The Fox

Chapter 12

(This is a bit of a filler chapter. So, there won't be any fights or anything like that. Anyways, thank you for reading and enjoy!)

After getting berated for half an hour, Tamamo finally calmed down and reluctantly accepted my apology. 'Honestly darling, I can't believe you'd think that way about your wife.' I sigh and continue walking around the school, an idea to cheer Tamamo up then pops into my head. "Hey Tama-chan, why don't we give Shoko a visit?" I said as I started walking to the direction of the medical bay. 'Are you trying to bribe me for my forgiveness darling?' I chuckled and shook my head. "No, no. Of course not, I just thought why not give her a visit. We haven't met up in a while, so I thought it'd be nice." Tamamo only hums as I knock on the nurse's office door, a couple of seconds later I hear slow footsteps getting closer. Then the door opened and I was greeted by a very tired Shoko, complete with dark bags under her eyes, and the smell of cigarettes.

"Hey, Shoko. It's been a while huh?" I wave at her with a smile on my face. She just looked at me blankly before widening her eyes a bit. "K-Kei?" I nodded my head, seems like she's been working very hard if she needed a couple seconds to recognize me. "Yup, it's me. I thought I should stop by while I'm here. But, from the look of things, you're very busy huh?" She opened the door and invited me inside. I complied and walked inside the very messy room with papers everywhere. "Very busy is putting it lightly, Kei. I don't even remember the last time I had a full eight hours of sleep." She said before yawning and lighting a cigarette.

"Still smoking huh? I thought you stopped after we graduated?" She just chuckled dryly and offered me one, I accepted it and lit it up. "Hey now, that was a bad decision I made back then. I didn't even survive the next day after I said that." I laughed before I took a drag of the cigarette in my hand. Looking around the office, I see a couple of interesting things but the thing that caught my attention was a photo. A photo of me, Satoru, Suguru and Shoko in front of the gate of the school. "You still keep this? It's been so long since I saw this one, I thought I'd never see it again." I picked up the photo and examined it with a smile on my face. "Yeah, thought I'd keep your dumb faces around to remind myself that there are people dumber than me out there." I look at her with a unamused face as she just lightly smirks at me.

"Okay, now that's just mean. At least put me in the same place as you, not with Satoru and Suguru." We then continue to talk shit about the dumb stuff Satoru and Suguru did in the past. As we continued our conversation, I remembered my purpose for going here in the first place. "Oh yeah, Tama-chan is dying to talk to you Shoko." Shoko raised her eyebrows as I close my eyes and switch with Tamamo. This is one of the things I discovered recently when I was meditating one day. I opened my eyes and found myself inside of our inner domain and I could see Tamamo talking with Shoko. I just smiled and decided to meditate.

After what felt like hours, I opened my eyes again and found myself back in the real world. I look towards Shoko who is writing something on a paper. "Looks like you two enjoyed yourselves, seeing that it's dusk now." Shoko turned her head to me and nodded her head with a small smile on her face. "Yeah, why didn't you do that back then? I would've enjoyed her company more." I out my hand on my heart in faux hurt after she said that. "Ouch, all this time I thought I was the best thing to happen in your life. Turns out I was beaten by my wife."

"Tamamo's way better than the three of you combined. You should switch out with her more Kei." I sigh as I hear Tamamo laughing out loud in my head. But, if she's happy then I'm happy. We continued talking while Shoko continued writing her report, until Satoru called me. "Satoru?" I nodded my head while looking at my phone with mild annoyance. "I promised him some kikufuku mochi yesterday." I answer his call, ready to hear this man-child talk. "Kei! I want my kikufuku mochi!" I pull my phone away from my ear from the loud voice. "I'm still at school and what's with the loud noises?" From the sound, I can hear rubbles falling and something massive. "I'm at an elementary school to watch over Yuta and Maki's training." Of course he sent them to an elementary school. "Alright, send me the location and I'll be there. Oh and bring those two along would you?" I ended the call after I heard Satoru's loud okay.

