1.33: My Enemy, My FriendThe policemen surrounded us cautiously, inching closer as if we were wild animals.“Stand down and put your hands up!” one barked. “A woman alerted us to your machinations! Your bck-marketing scheme ends here!”

  Oh crap. Did we… ruin Natalia-sama?!

  I clutched my cloak tightly over my butt. It was useless, pointless. We were utterly doomed. Arrest meant interrogation. Investigation. Questions. Paperwork. CCTV reviews. Even if Natalia-sama somehow bailed us out ter…

  …I would lose the rest of my humanity long before then.

  My life would end before midnight.There was no time left.I couldn’t let myself be taken right now.

  Sure, this would definitely stain Magiranger Red’s good name, but what choice did I have? For once in my life, I refused to just do what I was told. As always, I was innocent… accused of crimes I never committed. As always, backed into a corner.

  …..

  …… pant

  ……… gasp

  My noh-breathing came fast and shallow, then deeper and louder as something inside me buckled. I noh-hyperventited, feeling dizzy as the edges of my vision dimmed. Everything blurred, darkening like someone lowered the brightness on all the lights.

  A guttural cry tore out of me.

  My hands curled, fingers separating like cws.And then—I grew.

  I expanded violently, towering over everyone in a grotesque burst of yokai strength. A giant, hulking shape overshadowing the entire ptform. Policemen stumbled backward in terror. Commuters screamed and bolted. Even Rui skittered away from me, her eyes wide with shock.

  I could barely hear the tiny rational voice in my head. Rage flooded everything.

  Rui broke first.

  “I-Iyaaaaaa! He grabbed me! He was a kidnapper! I had to do what he wanted! Uwaaaaa!” she wailed, sprinting toward the policemen.

  I snarled… a bestial sound…and charged after her.

  YOU LITTLE—!!!TRAITOR!!!!I BELIEVED IN YOU!!!

  Rui shrieked as she ran, weaving between fleeing commuters like a frantic rabbit. The policemen froze, torn between drawing their batons, calling backup, or just running for their lives.

  “RAAAAAAAAAAH!!! RUIIIIIIIII!!!”My massive feet pounded and fractured the concrete.

  BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

  Vending machines rattled violently as I barreled past them.

  SCREEEECHRUMBLE

  We hit the stairs.My huge legs vaulted multiple steps at a time.Rui darted up ahead, panting, gasping, practically flying with fear.

  Halfway up she gnced back, squeaking, then bounded sideways onto the escator handrail in a wild athletic leap.

  “Uwaaaaa! Run! Monster!! Hide!!! Somebody help!!!” she screamed, fully committing to the role of “victim of the year.”

  I thundered after her, howling, “RUUUUUUIIII! YOUUUUU!!”

  We burst into the gate area. Rui vaulted effortlessly over the magnetic check stands. I followed… attempted to follow… and clipped my foot, smming face-first onto the pavement before skidding forward like a hockey puck.

  “RAAAAAAH!” I roared, scrambling up in a chaotic, monstrous lunge forward.

  Up more stairs.Into the open-air entrance near my neighborhood.

  People coming down shrieked, fttening themselves against the walls, their eyes bulging at the sight of the towering monster charging after a tiny girl.

  Rui stumbled. Her foot slid. She pitched forward.

  At that speed, her head would smash into the concrete.

  Without thinking… without even understanding how…I blurred ahead and slid under her.

  Her face nded squarely on my backside.

  Right onto Natalia-sama’s advertisement patch.

  “Ow! I hit something really hard!” Rui compined adorably, rubbing her nose.

  I stayed on the pavement, trying to gather the broken shards of my mind. It felt eerily simir to the days after Reiko-chan’s death. Back when my thoughts splintered whenever I tried to hold them together. My hands clutched at my head as the st tremors of madness faded. Only a tiny, galvanized core of who I was… buried deep inside… kept me from sliding fully into the abyss and losing my humanity right then and there.

  “Susumu… you really are a wonderful person,” Rui sighed behind me. “I thought you were actually going to kill me, but you’re gentle. Really gentle. I never imagined a guy could be this kind. Also… your butt is so hard and ft.” She rubbed her nose like it had just hit a brick wall.

  I shuddered as control gradually returned to my limbs. Her words finally registered.“Hey! You KNOW! Pot—kettle—bck!” I stamped to my feet and wagged a finger at her. “Aren’t you the ftness specialist?!”

  Her eyes narrowed.Her cute little gremlin-teeth clenched.

  Oh no.

  She unched a powerful kick straight up between my legs.

  My soul flew out of my body.

  I skidded across the pavement and smmed head-first into a traffic pole hard enough that the whole street shivered.

  Rui rushed over, cheeks flushed with embarrassment and irritation. “Whew! Thank goodness… no bleeding or anything, and you still have human blood left. I was worried there. I’m sorry, but don’t bully a girl about what she’s sensitive about, or you’ll get hurt! Anyway… c’mon get up! We’re making a scene here and the police might catch up. Move!”

