Chapter 372 CH 357: TSUBASA AND INARI



After Medusa left the premise of the Hanekawa household in Los Angeles, Tsubasa stopped observing her leaving figure and trailed her gaze on her mother who was back to that alluring smiling expression of hers, as if the anger she had shown just before while facing Medusa was just a lie all along.

"I thought the two of you were friends."

"We are or we were friends once upon a time. I guess she felt betrayed by what I did to her."

Tsubasa shrugged and did not ask more questions regarding this matter. Simply adjusting the mask on the side of her face she informed her mother.

"I am taking the Fox Mask with me."

"You do know the risk of taking a divine weapon to the outside world, right? Once you leave, America, this mask is basically fair game for anyone. Even the American organizations that will be aiming for the mask might attack you to obtain it."

"I know and honestly, as long as a Zodiac doesn't attack us, I have full confidence in defending myself. So, you don't have to worry about it."

"...You already assimilated the power of the two spiders?"

"It was surprisingly easy for me... I guess they decided that submitting was the easiest way for them."

Inari looked at her daughter with clear doubt brimming in her eyes. However, after some time, she was forced to nod in acknowledgment of that statement.

"You are not lying indeed. You really did assimilate their powers."

She was slightly speechless at the speed at which she was able to accomplish the task. What Tsubasa had accomplished was by no means a normal everyday thing. The two spider spirits she had in her body were Evil Yokais of practically the highest order. They were extremely vicious and because of their innate evil nature, taming even one of them was hard as is.

Controlling the two of them simultaneously was impossible.

When Tsubasa initiated the ritual, Inari had expected her to fail or face rejection from the spirits inhabiting her body as they would fight for supremacy. But now...

"You really are a monster..."

"I will take that as you compliment my talents mother."

"You should and this is why I am all the more surprised. You stopped training for five years and even after resuming your training, you chose a spider yokai rather than sealing the kitsune spirits that we specialize in."

"It's rather simple really. All I wanted was to observe Adam and protect him from afar. The power of a gold rank was more than enough for the human we thought he was. This is why I sealed the Jorogumo in me. Now though, I need even more strength because he is growing fast. Way too fast. He will have much stronger enemies in the future and I will have to become ready for them."

Her eyes twinkled as he spoke of the boy, "As for why I did not choose a Kitsune spirit, it's because it cannot bring anything to the table he doesn't already have. I would be useless to him with simple illusion and fire magic."

"You truly are infatuated with that boy..."

'It will be alright. It will be alright. It will be alright. It will be alright—'

" —Tsubasa."

"Ah..."

Shaking off the useless thoughts that were gnawing at her head, Tsubasa went back to a more stable mindset.

"I am alright. I also need to take a bath."

Acting like all of this never happened, she simply started to walk away, leaving Inari behind, still sitting alone on her patio.

"Sigh~ I wonder if this is a curse we cannot escape from."

She knew that the mind of her daughter had always been unstable. Even from the time of her birth. This was something no heir of this family could ever hope to escape from.

This was the price they had to pay to become strong enough to control the spirits sealed inside of them.

In the far past, rather than a noble family, they were nothing more than weapons and sacrifices used for the greater good of people.

She had tried changing the way they trained, but there was no denying how efficient it was.

'If only you were here, dear.'

Ever since her husband died, she had been struggling with her own sanity and was slowly losing her sense of self day by day.

Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder who she really was. She could understand why Medusa was more and more reticent about interacting with her. She was not really the friend Medusa knew anymore, after all.

"I wonder if I should try to know more about the boy."

She shook her head and stood up finally.

Most of the information she had on him was clearly outdated and she did not want to enter the room of her youngest daughter.

Lifting her hand she shook a bell...

"Yes, milady!"

Immediately, three women clad entirely in dark-as-night clothes appeared behind her.

"Send a message to the Jukugo. I wish to talk to her." [1]

[1]: Jukugo means sacrificial victim or simply Sacrifice.