Chapter 210 — Answers and Questions

Chapter 210 — Answers and Questions

Yuki

Rias, Koneko, and I arrived in the dining room to see the rest of the peerage, Baraqiel-San, Rossweisse-san, Odin-sama, and Azazel-senpai present.

Baraqiel-san and Rossweisse-san were both standing against one of the walls of the room.

Odin-sama and Azazel-sensei were sitting at the table with everyone else.

Azazel-sensei was drinking from a mug and Odin-sama already had a plate full of food in front of him.

“Morning Yuki and Koneko-chan,” Azazel-sensei said as he observed me in my true form. “I haven’t seen you as a fox yet, Yuki. I can’t say you’re looking too great though.”

“Azazel-sensei! You shouldn’t say that about Yuki!” Asia cried out.

“He’s not wrong. My true form is rather pitiful at the moment,” I said.

“It still wasn’t nice to say…” Asia said with a pout.

Azazel-sensei shrugged and took a sip from his mug.

“Well now that the fox girl is here, let’s get started. The sooner I get to another pub the better. Azazel boy already mentioned we are heading to another oppai pub,” Odin-sama said with a grin.

Azazel-sensei grinned back lecherously.

“You’ll definitely enjoy it, geezer. And if you end up wanting to try something else, we can always head to soapland afterwards.”

“Please tell me we don’t have to guard the geezer again today,” Issei groaned.

Yuuto gave him a confused look.

“You don’t want to go to an oppai bar or soapland? Those sound like the kinds of places you’d love Ise-kun. Are you feeling alright?”

“I do want to go there but that’s the problem! We will have to follow the geezer around to each place and then wait outside as he gets to enjoy the wonders inside!” Issei shouted. “It’s like torture!”

“Ah… that makes more sense…” Yuuto said with an awkward smile.

“It’s alright Ise-san. We don’t have to guard Odin-sama today,” Asia said as she comforted him.

Rias shook her head with an exasperated smile.

“Moving on. Now that Yuki can access her true form, would you please inspect her again, Odin-sama?”

Odin-sama nodded.

“Yes, now that she’s in her true form it’s much easier to make sense of those seals on her.”

I stepped forward to stand in front of Odin-sama.

“You’re less enjoyable to look at now, but I’ll be able to give you more of an answer now,” Odin-sama said as his gaze became more focused on me.

I ignored his comment and stood still as he inspected me.

He tilted his head slightly and stroked his beard.

He hummed to himself as he looked over my true form.

After about five minutes he leaned back into his chair and let go of his beard.

“Well I’ll be able to answer most of your questions, lass, but I might not be able to answer everything,” Odin-sama said. “So what do you want to know first?”

“How many seals are left on her?” Issei asked from across the table. 

Odin-sama glanced at him before looking at me for confirmation. 

I nodded.

“That’s one of the slightly complicated answers. At the moment, you have three or four more seals on you,” Odin-sama said, stroking his beard. “The complicated part pertains to what I told you before about what I saw with your seals. The original ones were designed to grow in strength as you did. So I can’t tell you for certain the number of seals you have as it’s something that will change with time.”

I looked down as I quickly thought about what Odin-sama had just said.

“Then it has to be three seals left then. That’s the only thing that makes sense,” I said. “I’m an eight-tailed Kitsune.”

“Why couldn’t you be a nine-tailed Kitsune?” Issei asked, looking confused.

“Because the nine-tailed Kitsune, the Kyuubi, are born with all nine of their tails. They don’t gain them with age and growth like other Kitsune. So it’s impossible for a normal Kitsune to have more than eight tails,” I answered.

“That may normally be true, but you, lass, are an anomaly,” Odin-sama replied. “I told you before that you had an unusually strong tie to bölvan, but that’s likely not the only thing unusual about you. You may end up with nine tails or maybe even more. I can’t say for certain but it’s a possibility.”

I looked at Odin-sama.

“But that’s impossible. A Kitsune can’t become a Kyuubi. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Ohohohoh, but you’ve seen what’s been claimed to be impossible,” Odin-sama said with a chuckle. “You live with the Sekiryuutei and the holy demonic swordswoman, two people who have achieved a Balance Breaker, something that is supposed to be impossible, but isn’t.”

I shook my head.

“The death of the God of the Bible can explain that. His system isn’t working in a perfect state due to his demise. Because of that things like Balance Breakers and other glitches in His system can exist. But I’m a Youkai. We fall under the powers and systems of the Shinto gods. The biblical God’s death shouldn’t affect us.”

Odin-sama shrugged as he began to eat the food on his plate.

