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High school student, Terushima Yuuji, otherwise known as the protagonist of this story. As you can see, ordinarily, darling Terushima is possessed of a lively beauty. But right now he appears to be rather worn out, as they say. And who could blame him, unfortunately, Terushima’s father loves to gamble, therefore their household is full of debt. It's no wonder he’s like this.
Oh! I forgot to tell you the worst part. Orders have been evicted to evict him! His father was long gone, having run away from it all. His whereabouts are unknown. Poor Terushima was driven from his house and found himself homeless. What will become of our Terushima. Now don’t worry, this isn't one of those depressing stories. It’s a proper romantic comedy!
“God, why did this have to happen to me?” Terushima groaned. He was sitting outside on a bench, everything he owned shoved into a singular duffel bag next to him. “Damn you, you good for nothing dad. Now what am I supposed to do?” He sighed and leaned his head back so he could look at the sky. It was a nice night. Peaceful with the stars staring down at him, quiet with the distant sounds of cars driving by, and calm as a voice screamed near him.
“Help! What the fuck, someone help!” Terushima’s head snapped up at the voice and he looked around for who it belonged to. He quickly spotted a man stuck in a tree with a dog barking at him from the ground. Terushima got up and walked over, glancing up at the man and then the dog.
The man in the tree looked down at him with expecting eyes. “Well? Are you going to help me or not?” Terushima sighed, and shooed the dog away.
When he looked back over, the man had climbed down from the tree. Terushima took a moment to observe the stranger. He was tall, dressed in a beige overcoat with a purple scarf, a matching hat, and blonde hair underneath. His glasses glinted in the light from the street lamp.
The stranger sighed in relief and looked down at Terushima. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to this town, I wasn’t expecting a dog to show up out of nowhere.”
“Afraid of dogs?” Terushima asked, not really sure how someone could be so afraid of those animals.
“Kinda, I guess the people around here don’t exactly feel welcoming towards me.” The stranger sighed again and dusted his overcoat off. “Are you a local person yourself?”
“Yes. Well, sort of. At the moment, I’m kinda homeless due to my shit father leaving me behind.” Terushima rubbed his neck and laughed at his own expense.
“Oh, I’m sure you hate him for running away like that,” the stranger said, a far off look in his eyes. “I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I abandoned my home. It's been decades since then. I wonder how everyone is doing. Yamaguchi’s bound to jump kick me the moment I show my face.” The man laughed under his breath, Terushima was sure he was thinking of something from his past.
Yamaguchi? Is that his wife? Terushima thought to himself as he listened to the stranger’s story. “Well, at least you’ve got a home to go back to. Sounds pretty cool to me, I don't even have that anymore, ya know?”
“I can give you my home, I don’t mind.” The stranger turned to look at him, an idea sparkling behind his eyes.
“Huh?” Terushima was confused, was this man just offering up his home to a stranger?
“The house should not be unattended forever. And if you were there i wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. Most importantly, you are more worthy of that house than I am.” The man leaned down and gave Terushima a quick kiss to his forehead.
Terushima reached his head up to the place the odd stranger touched, questions going a mile a minute in his head.
The stranger held out a piece of paper and placed it into Terushima’s other hand. “Try going to this place I’ve mapped out. If you tell them that Tsukishima told you to go there, they will be sure to welcome you. You’ll be their new lord and master.” Then he got up and walked away, leaving Terushima dazed and super confused.
“What. What just happened? New lord and master?” Terushima looked down at the paper in his hand and decided that whoever that ‘Tsukishima’ was didn’t seem too sketchy, maybe he should check this place out.
“I got scammed!” Terushima was standing out in front of an old, rundown shrine. The stranger had scammed him, even after Terushima had taken the time to rescue him and listen to his story. “I swear, I’m never gonna trust another adult again ever!” Terushima sighed and turned around, making his way back. However, before he could go far, he heard two voices.
“Lord Tsukishima?”
“Welcome back home Lord Tsukishima!”
“Huh? Wha- What?” Before Terushima could figure out what was going on, fire appeared in front of him from seemingly nowhere.
“Lord Tsukishima!”
