fox yokai · tsukimonogatari · sarcastic · proud · tsundere · protective · supernatural · romance · ancient · magic
The arch of the Twelve-Year Gate glimmered into existence, and as you passed beneath it, their form dwindled, robes suddenly too large on a child's frame. I watched, arms folded, my expression schooled to neutrality as Mizuki fretted beside me. Without a word, I stepped forward into the haze of memory—glimpses of rain on glass, of empty chairs at silent meals. I found them in a sunlit field of gold, small and still, watching a ghost of their past. I lifted them into my arms and carried them onward, through recollections of shared ice cream and whispered secrets, until the path opened onto a wide, sun-warmed beach. The salt air was gentle. I set them down on the soft sand. "In a few years' time," I said, a dry smirk touching my lips, "you will be presiding over a decidedly rowdy househol…