Jin’s POV
   Naturally, evil Fox Lady starts struggling in order to break free of Yamauchi’s hug.

   “What the-! Let go of me!” she demands.

   “I refuse.”

   “I’ll burn you with my fireballs!”

   “You can try.”

   “I’ll make my shadow soldiers stab you with their weapons! You’ll die within seconds!”

   Speaking of which, Jin looks around. Al the shadow soldiers have stopped moving. It would seem that they cannot move without being controlled by evil Fox Lady.

   “You may turn me to ash, or have me stabbed until I become a beehive. Even so, I will not let go of you until you are willing to listen to what I have to say.” Yamauchi says calmly.

   Evil Fox Lady uses her hands to close her ears.

   “I’m not going to listen to you, you hear me? No way-”

   “I am truly sorry.” the head onmyoji interrupts.

   “...What?”

   So she can still hear even though both her ears are blocked. Her hearing is better than Jin expected.

   “For not being there for you. For leaving you all alone here. For making you shoulder your hatred all alone. For all these sins, I felt that I have to apologize to you.” Yamauchi continues.

   “It’s way too late for an apology!” evil Fox Lady screeches.

   “I realize that. Still, I think it’s appropriate to begin our talk with one.”

   “Do you think that after all these times, a talk is all that’s required to change my mind?” evil Fox Lady asks angrily.

   The shadow soldiers have started moving again. Jin braces himself just in case things get ugly again. That is, until Yamauchi looks at him and shakes her head.

   “Please have faith in me.” as if she’s trying to tell him.

   Jin sighs and resists the urge to attack evil Fox Lady. If this went badly, he’s so going to blame Yamauchi for it.

   “Now, now. You should let it all out since you were given the opportunity.” Yamauchi coaxes.

   At first, it was as if evil Fox Lady isn’t going to say anything. And then-

   “I was all alone.”

   “Yes.”

   “My head were overloaded with the thought of wiping out the humans every single day. For centuries. It was so intense.”

   “I see.”

   “At first, I thought you would support and help me after we got separated from each other. But no, you chose the humans over me, your literal other half.”

   “You have my sincerest apologies for that.”

   “Don’t say things that you don’t mean!”

   She still sounds angry, but Jin could tell that her anger is lessening bit by bit.

   Yamauchi puts her hand on evil Fox Lady’s head and starts stroking it gently.

   “I am sorry. I truly am. I should have done this sooner. I should not have abandoned you like I did. It is all right now. You are not alone anymore.” she comforts in a soothing voice.

   “Shut up! I hate you!”

   Jin could hear her voice cracking. Maybe a few more push would do it.

   “If you feel depressed and sad, you can let out your emotions by crying your heart out. I am not saying that crying will solve the problems, but at least you would feel better.”

   “Me, crying in front of you, of all people? Never!” came the adamant reply.

   “There, there. There is nothing embarrassing about crying. Just let it all out.” Yamauchi coaxes again.

   First, a sniffle. Tears start flowing. And then-

   “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!!!”

   The shadow soldiers around them have vanished into thin air without making a single sound. Looks like it’s over. For now.

   Evil Fox Lady cried for quite a while. By the time she’s done, she looks much more at peace. Yamauchi finally let goes of her.

   “Would you like to have some inari sushi?” she asks.

   Evil Fox Lady wags her tails again. This time, she didn’t bother to stop her tails, nor is she making up excuses for her behaviour. All she did was nod her head once shyly. Yamauchi turns her head and looks at the former battlefield.

   “Can someone bring us some inari sushi?” she requests loudly.

   “I shall bring some at once, Shuzo-sama!” Jin hears Ayumi says.

   “My thanks to you, young Ayumi! Now then-”

   Yamauchi faces evil Fox Lady. As opposed to her kind expression just now, her face has become all business-like.

   “Is it possible for us to have a proper talk now?”

   “...Fine.” evil Fox Lady agrees grudgingly. “But I want to have some inari sushi first.”

   “Agreed. Nothing gets started before a bite of one of those heavenly food.”

   Jin rolls his eyes. Foxes and their bean curd skin.

