A Tail’s Misfortune — Chapter Ten: Seven Days; Research

Arriving at her hotel, the tenants called for the elevator.  Howie greeted her with a frown as the doors opened. “Skipping classes again?  This isn’t like you.”

Sora grimaced as she entered.  “I know. Maybe I’m hitting my rebellious stage … it’s just—there are some things happening at school that I just don’t want to be a part of.”

Howie looked troubled, but imputed the commands to her penthouse.  “We’re all really concerned. It’s like you’ve changed into a different person overnight.”  He pressed. “I’m sure your dad’s going to be really worried when he gets back.”

Sora was silent as she struggled to find an answer; fighting the monstrous impulses inside of her to say something snarky.  Arriving at the top, Sora nodded with a weighted sigh. “I know and I’ll talk to him when he gets back … I have a lot to tell him.  I should only be a second though, I just want to get my purse. Mind holding the doors?”

“Not at all, but … is there anything I can do?”

Sora shook her head, before dashing in.  “Not right now.” Running to her room, she snatched her phone and brought it out of sleep.  Nothing from her father.  Blowing out a puff of air, she sat on her bed, hand to her forehead.  I should call him.

Staring at her phone for several seconds, she removed her hat.  She scratched her left fox ear before pulling her hair back and rubbing her neck, with a grow.  “Gah, what am I supposed to say? I have fox ears … I’ve been having a lot of pain at night … I’m going through changes—yeah, that would be taken out of context.  Argh.” She scratched between her left human and fox ear in frustration. “How could he possibly understand what I’m going through?”

Ron called into the penthouse.  “Sora, there’s someone trying to call the elevator.”

Sighing, Sora yelled back.  “Go ahead. Thanks for waiting.”

Sucking on her lower lip, she brought her phone out of sleep and smiled.  Opening the message app, she made a cute face and took a selfie. Licking her lips, she wrote:  Hey, daddy.  Just grew fox ears.  Crazy, right?! We got some ridiculous things to talk about when you get home!  Love you!!! She sent the message.

She pressed her phone against her face.  “That was insane … I am insane.” She felt tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.  Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she pushed back the tears. “Right—I’m just a little emotional because of Lori and whatever I did to her.  I’m not fine.”

Taking a few more minutes to compose herself, she dropped into her cushy bed, hair fanned around her as her hat slid off.  I’m a fox girl and there’s other crazy things going on that I can’t explain.  I should be freaking out a lot more, but every time I really start to panic it just vanishes.  Is this a part of being a fox girl?

Rubbing her temple, she huffed.  “I’m fine, I just need to do a little study!  If I study, reward myself with food—study then I eat … hear me monster!”

Hoisting herself up, she went to her desk and sat down, fighting her rebellious urges to head to the restaurant.  Pulling up her laptop, she typed in the password. Spotify popped up to play classical music. Sora pursed her lips and clicked the stations tab.  Hovering over several stations, she clicked hip-hop and smiled as the beat of the music sent a shiver down her spine that made her want to move.

Swaying back and forth, she opened Chrome and typed fox monster.  Several images and pages popped up, most about a sports brand.  She paused over a wiki page on Kitsune, the page description catching her interest.  Clicking the link, she read the opening article.

Sitting back, she bunched her lips to the side.  A Japanese fox monster that are smart and gain paranormal abilities as they age.  They can take on the shape of humans and can range from tricksters to friendly normal fox people.  I don’t have any tails, but my ears came in time, why not tails? A shiver ran down her spine.

Swallowing, she moved to the origins section.  Dad said mom was Japanese … it was always pretty odd that we don’t have any pictures of her.  If mom was a Kitsune … why wouldn’t dad tell me something like that? Seems pretty important!

She tried to calm the heat rising in her chest.  I’m way too emotional these days!  Deep breath. Who knows, maybe dad didn’t know or maybe dad’s the Kitsune?  Hey, his success at business would be easy if he had supernatural powers, right?  “Mhh, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions like this.”  She sighed, while staring up at the ceiling.

Turning back to the page, she read through the Etymology section.  “Eh?” Legends state that kitsune would change into one’s wife and bear children?  Was dad tricked? One of the translations could also mean stench. A bad taste entered her mouth at the thought of Kari’s gang always saying she smelled.  “Hmh!” It could also mean ne as in neko or cat … nope, not a cat.

Her mind shifted to the two-tailed cat.  Opening a new tab, she searched two tailed cat.  Two wiki links hit the top of the search results, Nekomata and Bakeneko.  Reading the descriptions, it stated Bakeneko only had one tail, while a Nekomata had two.  She clicked the Nekomata link and read through the article.

So … if I’m to believe all this folklore stuff is real.  She scratched at her left fox ear with a frown.  Which I have decent evidence of.  Then that two-tailed cat could be a Nekomata or as it says these Japanese legends come from Chinese legends on the Senri, it could be both.  A leopard cat like creature that gains divine spiritual power as it grows older and the stronger it is … it’s power is linked to how mistreated it was and vengeful it is.  That’s not scary at all. It’s supposed to eat people or at least is known for it. Maybe around that Italian restaurant is its hunting grounds … but it says Nekomata are more prone to live in mountain forests.  Maybe it lives in the national park?

