[Inari Standoff]: This World Shall Turn Red

The sun fell below the horizon, plunging the sky in a deep, dark night. Osamu and Inari decided to sleep in a bakery shop on the fourth floor. It was a small shop with checkered, tile floors, tables, and booth seats. Since everyone was raptured in a flash, the cookies, cupcakes, and biscuits behind the counter were theirs to eat.

Osamu kept the store lit with the hanging lights over the bar, and the two made makeshift beds out of the pillows and coats from other stores. Osamu lied down after his long day, but Inari sat up, brushing her tail and licking dried blood off of her pale arms.

"Aren't you tired? I would be if people were trying to kill me all day." Osamu said.

"I am very tired, actually." Inari answered. "But in case you haven't noticed, the whole world wants me dead. That doesn't exactly make for a goodnight's sleep. I'll stay up, thank you very much."

"What a horrible way to live..."

"It's the only way to live."

Though he doubted he could get much sleep himself, Osamu lied down and closed his eyes. By some extraordinary stroke of faith, bad luck, whatever he wanted to call it, he was caught in the middle of a vicious standoff between the infamous Inari Okami, and the exorcists of Kyoto. He hadn't the slightest clue how he was supposed to get out of this. Part of him didn't even want to. This dark, life or death scenario felt like home to him, like he was supposed to be there. Like he was supposed to die there.

Much to his surprise, Osamu woke up with the morning sun shining in his eyes, the bakery awash with shafts of golden sunlight. He sat up in his makeshift bed, seeing Inari snack on a muffin as she sat on the bar.

"You sure knocked out there, mortal." Inari said, her mouth full of blueberry muffin. "Want a muffin?"

"No, I don't have much of an appetite." Osamu groaned.

"Shut up and eat, idiot." Inari hissed, tossing him a whole grain muffin. "They left us alone last night, but that's probably just because they were gathering their forces. I expect they'll be back any minute. May as well get your strength up while we have time."

Osamu fell back onto his pillow, groaning as his head landed on it. Inari hung her head over Osamu's, her tails flowing behind her.

"I understand this is a lot for you to take in, but you had your chance to leave, and you didn't take it." Inari said. "Eat. Can't have you famished."

Osamu laid his arm over his eyes. "Okay."

"You said yesterday that there are people that don't want me dead. Who are they?"

"I..." Osamu mumbled, the question catching him off guard.

"I've only ever had a few friends in my life." Inari said. "Haven't seen them in centuries, though. I'm not sure if they're still around. I can't imagine they're still thinking about little ol' me after all this time."

(Centuries? She has to be talking about Gekko and Izanami. Does she still consider them friends? It might be safe to bring them up after all...)

Sitting on top of one of the airplanes parked outside was a young girl in her early teens with flowing, brown hair. She wore bright blue jeans that were cut at the kneecaps, a Soviet Army coat around her shoulders like a cape, and a backpack around her shoulders. Her eyes were hazel, and the bridge of her nose was dotted with freckles. Her magatama necklace swayed in the wind and a black gas mask rested on top of her head.

Besides her was a monk wearing white, Buddhist robes. Unlike most monks, his blonde hair was fully grown out, reaching down to his hip. He wore a white bandage around his eyes and stood with a golden staff in hand.

"She's in there." the monk said. "I can feel it."

"Good." the girl responded. "Well, we're the first ones here. Let's try and wrap this up quick, shall we?"

Inari ventured out of the store, sniffing the air with a disgusted scowl across her face. She picked up a foul stench wading into the airport. Osamu washed his hands and joined her outside, curious what had her by the nose.

"What's wrong?" Osamu asked.

Inari smiled, a fiery glimmer of excitement in her eyes. "We have visitors, Osamu. Looks like our next opponents are here."

"What?! How many?!"

"Two, one man, one teenage girl."

(Teenage? She's so young.)

"W-what should we do?! Hide?!"

"Relax, Mortal. Hiding would be a useless strategy. The man is a monk with exceptional sensory abilities. We have no choice but to fight."

The intercoms suddenly blared on all throughout the airport, ringing with feedback at first. Osamu covered his ears, then uncovered them when the feedback died out. At first, there was complete silence. Then, the hymn of the USSR blared from all directions, forcing Osamu to slap his hands over his ears again.

"What?! The Soviet Anthem?" Osamu shouted.

Inari broke out into amused laughter, much to Osamu's fright. He couldn't understand how she could be laughing, knowing that at that very moment, two more exorcists were converging on them. The young girl entered first, a gas mask covering her face and the sleeves of her Soviet Army coat trailing behind her as she wore it like a cape. She took her time going up the escalators while the blonde monk took the elevator up to the fifth floor, beginning his search from there.

Inari turned towards the shivering Osamu. "The girl is a native Russian, if I recall correctly. Her father served during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and her grandfather before that helped in the invasion of Germany and stormed the Reichstag. That's why she's doing all of this, the theatrical little minx."

"You know them?!" Osamu asked.

"Heard of them. I'm sure I've killed a few of their friends. No wonder they wanted to be the first ones to the party." Inari snickered.

Osamu stood speechless, his heartbeat growing louder than the bombastic hymn of the USSR.

"Of course, I do believe there's actually a strategy to all of this. She's not as dumb as you'd think she is for her age. The doors and metal detectors in the airport are still working. With all of this noise, we can't hear which direction she's coming from." Inari explained.

Osamu realized how valid a strategy it was and began looking around at all the different entry points either one of them could flank them with. "Damn it...there's no way to tell where they're coming from now!"

"Ahh...she's already here. Look." Inari said, pointing towards the escalators.

Osamu saw the young girl slowly come up the escalators ahead, holding two smoke grenades in her hands.

"Good to see you, Black Maria! Here to avenge your friends?" Inari taunted.

Maria stood across from Osamu and Inari, stopping as she stepped off of the escalator. Both sides stood in complete silence for almost a full minute, waiting for what the other would do. Finally, the girl pulled the pins on her gas grenades and threw them at the Inari and Osamu. Red smoke dispersed from the grenades, forcing Osamu and Inari to cover their noses and mouths. Maria then whipped out a Makarov pistol and aimed it at the cloud of foul gas.

Realizing what she was doing, Inari grabbed Osamu by the collar and ran for it. "Osamu, run! She's going to ignite the gas!"

A gunshot rang throughout the airport. The single bullet was enough to turn the gas into a cloud of flames, its orange glow washing over Maria, reflected through the eye pieces of her gas mask. It instantly became clear that this Maria had a terrible grudge against Inari.

Maria screamed from beneath her gas mask, her fury echoing through the airport. "Burn, Inari!"