Not Even A Fight

Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo

The lessons were already finished today, Tamamo and I were in the class because we had been assigned the cleaning task today, when we finished we were going to go to the club room too, I think we were wasting our time because we still had nothing to do, I was even thinking of watching a movie instead. But our plans changed enormously from one moment to another, because while I was sweeping I saw how in a matter of minutes the sun went down quickly and it became night, I barely had time to get to the light switch to turn it on, I did not know what had happened but it was clear that it had been magic. I went to Tamamo to try to get at least some information because she would be the only one who could know something for now, but she was still standing without moving in the slightest, she also saw the window, in her face, I could see that she was agitated, worried, almost about to cry from what she was seeing with her eyes, a very strange behavior coming from the usually cheerful Tamamo.

"Hey, are you okay?"
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Is it serious?"

She turned her face to hear me, but she didn't seem to look me straight in the eyes

"It seems that I have been found again"
"It's them again, they're after me"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think they would still be looking for me after all this time"
"This is all my fault"
"I didn't mean to involve you and your family"

"????"
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Someone is chasing you?"
"Who is it?"

"It's the hunters!"
"They have just erected a barrier to lock us in"
"They're not going to stop until they lock me in again"
"They're going to do the same thing they did last time"
"They've come to hunt us down, What are you going to do?"

In the reflection of her eyes, I could see how a pair of red lights lit up nearby, they were my eyes too, I could feel how I was pouring my blood, I was even smiling unconsciously thinking how he would destroy the idiots who did not think of the consequences of having me as an enemy. But then analyzing the last thing the girl in front of me mentioned I could understand that she was what she wanted to hear as my answer.

"As if I would let my wife be attacked by some idiots"
"Just relax, I'll protect you no matter what"
"Let me take care of everything"

Tamamo stopped acting as if she was afraid and took again a very formal pose, in an explosion of smoke she changed her clothes for her traditional Goddess kimono, the one that was supposed to be used only for important acts but that was also the one she used the most, her hair was shining with the same intensity of the sun as when we met for the first time, her now calm eyes showed the beautiful blue that I had fallen in love with. She raised her right hand and put it on her cheek, partially covering her face with the sleeves of her fine clothes, she pretended to be looking in another direction, but at the same time every two seconds, she moved them to look at me.

"I know you're not good at choosing what words to say, but you could have tried to say it in a more theatrical way as if we're in a tragic drama period novel"
"...."
"But don't worry, you still got it right"
"You're exactly the person I've ever dreamed of falling in love with"
"Hell, I can't believe it took me a thousand years inside a rock to hear that"
"How foolish I was in the past to think that idiot was the right one"
"I'm so ashamed of myself"  Said the goddess returning to her usual cheerful tone.

"You got what you wanted, can we stop playing now?"
"How many are there?"

"Just a shinto miko hunter"
"She doesn't look very good, the barrier is weak, but I think she's doing it on purpose to conserve energy for the battle"
"Nor does she seem to be more dangerous than a petty thief"
"..."
"I really don't understand her idea, facing a Goddess head-on and alone."
"It's as if she's trying to commit suicide"

"Maybe a scout, measure the opponent's strength and report back to the main force"
"...."
"What about the school? Are there more students?"
"Are they willing to take collateral casualties?"

"No, the barrier has been created to separate spiritual beings or selected people and put them in a "pocket dimension" where the damage to this world will not pass into the real world"
"It's like that superhero movie, the weird stuff that Doctor Stange did, but without the whole world becoming a puzzle"
"If you give me a minute I can look to see if there are more normal people"

"Of course, go ahead"

Tamamo gradually became more and more transparent, until it reached the point where she completely disappeared from my sight. It was that power of hers to see people like the true goddess she was, the same power that had fallen into disuse, since our daughters could use hacking video cameras, monitor them all at the same time and show them on some nearby screen for the rest of us to see, making the latter much more useful than her mother's power. I for my part took out my pistol and replaced the empty magazine with one with bullets, preparing myself just in case. The fox girl reappeared in the same manner in which she left only a moment later, keeping her word.

"Do you remember Asuka?"
"The girl who joined the club the week we weren't here?"

"Maria's friend?"

"Yes, the same one."
"As it turns out, you were right, she was the hunter."
"..."
"And speaking of Maria, she's here too"

"!!!"
"Really? Where!"

