Jamminrabbit

  I woke up a few hours earlier than usual the next morning. As soon as my feet touched the cold floorboards, a frigid chill crept through my body.

  "Brr… Maybe I'll just fly down…"

  Yawning, I floated downstairs to an empty kitchen. It felt weird not seeing Hatsumi first thing in the morning, since she was always an hour up before me to cook breakfast. I should probably handle that for her today, seeing as I was already up.

  Popping open the fridge revealed a bunch of empty shelves that were in desperate need of stocking. The homemade chocotes Mio had made yesterday sat on the topmost shelf, all separated into their own bags to be handed out at school.

  With the kitchen to myself so early, I began to whip up some chocotes to hand out and breakfast on the side. We had some chocote bricks left over from Christmas after making hot chocote, which I started melting on low heat in a pot.

  "Good morning, Saeko—"

  "AH?!" I spun around and summoned the Bde of the First Temptress.

  Selene stared down the business end of the sword and cleared her throat.

  "Selene? Geez… Sorry… I wasn't expecting anyone to be up so early," I hastily apologized, vanishing the sword from my grasp.

  "I can say the same of you, my queen. I, on the other hand, have good reason to be up, as coach of the kendo club and soon-to-be physical education instructor at Tsukiji High," Selene said, puffing out her chest.

  "Really? Congratutions!"

  Words could not express how proud I was of Selene to come this far. She really came a long way since being a thorn in my side during Beatrice's attempt to take over Earth.

  "Thank you." Selene pced a hand to her chest and bowed slightly. "The principal acknowledged my hard work and tenured me for the next school year. I shall be off. Once school has ended, I will recommence my search for Tamamo."

  Selene left to go to school early and was soon repced by Mio, wobbling into the kitchen, her eyes still closed and scratching her belly.

  "I heard you scream… You okay?" Mio asked, pnting her chin on my shoulder and yawning next to my ear.

  "Here, try this." I lifted a spoonful of melted, silky chocote up to her mouth.

  Like a venus fly trap, Mio cmped her lips down it and snapped awake.

  "Chocote! You making Valentine's chocote, too?" Mio asked.

  "I make chocote every year! Usually next month on White Day though, since that's when boys return the favor to girls who gave them chocotes on Valentine's Day. This is going to be my first time making chocote as a girl. Now the question is, who am I making it for… Kana, Koga, Gouda, Sensei, the entire kendo club…?" I continued to list off boys that were any at all deserving.

  "Heh. Look at you, domesticated and shit." She teased.

  "Don't call me domesticated!"

  Kana's vision of me with a baby harness fshed through my mind and still haunted me to this day. To think, he thought as far as our future together. Having a baby, huh. I would like to one day, but what kind of baby would I have? A succubus? A human? Some sort of hybrid?

  Shaking those thoughts away, I turned my attention back to the pot of melting chocote on the stove.

  I guess the st one would be Uta, but he was in Takamagahara, and there was no telling what was going on unless we went there. Which would be a problem given who currently runs the pce…

  Might as well make some for Hatsumi, too, to surprise her when she wakes up. And oh boy, was she surprised.

  A few hours ter, Hatsumi came downstairs and sat at the table with tears in her eyes.

  "Sniffle… My little Saeko… All grown up. Cooking breakfast for me already…" Hatsumi wept.

  I rolled my eyes.

  "Okay, sis. Don't be a drama queen. You know this isn't the first time I made you breakfast, lunch, or dinner."

  After breakfast, Mio and I headed to school. The atmosphere, despite the dreary gloom that lingered over the city because of the swirling maelstrom above, didn't diminish the upbeat mood of Valentine's Day.

  Gouda was being hounded just past the school gates by a group of girls, as was natural for popur guys, being gifted chocote and confession letters. They were the envy of all the lonely and desperate boys, like myself when I was one.

  And for some reason, Hitomi was facing the same treatment at the shoe lockers.

  "Uhh, but I'm not a boy," Hitomi told an undercssman as she was handed a bag of chocote.

  The girl, possibly a first or second year, squealed and ran back to her friends, who patted her on the back for a job well done.

  "This happens every year," Hitomi said to me as I entered the building. "I appreciate it. But why?"

  "Because they wanna fuck ya," Mio answered before I did.

  The student president and I squinted at Mio.

  "Right… Anyway, enjoy your Valentine's Day, but keep it in your pants. I already have my hands full with the student council elections." Hitomi sighed.

