“Yes, I think those arguments might be able to convince him.” Karasuza finally relented after the other three finished outlining another set of arguments Eva could use to convince her father to agree to their proposed gamble.
“Very good.” Prof. Yamanaka responded, a smile on his lips. “Now Miss Mayer just needs to manifest by her shintai and talk to your father.”
“One problem with that.” Eva commented with a deep sigh. “I don’t know how to do that.” Her voice fills with uncertainty and doubt as she continues. “I barely manage to move between different, well, pieces of myself.”
“Hm, that does pose a problem.” The professor mumbled as he stroked his beard. “Well, Mr. Wagner, Miss Karasuza, would you mind overly if we left the two of you on your own for a while?”
Kurt just replied with a short shake of his head.
“Splendid. Miss Mayer, would you mind accompanying me?” He asked as he stood up and moved towards the balcony door. “I have some tomes at my home that might help us solve this problem with a little bit of effort.”
Eva, while getting up, looked at Kurt, who gave her a thin smile and nod. “Okay, how will we get there?”
“We’ll ride Wan there.” He said, waving towards the white fox next to him. “Don’t worry, his collar has a charm sewn in that will deflect attention away from him.” The professor explained as he let the fox out onto the balcony, where it quickly begins to grow to the size of a horse.
“Won’t we be uncomfortable riding without a saddle?” Eva asked, a scowl forming on her lips. “Not to mention not falling off. I have never ridden an animal before.”
“Don’t worry, Wan won’t let you fall off.” prof. Yamanaka said, trying to disperse her concerns. “And even if you manage to fall off, he’ll catch you before anything happens.”
He then climbs on the back of his fox, and holds out his hand to help Eva up. She takes it, and with a little help from the elderly halfgod quickly sits down behind him on the back of Wan.
As the giant animal they were riding jumped off the building, the young Kitsune was mesmerized by the tiny clouds forming underneath its feet. Wan pushed off of them as if they were solid ground, just to land on another forming just in time. The view below them was a sight to see as well. Streetlights and windows shone little spots of light onto the otherwise dark cityscape below them, making it all seem calm and quiet. Which was the last way Eva would describe any part of Tokyo when experienced from the ground. But up here, with the noises of traffic and people far below them, it all seemed almost serene.
The ride was over all too soon as they began to descend towards a nice looking apartment building. They landed on one of the balconies, and prof. Yamanaka opened the door for them as his pet shrunk to a more reasonable size.
Waving her forward, he turned to Eva. “After you.”
Doing as she was asked, the Kitsune found herself in a surprisingly large living room, at least it would have been, if it weren’t filled with enough book shelves to reduce the effective size down to something more average for Tokyo.
“Welcome to my humble abode. I have a Tatami room through the second door on the right, do make yourself comfortable there please.” He informed her as he moved towards a door on the left side of the room. “I will join you shortly after looking through my more mystical tomes.”
Eva did as she was asked, and stepped through the indicated door, finding herself in a room maybe half the size of the Tatami room at the shrine. Seeing a pile of small, flat cushions in one corner, she picked up one of them and placed it closer to the center of the room, before sitting down on it.
Stolen story; please report.
A few moments later, the professor stepped inside as well, followed by his fox. Under one arm he carried a large leather bound book, while in his other was an incense holder, with a stick of already burning incense in it.
“While I am not capable of doing it myself, some of my siblings managed to learn to manifest a separate body.” prof. Yamanaka began to explain as he set down the incense before Eva, then took his place opposite of her. “In this tome, my father wrote instructions on how to help someone do it, if they are capable of it. From what I hear the first time can be a bit unnerving, but do not worry, nothing bad will come of this.”
He then put the tome down and began to read aloud.
“Now close your eyes. Inhale deeply. Feel the smoke of the incense fill your lungs while the magic in them nourishes your spirit.”
As she did all that, Eva could indeed feel the smoke sting in her lungs, while the part of her connected to the mirror in the shrine and the wooden mask in Hanako’s home felt warmed, as if the incense burner before her was a warm campfire on a cold fall night.
“Now as you exhale, let that nourished part of you flow out as well.”
While exhaling, the Kitsune tried to nudge that warmth to leave with the air. Which seemed to work, as that part of herself felt a bit colder now. Still warmer than before, but not as warm as while she inhaled.
“Inhale, then exhale again, feel the nourishment flowing in, then out with each breath. Repeat again. Now the next time you exhale, feel how part of your spirit diffuses into the air around you alongside the air you breathe out. Once you feel confident you sense all of it, try keeping it together as you exhale, instead of letting it disperse.”
On her next exhalation, the young German did focus on containing that warmth, and wrapped an imaginary blanket around it, like you would to keep a patient from suffering hypothermia. And her efforts were rewarded by a sphere-ish feeling blob of warmth hanging before her face.
“Now push yourself into it and let it assume the true shape of your spirit.”
As she pushed, the Kitsune suddenly found herself with eyes open, looking at prof. Yamanaka from a standing position.
“Congratulations, Inari-sama.” He said as he bowed before her. “It looks like you will grow to be a wonderful Kami one day.”
Confused by that comment, Eva tried to look at herself, which was made a bit more difficult, seeing as she was currently transparent, allowing her to see her body sitting behind her through the kimono her new body was wearing. From the looks of it it heavily resembled the Furisode Eva had been handed by Mumei, except that the scene of a fox dragging its prey to a village seemed smaller, and was overshadowed by a procession of animals marching through a forest of blossoming cherry trees that covered the whole garment, and was lead by a white, nine tailed fox.
“Come, this way” the professor said as he led the young Kami out of the room and towards a mirror mounted in the hallway.
There Eva could take in her full appearance. Her hair was still it’s normal light brown color, but done up in a rather complex and formal looking style, with braids wrapped around parts of it. It was kept in place by a pair of hairpins that seemed to be made from wood and growing living cherry blossoms at the ends of it, with a seemingly unending number of petals drifting down from it and dissolving before falling below her shoulders. Her eyes had kept their natural color as well, but the pupils seemed as if they might contract to slits instead of circles in harsher light. And the orbs also seemed filled with a wisdom Eva doubted she actually had.
The ears on top of her head seemed larger as they normally were, and both them and the three full sized tails behind her had a lightly golden sheen to them.
“Is this really me?” Eva wondered aloud, as she put a hand to the mirror, and was mildly surprised by actually feeling the chill of the glass.
“Yes. Or at least the purely spiritual part of you.” He informed her. “Now you mentioned you already know how to move your consciousness between your various vessels. If you do this now, this manifestation of your spirit will most likely collapse and return to the vessel of your choice.”
He turned to walk back to the Tatami room. “Now I’ll see you again shortly, then we shall try this once more to make sure nothing goes wrong when it counts.”