"Next to Asuka"
"She has her tied up near her, on the soccer field"
"I think she wants to use her as a hostage"

"You know, I really don't know what to say in this case, I've killed people for a lot less"
"A couple of weeks ago I wiped out the mermaid race because I didn't like them"
"But if she insists"

"I don't think your sister is in danger, it is easy to see what the intention is"
"I'm sure Asuka is taking her as protection, she knows that we don't want to hurt her"
"Haru is here too, right now he is in the club room using the computer"
"She thinks she doesn't have internet because she got disconnected"
"Asuka is looking for her too before fighting with us"

"Okay"
"Looks like an easy job, it shouldn't take us long"
"You go and protect Maria, I'll distract Asuka by attacking her directly".

"All right"
"See you later, take care"

"Don't worry about it"
"Let me take care of everything"
"You just sit back and enjoy"

We both left the classroom at the same time, but each went in a different direction. I don't know what plan Asuka had in mind, but she was an idiot in every way, I was thinking of stopping her before someone really got hurt because of her stupidity.

---

Two girls were walking down one of the corridors of the dark school, one of them was walking nervously watching her surroundings for any sign of danger, and the other was following her closely, more out of obligation than desire, but despite the tense situation in which the first one thought she was, this one was much more critical of the situation, not to say that she was talking non-stop.

"This is largely my fault for not seeing it coming"
"It was obvious that this had to do with Elise"
"I don't know why I thought you'd be a normal person too" Maria kept saying over and over again.

"Be silent!"
"Can't you see that I'm saving you"
"Those girls you know are not human!"

"Which one?"
"You need to be more specific, do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"
"There are more!? How many!?"

"Oops, I messed up, didn't I?"
"I didn't say anything, I don't know what you are talking about"

"Damn girl"
"You're under their control too no, you're under their spell too"
"You don't even know what I'm talking about"

"I don't think so"
"Elise would be very upset if that happens"

"Talking to you is a waste of time"

"Wow, that's strange"
"My brother often tells me the same thing, have you talked to him too?"

Asuka realized that Maria was just playing her for a fool, she was just distracting her from what was going on. It was surely a trick that Tamamo-No-Mae had put on her, just as it had been with the teacher, a way to buy time while she put her real plan into action. Feeling the need to hurry as well, Asuka hurried her pace to get to the club room as soon as possible, where upon arrival she found the person she was looking for, Haru, who was sleeping on several pillows. Asuka quickly took out a pair of handcuffs and put them on her, then lifted her from her place, waking her up. Asuka was in such a hurry to complete her plan that she did not see the many holes she had, for example, Maria saw a little brooch that Haru had on her shirt, near her neck, a golden brooch in the shape of a fox running, a very important gift that his brother had ordered for her wife, a wedding gift one could say, the same one that had a very important meaning, so much so that when Maria saw it she smiled to see and know immediately that Cesar had already won, how Asuka had lost in such a simple and foolish way.

Asuka thought about returning to the soccer field to have her battle in a favorable way because the foxes were cunning and preferred to fight in favorable situations for them. But as she continued walking down the dark corridor she saw out of the corner of her eye how in an open door a devilish grin was waiting for her in the middle of the pitch black.

*Clang*

Two swords met in the middle of the night, the blow of both illuminated for a second the darkness, revealing the white girl over the hunter trying to hit her. Asuka parried the attack of her rival using her katana skillfully, she thought she had managed to thwart the plans of her enemy by rejecting the surprise attack, but when she saw better she was furious, seeing that her rival was mocking her because what the white fox had was not a weapon, but only the metal stick of a broom. The blow had been thrown specifically to create the great backing of sparks, for the stick broke in two right afterward. But this did not stop the real monster, for she herself, still with a smiling face, quickly returned to the darkness where she disappeared as quickly and chillingly as she had arrived. Asuka immediately cast a talisman that created a flame that illuminated the place, however, there was no trace of where she was supposed to be.

During the small encounter, Maria saw how her brother's face lacked her characteristic crimson eyes that appeared whenever there was trouble, but her usual color lacking blue eyes. With this she quickly realized that Elise did not see the current situation as a threat, but that she was simply playing with her victim, just making fun of how seriously Asuka was taking the whole thing. Maria held back her laughter as a sign of respect for her friend.

"Tch, I lost sight of her"
"How the hell did she do that, where did she go?"

"What is going on"
"Why are you guys fighting?"
"We need to get out of here and see what's going on" asked Haru, who was still tied up.

"This has nothing to do with you"
"This is a dispute between my family and the demons."
"Especially that Kitsune named Tamamo-No-Mae and her white daughter."
"I have to stop them before it's too late!"

"I think you are confusing the relationship between the two of them" Maria said.

