Chapter Ninety-Eight: A Reunion of Two Who Parted

Research and investigation into the God of Creation, Mokona, still had not made much progress.

But over this time, staying at Natsume’s side and going through so many events with him, large and small—many of them involving the gods of this world—Kurama had gained a much clearer understanding of the world he currently inhabited. And Mokona, whose sensitivity to the essence of the true form was especially keen, had at one point sensed, through a certain middle-ranking deity, a faint but unmistakable trace of the God of Creation, Mokona. That finally led the two of them to confirm a conclusion: this world, too, seemed to be inseparable from that little creature...

“But if all we can do is sense that divine aura and confirm that a certain world was created by it, how is that supposed to help matters at all...?”

Curled up in the heated kotatsu already prepared by Taki in Natsume’s room, Kurama was growing pleasantly drowsy, yet still fretting over the investigation that had yielded no progress.

Although Natsume had not heard every detail from him, he knew that Kurama was searching for a certain special being and for all sorts of information related to that being. And in some “other world” as Kurama called it, there was apparently an extraordinary figure helping him look as well. Yet after all their efforts—beginning from early summer, when Kurama had first arrived here, all the way to now, with winter already upon them—they still seemed to have found not the slightest clue. No wonder even Kurama, patient as he was, had finally grumbled a few times.

Thinking of it, when he himself had been troubled over the Friend Account and the affairs of the spirits, Kurama, who seemed to live in ease and spend each day so calmly and unhurriedly, had not actually been free of worries either...

With that thought, Natsume smiled and offered him a mandarin already carefully peeled by hand.

Watching the fox demon, along with his fluffy white companion and his own Cat Teacher, shamelessly lounging in the kotatsu as they shared it with expressions of bliss, the brown-haired boy could not help narrowing his eyes and stretching out his legs in the warm cocoon...

“So warm, this kotatsu.”

Kurama, lying on his side beside him, did not mind that his reply had nothing at all to do with the topic. Instead, he nodded in perfect agreement, as if he could not agree more.

“Yes, so warm.”

“It feels like... once you have this, a bed is completely unnecessary. I can totally understand how those old men feel when they want to curl up in a kotatsu and nap away a lazy afternoon...”

“...What do you need to understand that for＝＝”

The conversation had been going so well—how had it suddenly veered off in such a hopelessly slothful direction?

Natsume pressed a hand to his forehead and reached out to shove the fox demon, who had become so languid by his side that his eyes were nearly closing.

“Come on, wake up. We already have one decadent middle-aged man here, Teacher. Kurama, don’t go picking up his bad habits.”

Cat Teacher, who had been innocently caught in the crossfire, exploded at once.

“What do you mean, ‘we already have one decadent middle-aged man here, Teacher’?! Natsume, you aho! For a noble and beautifully poised great demon like me...”

The cat, poised to deliver a “fatal strike” to the boy, had not even reached his face before a hand pressed against his round little countenance and held him back in midair.

The boy’s gentle amber eyes reflected the image of him flailing all four limbs as he desperately tried to close the distance. A faint, lovely curve rose at the corner of his mouth.

“Teacher wants to refute me? Then who was it last time, carrying grilled squid around and saying, ‘This is the romance only a middle-aged man can understand! The enjoyment only a middle-aged man can appreciate!’? Wasn’t that you, Cat Teacher?”

“—Nyaaa!”

Struck precisely where it hurt, the expression on Cat Teacher’s adorable round face went blank for a moment. Then, in a deft twist in midair, he landed lightly on the floor.

“Forget it. I won’t argue with a brat like you.”

Natsume only raised an eyebrow and smiled without speaking.

Kurama, hugging Mokona, lay to one side and watched the show with an amused grin.

Whenever those two suddenly started bickering, the atmosphere between them always felt both heartwarming and hilarious.

And looking at the boy who had once seemed so quiet and melancholy, as though his whole being were wrapped in a sadness no one else could ever truly understand or penetrate, and who had gradually—through his dealings with the cat and his encounters with all sorts of people and spirits—become what he was now: gentle and serene, always wearing the soft warmth of a smile at the corner of his lips...