“You’re right. It shouldn’t affect the Shinto gods' domain. But there are other explanations. The God of the Bible was rather powerful and with his death and other factions not being aware of it it may have affected other factions without them realizing it. Or the Shinto gods have done something to bless you with unusual power. Or maybe you’re just an anomaly. A rare and unnatural being that shouldn’t exist,” Odin-sama said, then paused to take a drink from his glass. “Whatever the reason is, it doesn’t really matter. You’re not an ordinary Kitsune. That’s all I can tell you for sure.”

I thought about what Odin-sama had said. 

It was a possibility that God’s death had affected other factions without them realizing it.

He was a central and powerful figure and his absence could have affected things across the world without other gods noticing.

As for the idea that the Shinto gods blessed me, I doubted it. 

If they had gone through the effort to change me in some way they wouldn’t have stood by as I was killed and then brought into the Devil faction afterwards.

They at least would have stopped my reincarnation into a Devil

As for being an unnatural Kitsune, that was also possible.

I was born with three tails instead of one and my fourth and fifth tails came in quicker than they should have.

But Odin-sama was right.

None of that mattered at the moment.

He was certain that I was an oddity.  

And it was possible that I could become a Kyuubi.

“Can you tell me how many tails I currently have still sealed?” I asked “I had five when I was first sealed years ago, so I don’t know if I would have grown more by now.”

Odin-sama held up two fingers.

“You currently have two tails sealed away. You’ll have to wait for more than that to grow in.”

Two.

I had seven tails this whole time.

I was stunned hearing it.

I had that much power waiting to be accessed.

Power that I could have used to protect the people important to me.

And two more abilities that I had to learn and then master.

“Is everything alright, Yuki-senpai? This is something good, right?” Koneko asked.

“Yes, it is. I was just wondering what abilities those tails will give me and how much stronger I will be once they are unsealed.”

“Would it be possible to remove all of Yuki’s seals now, Odin-sama?” Xenovia asked.

Odin-sama nodded.

“I could, but it would be better if I didn’t.”

Xenovia’s brow furrowed.

“Why not?”

“…Because it may hurt or kill her,” Koneko answered. “She has to recover after each seal is removed. Her life force is thrown into disarray each time one is removed and if multiple were removed at once, it could gravely injure her. She’s still recovering from the last seal.”

“So it’s better for us to take our time with Yuki’s seals. Even if Odin-sama can remove them, it’s not safe for Yuki for him to do so,” Rias added.

Xenovia nodded.

“I understand. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Well then. Do you have any more questions for me, lass? If not, I’ll be heading out for the day. I’ve got big-breasted girls waiting for me,” Odin-sama said with a lecherous grin.

I shook my head.

“No. Not at the moment, Odin-sama. Thank you for answering my questions.”

“You hear that, Azazel boy? Let’s head out and find more beautiful girls to enjoy! You can come too Baraqiel! You can enjoy the women of Japan with us!” Odin-sama said as he stood.

“Don’t bother with him, geezer. Baraqiel will only want to come to stand guard,” Azazel-sensei said.

Baraqiel-San glanced at Akeno.

“Azazel is right, Odin-sama. I’ll accompany you as your guard, but that’s all I will be doing.

“Bah! You and Rossweisse can stay behind then,” Odin-sama waved his hand dismissively. “The two of you will only get in the way of the fun.”

Azazel-sensei and Odin-sama began to walk out of the room.

“I will not be staying behind, Odin-sama! I am your escort and the Valkyrie assigned to guard you!” Rossweisse-san called out as she followed them.

Baraqiel-san glanced at Akeno again before giving the room a nod and following as well.

“With that handled let’s enjoy breakfast,” Rias announced.

I focused my energy inwards and after a moment purple foxfire appeared around me.

My body shifted and changed until I was back to my normal human self.

The foxfire dispersed and I moved to take my seat.

“You’re not going to eat in your fox form?” Yuuto asked.

“While I enjoy being in my true form, I still prefer my human form for most things,” I replied. 

“Awww… it would have been fun to see,” Asia said with a small pout. “I bet it would’ve looked cute too.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I'm not going to stand on the table to eat or eat off the floor. And I’m not going to make one of you feed me by hand.”

“…I wouldn’t mind,” Koneko said.

I”I wouldn’t either,” Akeno joined in with a smile. “It’d be fun to have you eating out of the palm of my hand, Yuki-chan.”

I gave her a tired glare.

“No. Now let’s eat breakfast and talk about anything else.”

Issei took that as a cue to talk about the new Oppai Dragon toys.

The group talked and laughed as we ate and I joined in occasionally, but I was thinking about what Odin-sama had said.

I had two more tails, at least, and three to four more seals.

And he wasn’t exactly sure what I was.

I could be a Kitsune that would become a Kyuubi or just a strange and unique Kitsune.

Either way, I was an anomaly and something unnatural.

I would have to figure out more.

