"Inari, I will be back soon." Hakai helped Mai off the horse.
"Where are you heading? We have things to discuss." Inari ensured that he understood it was not an invitation to talk but an order.
"Alright, pinky, promise I will be back." He stood in front of her, reaching out his pinky finger.
"Pinky promise...?"
Inari, with hesitation, reached hers out.
"Hmm, be right back." He smiled, turning around and picking Mai off the ground.
"Eek." She muffled her soft scream
Ka-boom!
Hakai instantly flashed away.
Fwoosh!
"How're you, Mai-San? Was it scary?" He asked her, flying through the sky while she held his chest tightly, scared about the height.
"I'm fine, and yes, I was scared for a bit back there." She softly spoke her worries. "What happened to you, and why did you instantly attack Inari-Sama?"
"Nothing, I'm fine I was just mad at her..." He chuckled awkwardly.
"Don't take me for an idiot, Haki-Kun. That spirit spoke through you and told us it was in control," Inari screamed at him, stuffing her face into his chest.
Tmp!
Hakai landed and immediately leaped again.
Boom!
"Hmm, we'll talk about that later..." Hakai made it seem that she should cut off the subject there. He was a tad bit irritated.
"O-ok. All that matters is that you're okay." She wrote it off.
"Hmm, wasn't I great?" He asked her, back to his usual dunce self.
"Yeah, yeah. The fights, it was like watching a movie." She chuckled, eyes sparkling in awe of what she had always wanted to see, which blew beyond what she had expected.
"That thing went woosh, and boom, and bow!"
"Phantom," Hakai corrected her.
"Hmm! And you went kaching, swoosh, and boosh!" She demonstrated with her arms while cuddled up in his.
"Right! I was amazing, wasn't I?" Hakai wanted to be reassured.
"Yes! You were heroic!" She smiled as he looked up, teary-eyed.
"Back home on time!" Hakai told her, helping her through the window. "Okay, got to go! Bye-bye!" Hakai waved her off while falling to the ground.
"Haki-Kun! Be safe, and see you later?" She waved back at him.
"Hmm!" He scuffed, leaving a massive shockwave of air, leaping several miles into the sky.
"Wow!' Mai awed.
***
At Inari's shrine, Hakai seemed flustered while using her private bathtub.
"Was the shower good?" Inari asked Hakai while he walked into the room and closed the door.
"Hmm, thanks for letting me use it."
"Don't mention it."
Hakai felt at ease suddenly. His worries and assumptions about her diminished, and Inari's pictures and assumed personality finally became clear. She was a genuine and kind-hearted Goddess who only sought the best in her kingdom's interest. Albeit, she does have her shortcomings.
"You're nicer than I imagined, Inari-San," Hakai spoke out his thought.
"Oh, why is that?"
"Well, you welcomed me in, took care of me, got along with my human company, and very much so, you saved me." He smiled at her, taking a seat at the blanket-covered kotatsu table. "So warm." He smiled as his toes touched Inari's. Neither drew away.
Inari blushed, covering her face with her beautiful jacket. "S-Stop it."
"No, seriously. Ama-Chan's stories were about how you were insulting and never got along with her..." He chuckled awkwardly.
"Amaterasu Omikami, huh? How's she doing?" Her mood switched. She seemed slightly regretful.
"I haven't seen her in a long time, but she's doing good. Ray-Chan is awesome. I don't doubt her skills in storing the old Ama-Chans memories and pursuits and passing them on to this one." He smiled softly, though tears shimmered in his long eyelashes.
"That's reassuring to hear." Inari took a sip from her grass-printed mug.
"Hmm..."
"So, I have quite a handful of questions for you..." Then, Inari opened up her investigation regarding the incident.
"Like what?" Hakai took a long sip of his hot green tea.
"Let us begin with the first. What does Shinigami need from you?" She opened her interrogations.
"Honestly, it beats me." He sighed.
"Have you not already encountered him not too long ago? Any leads?" She revealed that she had already heard about his interaction with Shinigami.
"Who told you this?" Hakai questioned her. "Things do go out fast."
"Not of any interest. Answer my question instead." She seemingly was too invested in figuring everything out.
"Yes, Shinigami had set me into a trap. Rather than engage me in battle or outright kill me, he pursued me to a different topic." Hakai sipped his tea.
"Pursued into a different what?"
Inari wanted to know the full details.
"Not of any interest." Hakai tugged back at her.
"Very much so. We need as many leads to present to the Heavens. War is brewing, a conflict that could end all eternity."
"Exactly my point. I don't need the heavens to mangle into my business any more than they are." Hakai fought back with a bit of attitude.
"Hakai god..."
"Inari-San, next question, please." He placed his cup down.
"Argh, fine."
"When the mini clones and the beam attacked you. You produced strange energy from your body. What was it?" Inari had already picked up on that detail, which had never left her mind.
"I swear it to my name. I have no idea about what you're talking about." Hakai was shocked. "Was it my positive, spiritual or physical energy?"
{FYI: When a god swears upon their name with serious intent, lying is prohibited and a sin that the heavens can pick up on.}
"I'm not sure what it was, but it was different..." Inari scratched her chin. "Please relay to me any information about it when obtained," Inari begged while an unarmed soldier, feet away, scribbled down everything said onto a scroll.
"I will try..." However, Hakai did not want to make any promises.
"Okay then, how did you break Binding Chains of Cattle and the hypnotization spell?" Inari looked even more severe than before. Her stare could slice a mountain in half.
"I really can't grasp it myself. I frankly thought it was you who freed me from the spell?" Hakai, drenched in mystery, looked a bit tense.
"I cannot perform such a thing, but I felt it. You were the source to break my and that spirit's spell," Inari told him, convinced that Hakai had somehow broken the spells.
"I-uhh, I can't either." Both the gods seemed lost. Though the conversation died down, Inari moved on.
"Well, I will present to the Heavens and see what they can conjure from them."
"Anyways, now to the vital question, Hakai god, how could a mere New Type Phantom take over you, a god?" She asked, narrowing her scary stare at him.
"I don't know, a moment I was fine, the other I felt consumed, like a wall of darkness surrounded my consciousness."
Hakai tried his best to explain what had happened to him.
"Well, how come did the phantom take over your conscious?" She asked him again.
"I was attacked mentally by another, splitting the battle into two or even three in my mind at once. I was weakened, and my spirit was in shambles." He told the truth.
"Who attacked you mentally or spiritually? What did their attack consist of? So were there attacks able to weaken a spirit physically?" Hakai piqued Inari's interest.
"Inari-San, Sorry, but I don't wanna talk about that." Hakai shut her down immediately.
"Why not? This information can help us!" She argued.
"Because I just don't." Hakai took a long sip.
"Fine, do bear in mind that everything said and done here will be presented to the High Heavens, and according to their will and judgment, will the results be formulated. So, Sakka, you are dismissed." Inari finally ended the session, picking up on Hakai, not wanting to answer further questions, just by his body language.
"Inari-San, thank you for everything. I will be departing soon." Hakai smiled at her, knocking away his tense mood and body language.