Inari, perhaps unsurprisingly, slept like a fox.

Not that she turned around three times before settling down to sleep… although now that he thought of it, Paul conceded that she had taken more than a usual amount of time to settle down, rearranging the bedding to her suiting, but she slept with the sort of compact wariness of a wild thing.

They’d started the night with a rolled up blanket between them.. which had been Inari’s idea. But by the time Paul awoke the next morning, after what was the first dreamless night’s sleep that he could recall.. he found Inari curled into a tight ball against his side, her head resting on his forearm.

He considered moving, but at the first slight shift, Inari had made a tiny sound of protest… and Paul decided he’d rather cut his arm off than disturb her. She sounded more than a bit like a cub, whimpering in it’s sleep.

So, he settled back, arranging Inari so her head lay pillowed above his heart and laid there, staring up at the ceiling, thinking.

The fact that he felt more awake and rested than he had done in a long, long while suggested that perhaps Inari was right about the cause of his malaise. That a ghost, a broken spirit as she’d named it, had attached itself to him.

Looked at logically, he supposed he should try and rid himself of it. It was feeding off him in a sense. But it was all that was left of Kate, and it could also be the reason he had an affinity for magic and spirits. Which placed it firmly in the ‘pro’ column in his mind.

Inari had also suggested strengthening it instead. So it could serve as a defence against attacks from other spirits.. but she’d been rather light on details about that, since she’d only ever heard of it being done, never witnessed or done it herself.

Paul considered the matter. As he understood it, the spirit fed off the mana created by a living soul.. he hadn’t considered that biological processes might produce mana as well, but in retrospect he should have. Humans were bundles of electrochemical processes. The human body produced it’s own electrostatic field as well a bio-magnetic one, it was not inconceivable that it would produce a weak mana field as well.

Still… a spirit was more than a bundle of energy, in the same sense magic wasn’t just raw mana. It had structure; a spirit acted like a living being.. it had purpose, agency. It was an on-going self-organising self-maintaining structure… which was more-or-less the definition of life. Granted, life was supposed to also have the capacity to replicate, but then again, viruses were unable to replicate without a host cell. So there was some scientific debate on the necessity of that point. Perhaps ‘his’ ghost was more like a virus in that respect, insofar as it needed a host to survive.

Perhaps...Paul idly thought...perhaps he could sustain it using a highly modified mana convertor?

He wished Kate was here to ask about it. She’d always been the one more interested in esoteric points of mythology and spiritual belief. He’d always been more of a practical sort himself… which right at the moment, placed him at something of a disadvantage.

Paul frowned thinking… perhaps he could ask her? In a sense she was here, her memories at least. Which was sort of the whole point.

But where to begin? How to make her solid enough for conversation?

Well, magic was the process of imposing order, structure, upon raw mana. There were tools for that, spells, charms, incantations and so on... but he recalled Kate saying that the basic irreducible elements in all of those was will and belief. The rest were props, nothing more. One imposed order upon the universe by sheer force of will and the belief that one could. Everything else was flim-flammery to convince one’s self of that. Not unlike the ‘magic feather’ from Dumbo basically.

Which was something of a problem, because he still had some trouble believing in magic… or rather, he had trouble imaging himself doing it. He’d start to think of magic wizards with staffs, which Paul had to admit, he wasn’t far off from being.. and part of his mind would start sniggering at the whole ridiculous notion. The next thing he knew he had the lyrics; ‘Ohhh..A wizard’s staff has a Knob on the end, knob on the end, knob on the end..’ running though his head on repeat, and he was done for…

Paul snorted, his lips curling up in a smile despite himself. He had Kate and a couple of glasses each of rather good brandy to thank for that particular ear-worm. She couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but she’d known the lyrics for some very bawdy songs on just about any subject you cared to mention… and after a few drinks she would happily sing them at the top of her voice at the slightest hint of an invitation.

Which, admittedly, had gotten them out of trouble just about as often as it had gotten them into it… and who knew that the Russian mafia liked karaoke? He’d thought the oligarch that’d had them kidnapped for an ‘interview’ was going to wet himself, or have a stroke, at her utterly filthy version of Kalinka. Still, he’d been charmed enough to let them go unharmed, despite learning that he’d gotten the wrong kind of journalists.