“Lord Tsukishima!”
“HUUUH??” Terushima screamed, not knowing what was happening and too scared to move. “Ghosts? Did I, did I find ghosts?” He quickly walked backwards, trying to get as far away from the fire as possible. But, before he could make it anywhere, he tripped and landed on his back.
“Indeed it is you,” a new voice said, much smoother than the other two from before.
Terushima sat up and searched for the owner of the new voice. His eyes quickly handed on a shadowy figure surrounded by smoke. Terushima’s eyes widened as he wondered if this was it. If this was where his pathetic life ended.
“Where have you been? I’ve waited quite some time for your return. 20 years feels like an absolute eternity to me, how about you?” The smooth voice asked.
Terushima didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t even know if he could. Standing in front of him was a man that had some sort of animal ears and a tail, dressed in a yukata and giving him a glare that could kill 100 men.
“Die you fiend!” The creature jumped at him and started yelling. Terushima couldn’t help but yell back out of pure terror. Their screaming match only lasted a couple seconds before the man in front of him stopped and actually looked at Terushima. They stared at each other for a moment.
“Well, bad news. This is not Tsukki.” As the creature said that, two red flames popped out of nowhere and turned into little floating masked people.
“What? That’s impossible!” One of the floating creatures, the one with dark black hair, rested their hand on Terushima’s head. “Master Yamaguchi, as you can see, the mark of the land god is here on the forehead, exactly where it should be.”
Another one floated down, this one with orange hair and pointed at Terushima’s head. “And I sense Lord Tsukishima’s spiritual energy!”
“Yet, that does not make them the same person.’ The creature, or Master Yamaguchi, sat down in front of Terushima, looking him up and down before frowning. “ Now then, boy, tell me, who are you”
Terushima froze for a moment, still trying to process everything. Then, it clicked. “Supernatural things are everywhere, I’m at a yokai shrine!”
----
As Terushima calmed down, the three yokai were looking at the ‘map’ Tsukishima had given him with the directions to the shrine.
“I see. This terrible handwriting has to be Tsukki,” The fox yokai stated, looking down at the poorly drawn map.
“He said that since I had nowhere else to go, that I should come and live here,” Terushima said, hoping that it would provide some sort of explanation. Wait, so Yamaguchi is a guy? He’s gorgeous. Terushima couldn’t help that his gaze traveled all over the yokai before him.
Yamaguchi’s eye’s slid over to him in a fierce glare. “Just so you know, the man you met was the land god of this region. And this shrine is the home of that land god. The fact that he sent you here as the new lord and master can only mean that he left you to be the land god in his place.”
Terushima blinked. Once, twice. Huh?
“Oh its a happy day!” The shrine spirit with reddish orange hair exclaimed. He started jumping up and down in excitement.
“The land god has finally returned to the shrine.” The other one with black hair seemed calmer than his counterpart.
The one with orange hair turned to his friend and gasped. “We must prepare a feast for the occasion at once!”
The one with black hair quickly ran into a different room and when he returned, he was pulling a small cart of many different types of food. “Please enjoy lord god of the land.”
“Help yourself!” They both said, presenting the food in front of Terushima.
“Wait! Hold on!” Terushima exclaimed. He shook his head a couple of times, hoping that by doing that the answer as to what was going on would come to him. “So, uh, you said that I was a land god, right? I’m just Terushima Yuuji, just a normal high school student. I mean how and why did I become a god?”
“It’s simple! It all happened the moment you received this mark on your forehead.” The one with orange hair pointed at his forehead.
“I have a mark? Really?” Terushima thought for a moment before reaching up and touching his forehead with a gasp. “He kissed me. Oh no, that was it.”
“You call this a god?” Yamaguchi gave Terushima a once over, a look of disgust morphing onto his face. “What can a pathetic looking thing like him even do. The most he might be able to do is weed the yard and count the money offerings.” Yamaguchi scowled, before turning away with a huff. “This is unacceptable!”
“But this master-” The one with black hair started.
“Was referred by Lord Tsukishima himself!” While the one with orange hair finished his sentence.