  "Oh, how's that going? It's got to be getting really busy for you and Rika, right?" I asked.

  Hitomi took one look at me and lost the shine in her eyes.

  "Is… Is it something I said?"

  "Word on the street is Hana's pnning to run for student council president. Good chance of winning, too. Being a succubus and a popur cat at school," Mio said.

  "What…?" I gaped at them, and Hitomi merely nodded silently to confirm it.

  "Like I said," Hitomi began, slowly and more deliberately. "I refuse to allow her to be my legacy after I've graduated. I'm going to pull out all the stops to sabotage her campaign. If it's the st thing I do…"

  Leaving us with that cryptic vow, Hitomi left to get to work.

  Hana as next year's student council president. That sounded like a disaster. Good thing I wouldn't be around anymore.

  Mio and I went upstairs to our css when we spotted our boyfriend dragging his feet down the hall.

  "Kana!" I shouted, stopping him in the middle of the hall.

  "Oh… hey, guys. Can we dial down the volume this morning? I kind of have a massive headache…" Kana groaned and pressed the ointment patch harder to his head.

  We winced. That was definitely our fault from yesterday.

  "Well, chin up! It's Valentine's Day! Special day in this world, right?" Mio dangled a baggie of chocote in front of him.

  "Here's mine, too… It's… kind of embarrassing, since I'm a girl this year, but… Happy Valentine's Day…" I mumbled, handing him a bag, too.

  Immediately, Kana's face filled with some color.

  "Aww. Thanks, you two. These are definitely homemade, huh… I can tell by Mio's vulgar penis and boobs-shaped chocotes…" Kana chuckled, lifting both bags to his eyes.

  "Try 'em! I worked with Hacchan all week to perfect it. Also added a special ingredient that's unique to me." Mio fist-thumped her chest proudly.

  "You did? Like an ingredient from your world?" I asked.

  Kana and I opened the chocote Mio gifted us, then popped one into our mouths. It was good. Definitely screamed amateur, because she was still new at it.

  "Mm… I like it. Chewy and with a nice gooey center," Kana reviewed it in real time like we were on a cooking show. "Actually, what is the special ingredient?"

  "Heh. I used my breast milk!" Mio decred out loud.

  Both of us spat the chocote out.

  "You what?!" we cried.

  Kana lightly backhanded my shoulder. "Why are you surprised?"

  "What do you mean, why am I surprised? I'm only just learning about this now! I thought she would at least make it normally with Hacchan around!" I retorted.

  "Hey, what gives? I put my liquified love nectar into those sweet suckers," Mio said.

  "Mio… You can't just give people chocote with your breast milk in them. That's grounds for sexual harassment and it's pin weird." Kana sighed.

  I plucked another chocote out of the bag to lick.

  "Oi. You're going to encourage her…" He scolded.

  "I can't help it. My succubus senses also makes me extra sensitive to… these kinds of fvors," I replied, clearing my throat.

  "See, she likes it. I bet the whole school wants some, too." Mio cupped both hands over her mouth. "Who wants Valentine's chocote made with my tiddy milk in them? Come and get it!"

  "MIO, NO!" we yelled.

  It was too te.

  "BREAST MILK FROM A SUCCUBUS?"

  "ME!"

  "ME, TOO!"

  "CAN I HAVE EXTRA?"

  The stampede was coming. Kana and I were mobbed by a group of horny and lonely boys, desperate for any sort of affection on a lonesome Valentine's Day, rushing in to get some of Mio's super special chocotes.

  I managed to drag Kana out and into our cssroom.

  "I saw my life fsh before my eyes…" Kana gasped for air.

  Within the safety of our cssroom, girls were in the process of handing chocotes out. A microclimate of what was going on in the rest of the school. Even our sensei had a small stack on his desk.

  "Saeko, I made you chocote!" Rika beamed, holding out a pretty pstic bag containing what looked like homemade chocotes.

  "Wait, for me?" I stared at her confused.

  "I couldn't help it. When I was making chocote yesterday, you were one of the first that came to mind. I guess a part of me still thinks of you as a boy." She scratched her nose out of embarrassment.

  "Aww. Thanks, Rika—"

  "Saeko!" Kaede came skidding to a stop in front of the cssroom.

  "Let me guess: chocote?" I asked.

  "How did you know?" Kaede gasped. "Is it your succubus powers?"