Kurama lifted a hand and stroked his chin in thoughtful contemplation. The fox demon felt that perhaps, in bringing this version of Natsume into such a state a little earlier than in the original story, the one who had unexpectedly intruded into this world—himself—might also have had a hand in it.

For an instant, a hazy glimmer seemed to flash through his mind along that train of thought. But when the fox demon focused and tried to follow the direction in which that glimmer vanished, he suddenly found that he could no longer even catch the tail of that fleeting idea.

He was not especially frustrated—at most, only a little disappointed. Kurama sat up abruptly and turned to look intently at Natsume, who had completely forgotten their meaningless quarrel and was now once again holding Cat Teacher in his arms, gently smoothing down his fur.

“By the way! Natsume!”

“Hm?”

Called so suddenly, the boy turned back in confusion.

“What is it?”

“The thing from before—before!” Kurama reached out and pinched the cat’s ear tip. “Teacher had, like, hurt his waist when he was doing something silly, right? When I arrived, you said you were about to take him out to look for medicinal herbs.”

Because the kotatsu had been too warm and too comfortable, and because the two of them had talked for a bit too long, after their conversation ended they naturally and completely forgot all about it.

If Kurama had not sat up just then and caught sight of Cat Teacher in the corner of his eye looking a bit less agile than before, honestly, none of them would have remembered in time.

Natsume, reminded by him, immediately went “Ah!” in realization.

“Right! How could we forget something so important? Teacher, are you all right? Should we head out to find the herbs now?”

At the time Cat Teacher had twisted his waist, Natsume had originally planned to take him out to look for medicinal herbs right away. But Taki’s request that he bring back some milk and seasonings on the way home was still in his hands, so he had first gone back to drop them off and intended to set out afterward. He had not expected that the moment he stepped through the door, Kurama would arrive with Mokona for a visit, and the two of them had therefore decided to go upstairs first for a cup of tea to warm themselves, then head out together to find the herbs. As a result...

“The result was that the kotatsu was too comfortable, everyone got sleepy, and we forgot everything＝＝”

After greeting Taki, they hurried out the door. Along the way, Kurama even, because of Taki’s overly enthusiastic invitation, shyly agreed to come back and eat dinner with Natsume later. Led by Cat Teacher, the four of them headed straight toward the depths of the woods.

The winter forest had a charm all its own, different from the other three seasons.

Most of the trees were not evergreen, and by the time winter arrived they had already shed all their leaves, so the scenery was full of bare branches. Yet against the thick white snow on the ground and the interlaced branches layered through the woods, it did not look entirely dull.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever been around here before.”

The deeper they went into the woods, the more unfamiliar the scenery became. Natsume looked around and came to that conclusion.

Kurama had been here before, since he often came out sketching in various places, but he had never ventured any deeper.

So he asked, “Cat-chan, are you sure it’s here?”

“Of course! Who do you think I am? And don’t call me Cat-chan. Knowing that your true form is also a great demon with a similar dignity to mine makes it downright creepy to be called that.”

“What do you mean? You’re clearly Cat-chan.”

“...I said I’m not＝＝＋”

“Pfft, Teacher really does look like a cat.”

“Natsume, don’t you start adding to it!”

“But that’s the truth... ah!!”

...

...All right. Kurama actually had no idea how things had developed into the current situation.

In any case, when he came to himself, he and Natsume were both panting and sitting down in the snow. Their hair and clothes were covered with sparkling flakes, making them look rather disheveled. But compared to Cat Teacher opposite them—who had been “surrounded and attacked” by the two of them and was now almost entirely white instead of his usual patterned coat—they were already very tidy indeed!

Watching the cat’s figure vanish into the thicket with an indignant “I’m going to look for herbs; I’m not playing this childish game with you anymore, hmph!”, Natsume shook his head helplessly and turned back to Kurama with a smile.

“Teacher ran away. How sneaky.”

“Yes,” Kurama agreed with a grin.

Then, under Natsume’s baffled gaze, he suddenly leaned closer and extended a hand toward the boy.