“I care not, throw him out,” Yamaguchi huffed and waved a hand as if he was shooing Terushima away.
“Uh, excuse me! You’re being awfully high and mighty and rude to me for no reason.” Terushima huffed and crossed his arms. “I bet a run down shrine like this doesn’t even get money offerings! You couldn’t pay me to be a god!”
“Now now, Lord Terushima! Please do not say that!” The one with orange hair begged. He seemed rather sensitive to Terushima. “We are overjoyed to have you!”
“If you intend to give that creature a place here, I shall leave this shrine.” Yamaguchi turned around and started walking away.
It was silent for a minute before the two floating creatures started to panic.
“Master Yamaguchi!” The one with black hair called out, his voice almost desperate.
“You can’t leave!” The one with orange hair cried, hoping that the yokai would stay.
The fox yokai looked over his shoulder and said, “I am Tsukki’s familiar. I do not intend to serve anyone else. If you’d like, ask a stray dog or something to step in and be my replacement.” And then he was gone.
The silence that surrounded them was awkward, so Terushima attempted to break it. “So, um, I don’t suppose you could at least put me up for the night?” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
“With pleasure!” The one with orange hair exclaimed, and Terushima knew there was a wide smile behind his mask.
----
The next morning, Terushima woke up with a start. “Talk about a weird dream my dad had run away and then our house got seized so then i didn’t have anywhere to live so this man gave up his own home for me but when i went there it was a run down shrine with little ghosts in it that told me that i was a land god and it was all like what the heck and then this obnoxious guy with ears named Yamaguchi or whatever wouldn’t stop saying that this whole thing was unacceptable. Hahaha, how funny.”
“Good morning lord god of the land!” The two shrine spirits popped out of nowhere, nearly giving Terushima a heart attack.
“And now if you please-” The shrine spirit with black hair started once again.
“Get right to it!” And the spirit with orange hair finished for him. Terushima was going to have to get used to their strange way of talking. Before he could think about that more, he had to figure out what they were talking about.
“To what?”
“Your duties as a land god, my lord,” The shrine spirit with black hair replied.
Terushima then spent the whole morning, sweeping, raking, scrubbing, waxing, dusting, and weeding. He had no idea that these were all the jobs a land god had to do, but they were tiring.
That was when Terushima realized something. He sat up and turned towards the shrine spirits. “Hold on, I never really agreed to this whole god thing, you know?” he pointed out. This caused the spirits to panic for a moment.
“What are you saying!” The one with orange hair exclaimed. He seemed genuinely scared the Terushima was going to get up and leave.
“Now that Master Yamaguchi has left us, you are the only one who can protect this place, Lord Terushima.” The one with black hair pointed out.
“With us! Hinata Shoyou!”
“Kageyama Tobio.”
“We are here to help support the shrine.”
“And we are here to help support you, Lord Terushima.”
“So don’t be afraid to ask us whatever it is you need.” They both said, with different levels of enthusiasm.
“Can I ask you a question?” Terushima asked. He had this question on his mind for a while now, and it seemed like the best time to ask.
“Sure!” Hinata said with a smile.
“Who is that Yamaguchi anyway.” Terushima tilted his head when he asked, extremely curious as to what the fox yokai was doing at the shrine.
“Oh! Master Yamaguchi is a familiar. He serves Lord Tsukishima,” Hinata answered.
“He was originally a wild fox and was brought to serve as a guard dog.” Kageyama continued, interrupting Hinata who was trying to finish the story.
“But Lord Tsukishima isn’t a fan of dogs.” Hinata smiled after he finished, signalling that that was as much as Terushima would learn.
----
After his discussion with the shrine spirits, Terushima went back to weeding. His mind was still trying to process everything that had happened not even 24 hours ago.
I guess this is the price for having a place to stay. He sighed. Terushima wasn’t sure what he was going to do next. What was he supposed to do now that he was a land god.
“So you do not even know how to properly weed. What a pathetically useless boy.” Terushima whipped his head around at the voice. Standing there was Yamaguchi, looking down at Terushima like he was worth nothing more than a grain of dirt beneath his shoe.
