A Fox's Hostility

by Brandon Varnell

  Monstrang grunted but didn’t say anything. Neither did Kiara. What could she say? Kotohime was right. Kevin and his girlfriend were about to go through a tumultuous stage in their life.

  Especially when Kevin learned about what was happening to his friends.

  ***

  Kotohime arrived at her apartment space to hear a most unusual conversation taking place.

  “No, no, no, no. We can’t have something like that. It’s too peppy and doesn’t have enough kick. I think we should have something that sounds more like rock music than pop music.”

  “And I’m telling you that won’t work. Rock and metal only go well with the action genre. We’re a harem romantic comedy with a lot of fanservice. Something peppy and upbeat is definitely the way to go.”

  “But that would make us sound more like an idol series than a harem romantic comedy series.”

  Kevin and Lilian were having another one of their arguments. Of course, Kotohime and the others called them arguments, but the pair were grinning as they spoke, so she knew they were having fun. Iris, Phoebe, and Polydora sat off to the side, watching the pair argue about… something. Kotohime wasn’t sure what, but it apparently had to do with music and genres.

  “Ara, ara. What is going on here?”

  “Ah! Kotohime!” Lilian ran up to her and grabbed one of her voluminous sleeves. “Neh, neh, you agree with me, right?”

  “I would have to know what you two are debating about to agree with you on anything.”

  “We’re trying to come up with a theme song,” Lilian said with the utmost seriousness. “I think we should have something upbeat and peppy, but Kevin’s saying we need a rock or metal theme.”

  Kotohime blinked. She blinked again. Then she looked at the three not involved in the conversation.

  “Don’t look at me.” Iris held her hands up in a helpless gesture. “I have no clue where this came from.”

  “I am not even sure why we are debating this,” Phoebe added. “Why would we need a theme song?”

  Lilian looked bemused, as if she couldn’t understand why this woman would say such a thing. “Um, hello, because it’s important for us to have our own theme song. It makes us seem more authentic.”

  “Authentic for what?” Polydora snarked. “How weird you people are?”

  “Be polite, Polydora.”

  “Yes, Lady Phoebe.”

  “She does bring up a good point, however,” Phoebe admitted. “Do we really need a theme song?”

  “Of course we do,” Kevin stated with the utmost certainty. “Every good anime has its own theme song.”

  “But we’re not an anime,” Kotohime pointed out.

  “But what if we become an anime?” asked Lilian. “Then we would need to come up with our own theme song. We’re planning ahead, Kotohime.”

  “So I see…” Kotohime needed a moment to come up with a proper response. “In that case, I shall leave you all to it. However, I would like to speak with Phoebe-san and Polydora-san when they have a moment.”

  “We can converse now.” Phoebe stood up. “I have no idea as to what’s going on here, but it doesn’t really seem to involve me.”

  “How could you say that?” Kevin and Lilian asked at the same time.

  “Would you two stop talking in sync already?!” Iris shouted.

  “No, it does not,” Polydora said, following her mistress’s example. “I for one have no desire to partake in this debate. I can feel my brain cells dying just from listening to you two.”

  “Muu, Polydora, you meanie.” Kevin and Lilian pouted at Polydora.

  “Ga! The eyes! Not the puppy dog eyes!”

  Kotohime sighed as she watched Polydora roll around on the floor, covering her eyes as if she’d been blinded.

  “If you two would please follow me. What I wish to speak to you about is of the utmost importance.”

  “Very well,” Phoebe said. “Come, Polydora.”

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  Polydora stopped rolling around, stood up, and hastened to catch up to Phoebe and Kotohime as they left the room.

  ***

  As the two yuma uba followed Kotohime out of the room, Kevin, Lilian, and Iris glanced at each other.

  “I wonder what Kotohime wants to talk to them about,” Kevin said.

  “Who cares?” Lilian puffed up her cheeks like she’d shoved two air balloons in them. “If they don’t want to help us decide what our theme song should be, then I say we forget about them.”

  “Right,” Kevin agreed.

  Iris groaned when the pair began to, once again, debate what type of theme song they should have.

  She could already tell.

  It was going to be a long night.

  ***

  Sitting in a small cafe located at Via Francesco Sforza in Milan, Italy, Karen Swift tried to at least pretend she was enjoying her time off.

  The exposing of yōkai had affected more than most people realized. It didn’t just affect how people thought. It also affected the economy. There were many yōkai-owned businesses located throughout the world, and a number of those businesses were quite large.

  The fashion industry was one such business where many yōkai thrived, especially the ones whose beauty were unparalleled like kitsune, nekomata, and yuki-onna. Now that they’d been found out, those yōkai who’d brought so much money to the fashion industry had been banished so the various companies and fashionistas could save face. However, those yōkai had been responsible for more than 65% of the fashion industry’s most popular clothing lines, which meant the industry itself was going under. As a result, Karen was now out of a job.

  Of course, fashion was the furthest thing from her mind right now.

  I wonder how Kevin is taking this?

  Her son was intimately involved with yōkai. Lilian was a kitsune. Not only was she Kevin’s mate, but her mother, sister, and maids had come to live with him. To top it off, Lilian was a member of the most prominent and powerful clan of Spirit Kitsune in the world.