Paul blinked, and almost sat up as he had an idea… He might not believe in doing magic, not personally, but he did believe in it’s existence, and Inari had mentioned in passing written talismans were a way to do magic. Paul ruefully thought to himself that, whatever else, he certainly believed in the power of the written word.

So… why not use that?

There was, of course, a notebook and a packet of coloured pens on the tatami mat right by the bedside. All he had to do was stretch out his arm..

Which Inari was sleeping on.

Paul sighed.

Half an hour of very slow and painstaking manoeuvring had gotten Paul sitting upright, tailor fashion with Inari’s head cradled in his lap, upon a blanket. Upon reflection, Paul realised that wearing boxer briefs and a t-shirt to bed hadn’t been the best choice of attire… but he’d been far too tired to care at the time.

Still, his hands were free, he had his notebook and after a certain amount of careful selection, a silver metallic ink pen to write with… and more importantly, a fully charged mana battery pendent which he’d brought up from the workshop meaning to show Inari, and had utterly forgotten about until he’d emptied his pockets last night.

Paul looked at the blank page, and thought… every spell he’d read about started with a circle, and usually ended up with something that looked sort of like an incredibly complex diagram with a lot of arcane symbols.

He didn’t know any arcane languages, but a circle with lines and sub-circles sounded like an idea map. So, he started sketching one of those, building a ‘diagram’ of what he wanted to create, namely a thought-form, or spirit creation using the ghost haunting him, powered by the mana battery.

Twenty minutes’ work, and he had something that at least to his eyes, looked like a magic circle… it described the process and the shape of what he wanted...which then left him with one remaining problem.

How to turn the darn thing on?

Paul sighed… there was usually some sort of magic word, or incantation, wasn’t there? Something to ‘invoke’ the spell… the arcane equivalent to an ‘ON’ switch. Paul blinked, as an idea hit him… In the bottommost part of the idea map or magic circle, he’d left a single blank circled area free. Now he drew the universal symbol for a power switch in it.

He tore the page out of his note book, placing the rectangle of paper on the floor, and positioned the mana battery pendent in the centre of the spell diagram. Paul took a deep breath, and borrowing a technique Kate had taught him for ‘focusing his chi’ he pressed his thumb on the circle and tried to will the magic to work.

For moments, nothing happened. Then the loose page began to glow, as if someone had turned on a light behind it, growing brighter and brighter. Paul blinked against the light, feeling dizzy. He could hear the blood pounding in his temples… and abruptly, Inari stirred, and slammed one small hand down across the page. There was a blinding flash, and Paul felt himself tumbling into darkness…

Paul woke to a headache… and found himself lying with his head in Inari’s lap, the bare skin of her thighs warm against his cheeks. Inari peered down at him, the top of her jinbai or sleep gown disarrayed and slipping off one shoulder.

“What did you think you were doing Paul-san?!”

“Ummm… trying some magic?”

“To do what?”

“Well, I thought maybe if I could separate out the ghost, create it a pseudo-body and power it from a mana battery...”

Inari blinked at him, then shook her head.

“So.. never having done any magic before and with no training or any idea how to do it, you tried to do something even most Kami would regard as a difficult feat?”

“Er..when you put it that way...”

“It was just as well for you that I was here! That… ill-considered talisman, was draining you of your life, trying to give life to the lifeless. It would have killed you, had I not stopped it, and quickly.”

“Thank you Inari… and I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Yes, well… you don’t seem harmed despite the amount of mana released. I absorbed most of that. But now I am starving!

Paul smiled slightly.

“I’ll make you breakfast. Seems to be the least I can do after you saved my life...”

Inari nodded, yawning and stretching. Paul looked to one side as Inari’s top shifted, sliding down off her slim, pale shoulders and revealing rather a lot of her torso… and decided that wasn’t any better either since she seemed to have lost the bottom half of her sleep wear and the jacket-like top only just covered her hips.

He carefully sat up, not looking behind him at the dishevelled Inari. Pulling free of the twisted mess of blanket his fingers encountered something unexpected. Puzzled he patted at the soft fur, stroking it. There was a soft, surprised ‘Eep!’ from Inari.