“What do you want, I thought you left already.” Terushima sighed. He really didn’t need this guy breathing down his neck and watching his every move.
“You will never fulfill the duties of a land god. Why don’t you head back home with your head hung in defeat?” Yamaguchi suggested. And while that did sound nice...
“Because I don’t have a home to head back to,” Terushima replied, not even looking in Yamaguchi’s general direction. “Thanks to all my father’s debts, the house was seized and I was kicked out.”
Yamaguchi shrugged. “Not my problem.” And then he disappeared again into a ball of blue fire.
Terushima groaned, annoyed at how the fox yokai was treating him. He still had so much work to do, no use dwelling on it anyways.
----
“Ugh, I’m so tired.” Laying down on the shrine floor, Terushima sighed. He had finally finished all the chores the shrine spirits had told him to do. He was tired, they gave him so much work to do on his first day.”They may call me a god or a land god or what not, but I have a feeling they are just using that as an excuse to take advantage of me.”
Terushima sighed again, but this time he was interrupted by two claps from outside. He sat up and peeked out from a window. Sitting there in front of the shrine was an old woman.
Dear god. Terushima gasped. The woman’s voice was in his head. I am here to pray for my daughter. Please allow her to give birth to a healthy child.
Terushima couldn’t believe it. He could hear the woman’s thoughts in his own head.
Once the woman had left the shrine, Terushima spoke up. “That woman, I just heard her thoughts.”
“Indeed you did!” Hinata sounded excited, like he had done something remarkable.
“What you heard was the prayer inside the heart of the worshiper.” Kageyama was kind enough to actually answer his question while Hinata was still vibrating with excitement.
“A portion of the land gods duties is to sit in the shrine and hear the wishes of those from the land.” Hinata continued, sounding very proud of this power.
Kageyama then seemed to remember something. He disappeared into a different room. “Come here, Lord Terushima. We must move on to your next duty,” he called from that room. Hinata realized what the other spirit was looking for and went to help him. When they returned, Terushima was not ready.
“We need you to look through all of these.” Hinata and Kageyama then dropped dozens upon dozens of notebooks down in front of Terushima.
“What are they?” Terushima asked, running his hand down the pile.
“A record of our worshipers prayers from the last 20 years, my lord.” Kageyama supplied helpfully.
Terushima looked at the stack of notebooks again. “20 years?” He couldn’t believe it. How many worshipers did this shrine have to result in so many wishes?
“Master Yamaguchi has been writing them down,” Hinata said while thumbing through one of the notebooks.
Terushima picked one of the notebooks up and started flipping through it.
“Ah, well, the intent was to have Lord Tsukishima look over them after his return,” Kageyama muttered under his breath. “With his absence we have sadly seen a decline in visitors to the shrine.”
“But thanks to Master Yamaguchi somehow managing to keep the shrine in decent condition, we still manage to have occasional visitors.” Hinata said happily, trying to lighten the mood.“Which is really nice!”
Kageyama looked over at Terushima and bowed. ”We realize we are asking you to do a lot of work today.”
Hinata followed his example and bowed while he talked. “Normally Master Yamaguchi takes care of the shrine all on his own.”
No wonder. Terushima had to admit that for a shrine missing its god for 20 years, the shrine was in perfect condition. He looked back down at the notebook in his hand. He writes neatly. The accounts are even detailed.
Another two claps from outside caught Terushima’s attention. This time, it was a younger man who had his head bowed in prayer. As he was praying, Terushima couldn’t but remember something he had said. I bet a run down shrine like this doesn’t even get money offerings! Those words continued to ring in Terushima’s ears. He really had said something awful, hadn’t he.
“So, Lord Terushima, do you understand now?” Both the shrine spirits said, hopefulness in their voice.
“Yeah, I got it.” Terushima smiled sadly. “He's right, I could never be a land god.”
“What?” The shrine spirits both exclaimed, not expecting that answer.
“I’m just a normal boy. It's not like I have powers or anything.” Terushima rubbed the back of his neck, trying to hide his awkwardness.
The two shrine spirits sighed and fell to the floor in defeat.
“However-” Terushima continued.
The two shrine spirits perked up at this. “However?!”
