2.06: Flying FurRui smmed her empty rice bowl down with the finality of a general decration of war.

  “Okay! Enough mushy emotions. Enough crying into our breakfast!”She hopped onto her feet, her fists clenched, her eyes bzing.“We’re going! Right now! To the Yōkai Council.”

  I blinked. “…Now?”

  “Yes, baka,” she snapped, pointing at the doorway leading into Natalia’s garden in an almost accusing way. “We have exactly seven days before the exams! We can’t lose even a single minute. The Council needs to hear about Mitsuhiko’s downfall before the yōkai world starts panicking over a central figure’s disappearance, and we need to get your number card application going right away!”

  Rui’s gaze softened as she leaned closer.

  “By the way, have you figured out what name you want yet, Susu?” she asked, her voice unusually gentle.

  My stomach fluttered like it was trying to escape my abdomen.

  I swallowed hard and nodded. “…Yes,” I said quietly.

  Her eyes searched mine. “Which one was it?” She grinned, excited.

  “She shouldn’t jump so rashly to decide,” Natalia rushed to say.

  “Yeah. She’ll have the name she picks for the rest of her life. It’s not too te to pick an A-name!” Akuchi spped her hands on the low table.

  I drew a breath as I whispered, shaking my head with a smile, “I chose Sumire the moment I heard it.”

  Rui folded her arms, tilting her head with exaggerated impatience and almost yakuza antagonism. “No, baka!”

  I flinched, waiting for her to punch me in the face.

  “Sumire Shinohara,” she corrected me, like it was the most obvious thing in the world to tack on her st name.

  DOKI-DOKI

  Then she reached into her pocket.

  When her hand emerged, she was holding the jade bracelet again, cradled in her palm, offering it to me once more like she was renewing our matrimonial bonds.

  The name hit me like a pulse of heat.

  Sumire.

  …

  Shinohara.

  It felt intimate… somehow extra binding.

  …words whispered over csped hands or written on a wedding registry.

  My cheeks heated all the way up to my ears. “R-Rui-chan… that sounds a lot like we’re getting mar—” I felt a little dizzy.

  Ume swooned, her fingers twitching as she watched.

  “Don’t say it like that, ecchi!” Rui barked, cutting me off, kicking lightly at the air like she was stomping down on her own embarrassment. “It’s not like that… we’re not… just freaking… shut up about it!”

  “I guess that means RuiRui wants you as her onee-sama,” Ume teased, giggling.

  Rui flushed a dark pink, then sputtered at Ume. “…N-no! That’s not it! I’m not pretending she’s my sister or anything else weird like that!”

  “Mommy, then?” Ume asked, tilting her head.

  Akuchi flopped onto the floor, thrashing her limbs and tail as she chortled.

  Natalia watched in amusement, covering her mouth with a hand.

  “Shut up! Shut up, idiots!” She stamped her foot and rounded on me. “Look, Susu, I’m giving you my st name…” Rui muttered, her voice getting smaller. “Since you’ll be working for me for the rest of your life, that isn’t too weird. It’s just… logical. You know… for paperwork. And… um…” Rui looked like she wanted to crawl under the low table as she trailed off, fidgeting.

  “...And?” I managed to whisper.

  She gred at the floor, her imaginary little oni horns trembling.“…And I guess that means we’re partners,” she muttered.

  My heart tried to somersault out of my chest.

  DOKI-DOKI

  “L-like… spiritual-detective partners?” I squeaked, embarrassed.

  “Yes. Obviously. Baka. What else were you thinking, dimwit?” Rui lifted her chin in a pose full of bravado that fooled absolutely no one. “Well anyway… I guess if you were my sister, that’d be way better than my real sister. She’s a total loser anyway.”

  She snapped the jade bracelet onto my wrist again, firm and final… sealing my fate as surely as if she’d slipped a ring onto my finger.

  “…You have a sister?”“…Rui has a sister?”“…Another goblin?”“…RuiRui has a sister??”Natalia-sama, Akuchi, and I all chorused at once.

  Rui froze mid-pose, her face twitching.

  “I don’t want to talk about that big baka,” she snapped, her cheeks turning a color that matched her temper. “Shut up! Everyone shut up! New topic! Now!”

  Natalia-sama raised a brow. “A subject for another time, indeed,” she said smoothly. “For now, RuiRui is correct. The Council must be informed soon. With Mitsuhiko sealed in your scroll, the ones who dealt with him will start moving.”

  Rui nodded vigorously, seizing the lifeline and pulling herself back into dignity.

  “Exactly. So.” She spped her palms together. “We need some transportation there.”

  I perked up. “Oh! We could ask Akuchi to change into a helicopter and carry us there the fastest way! Or… or a private jet? Or—”

  Akuchi preened, puffing up proudly. “Sumire-sama understands my greatness so well…”

  “No,” Rui cut in ftly.

  Akuchi defted like a sad weather balloon. “Why not? I can turn into a VTOL and take off vertically, all the loud turbine noises included.”

  Rui pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s not like you didn’t already know, baka. The Yōkai Council isn’t in the human world. It’s in the yōkai world, a parallel dimension. Not something you can just fly to.”

  “I can still take us to the closest portal,” Akuchi huffed.

  Rui nodded. “Yeah. To reach the Council, we need an active portal. Preferably one that won’t vaporize us on the way, scramble our consciousness, or drop us into the ir of something that eats people and weak yōkai.”

  I flinched. “What… eat—? But I thought yōkai don’t eat humans!”

