Mrs. Hideki

Yoshio appeared in front of the fox's ramen shop, still frowning, thinking about something. The street was dark, only several street lanterns emitted a light glow. The restaurant seemed empty, with no signs of people or yokai in sight, so he turned to the back of the store.

At the back, he noticed a young fox yokai smoking. He had never seen him before and suspected that that was the estranged son they had been looking for these past few days. The fox looked extravagant, even given the circumstances, he still dressed nicely. Upon hearing movement, the fox lifted his eyes on Yoshio. His gaze was calm, as was his body posture. Yoshio heard him speak.

"You are the little bird's master, I presume, come in, go upstairs on the second floor, and to the left." He gestured with his cigarette.

Rude, Yoshio did not show his annoyance though, nodding politely and stepping inside. Koga did not seem to mind his silence, continuing to smoke.

Even though Yoshio had been to the ramen shop many times before, he had never been to their house. They were fellow yokai, however, not the friends who would visit each other level. Especially, given Makio's dislike for the foxes, Yoshio never felt like he should be overly friendly with them anyway. So as he stepped in, he could not help, but look around. The house was clearly small but spacious enough for the family. The first floor mostly was occupied by the restaurant, and as he stepped onto the second floor, he noticed several rooms, and a staircase leading to the attic, or maybe another floor.

To the left of the staircase, one room was open, silent voices coming out of it. There stood Nami, looking solemn, her little brother nowhere to be seen. On the bed was their mother, looking very pale. Part of her cheek was missing, as if bitten off. Seeing this, Yoshio's face changed. However, he remembered to remain polite. Makio was next to her, his hand above her cheek, his eyes closed.

Stepping in, Yoshio nodded politely, "I am very sorry for my intrusion, I only came, as Makio told me you were fine with it." It seemed he had been talking not only to the old lady but to Nami too.

Nami, came up to him, her eyes full of tears, "Please, I know you can do something, Makio is trying, but he told me it takes too much energy from him, so he won't be able to fully heal her." She gestured towards the bed.

He looked sympathetic, coming closer, and gently tapping Makio's shoulder, so they could change. He looked at the fox's face, the bite was nasty looking, exposing parts of her teeth to the outside world. Even though the blood and the tissues were cleaned, he knew, there was no way to fully heal it. He looked into Mrs Hideki's eyes, sitting down.

"I will try to ease the pain, and help with the wound, but I am afraid the scar is inevitable. Please, Hideki-sama, bear with me," he waited for her response, and she closed her eyes in agreement. So he put his hand forward. She closed her eyes, frowning slightly, as if from the pain.

He heard Nami gasping in the back, and Makio saying something to stop her from coming closer. As Yoshio continued with healing, all the sounds disappeared, and he did not notice how time passed, and how he was left alone in the room, the sun slightly rising behind the window. Old Fox fell asleep at some point too, so he just sat there, in silence. He wanted to ask more questions, as he suspected, that not only the bite to the cheek happened tonight, but, something much more tragic. He looked at her cheek, and it seemed to be much better looking. He took his hand back, sighing.

"You know what happened to her, don't you?" Koga was standing in the doorframe.

Yoshio looked up at him, "Unfortunately, I do."

"Do you want to interrogate her?" Koga's face and voice were cold and detached as if he discussed trivial matters.

"I think I would need to, in order to find him..."

"So you definitely know who that was and what he did? How come I have never heard before of someone with the bitten-off face?"

Yoshio squinted his eyes at him, "Because the victims are usually dead."

"Uh, I see. So she got lucky, I guess. It's good that even in her old age she has some powers to her. Too bad the father is not here, he would have turned half of the Tokyo by now..."

"Yes, where is he?" Yoshio was studying this fox, unsure what to make of him. He was so calm, and reserved, too reserved maybe? But on the other hand, this son had not seen them in so many years, maybe his empathy was not on that type of family level anymore.

Koga looked at his hands, lazily changing his position, "Nami told me he left today for Kyoto, some restaurant business I do not care about. She did not tell him yet. He would have been here by now if he knew, but she was smart in thinking he would not let you in."

"I see, well, maybe you are right, he has a temper..." Feeling awkwardness rising in the room, he decided to switch the topic, "Khm, anyway, I think she will be more or less okay. But I am not sure about her psychological well-being, she might need counseling. Please tell to Nami, so they help her with that."

"Will you tell me what happened?" Koga looked at him, determined to know.

"I can only guess. She is alive, so maybe the worst did not happen. I need to ask her, if she saw him, how he looked, though."

"I think I might help with that..." Koga paused, as if deliberating something.

"You can?" Yoshio's interest was peeked.

"Yes, I am not promising anything, but sometimes I can see parts of the past if I try hard. It takes some effort though. Move." Koga gestured for Yoshio to move away, as he approached his mother, putting his hand on hers. He frowned, and closed his eyes, concentrating.

Some time passed, and it seemed he tried very hard to find something, moving his head slightly, frowning even more intensely. Yoshio did not intervene, letting him be. He looked around the room instead.

Outside the house Nami was standing, smoking with Makio at the same spot where Koga was several hours before. She was not crying anymore, and as she looked up at Makio, she grinned sarcastically.

"You were fast..."

"What?" Makio did not get her tone, looking back at her, confused.

"You, and my brother. I did not expect for you to be there, you know, a day after you have met!" She sounded bitter, and Makio was taken aback by that.

"I-I am not sure what you are implying..."

She paused, her face hidden behind her hair. Makoi patiently waited for Nami to reply. After breathing out, she finally looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

"You know full well what I am implying, bastard. I- I have confessed to you, and you go and screw my brother right after? Do you think I should be okay with that?!" She was doing her best to suppress the urge to yell, given the circumstances, then she turned away, taking a puff, her hand trembling.

"I..." He was at a loss for words. It would be stupid to try and explain everything now, given what had happened today.

When she came into the apartment and saw them both, Koga was wearing his robe and slippers. Both were clearly in some weird mood, and as she saw them standing next to each other, at night, at Koga's apartment, she almost cried out. However, she overcame that urge because there were urgent matters to deal with. But now, it was kind of under control, and she had some time to reflect. It was so painful to think about it too. No matter whether there was a chance of him ever liking her, she could not deal with him choosing her brother, and immediately after... Her confession and her feelings then meant nothing to him. She felt so wronged, she wanted to run away, but could not.

Makio felt awkward, not knowing how to deal with her. She was vulnerable, and he did not want to make the situation worse, however, was there a way? He did not know. He cleared his throat.

"I, I do not know what I should say. I did not want to hurt you, I am sorry. I think your confession was valuable, however, as I had told you, I cannot reciprocate. I am truly sorry." He sounded sincere.

She looked at him, sweeping the tears away, and smiling a bit. "Asshole. This is a tragedy to humanity, that you are gay."

He raised his eyebrow, even more confused - wasn't she mad a second ago?

She waved at him, "Whatever, Koga should be happy for once too. Anyway, forget it. I do not want to talk about it ever again."

Makio was more than happy to move on, so he nodded lightly.

Nami said casually, "You think something terrible happened to her? She could not talk much when I found her, and she barely walked. I feel like somebody pushed her hard, before biting her cheek away."

"Yeah, this is one of the signature moves of one bastard. We have been looking for him for many years now."

"Is he a serial killer or something?" Nami seemed hesitant.

"Yes, he is." He replied solemnly, not wanting to elaborate. He looked far away as if remembering a bad memory from his past.