  Kaede wasn't the only one. Before the bell rang for school to begin, more female students stopped by my css to give me chocote.

  Before I realized it, my desk was stacked with a pyramid of homemade and store-bought chocotes from girls who I knew, were barely friends with, and many of which were strangers that I didn't know existed until now. The pile was so high that I couldn't see the board at the front of css.

  "The st thing I expected coming to school with chocote… was that I'd end up going home with more chocote… How did this happen?" I groaned.

  "Aha… Maybe a lot of girls still think the same way as I do?" Rika wondered aloud.

  "Nah," Mio chimed in, plucking a random baggie of chocote from my pile to eat. "Betcha some of 'em just wanna fuck ya."

  Rika and I narrowed our eyes on her.

  "Why is that always your first answer? Unlike you, not everyone always has sex on their minds," I scolded her.

  "We can prove that! I dive into a random dude's mind right now, what do you think they're thinking? Like that guy right there!" Mio pointed at a male cssmate, startling him from his quick breakfast and making him choke.

  "Uh, n-no! I'm not…" His stammering was cut off by the bell.

  Sensei entered css, shouting for everyone to get into their seats and those who didn't belong to hurry to their own css.

  A strange, gremlin-like man clung to sensei's back and gnawed on his head. My eyes must be deceiving me. I rubbed them and shook my head. The monster was gone when I opened my eyes.

  I thought to ask Mio, but she was distracted chatting up another student. Maybe it was nothing.

  Later, when lunch began, I got up to go to the girl's bathroom but felt a strange chill the moment I stepped in.

  "Saeko, were you thinking about using that bathroom?" Hitomi asked, coming up from behind.

  "Yeah, why?" I returned the question.

  "Lately, we've received reports from female students about this bathroom being haunted. Quite frankly, I initially passed it off as one of Hana's pranks, but she vehemently denied any wrongdoings this time. It's gotten to the point where girls are avoiding this bathroom completely and going to the others," she expined.

  Hana would have been my first guess for anything suspicious, too. Though according to Hitomi, that pink-haired helion had nothing to do with it this time.

  "Well, it's just a bathroom, right? I'm… I'm going to go in," I said, taking a step further.

  "I'll be here. I've been meaning to investigate it myself but haven't had the time. Could have just been a prank from another student," Hitomi said.

  So Hitomi says, but it was as though I had walked into another world entirely. The atmosphere had become slightly suffocating. But so far so good.

  I took the first stall to relieve myself in. As I finished and pulled my underwear back up, gd that there was nothing out of the ordinary, I found that the stall lock wouldn't budge.

  "Eh?" I twisted harder.

  My succubus strength should have broken it at this point.

  "Hitomi, are you still there?" I shouted.

  No answer. But she should have been right by the door. Unless she was messing with me?

  The toilet behind me suddenly flushed on its own. Goosebumps formed all over my body. It wouldn't stop flushing. Water just continued draining and draining.

  Slowly, I gnced over my shoulder— and was met with a pale face, eyeless sockets, and a gaping mouth of darkness.

  "G-G-Ghost?!" I cried, pressing my back to the door.

  It was a short girl with a drenched bck bob, dressed in a white shirt and red skirt with suspenders.

  All my bravery went down the toilet. I threw my shoulder against the door to break out, but it still wouldn't budge. The girl took a step forward, croaking and with a hand extended towards me.

  "No, don't touch me!" I yelled, constricting my aura around it as a st resort.

  "Iiiee!"

  The ghost keeled over. She was red in the face, both hands between her thighs squeezed shut, and shuddering all over.

  "Did… Did I just make a ghost horny? Wait a minute…" I quietly asked myself.

  "Saeko?"

  I turned around just as Hitomi opened the stall door. Gncing back into the toilet, the ghost girl was gone.

  "What happened?" Hitomi asked with worry.

  "I… This is going to sound weird, but I just saw a ghost. I-It had to have been Hanako, the toilet ghost!" I expined.

  She furrowed her brows, seemingly unconvinced.

  "Succubi are one thing, but ghosts? Come on now. Someone must have put something into your Valentine's chocote," Hitomi insisted.

  "But—"

  "Lunch is almost over. Hurry back to css," she said, leaving the bathroom.

  Strange things were happening at school. No, maybe not just at school. But it was where I started noticing it. I knew for sure I saw a ghost. Spirit? Yokai? Whatever it was, none of it was normal, and I had a feeling it's got something to do with Tamamo.

