The Fox's Den (6)

"First, before we begin the lessons in earnest, would you come closer to the statue?"

"Can I carry her over?"

"...Fine. Do as you please."

Yeon was already giggling with delight. Tara, by contrast, watched them with an expression that made it abundantly clear she still found the entire arrangement less than satisfactory.

"And then, place your foot upon the statue as I have."

Choco set her paw on the stone just as Tara had — that enormous foot settling soundlessly upon the statue. For a moment she could have sworn she heard a low, resonant woong thrumming through the air.

Of course the statue wasn't actually making any such sound. Still, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mana stone of this size? It wouldn't have been all that strange if it had.

She was entertaining that idle thought when Tara's voice reached her again.

"You may find this a little startling."

Startling how? she started to ask — but she never got the chance.

Fwaaat—! Light erupted from the statue, as sudden and blinding as a camera flash going off in pitch darkness.

Fortunately the burst didn't last long. Unfortunately, neither Choco nor Yeon had been remotely prepared for it. They clutched at their eyes and screamed.

"Kyaaah!"

"Gyaaaaah! ...Huh?"

Mid-scream, something struck her as odd.

If she and Yeon had both screamed, then one of those screams ought to have been a fox's cry. But what reached her ears were the shrieks of two girls — one of them Yeon's, and the other belonging to someone even younger. There was no fox-cry at all.

So whose was that younger voice?

Hers. It didn't take long to figure that out. After all, she could hardly fail to recognize a scream tearing out of her own throat.

"What in the..."

"Oh dear. Should I have warned you first?"

Where a gold-furred paw had been, she now found herself opening and closing a hand no bigger than a young fern. And the voice that answered her this time belonged to a grown woman.

"More than that, I must say I'm surprised. I assumed a fox of several decades would take a form closer to my own, but..."

So she's just a brat, then. Choco could practically hear the unspoken addendum. But there was a more pressing question.

"...Who are you?"

"It's me. Tara. Though I suppose expecting an immature fox like you to properly see through a transformation would be asking too much."

The extra jab she didn't need to add was all the confirmation Choco required. She stared at Tara with a sour look.

The woman wore white robes inscribed with shamanic patterns and sigils, and — just as when she'd been a fox — a pair of snow-white ears and a matching tail. Yeon's earlier comment came back to her. She was right: this looked far closer to a Korean shaman than any shrine maiden.

"Wait. You can turn into a human?"

"A mere change of appearance is hardly difficult. Of course, taking human form would normally be beyond me — I haven't even a Fox Bead —"

Tara ran a wistful hand along the statue.

"—but with a statue bestowed by Lady Gumiho herself, even the impossible becomes possible. Changing your form as well, Choco."

Right. I transformed too. If only there were a mirror.

Judging by how small her hands were, she'd probably turned into a child — the same way she'd been a kit as a fox. Not being able to see herself was maddening. She opened and closed her fist again, and then her whole body started to shake.

What? An earthquake? But Tara and the shrine were perfectly still. So where was the trembling coming from?

"C-cu-cu-cu-cute...!"

She found out immediately.

"SO CUTEEEE!!!"

"Urk."

Yeon had locked her in a crushing hug and was unleashing a scream of pure rapture at a frequency that could shatter glass. Under any other circumstances Choco ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have snapped at her to keep it down — but she didn't have the luxury.

The arms wrapped around her were impossibly strong. How a pair of such slender arms could produce that kind of force was a mystery, until she remembered this was a game, not reality. And her durability stat had always been garbage besides... Wait. This is not the time for a leisurely analysis.

She slapped frantically at Yeon's arms, signaling her to let go. Yeon was using practically her entire upper body to squeeze, and Choco was rapidly running out of air.

Stop...! You're going to kill me...!

Whether Yeon heard her or not, the girl refused to loosen her grip, just kept shrieking about how cute she was.

Just what do I look like for her to be making this much of a fuss?

Fortunately, death-by-Yeon was not in the cards.

"That's enough. Any more and you'll actually hurt her."

"Aww..."

Just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as Choco's vision was starting to blur, an invisible force peeled the two of them apart. Yeon reached after her with a mournful little sound, and Choco shot Tara a look of genuine gratitude.

"To think a fox named successor would be so thoroughly manhandled by a single human..."

Tara could only shake her head in disbelief.

Having very nearly been hugged to death, Choco sucked in a ragged breath and put some distance between herself and Yeon.

Call me cute one more time and I swear she'll actually kill someone.

"Just how do I look for her to react like that?"

"At the very least, I doubt you're ugly. This is Lady Gumiho's sorcery, after all."

What kind of answer is that? Choco stared at her, incredulous, but Tara only turned her gaze away with a prim little sniff.

Not that Tara's words were entirely off-base. Her own transformed appearance was striking enough that calling her a beauty would have been no exaggeration.