And I would have to train hard to be able to control the powers I would receive with each seal’s removal.

_________________________________________

Irina

It was late in the afternoon and I was sitting on my bed, thinking about how things were between Yuki-san and me.

After the discussion with Odin-sama this morning I had spent the rest of the day out of the house.

I had run a few errands and stopped by the local church to attend Mass and help out with various tasks that needed to be done.

That wasn’t something that was unusual for me.

But with how I’d been acting around Yuki-san recently, I couldn’t help but feel like I was avoiding her by spending the day somewhere I wouldn’t run into her.

We had both apologized for what happened when she used her ability on me and I reacted how I did.

Everything should have been fine after that.

She had mentioned that her ability had been the reason I acted how I did, and that was mostly correct but not completely.

Yuki-san made me act on a desire that I had kept buried deep within myself.

And now I was having issues speaking or looking at Yuki-san directly.

When we were in conversation with others I would keep quiet and not interact with her.

When we were in the house I would sit further away from her and avoid being alone with her. 

I didn’t know how to go back to acting normal around her, and she had noticed that I was acting off and was accommodating me.

She was giving me space and wasn’t trying to push me to explain why I had been acting differently.

We hadn’t really spoken at all since it had happened.

The most we had spoken was when I had followed Yuki-san and Koneko-chan to the pastry shop during Ise-kun’s and Akeno-san’s date.

And that was only because I had believed Xenovia when she said that Koneko-chan and Yuki-san had… slept together.

Now I want to do something about it.

I had let this go on too long.

I had prayed and thought about it on my own for a long time, but maybe I needed to talk to someone else about it.

Not Yuki-san.

I still wasn’t ready for that yet.

That was why I was heading to Xenovia’s room.

I had known her the longest out of anyone else besides Ise-kun, and this wasn’t something I could talk to him about.

And Xenovia would be blunt and direct with me. 

I wouldn’t have to worry about her skirting around the subject.

And if Xenovia was unavailable, I’d find Asia-san.

She, Xenovia, and I had formed a close friendship and I thought of her as one of my best friends. 

She was the kindest and most gentle person I had ever met. 

I knew that she wouldn’t judge me for anything and would only want to help.

I reached Xenovia’s door and realized that I had found both of the people I had hoped to talk to when Asia-san opened the door.

“Hello, Irina-san! Come in! We were just playing board games. We went by your room earlier, but you weren’t there, so we got started without you,” Asia-san said with a smile as she gestured for me to enter the room.

I stepped inside and saw Xenovia and Yuuto-san sitting next to a board game set up on the floor.

There were multiple groups of colored plastic figures set up on the board in each of the different countries of the world.

Yuuto-san smiled and waved casually to me.

Xenovia was intently staring at the board as she clutched a pair of dice. 

Asia-san shut the door behind me and walked back to her seat by the board game.

“Come take a seat, Irina-san,” Asia-san said as she patted the carpet next to her. “We can start a new game now that you’re here. I’m sure Yuuto-san and Xenovia-san won’t mind.”

Yuuto-san chuckled.

“You may have to convince Xenovia of that.”

Xenovia was still intently studying the game board.

I glanced at Yuuto-san and awkwardly hesitated by the door.

Asia-san noticed that something was off immediately.

“What’s wrong, Irina-san?”

That got Xenovia to finally look up from the board game.

She and Yuuto-san looked at me with curiosity and concern.

I took a deep breath before moving to sit next to Asia-san.

Yuuto-san was someone I could trust.

It might be better to talk to all three of them about this.

“There is something that’s been bothering me…. It’s…”

I stared at the plastic figures on the game board as I tried to figure out how to say it.

I didn’t know how to start.

I had gone to confession and admitted my sins plenty of times before at the church.

But for some reason, this was much harder.

I was trying to explain something I had done wrong to my friends.

I didn’t know how they would react or if they would look at me differently afterwards.

The three of them waited for me to sort out my thoughts.

I let out a long sigh as I forced myself to speak before I lost my nerve.

“I came here to talk about what happened with Yuki-san and me… I’m still… It's still bothering me and I don’t know what to do.”

Asia-san’s concerned expression softened at once.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. “Yuki already said it was because of her ability. You apologized to her anyway, and she accepted it,” Xenovia said, trying to reassure me in her own direct fashion.

Yuuto-san quietly watched me as if she had realized that there was something else going on.

She probably had noticed that I was acting off around Yuki-san, and maybe she even guessed why.

I looked down at my lap as my hands tightened.

If I wanted to, I could claim that was still true and no one would push me any further.

But that wouldn’t help me move past this.

Even if it was difficult, I wanted to open up to someone about it.

It had been bothering me for too long.

“That’s not entirely true,” I admitted. “About what happened being entirely because of Yuki-san’s ability.