  As Mio and I were flying home to drop off our stuff to begin our search again, we bumped into a familiar aura.

  "Look! Who's that tall dommy mommy that Yumi's with?" Mio asked, pointing to a tall woman dressed in a white dress and white hat.

  "That… it couldn't be…" I muttered.

  We flew down to confront them, but an existential dread filled my being as I nded and stood underneath the eight-foot tall woman.

  "Po…"

  "IT REALLY IS HACHISHAKU?!" I cried and nearly fainted.

  "Holy shit, step on me, mommy." Mio gasped.

  "Ara, Saeko? Are you also acquainted with her?" Yumi asked.

  "More like what are you doing with this ghost?" I fired back.

  Hachishaku's demeanor softened, and the ghost brushed her hair back to reveal a pretty woman with a normal face, unlike the one back at school.

  "I couldn't rightly expin even if I tried. However, I came across Yumi here when I was stalking the most adorable little boy and we quickly became friends," Hachishaku said.

  "Eh…?"

  To the yokai's side, Yumi nodded.

  My mind was about to explode. I was actually conversing with a malevolent ghost.

  "Ufufu~ We bonded over our… shared interests. Care to join us, Saeko? We're going to have a sleepover with a boy named Takuo. I assure you he will not be harmed while I'm there," Yumi assured me with a sacious smile.

  "Well, we shouldn't keep Takuo waiting. I'm dying to meet him. Ufufu~" Hachishaku fshed a wide and terrifying smile, all the while breathing heavily like a bitch in heat.

  Like two peas in a pod, both Hachishaku and Yumi pressed a hand to their mouths, ughing as they continued bonding on their way to the boy named Takuo.

  Rather, it was less about the kid's physical safety I was worried about and more for his innocence. As they left, I saluted in the direction they were headed and prayed for Takuo's survival.

  "Still…" I whispered to myself. "Yokai are becoming more of a common sight tely. This can't be good."

  We got home at st and found Hatsumi outside the house.

  "Closer, closer!" Hatsumi was guiding and beckoning a semi-truck through the narrow street.

  "What's going on?" I asked as we flew in.

  "Oh, Saeko! You're home already?" My sister panicked, swapping gnces between me and the truck.

  "Whaddya mean already? It's like four in the afternoon," Mio retorted.

  The truck pulled to a stop just slightly ahead of the house, and two drivers exited to throw open the back hatch.

  "Where do you want your chocote?" a gruff driver asked.

  "Chocote?" I raised an eyebrow.

  We watched as the second driver entered the back, then carted out a gigantic chocote heart.

  "Uhm… Happy Valentine's Day!" Hatsumi excimed.

  "Sis, this won't even fit through the door!" I gaped at the eight-foot tall chocote sculpture.

  She pressed her index fingers together.

  "But I wanted to get you something cute…"

  "Holy shit," Mio muttered. "Look at this thing! There's even a hole in the back. Were you pnning to stuff things into it? Or maybe yourself? Kahaha!"

  I turned to Hatsumi, and she looked the other way to avoid eye-contact with me. Only as I put both hands on my hips did she finally fess up.

  "I-I was going to surprise you when you came home… but the order had traffic deys." Hatsumi sighed.

  "Well, it certainly is still a surprise. I guess if you—"

  The words caught in my throat.

  If someone wanted to stay hidden, then in a pce where no one would expect would be their best bet. Like a shrine.

  "Tamamo," I told Mio, grabbing her by the shoulder.

  "What?" Mio blinked and clearly wasn't following.

  "Tamamo must be hiding in a shrine. There's no other expnation as to why we can't find her!"

  "Be careful!" Hatsumi warned us.

  Wasting no time, Mio and I flew straight to Kon's shrine. In the meantime, Mio made calls to redirect succubi efforts into searching for shrines instead. But there had to be hundreds, small and rge, across a region like this. Tamamo could be anywhere. One pce we could go to, however, was Takamagahara and ask the kami for help there.

  "Kon, open up! I know you're in there!" I called, knocking on the shrine doors as soon as I nded.

  No answer. There better not be a ghost or haunting like in the school bathroom again…

  "Yo. I think something's wrong. The door's already open." Mio hooked her fingers through a small gap in the door and threw it open.

  There, lying unconscious and weakly in the middle of his chamber, was Kon in his kitsune form.

  Jamminrabbit