“I would like to go speak with him. Clearly, some of the things I assumed weren’t entirely true. I’d appreciate it if you could take me to see him.” Terushima asked. The two shrine spirits shared a look, having a silent conversation between them.
Finally it ended and Hinata sighed. “Unfortunately, I fear Master Yamaguchi has gone-”
“To the world over yonder” Kageyama finished for him.
“The world over yonder?” Terushima asked, tilting his head in confusion.
----
The world over yonder. All dark places in our realm serve as entrances, like wells or the shadows of grassy fields. Lying between our world and the netherworld, is the world of the supernatural, also known as the place where humans are lost when they look too closely into the darkness. It coexists alongside us. The world of the yokai.
----
“This is it?” Terushima questioned once they had reached what looked like to be a village of sorts. The place seemed to be bustling with activity and every light was on for miles.
“Master Yamaguchi!” Kageyama called out, searching for the fox yokai.
“Where are you Master Yamaguchi?” Hinata followed his friend and the two ran around the district. When they ran into a certain building, they heard his voice from behind a door.
“Quiet. You are making a scene.” Yamaguchi’s voice was muffled and Hinata and Kageyama quickly followed it.
The shrine spirits slide the doors open. “Master Yamaguchi. Are you in here?”
The doors opened to reveal Yamaguchi sitting there, his yukata loose and hanging off his body. He was surrounded by other yokai, both male and female.
“You wanted something?” Yamaguchi asked, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Master Yamaguchi!” The shrine spirits exclaimed in horror.
“How could you! You are a familiar in service to a god!” Kageyama said, trying to ignore the scene in front of him.
“Already drinking in the middle of the day, holed off in the red light district!” Hinata sighed and pretended to faint against Kageyama’s shoulder.
“Will you leave me alone.” Yamaguchi sighed. He attempted to drink his sake, but the shrine spirits kept annoying him.
“But you have to come back to the shrine with us!”
“Lord Terushima needs his familiar!’
“Do you not care if the shrine goes to ruin?”
“No, I do not care in the slightest.” Yamaguchi said with a wave of his hand. “Good riddance if you ask me. I no longer have to be a familiar at all. What a tedious job, that was.” He rolled his eyes and went back to drinking .
Little did the fox yokai know, Terushima was standing outside the room the three were in. He had heard everything. Everything.
Yamaguchi laid down with his back to the shrine spirits as he continued to talk. “For this day forward I shall live my life each day as I please.”
“But Master Yamaguchi! We are here for Lord Terushima.”
“He stated that he wanted to see you again.”
“So he has come over with us.” As soon as those words left Hinata’s mouth, Yamaguchi spun around to face an angry Terushima standing at the doorway.
“I do regret coming though. You disgust me. I don’t understand how you can just abandon that shrine like it was nothing.” Terushima could feel his anger rise, and couldn’t help but let it out a bit at the fox. “You’re so selfish.!” After he yelled that at Yamaguchi, he turned around and left without another word.
There was a moment of silence.
Three
Two
One
“Why did you bring him?” Yamaguchi lashed out at the shrine spirits. “I do not care if he insisted on coming here. Why did you bring a human here?”
“Lord Terushima is no ordinary human being though. He’s a land god, remember?” Hinata pointed out, thinking that Yamaguchi had just forgotten or something.
Yamaguchi slapped his hand onto his face in exasperation. “Which makes it even worse!”
----
“How could he even say that after acting so self righteous to me.” Terushima was angrily walking back in the direction he had come from. The sooner he got back to the shrine, the better. “Well, good riddance to him then.” Terushima sped up his pace a little bit, however he wasn't looking where he was going and bumped into someone.
When Terushima looked up to apologize to whomever he had bumped into, he came face to face with three yokai.
“Hey there, boy.” The first yokai said. He was ugly, with only one giant eye on his head.
“We know you. You’re that new human who they say became a land god at the Tsukishima shrine.” The second looked like a weird hybrid of a racoon and a chicken. It did not look good.
“I heard Tsukishima quit being a land god and got a replacement. But I had no clue that you would be so…” And the third reminded Terushima of a failed clay statue he tried to make in elementary.