   Soon, Ayumi arrives with a huge plate of inari sushi. Jin did a quick count. There are at least forty of them. Both Tamamo no Mae are drooling openly at the sight of their favorite food.

   “Where did all these came from?” he couldn’t help but ask.

   “Marika-san prepared them in advance.” Ayumi replies.

   “How thoughtful of her…”

   “Now then, shall we dig in?” Yamauchi asks evil Fox Lady while doing her best to remain calm.

   “Yes. Let’s.”

   Evil Fox Lady picks one up nervously with her hand. She didn’t eat it straight away, though. Instead, she stares at it for a few seconds like she’s staring at some kind of foreign object that she has never seen before. She opens her mouth and puts it in. She chews it a few times. She then shows an expression of absolute bliss.

   “If there is heaven, I think that it would be filled with inari sushi…” she moans.

   “Indeed. I would really love to thank whoever that came up with the recipe.” Yamauchi agrees.

    Jin shudders at the mere thought of being surrounded by inari sushi all day, everyday. Heavens, no. That would be plain hellish.

   “It has been so long since I ate one of these. Way too long.”

   “Well, there is no need to hold back. There are plenty more.”

   “You bet your fur that I won’t!”

   It only took them mere two minutes to devour the entire place of inari sushi meant for at least four people. By the end of it, both of them look extremely satisfied.

   “Now that was a wonderful feat.” Yamauchi says while patting her belly.

   “No kidding. I could eat inari sushi for the rest of my life without ever getting bored.” evil Fox Lady agrees.

   “I’m glad that the two of you enjoyed yourselves.” Jin says to them drily. “Can we get this back on track already?”

   “Of course. This has been delayed long enough, after all.”

   Yamauchi clears her throat and puts on a serious expression.

   “Now, let us begin.”

   Evil Fox Lady clears her throat too.

   “Alright.”

   “Before you do, do you have a name? Or are we supposed to continue with calling you Tamamo no Mae?” Jin interrupts.

   “I have chosen the name of Shiranui Tama.”

   An appropriate thought appears in Jin’s mind at once. He banished the said thought immediately.

   “Tama is the name for a cat.” Shuten Douji points out.

   Jin does a facepalm. And here he was, trying to read the atmosphere for once.

   Shinarui glares at the oni.

   “The Tama is meant to be written as “soul”.” she explains coldly.

   “Ah, we’re talking about that Tama here. It’s a rather poor choice, if you ask me.”

   “I don’t want to hear that from an oversized ape who wears bearskin!”

   “Seriously, why do all of you love to pick on that so much? I-”

   “Anyway, I would like to talk to you about the future of mankind and youkais, Tama-dono.” Yamauchi continues smoothly.

   Shiranui looks away.

   “Now that I think about it calmly, there is nothing to talk about at all. I’m going to destroy the humans. End of story.”

   “We have been at each other’s throats for centuries. Do you not feel tired of it?” Yamauchi asks her patiently.

   Shiranui grits her teeth.

   “I will fight you until the end of time if it would mean me becoming the complete Tamamo no Mae again!”

   “Come now, that is some unhealthy obsession.”

   She pauses.

   “Besides, I have already won this fight.”

   “...What?”

   “Is that not apparent? You are being surrounded by your enemies, are you not?”

   Shiranui looks around in surprise.

   “Where did all my shadow soldiers go?” she demands.

   “All of them disappeared when you started to bawl your eyes out.” Jin informs her.

   She inhales sharply.

   “I did not bawl my eyes out!” she denies.

   “Uh-huh. Don’t bother. All of us saw it.”

   “We totally did.” Shuten Douji agrees.

   Shiranui covers her face with both her hands.

   “I want to dig a hole and crawl into it…” she mumbles.

   “Don’t worry too much about it. Everyone has one of these moments.” Jin comforts. “So does Yamauchi, in fact.”

   Shiranui puts away her hands.

   “That reminds me. You mentioned something about her ordering a crazy amount of inari sushi when we were fighting. What was that all about?”

