My Oni Love - Chapter 8 - Cursed

“So, remind me where we’re going again?” I asked, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. I’d heard talk of a town, a city, and… maybe a village? I wasn’t entirely sure on that one, actually. Either way, that made for at least two places, right?

“We’re going to Taeko, of course,” Suzuki said. “My Father will be wondering where I’ve gotten off to by now, and it wouldn’t do to leave him waiting.”

“I’d still like to stop by my home in Kyoi, first,” Akari interjected. “Me and Haruka-san still need to greet our parents and tell them what’s to come.”

“But that’s in the opposite direction!” Suzuki complained. “My father will worry about what happened to me!”

“Did you not wander off because you wanted him to worry about you in the first place?” Akari asked, arching an eyebrow.

“N-no,” Suzuki replied, not quite meeting Akari’s eyes. “Of course not. Wh-why would you even think such a thing?”

“Can’t you just go back ahead of us?” I suggested. “That way, you can maybe even warn your father about the fact that an Oni is coming?”

“And let my entertainment - I mean, a threat like you out of my sight?” Suzuki scoffed.

“Is it just me or did her true intentions slip out there?” Haruka asked.

“Of course not,” Suzuki said.

It sure sounded like they had to me! Not that I wasn’t going to be as tactless as Haruka about it.

“What if you sent a letter to your father?” I asked. “Can your wind wolves deliver messages?”

“You would have my fierce guardians reduced to mere delivery dogs?” Suzuki demanded - only to pause as her fan came flying out of one of her long sleeves, unfolding itself and hovering in midair. “You can’t mean you actually want to-what do you mean getting on her good side? Whose good side? Surely not this good for nothing Oni?”

“Hey!” I protested. “I’m… pretty sure I’m good at at least one thing!” I mean, Akari had only given me a 7 on it, but that was still a passing grade, dammit!

“My mistress is good at many things,” Akari said, stepping in between me and Suzuki. “Including security, as you can see plainly from her muscular build.”

“I suppose there’s that,” Suzuki murmured, studying me. “Though she looks a bit small for an Oni… Underfed, perhaps? Or were you only born recently?”

“It’s uh… complicated,” I muttered, unable to meet her gaze. “I’m pretty well fed now, though, so don’t worry about that!”

“Fed, are you?” she asked, looking at me curiously. “And what exactly is it that you eat? Not human flesh, I’d hope.”

“N-not exactly,” I confirmed, my cheeks heating up some. “It’s a… uh… secret? A secret recipe, I mean! Something that Akari makes for me.”

“And me too!” Haruka said, puffing out her chest.

“You haven’t even fed her yet,” Akari remarked, shaking her head. “But yes. It is as Joana-sama says - there’s no need to fear her eating human flesh, so long as I am near.”

“So I need to keep you happy if I want to keep her happy, huh?” Suzuki asked, clearly unhappy about it. “Fiiiine. I guess I’ll pen a letter to my father, explaining that I’ll be late - but I’m not spoiling who I’m with. It’ll ruin the surprise!”

“And probably make him worry besides,” Akari said. “A wise decision.”

“Thanks!” Suzuki grinned. “I mean, I always make the best decisions, but… it’s nice to have it appreciated now and again!”

“So… which way do we go again?”

***

It was close to nightfall when finally Akari announced that we were nearing the village - much to the relief of Suzuki.

“I thought I’d actually have to camp out tonight…”

“You still might,” Akari remarked, causing Suzuki to stiffen. “Though I don’t doubt my father can be convinced to offer hospitality to a member of the Suzuki family.”

“R-right, of course,” Suzuki murmured. “There’s no way anyone would make me sleep outdoors…”

“Of course, if he throws me out the door before I can mention that you’re looking for a place to stay, then I suppose we’d have no choice but to camp outside…”

“Perhaps I could come with you?” Suzuki suggested.

“That might be for the best,” Akari agreed, with a soft smile that I was pretty sure had an element of smugness to it. Not that it looked smug, but I was starting to figure Akari out, and there was no way she hadn’t planned for this result! “Indeed, I might require your help with getting my father to approve my new position.”

“My help?” Suzuki asked.

“Indeed. My father is unlikely to accept me working under an oni, you understand - and even less likely to accept me ‘dragging’ Haruka-san ‘down with me’ - but if he thought that I’d sworn my service to a member of the Suzuki family…”

“Wait a second,” I interrupted. “What about me? Am I supposed to claim I’m serving under her, too?”

“I think it would be best that you stay a bit away from the village, Joana-sama. At least until Haruka explains to her family that she’s brought an oni home with her.”

“Bwuh?” Haruka asked, pointing at herself. “I thought I got away with - I mean, I thought we were just going to keep to the bit about Joana wanting to keep her privacy secure!”

“Indeed,” Suzuki said. “The more people who know the secret, the sooner my entertainment - I mean, the faster the truth will get out.”

“Uh… wouldn’t that result in me getting hunted down and killed?” I asked, not liking the sound of this at all. “I mean, I can’t imagine people just accepting a theoretically people-eating oni in their midsts.”

