The atmosphere of the room was tense. The human leaders of the United Forces, the president of the Investigators, the ace of the Investigators, and the heads of the oldest families that made up the Council. The dangerous atmosphere was to be expected.
“So you really are… supernatural?” one of the humans said carefully.
“We prefer the term Arcane,” Aphelion corrected. “But yes. We are not human. Lord Raque is a western dragon, Lord Zerah a vampire, Lady Shino an Okami, Lord Wen Shichen a Fenghuang, Lady Lee a dokkaebi and Lady Penelope a flower spirit. I, myself, am a hummingbird spirit, Aphelion, codename President. To my left is my brother, a kitsune, Hinode. Call him Sugar.”
“And… the bird?”
Aphelion visibly restrained an eyeroll. “Sugar’s companion. He picked it up in a Case. Its name is Supreme.”
Hinode cleared his throat and Aphelion corrected himself wryly, “Its name is Supreme Overlord Cotton-candy Ball. All naming credit goes to Sugar.” Someone stifled a laugh. “Now, onto business.”
Near instantly, the room erupted into arguments, accusations, and interrogations by the humans.
“—your fault—”
“—why should we humans—!”
“Ephemeral Dreams was taken over by—”
“Your kind—!”
“Enough!” Aphelion roared and it was then that Hinode was reminded that his brother was the president, the leader, of the Investigators for a reason. “I think, there’s a misunderstanding here. You think it’s because of us the Malevolent made a move? Oh no, I assure you if we weren’t here, none of you would exist. Tell me, do you know what the main source of food for Malevolents are?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
A hesitant denial and Aphelion smiled, all teeth and danger despite his colorful appearance. “Human flesh and Energy Condensation. In the world, you mortals are the lowest beings on the food chain. So sit down, shut up, and listen.”
***
“Jbeivc’a kf rfcv lc tewjcr ab rbinf atfrf Jjrfr? Qts wera kf gfis bc sbeg Pcnfralujabgr?”
Llcbvf mtfkfv bc tlr rkffar. Lf’v ubaafc ybgfv lc atf olgra afc wlceafr jcv yfuec fjalcu tlr rcjmxr. Vfnfgji bo atf tewjcr bynlberis kjcafv ab mjii tlw bea yea gfogjlcfv ogbw vblcu rb ktfc Cqtfilbc ujnf atfw j vjcufgber rwlif. Ojvs Vtlcb kjr atf bcf ktb jcrkfgfv atf defralbc.
“As if any human could harm an Arcane,” she said coldly. “You lot don’t have enough Energy Condensation to put even a scratch on a tanuki. Going against a Malevolent in a Case, you wouldn’t be able to last a second.”
The humans bristled at the insult. “Still, it’s our species being held hostage by your kind. We must be able to do something.”
“That ‘something’ will be getting eaten,” Hinode sighed. “Don’t try to pretend to be able to do something you can’t. You can try if you want, of course, but don’t come crying if you fail.”
“Why is he even here?” a human asked, pointing a crooked finger at Hinode. “Surely, just because he’s your… brother, doesn’t mean he gets full access to everything?”
“He doesn’t,” Lord Zerah said and Hinode was minutely surprised. Usually, they got along like oil on water; though, in the presence of humans, politics obviously—you know what? Hinode wasn’t going to touch the subject of politics with a ten-foot pole. “Investigator Sugar is here because he’s the best we have, with a 100% success rate in solving Cases, no matter how hard. Despite how he looks, he is very reliable.”
The human sneered at Hinode’s sugar-stained fingers and lax posture. “I think our United Forces Corporation would do a much better job of solving these… Cases.”
Ah, right. The conversation kept coming back to this. The United Forces Corporation, also known as the U.F.C: the elites of the humans. Created about sixty years ago when the world became united under one government, the U.M was a force to be feared. If you were human, that is.
“We’ve gone over this,” Aphelion said, and he seemed to be getting impatient. “The U.F.C are still humans; they don’t have enough Energy Condensation to be able to enter Cases or hurt Arcanes. The beings we’ll be going up against aren’t things you’re used to. They’re dangerous.”
