Tuesday Morning Breakfast

I awoke to the sound of three loud sounds. I checked around to see what it was, but nothing was out of the ordinary, except the fact that I was back in the hotel.

How’d I get back here? I was talking with the Kishin, but now I’m—bang! Bang! Bang!

I knew where it was coming from this time; my thoughts were interrupted by someone banging on the door.

“Who is it?”

“So you’re awake now? Then start moving over to the dining room, we have a lot to discuss…” I began to roll out of bed when I thought he was finished, but when I heard “especially about last night,” my heart sank.

Does he know about what we did? Are we in trouble? How are Yukimura and Rentarou? Is Satori still here?

All those thoughts ran through my head as I threw on some presentable clothes. Then, with great haste, I raced down the hall, down the steps, following the hotel’s previously made signs into the dining room.

When I opened the door, only three people were sitting down and eating. The first was Takeda, who was cutting his food and had a cup of coffee in his hand. The second was Yukimura, who was sitting next to him, but she was only looking down at the floor. Lastly, there was Satori, who was digging in on their plate.

“Where are Rentarou and Hinako?”

“In the infirmary. I was going to ask if you saw anything happen last night to see what did that to him, but after seeing the horn on your head, I know something happened.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Shin, your horn grew. Last night, you transformed again, didn’t you?”

I averted my eyes from his as I sat in my seat. “I don’t know how it got like this…”

“Don’t lie!” Takeda jammed his fork into the table. “Be honest with me, because when I woke up, I saw Rentarou on death’s door, my daughter drained out of energy, your horn grew, and Satori came in out of nowhere. So answer me now, truthfully, before I put each and every one of you on 24-hour surveillance.”

“Does that include me, Taku?” Satori asked, waving around a slice of bacon on her fork.

“Yes, especially you…” Takeda pulled his fork out of the table before pointing it at me. “Now, speak. What happened last night?”

A drop of sweat dripped from my skin. I tried to exchange a look with her, to understand what I should say, but she didn’t even glance in my direction. The only person my eyes landed on was Takeda. His eyes were stern, like he was annoyed, but he wasn’t rushing me. Takeda only prodded at the plate of scrambled eggs in front of him.

He stared at me, not taking a single bite of his food. How long did he stare at me before I spoke? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Time seemed to have stood still, locking Takeda into staring directly into my soul. I had no other choice but to look back, staring endlessly until the words he said came back to me: Don’t get distracted by the fact that we’re here; remember why we’re here.

That’s right, I need to focus on training. I shouldn’t have snuck out last night… but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have known about my grandmother… and if I didn’t, Rentarou and Yukimura wouldn’t be exhausted or hurt. It’s my fault.

I sprang up from my seat before I bowed toward Takeda. My eyes only looked toward the tiled floor as I spoke. “Takeda, I’m sorry. Last night, I wanted to visit my grandmother, so I snuck out, and I got caught by Yukimura and Rentarou. So, they accompanied me to her house, and then we saw her dead… There was a yokai there… and it’s my fault things ended this way. I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“Huh?” Tears ran down my face as I brought my head up to meet Takeda’s eyes once more. “What do you mean you know?”

“Satori told me the entire thing.”

I felt something tug at my heart as I brought myself to stare at Satori. While my mouth hung open in disbelief, Satori only faced me with their hands together in front of a fanged smile. “My bad, my bad, Shin. I was trying to keep a secret, but Taku was lashing out at me. He was really worried about you guys last night.”

“Ahem.” Takeda cleared his throat before Satori could ramble on. “That leads me into my second question: Why are you here, Satori?”

“What do you mean, Taku? Do you not want me here?”

“No, I don’t.”

Satori gasped as if Takeda’s reaction came out of left field. “Really? I thought you’d be glad. Without me, the kids would’ve all ended up dying to that black Kitsune. And that would’ve been docked from your pay.”

“I am thankful for that, but why are you really here?” With Satori, Takeda wasn’t as patient as he was with me. His eyebrows furrowed, his fingers noticeably twitched, and I could even hear Takeda’s foot tapping the floor as he awaited Satori’s answer.

“Well, that’s because Hyon wanted me to keep an extra eye on you to make sure you don’t break any rules and jargon like that. However… Hyon also told me to make sure you uphold the other condition for letting Shin train.”

Other condition? There was another one? I looked over to Takeda for answers; however, it was Takeda’s eyes averting mine this time; they were too locked onto Satori.

“I will, as soon as Shin kills the Yuki-onna.”

“Yuki-onna? Like the snow woman?”

“Yes,” Takeda said, facing back toward me after I asked. “That’s the yokai I will be training you to kill.”

My heart sank when he said the word kill. Do I have to kill it? I wanted to know the answer to my question, but I feel like Takeda would’ve answered with nothing more than yes. So instead, I asked, “When does training start?”

“After breakfast. I was going to have you spar against Rentarou first, but due to his injuries, you’ll be fighting Yukimura instead.”

Huh? Yukimura? When he finished his sentence, I looked over at Yukimura, and she was no longer looking at the floor. Her eyes had circles under them, as if she didn’t sleep at all. However, despite her obvious tiredness, she looked at Takeda firmly before saying, “Okay.” After saying her piece, Yukimura rose from her seat, leaving her food untouched. I wanted to chase after her, but Takeda wasn’t done speaking to me.

“But before you fight, you have to first learn how to fight.”

“Oh, Taku, is that where I come in?” Satori raised their hand excitedly.

“No. You just do your job or whatever else you came here to do. Shin, I’m going to teach you how to fight. And I advise you to bring your jacket.”