"Let me go already." Snow Fox's fair, tender cheeks were being pinched; she spoke in a muffled voice. "I'm an injured patient."
"So you do know you're an injured patient." Riku let go of Snow Fox's pretty face and curled his lip. "Who told you to run? If you hadn't run, nothing at all would've happened."
"…" Hearing that, Snow Fox's little face froze; she had no way to refute it. Although staying put there was very safe, she would've been discovered sooner or later.
Even though Riku had pissed her off several times, it couldn't be denied that he was her great benefactor.
Honestly, for him to appear like a hero in a life-or-death crisis and save her, saying she wasn't grateful or moved would be impossible. There was even a bit of a flutter in her heart.
"Hmph, you're the one who forced me to leave that safe stronghold." But the moment Snow Fox saw Riku's smug face, she got angry again and couldn't help but counter with a tsundere bite.
"That attitude won't do. As a pet, you need to have a pet's awareness. I'm your owner." Riku grinned and started kneading Snow Fox's little cheeks again.
"Mm-mm-mm." This time, she couldn't even speak properly; she could only whimper, glaring at Riku in shame and anger.
"Master, I was wrong."
After a while, under a round of Riku's "training," Snow Fox finally behaved, speaking in a small, aggrieved voice. This guy really is infuriating, and he's got such bad taste. Hand my feelings back to me!
"That's better." Riku nodded with satisfaction and clapped his hands.
"Master, are you an onmyoji? No, that can't be right. I don't recall Onmyoji having such strong physical power. Or are you a samurai?" Suddenly, Snow Fox couldn't help asking.
She was, after all, very curious about Riku.
"Exorcist, Onmyoji or Taoist, those weak-scrub classes aren't me." Riku grabbed Snow Fox by the shoulders, lifted her out of the wall, and said blandly.
"Uh…" Hearing that, Snow Fox couldn't help rolling her eyes. I'm telling you, if the onmyoji and exorcists hear you, they'll definitely hunt you down.
"I've got things to do. In a bit, obediently go back into the cage. Otherwise, you know the consequences." Riku smiled with narrowed eyes at Snow Fox.
For a moment, he even made Snow Fox wonder who the real "yokai" was here.
"I'm injured, how am I supposed to get back?" Snow Fox glared.
"Tsk, such a hassle. A pet that makes trouble for its master isn't a good pet." Riku curled his lip.
'You think I want to? My whole body still hurts, okay.'
Seeing that Riku didn't even show a bit of pity for her injuries, never mind that, he was even snarking at her. Snow Fox stared with those pretty golden eyes, feeling chilled to the core.
What kind of master is this? He won't even ask how badly I'm hurt, and he's already complaining I'm a bother.
"Forget it. You're my and Sora's pet after all, let me patch you up." Riku added.
"Uh…." At that, Snow Fox blinked. Could this guy actually be a tsundere…
"All right. Don't make trouble for me again, or I'll stew you and eat fox meat." With a casual wave, Riku tossed a healing art onto Snow Fox and then said slowly.
"...!" The words made Snow Fox jump; her three silver tails puffed up. But then she realised all her injuries had instantly vanished.
At that, she looked at Riku with eyes full of disbelief. A human who could instantly heal a yokai's wounds is too bizarre. And she couldn't even tell what method he'd used.
"Well then, I'm off. Remember to go back to the cage and behave. Or I really will stew you. Oh, and don't reveal your yokai identity in front of Sora. Otherwise, it'll be bad for you." Riku pressed a hand atop Snow Fox's head, teasing as he spoke.
As he talked, his figure had already vanished from the dark alley.
"How badly do you want to eat me, you jerk! That's way too cruel! I'm the yokai here!" Snow Fox's mouth twitched; she couldn't help yelling.
Only after she finished yelling did she realise Riku had long since disappeared. "What a strange human…" Snow Fox murmured, eyes unfocused as she stared at where Riku had vanished, gradually calming down.
Although Riku was infuriating and always made her want to take a bite out of him, he was truly special.
As a human, he didn't show hostility toward her, a yokai. And he had zero lecherous reaction to her.
You know, in this form, she was at least a rare silver-haired loli among humans; lots of humans should go for that type, and on top of that, she innately carried a charm attribute. Yet Riku was completely unaffected; his gaze stayed clear the whole time.
Maybe… having a master like this isn't so bad. He's just a bit punchable. But overall, he's strong and gentle, with a kind of inexplicable sense of safety.
Snow Fox's lips curved slightly; with a faintly enchanting smile, she muttered to herself.