  Karen held no prejudice toward the various yōkai races. It wasn’t what someone was that determined whether they were a good person, but who they were. Lilian was a good person. What’s more, Karen could see from the way the redhead interacted with her son that she loved Kevin very much. That was why she had given the girl her blessing.

  This situation is going to become worse before it becomes better—if it ever becomes better.

  She was worried. Her son was a resourceful young man, but this situation was beyond the scope of even the most intelligent and determined of individuals. The world was swiftly traveling down a path that would lead to nothing but violence and bloodshed, and her son, by stint of living with a family of kitsune, could very well become caught in the middle of it.

  I need to have faith. Kevin has already been through so much, and he’s become quite strong. If anyone can survive during these trying times, it’s him.

  “We don’t want to play with you anymore!”

  Karen looked up from idly stirring her cup of now cold coffee. Several young children looked like they were getting ready to play tag. However, they seemed to be having an argument.

  “W-what? Why not? I wanna play, too!”

  One boy tried to get closer to the children, but one of the other boys shoved the young child away, sending him sprawling to the ground. The boy, whose messy brown hair hid a pair of droopy dog ears, looked up at the other kids with tears stinging his eyes. There was a band around his wrist.

  “We can’t let a freak like you play with us!”

  “Yeah! Go back where you came from!”

  “Loser!”

  “Freak!”

  “Monster!”

  “I’m not a monster!” the boy shouted as tears streamed down his face. “I’m not!”

  But his words fell on deaf ears. The other boys continued to taunt him, making fun of his ears and his tail, telling him that only a monster would have animal parts. None of the adults were helpin
g. If anything, they looked vindicated by the harsh treatment the boys were subjecting the young inu to.

  Karen wondered where the inu’s parents were, but then deduced that he must have left his house on his own. Most yōkai preferred to remain indoors these days. It was safer that way. He had probably snuck out.

  I should help him.

  “Disgusting, isn’t it?” Karen was halfway out of her seat when a voice spoke up behind it. “It’s barely been a week, yet there is already a clear division between humans and yōkai. Lovers have split up. Friendships have been broken. The peaceful world we once knew is now on the verge of being destroyed.”

  A woman stepped into her field of vision. The light blue sundress she wore flattered her feminine figure and contrasted well with her dark blue hair, which glimmered like silk as it swayed in the breeze. She was very pretty. Karen wondered if she could somehow convince the woman to become a model now that her political career seemed shot.

  “Sophia,” she greeted as the woman sat down. “It’s been a while.”

  “It has. I apologize for calling you to meet me out of the blue like this.”

  Karen waved off the woman’s apology. “Don’t worry about it. Thanks to the recent upheaval, I’ve been pretty much out of a job, so it’s not like I have anything better to do. I can’t even get home thanks to all the security at the airport, so I’m stuck here until the situation changes.”

  “I’ve heard that the fashion industry was hit particularly hard thanks to the Yōkai Identification Act.” The woman nodded several times.

  “It was, but that’s not what you called me here to talk about, right?”

  “You’re right. It’s not.” Sophia flagged down a waiter and ordered herself the Florian house coffee. When the waiter left to get her order, she turned her attention back to Karen. “What I have to talk about is a matter far more grave.”

  Karen shifted in her seat, crossing her left leg over her right one. The conversation was about to enter uncharted and potentially dangerous territory. She would need to keep her ears open and her senses alert.

  “I know who you are,” Sophia began, “Karen Swift, former second-in-command of the Sons and Daughters of Humanity. You were one the best strategists they had. It was your strategies that allowed the group to rise to the position they enjoy now.”

  “That was a long time ago.” Karen waved her left hand through the air, even as she reached into her purse with the other, fingering the pistol hidden within. “Those were different times, and I’m a different person now.”

  “I know. You probably don’t know this, but eighteen years ago, you saved my lover during a raid that the Sons and Daughters of Humanity launched on a yōkai crime syndicate.”

  Karen pulled her hand out of her purse and leaned back. “Seventeen years ago… ah, yes. I remember that incident. Our fight had spilled out into a nearby neighborhood. The news called it a war between the mafia and an up-and-coming gang.” She snorted, amusement seeping into her mind. “But, your lover… hm, he wouldn’t happen to be a nekomata, would he?”

  “Yes, he is.” Sophia nodded. “He’s a bakeneko, to be more precise.”

  “I remember him. There was a lot of damage during that fight. I remember it had spilled into the streets and several civilians had gotten caught up in the battle.” Karen closed her eyes to block out the visions of innocent people being gunned down and killed with yōkai techniques. “It was an awful battle—one of my many failures. However, I remember your lover. He’d been protecting several human civilians during the fight.”

  Nodding again, Sophia smiled at her. “That’s right. Some of your men cornered him and tried to kill him, but you saved his life and let him go free. He was very grateful to you, you know? Even though you two never met again after that, he still speaks of you occasionally. As his lover, I sometimes feel a little jealous of the high regard he displays for you.”

  The words were meant in jest, but Karen could sense a little envy from the woman. She supposed that made sense. If someone you loved held another woman in high regard, then you were bound to feel a little jealous. It couldn’t be helped.

