The Escape and the Chase

Inuko saw Kazuya’s rage and loss of self-control, Yukihiro grinning at him, and the foxes encroaching on them. The five-tailed golden fox man, Hikari, and the nine-tailed black fox woman, Kurone, had already restrained Inuko. She must act fast to get herself and Hattori Senpai out of this fox den.

If Senpai has brought us here for his selfish reasons, and if even the magical bullets can’t kill Yukihiro Kagenashi, our battle here is meaningless. Inuko frowned. This power might have a severe backlash on me, but it’s the only way.

She closed her eyes, focusing her lightning magic within her body. She began chanting in a barely audible whisper, so that she wouldn’t attract her captor foxes’ attention.

“Raijin Kami-sama, please amplify my fiery bark to blow away the enemies before me!” she said, addressing her patron god.

She reopened her eyes and took a deep breath, gathering strength in her lungs. Her body began zapping so hard that even Hikari, the golden fox, couldn’t restrain it with his Light Magic.

“Ah!” He yelped, hurt by Inuko’s lightning. He let go of her and rubbed his aching hands.

“W-What is she doing?” Kurone, the black fox woman, snarled, getting zapped by Inuko’s magic as well. She retreated.

Their cries drew Yukihiro’s and Kazuya’s attention. Kazuya stared dumbfounded at Inuko, not believing she repelled foxes with more than five tails with such ease. Yukihiro, on his part, sensed chills down his spine. His pupils narrowed to slits when he saw how Inuko had gathered her lightning magic in her throat.

I knew this half-breed was Thunder Beast Raijū’s blood, but how can she use his Bark? Yukihiro’s eye twitched.

Raijū’s Bark was the strongest Lightning Magic only his descendants could use, but it required them to channel their patron god Raijin’s power. Yukihiro couldn’t channel Inari’s power, so he was frustrated by a half-breed using her god’s one. But then, his heart filled with a different concern. His five-tailed fox was too close to Inuko.

Hikari… He widened his eyes. He can’t withstand Raijū’s Bark from that distance!

He pushed Kazuya away and ran towards Hikari, Inuko, and Kurone.

“Hikari, get away from her, fast!” he shouted, almost like a father worried for his son.

But he was too late. Inuko opened her mouth and let out a thunderous bark, spreading lightning and flame of tremendous power. The three-tailed fox guards got blown away to the corners, but remained conscious because they had stood far enough from Inuko. Kurone barely held herself from slamming into the wall from the impact, but she was a nine-tailed fox, the strongest kind, so she withstood the hit. Hikari, on the other hand, got smashed into the wall, breaking his spine. He coughed up blood and fell on the floor, unconscious. Yukihiro and Kazuya were the only ones unharmed, the former because of his strength, and the latter because Inuko’s bark was meant to protect him.

“Hikari!” Yukihiro screeched, running to the downed fox.

Before Kazuya could digest what had happened, Inuko grabbed him up as if he were as light as a feather and ran out of the room. She jumped off the second-floor bannisters of the nightclub hall and over the dancing crowd, who didn’t suspect a thing amidst the banging techno beats and neon lights barely illuminating the darkness. Inuko darted through the club gates out into the night street, with the startled Kazuya in her arms like a damsel in distress. She pushed him into the driver’s seat in his Honda Civic and jumped into the seat beside him.

“Hit the… gas,” she wheezed, coughing up blood.

Her throat was severely injured. Raijū’s Bark had taken a toll on her as a half-human. Her eyelids were drooping, and her consciousness was fading. She barely managed to tie her seatbelt before slumping forward, her fluffy white tail and ears hanging down.

“Miss Takeda, stay with me!” Kazuya exclaimed, shaking her. But Inuko had fainted. Kazuya snarled and turned on the engine. “Crap, this is all my fault! If only I weren’t so impulsive!”

In the nightclub’s staff room on the second floor, Yukihiro held the unconscious Hikari in his arms, resting the boy’s head on his knees. His eyebrows had drawn up in the inner corners, and his crimson eyes glimmered with tears. His hands shook, and his lips trembled as he eyed the injured fox.

“Hikari…” he whispered, almost like a doting father and not a thirty-three-year-old. “Please, don’t die on me!”

He winced and yelped, hugging the unconscious boy. Rage began to fill his heart, slowly replacing his grief. He snarled and glared at the open door, whence the detectives had escaped.

“Chase those two!” He ordered his foxes. “Don’t come back until you’ve killed that mutt! But don’t hurt Hattori.”

“Yes, Wakagashira!” Kurone and the three-tailed foxes dashed to the door, determined to make the detectives pay for hurting their kinsman.

By the time Kazuya hit the gas and launched his car through the busy night streets of Tokyo, the enraged fox thugs were on his and Inuko’s tail, mounted on their bikes or sitting in their black cars. Kazuya sped through the streets like a madman, drifting into the narrow alleys to shake off the pursuers, and worried about his fainted, bleeding colleague by his side.

Where do I go? Those fox freaks run all hospitals in this district! He thought, clutching the wheel in stress. It’ll take too long to reach other areas… And what doctor can even treat Inuko? It’s rare to find someone who can heal both yōkai and humans! Wait a minute… He glanced at his phone. He knew someone who could heal any creature. The trouble was that he had hardly spoken to her for years. He gulped. I’ll have to face Big Sis Kasane… But that’s a small risk against Miss Takeda’s life at stake! He looked at his wounded colleague, whose slumped, fluffy tail rubbed against his shoulder. It’s my fault she got injured. I’ll never forgive myself if anything happens to her!

He swerved to the right, heading towards the street where his sister’s flower shop and living apartment were located.

“Sheri,” he addressed his phone’s virtual assistant with a trembling voice, “call Big Sis!”

“Initiating the call,” Sheri answered in her robotic tone.

Sweat poured down Kazuya’s forehead. He constantly looked into his car’s mirrors, checking on his pursuers. They were on his tail and even shot his car with foxfire-imbued bullets. Kazuya drifted around at high speed, avoiding their shots and trying to lose them. He wasn’t as afraid of the chase. He had been in worse predicaments. He could shoot those freaks with magical bullets if he had to. Yukihiro had said that only he and his grandfather were guardians, which meant that the rest of the Kagenashi foxes weren’t. So, the magical bullets crafted with the dragon god Dairyū’s scales could kill them.

The biggest trouble for Kazuya was the call he had initiated. He’d have to face his older sister, Kasane, and explain how recklessly he’d barged into the Kagenashi Clan’s nightclub to take revenge on Yukihiro for dating her. He and Kasane had hardly spoken these last four years after Kazuya found out about her affair. So, he feared talking to her now.

The call got through.

“Kazu?” Kasane’s mild, sleepy voice echoed from the phone. “What’s wrong? A-Are you alright? You’re speeding!”

As expected, she had guessed that he might be in trouble, calling of his own accord so late at night, with the roaring engine in the background.

“Big Sis, please don’t ask any questions!” Kazuya sputtered, swerving radically to shake off another biker. “I-I’ll explain everything when I’m there. I’ll drop by your place in fifteen minutes, so please be up by then! My friend needs your healing powers. See you!”

He dropped the call on his startled sister and made another brisk turn. Just a few minutes ago, he had been angry with Kasane over dating Yukihiro. But now, he begged the gods that her friendship with the yakuza heir would be enough to stop those foxes from killing him and Inuko for all they had done… because of his folly.