“Hmm.”  Returning to the page on Kitsune, she started reading down the article.  She crossed her arms as she ended reading the Characteristics portion of the article.  There are two kinds of fox spirits, in Japan at least, Kitsune and Nogitsune.  Kitsune are considered good foxes, while Nogitsune are more neutral, I guess, are they free to their own morals?  Then there’s all these powers they have, pretty crazy, lighting, fire, time and space manipulation, illusions.

 Her mouth creased into a frown as she read the last line again.  Other Kitsune have characteristics reminiscent of vampires or succubi and feed on the life or spirit of human beings, generally through sexual contact … no thank you.

Shifting back to the part about dogs, she worked out her stiff shoulders.  So, Kitsune hate dogs … Kari could be some kind of dog monster.  She hated me the moment she saw me … but how would she know I’m a fox when I didn’t even know?  Smell I guess, but why didn’t I notice her from the start?

Filing the information away in her mind, she continued through the article.  Kitsunetsuki … basically the state of being possessed by a fox … some of the description holds true, but most of it doesn’t.  I don’t have any strange bumps that have a life of their own, just ears that I can use at will. I do crave food, rabbit seems a big attraction to me right now.  She noticed her dry lips and growling stomach, fighting her urges, she pressed forward.  The only changes seem to be my senses, odd behavior, and these ears.  It seems to happen at night when I’m sleeping and I get all that pain … likely my body changing, like these ears.

She leaned back with closed eyes and a loud sigh to release tension.  How can I be calm like this?  I’m hungry, feel like I’m starving, but I’m calm right now.  I feel mad if I think my dad lied to me, but calm that I’m a fox.  I might be possessed, who knows? Maybe the cat will know if I ask it?  Maybe it’s just a normal cat with a tail mutation and I’m overthinking it…

“I need to find some kind of expert … easier said than done.”  Getting up, a smile returned to her face as she closed her laptop.  I did my study, now to eat!

She grabbed her purse and donned her hat before heading to the elevator and calling it.  She smiled at Howie’s bright greeting. “Wow, you look like a girl on a mission. Plans?”

Stepping inside, Sora nodded.  “Yup, I’m going to hit up the town and confirm a few things.  Oh, I left a message for my dad too. It’s like three A.M. in South Korea right now … not like he’ll get it until he gets his phone back.”

Pressing the button for the ground floor, Howie nodded slowly.  Sora got the impression he was worried she was rebelling because her father’s recent business project.  “Good. By the way, what happened to your friends? Are they going to come back anytime soon?”

Sora shook her head.  “I don’t know how soon, yet.  They’re a strange bunch, but I do hope they want to come back.”

Howie laughed softly.  “I’d like that too.”

Reaching the bottom floor, she left the hotel and made her way back toward the restaurant.  I’ve seen the cat twice near the restaurant.  I might as well check and see what’s going on after I eat, no use in waiting and if it wants to eat me it’ll get what it wants eventually.  It does know where I live…

Reaching the street, she lifted her hat a little and pointed her fox ears, scanning for the bell sound.  She heard the tingle across the street in the same alley. Folding her ears again and replacing the hat, but hesitated.  Food or cat…

Her curiosity broke through and she darted across the road into the back alley.  Lying down on some boxes sat the black two-tailed cat. The cat looked up as she appeared, but continued to lick its paws nonchalantly.

Sora frowned as she stopped a little into the passage.  “Well—I wonder if you’ll eat me or try to … maybe you’re a leopard cat?”  The cat’s right eye narrowed as if to say really, its two tails weaving back and forth.

Finding a large box by the left wall, she sat and watched the cat, speaking to it as if it understood.  “There’s been a lot of strange things happening lately, Nekomata cat. Honestly, I don’t understand it … I mean, I’m worried, but I’m not.  It’s all so confusing.” She huffed with a shake of her head. “My personality has changed so much over the last few days, but my life has somewhat improved … so, why should I complain?  See!” Flipping positions, the cat began licking its stomach, its tails going stiff.

“I have fox ears!”  Sora exclaimed and then jumped slightly, looking back down the alley.  She sighed not finding anyone walking by and looked back at the cat. It was staring back, most likely alerted to her tone of voice; its large luminescent amber eyes clear.

Sora sighed in defeat.  “And now I’m talking to a cat.  I should institutionalize myself, maybe I’ve just cracked from all the stress Kari’s put me through.”  Her head darted up as she heard the cat meow and watched in disbelief as it leaped from wall to wall and disappeared over the roof.  “The cat—just jumped up the alley walls.” She nodded. “Right, a normal cat can do that.” She started shaking her head. “Actually, no, a normal cat can’t do that.”

Taking a deep breath and looking behind her at the street; no one was watching her.  “Alright, I’m insane … monster cat … monster fox. Right, I’m a monster fox … a vicious, completely lost, monster fox.  Jumping up a wall should be easy!”

Taking a few deep breaths, she jumped and found herself leaping over half the wall length in the single bound.  Caught completely off-guard, she panicked and waved her hands in front of her; bouncing off the wall, she fell to the ground.  Legs buckling as she landed, she felt a jarring sensation shoot through her butt. Groaning, she rubbed her bruised area and looked up in pain.  

“Maybe—I better practice a bit more, before trying acrobatics.”  She mumbled. Pushing herself up, she double checked the damage. Just a bruised butt … I’m more durable than I thought.  Searching for another way up, she noted that the chain link fence was almost as tall as the roof.  Climbing up while taking care to not dislodge her hat, she hoisted herself over and looked around, her focus centered on a child.