“You’re coming with me?”
“Of course! This is a rare chance to learn about… what class is this?”
“Calculus. This is calculus.”
“Calculus then! Besides, since I’m using your energy, if I’m near you you’ll feel a bit better. The energy drink can make up for the energy loss you feel, but if I’m near you you’ll feel even better.”
“Really… well then I suppose I have no choice.”
He shrugged and went in for another day of heart crushing math. She followed him into his classes for the rest of the day, and appeared to be an attentive student. In his journalism class, she was asked by the teacher if she was really enrolled in the class, but simply said, “Can you blame a student for wanting to learn in between her other classes?”
Let’s just say that charmed him into keeping her there.
At the end of his classes they ate in the food court together. He had to pay for hers. Then they walked home.
He almost felt like they were some sort of couple. But being in a relationship with an animal wasn't all that high on his list. She was some... Youkai after all.
Strangely enough she hadn’t lied about his tiredness factor. The nearer she was to him, the less tired he felt. It was great actually. The only problem was that the drink only lasted for five hundred minutes and he needed a decent supply to keep her manifested if he wanted to stay feeling this good. As they entered his dorm building, which most people called the spiral, he saw the frog Youkai that he had seen the other day was hopping past them. As it neared, he grabbed the frog by the back legs, and held him there.
“Hey there!”
“Gah! Let me go human! Oh it’s you!”
“Did you know she was inside of me the other day?”
“Of course I did! But I never thought that her human host could see us!”
“Human host? Do all the Youkai around here know?”
“Quite a few know, but I never thought about you not having any idea about it. Nor did I think a Youkai host could ever see them.”
He let go of the frog and it brushed itself off. Before, he hadn’t really gotten a good look at the thing, but it had a crown and cape on. Was it some sort of king?
“Frog, are you a king?”
At this it smiled.
“Of course I am! My name is Kaeru, king of frogs! Or at least I was, before the toad eater arrived.”
“Toad eater?
“Yes, it is a powerful Hikigaerukirā, even too powerful for myself. Until it is expelled, none of us can return to our home…”
“Really. Well that sucks.”
“Yes, but with the power of your lovely compatriot it may be possible.”
“My what?”
“With Oku of course.”
She was looking at the grass on the side of the road when she heard her name.
“With what?”
“Oku, the frog says his land was taken away by a Hikigaerukirā. Not that I know what that is.”
“That is a toad eater. Powerful against him definitely.”
“You think we should help him out?”
“Nope.”
“What?! You aren’t going to help out a king in his time of need?”
“Sorry, I’m not really all that knowledgeable yet on Youkai. If she says no I kind of have to take her word on it.”
As he began to walk away the frog thought to himself critically. Lawrence wasn’t sure the Youkai had anything to offer, but had to bet that it was what Oku was waiting for. If he could help the thing he couldn’t say that he was uninterested in the Youkai world, but he was sure that it was at least a little dangerous. He would try to listen to Oku for a while, at least until he understood more about their kind.
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“Fine fine… I’ll give you a barrel of homemade sake!”
“A barrel?”
Oku turned around with a wicked smile on her face and stopped right in front of the frog, who shrunk under her assuming form. She leaned over him even further and put her hands on her hips, licking her lips.
“Or I could simply eat you right here and steal the sake, doesn’t that sound easier?”
“No! Two barrels then, but that’s all I have!”
“I don’t know… I can’t really get Lawrence over there involved with Youkai. It isn’t a road that you can just return from easily frog. You know that. If he gets involved with Youkai they become involved in every facet of your life.”
Lawrence stepped up to Oku with a mischievous smile. Though he trusted her a bit it didn’t mean that he would let her bully those she saw lesser. Plus, he was feeling much better now, and he hadn’t tried anything new in a while. If Oku saw this as a simple matter then there was no reason not to try. Plus it looked like she would get something out of it.
“If I learned one thing in life, you should help those who are unable to help themselves. Besides, I think you’ve already gotten me involved with Youkai. But we’ll take one barrel of sake.”
Oku looked at him, her eyes flaring. The frog king was, however, completely overjoyed.
“Really! Oh thank you for your help!
Oku shrugged and turned away again. He turned back toward the frog king, breaking his gaze at the fox.
“It is pretty late though, could we come back tomorrow and-”
“No! The moon at the waning crescent is when it is vulnerable! We must go tonight!”
“Of course… now he’s demanding…”
“This way peasants!”