  She grabbed my hand and tugged me upright. My legs wobbled like overcooked noodles.

  “There’s no time to rest! You’re running out of time, Susu! Go, go, go! I’m going to save you! I can’t let you die!”Her voice held a strange softness, a genuine warmth, even after having just annihited Fort Winky—for the second time. But this wasn’t an act.It wasn’t her Oscars-level manipution technique at work.She truly meant it.

  Could it be that she… No. She was yuri. No changing that. And I was a baka.

  Following her, I stumbled forward in a daze. Rui’s soft, quick panting filled the quiet street. As I ran, I noticed something that terrified me even more than the police had…

  I wasn’t noh-gasping anymore.

  Was that because I’d lost some humanity during my transformation?Had something broken inside me?But I’d somehow regained some of it just now?

  Up ahead, along the narrow street, I suddenly recognized the silhouette of my apartment building. A wave of aching longing hit me. I wanted to run up those stairs. Lock the door. Colpse on the tatami. Like I always did. Hide for the rest of my short life. Everything inside me felt split and fraying…

  I was made up of ninety percent despair, ten percent stubborn survival instinct. But that ten percent was molten-hot, furious, boiling… just like the anger that exploded the st time my father pushed me too far.

  “Th-thank you, R-Rui…” I panted. “I’d o-offer you tea at my pce… in fact it’s right there… but… we don’t have time for… for any kind of nonsense.”My breathing was suddenly as heavy as hers again. Maybe I was unconsciously mirroring her.

  I couldn’t expin it.

  Rui scanned my building and immediately made a disgusted face, “You live in a dump, Susumu.”

  I gasped in silent agony. “I know…”

  “You deserve way more than this trashy building here!” She flicked a dismissive hand toward the walls… which were perfectly sturdy, if a little stained. “Once we get your humanity back, you should move out of here. No matter what happens, I’ll hire you. I promise. Although there will be a period of indenture, of course. And since you don’t have boobs, you still have to pay more. I’m nothing if not consistent.”

  She winked.

  I almost tripped again.You deserve way more… Those words did something to my noh-heart.It skipped.Actually skipped.

  No way.No way that meant what I thought…

  She led me beyond the building. I looked back one st time… at the only pce I’d called home, but I nodded and kept going with her. Why cling to a pce where everyone treated me like trash? Rui was right. I had to face the facts. Reiko-chan probably would’ve hated it too.

  Rui suddenly stopped, pressing a hand against my chest to halt me.“You know, I have a friend nearby, believe it or not. It’s hirious that it’s one of your neighbors too. He’s an outnder like Natalia…and a yokai. A tanuki spirit.”

  I froze. “A tanuki?! The trickster kind?!”

  “Uh-huh.” Rui nodded. “He’s an expert in stealth and transformation, obviously. If we can enlist him, he can get us past the police and into the tunnel safely. No matter what.”

  I noh-gasped dramatically.“He sounds like a complete legit elite! He must be amazing! Why didn’t we go to him first?”

  “Ume-chan and Natalia were closer.” Rui shrugged with a deadpan expression.

  “You just wanted to sip tea with them!” I couldn’t help pouting. I didn’t exactly have the energy to fil over it right now.

  “Kind of. But their information got us this far, didn’t it? Rickey isn’t in your neighborhood. His information combined with Natalia’s gave us the location of Noh-face’s hunting ground.” Rui pointed out.

  “Ookay… but what if we just rushed back through the station like we just did on our way out? We got through st time without that much trouble. Wouldn’t that be easier?”

  Rui gave me one of her patented pitying looks.

  “No, Noh-brains.”She patted my chest.“Too bad this is so ft,” she mused absentmindedly.

  I clutched my crotch defensively. Would she actually cut it off on the spot so I’d fit her image of me?

  Ayaiyaiyaiyai….

  She eyed my reaction and slowly grinned at me. Her face was suddenly shadowy, her eyes glinting.“Too bad that’s not ft too.”

  I nearly died.

  Nooooooo! I’m not going to Thaind!!! I REFUSE!!!

  “Anyway,” Rui continued, shrugging with a tiny smile, “the stealthy way is probably best. You nearly lost your mind back there. Way too soon. If we tried the station again, you might never return to normal. I think you’ve lost more blood today than we estimated. You might only have one Noh-face transformation left. That means we might have less time. We can’t be sure that you can count on having a Cinderel deadline. So give everything you’ve got while you can. You can only go nuts once… after we’ve recimed your face, Susu. And even then, the battle isn’t over. You got it?”

  She clenched her little fists, her eyes fierce.

  I paused.

  Then ughed softly…broken, tired, but her battle aura was giving me real hope. I would fight.

  Relwing

  Even though this isn't 100% canon, I really like this picture. It captures the moment really well despite that! One loli oni saved, one power leaking yokai! The vibe is great too, isn't it? =^.^=