“Delicious and tasty looking.” The first yokai finished for him, and licked his lips. Terushima felt a shiver run down his spine just by looking at them.
The three yokai lunged forward, trying to lay their gross claws on him. Terrified, Terushima screamed and braced himself for any attack. However, none came. When Terushima opened his eyes, he saw the three yokai fighting amongst themselves. They were arguing over who would get to eat the human first. Terushima saw this as an opportunity and slipped away undetected.
As he was running, Hinata and Kageyama appeared from nowhere, screaming “Lord Terushima!” to get his attention. Not only did it get his attention, it also broke the yokai out of their argument. When they saw that their prey was gone, they started to chase after Terushima and the shrine spirits.
Before the yokai could get anywhere, someone stepped in front of them. It was Yamaguchi.
“Why , if it isn’t Master Yamaguchi.” The first yokai pointed out.
“I don’t suppose you’d mind if we ate that scrumptious looking boy, would you?” The third tried to persuade, a smirk on his face.
“We’d appreciate it if you didn’t get in our way.” The first yokai sneered at Yamaguchi and looked down at him.
“Why ask me? You don’t need my consent.” Yamaguchi sighed, and looked at the direction Terushima had run off to.
“Seriously? You don’t mind?” The second yokai asked, hope clear in his voice.
“Although, I am in an unbelievable terrible mood right now.” The glare and aura that Yamaguchi were producing was enough to scare away the three yokai.
As they ran away, Yamaguchi couldn’t help but think about the new ‘land god’. A helpless boy with the powers of a land god. Figuratively speaking, he likes a duck that brought along its own pot and leeks. Yamaguchi sighed, and started making his way back to the room he was in previously.
“Not that it is any of my business,” he mumbled under his breath.
-----
Terushima was on the floor, breathing hard after running for his life as those yokai chased after. He seemed to have lost them at some point, so now he was catching his breath with the two shrine spirits by his side.
“Lord Terushima, please listen to us. You have to go back to Master Yamaguchi!” Knowing that Terushima was upset, Hinata tried to make his voice softer, hoping that the other would listen to him. “You must have Master Yamaguchi become your familiar at all costs.”
Terushima huffed and stood back up. “Wrong. I’ll be fine. I’m going back now.” He walked off, ignoring the pleas Hinata and Kageyama were shouting at him.
Kageyama sighed, hoping that their last resort would persuade Terushima to go back. .“If you seal the contract between you and Master Yamaguchi-”
“Master Yamaguchi will have no choice but to obey your every command.” Hinata finished excitedly.
Terushima abruptly stopped at that. “My every command? Seriously?”
The two spirits nodded. “Yep! That is one of the powers a land god possesses.”
“Oh? That does sound nice,” Terushima said, a smirk forming on his face. He could just imagine commanding that damn fox yokai to do his every wish. “So what is it that I have to do to seal the contract?”
“It is quite simple my Lord!”
“You must take him and-”
“Kiss him right on the mouth!” They both said, Hinata leaning towards Kageyama and leaving a kiss on his cheek.
Terushima stood there stunned. Did he hear them right? There was no way he was going to kiss that rude fox on the lips just so he can control the other. So as Kageyama and Hinata were doing a little song and dance to explain the situation more, Terushima took that as an opportunity to run. He ran and hid behind one of the many trees of the dark forest they were in. Once Terushima caught his breath, he ran some more, back in the direction he thought the shrine was.
As he was running, a voice called out to him.
“Excuse me? You there, young man. Would you mind helping out an old lady?” Terushima looked to see that the voice belonged to an old woman who had collapsed on the side of the road. She looked to be carrying a heavy load on her back, so Terushima quickly went over to help. As he was leaning down to help her up, he heard the distant voice of Hintata and Kageyama getting closer, so he decided to just pick up the woman onto his back instead. Once she was secure, Terushima continued to run.
The woman started to talk to him. “I fell down back there, and just could not get back up.”
“Where do you live ma’am?” Terushima could hear the spirits getting closer so he asked the woman again. “Ma’am is this the right way to your home?”
