Kurou flinches. Mei does worse—she stiffens like she'd just been caught committing a crime.
Without a word, she grabs his wrist and hurries towards the archives, her breath coming faster than before. Once inside, she locks the door with shaking hands.
"I know you probably want to see him," she mutters, pressing her forehead against the wood. "But if he finds you, I'm done for."
"Why? Is something wrong with Inari? What aren't you telling me?" Kurou looks at Mei who is pacing around the room with a grave expression. "Nothing's wrong with Inari. He's just protective of his things, especially this temple. He probably doesn't want you to mess it up, you know?"
At first, Kurou thought she was talking about him. But when she mentions the temple instead, his suspicions shift. "So, what should we do? It shouldn't be long before he will check here."
Mei stops pacing but doesn't look at him. Instead, she fiddles with a loose thread on her sleeve. "We wait. Just stay quiet and don't do anything reckless."
Kurou narrows his eyes. "That's it? Just sit here and hope he doesn't show up, even though he's probably getting closer by the second?"
Mei exhales sharply. "I don't know, okay? I just—" She cuts herself off, shaking her head. "I can't let him see you yet."
Her words settle in his chest like a heavy weight. Yet? Why 'yet'?
A faint sound comes from outside—like footsteps against the wooden floor. Mei's expression darkens.
"Kurou, we need to hide," Mei whispers urgently. "We can't stay here long. Inari's too sharp, I'm dead for sure."
Kurou clenches his fists, frustration building. "Then what are we supposed to do? Hide in here while everyone else figures it out?"
She shoots him a sharp glance. "Do you think it'll be that easy? It's not just about hiding, it's about getting you out of here before Inari finds out you've been snooping around his temple."
A low rumble of footsteps echoes outside. Kurou presses his ear to the door, straining to catch bits of murmured voices.
"They're talking about the general, aren't they?"
Mei nods, her brow furrowing. "And when Inari finds out that General Zhou is looking for him, things will escalate fast. He doesn't like being interrupted, and he especially doesn't like people getting in the way of his business."
Kurou watches her pace again. "You said Inari's protective of this temple... What else don't I know about him?"
Mei turns to look at him and sighs, her soft voice cutting through the tension. "He can be kind when he wants to be. He likes hearing people pray at his shrine. It reminds him he's still needed—even when he thinks all hope is lost. He can be very passionate about the things he likes, and he's a nice person to be around sometimes. I know it didn't seem like it when you first saw me and Inari together, but that was because he was disciplining me when I didn't do my job, and I made it worse when you ended up doing my job instead."
Kurou smiles as he listens to Mei talk about Inari. Even though they're practically being hunted, it's nice to hear someone speak about him so genuinely —especially since he's only known Inari for a few days. He doesn't know why, but he feels this warm feeling in his heart.
The voices outside suddenly stops. Footsteps approach the room. The door handle suddenly rattles, but since Mei locked it, it only shakes a few times before stopping. A raspy voice comes from behind the door. "Inari's looking for you guys, he ordered us to bring you to him. So just come with us."
A shiver runs down Mei's spine. The air turns icy, and a low, unnatural wail seeps through the cracks in the door. Her grip on Kurou's wrist tightens. "Move," she hisses, yanking him back. With a deafening shriek, the door explodes off its hinges. Three figures streaked inside—twisted, ghostly women with hollow eyes and talismans slapped onto their foreheads. Their mouths stretched open unnaturally as they lunge.
A voice rang out from the darkness beyond the doorway. "Stop! Not them, not them!"
The banshees froze mid-lunge before dropping limply to the floor.
A figure steps into the light—a girl with her hair in a bun and black-rimmed glasses, dressed more like an accountant than someone controlling shrieking spirits."Ugh, sorry about that," the girl sighed, adjusting her glasses. "I really need to work on my talisman skills."
Mei looks at her with a troubled expression, her jaw clenches. "Shomaku. Of course, it's you. You're going to get us caught." Shomaku bows in forgiveness.
"I'm sorry, writing talismans all day is tiring work. It doesn't help that I could mess up on them too. I guess it's still better than drowning in paperwork, though." She looks exhausted, but Kurou can't blame her. It must be tiring work. He wonders if she's in charge of the talismans here.
"I did hear that Inari's looking for you though, and the banshees did too since they tried to coax you out. Hehe…" Shomaku rubs the back of her head in embarrassment. Mei groans, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This isn't a joke, Shomaku. We're running out of time."
Kurou walks up to the banshees and cautiously pokes one of their heads. The moment his finger touches the cold, clammy skin, its eyelids twitch, and a faint breathy moan escapes its lips. He jerks back. "Yeah, I would get away from them if I were you, they like to scream and cry a lot. Especially this one." Shomaku points to a woman with long white hair and a white dress. It's the only one with white hair, while the rest have black hair.
