I lazily watched Natsu running through the house, and doubling back on herself for about half an hour before gingerly offering, “Do you need any help?”

My hands were wrapped around my first cup of coffee of the day, now finally approaching a drinkable temperature, and I really didn’t want to let it grow too cold, but on the other hand, Natsu seemed frazzled trying to get ready for a party that was still most of the day away.

“Oh,” she blinked at me, as though she’d only just noticed me. “No, that’s okay. Thanks though.”

She gave me a happy smile, before rushing off again—into the direction she had just come from.

I shrugged and dedicated my attention to my coffee. Within the last thirty minutes alone, I’d seen Natsu in various stages of being dressed and styled, before she decided to change everything about her look. I’d stopped counting, but I was guessing she was reaching the eighth or ninth outfit, all of which had looked lovely on her. Meanwhile I was sitting around the living room like a slob, still dressed in the oversized t-shirt and sweatpants Kaoru had loaned me for pajamas.

I had no idea what I was meant to be wearing for the event tonight. None of the clothes Kaoru had lent me were really all that suited for it, a fact that was hammered in with every outfit I saw Natsu rush around in.

Truthfully, I’d been trying not to think about the party at all. Clothes were the least of my worry Assuming that Kaoru or Natsu would provide me with clothing of some description, I wasn’t overly picky over design or color.

My priority was to come out of it alive, not making a good impression anyway. Sure, they’d told me that the yokai there would be stronger and less likely to go rabid, but them being stronger also meant that if they lost control after all, I would have a much harder time defending myself.

Once again, I found myself clutching the bandage on my left arm as my heart rate increased. I couldn’t defend myself against a kappa; I didn’t even want to know what other yokai might be awaiting me.

But I trusted Kaoru and Natsu. I might have only known them for a few days, but they were my friends. They’d keep me safe no matter what, I was certain of it.

Unfortunately, that certainty didn’t entirely reassure me. After all, what if I was attacked by a yokai stronger than them? Or if they were distracted? It was a party, after all.

I considered calling off going, hiding away in my room instead and just drawing and painting, but I couldn’t. It was important for me to go. It was the best chance for me to meet yokai and get to know them before my curse got too strong. Kaoru had told me I needed to interact with yokai to strengthen my spiritual connection and the more different kinds, the better. A party at this time was the ideal place. Once my own power was strong enough, I could possibly defend myself without Kaoru’s help.

Natsu ran past me with her green kimono hanging loose, the obi not yet tied properly as I took another sip of my coffee. Luan glanced at Natsu as she passed him in the hallway, and then bounced to my side where he rubbed his head on my hip, purring.

“You wanna go to the party in my place and bring me back some nice yokai?” I asked him, chuckling at my own joke.

“I’m sure he would, but I don’t think he’d fit into a kimono.”

I looked up to see Kaoru standing in the doorway, holding out a lilac kimono in one hand, and an orange one in the other.

I smirked at him. “He’d look adorable wearing one, though.”

“Can’t deny that!” She laughed quietly. “So. Which one of these do you like better?”

“The lilac!” Natsu cut in out of nowhere before I had a chance to even think about my answer. “It’ll suit her so well. Right, Mi?”

“The lilac’s nice,” I agreed, finally getting to my feet, but not before taking another sip of coffee. I walked across to them both to inspect the garments for myself, but Natsu was right. The cherry blossom pattern on the lilac kimono was beautiful. It almost looked like a painting.

“Thanks,” I said as I took it out of Kaoru’s hands.

“Now let’s see you wearing it. And I believe Natsu is planning on doing your hair again, right?” She tilted her head to the side, her own, long white hair tied up in a high ponytail as usual.

“I sure am!” Natsu chirped, bustling around again. “Come on, put it on!”

I glanced at the clock on the wall. Nine A.M.

“But it’s still early,” I moaned. “Isn’t the party tonight?”

“But… But…” Natsu trailed off unhappily, looking between Kaoru and myself, her arms flapping like a small bird.

Kaoru shrugged. “She’s got a point, you know,” she told her.

Natsu sighed theatrically and let her hands drop. “Fiiiiine. I guess we could take a bath first.”

After a long, calm morning, and an exciting afternoon which involved a lot of modelling for each other on all our parts, the time had come. Kaoru created another foxfire portal, and we stepped through.

The place we emerged didn’t look overly different to Kaoru’s home. It was another mansion in a forest clearing, but even though it was larger, it didn’t look anywhere near as elegant or sophisticated. There was a part of it that actually seemed like it might be a bar.

There were already plenty of yokai around, standing in small groups around the garden, as well as the bar and the living room opening outward. The variety of yokai was larger than I could name. There were of course some I recognized instantly, such as dodomeki, onikuma, hitotsume-kozo, kudon, okami, hone-onna, jami, oni, jorogumo, kasha and even a jinmenken, but there were plenty more I had no name for or couldn’t immediately tell what they were based on their appearance. Many of the yokai sported humanoid appearance, only keeping certain telltales of their yokai nature, such as Kaoru’s tails and ears. About thirty seconds after we arrived, the volume of conversation around us suddenly dropped, and I couldn’t only see the other yokai looking our way, I felt it. The hairs on my arms and legs rose as if electrified and shivers ran down my spine.

Gulping, I stepped closer to Kaoru. She’d said the yokai here would be more in control. That they wouldn’t be driven insane by my curse. I’d be safe. Or at least, that was what I kept repeating to myself in my own mind. I was safe.

A badger weaved through between the legs of the yokai, scurrying toward us, and taking part of my mind off from my nervousness. Just before it reached us, it changed shape in a flash and a bespectacled young man with bright brown hair, a large nose, brown eyes and basically no chin stood before us instead, sporting a dark brown kimono with a diamond design. A mujina, then.

No matter how often I watched one of those transformations, my brain still had difficulty making sense of it. It probably didn’t help that they were essentially instantaneous. If there were any grotesque intermediary stages, my mind didn’t acknowledge them.

“Kaoru!” the mujina said, clapping Kaoru’s shoulder before moving his gaze to me.

“Hey, Satoru.” Kaoru tapped him on the shoulder, but Satoru was focusing on me, intently peering at me while his nostrils flared, taking in the air. I forgot to breathe. He wasn’t about to… Was he? For an impossibly long moment, he kept his stare on me, before moving it to Natsu. Instantly, his expression both softened and brightened.

“Snowflake!” he chirped. “You came!” He turned to Kaoru accusingly. “You said there was no way.”

As I gave a sigh of relief, Kaoru only shrugged and Natsu grunted, pushing me forward and past Satoru, toward the building.

“Let’s get this over with,” she sighed.