Paul blinked, and forgetting her current state of almost undress, turned round.

Now that he wasn’t looking up at her, Paul realised two things about Inari had changed. She was smaller, slimmer and shorter and rather younger looking. Her present form looked to be about 16, maybe a short, rather slim 18, whereas before she’d been at a minimum in her late-twenties, based on appearance.

The other thing that was different was that she now had fox ears and a tail.

For a moment they both sat there, staring at each other, as Inari clutched her tail, then slowly, with trembling hands, reached up to touch her ears.

Absently, Paul thought they rather suited her. The fur was a glossy black, like her hair, soft and silky-looking rather than fluffy like Shoko’s.

“They suit you.”

Paul hadn’t meant to say that out loud… but judging by Inari’s look of fond exasperation, it might have been the right thing to say.

“Of course they do, they’re mine!”

“Well I didn’t think you bought that brush retail...”

Inari scooped up a pillow and threw it at him. Paul let himself fall backwards, miming being knocked over.

“Atrocious man!”

“Sorry. I couldn’t resist the pun. So, is this the result of the spell misfiring?”

“Of course, but why? What were you doing with that spell Paul-san?”

“I think I can guess. Part of what I was doing was trying to get Kate’s… shade? I guess you could call it that maybe? Anyway, trying to get it to return to it’s proper form… I think maybe that’s the part of the spell that bit you, returned you to your proper form.”

Paul lifted his head, relieved to see that Inari had pulled her robe together, although she was showing rather a lot of thigh still as she sat thinking with one leg drawn up to rest her chin on.

“Although, why you look younger I don’t know.”

“Maybe because… this is the age Emiko Hitomi was when she died.”

“Hitomi, the original owner of that body?”

Inari nodded slowly. Paul grinned.

“Well… she was, or is, cute.”

That earned him a glare.

“I am a first ranked Goddess. I was over a thousand years old before I even ascended to the lowest rank of Divinity. I have lived many thousands of years since. I am NOT some teenager you can call ‘cute’!”

“Inari-san... you’re even cuter when angry.”

Inari threw the other pillow at him.

Having borrowed a shirt from Paul, which with the addition of her Obi as a belt was large enough to serve as a dress for her, Inari walked barefooted with Paul to the kitchen block. Paul was somewhat relived that there seemed to be no-one else around, despite it being nearly midday. He was certain that Inari’s current attire, or lack of, would lead to unwanted and erroneous assumptions as to what they’d been doing.

Besides, he was finding Inari to be rather on the distracting side as it was… adding Shoko’s teasing, or Kiko’s cool regard, would only be inviting disaster as he cooked.

Seeking to distract himself from that line of thought, Paul spoke as he fried some bacon.

“Soo… regarding Shoko-san going to school… we need to decide something.”

“Had we not agreed that she was?”

“Yes, we had… but that’s not what I’m talking about. See, originally I was thinking her cover story was her parents are working abroad, but they sent her home to stay with her aunt… that’s you. But, unless you can change back to how you were, or somehow look older, no-one will believe that. Honestly, you look as if you belong in high school yourself.”

Inari scowled.

“Hmph! And of course no one of my apparent age could be trusted with a child..”

“Inari, times have changed, it’s unlikely that would be the case, because to most people, you are a child still.”

Inari pulled the shirt against herself, outlining her figure.

“Does this look like the body of a child?!”

Paul sighed.

“No, Inari, by the standards you’re most familiar with, probably not. In fact assuming your biological age is somewhere around 17, which is being generous, you’d have been married for at least ten years and probably have several children of your own by now. By historical standards that is.”

“Exactly!”

“Yes, but by today’s standards, you’re not even old enough to drink, not for several years.”

“Really?! Then how old would I have to be, to have sex?!”

Paul stopped and thought a second.

“Umm… I think I’d need to look that up to make sure.”

Inari gave him a suspicious look.

“I think you already know...how old?”

Paul sighed.

“Ok, ok.’. 13 is the age of consent here, but you couldn’t get married until 18 without parental approval.”

“So!?”

Paul sighed.

