The morning after the Spirit Trials, Raien woke up feeling like he'd been trampled by an ox.
Twice.
He groaned and rolled out of bed, immediately regretting it as his legs buckled. "Ow. My everything."
From the corner of his mind, Kyūbakko stirred, ever dramatic.
"You push your pitiful human body too far. I told you to let me handle that trial. I would have juggled those flaming spears with my tails."
Raien groaned. "You would've incinerated the whole crowd."
"Details. You really need to loosen up."
Ignoring the fox spirit's sass, Raien stumbled into the tiny kitchen where Master Genzo was already sipping tea with an unbothered expression.
"Sleep well?" Genzo asked, raising one white brow.
"Like a corpse," Raien replied, slumping into the nearest chair.
Genzo nodded. "Good. That's how warriors are supposed to sleep. Now get ready. You've got a mission."
Raien blinked. "A what now?"
Genzo handed him a scroll with the words Urgent – Village Duty – Highly Dangerous written in red ink.
Raien's eyes widened. "Wait… dangerous?"
He unrolled the scroll.
Mission Objective:Retrieve Mrs. Hisa's missing rice balls from the woods.Caution: Possible tanuki interference.
Raien stared. Then stared some more.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Nope," Genzo said, sipping calmly. "Tanuki are crafty creatures. They once stole my underclothes and paraded them through the village square."
Raien's face twisted. "I didn't need to know that."
"I did," Kyūbakko said inside his head, snickering."This man is a treasure."
As if the day couldn't get weirder, Raien found himself crouching in a bush an hour later with Mei and—unfortunately—Taro, who had somehow volunteered for the mission purely to annoy him.
"So," Taro whispered loudly, "we're risking our lives for rice balls?"
"They're Mrs. Hisa's prize winning rice balls," Mei corrected. "She puts umeboshi and pickled radish inside. Very high value."
Raien narrowed his eyes. "You're enjoying this."
"Absolutely," Mei said with a grin.
"Why am I, a being of divine destruction, helping you chase dumplings through foliage?" the fox muttered.
"Because if I let you out, you'd burn the entire forest down for a snack."
"Correct."
Raien sighed and scanned the woods. "Okay. Let's just get this over with."
Suddenly, a squeaky snort echoed from the treetops.
They looked up.
A dozen tanuki sat in the branches—tiny raccoon-like creatures with mischievous grins and suspiciously round bellies. One held a rice ball triumphantly in its tiny paws.
"They're mocking us," Taro said, offended.
"They have our rice," Mei corrected, her eyes narrowing.
Raien stood slowly. "Alright. Mei, you flank left. I'll go straight. Taro, you…"
"Wait, why am I the decoy?"
"You're the loudest," Raien and Mei said at the same time.
"Fine," Taro muttered. "But if one of them bites me, I'm blaming you."
The ambush was a disaster.
Taro tripped over a root and screamed like a goat. One of the tanuki dropped a rice ball directly on Raien's head. Another snuck up behind Mei and smacked her with a leaf fan.
Raien finally leapt onto a low branch and snatched the last rice ball from a startled tanuki—only for the creature to latch onto his face like a furry mask.
"Aaaagh get it off!" he shouted, flailing wildly.
"This is the most entertainment I've had in centuries.""Please let me destroy ONE of them."
"No!"
He flung the tanuki off, tumbled to the ground, and landed in a bush.
"Mission success," he mumbled, holding up the slightly squished rice ball like a trophy.
The tanuki glared from above, swearing vengeance in squeaky growls.
By the time they returned to the village, Raien's hair was full of leaves, Mei had a grass stain on her face, and Taro looked like he'd been mugged by squirrels.
Mrs. Hisa greeted them at her doorstep with alarming joy.
"Oh, thank heavens! My precious babies!" she cried, cradling the rice balls as if they were actual children.
"You… name them?" Raien asked weakly.
Mrs. Hisa sniffed. "This is Nobu, this is Hikari, and this—" she paused, squinting at the slightly squished one "—was Yoshi. What happened to Yoshi?!"
"He... met a tanuki," Raien said with complete deadpan.
Mrs. Hisa gasped and hugged the rice ball. "Yoshi, no!"
As they walked away, Mei chuckled. "Well. That was... something."
"I need a nap," Raien muttered.
"I need revenge," the fox grumbled.
"Get in line," Raien replied.
Later that evening, Raien sat on the roof again, legs dangling over the edge, watching the stars come out.
It had been a ridiculous day—but oddly, a good one. For once, he hadn't been fighting to prove himself. He hadn't been battling the fox for control. He'd just… lived.
The villagers hadn't glared at him. A few even waved.
"Maybe being normal isn't so bad," he murmured.
"Speak for yourself. You're one boring dumpling-chaser away from becoming a monk."
Raien chuckled to himself.
Then, Genzo's voice echoed up from below.
"Raien! Another urgent mission tomorrow!"
Raien groaned. "If it involves squirrels, I'm moving to another village."
TO BE CONTINUED.