  The waiter stopped by their table and handed Sophia her drink. She thanked him with a smile. The young man blushed a bit and hurried away. Karen shook her head.

  As if she has a reason to be jealous.

  “Why don’t we get down to the reason you called for this meeting?” Karen said.

  “That’s probably a good idea.” Careful not to spill her beverage, Sophia set the cup down after taking a tentative sip and leaned forward. “I need your help. You’ve already seen what’s happening, the fear and resentment that’s being generated toward yōkai. The propaganda on the news isn’t helping.”

  Karen had indeed seen the new propaganda speeches on the news and read them in the newspaper. Every day a new headline would give a new testimonial about the dangers of yōkai, or how so-and-so had been manipulated and abused by yōkai. The most recent article she had read claimed that yōkai were responsible for nearly 90% of all human slave trafficking.

  “There should be yōkai working in the news stations to help mitigate that,” Karen said, pausing. “I’m guessing they were exposed and kicked out as well?”

  “That’s correct,” Sophia answered, her shoulders slumping. “The new law requires that all yōkai wear a wristband, which disrupts the energy keeping their true identities hidden. Without being able to conceal themselves as a human, they were outed and fired from their positions.”

  Karen understood. Most yōkai were not violent by nature. Contrary to what many humans thought right now, the truth was that very few yōkai actually knew how to fight, and fewer still knew how to use their youki for anything more than disguising themselves as a human. They wouldn’t have been able to resist when the Sons and Daughters of Humanity, along with the various world militaries, slapped wristbands on them and exposed them.

  She glanced back to where the kids had been. They were gone now, having run off and left the young inu boy alone. The inu wasn’t there anymore either. She could only assume he’d trudged back home in abject misery.

  “How is it that you want me to help?” asked Karen.

  Sophia tapped her finger against the table in a steady rhythm. “Myself and a few other humans have banded together with a number of yōkai in order to protest what’s happening. Our plan is to do nonviolent protests. We want to gather more and more like-minded individuals, until our idea has spread across the entire world. We hope that by doing so, we can show that not only are yōkai not a threat, but that it’s also possible for humans and yōkai to coexist peacefully.”

  Karen nodded several times. Given the current political climate, the idea Sophia proposed was really their only way to fight against the new laws set down by governments around the world. They couldn’t use covert means, as doing so would hurt their standing if they were found out, and violence was absolutely out of the question. That would only incite more hatred. Nonviolent protests were the only avenue available to them.

  “However, there’s a problem if you do this,” Karen cut straight to the heart of the matter.

  “Yes,” Sophia admitted. “If we do this, then we’ll be painting a large target on our backs. You know the Sons and Daughters of Humanity better than anyone, so you should know how far they’ll go to get what they want.”

  Karen did know. She knew very well of the extents her former organization would go to. Assassination. Framed murder. Mass killings. With the support they now had, the Sons and Daughters of Humanity could easily commit any heinous deed and blame it on the yōkai, furthering the hatred and fear that humanity already had for the supernal beings.

  “And what is it that you want me to do?”

  “I want you to help by coming up with strategies and plans in case the inconceivable ever does happen,” Sophia said. “While I would like to avoid violence, I’m not naive enough to assume that everyone else will feel the same way. If we’re going to do this,
then I would like to make sure we at least have a means of escaping from danger unharmed.”

  Karen felt a sense of brittleness in her soul.

  Seventeen years ago, she had left the Sons and Daughters of Humanity, hoping to escape the life of death and bloodshed that had been hers ever since Ethan convinced her to join the cause. Now Sophia was asking her to become a part of that once more, albeit, on the opposite side.

  But then again, can I really say that I’m no longer a part of this?

  Her son was already knee deep in the issue of yōkai. He was dating the granddaughter to one of the thirteen most powerful kitsune clans in the world, and he was happy. The last time she’d seen her son, right after he’d returned from rescuing his mate, she had seen how happy he was. Lilian made him happy. What’s more, he had dedicated himself to that girl.

  He’s already gone through so much.

  Just this summer, Kevin had traveled to Greece after nearly being killed by a kitsune who’d been after Lilian. While in Greece, Lilian had been kidnapped by that same kitsune and her family, and then he and Iris had traveled across the middle east, infiltrated China, and fought against the most powerful Celestial Clan to rescue her. If he would go to such lengths for his mate, then it meant no matter what was happening in this world, whether he was up against humans or yōkai, Kevin would stand up and fight.

  Can I call myself his mother if I’m not willing to do the same?

  “If I do this for you, then I have something that I want you to do for me,” Karen said at last.

  “A favor for a favor?” Sophia thought it over, then shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Name your price.”

  And so, Karen told Sophia exactly what she wanted in exchange for her help.

  Thus, a new alliance was forged.

  CHAPTER 6

  GROWING PREJUDICE

  School had changed since the Yōkai Identification Act was put in place. Lines had been drawn. Tension could be seen clearly in the many students who attended, and a palpable sense of fear and uncertainty hung thick in the air, threatening to choke the life out everyone attending. A clear division could now be seen amongst the student body.