Beyond, With a Yokai

Chapter 7: A Spark in a Blink

But I knew: I was just a child. No match for a strong, experienced kitsune. So I disappeared. I trained. Chased power—chased energy—without caring about the cost. One goal: become stronger, no matter what.

Now, I'm strong enough to face my mother's killer. My energy reserves are massive—not many yokai could compare. And my ninth tail... Honestly, I never thought I'd live to see it.

I was draining energy from another yokai when I sensed something strange.

A human soul? In the astral plane?

I followed the scent... and found her. A girl. What was she doing here?

Coincidence or not, something similar happened the day my mother died. There was someone else with the killer. He smelled exactly the same.

I couldn't let this chance slip away.

I pulled her into an illusion and let her see what she wanted. I needed to know how she got here. Who brought her. Maybe she was connected to him—the one I've been hunting all this time.

But I couldn't figure it out. She entered the astral world without any yokai's help. No one came for her. No one searched.

She was stubborn. Talked too much. Stuck her nose where it didn't belong. Sometimes, I wanted to wring her neck with my own hands—but I held back. She might be useful.

And then... things started to change.

My anger began to twist into something else. Something softer. Annoying. Why did she affect me this way?

It started the moment she saved me from the frax—from destruction. I froze, like a child. Like I'd been transported back to that day... when my mother did the same.

But a nogitsune must have no weaknesses. No vulnerable spots that others can exploit.

So why the hell did I throw myself in front of those arrows?

***

The cat used his energy to conceal them from their pursuer. He transported them to a small house, which, as Yesenia noticed, resembled the one where she and Tomoya had lived before the bakeneko appeared.

She paced the room nervously, unable to sit still. Her anxious gaze repeatedly settled on the fox — his breathing was labored, his face taut with pain. A sharp pang of guilt twisted in her chest. He was wounded because of her... Was this how he felt when she had been injured?

"Help him!" Her voice trembled, fists clenched tightly.

"Of course," the bakeneko replied calmly, not looking away from the window. He sat motionless, focused. "In the meantime, you'll hold the concealment barrier."

"But he's in so much pain!" she cried out in despair.

"I'm fine. Stop panicking," the fox gritted through his teeth, flinching slightly. "Let the cat do his job. I'll recover on my own. It will take time, but I'll heal."

Yesenia bit her lip.

"Who was that? Why did he attack us?"

"His energy was strong."

"I even thought I recognized it... but it's too soon to jump to conclusions. Still, he might be the one I've been searching for over centuries. One way or another, Yesenia led me to him."

"He's undoubtedly on par with a myōbu in terms of power. If that's the case, then his goal is clear."

"Then say it," Yesenia demanded, arms crossed.

"To kill you."

She went pale.

"But... why?"

"Human souls don't belong here," the fox explained. "I don't know why a kitsune was sent to eliminate you, but it seems the goddess dispatched her servants to return you to where you're meant to be."