Guise of a Fox

“Got anything fun planned for spring vacation, Kobayashi?”

The feminine voice startled him from his reading, and Ryuu Kobayashi looked up from the article on his phone to find Himiko Yukimura approaching him. He returned her eager grin and moved over on the bench. “Uh, not really.” The university only gave them a week, and to Kobayashi, that wasn’t much time to travel.

Yukimura sat beside him and leaned over to gaze at his phone. Kobayashi glanced down at the article. A photo of a beaten-up, abandoned bridge occupied most of his screen. “Planning a new haunted expedition?” she asked, lightly nudging his side.

His face grew warm. “Maybe. There’s this bridge outside the city. They say a mother killed her child there and later threw herself over the edge out of regret.”

Yukimura frowned. “Pretty morbid.”

“It is. Rumor has it some weird stuff happens there, but only after midnight.” He paused, turning off his phone’s display. “And… you know… there’s no streetlights or anything.”

Yukimura failed to stifle her laughter. “I’ll never understand how someone who is so afraid of the dark got into all of that ghost-hunting stuff.”

Kobayashi pouted at her, but the frown faded quickly at the fond expression on her face. His heart did a tiny flip. “I’m working on it, okay?” he said. “Anyway, what about you? Doing anything over break?”

Yukimura shrugged and twirled a strand of her chestnut hair around her finger. “No. My parents wanted to visit family in Osaka, but apparently there were some last minute changes. So… I’ll be free,” her smile returned, “if you wanted to hang out or something.”

His heart fluttered again at the prospect, though a twinge of guilt chewed at the inside of his stomach. His expression must’ve betrayed him, because Yukimura frowned, too. “I mean, only if you want to.”

Kobayashi shook his head. “Of course, I want to,” he said, fumbling for the right words. “Sorry your vacation was cancelled. It probably would’ve helped get your mind off… things.”

Yukimura tilted her head to one side, like a confused puppy. “Things?” She laughed again. “Kobayashi, you don’t have to be so sensitive. I’d known his death was coming for a long time.”

His posture stiffened. “Wha—how did you know what I was—”

“You’re definitely not the first person to dance around the subject. But, it’s okay. See, Takeshi had been really sick for a while. He didn’t like talking about it because he didn’t want anyone to worry. I knew, of course, but I respected his wishes to keep it a secret.” She sighed wistfully, her shoulders rounding. “The last time he’d been to the doctor, they’d given him two months to live. We had time to prepare.”

Kobayashi’s heart sank. He’d been jealous of Hideo Takeshi for a while, but he’d made Yukimura so happy during the time they’d dated. In the aftermath of his death, she’d been taking things really well, but he had a suspicion it was all a mask. He decided not to push the matter, or his luck. “Well, if you’d like to hang out, Tanaka invited me to a party tomorrow night. You’re more than welcome to join me.”

Yukimura’s face lit up, excitement glittering in her eyes. “You really want me to go?”

Kobayashi laughed and nodded. “Of course I do.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “You know, Kobayashi, I devour men like you to keep me young and beautiful.”

There were a few seconds of silence between them, and Kobayashi could only stare at her in astonishment. Where had that come from?

Yukimura broke the silence with another laugh. “Just kidding! I’d love to go!” She stood up from the bench. “I’ve gotta head home, but I’ll text you! Let me know what time we should meet up.”

Kobayashi watched her walk off, and when she was barely a speck in his line of sight, he returned to his article.

#

Initially, Yukimura seemed to be enjoying herself at the party. She’d danced and joked around, had a couple drinks, and was the happiest Kobayashi had seen her in a while.

As the night grew later, however, she started to deflate. There was a slouch to her posture and a distant look in her eyes that suggested she wasn’t completely present. Kobayashi pulled her aside as soon as he got the chance.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “You seem a little… off.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, trying for that characteristic charming grin, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I think I’m just gonna go get some fresh air.”

As she began to walk away, Kobayashi took a step after her. “I’ll come with you.”

She looked back at him and shook her head. “It’s fine, Kobayashi. I’ll be okay, and it’ll be very dark out there, you know? I’ll be back soon.” She winked, then turned and left the room.

Kobayashi remained seated while she was gone, clutching a glass of non-alcoholic punch. Five minutes passed, then ten, and still there wasn’t any sign of Yukimura. Realistically, she was fine. What possibly could’ve happened to her while standing outside of Tanaka’s house? Still, he couldn’t shake his unease, and he’d been into paranormal investigation long enough to recognize that feeling. If nothing else, maybe she’d needed to get away so she could deal with her emotions in solitude. He couldn’t stand the thought of her being alone and vulnerable like that.