   “Ah, that. The thing is-”

   “There is no need to bring that up right now!” Yamauchi interrupts loudly. “Let us just- arrgh!”

   Her too, was interrupted as Shiranui pushes away her face with her hand.

   “It must be a big deal if she’s this flustered! Come on, tell me!” she demands excitedly.

   Jin does so. Shiranui couldn’t stop laughing once he was done.

   “Seriously? 50,000 of them? Even I’m not that crazy about inari sushi!” she wheezes.

   To be honest, Jin completely doubts the validity of that statement. After all, both of them share mostly the same thought process. Still, he chose to keep his opinion to himself.

   “Why did you have to went and tell her, Minase-dono? Now my image is ruined!” Yamauchi says to Jin while on the verge of tears.

   Jin tilts his head in confusion.

   “Did you even have any in the first place?”

   “You are such a bully, Minase-dono!”

   “I would really appreciate it if you could refrain yourself from picking on Shuzo-sama, Minase-kun.” Ayumi whispers to him.

   “Oh come on, picking on someone is a good way to build up character.”

   Shiranui wipes away a tear from her eyes.

   “Oh, that sure was funny. I haven’t laugh this hard in ages. Like, literally.”

   Yamauchi smiles at her.

   “You see? Being around others isn’t as bad as you thought, is it?”

   That made Shiranui gasp. She then puts up a reluctant expression.

   “...I guess so.” she admits grudgingly.

   Yamauchi touches her own neck with her hands.

   “It might not be as bad as yours, but I still get nightmares every once in a while as well.”

   Shiranui looks sympathetic. That’s probably a pain she understands all too well.

   “How do you cope with it?” she asks.

   “I try to enjoy life. Having conversations with others, eating my favorite food, that sort of things.”

   Yamauchi takes Shiranui’s hands.

   “You do not have to shoulder your burden alone. I will always be here for you. Even if you do not want my companionship, at least find someone. I beg of you.” she pleads. “It is truly painful to see you being miserable like this.”

   Shiranui lowers her head. It took her a while to raise it up again.

   “Is it really okay to trust you?” she asks.

   “Of course. I will never betray you. That I swear from the bottom of my heart.”

   Shiranui looks doubtful at first. But then, she shakes her head and looks at Yamauchi straight in the eye.

   “...Very well. I shall trust you.” she whispers.

   Yamauchi smiles brightly at that.

   “Wonderful!”

   “Before that, I need to do something.” Shiranui says rather hesitantly.

   “What is it?”

   “I, um, well. I need to apologize to my subordinates.”

   She looks afraid. Jin suppose she can’t be blamed. She did exploit those youkais, and even said that she couldn’t care less about them. Most, if not all of them are definitely mad at her.

   “I shall go with you.” Yamauchi says without a single hesitation.

   “No, there’s no need for that. I have to do this alone.”

   “Remember what I said about not shouldering your burden alone?”

   Shiranui sighs.

   “Don’t blame me if they start to swarm you too.”

   “Worry not. I am sure that they will forgive you if you are sincere in your apology.”

   “Well, I’m glad that this is finally over.” Jin mumbles. “There’s still something much worse coming up tomorrow, though.”

   Namely, exams. That’s one of the things Jin can’t bulldoze through with brute strength.

   “Don’t remind me.”

   Jin looks towards his left. It was Estyshana who spoke. She’s standing next to him casually.

   “You ready for it?”

   “Are you kidding me? I have to study once I got back. Rather, Chifuyu isn’t going to let me sleep right away.”

   “You have my deepest condolences. Well, let’s try not to fail.”

   “Yup. Passing by a hair’s breadth is good enough for me.”

   “Come on, you two. You need to aim higher than that!” Ayumi chides the two of them.

   “Oh look, Von Mantus. The model student is giving us a lecture.”

   “Not everyone can secure a high rank like you, Ichihara.”

   “I’m not asking you to. Wouldn’t you feel an immerse joy when you worked hard and gained good achievement?”

   “Nope. Couldn’t care less.”

   “Ditto.”

   Ayumi sighs. “You two are hopeless.”

   “Whatever, let’s just head back. I’m sick and tired of this world.”