"Sorry to cut things short, Shoko. But, you can join if you want." Shoko shakes her head and sighs. "I'd love to, but as you can see. My work is piling up and I don't want them to pile up even more." I nodded my head in understanding and waved goodbye to Shoko.

"How's the chat Tama-chan?" I asked as I ran to Satoru's location while using my lightning to boost my speed. 'Oh it was pleasant! I had so much fun!' I sigh in relief hearing that. "That's great to hear dear. So, am I... you know, forgiven?" I asked a bit nervously. 'Yes, you are forgiven darling. I can't stay mad at you for long, you look just like a sad little puppy earlier you know.' I blushed in embarrassment hearing that, I didn't look that pathetic right? Right? I shake my head and focus on traversing the city. I finally see a mop of white hair standing in front of a school gate.

"So, you're just standing around while your students kill curses?" I walk up to him with my hands in my pocket while looking at the veil over the whole school. "And good job, you remember to put up a veil." I said with a smirk. "That was years ago okay?! I never forget to put it up now!" He grumbled. "Yeah yeah, you don't want the news to pick up on that again." Before he can complain even more, the ground shakes as the veil slowly disappears and I can see Yuta carrying Maki and two children before passing out from exhaustion. I rushed over to them and quickly healed them, even though it's not as efficient as Shoko it's still something. "Welcome back." Satoru walked up to the kids with a small smile on his face. "You really gave it your all, huh." He picked up his two students while I picked up the two kids. "Let's take em to the hospital, Kei."

After dropping them off at the hospital, I check the time and see that it's getting late. "Hey, Satoru. I'll buy you the kikufuku next time." I said while walking in the hallway. "Huh?! What the hell?!" I slap the back of his head to shut him up. "Don't yell, we're in a hospital. I need to check on Megumi, I haven't checked on him in a while." Satoru held his head in pain while nodding his head. "If it's that then I'm not gonna complain. No, I'll still complain about the kikufuku! Though I'm sure Megumi's doing fine, he's strong after all."

"Yeah, but still. It won't hurt checking up on him, he lived alone for a couple of months now ever since his sister got cursed. Well, see ya Satoru. I'll bring you those sweets tomorrow." After saying goodbye to Satoru, I went to a supermarket to buy some food and other essentials before going to the small apartment complex where Megumi lives. I knocked on the door and waited.

The door opened and I was greeted by Megumi's spiky hair. "Kei-san? What are you doing here?" He asked while inviting me inside his home. "Thought I'd check up on you kiddo, I got some groceries as well." I show him the bag with a grin on my face as I walk into his home. "So, how are you doing?" 

"I've been doing fine." I nodded my head as I sit on a chair. "Last time I heard from the teachers, you got into a fight. Again." Megumi sighs and closes the door before taking a seat across from me. "Yeah, I did. But-" Before he finishes his sentence, I lean forward and look at him dead in the eyes. "Did you win?" He seems taken aback by my seriousness. "Y-Yeah, I won." A smile then formed on my face as I patted his head. "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"

"You're not mad?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "Why would I be? That just means you prove your strength to the people who doubted you kiddo. But, you shouldn't get into more fights if you can." He sighs in relief and I stop patting his head. "I'm sorry for not visiting, missions have been getting a bit hectic lately and I couldn't find the time to visit you and Tsumiki. How is she by the way?" Megumi sank into his chair more as he sighed. "She's still not waking up. I'm scared that she'll never be cured, Kei-san." I look at him sympathetically and put some cash on the table. "I'm sure everything will be fine, I'll visit her tomorrow. Here, this is for you since you live alone nowadays. I hope this is enough for a month or so." He looked at the cash with wide eyes before looking at me. "T-This is a lot of money. Are you sure?" I nodded my head and stood up. "Yup! This is for you kiddo and there's extra for you winning those fights." I laughed and patted his head before going to the door.

"Call me if you need anything alright kiddo?" He nodded his head, still surprised by the amount of money I gave him. I wave him goodbye and close the door