"There is no other way"
"If she doesn't want to come out and fight head-on, I'm going to make her do it!"

Asuka took Maria by the hand and put her in front of her, threatening her with her drawn katana. 

A sound came from near another classroom, one just in the opposite direction to the one Asuka was looking at, a chair had moved, a mistake on the part of her rival just gave away her position. She took the advantage presented before her, took the initiative, and went straight to the source of the sound, quickly opened the door, a blow came at her with rapid speed, it had hit her hard. 

"Come on, that was pathetic"
"Didn't you realize how easy it is to fake a mistake so that you'd come right where I wanted you to?"
"You're fighting a fox, remember"
"You have to be much smarter, you can't fall into silly tricks like that" Elise said mocking the girl.

"You are underestimating me!"

"On the contrary, I overestimated you, I genuinely didn't think you would fall for that."
"I will try to be more careful with you now"

"Damned bitch"

Asuka took several talismans from her pockets, she was thinking of making the girl in front of her pay for what she had just said. Within a second she unleashed a terrible flurry of different spells one after the other, a fireball followed by a flash of lightning, then an ice stake or a cutting wind. It was one of the cards Asuka had reserved for the evil Goddess, but seeing that the assistant was quite troublesome she didn't hesitate to launch such a strong attack.

But none of them hit their target, because the little girl had protected herself behind a giant sword, the same one that just a second before was not there, one so big that it seemed impossible that she would have been able to move it at all. As payment for her attack, Elise charged with the sword from her place towards the source of the spells, and just before hitting the girl, she lunged to the side and hit her with two metal sticks, the remains of the broom that had been broken earlier, further angering Asuka at how underestimated she was being without stopping. But when she recovered ready to put up a fight with her katana, the white girl ran off into the darkness again and was just as easily lost from sight as before.

"Stop doing that! It's stupid!"
"Stop being a coward and fight head-on!"
"Like a man!"

"I think it's silly to expect a kitsune to fight head-on" Haru said rather cleverly for her.

"Well, I think you're right about that"
"It's a mistake on my part to expect a fair fight from such vile creatures"

"Can I ask you a quick question?"
"Why are you fighting them?"
"They look pretty innocent if you ask me" Haru continues to point out.

"They are not innocent at all!"
"A Matai hunter has already died a couple of days ago"
"Besides, we are talking about Tamamo-No-Mae, a Goddess so cruel that she almost destroyed the country once for pleasure and she will do it again in her revenge"
"Urakaze, an ancestor of mine died trying to hunt her, she managed to hurt her enough for others to finish the job"
"And today I plan to honor her by doing the same"

"So, you don't plan to return home alive?"

Asuka did not answer this time, partly because it was true, partly because she was concentrating again on trying to figure out what her enemy's next move would be. She had already attacked twice by surprise, it was clear that she would do it a third time. She found her chance when she noticed the huge white tail at the end of the dark corridor, now she knew where it would be approaching. She cast a special spell against the ground, after it hit the ground it disappeared in a strange way, it was a trap, then she cast another one to make the fox come out of its hiding place, an electric lightning bolt due to its speed. The same did not hit directly because by bad luck his friend moved at the last moment. But seeing that her plan had failed, the kitsune came out of her hiding place and ran to her enemy in a straight line, passing through the same place that had been predicted, stepping into the trap.

A huge flame engulfed the creature, one so fast that she did not have time to protect herself, a fire so large that it covered the corridor, a heat so intense that the nearby glass broke, metal began to melt, a flame so powerful that it was no longer its usual red hue, but blue. No scream of pain was heard, instead, a step was heard, followed by another one, little by little it was seen how the white girl came out completely unharmed from the fire that was wreaking havoc right behind her as if it were an action movie.

"How the hell did he do that!"
"The fire is too intense!"
"Why aren't you full of wounds!? You can't be!" Said a shocked Asuka at what she was witnessing.

"Why should I be afraid of my wife's fire?"
"I have full confidence that she would not harm me in any way"

"You what!?"
"Do you really have that kind of relationship with her?"

"!!!!"
"I am not her daughter!"

Elise responded quickly as she realized what she really meant, so angry that she saw her eyes change color to red for a moment before returning to their usual pale blue. This scared Asuka, who thought she had run out of a way out, completely breaking with her plan, she now only sought the survival she was supposed to have left behind. She charged her magic to make a big attack that would allow him to escape from the place, but because of how desperate she was in combination with how rushed she was, the magic quickly got out of control. It was about to hit Maria who was the closest one.