Then, lost in her thoughts, Snow Fox returned to her true form, tucked away her tails, and obediently went back to the pet shop.
That finally let the nearly panicked clerk shed tears of relieved joy.
"….." As for Yomi Isayama, she watched Snow Fox's movements from the shadows. In the end, she glanced at her broken blade and, lacking the nerve to continue, silently left. Her self-imposed sleep time had come.
-
As the day faded and dusk settled in, Riku and Sora's date finally came to an end.
In the end, there was no shopping, just a whirlwind through the cinema, the aquarium, and every other stop on Sora's list.
Which, honestly, tracked. Like Shiro, Sora bought nearly everything online.
With Sora asleep from sheer exhaustion on his back, Riku gave a small shake of his head.
He swung by the pet shop where the apologetic clerk kept bowing and bowing and picked up the snow-fox. Then he headed to the car park and rolled out in his Audi A6 toward home.
Sure, he could be anywhere with a thought. But in this world, a car was… practical.
"I thought you'd just teleport straight back," the snow-fox said, lounging on the passenger seat.
Pat!
Riku reached over and gave her head a light tap.
"What was that for?" she huffed, wounded and indignant.
"I told you to call me 'Master,'" Riku said with a curl of his lip. "Also, that question was dumb."
The snow-fox bared tiny teeth. Oh, she really wanted to bite this infuriating man.
But then she remembered the way he'd caught a blade with two fingers. Bite him? She'd probably just crack a fang. With a sulky turn of her head, she stared out the window instead.
Soon, they were home.
Riku eased the car in, carried Sora to her room, tucked her into bed, and pulled the covers up.
"T-then where do I sleep, Master?" the snow-fox asked, having learned her lesson.
"Where else? My room," Riku said, eyes glinting with mischief.
"W-what are you planning…!" She startled back, the three silver tails she hadn't meant to reveal puffing into view.
"If you want to rattle me, at least take on your human form first," Riku crouched, eye-level with the personified little fox, and ruffled her head. "Then maybe I'll consider making you my errand-fox."
'Who even wants to rattle you!? Just for that, even if she died, she was never, ever taking human form in front of him! Errand-fox, my tail…!'
She stared at his shameless face and trembled. Had she misjudged him? Was he secretly a beast in a gentleman's clothing…?
'Oh no, oh no, will my dignity even survive this…?'
And yet, even as he said those things, she didn't feel the revulsion she usually did with humans just flustered.
"Relax. I'm done teasing. Hungry? I'll fix you some dinner," Riku said, giving the silver fur another absent-minded pat before heading to the kitchen.
Watching his back, the snow-fox finally exhaled. Right aside from the rotten personality, he was… surprisingly decent.
A moment later, Riku set a tray before her.
A bowl of milk, a meat patty, a few slices of sausage, and two peeled boiled eggs.
"You did this on purpose, didn't you? You think I wouldn't notice the message?" She stared at the tray, mouth corner twitching, then exploded.
"Eating or not? If not, I toss it," Riku said, all smiles.
'I'd rather starve than die in a gutter than eat food from this terrible person…'
'…Heh. Tastes good.'
'Who said heh tastes good, show yourself! I promise I won't kill you!'
Under the pressure of hunger and the threat of the trash bin, the snow-fox ate, half-crying and half-laughing. She'd been running on fumes for hours.
In that moment, she felt her standards crumbling. 'Maybe being a sigh house pet… wasn't the worst.'
"You're a devil," she muttered after, glaring at the man sitting across from her, one leg crossed over the other.
"Nope. Demon King," Riku said, eyes smiling.
"…Sure," the fox thought, rolling her eyes. You might be strong, and you've got space-tricks, but 'Demon King' is the planet-breaker tier.
Still, she didn't dare say it out loud. With her luck, he'd just find new ways to "train" her.
"All right, enough fooling around," Riku said suddenly. "Snow-fox, switch to human form."
"M-Master, what are you going to do?" She jolted, retreating a step. He couldn't really mean…
"Take human form and bring out your Sesshōseki. I'll purify it for you," Riku said, calm as a lake.
"…Huh." She blinked, staring at him strangely.
-
The Sesshōseki is the crystallised power Tamamo-no-Mae, the nine-tailed fox, left behind at her death, packed with terrifying yōki. It also holds a great deal of miasma and curses.
Even the purest shard is like that. Even a pure-blooded fox yōkai has to be painstakingly careful when cultivating with the Sesshōseki's power, much less try to purify the miasma and curses within it.
