2.22: Yuri in the AirRui heaved a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping so dramatically it looked like the weight of the whole entire apartment complex had nded on them. “How are the movers going to get up to my office now? Plus the other tenants are going to be inconvenienced until Old Screamy is fixed.”

  Her foot nudged a crooked elevator panel on the ground, and the metal responded with a half-hearted CLUNK, as if agreeing with her misery.

  “There’s other tenants?” I asked, still trembling from our brush with death and lingering nausea swirling in my stomach. My voice cracked. My legs wobbled.

  Rui puffed her chest out confidently, brushing dust off her skirt as if surviving a deadly plummet was merely lunchtime cardio for her. “I’ve never met them, but I’m sure that this building has so much charm that no one would be able to resist its allure!”

  My head crooked to the side in slow disbelief. Even Natalia-sama gave Rui a compassionate smile usually reserved for delusional children.

  “Don’t worry, RuiRui. Yōkai will be handling it. It shouldn’t be a problem for them.” Natalia-sama stepped closer and gently patted Rui’s head, smoothing down bits of pster dust tangled in her hair.

  Rui leaned into the touch like a pampered kitten.

  Natalia-sama then turned and added warmly, “Excellent thinking, Akuchi-chan.”She offered Akuchi a headpat and a kiss on her forehead as well.

  Akuchi, standing in her human form with slightly frazzled hair and dust smeared across her cheek, stiffened at first… then her ears sprouted and twitched, her posture softened, and her cheeks bloomed into a faint blush. She tried to look aloof but failed miserably.“T-Thank you,” she murmured, her hands csping behind her back.

  Nearby, Ume flicked a stray jelly glob off her dress and giggled behind her hand.

  “We need a ride to the north. Would you mind doing the honors?” Natalia-sama asked, turning her serene gaze toward Akuchi.

  Akuchi froze for precisely half a second, her eyes darting between Sumire, Rui, the broken elevator shaft, and the open street.

  She hesitated a moment before she began moonwalking toward the nearby street.In perfect form.A glide-step.A backward slide.Michael-Jackson-but-with-a-ton-of-chaotic-tanuki-energy.Her expression remained deadly serious the entire time.

  Rui stared, dumbfounded. “Why… why are you showboating again? JUST TRANSFORM, IDIOT!”

  Akuchi did not answer. She only moonwalked harder.

  When she passed the sidewalk…

  POOF

  A burst of smoke erupted around her, swirling with little sparkles of her tanuki magic. The sound was like a magician dramatically snapping open a cape.

  As the smoke thinned, a compact, boxy Tokyo-style kei van stood where Akuchi had been. It had perfect mundane coloration, dull urban-gray paint, and a slightly dented bumper to blend into the city's background noise. The side mirrors twitched once, as if testing their new joints.

  Natalia-sama nodded approvingly.

  Ume cpped cutely.

  Rui nodded thoughtfully. “But you should have turned into a VTOL again! It’ll take forever to get across Tokyo in this!”

  Akuchi just honked at Rui.

  Akuchi-van pulled up in front of Natalia-sama’s old house with her at the wheel.

  The van’s headlights dimmed as she idled at the curb, her engine humming with a strangely smug vibration… as if Akuchi was proud of her own driving performance. A moment ter the driver’s window rolled down just enough for a pair of glossy civet eyes to peek outward before van-Akuchi retracted them again, pretending not to be caught preening.

  She’d argued about who got to drive her as usual, but they had just been token compints.

  But in the end, it made the most sense for Natalia-sama, our only legally registered driver, to take the wheel… even if Akuchi drove herself half the time while Natalia-sama calmly directed her like a divine GPS system.

  Ume rode with her forehead pressed to the window, humming softly. Rui had spent most of the ride leaning back with her arms crossed. We made our way across Tokyo through busy intersections, weaving between delivery scooters, crowded buses, and tired commuters. Horns honked. Neon reflected off passing windows. The city pulsed with its usual te-evening life.

  Eventually we reached a freeway and drove along it for a long stretch, the skyline thinning until apartment buildings gave way to quieter districts, then into the tree-lined outskirts lined with much older structures.

  The air shifted, fresher and cooler, and the buildings were spaced further apart.

  We passed a few shrines on the way, not unlike the one that we were heading to, their nterns glowing by the roadside.

  By the time we reached the northern part of Tokyo where her old house was, even Rui had stopped talking and pressed her face to the window, taking in the change of scenery.

  We went through a multitude of intersections… some familiar, some I’d never seen in my whole life, before we finally pulled up in front of the old house…

  …or rather, at the shrine fronting it.

  Stone steps rose elegantly from the sidewalk. Fox statues fnked the entrance, moss-dusted and serene, all with nine tails. The shrine’s wooden gate stood open, the faint scent of incense drifting from within. Beyond it, the house waited… quiet, timeless and dignified.

  “I think Rui was right. Why did we waste time driving across Tokyo like this?” I asked, rubbing my stomach. Each bump on the road had aggravated my cramps, and my pad felt like an adventurer’s shield wedged in my underwear.

  Natalia-sama stepped out of the van gracefully, the ntern light catching in her hair. “It would have been a much better idea,” she admitted with a small nod. “We could have quietly nded in my garden, but Akuchi is right. I don’t want the priests to be armed at our sudden appearance from the back.”