“I’m sure you’ll reconsider once you’ve seen our soldiers.” Hinode sighed deeply and continued ignoring the fools in favor of his cotton candy.
One of the humans pressed a buzzer and spoke into it lowly. Then he sat back and waited smugly. Idiot. Humans couldn’t beat Arcane. Adding to that, the humans that’d been taken over by the Malevolents (and boy, the researchers back at Headquarters were having aneurysms trying to figure that one out) were gone and couldn’t hurt anymore Arcanes. Like, they were literally gone. They blew up. Hinode saw it happen to one of them before reports from all over the world came in, saying the same had happened to several humans.
The doors to the room slid open and Hinode glanced up lazily. The half-opened lollipop in his hand clattered to the floor.
Hinode stared, vaguely registering the other Arcanes stiffening as well.
This was impossible. He was supposed to be dead. Buried beneath a mountain and forgotten by the world. He’d been destroyed completely, his Energy Condensation scattered around the world like fertilizer. This wasn’t possible.
Red hair and amber-in-sun gold eyes. Eyes that Hinode quite possible could never forget—and then Aphelion was in front of him, face made of stone and blue eyes flinty.
“Get out,” he said and Hinode jerked.
“I—what—?”
“Get out, Hinode.”
“But—”
“OUT!”
Hinode flinched in shock as Energy Condensation flared like a volcano from his brother. Squeezing, shaping, and pressing around Hinode until he gave way and shrank back into his fox form. Aphelion’s hand shot out, grasping the scruff of Hinode’s neck, and carrying him out like he was once again an unruly cub.
Hinode barely had time to glance at gold-warm eyes before he was tossed out of the room and the door locked shut behind him.
He stood in disbelief for a moment, and then turned around and whined at the top of his lungs. He’d been forced into his fox form, so Hinode wouldn’t be able to turn back for at least an hour. He scratched at the doors with sharp claws and beat at it with his paws. He wailed and barked and howled and screamed until his throat went soar, but still, his brother refused to let him back in.
Why? Why, why, why, why, why?
Hinode wanted to see, wanted to check, and drink in the sight of what he was sure—he was sure… but no. That wasn’t possible, was it? Reincarnation for him was impossible. Aphelion and the Council had made sure of that.
He stopped his tantrum, his tail drooping down and ears wilting. Stupid, Hinode scolded himself. Of course it wasn’t him. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Supreme landed on his head and chirped sadly as if sensing his downtrodden mood. Hinode grumbled and settled down onto his belly to wait.
As time went by and there seemed to be no signs of Hinode being let back in, his eyes began to slide shut. It’d been a while since he last slept, and well, it was naturally warm when he was in his fox form so… Hinode fell asleep.
***
He awoke to a light hand stroking down his head, down his spine, and to the tip of his tail. Again… and again… and again. Combined with the warm, firm cushion beneath him, it was amazingly comfortable. The Energy Condensation around them drifted lazily and it was… good. The feeling of warm-gold-sun-hearth-in-winter and the smell of smoke against honey was achingly, painfully familiar. The last person Hinode had allowed to touch his tails had given him this feeling, too.
He opened his eyes slowly, purple eyes hazy with sleep. He yawned, nine tails swaying gently. The hand paused, and Hinode’s brain came back online again.
Someone was touching his tail.
He yelped and leapt off the warm cushion—something he now recognized as someone’s lap, holy shit—he did a little tumble and shook himself off, getting ready to snarl at the person who’d dared to touch his tail.
Burgundy hair. Amber eyes. The snarl about to tear through his throat stopped midway.
Oh. Oh.
Well damn…. what happened between them 🥲
Thanks for the chapter~
thats the ml innit 🤭
and whats with the “he’s supposed to be dead” thing
thank you for the chapter 💖
Big brother reacted so badly and then just let him take his little brother in fox form and let him pet him? Wtf
Thanks for the chapter <3
It shall be e x p l a i n e d. Don’t worry. In like, chapter 5.
Oh! OH BOY.
Oh! That’s big news! A past lover who shouldn’t be able to exist. 😍 Love this reunion. So cute the little Fox. I want to give Sugar a hug for being kicked out. 😚