Visiting the Kagurayama Family

“I can’t believe Ken invited him over!” Kazuya grumbled, sitting at the wheel.

He glared through the mirror at Yukihiro, sitting with Kasane at the back. Inuko sat with Kazuya at the front. They had finished their ice cream a few minutes ago and were now driving to the Kagurayama Estate, where Kazuya’s and Kasane’s distant cousin, Kenzō, had invited them for dinner.

“Your girlfriend was invited.” Kasane smiled at Kazuya. “So, Ken thought my friend shouldn’t be left out.”

Yukihiro chuckled and stretched his arm across the backseat, embracing Kasane. He crossed his legs and looked at Kazuya.

“What, is it so bad that I should join the party?” He smirked.

Kazuya wished he could tear that smug smile off Yukihiro’s face. He took a deep breath and adjusted his tie.

“Anyway, I’m glad that nobody of importance saw us in the cafe together,” he said. “I don’t want to be associated with the yakuza.”

After half an hour of driving, the Kagurayama Estate came into view. It was a wooden castle with multiple blue roofs, built on a cliff overlooking the sea. It was surrounded by sumptuous gardens and cherry blossom groves, and defended by a stone fence, like an ancient fortress. It had many smithies on its grounds, and a blue-roofed temple dedicated to Dairyū Ōji no Kami, Ryūjin’s son. Dairyū was the only kami who left the God Realm long ago to fight malevolent yōkai on the earth.

The Kagurayama was an ancient noble family of blacksmiths who had forged weapons from Dairyū’s scales for centuries and had recently begun forging bullets for the police. Their main occupation was swordsmithry, and the secret of their craftsmanship was passed down from parent to child. Kenzō, Kazuya’s best friend, was the current heir of the family.

As Kazuya’s grey Honda Civic approached the fortress, Yukihiro winced and changed form. His human ears transformed into those of a white fox. His nine, fluffy white foxtails emerged, too. Kasane gasped with excitement and clasped all of his nine tails.

“Aww!” She dug her face into the fluff. “How lovely! But didn’t you say you disliked showing your fox features in public?”

“I do.” Yukihiro squirmed, his cheeks burning. “Dairyū no Kami-sama’s pressure around the castle broke my illusory magic.”

Kazuya sighed with exasperation at Kasane hugging Yukihiro’s foxtails, squeaking like a child. She had always been partial to fluff. But Kazuya wasn’t indifferent to it, either. The sight of Inuko’s dog ears and tail always gave him butterflies in his stomach.

The gates of the Kagurayama fortress opened with a clang. Kazuya drove inside and rolled his car into the underground garage, parking among dozens of the Kagurayama Clan’s vehicles. He and his friends got out and entered a golden elevator, which led upwards into the mansion.

“Wow, Mr Kagurayama is rich,” Inuko muttered.

“He belongs to a family with centuries-old wealth.” Kazuya chuckled. “That’s why he’s always so happy-go-lucky.”

“His optimism has helped us in our hard times, though.” Kasane bitterly smiled.

The elevator arrived on the ground floor, and Kazuya and his friends exited. In the vestibule, two shelves were provided: one for outdoor shoes, and the other with pairs of straw flip-flops for the guests. The friends began changing their shoes.

“What a colourful gang!” a high-pitched voice reached their ears, tinkling like a thousand pearls but resonant like a dragon’s breath. “The Hattori siblings and their beloved white canines!”

The friends flushed up and turned to the door. A 22-year-old man was leaning against the side jamb, smirking at them with his arms crossed. He had bushy, dark purple hair tied in a long braid that reached his ankles. His eyes were like rainbow pearls, with pupils as narrow as half-moons. He wore golden earrings with pink pearls and blue crystals, a blue jinbei with wave depictions, and wooden flip-flops on his clawed feet. His hands had blue claws, too, dulled from constant button-pushing on joysticks and keyboards.

“Oh, you must be Mr Kagurayama!” Inuko recognised Kenzō from the profile picture on his phone account. She bowed formally. “It’s an honour to meet you! I’m Inuko Takeda, of Raijū’s Clan.”

“Thanks for inviting me!” Yukihiro didn’t fall behind, giving the half-dragon-kami a respectful bow. “I’m Yukihiro Kagenashi.”

“The pleasure’s all mine!” Kenzō grinned, exposing his fangs. “Well, come in!” He beckoned them. As Kazuya and Kasane stepped in, he embraced them. “I’ve missed you two so much!”

“We missed you, too, Ken!” Kasane hugged him.

“I’ve missed your mom’s cooking,” Kazuya teased, gently pushing him off.

“Hmph, you heartless seaweed!” Kenzō laughed, rubbing Kazuya’s dark green hair. “And here I am, trying to be a proper host, for once!”

Yukihiro felt the warm, divine energy emanating from Kenzō. It elevated his spirits and gave him a heartache, all at once. He remembered the bond he’d lost with his patron goddess, Inari. Inuko, on the other hand, wagged her tail, happy to see Kazuya laughing and relaxed around Kenzō.