He left out the back door, where a couple leaned against the wall, very absorbed in each other’s company. Kobayashi averted his eyes, scowling in the direction of the forest that bordered the yard. “Did you guys happen to see Yukimura come this way?” he asked, still refusing to look directly at them.

“I think she went for a walk in the woods,” the guy said, hardly distracted from his lady friend.

A chill ran down Kobayashi’s spine, like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water down his back. Thick, murky shadows lurked just beyond the forest’s edge. The silhouettes of the trees beckoned to him with long, spindly fingers. Why wouldn’t Yukimura have been right? She’d be back soon enough.

Or, something horrible could’ve happened to her in those woods, and she might never return. It was a drastic possibility, but tiny voice in the back of his mind seemed to nudge him toward the woods, insisting there would be no harm in having a quick look. Somehow, the voice didn’t feel like his.

He wouldn’t go far. Surely, Yukimura hadn’t delved too deep in this darkness.

Without a word to the couple—who had already returned their focus to each other—Kobayashi headed into the woods, using the flashlight from his cellphone to guide him. The LED glow didn’t illuminate much, but it saved him from tripping over roots and running into trees.

With the light from the house behind him, the shadows of the trees engulfed him like a hungry maw. Darkness swirled at the edge of the light’s beam, thick and suffocating. He tugged at his collar, but it did little to relieve his shortness of breath. A cool breeze crossed his path, carrying with it a chorus of voices, a mixture of chanting and singing in a language he couldn’t decipher. Perhaps they weren’t words at all. A twig snapped underfoot, and Kobayashi’s shoulders tensed, but the song invited him further.

Though logic and uncertainty scolded him to turn back, his curiosity pushed him deeper into the trees. With the light guiding him, it was easy to convince himself he’d be okay. It was just his mind playing tricks on him. That was what darkness did.

A piercing scream shattered the silence, hushing the mysterious voices. The light on his phone flickered, then switched off completely. Panic formed a thick knot in the back of his throat, and his attempts to turn the device back on were met with a screen that remained as dark as the shadows around him. Only a few minutes ago, the battery had been over halfway charged. Prolonged use of the flashlight sucked power from the battery, he knew that, but had it really been killed that quickly? Or, maybe he’d just been out here longer than he thought.

He shivered and glanced over his shoulder, back toward the entrance, but there wasn’t even a speck of light in the distance. Only darkness surrounded him. He could run to safety, it would be a straight shot, but he hadn’t found Yukimura yet. Before he could move from his position, another scream assaulted his eardrums. It was definitely feminine, and fear clawed at the inside of his chest. He had little doubt in his mind that it belonged to Yukimura, and that she was in trouble.

The strange whispering returned, louder this time, and he struggled to figure out whether it was all around him, or just in his mind. He plunged deeper into the woods, the voices refusing to be ignored. Their rhythmic chatter bounced back and forth between chanting and singing.

Thankfully, his vision had adjusted to the low light. Blurry, blobby forms lurked in the shadows, breaking up the thick, monotonous darkness. It wasn’t much, but he could see where he was going now. The fact offered little relief.

A rustling to his left broke the quiet, followed by the crackling of branches. With a sharp gasp, Kobayashi’s gaze snapped in the sound’s direction, but the shadows were still, and now the only sound besides the voices was his own rasping breath. Perhaps just the wind?

A similar noise rang out on his right. He glanced up in time to see movement in a low-hanging branch: a lithe-form, almost cat-like, but not completely. Two eyes flashed at him in the darkness, and then the creature dove into the undergrowth, a bushy tail trailing after it. Just a fox. A shaky exhale escaped him. His only company was the wildlife. There shouldn’t be anything to fear.

He didn’t feel any less uneasy.

As soon as the last of the tension left his muscles, another scream cut through the night. The sound was closer, caught somewhere between feminine and beastly. His thoughts flashed back to the fox silhouette, and he drew slow breaths to calm himself. A fox’s call could sound eerily similar to a woman in dire distress. They were strange and noisy creatures, and he’d heard plenty of them before during his late night paranormal expeditions. He’d never heard one quite like this, but they were known for their wide variety of vocalizations.

The idea would’ve comforted him more if Yukimura wasn’t still missing.

Eventually, the dense forest opened into a clearing where a stream cut through the earth like a dark vein. The moon above offered adequate lighting, and Kobayashi let himself bathe in the ivory glow for a moment. Beneath it, he felt safe and questioned why he’d been so paranoid in the first place.