So what about Choco? She didn't need a mirror to know she was tiny. She still had to look up at both Yeon and Tara, same as when she'd been a fox. But her eye level now reached about Tara's waist, which was a considerable improvement.

Elementary-school height, roughly?

Something suddenly dropped into her field of view — a mirror about the size of a small tray. She turned to find Tara blinking at her.

"Didn't you need one?"

"Ah. Yeah. Thanks."

Receiving an unexpected kindness from the last person she'd have expected left her feeling oddly off-balance. People always said that when a habitual troublemaker did something nice, they suddenly looked a lot more likable. That was exactly this.

What am I even thinking? She shook her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head to clear it and looked into the mirror.

"Hnn..."

A low sound escaped her. She'd more or less guessed, but actually confronting it was another matter entirely. Not that she had a choice. This was her reality now.

The face in the mirror belonged to a little kid with a distinctly unfriendly set of eyes. She was frowning — something about the reflection clearly didn't sit right with her — but with those chubby, baby-fat cheeks, it just looked like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Golden, thread-fine hair fell to her shoulders, and a pair of fluffy ears sprouted from the center of her crown. Same as Tara. Apparently even a transformation technique couldn't completely hide a fox's features.

All in all, she was an undeniably cute kid. The sharp eyes — or maybe just the fact that it was her own face — gave her a faintly arrogant look, but it was still a child's face. To anyone else, she'd just look adorable.

Yeon's meltdown was, unfortunately, not entirely incomprehensible. The thought that she was essentially complimenting herself sent a shiver of secondhand embarrassment down her spine.

She tilted the mirror down. White robes, similar to Tara's but without the shamanic patterns. And behind her, a golden tail swaying gently.

This is... a girl, isn't it. She could theoretically have been a pretty little noble boy, but even with a child, it was hard to mistake the gender once you'd seen the face. You could usually tell at a glance.

And if you went by the old Gumiho legends — the real-world ones, not the game's — nine-tailed foxes almost always transformed into women, never men. If this world followed that logic... well. There was no getting around it.

As if turning into a fox wasn't enough. Now I'm a girl. She pushed her hair back and let out a small sigh.

"The new body isn't to your liking, I take it?"

"Well... something like that."

"I like it!"

"So. What now?"

"Hiiing."

Choco ignored Yeon, who had thrown up her hand and shouted, and directed the question at Tara.

"I'll be teaching you a simple method of circulating spirit power, Choco. First — do you know what spirit power is?"

"Spiritual... energy? Something like that?"

"And what, exactly, is spiritual energy?"

"That's..."

She had no idea. She hemmed and hawed, unable to answer, and Tara spoke with the air of someone who had already seen this coming.

"Spiritual energy. More precisely, the power of the soul. Not the martial force you display outwardly, but a power that originates from the very root of one's being. That is what we call spirit power."

"Every living creature possesses it, but only a vanishingly small number can actually wield it. To handle spirit power, you must first know your own origin."

Know your own origin.

"Sorry. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"I figured as much. That's why I offered to help."

Tara gave her a look of profound pity, then continued.

"I said you need to know your origin to wield spirit power, but the truth is, almost no one can actually do that. Well — unless they've died and come back, perhaps."

"You can figure it out if you die and come back?"

"I wouldn't know. I was just speaking from experience."

Experience? Before Choco could even process the implication, Tara's voice cut in again.

"First, would you take out your Fox Bead?"

It can be taken out? She called up her status window and checked the Fox Bead skill.

Had that last line always been there? She found it odd for a moment, but thought take it out anyway.

A bead of pale green light materialized on her outstretched palm, a little smaller than her hand.

"Perhaps because you were only recently chosen as successor — it's smaller than I expected."

"Is that small?"

"Ordinarily it absorbs the spirit power accumulated before one's selection and grows accordingly. More importantly — I'll be taking this."

"Huh?"

Before she could react, the Fox Bead slipped from her hand.

"So this is... a Fox Bead..."

Tara murmured, staring at the bead in her palm. Then, slowly, she put it in her mouth.

Slrrp. The bead rolled around inside for a moment before her throat bobbed — gulp — and it was gone.

Choco watched the entire thing happen before her brain caught up. What just happened?

"C-Choco. Is that... okay?"

"I don't know either."

Yeon had snapped out of it a beat later, her voice trembling. Not that Choco had any better idea.

"Have you still not grasped the situation? Your Fox Bead is mine now."

"Which means...?"

"It means you are no longer a successor. You are no longer anything at all. And..."

Fwoosh— Tara conjured a bloom of flame in midair and delivered the verdict like a sentence.

What kind of cheap plot twist is this? Choco stared, dumbfounded, at the oncoming fire.

A distant KWAANG—! echoed through the shrine.