But there was no fear on Maria's face, she simply slid behind Haru, who was hit from the front, but nothing happened, because her hands avoided any damage. Asuka was so unprepared for what she had just witnessed that she didn't see how Haru quickly approached her and electrocuted her enough to paralyze her. An explosion of smoke filled the place, the place where Haru was just a moment ago was now covered by another girl, revealing that Tamamo had been standing next to her the whole time. 

"You know, this is really your fault"
"You really should have seen this coming from the moment you saw the stats I revealed to you"
"How did you plan to fight a Goddess who is an expert at shapeshifting and acting and not use it to her advantage?" Said Tamamo, also mocking the girl.

Asuka finally understood how she had lost the battle from the beginning, how Maria was never nervous at any time despite being a threat, or how she herself never suspected the lack of the other fox girl, and with them, she also understood the most important part, she herself never thought clearly about the situation in which she found herself because the white girl was in charge of bothering her and making her angry constantly, blinding her of the obvious, that she was surrounded by her enemies at all times. Her fault for expecting a fair and heroic battle.

"Where is Haru by the way?" Elise asked

"Oh her?"
"She's outside the barrier in the club room"
"I sent her there before she realized what was going on and pretended to be her"

"Why did you do this Asuka?"
"I thought you were my friend!"
"Why did you attack my family!" asked Maria angrily.

"What do you mean, why?"
"It's my job!"
"They are demons, they are not human!"
"Don't you see"

"Of course I know!"
"I live with them!"
"What I don't understand is why you attacked!"
"They haven't done anything!"
"They just want to live in peace!"

"They only want to have you by their side because your mother is a dangerous diplomat!"
"They just want to use your mother's power to their advantage!"
"They are using you!"

"This is not true!"
"In any case, it would be the other way around in reality"

"You know, speaking of being used"
"Is that the same thing that happened to you?"
"They sent you on a suicide mission to see what would happen?"
"Who are your superiors?" Elise interrupted the conversation between friends.

"Nobody! I work alone!"

"The katana is blessed by a lower god, it was created to defeat yokai in mind"
"The clothing is from a follower of Abe no Seimei"
"The talismans have the magic power of at least 3 different people"
"The magnifying glass you used before was western"
"This is not the work of one person, you have received help" said Tamamo, quickly and intelligently analyzing the equipment.

A phone started ringing quite loudly, it was Asuka's phone.

"Ha, actually you were right!"
"I have more partners, the whole Urakaze clan is after you!"
"Right now there is an elite group on its way to battle"

Elise took it out and answered the call and put it in a loud voice.

"I think I regret to inform you that the reinforcements that Miss Asuka is talking about will not be able to arrive"
"Right now they are quite busy in a very important trial for them" Said a girl on the other end of the phone.

"Stella!"
"I'm glad to hear that for the first time you are doing your job!"
"See, it's not that hard!"

"This call was to tell Miss Asuka that right now she is going to be out of work for a while"
"In fact right now I have another person next to me who wanted to talk to her, so if you will excuse me"

"Hello? Asuka?"
"How are you? I doubt you know me, but let me introduce myself anyway, my name is Urakaze, I think you've heard it somewhere before"
"I just wanted to inform you that I can tell the main branch that if they keep playing like children pretending to be adults I'll go out and hunt them down myself"
"Elise and Tamamo are pretty important friends of mine, they even had a big party at my place and I would like to stay on good terms with them and their family"
"Especially after I managed to get my papers back after losing them"
"But that is a story I will tell you hopefully in a long time"
"Unfortunately some of your relatives are with me right now because they were planning to misbehave so badly and had to leave early"
"Well, I think that's all so far"
"If you want you can ask her the truth of this message with the code: Ryokan Oriente 6 20% off Urakaze debt free"
"...."
"And by the way now that I remember, don't believe everything you hear about me either ok, you know I didn't have children, I died quite young so some people took advantage and took my name to gain status and fame." said before the phone turned itself off.

" Hey brother, what I am hearing is...?"

"A message from the afterlife?"
"Yes"

Asuka was completely terrified by what she was hearing, her whole world had just turned more upside down than an analog clock. Although she didn't believe it, someone claiming to be the real Urakaze had called her to talk to her, and although she didn't really know until she asked if the code was valid, she was afraid of the implications of all the revelations she had just received in such a short period of time. She saw with different eyes what she considered her enemy before, now she saw them as a hero to follow, she looked for a way to ask for forgiveness for what she had done, but she only received it because Maria insisted on being forgiven. Elise accepted the apology, but in return, Asuka would now have to inform her about the movements in the demon hunter's world.