  “Don’t worry. It doesn’t work that way,” Natalia corrected.

  “What?” Rui blinked.

  “Portals are tightly policed by the Yōkai Council. I won’t say that every portal is, but the ones that lead to dangerous pces aren’t usable,” Natalia said, smiling.

  I heaved a breath of relief, feeling a little better about this.

  “But some yōkai actually do eat humans~” Rui said cheerfully, her eyes flicking toward me. “Especially ones with too many teeth. Anyway, we need a gateway.”

  “Wah!” I squeaked. “Like Rickey?”

  “Worse and way less sweet on the inside!~ More like Mr. Screamy if he could hunt you down and gobble you up!~”

  I died.

  Natalia-sama folded her hands. “Rex. We shouldn’t run into any of those kinds of yōkai. Fortunately, I do know of several portal locations in Tokyo. My old house has one built in.”

  Rui turned to me again, her eyes bzing with certainty.

  “Gird your loins, Susu. Or rather…”

  Her lips quirked up.

  “Sumire Shinohara.”

  My breath caught.

  “Here’s the pn,” Rui announced. “Akuchi will take us to Natalia’s portal to the yōkai world. That should put us somepce close to the Yōkai Council, right?”

  Natalia-sama nodded, her tail swaying with quiet pride. “A short distance, yes. I was a member years ago. I’m still considered a pilr of yōkai society… though I’ve retired from active duty to pursue my true passions.”

  Stepping out of Natalia-sama’s breakfast nook felt a little like stepping out of a dream.

  The sliding doors opened onto Natalia’s rooftop garden proper, and the air changed on the threshold, feeling cooler, cleaner, ced with the sharp scent of her bonsai trees and her koi pond. The air was almost electrified. Sunlight filtered down through trellised beams, catching on windchimes and tiny paper charms that fluttered gently in the breeze.

  A narrow stone path wound between manicured shrubs and mossy rocks. There was a tiny koi pond with glossy orange fish gliding beneath the surface like living jewels. A small red torii framed a miniature shrine, its offerings neatly arranged: polished rice, salt, and sake.

  “I still can’t believe this is on a rooftop and not on the ground,” I muttered, staring around me at everything.

  “Urban pnning is flexible when you slip enough gmour on the paperwork,” Natalia-sama murmured, amused.

  Rui strode ahead, nearly vibrating. “We don’t have time to admire the scenery, Sumire! We have a council to face, a number card to get, and exactly one week to prepare.”

  “Rui is right,” Akuchi chimed, trotting after her with her tail swishing. “Sumire-sama’s future depends on our punctuality.”

  Sumire-sama… That sounded embarrassing, but it was way better than the alternative. I hoped Akuchi wouldn’t backslide again.

  My cheeks heated just hearing my new name as part of it. It hit me every time, still not feeling real.

  “…Right,” I said, hurrying to catch up and csping my arms behind my back. My skirt fluttered in the high breeze, and resting my hands over it in the back made me feel a little more secure.

  At the edge of the garden, where the stone railing gave way to open sky, Rui pnted her hands on her hips and spun on her heel.

  “All right, furball,” she said sharply. “Time for you to do your thing! Go vehicle mode! We’re on our way!”

  Akuchi puffed up, then grinned, her teeth fshing. “Very well.” With a sharp and fmboyant gesture, she strutted out onto the open stretch of the rooftop, cracking her knuckles like she was about to start a street brawl…

  POOF

  Smoke burst around her in a puff of shimmering tanuki gas. A gust of wind hit my face, ruffling my hair, my jacket, my skirt. When the smoke cleared, an honest-to-Kami VTOL aircraft hovered above the rooftop. The form she’d taken was compact and sleek, with a rounded tanuki-ish nose and stubby wings, four tilt-rotors chewing up the air. She was extremely loud.

  Painted along the side in bold brush strokes were the kanji for AKUCHI EXPRESS, along with a chibi version of herself fshing a peace sign.

  “Subtle,” Rui muttered.

  A set of steps unfolded from her side with a smooth mechanical whirring that was barely heard beneath the rotor chopping, hanging down like a boarding dder.

  I stared, open-mouthed. Akuchi’s most complex transformations like this still amazed me.

  The side door popped open on its own with a cheerful ding. A disembodied version of Akuchi’s voice chimed from inside the cabin speakers.

  “Welcome aboard the Akuchi Express. Destination: ANY Yōkai portal, as per Rui’s rage-fueled, very polite ‘request’. Please mind the steps and refrain from insulting the pilot’s naming sense, or else the pne may encounter great turbulence.”

  Rui’s eye twitched. “You heard her. Just get in.”

  Natalia-sama’s tail swayed as she glided past me and up the steps gracefully. “Come along, Sumire,” she said. “I’ll handle guiding the flight trajectory.”

  Inside, the cabin was surprisingly comfortable. There were padded seats along the walls with harnesses, windows showing off the Tokyo skyline. The whole interior smelled faintly of sakura incense and airpne fuel.

  “Shotgun!” Rui decred, diving into the front compartment.

  The ‘cockpit’ was more like a little alcove with an arched window at the nose. Instead of a conventional control panel, there was a ring of floating foxfire-lit glyphs and levers that looked like half-steampunk, half-shrine ornaments.

  She included a few too many flourishes this time to be practical. Maybe it’s because we’re headed to the Yōkai world.

  Natalia-sama settled gracefully into the pilot’s seat. The glyphs fred, responding to her touch.

  The steps retracted beneath us, the door folding shut with a hissing noise.

  SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH