Weird Kimono

September 30th

After a stupidly long flight, I finally made it back to Japan yesterday. When I arrived at the airport I was nervous about having to go through security and customs, something I had managed to avoid in South Africa, but here with all the security it would be much harder, but luckily Cedric was waiting for me to get out of there without any problems. He drove me home, where I arrived tired from all the travelling.

What was supposed to be a weekend job turned into a week long problem, I had crossed the border of two countries 4 times in less than two days, destabilised the region by taking out a president, slept almost no sleep and was still full of sand from the Kalahari desert and salt from the huge salt flat, not comfortable things to have on a slime body. So I took the whole day off on Friday, even though I had classes, because I was so tired from driving for so long.

The first thing I did when I arrived was to have a good bath to get rid of all the dirt, when I came out Tamamo and Momo came to leave me another weird present, which they wanted me to use immediately as I had already had a bath. It was another new outfit, this time a lewd kimono also made of latex, it seemed that Tamamo had been attracted by the fact that I had not complained about the maid's outfit (because it was my work uniform) and she took it as I liked the it, specially the material, so she thought of using it as bait to me and try kimonos and see if I liked them too, she managed to convince Momo and they started working while I was away. I had never worn such different clothes before like what she loved to always wear, except when the President of the United States came, and that was just to hide some big things. Speaking of which, those same big things were exactly what stood out most in this dress, I was sure I had put it on wrong, I could see Momo laughing when I finished putting the kimono on, but Tamamo said I had done it right and that I looked pretty, I on the other hand thought the suit had serious sizing problems, but I left it on so as not to despise the gift they had worked for, and it turned out to be quite comfortable in the end.

After that, Tamamo and Maria went to school while my mother went to her office at the Akasaka Press Centre as usual. A little later, Saeko called for reinforcements in the cafeteria, as many more people had arrived than expected, so Kazumi, Charlotte and Levia were assigned to help Saeko and Momo, who were supposed to open the shop today.

In the afternoon I was helping Tifa to take care of the plants, as autumn was approaching and the trees were starting to show their first red colors. The fairy was quite interested in the change of seasons, as it seemed that where she came from the seasons were not as radical as here, for her the concept of this whole place turning into a snowy region later on was new to her, so she was writing down in a little notebook the changes that were happening in the plants she was in charge of taking care of. When we finished we went to the kitchen for a sandwich, which ended up becoming a full meal by some mistake. 

Later Maria came home from school and as soon as she saw us, she also came to have something to eat. And of course she also came to annoy me too.

"You know, Elise, even though you are the husband in the relationship."
"....."
"You are by far the one with the most womanly body of your group of girls in the harem"

"Do you really think so?"
"Well it turns out I found with a little of practice a way to modify my fox girl body a bit as a slime if I use it as a base, I even grew up a little bit."
"....."
"Well yes I may indeed have overdone it a bit with the chest, but I like them as big as possible."
"I'm fine like this"
"....."
"Why? Are you jealous? Are you afraid of being a plank for life?"
"You don't want your brother to beat you even at this?" I teased her her by using the most sensitive subject for her.

"Fucking pervert, you just got lucky that's all"
"....."
"But seriously, right now you look more like a real mother kitsune than even Tamamo."

"I like the way I look right now"
"Oh! And do you like my Latex kimono? She made it herself to see if it would somehow convince me to wear others more often."
"...."
"You're right though, it's not like I look like the husband or human in the relationship exactly."
"I guess you could say I'm the exact definition of those who hunts monsters and doesn't watch themselves will end up becoming one."
"But I don't really care, I mean, after all, going through 3 deaths will change anyone in some way."
"Some more than others, I'm just more on the side that just doesn't care, I like to think that I'm still human even if I'm not human anymore, or at least I try to"

"Just tell the truth, you like the kimono because you're not wearing any underwear, right?"

"Shit, I'm too well known in this house."
"....."
"Hey, moving on to something important, do you happen to know if Xi'an went to class today?
"Was she behaving normally?"

"Xi'an?"
"Yes, she was there, in fact, the English teacher didn't show up so she taught the class."
"Although I guess there was a no problem if she's a professional and traveled around the world."
"Why? Did something serious happen?"

"Unfortunately, I think that's the case"
"I think I mistakenly killed her sister in Africa."

"Oh, that's really serious"
"!!!!"

"Wait a minute! She has a sister?"

"Well, that's what I think it was, she was identical."
"It attacked me inside a mine tunnel after she killed a C.I.A. agent on the scene."

"Wait another minute, you've encountered C.I.A. spies?" Maria was surprised again.

"....."
"A lot of crazy things happened...."
"Anyway, the thing is that someone very similar to Xi'an attacked me."
"So I think it must have been her sister or a relative of hers."

"It still seems strange to me, Xi'an doesn't exactly talk about her family very much."
"In fact, my idea of her was that she must have been an orphan raised on the streets who became a killer in order to make a living."

"That's a lot of fantasy, stop watching so many movies."

"Oh sorry, it's my fault, you're right, I forgot that while I was talking to a slime girl and his miniature fairy wife."
"I'm so sorry about that, now I'll wait for that Moon Goddess to come and pray and regret all this to see if I'll someday I will meet an angel and avoid meeting a demon suddenly." Said my sister sarcastically

"I heard Xi'an talk once about her family, something about them being demon hunters as well."
"She had a dagger with magic on it that her family gave her as a symbol."
"And there was the time she asked for a vacation to visit her family."
"But not much more than that." I said as I remembered the time we hunted ghosts together.

"Maybe her family is just as weird one as here and she doesn't want anyone to know."
"....."
"Although maybe if she is coming from a family of demon hunters, maybe other demon hunters know more about her family."
"If you want, I can ask Asuka if she knows more about it."

"Yes please ask her"
"Oh and keep this from Mom please, I don't want Xi'an to find out and start to get suspicious."

"All right, give me a second"

After the phone call, it turned out that Asuka didn't know much either, as she didn't seem to know Xi'an as such, but someone with a similar name, Xian Fang. A powerful magician from China, apparently very powerful and respected by the demon hunting community, she was so incredible that she was the first to notice that Tamamo had escaped from her seal on the stone and notify on to the others. At least, that's what she knew, and I was actually afraid that someone else was following us, completely unknown  new variable from so far away. But after the sudden attack I had suffered in Korea, I knew it was a very real possibility, a worrying one. 

But there was something far more important burning inside me, the possibility of saving Luna from her gem and her prison. It was a risk worth taking. If this Xian Fang was responsible for these sporadics attacks, if she was the one who had this mystical artifact, then I would search for her until the end of the world and I would rip the artifact from her cold and inert hands if necessary if it means saving my Luna.

The best thing I could do now was to face the problem head-on, I had to talk to Xi'an and get her to tell me everything she knew, it was time to settle the score. Although I hope for her sake that she doesn't do anything crazy, even though we met in a less-than-ideal situation, I really appreciated her protecting my mother all this time, I considered her a good friend and beautiful, I didn't want that to end because of other situations, ending it would make everyone sad, both my mother and I, but if I had no choice .... I would try to make it quick, it was the least I could do for her.