The dirt path surrendered to a wooden bridge stretching across the stream, and he looked up in time to glimpse a humanoid figure darting over it. For a moment, he thought the figure looked back at him, and the voices grew rowdier. Those few seconds felt like hours, his breath held in his throat, and then the figure disappeared as quickly as it had shown up.

Even with the moon’s light, the clearing was still too dark for him to tell if it had been Yukimura, but if it had been, why had she gone deeper into the woods? Why wouldn’t she stop at the sight of him? Then again, it was possible the figure hadn’t been her at all. A trick of the light, perhaps, or maybe the specter of a woman who had died here.

Any other time, the latter thought would’ve excited him, but now it was the last thing he wanted to consider. He took the chance and bolted over the bridge. In the darkness, the murky water beneath him could’ve just as easily been blood.

On the other side of the stream, the voices were louder than before, grating at his eardrums. His hands came to his ears, trying to block out the sound, and he realized that it was, indeed, inside his head. Their words were urgent, but unintelligible. Unintelligible, except for a sound uncomfortably similar to his own name. The thought was ridiculous, probably his mind working against him, the shadows playing tricks on his perception. As he struggled to slow his breathing, he looked back over the bridge. How long had he been gone? Had his absence even been noticed? Surely, it would be best to go back to the party, even if he hadn’t found Yukimura. He’d ventured so far into the woods, and being alone in them this late at night didn’t feel like a good idea anymore.

Actually, he wasn’t sure why it had felt like a good idea in the first place.

He steeled himself, ready to turn back. He could charge his phone and call the police, leave them to deal with Yukimura’s missing status. That was the smart thing to do.

Another loud cry shattered his resolve, followed by an unmistakable, “Help me!” Kobayashi had little doubt that the voice had been Yukimura’s, and any thoughts of going back were swiftly quelled.

He broke into a sprint after the call. The symphony of voices reached a crescendo, making his head pound and blurring his vision. His lungs burned as he struggled to breathe, his chest felt like it might collapse.

Finally—after what could have been a minute or an hour—he stumbled into a small clearing. Something shoved him from behind, and he fell face-first onto the forest floor. As he looked up, gasping for air, a blue light illuminated the otherwise dark clearing. Wisps of cobalt flame lined the perimeter, making shadows dance in the trees just beyond. He stood up, moving slowly. He’d hit a dead-end. He wouldn’t find anything here. He turned, only to find that the flames blocked his exit, too.

With nowhere else to go, Kobayashi took a few steps into the clearing. At its center was a small shrine, overgrown with moss and vines. In the distant past, it might have been devoted to some spirit or deity, but it was abandoned now.

Sitting before the shrine was a white fox, so still that it could have been a statue. Kobayashi was ready to write it off as such, and then not one, but nine tails unfolded from behind it.

Recognition clicked immediately in his brain as he identified the creature for what it was: a kitsune, and from all his research into mythology, this was a powerful one.

He stepped forward in what he hoped was a threatening display. “What do you want from me?” he snapped. This creature had baited him—and possibly Yukimura—through the forest, playing some sort of twisted game. His hands curled into fists. “Where’s Yukimura?”

The fox laughed, standing up and stretching out its limbs like a cat. “Yukimura?” it asked. Its voice carried the innocence of a small child’s. “She’s right here.”

With a flash of white light, the kitsune transformed. Standing before him now was Yukimura, exactly as he knew her, her chestnut hair falling in long waves over her shoulders. She smiled at him, and butterflies danced in the pit of Kobayashi’s stomach. In his mind echoed something Yukimura had said to him.

I devour men like you to keep myself young and beautiful.

Everything fell into place. Her words had never been a joke. Takeshi hadn’t been killed by a terminal illness, and now Kobayashi was about to meet that same fate. What lie would she weave about his death? “Y-Yukimura, wait—”

The fox didn’t bother to listen. It returned to its true form, and with its victim cornered, it pounced. Its paws collided with Kobayashi’s chest, and the wind was expelled from his lungs as his back connected with the ground. “It was sweet of you to follow me all the way here. You’re like a puppy,” the fox said in Yukimura’s voice. “This is what blind love has gotten you.”

Kobayashi struggled to shove the creature off of him, but it was surprisingly heavy, much heavier than a normal fox. It laughed at his futile attempts and pushed its face very close to his own. A wide, twisted grin parted its jaws, leaving its shiny white canines mere inches from his throat.

“Don’t worry,” it said, its voice laced with the sweetness of honey, “this will only hurt for a moment.”