From ancient times to now, no yōkai has ever managed it. If you try to force a purification, the Sesshōseki's power will bite back, and you'll turn into a monster.
"Master, let's not purify the Sesshōseki. It's too dangerous," the snow-fox said with an awkward smile. This time, Riku was doing it for her. She was touched. Precisely because of that, she couldn't let him take a reckless risk.
"Don't stall. Change to your human form and hand it over. Never mind this little Sesshōseki, even if Tamamo-no-Mae revived, she'd just be a petty yōkai I could swat to death with one hand. Or do you actually want to become my errand-fox?" Riku held out his hand, perfectly calm.
What Riku said might well be true, but with different horizons and worldviews, the snow-fox didn't believe it.
She rolled her eyes. 'Wow, the bragging just keeps getting bigger, huh.'
"Fine, I get it." In any case, she could only let him try; she definitely didn't want to end up an "errand-fox."
The snow-fox shifted back into human form: a silver-haired girl in a black-and-white gothic dress, two tiny bells tied at her head.
"Master, don't mess around. This is my unique treasure. If it breaks, I won't get another." Hands splayed, face tangled with worry, she produced a fist-sized Sesshōseki.
"That counts as a treasure?" Riku pinched her soft cheeks on both sides, lips curling.
"Mmph, mmph." With her cheeks in his fingers, she could only glare and make noncommittal sounds.
"Fine. Since you're being reasonably good, I'll let you off for now." Riku released her, taking the blood-red, faintly glowing Sesshōseki.
What she'd said a moment ago looked like "don't break it," but in truth, she was worried he'd go too far and have his mind affected by the stone.
The instant Riku took the stone, the Sesshōseki, soaked in ferocity a moment before, shrank like a mouse seeing a cat, not daring to leak the slightest killing intent.
"Uh…?" The snow-fox stared, dumbfounded. 'This isn't how the script goes. We haven't even started, and it already looks scared stiff?'
"A shard of Tamamo-no-Mae's soul," Riku said idly, studying the stone. "It's been nestling inside the Sesshōseki, waiting for a vessel strong enough to bear her soul so she can seize it and be reborn. And that vessel is you."
The snow-fox's aptitude was decent; that's why Tamamo-no-Mae had been suppressing the miasma, feeding her development. Once the fox grew to six tails, the possession would begin.
Otherwise, with a stone this large, how could a juvenile yōkai possibly use it without going berserk?
Even if Riku hadn't shown up earlier, the Sesshōseki would've actively eroded the snow-fox's mind and forced a head-on clash with Isayama Yomi.
"Master, what are you talking about?" the snow-fox asked, puzzled, looking at Riku with big, vacant eyes.
"You were being used. Simple as that." Riku rapped her head; the bells chimed ding-ding.
"Uu, hit me again." Eyes misting at the corners, she clutched her head and looked aggrieved.
"Forget it. Explaining to a ditz is a waste of time." Riku shook his head and let a little of his power seep out.
A fierce holy radiance flared, wrapping the Sesshōseki.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" A shrill scream burst from within the stone; thick black vapour streamed out, and within it wandered the vague silhouette of a fox.
Tamamo-no-Mae's malice-soaked soul fragment.
"Seraph, may you die a miserable death! I curse you to know no peace for all eternity…!" She glared at Riku, spitting out her malediction.
An ordinary being would be done for. But to Riku, it was just a dying threat.
Curse him? Even two-digit Full-Authority beings wouldn't dare.
"Noisy." Riku let the light in his palm swell a little more, and the black fog, the miasma, and Tamamo-no-Mae's fragment were all scrubbed clean. Good thing he'd soundproofed the space; otherwise, Sora would have woken.
"Understand now?" Done with the matter, Riku glanced at the snow-fox still slack-jawed and smiled.
"Uh-huh." She trembled as she stared at the Sesshōseki in his hand, now a vivid crimson with only pure yōki within and nodded.
Any slower on the uptake and she'd be beyond help. A predatory presence had been hanging over her all along, waiting to take her body. If it had succeeded, it would've been a living hell. No wonder she'd been able to cultivate so easily, she'd smugly thought she was a once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigy, and it turned out that was the reason.
"W-wait, you're a Seraph!!!" At last, the snow-fox's long reaction arc caught up to Tamamo-no-Mae's last words; her eyes flew wide.
"I told you to call me 'Master,'" Riku said, giving her head another impatient tap. "And I'm no Seraph. I'm the Demon King. Seraphs are fit only to serve under me."