Chapter 48: 3-21

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In 1943 two soldiers are offloading the bodies of dead Americans into a field at night. Merrick is riddling Hayes.

"Whoa history lesson" Laura mumbled.

The riddles are:

Q. "What gets broken without being held?"

A. "A promise."

Q. "What has teeth but doesn't bite?"

A. "A comb."

Q. "What has a neck but no head?"

A. "A bottle."

Hayes is not amused. As they return to the truck to retrieve two gas cans, a bandaged figure stands up from the pile of bodies. Its mouth is a bloody gash with shiny silver teeth.

"So what? It's like the origin stories of the Nogitsune?" Isaac asked. "I guess" Stiles shrugged.

It begins advancing on them. Hayes fires a handgun into the creature several times but it never slows. Reaching the gun wielding man, the figure twists the weapon in his hand and fires several shots into the soldier's guts. It then rounds the truck to Merrick who is attempting to reach the safety of the cab. It grabs him by the ears and shouts "What has a neck but no head?" It then rips the soldier's head from his neck.

"He was...quite literal" Allison pulled a face.

On a Saturday afternoon, Mr. Yukimura is preparing his blackboard in the history classroom. He notices a fly buzzing around and, when it lands on his desk, he crushes it with a text book. Nogitsune/Stiles enters and comments on the teacher's dedication for working on the weekend. He is looking for Mrs. Yukimura's "tails" which are hidden inside a book in the classroom. The Nogitsune doesn't seem to understand how she was able to physically manifest her tails as daggers but he does know "the older the tail, the stronger the Oni" meaning the one she has left will summon the strongest of the demon warriors. Mr. Yukimura feigns ignorance but Stiles is confident that he will talk. He then lifts the textbook, the fly is alive and flies directly into Mr. Yukimura's mouth. He begins to cough and choke.

"Oh God I'm killing him!" Stiles gasps in horror. "That's not you. It's the nogitsune" Scott corrects him. Stiles nods a little but doesn't meet his eye.

In Kira's room, she and Scott examine a picture of a woman and man from 1943. The woman looks exactly like Kira and they speculate that it might be her grandmother. Scott relates how the picture came to him through Malia Tate. It was taken from the body in the wall in the basement of Eichen House along with a Katana and scabbard or Saya. Kira's phone buzzes with a text, it's her father. They rush to the school and find Kira's mom trying to comfort her husband who is still choking on the floor where Stiles left him. Kira has brought with her a small vial that her mother says contains "reishi" which Kira describes as "magic mushrooms." The fungus does the trick and within a couple of seconds Mr. Yukimura coughs up a black fluid and is fully recovered.

"Magic Mushroom" Derek snorted.

Mrs. Yukimura's first name is revealed for the first time as Noshiko. She says Stiles was after the last of her Kaiken or daggers but that she has kept the final one near her ever since Stiles first disappeared. Kira shows her the picture and asks if it is her grandmother. Noshiko admits that the picture is of her.

"THAT'S HER!?" Allison said in shock. "Damn need to ask her what she uses to stay so young" Lydia said to herself.

Back in 1943, Hayes, Merrick and Corporal Rhys are offloading supplies at Camp Oak Creek. They come up one crate of apples short and we see a young Noshiko Yukimura is deftly stealing the supplies from the truck unseen by the soldiers. Scott is confused. For Kira's mom to be in the photo in 1943, she would have to be "like 90 years old." Noshiko says her actual age is closer to 900 years old.

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