A few minutes later, Shuryo knocked on the door of his beloved, and she came to it angrily.
“What is it now!”
He started to mumble something but Mark, Oku, and Lawrence all leapt into action. It was decided that Inari should stay back, as she couldn’t really see Youkai, and she watched fervently, trying to get a look at the Youkai.
Inside the house, things were hectic. Shimasu was running around the house throwing small spells at them as she ran and Oku was trying to block every one as she ran closer. They turned corners, ran down hallways, fell upstairs and downstairs, until they had finally cornered her. Oku and Lawrence went in for a jump at her but were throw away by spiritual energy. Luckily, it was just a feint and Mark came in beneath them a moment later. He was able to catch Shimasu in some sort of wrestling hold from behind and held her in place. Immediately, Oku look around her arms and legs to no avail. Finally, something small was felt on her back and Oku peeled it off. To Lawrence and Mark’s surprise there really was a leech, and after it’s removal Shimasu crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Shuryo, catching up, ran to her as she came back to.
“I can’t believe there really was a leech…”
“Yeah an anger leech…”
“H-hey I knew exactly what was going on!”
As they gloated over their victory, Inari found her way into the house. She might not be able to see Youkai, nor exactly where the entrance was, but she could see a structure easily. It was not all that ornate, but a nice house all the same. She heard their voices in the next room, but was entranced by something in front of her. It was some sort of orb… A palantir? No… it was giving off an aura, and Inari couldn’t take her eyes off of it.
The thing was throbbing… she walked slowly up to it, hand outstretched. Oku, down the hall, looked towards her.
“Wait!”
But it was too late, she couldn’t even control herself. Once she touched the orb it felt like her mind was transported to a different dimension, and everything was white. Standing in front of her was a masked woman with white wings and somewhat short hair. The woman moved the mask to the side and smiled at Inari, patting her on the head. She said something, but Inari couldn’t hear her words, and suddenly she was back in the house, Oku crashing into her and ripping her away from the orb.
“What the hell are you trying to do?!”
“W-what? Oku?”
“Um, yes?”
“I’m back?! How?!”
“Well Inari that depends on where you were.”
Mark and Lawrence, seeing Oku leap towards Inari, walked over as well and looked at the couple lying on the floor.
“B-but I’m not Inari.”
“Then who are you?”
“It’s me. Hato.”
With those three words Oku, Mark and Lawrence were all stunned into silence, before finally giving a fitting reaction.
“WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!”
Lawrence looked intensely at the person he saw before him, mouth agape.
“You aren’t… you’re Inari.”
“I don’t know what happened either, but I saw this girl in front of me and before I knew it I was here.”
“You’re ok.”
“I’d say not totally dead but- Lawrence are you ok?”
Oku and Mark looked back at Lawrence to see him misty eyed. Mark was the first one to recover and take action.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“We don’t know if these effects are permanent, so we should ask the hard hitting questions. Hato, where are you right now.”
“In front of you?”
“No! I mean where were you then, before you came here.”
“Oh right, I’m stuck in limbo. Youkai don’t really die when their masks are lost but they get sent to this strange place where there’s no time or anything. It’s terrible…”
“Is there any way to get you back?”
“Get me back… are you guys…”
“Almost every day we spend hours in the Youkai library trying to find ways to bring you back. So far we haven’t found anything but… If we know about this limbo thing it might just be possible.”
“Don’t…”
“Hato…”
Oku looked towards her, face covered somewhat.
“I…”
But suddenly Inari bent over and fell towards Lawrence. She put her arms around him and tensed up, but Lawrence could barely talk.
“H-hato?”
Inari’s head slowly came up, and she had red cheeks.
“Ah?! What the… What happened?”
“As I thought, that didn’t last very long.”
Oku and Lawrence were still in somewhat of a daze but Mark was used to working under tense conditions and approached Shuryo and Shimasu, who were watching nearby. After talking to them for a minute or so, he came back to Lawrence and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Lawrence, we should probably take the orb with us.”
“Y-yeah you’re right. Maybe this isn’t the only time we can speak with Hato. As long as Inari is willing to help us out of course.”
Inari herself, still reeling from waking up in Lawrence’s arms, looked back at them.
“What?”
“Inari, Hato was able to somehow take over your body when you touched this orb. If we can talk with her more it would be major in getting her back. If you would help us with that we would be really grateful.”
“Well… I suppose if you’re going to beg me like that what can I do.”
“Thanks, it’s almost like Inari and Lawrence switched places isn’t it. Hato inside of Inari just like Oku was inside of Lawrence… Too bad it’s not as simple as pulling them apart.”
Shuryo and Shimasu walked up to the group, holding the orb. Shimasu walked towards Lawrence.
“I’m not all that sure why I had the thing in the first place but… if it will really help you then for all the help you have given us consider it a present. Also, I don’t retract my promise. Here is the knowledge I promised.”
Shuryo touched Lawrence’s forehead and closed his eyes, bringing him into a dark grassy field. Trees around them looked as if they were growing closer and closer, and in the middle of the field was one large scary looking lion Youkai, and Shuryo. It looked like he had just been created, and another mask lay on the ground next to him. The lion picked up the second mask and began to draw a circle on the ground. There were strange symbols, but he tried to remember each one. In the middle was some sort of eastern character, he tried to remember that as well.
“Shimasu!”
The lion shouted the name and sent his hands toward the sky, then clapping before a cloud of smoke surrounded them. Once it cleared Shimasu was sitting there and quickly put the mask on.
Definitely knowledge that would help them, Lawrence felt new energy that they could bring her back.
He thanked them and they left the cave house. Shuryo decided he would stay with her after all, but move their exit closer to the cemetery so he could still do his job. Inari noticed something strange as well. At first she barely took notice of it, but she could… if she squinted just enough… see Shuryo and Shimasu. And when Oku knocked her over she should have went through her…
“Wait! I can see Youkai!”
“Huh?”
The group stopped walking through the forest and looked back at Inari, who was beaming.
“It was only a matter of time after all, looks like you guys can’t act like smug assholes anymore!”
“You can see Oku then?”
“Yeah! I could also see the Shuryo and Shimasu back there.”
“Could it be from Hato?”
“If I had to guess it would be from the orb actually. A lot of these are infused with very powerful energy. Or so my uncle used to say at least.”
Lawrence once again regained his smugness.
“I suppose that just means you can help us go through the thousand or so books in Jeremiah’s library then?”
“Wait what.”
Mark joined in.
“Of course, you can finally be useful to us. Thank god.”
“I… uh…”
Finally they arrived back at the dorms and Mark jokingly slapped Lawrence on the back, who was suddenly in a good mood. Only Oku seemed to have a cloud over her head. Lawrence winked at Inari, reminded to get there at three tomorrow to leave for the library, and went up the elevator. After Mark turned away towards where he lived she started back toward her own dorm.
“I can… see them… Not even grandpa could. But he knew about them at least? Ugh it’s so confusing.”
“Guess I’ll have to start learning about Youkai from this library place… At least he’ll be there too…”
Cheeks reddening, Inari went into her dorm and fell asleep. That night she had a dream about a large man with black facial hair and a soft expression. He might have even looked a little bit like Mark, though older…