Before he could figure it out, the woman on his back started to growl, which was followed by an evil sounding laugh. Soon the lady had leaned back and drawn a sharp knife from who knows where, but it was currently headed towards Terushima’s neck.
Fortunately, Hinata and Kageyama had appeared and kicked the old woman off his back. Terushima Stumbled back with the loss of weight on him, and from surprise. He had no idea what was happening right now, and he would really like to know.
“Lord Terushima!” Hinata called out, rushing to Terushima’s side.
“Are you hurt?” Kageyama asked, checking him once over for any injuries.
Before Terushima could answer, the old woman, who had been kicked off his back and fallen to the floor, got up and yelled. As she was screaming, she started running towards Terushima, her knife still out and pointed at him.
“What is that thing?” Terushima asked, his voice trembling in fear.
“It is a demon hag!” Hinata cried out, watching as the once old lady now ran towards them looking much older than before and at least 10x scarier.
“We should probably get out of here now.” Kageyama had already started running before he had even finished his sentence.
As the demon hag got closer and closer, the three started running away as fast as they could. Terushima was tired of running, but he was more terrified of losing his life to whatever that thing was.
“Get back here! If I eat land god flesh, I’ll live for another 30 years!” The old had yelled as she continued to chase after them. She then lunged and was able to tackle a body down. When she looked to check who it was, it was Kageyama, who had a fearful look on his face. She groaned and threw the spirit aside in disgust.
Kageyama used it to his advantage and escaped to find Master Yamaguchi.
----
Terushima was still running, but this time he was trying to figure out how the talisman Hinata had handed him worked. The first two tries were unsuccessful. Apparently, trying to turn Hinata into a giant god warrior was not possible. And then he had to save his own life by changing a log into himself to distract the demon hag that was still after him.
With only one left, Terushima was at a loss. What could he possibly do to get himself out of this situation?
----
Kageyama had looked everywhere, but the red light district seemed to just continue on forever. When he had started to give up hope of finding Master Yamaguchi, a voice called out to him.
“Has that human been eaten already?” Kageyama turned to the voice to see Yamaguchi sitting on a rooftop, drinking from a sake cup. Kageyama stopped in his tracks and caught his breath.
“Please, Master Yamaguchi. You have to come help Lord Terushima!” He pleaded, hoping that he could convince the fox yokai.
Yamaguchi sighed, and took a sip from his drink. “So not yet then.” He was about to say something more when a burning piece of paper fell from the sky towards him. He watched it as it got closer, slowly disappearing from the flames. Before it completely disappeared, Yamaguchi heard its message: Yamaguchi, help me!
Yamaguchi reached out his hand and held the leftover flame in his palm, a plan forming in his head.
----
Terushima was fucking terrified. Hinata had somehow convinced him that climbing the tallest tree in the forest would help them escape the crazy demon lady, but apparently, they could climb too! Who would have known!
And to top it all off, Terushima was absolutely terrified of heights. Today just really wasn’t his day was it? He groaned and tightened his grip on the tree. “Hinata! Its too high, I can’t do it!”
“Hurry, Lord Terushima! You must keep climbing!” Hinata tried to be of help, but encouraging Terushima was the most he could do.
Terushima didn’t even need to look down to know that the demon hag was quickly climbing the tree. “I found you!” Her eerie voice got closer and closer and Terushima got more and more scared.
He was about to climb up a bit more, when the demon hag reached out and grabbed his ankle and pulled hard. Terushima struggled to keep himself from falling, even though at this point he was close to just giving up.
“Lord Terushima! Don’t let go!” Hinata cried out, fearing that Terushima may fall and die.
“I’m trying not to!” Terushima held on tighter to the tree, and tried to shake his leg to get the demon lady off.
“You seem to be having a tough time.” The new voice scared Terushima for a moment before he realized it was Yamaguchi. When Terushima looked over, Yamaguchi was standing on the branch next to him, looking thoroughly amused. “I heard you might be in a tight spot, so I rushed over immediately.”
Terushima wasn’t sure if he had ever been grateful for someone this much before. Yamaguchi had come to save him!
