Lesson Thirteen: Surprise Field Lesson

The children walked in loose clusters while proudly holding their fruit purchases like trophies from a heroic quest.

Responsible adult Mutsuki walked behind them. By the end of it all, he looked like he needed to sleep for forty-eight hours straight.

Youchan watched him carefully. He’d used more magic than he admitted. He’d kept eight illusions running. He’d cushioned a falling human. He’d suppressed half a dozen near-explosions of yokai power. His steps were slowing and his shoulders were dipping. That idol posture slowly melted into the ojisan that he was.

‘Sensei,’ she whispered as she drifted beside him. ‘Are you alright?’

‘I’m fine,’ he murmured. ‘Just… tired.’

‘Ah~ I need to return the offering basket to the purification basin,’ Youchan said. ‘Please stay on the path. I’ll meet you all back at the shrine.’

She jogged lightly toward her shortcut portal torii. We never got the chance to eat together yet. Maybe I can start preparing something now. By the time Sensei gets back to the shrine, I’d have food ready for him!

The moment she disappeared through the portal, Mutsuki felt a wrongness in the air. He stopped and turned slightly to study the surroundings.

‘…Sensei?’ Honey asked.

Before Mutsuki could answer, the shadows beneath the cedar trees rippled. Three cloaked and masked figures stepped out. They fanned out in a formation.

They exude malicious aura in the bureaucratic way exorcists and yokai hunters sometimes carried. His blood ran cold.

‘I’m fine, but what about the kids?’

One scoffed and eyed him like a specimen. ‘So it’s true. You’re playing teacher now. How dignified… for a contaminated heir.’

The woman in the middle sneered. ‘Using magic in public again, Mutsuki? Should we report that? Or is that “Maria’s problem”?’

Mutsuki’s hand twitched to form a protective sigil, but he never got the chance.

The children reacted first.

‘STAY AWAY FROM OUR SENSEI!’ Honey roared. It came out as a very threatening cub-growl
and he flung himself in front of Mutsuki like a little boulder.

‘Just what I wanted.’ Akashi bared his wolf fangs. ‘I’ll fight you. Right now. All of you.’

Sumire stepped forward gracefully. The air around her swirled into a cloud. ‘I would suggest you rethink this absurdity,’ she threatened sweetly.

Mon’s hat glowed ominously. ‘I’m not supposed to use my hat like this, but grandpa said on special occasions, I could. And this seems special enough.’

Gon squinted at the intruders. ‘Wow. Worst disguises ever. What are you supposed to be? Discount ninjas?’

Meow clung to Mutsuki’s sleeve but hissed like a cornered cat. Her tail puffed to triple size. Kishin trembled, but his little oni bat was raised in defensive stance. Kojiro spread his invisible tengu wings.

‘How dare you,’ he said in his cute tengu dialect, ‘approach Sensei with such murderous aura. Filthy amateurs.’

Mutsuki was barely able to hold the illusion magic anymore. His knees shook.

Another cloaked figure barked a cruel laugh. ‘Look at that. Barely holding himself together. You’re dangerous, Mutsuki. A liability.’

The kids poised for a fight.

‘Sensei is tired cause he saved a human!’ Honey yelled.

‘Children! Settled down.’ he barely managed to say, ‘step back. These people are—’

The intruders struck before Mutsuki could finish.

A flicker of talismanic light surged toward him like a whip, but Sumire snapped her fingers and a wall of water dissolved it midair. Honey lunged with a full bear-bodied tackle that sent dirt flying. Akashi leapt beside him with claws extended, moving in sync like seasoned fighters. Gon and Mon teamed up in the worst, most effective way possible:

‘ILLUSION SMOKE!!’ Gon yelled.

‘MAGICALLY UNSTABLE CONFETTI!!’ Mon shouted.

The combination exploded in a sparkling, slightly sticky cloud that blinded the assailants.

Meow, eyes squeezed shut, accidentally tripped. Her falling foot landed on a loose stone, which shot forward like a bullet and struck one masked figure squarely in the knee. He stumbled.

Kojiro was on him instantly and delivered an elegant flying kick. ‘I told you,’ he muttered mid-air, ‘no one threatens my teacher.’ Other than me!

Kishin shook like a leaf but still raised his bat and whispered, ‘Brave… brave… brave…’

His oni aura flared and a shockwave burst from him, forcing the attackers two steps back.

Mutsuki could only stare. They were tiny, chaotic, and untrained for combat. And yet, they were protecting him with everything they had.

‘Kids…’ he whispered.

My kids…

The masked intruders regrouped. They were rattled but not defeated. One raised a hand and gathered a spiral of sealing magic. They aimed the spell directly at Mutsuki’s heart. He stiffened.

‘I’m not letting that hit him!’ Honey shouted.

‘I’m faster!’ Akashi barked.

‘I am more refined,’ Sumire argued.

They all moved at once, cornering Mutsuki and the kids.

‘What is going on here?’ A voice strong enough to cut through the commotion stopped both parties mid-motion.

Youchan stood with a fresh purification ladle in one hand. Her aura flared a perfect combination of peaceful and absolutely terrifying.

‘You know I will report this right?’

The masked assailants looked at each other and stepped away. They backed off and vanished into the woods without a sound.

Youchan looked at the children. At Mutsuki. At the scuffed ground and faintly smoking grass.

‘…I was gone for two minutes.’

‘They attacked Sensei!’ Honey pointed aggressively.

‘We defended him!’ Gon bragged.

‘Flawlessly,’ Kojiro corrected.

‘I tripped but it helped!’ Meow added.

‘I screamed inside my heart,’ Kishin whispered.

Mon raised his hat to show it was still glowing menacingly. ‘And I didn’t even use my emergency spell! Yet. But I would’ve.’

Sumire adjusted her hair (seaweeds). ‘I handled the brunt of the assault,’ she said, casually ignoring the truth of their cute teamwork.

Mutsuki opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened again.

‘Youchan… I’m so sorry… they… I couldn’t…’

‘Everyone is unharmed,’ she said softly. ‘That is enough for today.’ Tomorrow we fight! She was still deeply unhappy about the whole scenario.

His breath hitched. He was unable to hide his sadness. The children swarmed him. Clinging, hugging, crowding, fussing.

‘I can fight more! I can keep going!’

‘I didn’t cry! I didn’t… well, I almost… but I didn’t!’

‘Sensei your sleeve is dirty.’

‘Do those people come here often?!’

‘Sensei, I’ll protect you always!’

‘Me too!’

‘ME MORE!!!’

‘No, ME MORE!!!’

‘Drink water Sensei.’

‘No, eat my apple!’

‘HE CAN EAT MY BANANA!’

Mutsuki’s knees nearly buckled under the sudden surge of emotion.

This…this must be what family feels like. Not blood, not lineage, not duty. But being loved back.

Mutsuki closed his eyes. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured.

The enemies were gone. The danger had passed. And Mutsuki, for the first time, felt safer surrounded by these tiny disasters than he ever had among adults. Eight little yokai beamed up at him proudly.

Youchan watched the scene quietly as she guide them all back toward the shrine through the shortcut portal. I can see why the kids and Maria-sama adores him so much. Am I allowed to adore him too?

They made it through the torii and into the shrine just as the sky blushed pink with sunset. And together, sensei, shrine maiden, and eight fiercely loyal misfits, stepped back into safety.

After scene: Mutsuki passed out asleep and Youchan couldn’t dine with him again.