“Okay and what exactly are you?” Eva inquired while slowly leaning across the table.
“Ah that’s a bit complicated.” The other woman replied, wringing her hands. “See my Father is a Tengu, but mom was a Tanuki.” Interrupting herself, Karasuza gave a heavy sigh. “Which leaves me somewhere in between.”
“That’s… new.” Eva admitted, leaning back into her seat. “Though it kinda explains why you can turn into a human.”
“Mhm. And I can also kinda float around like Father.” The other Youkai offered.
Filling that tidbit of information away for later, Eva was unsure what to ask, until the first words Karasuza had said to ehr came back to mind.
“Soo, why would you fly all the way to meet someone you assumed to be your age?”
“Because for the last decade Father didn’t let me roam further than the nearby farming villages.” Came the prompt reply. “So the ones closest to my age were the elderly villagers too stubborn to leave for a town.”[1]
“Wait a minute, how old are you?”
“18 Summers. Which makes it rather hard when the next youngest person around is nearly 4 times your age.”Karasuza explained, finishing off with a deep sigh.
As her tails shimmered back into existence, Eva gave them both a demonstrative flick while she contiued her inquiries. “So why would you think I was close to your age? Not that you’re wrong, just curious.”
“Well you two were running around like hyperactive puppies. So I assumed you couldn't really be older than myself.” Came the prompt reply from the avian youkai as a blush crept onto Eva’s cheeks.
Before she could respond though, an insistent notification from her phone reminded Eva that her lunch break was nearly over.
“Scheiße, completely forgot about that.” Turning to where a certain mythological squirrel was drinking she shouted. “Hey Ratatoskr.” As he looked over to her, Eva continued. “I got to run, mind looking after Karasuza here? Or at least taking her to meet Toya?”
“What’s in it for me?”
“I still have that bottle of Blutwurz.[2] You do this for me and it’s all yours.”
“Fiiiine.” Ratatoskr relented, the excitement in his eyes a clear contrast to his reluctant attitude. Coming over, he hopped on to the table Karusaza was still sitting at. While they did start a conversation soon after that, Eva was already rushing out the moment the squirrel had agreed to help. After all, the next class was about the history of alcohol in Japan.
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Later that day
Returning to her shrine once all classes had concluded, Eva spotted a newly familiar face. Karasuza, dressed in a Miko’s garments, was busy raking up the leaves that had fallen from the handful of trees on the grounds. Though looking closely, a gentle breeze helped her a lot with that task.
“Oh hey Karasuza. Sorry for leaving in a hurry earlier.” The Kitsune greeted her as she walked over.
“It’s alright Eva.” Karasuza said as she stopped her work. Though she did not stop the breeze that still nudged the leaves together. “I really enjoyed talking to Toya.”
“That’s great.” Giving her new attire a pointed look, Eva continued. “So you’ll be staying for a while I take it?”
“Only the week for now. Father’s already going to be angry about me running off.”The younger woman explained with a smile. “ So why not stay a bit and help you all with your festival.”
“Well, if Komaki says it’s alright. I am sure an extra pair of hands will come in handy.” With a short wave Eva left Karasuza to her work for the moment and made her way inside to drop off her things. Turning her clothes into an outfit fitting for her part-time job once again, the Kitsune joined the other Miko outside. Which allowed Yukiko to leave in time for her tea ceremony class.
During the bouts of conversation between taking care of visitors that needed help and keeping everything tidy, Eva ended up learning quite a bit about her newest acquaintance. The most saddening thing was easily the reason why her father forbade her to leave their home mountain and the surrounding valley.
After her mother had been run over by a truck on the highway just beyond that valley, he had grown extremely overprotective of his daughter. He was apparently also extremely paranoid as, in his words, ‘humans are overdue for more wars’.
Though there were some less worrisome things as well. For one Karasuza had made the clothes she had worn earlier herself. From Weaving and dyeing the cloth to the embroidery on the obi. She also claimed to be a quite skilled cook, though proof of that would have to wait for dinner.
Which was going to be earlier than usual that night, as they would need time to prepare themselves, and the handful of volunteers from the neighbourhood, for the first ritual of the festival preparations.[3]