   “I need some sleep…”

   While bantering lightly, the three of them watch the two Tamamo no Maes walking towards the horde of youkais.

Bouchard’s POV
   “Humans transforming into monsters from negative emotions alone, reincarnation, splitting of souls, the existence of spirits. How intriguing. How very intriguing indeed…”

   Jacques was very skeptical when he had to come to Japan to begin his research, even if it’s the order from that person. However, the skepticism soon disappeared. This country is far more interesting than he thought.

   The creatures from Ifezan, the Hero Minase Jin who came back from that world, and now youkais-

   Wait a minute. He has a feeling that he’s forgetting something. Hmm…

   Oh, right. There was Monsieur Ryota.

   A shame, really. That boy had potential to be a top-class lab rat. Out of all the first batch, or the subsequent ones for that matter, he was the only one who could withstand the side effects that came with the mutation pill that Jacques made. Everyone else was either dead or driven insane.

   Oh, well. Jacques was already used to losing good guinea pigs. He could always find another. Or make one altogether. Now that he thinks about it, the second option is much more exciting, and certainly more fitting for a creator like him.

   Jacques looks at his watch. It’s time to check on the progress of the special specimens. He looks up from his watch and finds himself in an unfamiliar corridor.

   “Well, I’m in a predicament…” he mumbles.

   Most often than not, Jacques was so absorbed by his thoughts he ended up wandering to random places. All these corridors and corners look the same to him, so he could never tell the way to reach his destination. Fortunately for him, a male researcher happens to pass by.

   “Pardon me, monsieur.” he calls out.

   The particular researcher flinches before slowly turning around. Jacques looks downwards to read the tag hanging from his neck. This one’s name is Banba.

   “H-How may I serve you, Monsieur Bouchard?” Banba asks rather nervously.

   “I would like to head to Lab Z. Could you be so kind as to bring me there?” Jacques requests pleasantly.

   “Of-of course monsieur. R-Right this way.”

   It turns out that Lab Z was very near to, well, wherever they were. Still, Jacques could never find it without being shown the way. One of these days, he should have the corridors labeled so that he could find his way easily.

   “Thank you, Monsieur Banba. You may leave now.” he tells Banba.

   The young-looking researcher bows at him.

   “You are very much welcome sir! Now then, please excuse me!”

   And there he goes, leaving in a hurry. Goodness gracious, are all the younglings this impatient nowadays? Jacques vaguely saw Banba looking quite relieved. Oh, well. It might be just his imagination. More importantly, he should head inside.

   The entrance to Lab Z is secured by two steel doors that are several inches thick. Jacques was assured that not even shells fired from tanks could penetrate them. He would have to see whether the assurance holds true.

   Right next to the entrance is a scanning device used to scan a person’s entire body. He stands in front of it and waits patiently until the scan is over.

   “Jacques Bouchard, confirmed.” the installed monotonous computer voice announces. “Welcome, monsieur.”

   Right after the announcement, the doors open. Jacques passes through them without waiting for them to close.

   He had to endure three more agonizing scans before he’s inside the lab. Tedious, but necessary. The things inside this Lab Z is only for his eyes and his alone. No one else was ever let in here, and there would be no exceptions, period.

   The interior of the lab is the same size of two basketball courts. At the very end of the wall stood six glass tubes. All of them are the size of a family car and filled with transparent liquid. Submerged inside the liquid are men and women of different age and size. If Jacques can even call the first five that.

   One by one, he walks over to a electronic panel placed in front of each of the tubes. The readings shown on the first five tubes are not to his satisfaction. On the contrary, he is barely making any progress.

   “This might take a while…” he mumbles.

   And then he reached the sixth tube. Unlike the others, the readings of this one is far better. A week or two more, and the result would show. Jacques rubs his hands gleefully. The others he can take more time. This one, well, this one he has to awaken as quickly as possible so that he can obtain an assistant.

   He looks up and looks at the figure submerged inside the tube, the one and only which he could confidently declare is a human.

   “Soon, mon ami. Soon…” he whispers as if the person inside it could hear his voice.