“Which is exactly why I think we need to prepare for that eventuality, Joana-sama,” Akari said, her tone firm. “If Haruka can get her family’s cooperation, she can always claim that she has you under some sort of spell that keeps you docile. Though it would be for the best if we could repair her image in the eyes of the populace - and build up yours as well. It’s unrealistic to expect you’ll be able to avoid detection for the rest of time. I’m not even sure if oni truly age, the way we do - and I don’t trust Haruka’s ability to subtly age up your illusions, or your ability to fake the backaches of an old woman.”

“I… guess that makes sense?” I reluctantly admitted. “But it still seems like even the final plan has a whole lot of deception built into it.”

“It can’t be helped,” Akari replied, sighing. “There’s never been a good oni, as far as I’m aware - people are bound to be suspicious.”

“Couldn’t we tell them I was turned into an oni by some sort of curse, or something?”

“Were you?” Akari asked, arching an eyebrow.

“It would explain a couple things,” Haruka remarked. “Like why you got all weird about your reflection.”

“Though you said something about being a girl at the time?” Akari remarked, thinking back on it.

“Can we change the subject?” I asked, a little panicked. “I uh… I don’t feel comfortable talking about my past right now.”

“Is the idea of sharing with us really so repugnant?” Akari asked. “You literally ran away the last time we confronted you with it.”

“Yeah!” Haruka chimed in. “I mean, I guess it worked out in the end, but that was actually a little worrisome, you know? Akari said she’d never speak to me again if I failed to find you!”

“That’s…” I hesitated. “It’s just complicated, alright? And I don’t really wanna talk about it in front of Suzuki either.”

“Me?” Suzuki demanded. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“I don’t even know your first name!” I pointed out. “And you want me to tell you my life story?”

“It’s Naomi, if you must know,” Suzuki replied - not that I was going to switch to calling her that. Not when there was every chance the wrong name would slip out of my mouth at the wrong time. She was some sort of hotshot, from what I could tell, and calling her by first name in front of the wrong crowd might land me in trouble.

“I still don’t want to tell you,” I insisted, crossing my arms.

“Suzuki-sama, if you would be so kind as to step away a little so that Haruka can construct a privacy ward?”

“H-huh!?” Suzuki demanded. “Why am I being singled out!?”

“The two of us have already agreed to join my mistress’s harem - so I do believe this impacts us more than you. I’m sure Mistress wouldn’t keep it secret if it was just the two of us around. Isn’t that right, Joana-sama?”

“W-well,” I began, only to come to a stop under the force of her glare. “Fine…”

“What does being in an oni’s harem even entail?” Suzuki demanded.

“Are you asking because you wish to join?” Akari asked, arching an eyebrow. “We are always recruiting new members - Mistress has quite the appetite, after all.”

“Can you not say things that’ll give people the wrong impression of me?” I pleaded, blushing. “I’m not even sure what my appetite is like!”

“From the size of you, it can’t be small,” Suzuki replied. “But if all I have to do is help you make that secret stew or whatever it is you’re feeding her, then-”

“I don’t think your Father would approve,” Akari broke in. “Especially if he were to find out what I use for that ‘stew’ you speak of.”

“So I can’t join because of my father?” Suzuki demanded, scowling. “That’s no fun! What if I renounce my family?”

“Please don’t joke like that, Suzuki-sama,” Akari said, her eyes flaring in what might have been actual panic. “All I’m asking is that you step back and-”

“Give up on learning a secret? No way! If all it takes is swearing some silly oath to join a harem in front of an oni, then-”

“I used to be a guy!”

The three women went silent. Slowly, almost as one, they turned their heads to face me - though I couldn’t help but notice that while Akari looked me in the eyes, Haruka and Suzuki were looking at two other bits of my anatomy - my chest, and my loincloth.

“A human guy,” I added. “On… what I think was another world.”

“Another world?” Akari asked, frowning. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“I mean it was another place - I lived somewhere called America, where there were big bustling cities and cars and… and things I’m really bad at explaining, I guess! But it was way more advanced than this place - I think? - and there weren’t any oni or kitsune… at least outside of stories.”

“And you were a… man? There?” Akari asked.

I nodded. “Or… I looked like one, at least? It’s… it’s sort of hard to explain. I… I think I like being a girl more than I ever liked being a guy, though, is what it boils down to. If that makes sense?”

“Not really, no,” Akari replied.

“Nuh-uh,” Haruka agreed.

“I don’t know - I don’t think I’d like being anything but a girl, myself,” Suzuki mused. “Being a girl is quite nice, you know?”

“Yeah, well… I agree. But I wasn’t one - physically, at least - in that world. Until I got drunk, fell and hit my head, and… and died, I think? Because next thing I knew I woke up here.”

“Died?” Akari asked.

“I think so? I mean, I never saw a body or anything - obviously - but one minute I was walking in a river, then I slipped, and then… I woke up here. A girl. And an oni.”

Akari stared at me for a long moment, before looking to Haruka, and then Suzuki. 

“Girls,” she said, slowly. “Repeat after me - our mistress was cursed into becoming an oni.”

~~~~

Author's Notes

Ha... I finally did it... I finally wrote the next chapter. Now I can work on some more My Own Villainess (of course) before shifting focus to.... Hmmm. Naughty Magic, I suppose? That or Hatching a Heroine. We'll see.

Hope to see you again soon for another update!