“I wanted to enjoy the show,” Yamaguchi said with a smirk.
Never fucking mind. It quickly clicked for Terushima that Yamaguchi wasn’t there to help him, he was there to watch and mock him.
“Damn you fox,” Terushima grumbled under his breath. He couldn’t stay distracted for long as the demon hag’s tugging started to get stronger. Terushima wiggled his leg around a bit and once he felt her grip loosen, he flung her off and watched her fall. However, she didn’t fall very far before catching herself on the tree with her claws.
Terushima was panting. He was so exhausted and wished that this would all be over soon.
“Do you want some help, Terushima? Oh I imagine you must.” Yamaguchi’s voice was full of mischief, and Terushima knew that he couldn’t trust him. “If you cry and plead, please forgive this foolish boy oh great Yamaguchi, I might be inclined to give you some assistance.”
“No, like hell I’d ask you,” Terushima huffed. He had made up his mind, and there was no way he was gonna beg this fox for help. But then something happened that made his mind waver a bit.
His hand had slipped from the branch he was holding onto, and he had fallen down a couple feet before he was able to grab a hold of a new branch.
“Lord Terushima!” Kageyama gasped, his body leaning down to look at Terushima.
“Just say it! Please forgive this foolish boy-” Hinata tried to reason, but Terushima wasn’t having it.
“No way!” Terushima shook his head. There was no way he was saying that.
“Oh great Yamaguchi!”
“No way!”
“You only have to say that one line! Then he will help you! Right Master Yamaguchi?” Kageyama asked, looking at Yamaguchi.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Indeed so. Say it and I will help you. Just say it.” Yamaguchi looked away for a moment, almost as if he was nervous.
“Lord Terushima, just say the line!” Kageyama called down.
“No!” Terushima said, but the shrine spirits kept pestering him into saying it. So he continued to reply ‘no’.
While he was distracted, the demon hag had gone back to climbing up the tree and she was getting closer and closer to Terushima, but he wasn’t paying attention.
“There is no way! I would rather die than bow to him!” As Terushima said this, he reached up and grabbed a hold of Yamaguchi's ankle. He couldn’t hold himself on the tree anymore, so he let go, falling and dragging Yamaguchi with him.
They fell together, as the distressed cries of Hinata and Kageyama rang through the air.
Yamaguchi was angry. “You stupid boy. All you had to say to live was one silly line! Now you’re going to die because of your foolish pride.” Terushima was silent for a moment, not responding to Yamaguchi’s words at all.
Then Terushima made a move. He reached out and grabbed Yaamaguchi’s collar and pulled him close. Yamaguchi was confused, he didn’t know what was happening until it was too late. It finally clicked for him when Terushima’s lips smashed against his in a desperate kiss.
The kiss seemed to last forever, when it really had only lasted for a bit longer than a second. But that second was all that was needed to seal the contract between a god and their familiar.
When they broke apart, Terushima didn't move far before speaking. “Alright Yamaguchi, help me right now, jerk!”
Yamaguchi’s eyes widened as he felt the command ripple through his body before it was forced into motion. He was forced to dive after Terushima, but not without a complaint. “Curse you!”
Luckily, the command did work and Yamaguchi was able to catch Terushima and bring him back down to the ground safely.
The demon hag, who was still in the tree, groaned. “C’mon man, why’d you have to take my prey.”
Yamaguchi barely spared her a glance, before he sent some of his fox fire up at her. The fox fire knocked her down and she fell to the ground. Hinata and Kageyama quickly tied her up, with what rope, Terushima had no idea.
“Yamaguchi?” Terushima’s voice caught Yamaguchi’s attention, who was grumbling in the corner to himself about how he ‘hated being a familiar why now when he was just enjoying his life as a wild yokai.’
Yamaguchi’s head whipped around to face Terushima. “What?” He was unhappy, that much could be told by the tone of his voice.
“You came for me. Thank you for that.” Terushima smiled. Yamaguchi just looked at the boy next to him with a blank face. He wasn’t sure of what to make of the new land god. Terushima sighed and dusted himself off. He turned to Hinata and Kageyama. “Let’s get back to the shrine. All of us.”