Thus they allowed themselves to be led into the darkness after an unthroned king of frogs towards a toad eater. How much his life had changed in the matter of a day...
The frog stopped in front of a small swampy pool which seemed to be in the middle of the college’s gardens. The garden had been there for a long time, and was often a place that students went to relax. During the spring and summer at least, but now the leaves were beginning to fall off the trees and it was a little chilly in the fall air.
“The college garden is your kingdom?!”
“This pool and these trees were here longer than the college my boy. But what the humans did in making this pool shine was a very honorable thing. If the Hikigaerukirā ruins what the humans did for me I will be even angrier!”
Suddenly, off to the left, they heard a crunching noise. What came out of the trees was actually fairly unexpected.
It was an enormous bullfrog.
“A frog is eating its own kind?!”
“No boy this is a bullfrog! They are evil!”
“For once I agree with the king, bullfrogs are pure evil. I’ll see what I can do.”
Oku sighed and transformed into a large fox, rivaling the size of the bullfrog. The monster was probably around fifteen meters tall, and the sight of her caused the bullfrog to cower back. She circled the large bullfrog for a few moments, looking for a place to strike. It’s eyes followed her until needing to turn around to see her as she went to his back. That was her opening! Oku dove at him with amazing speed. The Hikigaerukirā was too fat and large to have the speed to dodge, falling prey to a swipe of Oku's left paw. He toppled over, but was not done yet. It bounced back up, and his large tongue whipped out, slapping Oku on the cheek. Falling over, she cried out in pain, and the white fur on her stomach started to glow. Her eyes turned a deep crimson, and a beam of light emitted from her mouth in a howl unfitting a fox. When the smoke cleared, a small, regular sized bullfrog hopped out of the smoke towards them. Oku fell over, and almost crushed them before transforming back into a human in a puff of smoke, falling onto Lawrence. The frog king leapt to the bullfrog, and caught it in a net.
“Oku? You ok?”
“I’m fine stop fussing over me. I got careless is all, it wasn’t powerful at all.”
The frog king looked as if he was dancing, and made his way over to them with an enormous smile.
“Oh thank you thank you! I will never be able to repay this kindness! I’m so stupid, I have nothing to pay you back with at the moment… but worry not, I’ll get the sake to the fox as soon as possible! I just wish there was something to give you as well...”
“No it’s fine, I’m just glad we were able to help.”
The frog king eyed him, then slowly hopped over.
“Nonsense, come here boy.”
The frog king’s slimy finger turned blue, and he touched Lawrence’s forehead with it. Suddenly, he was in a forest. Beside him was the frog king, but another copy of him was also playing in the pond with many dancing frogs. Then the frog king next to him spoke.
“This may be new to you, but Youkai have no real form of currency in the mortal realm. If someone good does something good for you, repay him in the goods of the mind. This is what I was always taught. It means to give someone a treasured memory of yours. Happiness comes in doses, we all know that.”
“Pay in memories?”
“Hush child, watch.”
He looked back towards the pond, and suddenly, fireflies came streaming out of the king’s mouth. After a good number of them had come out, the frogs brought out small instruments and started playing music as the day faded to night, the only lights coming from the beautiful fireflies dancing along to the music. The frog king’s stomach was alight, and he smiled as foods of all sorts were brought out onto the pond, floating upon lily pads. The sight was the likes of which he had never seen before. The frog king next to him smiled.
“This is Kaeru no hi. Some call it my birthday, others simply call it day of frogs. Sort of like our holiday, and it is my favorite day of the year. I just hope the frogs return this year for the holiday, now that the Hikigaerukirā has been expelled. You really saved us young man.”
It was a beautiful thing to behold. Even if he wasn’t all that fond of frogs, the sight was majestic.
“Oh my, it’s almost midnight! I kept you quite late!”
“No, no it’s ok.”
The king removed his finger from his head, and hopped back towards the pool.
“I hope my memory will stay with you forever, young man!”
With that, he smiled a frog’s smile and leapt into the pool, barely creating a splash. Oku was still laying in his arms. It was as if she was sleeping. The mark on her face remained even if she transformed back into a human it seemed. He carried her back to his dorm and laid her in his bed. His computer chair was comfortable enough to sleep in anyways. Lawrence quickly fell asleep after applying a disinfecting bandage to her cheek. He didn’t dream that night, maybe because of how tired he was, and maybe because of Oku being there with him. He wasn’t opposed to it, the dreams were weird anyways.