  She turned toward the entrance with a serene smile.

  “Let’s go in and pay our respects.”

  Rui hopped out of the van and stretched her back, groaning loudly. “Finally! I thought we were going to be on the road forever.”

  Ume hopped out of the sliding door gracefully. “It’s beautiful in the front too,” she whispered, delighted. “I love the ancient atmosphere. The shrine feels very sacred and pure and faintly creepy.”

  Akuchi-van gave a single proud chirp from her horn.

  POOF

  Akuchi stood beside us in her human form, straightening her hoodie as though transforming from a motor vehicle back into a girl was just another part of her daily schedule.

  She dusted off her sleeves, then flicked her hair back in a motion that suggested the entire shrine had been awaiting her stylish arrival.

  The five of us approached the stone steps.

  Up close, the shrine felt alive.

  Lanterns hung beneath the eaves, their warm light painting gentle arcs across the worn stone path. The two fox statues fnking the torii gate were older than they first appeared, the edges softened by decades of rain, the eyes darkened by time, their expressions patient and watchful. Fallen gingko leaves collected along the walkway, stirring faintly with the night breeze.

  The rgest trees had sacred straw ropes, shimenawa, wrapped around them with shide, paper charms, fpping in the soft evening breeze.

  Rui inhaled deeply. “Smells great.”

  “I agree.” Ume giggled, her fangies glinting.

  “... it smells like dog poo.” I commented, cramping. There was too much ripe gingko fruit scent in the air.

  “It should… What? Haven’t they been taking proper care of the grounds?” Natalia-sama said, examining everything around us carefully. There were a few rotting fruits ying under the gingko boughs.

  “I’ll have to speak with the priest about it ter,” Natalia-sama shrugged and beamed, brushing aside her momentary embarrassment as she stepped beneath a torii with an almost reverent poise. “This pce has existed ever since the Edo period. The house was rebuilt in the early Shōwa era… but the grounds themselves are much older.”

  As we approached the offering box, two shrine maidens stepped out from the wooden corridor beyond that bordered the courtyard.

  Both wore traditional red hakama and white kosode.

  The first was calm, graceful, and composed. She had long bck hair tied neatly back, her features serene like a still pond. She bowed the moment she saw Natalia-sama.

  “Good evening, Lady Guardian,” she said gently.

  The second peeked from behind her, bright-eyed, curious, and far younger. Her bangs were slightly uneven as if she’d cut them herself. She bowed quickly.

  Rui’s pupils turned into sparkles…. She was looking at them with open interest.

  “Oh no. Yuri-oni mode.” I whispered under my breath.

  “Yes,” Ume giggled.

  Behind them, an elderly priest shuffled out from the honden corridor, his white robes rustling softly. His back was slightly hunched, but his presence emanated the kind of quiet authority old priests seemed to be born with.

  “Natalia-sama,” he greeted her with warm familiarity. “It has been too long.”

  Natalia-sama bowed deeply. A true bow, respectful and grateful. “Thank you, Hoshino-san. For caring for this pce for so long.”

  His eyes softened. “It is an honor. This shrine thrives because of your lingering radiance.”

  The younger miko nodded eagerly. “We sweep the grounds every day! And to have the Guardian return… this is truly auspicious!”

  “Would you mind picking up the gingko fruits? It might be a good idea to pick them before they fall,” Natalia-sama asked.

  Both of the miko blushed and squirmed. The priest winced and bowed deeply.

  Rui leaned toward me. “If it meant sweeping with the miko priestesses, I wouldn’t mind sweeping the grounds every day too,” she giggled.

  I elbowed her gently, rolling my eyes.

  She winced dramatically as though I’d kicked her in the gut.

  Mine still felt like Aika was pummeling it.

  Natalia-sama gestured toward us. “These are my companions. They will be staying in the house behind the shrine from this evening onward. I will be transferring ownership of the residence itself back into human hands, but with an arrangement… the park in the front, the shrine will remain under priestly care.”

  The older priest nodded. “That is fine. We do not use the house. We merely are its caretakers. You are generous, Natalia-sama.”He gnced at us with calm curiosity. “May I ask who our new neighbors are?”

  Rui puffed up. “I’m Shinohara Rui-sama. We’re members of SSDS. A yōkai detective agency. And they’re my harem!”

  “My…?” I choked.

  …

  …

  The priest and priestesses stared at us for a long time in silence.

  Natalia-sama hid a ugh behind her dignified dress’ sleeve.

  Ume bowed politely to the mikos, who waved back with small smiles. Akuchi bowed too.

  But then Ume ruined the formality by whispering, “I’m a vampire. I collect body parts and cursed antiques. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” she eyed the Mikos thoughtfully. “Do I smell yuri in the air?”

  Rui stepped on her foot.

  “Owie…” Umi winced dramatically.

  The mikos looked at each other with little blushes, despite the more disturbing things she said.

  The priest grumbled faintly under his breath about unholy creatures residing in his shrine.

  He stepped aside and gestured toward the narrow stone path leading beyond the shrine toward the minka.

  “Please, go on. The house has been kept clean, the flowers refreshed daily. As always, it waits for its mistress to return.”

  Natalia-sama nodded, a softness in her gaze. “Thank you.”

  We followed her along the path.

  Relwing