"This one seems different from the other ones. Does that mean it's more powerful?" Kurou asks as he turns to Shomaku who just shakes her head. "It means it's more annoying. That thing keeps crying over and over again, I'm seriously considering trying to make a talisman that can get them to stop, but that could be practically impossible."
Kurou nods. The banshees look kind of creepy to him, especially when they start weeping a bit in a chilling voice. The one with white hair starts standing up, and Shomaku tries to get it to sit back down but it won't listen. After a while, the banshee is left alone as a chilling laugh comes from the banshee.
"Hahaha. This is too easy, really too easy." The banshee rambled, it's voice stretching unnaturally, droning on… and on… and on… like a broken record. The words slurred together, rising and falling in eerie waves.
Shomaku and Mei glance at each other before they grab Kurou's arm.
"Run now!" They shout in unison as the two start dragging Kurou away from it.
The banshee's laughter twisted into something deeper—something too smooth, too calm for a wailing spirit. Kurou's breath hitches as a chill crawls up his spine.
"What's wrong?" the banshee croons, stepping forward. "Running away already?"
Mei yanked Kurou's arm harder, her grip like iron. "Don't look back!" she hisses.
Shomaku fumbles with a talisman, her hands shaking. "If this works, we might be able to—"
A rush of air cut her off.
One second, the banshee was standing across the room. The next, it was right behind them.
"Leaving so soon?" the voice purrs, now unmistakably familiar.
Kurou's stomach drops. His mind screams at him to deny it, but there was no mistaking it anymore.
"Inari?" he whispers.
The banshee smirks, its lips curling in an all-too-recognizable way. Then, with a shimmer of white mist, the disguise melts away—revealing the fox god beneath.
Inari steps forward, his white robes nearly glowing in the dim light. His golden eyes, sharp and piercing, settle on Kurou, Mei, and Shomaku.
"Running? From me?" His voice is smooth, almost amused, but there's an unmistakable edge beneath it. "I would've thought you knew better, Kurou."
His gaze flicks to Mei. "And you. I expected better. Sneaking around my temple like a rat—do you think I don't see everything that happens under my roof?"
His attention shifts back to Kurou, his expression unreadable. "Tell me, what exactly were you hoping to find here? Or did you really think I wouldn't catch you?"
A heavy silence lingers before he exhales through his nose, his voice softening just slightly—but losing none of its weight.
"Leave now, while I'm being merciful." With a wave of his hand, a portal appears in front of Kurou and the others. A bright vivid house can be seen through the portal. It's Kurou's house. "Kurou can go home, Mei-san and Shomaku-san can stay here." Shomaku pushes her glasses up a bit on her nose. "Inari-san, I don't think it would be a good idea to leave Kurou alone at his house. He has bad luck, who knows what kind of apparition would target him."
Kurou looks at Shomaku with wide eyes, but Shomaku keeps her gaze on Inari, her eyes hinting at something more that Kurou can't quite put a finger on. Before Inari can speak, a sharp voice cuts through the silence.
"Inari-shenjun! You've finally shown up, I've been looking for you for a while." General Zhou looks to be speedwalking as he makes himself known. Inari sighs and turns to him. "General, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. It probably wasn't easy getting here from China, no?"
General Zhou nods and this is when he notices the other three and a huge portal in front of them. "Am I interrupting something?"
Mei chuckles nervously, while Shomaku keeps putting weight on one foot then the other. Kurou stands there and watches all of this, and as a mortal with a mortal mind; he had nothing to think about this. Even Inari shakes his head.
"No, just dealing with some troublesome rats in the temple. Do you need something, General?" Zhou's eyes widened as he actually thought that there were rats in the temple, but he didn't show much emotion after that. "I was wondering if I could speak to you in private, I have some questions that don't need to be heard in the ears of guests." His eyes swept over Kurou before meeting Inari. Inari was focusing on something else though. His eyes narrow in response to something behind General Zhou.
Zhou didn't notice and continues to speak. "If that would be alright to you, that is. If you're busy I understand and will take my leave, and if not…then I request your attention." Inari puts up a hand to tell him to stop talking. "That's enough, don't you notice something odd?"
This is when he finally turns around and notices that the portal seems to be changing colors. Blue, green, red, yellow, and then a bright white light shines through.
Kurou feels himself get lighter, like a force is pulling at him. His feet slide forward against his will. His stomach twists as if the air itself had turned into hands, clawing at him, dragging him in. He quickly looks around and notices that he isn't alone as everyone else is getting pulled forward. The force gets stronger and stronger, making it harder to escape its grasp. General Zhou is pulled fully into the portal first, followed by Shomaku, then Mei. Leaving only him and Inari left as they get closer and closer to it. Inari quickly reaches out his hand and grabs Kurou's before pulling him close before he gets blinded by the bright light of the portal.