The Intelligence of Count 99

“Huh?”

The young man who had been called turned around in confusion. The instant he recognized Kurama’s face, surprise and delight surged into his mismatched eyes of violet and gold.

“Kurama of the Twelve Continents!”

The fox demon did not even have time to gather back the equally delighted smile on his face, let alone say anything else, before the Count suddenly lunged at him and swept him into an embrace.

And that was not all. In his excitement, the Count also rubbed against him from every direction.

“Waaah, it really is Kurama! It’s been so long. How did you end up in this world?”

And all the while he was rubbing and asking his question with flawless clarity, crisp articulation, and perfect logic... ==

Kurama nearly dropped to his knees on the spot.

“Just a coincidence. A coincidence.”

He had no choice but to reach out and pat the Count soothingly while the man continued to nuzzle him with great enthusiasm. Once the Count finally relented and drew back a little, his eyes shining as he looked at Kurama again, the fox demon curved his lips into a gentle smile.

“I never expected to run into you here either, Count. I thought chance meetings with you only happened in places like Chinatown.”

At that, the Count smiled with pursed lips.

“That is indeed true enough. But when I get bored, I do occasionally leave the pet shop and go for a walk outside. You know, this town has a shop whose steamed buns and dumplings are both excellent.”

“And...” He lifted the adorable snow-rabbit creature in his hands as though presenting a treasure, his entire aura turning so pink it almost seemed to materialize. “Look! When I am lucky, I even get to meet a child this cute!”

As he spoke, he rubbed his cheek against the snow rabbit, whose expression oddly enough seemed to be written all over with the word dazed...

“Eek, so cold~”

And even as he cried out in a soft little voice, he kept rubbing all the more happily, as if the chill did not bother him in the least.

Kurama stared at him in speechless resignation.

His gaze unintentionally drifted to Natsume and Master Cat, both of whom had frozen nearby, and he remembered only then that they were here as well. Just as he was about to introduce the two sides to each other, Natsume, jolted awake from his earlier shock by Kurama’s glance, suddenly dashed forward in a single bound toward the Count, who was still nuzzling the rabbit and practically radiating pink bubbles...

“Danger!”

With a shout, he knocked the snow rabbit out of the Count’s hands and threw himself in front of the Count, staring warily at the creature that had landed on the ground unharmed.

The snow rabbit had not yet reacted, but the Count, now shielded from view behind Natsume, was dumbfounded.

“What did you do...?”

Ignoring Natsume’s attempts to stop him, he desperately reached out to retrieve his little rabbit, looking to see whether that rude and rough act by the human boy had injured it in any way. The grief on his face made it seem as though Natsume, by preventing him from touching the rabbit, was some utterly villainous fiend...

“Let go of me! Bunny!!”

“...Pfft.”

Sorry ==

Please believe Kurama truly had no intention of laughing.

It was just... no matter how one looked at it, the scene was absurdly funny.

“Count, please calm down. Natsume is not a bad person. He must have had a reason for doing that, so please calm yourself and hear his explanation.”

Seeing that the Count’s increasingly frantic struggle might at any moment break through Natsume’s blockade, Kurama had no choice but to suppress his laughter and put on a serious expression as he stepped forward to grab the Count’s arm.

Miraculously, the Count, who never compromised on matters involving animals, fell silent the instant Kurama touched him.

“This person... is he your friend, Kurama?”

He frowned, clearly still displeased with Natsume’s earlier actions.

Kurama pretended not to notice and nodded with a smile.

“Yes. This is Natsume, the first friend I made after coming here.”

He emphasized the words first and friend. Given how perceptive the Count was, he was certain the implication would not escape him.

Sure enough, though the Count’s brow remained furrowed after hearing that, the look he turned on Natsume was no longer quite so severe, nor faintly hostile.