“So, you still don’t look old enough to be responsible for Shoko, at least not by yourself. No reasonable adult would do that.”

“Well then, you can be my husband.”

Paul cursed as he dropped the tongs he’d been using to turn the bacon in the skillet, spattering himself with hot grease. He moved the pan off the heat, and started to run cold water over his hand. His hand was still under the tap, when Inari placed her hand over his wrist, and a feeling like warm honey flowed down from where her slim fingers encircled his arm, washing away the pain.

The sensation of her slim body pressing against his back also rather served to distract him. After a moment or two, Paul realised that the pain had left, and the burns were already faint white scars as they healed rapidly.

“Thanks Inari.”

“My pleasure Paul-san.”

“Yeahhh... about that idea...”

“I’m sorry Paul-san, I only said it to surprise you!”

“Well, you certainly succeeded, although you might want to think about your timing a bit in the future. But... how about Shoko and Jiao pretend to be cousins, and I’m their uncle?”

“How would that work?!”

“Ok, so we say Shoko’s and Jiao’s mothers are sisters who were adopted by my brother… that makes them my nieces and gives me a legitimate reason to look after them. Despite appearances.”

“So…. Where do I come in? She is my daughter, even so.”

Paul thought for a minute, then slowly nodded.

“Yeahh… how does big sister sound?”

Inari pulled a face.

“Like I would need to know a great deal more about modern society than I do.”

“Point, we’re pushing our luck as it is. Ok, let me think about it. See if I can come up with something to explain your apparent age…”

“I could be their aunt, you adopted me as your daughter perhaps, just I was much younger than my sisters...who your brother adopted.”

Paul frowned, as he served up their brunch.

“Umm… maybe?”

“Besides, it could be fun pretending to be your daughter.”

“Why do I have a baaad feeling about this?! Still doesn’t explain your lack of familiarity with society...”

“Well...perhaps since you’re a writer, you’ve been living like a hermit for the last few years?”

“Alone with you? That sounds… dubious, at best...”

Inari giggled, and leaned against him, twining a curl of Paul’s hair around her finger as she whispered breathlessly in his ear.

“Are you saying that people might think we have a close relationship... daddy?”

“Okayyy.. Nope! No. That’s not even funny Inari. Cut it out.”

Laughing Inari moved away, as Paul glared at her.

“You’re aiming for a spanking you know...”

“You know I’m not wearing anything under this shirt of yours Paul-san.”

“Then again... besides, I’m not sure you wouldn’t enjoy it!”

Inari didn’t answer, but her smile told him all he wanted to know, and a good deal more besides that he didn’t.

Paul shook his head and got up to get himself a cup of coffee. Returning to the table he sighed.

“You know… the thing is, your idea could work. Kind of… but it also gives me an idea for a way around the situation. Although I’m going to have to make another set of false papers for all three of you now.”

“Oh? So do I still get to be your daughter…?”

“You and Shoko, plus Jiao as your adopted sister.”

“So… what’s our story?”

“Ok, my non-existent brother went to work in China, married a Japanese lady over there, who already had two daughters, you and Shoko. They also adopted another daughter, Jiao. All of you lived way out in some rural province, which is why you speak Japanese with an old fashioned accent.”

“I do?”

“Yes, you do Inari… anyway. Umm… let’s see. So, my hypothetical brother died, along with your fictional mother… ah, lets say a house fire. Leaving just you three. But… I didn’t find out until recently, shall we say. The complex thing is, you all have dual Japanese, British citizenship, so the Chinese authorities shipped you to me, rather than put you in their system because that would look bad… How does that sound?”

“Complicated...”

“Yeahhhh… Now that I say it, it is rather. I mean, it would make a good plot for a story, but it’s too complex for this, plus I’d have to fake soooo many papers...”

“Why not just say, you found us living by ourselves in a hut on a small farm, on the mountain?”

Paul looked at her doubtfully.

“Um, because people would’ve noticed that before now?”

Inari shrugged.

“Not necessarily… I mean, Shoko and Jiao look too young to go out by themselves much, and there are so many people now. Would one more or less be remarked upon? I’m not the one going to school, but you could create a school record for me, at least up until I left to go work on the family farm? To prove that I did exist before.”

