With great surprise, I looked around to find a man being stopped by some staff. "Op-oppai! Give me oppai!" Even Kinkaku-ji had molesters. Man, it sure ruins the sightseeing mood. "Another molester. Now that it's mentioned, the television news this morning also reported about them. There was one at the Sensoji Shrine too. And at the railway station yesterday. There seems to be rather too many molesters." To Matsuda's words, Motohama pushed his glasses and protested. "What are you talking about? You're the one who attacked me on the bullet train yesterday." So that's what happened yesterday. "No, how should I explain it? At that time I must have been groggy in my sleep, but I suddenly felt an urge to touch nipples. What was going on, that feeling?" Matsuda tilted his head, puzzled. Well, I believe as a man, wanting to touch breasts is a normal thing. "This is youth." Motohama declared, and Matsuda goes "The mistakes of youth!" and nods. But then again, please give up on the male nipples. As I was about to nod along with them -- my mobile phone rang. Ah, it was Akeno-san calling. What was the matter? "Yes, hello, is there anything wrong, Akeno-san?" [ Hello, Ise-kun. No, nothing serious... Just now Koneko-chan just brought up some concerns. ] "Concerns?" [ Yes, you just sent those photos, right? ] "Yes, the ones at Kinkaku-ji. Is there a problem?" Akeno-san replied to my surprise. [ On that photo, it looks like you caught something. ] "Caught something?" [ Yes, in the background scenery there seems to be a few fox youkai. What is going on? Although fox youkai are not that rare in Kyoto... ]
Akeno-san's voice was somewhat worried. Having received her call, I felt a chill. "No, we are fine. Ah, Asia seems to be calling me, let's talk later." [...If anything happens, contact me? ] "Yes." I hung up after that. ...Being called by Asia was a lie. Checking those photos from just now, they looked just like normal scenery from Kinkaku-ji... I couldn't see anything. Was it something like those paranormal photos only special people can see? After all, only a nekomata -- Koneko-chan could see them. Anyway, let me alert Asia and the rest about Akeno-san's information. Looking back at the teahouse -- Matsuda, Motohama and Kiryuu were fast asleep! It can't be because they were too tired... It's impossible that they fell asleep within the time I took the call. Asia and the rest were awake, but Xenovia was glaring at the waitress with a scary expression. She has revealed her animal ears and tail... Not human. Taking a look, more of those animal eared guys have appeared and all the normal tourists are asleep. ...Hahaha, it was too naive of us to think that they would not attack at a famous sightseeing tourist destination. Was Kinkaku-ji part of youkai territory? Xenovia quickly extracted the short holy blade from her bag and hid Asia behind her. I readied my left hand, and was about to summon the gauntlet --
"Please wait." Hearing a familiar voice, I glanced over. Appearing was -- Rossweisse-san! "Rossweisse-san! Why are you here?" Panting, Rossweisse-san answered. "Yes, I was called by Azazel-sensei to welcome you guys." "Called by Sensei? What happened?" I asked as I surveyed the surroundings... Thinking about it, there was a lack of enmity, different from the youkai who attacked us yesterday. "A ceasefire. Or in other words, the misunderstanding has been cleared. --The kyuubi's daughter wants to apologise to you all." Thus answered Rossweisse-san. Ah, a ceasefire? Misunderstanding cleared? Then in other words, no more foxes will be attacking? To my lingering doubts, an animal-eared lady approached and bowed her head deeply. "I am the fox youkai who serves the monarch of the kyuubi. We are most sorry for last time. Please come with us, as our princess would like to apologise to you all." Come with them? To where? -- Just as I thought that, the fox youkai onee-sama continued to speak. "To the Inner Capital where we Kyoto youkai live. Maou-sama and the Fallen Angel Governor are already there." What we stepped into -- was a place that can only be described as another world. Like the streets of the Edo period, ancient houses were lined up, and strange creatures revealed their faces from the doors, windows and passageways. Through a secluded torii at Kinkaku-ji, we passed through there and entered a different world. A dark space with a unique atmosphere. Those creatures I just mentioned. The many residents welcomed us. ...A single-eyed youkai with a large face, kappa-like youkai with dishes on their head, tanuki walking upright and other creatures from legend. Everyone was watching us with curiosity. We followed the fox lady towards the princess' residence. It was rather dark, and the only light source was a lamp moving along the road in front of us. "Wooshashshasha!" Wa! Scared me! The lantern suddenly showed eyes and a mouth and began laughing! Was it the legendary lantern beast? "My apologies. The youkai here love to play pranks... Though I suppose none of them are able to pose a threat to you all..."
The fox lady guiding us apologised as we walked. "This is the world of the youkai?" This was my question. Though I realised that this space was connected to Kyoto. Fox onee-sama gave the following answer. "Yes, This is the place where most Kyoto youkai live. I remember you devils have used bounded fields in the Rating Game. So why don't you think of this space as something created in a similar way. We call this place the 'backstreets' or the 'Inner Capital' and other names. Of course, just like devils, there are those who live out there on the surface of Kyoto." The Inner Capital? I see. Something similar to the game fields of the devils. "...Are they human?" "No, I've heard that they're devils." "Devils eh? How rare to see them here." "Is that pretty foreign girl a devil too?" "A dragon, that must be a dragon's presence. Devils and dragons..."
From the gossiping of the youkai could be heard, devils must be rare here. True, this was youkai territory after all, it was natural. Passing through rows of residences, we entered a forest with a river flowing through it. Venturing deeper, a massive red torii appeared. Before us was a huge mansion, giving off a feeling of ancient majesty. Ah, in front of the torii, Azazel-sensei and Leviathan-sama in a kimono were already there! "Oh, you have arrived." "Ah, hello everyone!" Even though they have come to the youkai world, both of them acted the same. Between them was a blonde girl. The one who led the earlier attack. Should I just call her kyuubi-san? Instead of a priestess outfit this time, she was wearing a fancy feathery kimono like a princess from the warring states era. Ah, she really looked like a little princess. "Kunou-sama, I have brought everyone here." The fox lady reported -- then disappeared in a burst of fire. ..Was that it? The so-called fox fire? The princess stepped forward and began to speak.