“There’s snow on your face.”

A handkerchief, somehow already in his hand, gently wiped the boy’s cheek and bangs. Watching Natsume’s handsome face slowly turn red, his gaze dropping so he no longer met Kurama’s eyes, the fox demon blinked and tucked the handkerchief into the palm that had frozen awkwardly in midair, seeming as though it had been about to reach toward him.

“You have to wipe it off properly, or if you catch a chill and come down with a cold, Taki and Shige would worry, wouldn’t they?”

With that, the fox demon rose naturally and brushed the snow from his clothes.

“All right, let’s hurry and look for the herbs too. It’s getting late.”

Natsume, head lowered, nodded quickly.

Kurama thought the boy might be a little embarrassed, after all, it seemed he rarely received such intimate gestures from other people. So the fox demon thoughtfully went ahead first, leaving the space to Natsume alone.

But the moment his figure disappeared into the thicket, Cat Teacher’s voice suddenly rang out behind him, rare in its seriousness.

“Hey! Don’t get too close to that guy! If... if you can’t be sure you’ll never leave.”

Natsume seemed to have gradually grown used to brief meetings and partings, and to have learned how to draw from them the strength and insight needed for growth. But there had never been any being quite like Kurama, one who had so thoroughly融入—so completely blended into—Natsume’s life, yet made it clear to both sides that one day he would leave.

“Don’t let that guy look so unconcerned. You know it too, right?”

Once he recognized someone, accepted them, and placed them in his heart, the feelings he would entrust to them were precious and sincere beyond measure.

“Ah.”

Kurama did not turn around, but the seriousness and steadiness in his voice gradually calmed Cat Teacher’s gaze behind him.

“I know.”

“Don’t worry, Cat-chan. I won’t... make Natsume sad.”

After that, the forest fell silent for a long while.

Just when Kurama thought he would receive no reply, a soft laugh suddenly came from behind him—“Hmph, that’s good enough”—and when he looked back, Nyanko-sensei’s figure was already gone.

The fox demon smiled helplessly, then turned as well, preparing to find a direction and help search for the herbs. But at that very moment, from the direction of the forest clearing where Natsume had been only moments before, a cry suddenly rang out—

“Aaaaaah!!!!”

Kurama’s body jerked at the sound. In the next instant, he turned sharply and sprinted back the way he had come...

And when he burst out of the thicket and returned to the clearing, the scene before his eyes made him widen them in astonishment.

At the center of the vast clearing, Natsume had fallen back onto the ground in shock. Nyanko-sensei had already returned and stood guard beside him, though the aura around him did not seem especially tense or defensive.

And not far in front of them...

“Ara! What kind of animal is this? A snow rabbit? How adorable~~~”

A slender, tall figure Kurama knew all too well was standing there in full view, happily rubbing himself against a strange creature shaped like a snow rabbit...

“—Count?!”

Author’s note:
So Kurama’s life in Natsume’s world really is so leisurely and pleasant that it makes people jealous, resentful, and hateful, doesn’t it?

Don’t get too smug, Mister Fox! See? Trouble... is about to arrive?

The Count, with a gloomy face: I’m trouble?

...Ahem! In any case, what a delightfully welcome reunion this is! Those who have been hoping for the Count’s return, please applaud vigorously!

Then quickly flee!

The illustration for this chapter is a cheerful two-person snow play scene—

Though Kurama isn’t in it, these two are really having a wonderful time, aren’t they? =w=

And finally, as usual, a preview of the next chapter: the Count’s intelligence. After Conan, meeting the Count again, what will Kurama’s reaction be? And why has the Count appeared in this world—was this always the world he belongs to, or merely a chance encounter amid another journey through time and space? From the Count, Kurama will also obtain some of the information he has been desperately investigating—information?

Please look forward to the next chapter, “Fox Demon Kurama: The Count’s Intelligence.”

P.S. Thanks to the dear ones who threw the Thunderbolts, Dumpling Darling and White Drunken Darling! I’ll flop over and rub against you all~ then keep rolling around asking for a collection of favorites =w= I’m very well-behaved and easy to keep →