Paul considered the matter, and nodded slowly.

“Yeah, that would work. You’d be just another face in the crowd that no one remembered… which, sounds kind of sad, really. At least until I came along and helped out. Although, again that begs the question why?”

“Couldn’t you just be a kind man?”

Paul shook his head.

“No, people would be suspicious. It’s a cynical age we live in. Oh, I’ll figure it out… later. Probably just say the old priest here was your step-father, or step grand-father or something...and I kinda assumed responsibility when I inherited the place and didn’t realise it until you knocked on the door, making you my… ward? I think.”

“Can I still call you Otōsan sometimes?”

“Definitely not, nor daddy either.”

Inari fake pouted, although her eyes were laughing.

Paul was still shaking his head when Inari sat up straighter, her ears swivelling to point back towards the open door of the kitchen building. Paul glanced out of the window, taking advantage of his tallness, and saw Kiko walking up the path.

“It’s Kiko… you want to disguise yourself, or what?”

Inari shook her head.

“No… she should get used to life here, and I find I rather like the nostalgic feeling being like this brings. I may stay this way for a while longer yet.”

Paul shrugged.

“Your choice… Morning Kiko-san!”

“Morning Paul-sama, how are you?”

“Well rested, and ready to go.”

Kiko glanced at Inari, who smiled at her.

“Morning Inari-sama, trying on a new look?”

Paul had to turn away quickly while he stifled a laugh at the look of disappointed dismay on Inari’s face at the calm acceptance.

“Just so Kiko-san… how goes the dive through the records?”

“I’m up to the 8^th century now, although apparently not much happened, so I should be in the 9^th century before the evening meal.”

Inari stretched, and nodded.

“Well, I should go and get properly dressed. I will make sure you get your shirt back Paul-san.”

“Thank you Inari-san, I’ll ask Shoko to pick up and wash your kimono for you…. Oh, by the way, if you intend on staying that way, you might want to get yourself some modern clothing to go with it. Most of your current wardrobe is just going to hang off you now.”

Inari hesitated just a fraction..

“Do we have the budget for that?”

Kiko unexpectedly chimed in before Paul could answer.

“Inari-sama! If you’ll go shopping with me and let you pick out your clothes, I’ll pay for them out of my allowance, please!”

Inari blinked at Kiko’s sudden enthusiasm.

“You would? That’s very kind of you but… why?”

“Ohhh.. I’ve always wanted to have a friend to go shopping with! We could make a day of it, get bubbly tea and eat pastries in a fancy restaurant... and ...and... I’m being inappropriately frivolous, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”

Inari was still looking taken aback at this sudden and unexpected glimpse of a very different side of the normally reserved and studious Kiko when Paul stepped in.

“No, I’d say you’ve every right to want to do that. I mean, it’s perfectly normal to want to have a fun day out with a friend, like any other young woman would, right? You two look almost the same age now. So... how about it Inari? Grant Kiko-san’s wish, have a day out incognito, see a little of the modern world at the same time?”

Kiko put her palms together in a prayerful position and bowed at Inari

“Please grant me my wish Inari-sama!”

Surprised, and just a bit delighted, Inari nodded.

“How could I say no? Yes, of course Kiko-san. We’ll go tomorrow, since it’s Saturday, and spend all day.”

Kiko clapped her hands in delight.

“Oh! If we get up early we’ll have enough time to travel into Umeda, Osaka and shop there. It’s only an hour away by train! Ahh... if that’s alright?”

Paul grinned.

“Might as well Inari, get a taste for the big city and what modern Japan is like.”

“Are you two conspiring against me?”

“Yup, it’s an evil plot to make you have a day out and go enjoy yourself.”

Inari shook her head, laughing.

“Alright, you win… we will go on a shopping trip to Osaka then. Are you coming Paul?”

Paul shook his head.

“Nope… it’s long standing tradition that men-folk just get in the way on such expeditions. I’ve got things I should be taking care of. Like beating some sense into Tatsuo’s head for a start…”

Kiko and Inari exchanged a look… and then Inari stuck her tongue out at Paul

“Nyah. Scared..!”

Paul laughed, nodding.

“Too right!”