Friend (13)

Before I was conscious of what I was doing, I was already holding the tanuki and pulling him back.

I pulled him into my grasp so that I would block this attack for him.

When Kyoko saw this, she immediately said, "Stop."

But it was already too late for Hime to stop her swing, she had already swung too hard to stop it in time.

The only thing that she could do was divert it by twisting her body a bit.

This caused the force of the swing to land on the yokais who were behind us.

As soon as it did, there was a large patch of space that was cleared out behind the tanuki and me as the yokais were blasted away by the force of this swing.

In the end, there was only me, the tanuki, Kyoko, and Hime standing in that area.

I didn't know what to say since I didn't know why I had even done that.

Not to mention, I really didn't have a way to explain what I was doing here in the first place.

So there was just an awkward silence that hung in the air.

The remaining yokai around us…just awkwardly stood there as well as they didn't dare move forward to attack her.

Even though Kyoko was completely surrounded by these yokai, they could feel the pressure that was coming from her. They knew that they would be nothing more than cannon fodder if they tried to attack her.

So they just awkwardly stood there as they waited to see what she would do.

After a long silence, Kyoko suddenly came forward so that she was standing right in front of me.

The tanuki had been silent in my arms, but when she came up in front of us, he felt the full pressure that she released bearing down on him. This was not a pressure that a low level yokai like him could resist.

So all of a sudden, tears appeared in the tanuki's eyes and he burst out crying in fear.

Kyoko had no hesitation at all as she grabbed the tanuki by the head and pulled him out of my grasp.

Before I could do anything, she suddenly flicked her arm and threw the tanuki out into the crowd of yokai behind her.

Then without hesitation, she grabbed me by the shoulders.

Though with the height difference, it was more like she grabbed my arms than my shoulders.

I wanted to say something to explain for myself, but she didn't give me the chance.

Kyoko suddenly turned me around and started looking all over me, as if she was making sure that I wasn't hurt at all.

I couldn't help feeling that this was familiar…

Wasn't this what Yan Huang had done before?

Were they all that worried that I was this fragile that this was their first thought?

She spun me around for a bit before letting out a sigh of relief when she was certain that I wasn't hurt.

Then she looked at me and said, "I'll take care of this. Just go back to the real world and wait for me."

I wanted to say something, but I didn't get a chance as she suddenly threw me into the air.

I didn't even get to react as I was thrown right over the yokai and to the shrine where her familiars were waiting. One of the familiars came forward to catch me, it was the same handsome man that I saw the other night.

With a smile, he said, "Yo, we meet again, though I can't say that this is how we would meet." 

Then before I could say anything, he suddenly threw me again.

I was thrown right into the shrine.

With a flash of light, the scenery changed in front of me.

I was no longer in that supernatural world, but back in the real world.

This should be what Kyoko had said before, about how this was a portal between worlds.

Looking around, it seemed that I was in some kind of temple right now.

There were a few people who were dressed in priest clothing that were standing around here, as if they were waiting for something.

It was clear by the shocked looks on their faces that they were caught off guard by me suddenly appearing.

However, one of them suddenly came forward and said, "Lin Fan, isn't that you? What are you doing here?"

This person that came forward was Kyoko's father, the head priest of this temple.

I awkwardly scratched my head and said, "Well, I got caught up in this somehow and was sent back first…"

He knitted his brows when he heard this, but then he said with a sigh, "Alright, just wait here for now. We'll see what Kyoko has to say once she comes back."

I gave a nod before finding a place to sit down.

Though as I sat down, the others in this room looked at me with looks of suspicion, as if they thought that I was some kind of yokai in disguise.

It didn't take long for Kyoko to come back with another flash of light.

When she came back, the first thing that she did was look around as if she was looking for something.

Her father went forward to say something, but she just ignored him and ran right past him to come over to me.

But halfway, her legs suddenly buckled and she fell forward.

I was shocked, but I didn't hesitate to move forward to grab her and help her up.

As I did, I noticed that there was a blush that came over her face, but I chose to ignore it.

I quickly asked, "Are you alright?"

Kyoko stabilized herself before saying with a nod, "I'm fine. I just used a bit too much energy."

All of the others glared at me when I was holding Kyoko like this, as if they were telling me with their eyes to let her go. That included her father who looked at me like I was an enemy even though he had known me for a long time since our families were friends.

So I quickly let go of her, though she did reveal a disappointed look.

Her father quickly came forward to help her, but she raised a hand to stop him before saying, "I'm fine, I just used too much energy destroying all those yokais."

I couldn't help feeling a tinge of a strange feeling that was like sadness inside of me when I heard this.

Since she said this, that meant that the tanuki was also destroyed, right?

Everyone let out a relieved sigh when they heard this before turning back to look at me.

Kyoko then said, "It's fine, he was just caught up in it. He isn't a yokai."

She turned back to me to say, "Go back to class for now and help me tell the teacher that I'm sick. I'll explain everything another day."

I slowly gave a nod before turning to leave.

As I left, I took one last look back at Kyoko and she waved at me with a smile on her face.

In the end, I failed every single chance that I had been given…

What would happen now?

Would I still be the friend character after being exposed like this?