Look out! It's one of them…!"

Just as she warned Hotaru: a pale white, wolflike head with starved red eyes sprang from the darkness, jaws snapping, narrowly missing his face when he ducked beneath its incredibly extended neck.

"Ah!" Hotaru cried, falling backward as she panicked, slashing her knife out at the attacking Inugami's neck.

A spray of warm blood was loosed as the beast let out a howl of pain. Whereupon, glancing back, Hotaru saw Ceres was holding on to the head with her entire body—forcing its mouth shut, resisting its frantic struggle to free itself—as, at the same time, she was stabbing a knife into its skill, repeatedly, with a depraved, hollow look upon her beautiful face, now painted with splatters of deep red blood.

Within seconds, the Inugami was still—Ceres's gruesome duty complete—as she then let it drop to the ground.

"That's one," she said, promptly continuing to run as though the life she'd just taken was a mere pebble in the road. "No doubt, the others can already smell its blood and will arrive here shortly to investigate. Then, that way, they'll discover our own scents and follow them."

Hotaru, saying nothing, stared contemplatively at the bloodied edge of her dagger, with which she'd just retaliated against the Inugami…

…

Hotaru's POV:

I just…attacked something with this.

I...made them bleed, and felt the warm blood ooze between my fingers.

I'm not feeling triumphant, or particularly heroic. But nauseous, more than anything...like I could seriously puke right now.

At the very least, I can confirm this new body of mine has amazing reflexes.

"Listen with me, Hotaru," Ceres says, "you can hear their footfalla, just as I do; at least a dozen of them are headed to our position."

So, these big ears aren't just for show!