They do feel like brothers. She smiled.

“Grandpa and Grandauntie Rin are in the dining room,” Kenzō said. “And Dad’s playing shōgi with Shiroki.” He turned to Yukihiro with a mischievous smile. “You know, Inari’s oldest guardian fox? – After Ginrei vanished, that is.”

Yukihiro’s blood froze, and his ears twitched at Ginrei’s and Shiroki’s mention. Shiroki was a 600-year-old fox of Inari Ōkami, considered the oldest among his kind. The only guardian fox who had lived longer than him was Ginrei, the founder of the Kagenashi Clan, whose blood Yukihiro shared. But Ginrei fell from Inari’s grace over 800 years ago.

“Uncle Dairyū Ōji no Kami is here?!” Kazuya exclaimed, a little frightened by Kenzō’s remark. “Doesn’t he go to the God Realm for five days every 15th of the month? It’s July 19 now.”

“Mom’s ramen brought him back earlier today.” Kenzō laughed.

He led the group to the dining room. His grandfather, Hiroto, and Kazuya’s and Kasane’s grandmother, Rin Hattori, were sitting at the table. Hiroto was a 75-year-old man with blue eyes and a bristly white moustache and beard. His white hair carried tinges of purple, and his hands had a blacksmith’s blisters. He and Rin chatted about their late spouses – the Hattori twins, Hanako and Haruki – who had tied their families together. Kenzō introduced Yukihiro and Inuko to them, and after the youths had settled at the table, he left through a sliding door to call his father.

“You’re a beauty, alright!” Rin smiled at Inuko, who had sat down beside her. “No wonder Kazu fell for you.”

“Aww, thank you so much!” Inuko blushed, wagging her tail.

“Grandma!” Kazuya cried, his cheeks burning. Everyone laughed.

“So, how did you and Mr Kagenashi meet, Kasane?” Rin turned to her granddaughter. She took her affair with a fox yakuza more lightly than Kazuya when she heard about it four years ago. She believed Kasane’s words that Yukihiro was innocent in her son’s murder. “You never told me the details.”

Kazuya widened his eyes. They couldn’t tell Grandma Rin that the 18-year-old Kasane drugged Yukihiro, her customer, to learn the truth about their parents’ murder! But it turned out that the full story was different.

“After I had inspected my new flower shop in Minato City, I got lost on my way home,” Kasane said, her cheeks pink. “My phone was dead. I strolled into the Inari Woods by accident, and evening fell upon me.”

“Oh, my!” Rin put her hand to her mouth. “So that was why you were late back then, and we couldn’t even contact you! How did you get out?”

“Well…” Kasane turned redder. “I came across a cave with some burnt logs in the forest. It should’ve been Inari’s shrine once, because there was a fox statue near it. I thought the fox looked lonesome, like me. Inari’s foxes love wisteria, so I crafted a garland of wisteria blossoms with my magic and bound it around the statue’s neck. I honoured the shrine and prayed to Inari Ōkami-sama for guidance.”

“Did she answer?” Inuko asked, enticed by the story.

“The spirit of the forest answered.” Kasane smiled. “A giant white fox with deep, crimson eyes approached me. I knew he should be Inari’s guardian, so I bowed to him. He showed only one tail then, so I didn’t realise he was a nine-tailed fox!” She chuckled. “He led me out of the forest to the bus station. I gave him my home-made sandwich in gratitude, and we parted ways. Two days later, Yukihiro visited my shop. After a few meetings,”—she looked significantly at Kazuya and Inuko, signalling that she wouldn’t tell the violent parts to the grandparents—“he and I became friends. Years later, he revealed that he was the fox from that day.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Rin brightened up. She turned to her brother-in-law. “Almost like Nene and Dairyū Ōji no Kami-sama, right, Hiroto?”

“I should say!” Hiroto laughed. “Hooking a guardian fox with a sandwich? – The Hattori girls have a knack for attracting deities with their cooking!”

Everyone burst into laughter, while Yukihiro hid his face in his nine tails from embarrassment.

“Did I just hear you all laughing about me?” a high-pitched voice, like a thousand tinkling pearls, echoed from the sliding door, sending chills down everyone’s spines.

Kenzō had returned with two entities: Shiroki, Inari’s oldest guardian fox with a fluffy white tail and crimson eyes, and a tall, uncanny man, the owner of the ghastly voice. He had long, white hair tied in a braid that reached his ankles, and rainbow eyes with pupils as narrow as crescents. His skin was pale, and his lips were blue. His blue claws were as sharp as blades. He wore pearl earrings and a blue kimono with wave depictions, but his feet were bare.

Yukihiro felt such awful energy coming from the man that his nine tails froze in horror. This was Dairyū Ōji no Kami, the dragon prince – the bane of all malevolent yōkai.