“All right.” He pouted. Though a little reluctant, he still spoke with considerable reason. “Young man, if you are Kurama’s friend and have his recognition and approval, then you can’t be a bad person. But why did you treat that poor little rabbit like that? Even if it had done something wrong, there was no need to...”

“No.” By then Natsume had already understood that his earlier actions had most likely been misunderstood.

He shook his head and, under the Count’s bewildered gaze, turned to look at the snow rabbit, which was obediently crouched in the snow and seemed tiny and harmless.

“You misunderstand. I didn’t do that because this snow rabbit had done something wrong.”

“Then why...” The Count’s expression, which had only just softened, immediately began to turn stern again.

But Natsume did not mind much how his expression or tone changed.

“Because it isn’t a snow rabbit at all,” he said softly, glancing toward Kurama.

Seeing the fox demon blink as if enlightened and nod slightly in his direction, he finally relaxed completely and turned back to the rabbit with a complicated look.

“Please look carefully. The rabbit’s shape is clearly made from packed snow, and its ears are leaves, aren’t they?”

“...Huh? Ah! It really is...”

The Count first blinked in surprise. Naturally, his first reaction was disbelief, but after examining the snow rabbit for a while, he had to admit that everything the boy said was true.

At once, the brilliance on the Count’s face dimmed. Then his whole demeanor seemed to lose its spirit, becoming somewhat listless.

Natsume glanced at him with concern and apology, yet he also understood that letting the man see the truth sooner was not a bad thing.

So he pressed his lips together, no longer looking at the Count’s reaction, and continued the explanation he had not yet finished.

“I made this rabbit with my own hands, but now... some kind of thing that came out of that stone statue has taken over its body!”

“So strictly speaking, it isn’t some magical creature at all, but...” a vessel possessed by an unknown spirit.

Looking at the Count, who had sunk completely into gloom, Natsume paused, and the rest of the sentence simply would not come out.

The boy, who was not good at dealing with strangers, immediately turned to Kurama for help.

The fox demon gave him a reassuring smile.

“It’s getting late. Natsume should take Master Cat home now.”

He turned and glanced at the sunset already sinking slowly on the horizon, then looked back and smiled at the flustered Natsume.

“I’ll take care of the Count here. Though I do need to ask Natsume to tell Aunt Toko that I can’t go taste her wonderful cooking tonight because I have something to do. Ah, what a pity. Tonight was supposed to be beef hot pot...”

His usual easy tone made Natsume truly breathe a sigh of relief.

“Then I’ll take my leave first. See you tomorrow.”

At Kurama’s signal, Natsume briskly picked up Master Cat and the snow rabbit that had caused all this trouble. After saying goodbye, he quickly left the clearing, leaving only the Count behind, teary-eyed as he watched his retreating back, still muttering about his “little bunny” under his breath.

Seeing this, Kurama let out a helpless sigh.

“How heartbreaking. I’m standing right in front of the Count, and yet you’re still thinking about that little rabbit?”

He deliberately said it in a very aggrieved tone.

At once, the beautiful young man who had just been staring intently in the direction Natsume had gone whirled around and rushed up, seizing his hands tightly.

“Of course not! I have been hoping to see you again all this time!”

As he spoke, countless bright little stars shimmered in the Count’s eyes, and Kurama immediately developed a very ominous premonition.

“Cou...”

“Ahhh, that beautiful figure, that enchanting bearing! Ever since the very first moment I saw you, I have imagined countless times the day we would meet again.”

Without giving Kurama any chance to interrupt, the Count said this in a dreamy voice.

“Unfortunately, although we did see each other once after that, you acted as though you did not remember me.”

“But I know that was not your fault, nor your intention, because at that time you must have... truly never met the me of that time, must you?”

Drawing nearer, the Count peered into Kurama’s eyes with a look of eager anticipation.

“But that is not the case now, is it?”

Meeting those mismatched eyes, glittering with an uncanny light, Kurama nodded with considerable pressure.

“That’s right...”

Before he could finish, the Count suddenly cupped his cheeks.

