Work Text:
It was supposed to be a normal day of work…but this night was special.
Arata was on his way to work, Kohaku telling him to be careful since it's a red moon tonight.
"What's so special about a red moon?"
"It's when all sorts of Anothers come out…and some even lose themselves, so please be careful," Kohaku smiles.
"Uh…OK."
Once the full red moon was uncovered by the clouds, Arata felt hot, his blood boiling.
"Ugh!" He holds his head in his hands, but once the clouds covered the moon again, the pain passes, and he sighs before stubbornly going to work.
Theo greets like always before Arata notices that the blinds are open. He pauses, seeing the red moon in its entirety.
His red eyes widen, his heart thumping loudly in his ears, and pain in his chest.
"Arata? Are you okay?" Theo yells.
'It hurts. Why does it hurt?' Arata stumbles back, grasping his chest as he drops to his knee in pain.
"Arata! What's wrong?" Theo reaches out to help his fallen coworker.
Arata's fangs elongate as two fox ears and twin tails slowly come out. 'Hehe. It hurts.' Arata grins, laughing quietly and stands up slowly.
Theo notices this and steps back, eyes widening. "Arata? You're scaring me."
"Theo, it doesn't hurt anymore," Arata grins.
Looking at the transformed Arata, who's eyes are now slits with markings under them, Theo tries not to panic.
"Huh…I'm craving inari-sushi for some reason…" Arata mutters as his stomach growls.
"Uh... I'll get some for you! Just... Stay there," Theo quickly leaves, calling for backup.
"Guys…I need backup over here… I'll explain once you guys get here…and bring inari-sushi!" Theo yells on the phone before hanging up.
Peeking back into the room, Arata's sitting down, his tails lazily swaying back and forth like a Yuki's, his ears drooping down before whining about his empty stomach.
Theo quickly distracts Arata with some of his inventions until the others arrive, a plastic bag in hand.
"Uh…" Reiji and Kyouichi just stare in shock at Arata's…new appearance.
Once Theo closed the door, he put the bag on the desk. At the crinkling sound of the plastic bag, Arata's ears twitched, his eyes shining as he gets the inari-sushi out before happily devouring it, both of his tails wagging.
Theo explains the situation to them as, "Arata…once he saw the red moon, he transformed into a kitsune."
It takes a minute before they yell, "What?!" as Arata eats, paying them no mind.
After calming down a bit, and Arata having finished off the last of the inari-sushi, Theo explains, "The effects of the red moon on Anothers and humans is unpredictable… It only happens once every hundred years or so. Maybe since Arata's a descendant of Abe no Seimei, it affects him in a similar way to Anothers… It usually lasts until sunrise though."
"For now…let's just keep Arata out of trouble until sunrise," Reiji sighs in exasperation.
Kyouichi nods, "Agreed…" as he pets Arata's ears, which are surprisingly soft. Arata even leans into it.
Theo offers to brush Arata's tails, which he agrees to.
"Feels good…" Arata smiles, trying not to moan.
Arata's hair is plucked out of the brush, and then put it into a plastic baggie, "I think we need to do a DNA test on Arata…just in case," before going back to his lab.
Reiji seems like he's not paying attention as he's focused on paperwork instead.
Eventually, Arata gets bored…so he runs out the door once Kyouichi isn't looking.
"Oi! Get back here!" Kyouichi runs after him.
After wandering the Shinjuku Ward for a couple of hours, Arata ends up in the park as Kyouichi catches up with him.
The red moon's light stained the whole park red as Arata let out a high-pitched howl.
Grabbing him by the scruff of his collar, Kyouichi drags Arata back before he calls in other Anothers, "C'mon! Let's go! Before any Investigators show up."
Struggling, Arata whines, "Don't wanna!"
"Do you want Kanoichi Satoru to come here?"
That gets Arata to quiet down, pouting, "No…I hate that guy…"
"Then be quiet and let's go," Kyouichi sighs, treating him like a child.
As Kyouichi escorts Arata home, they bump into Kohaku and Yuki.
"Arata? Is that you?" Yuki asks.
"Yeah…" Arata shrugs.
"I told you to be careful," Kohaku scolds, floating over.
"I know…" Arata sighs.
"But Arata's still Arata," Yuki chimes in, which gets Arata to smile.
Bidding farewell for the night, and going back to the house, Kohaku flies off, carrying Yuki with him.
After getting back to the office, once the sun came up, Arata transforms back into a human, falling asleep from the exertion.
They all agree to keep Arata's…condition…a secret from for now…especially from Kanoichi Satoru.
Once the DNA results came back… Theo sits them down, especially Arata.
"I've done some more research and…well…" he doesn't know how to say this.
"Theo…just tell me, please," Arata anxiously asks.
"Well…the legend of Abe no Seimei is about a thousand years old, give or take. According to legend, he was raised by a kitsune."
"Get to the point Theo," Reiji orders.
"It seems like a small~~~ part of your bloodline is kitsune," Theo says.
Arata's jaw drops, "Eh? I'm part Another?"
"It's only a small part of it. The rest is human."
Sighing, Arata slumps into the couch, Kyouichi and Reiji patting his back consolingly.
"You're still our Arata. No matter what, right?" Kyouichi smiles.
Arata nods, smiling at those words.
"This might be the reason you have the Ears of Sand in the first place. You might even have some spiritual power," Theo says before tapping his chin, "Hm…" before going to get something real quick.
When he comes back, he hands Arata a small slip of paper with kanji on it. "Here. It's a simple spell."
Arata's finger runs over the kanji on the paper and nods.
"Repeat after me," Theo says the incantation, Arata following him.
Then, a small gust of wind blew through the office, enough that the papers flutter a bit.
Theo smiles, "It seems that you do have spiritual power after all."
Arata just blinks before asking, "While that's great and all…I still have no idea how to control such a thing."
"We'll figure it, OK?" Reiji smiles.
"Un."
Kanoichi Satoru never imaged that he'd be forced to teach Arata the basic onmyouji spells. Apparently, neither did Arata, but orders are orders.
While they're at least civil with each other and trying not to push any buttons, Arata gets the hang of a few spells, mostly defensive and support ones.
He won't admit it nor will he tell him such, but… Kanoichi is a good teacher. As such, Kanoichi won't admit that Arata's not a bad student either.
As for what happens next… It's all up to Arata to make that decision.
Omake:
"Are there people that are half-human, half Another?"
When Arata asks Theo this question, he excitedly answers, "Well, it has been theorized, and there are records of this happening, though it's mostly folklore. There have even been rare instances of humans randomly turning into Anothers and vice versa. Though, it's probably even a rarer occurrence these days."
"As for how many people there are with Another bloodlines…it's hard to tell. They mostly want to live normal lives, so they keep those kinds of things hidden."
"I see…" Arata sweat-drops, but is glad he asked. He knows he's not alone now.
Omake 2:
Theo had finally did it. He'd created a way to amplify the Ears of Sand so that everyone in a five-meter radius can understand Anothers too. He recruits Arata to test it out on Yuki.
It looks likes a normal bell to Arata though… but once it rings…
"Hi, guys!" Yuki says.
Theo's still shocked even though he'd invented this thing, but smiles happily, "I did it! It works!"
"I can understand you!" Theo hugs Yuki, who has question marks around his head.
Reiji and Kyouichi were surprised too.
As for when Kanoichi found out about it…he just walks away and pretends like it never happened.
Eventually, Reiji confiscates the bell, locking it away for now since Theo's gone a bit insane.
The bell will only be used for emergencies…but mostly when Arata's not around to translate for them.