“Then let me see it once more.”

The handsome young man with black hair looked as though he had stepped out of a dream.

“Your... most beautiful form.”

“The fox demon, Kurama.”

“............”

Kurama’s mouth twitched in an exceedingly ungraceful way.

So it has to be like this after all, huh ==

He grumbled inwardly in exasperation.

For him, whose demonic power had now recovered to more than sixty percent, shifting back into his fox-demon form was no longer any burden, that much was true. But the Count’s fervent gaze and the way he described Kurama’s demonic shape...

Could he be any more chilling?

He had a nagging feeling that if he changed back before the Count in such a state, he might never come back out.

Even so, although he thought that way, when it came to a friend who had once given him immense help and treated him with genuine sincerity, Kurama would not refuse such a request if he could easily fulfill it.

And so, a few seconds later, amid a slowly dispersing cloud of smoke, a tall and graceful figure gradually appeared before the Count...

“Long time no see, Count.”

The newcomer’s golden eyes held a smile, and his low, sensual voice carried an indescribable allure and elegance. The moment he spoke, the Count could not help reaching out once more to stroke that exquisite face, so beautiful it seemed almost painted...

“It really has been... a long time.”

He answered in a voice of dreamy delight.

***

Though both Kurama and the Count possessed bodies far beyond the ordinary and would have had no trouble remaining outdoors in the winter forest for a long while, a warm room was still far more suitable for conversation than the freezing wild, so Kurama invited the Count back to his home to catch up.

After the panda maids served tea and refreshments, the two sat down in the hall, where the fireplace burned brightly. Even though the Count’s gaze at Kurama was still glittering, he had recovered his composure after the initial dazzle, and his manners now were thoroughly considerate and gentlemanly.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Kurama learned that this was actually the original world to which the Count himself belonged, and for some reason he no longer felt the least bit surprised.

“By the way, Count, have you ever heard of the Creator God? Not the Creator God of this world, I mean...”

“Yes.”

Just as Kurama had remembered that, as a descendant of Kunlun, the Count might possess ancient records handed down through his clan, perhaps containing legends about a Creator God, and that he himself had the power to travel through time and space, so the number of worlds he had visited was likely not small, he had intended to inquire a little. Yet the moment he began speaking, he unexpectedly received an affirmative answer from the Count.

The black-haired beauty with mismatched eyes quietly watched him for a moment, then suddenly let out a soft sigh.

“In truth, you need not worry about anything, Kurama.”

He spoke in a gentle voice.

The fox demon’s eyes held a smile.

“After all, it would be a shame to see Kurama’s demonic form only in passing. Though right now only the Count himself has seen it, later Natsume the boy should see it too. Since we’ve come to the world of Natsume’s Book of Friends, how could you not show off your fox-demon form? It would be a waste of the opportunity.”

As for the information about the Creator God Mokona, he had apparently miscalculated and failed to reveal everything in this chapter, so they would continue that discussion next chapter. Judging by the Count’s expression, it seemed he might know something.

Next, the illustration for this chapter is the beautiful Count, whom we have not seen in a long time...

For some reason, after looking at this picture, the first phrase that came to mind was actually “self-pitying at his own reflection”... am I the only one? Wink

Finally, as usual, here is the preview for the next chapter: inside knowledge and the snow rabbit. What exactly does the Count know about the Creator God, and why does he say Kurama need not worry? And after seeing the Count off, Kurama discovers that Natsume is about to get caught up in trouble again! What role will the snow rabbit that sparked the earlier incident play in this new trouble, and what connection will it have with Kurama? Please look forward to the next chapter of Fox Demon Kurama: Inside Knowledge and the Snow Rabbit!

PS: Thank you to dear Mouxui Honglian for throwing the hand grenade! A tight hug and lots of kisses! Muah~ And now I keep rolling and begging for bookmarks and favorites~ I’m very well behaved and easy to care for, too ->