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Another fox priestess awaited them at the entrance to the main shrine building. Or, possibly not the main shrine building. It was bigger than the others, but its main feature was lines of pillars forming three gates, side by side. Looking through, James could see another building in the traditional style.

“Welcome to the Hamamatsu Hachiman Shrine,” the priestess said, bowing. “As impurities are not permitted in the Outer Sanctum, please exchange your footwear.”

After more than a month in Japan, James was almost used to having to change his shoes every time he entered a building, and he managed to get out of his school shoes without issue.

“This way, Master,” a fox said, beckoning him forward.

James was distracted for a moment by the way the kitsune said ‘Master’. There were a lot of ways to say that in Japanese, and the priestess had chosen the most subservient one. It took him a moment to realise that Suki hadn’t stepped forward with him.

He looked back, just as the screen door slid shut in his face.

“Hey!” he protested, and yanked it open again.

Suki wasn’t there. The entryway wasn’t there. It had been replaced by a narrow corridor, with walls and floor made of cut stone. James stared and walked forward automatically.

“Suki?”

He heard a giggle from behind him as the screen door was shut again.

“Silly boy,” the kitsune said from behind the screen. “You should know you can never go back.”

James yanked the door open again, only to see… more stone corridor. This one went forward ten feet before ending in a T-junction.

“This is a trick,” James growled. He manifested his sword. “Some kind of illusion.”

“Is it?” the fox’s voice said, coming out of nowhere. “If it is, you might want to be careful of where you swing that sword, boy. You wouldn’t want to hit your girlfriend.”

“We’re supposed to be guests,” James grated. “Is this how the Hamamatsu Shrine treats its guests?”

“Of course not!” the giggling voice declared. For just a moment, it seemed to be coming from a point right next to his ear. He swatted at it like a mosquito, managing only to provoke more giggles.

“Normally, we eat them!” the voice said.

“You can’t hurt me,” James said, with a lot less certainty than he’d like. “I’m protected.”

“No one’s hurting you, little boy,” the voice said. “This is just a little trick. A jape. Just a little fun.”

“I’m not laughing. Can I talk with…” James had to pause to remember the name. “Kuzahana Kaede-sama?”

“Oh, you want to speak with the manager?” The voice laughed again. “Of course you can! Just follow the corridor, and it will take you right to her.”

“Which way?” James asked. From what he could see, there were three ways for him to go.

“That way!” the voice said, with no visual signifier that James could discern. It started giggling again, and from the way the giggles faded, James got the idea that his conversation time was over. He tried calling out again, but the voice did not respond.

“Can’t go back,” James muttered. It was the only clue the voice had offered, but he’d gone back. Now, moving forward would be going back as well.

Muttering under his breath, James decided to just keep going the way he was. At least this way, he didn’t have to choose a path at the T-junction.

He had gone three steps before he heard… something coming from behind him. He stopped and listened.

It was… the sound of crying?

With a sigh, James turned around and headed for the T-junction. Glancing at his sword, he decided to dismiss it. The invisible priestess hadn’t denied that he was a guest and protected, so it was better to put his weapon away until he needed it.

James quickly learned that the corridor was actually a system of corridors. Very much like a maze. He didn’t love the idea of being led through it by what was almost certainly an illusion controlled by his tormenters, but what choice did he have?

The sound of crying led him through several turns and junctions, somehow echoing through the corridors despite the distance between him and the source. Finally, he turned the corner and saw who was crying.

The little fox-girl was dressed in a simple white smock. Her single tail was wrapped around her knees as she sat, sobbing. Her orange-furred ears were the same size as the ones on her larger cousins, but they looked oversized on her small head. She was absolutely adorable, and James was having none of it.

“This is a trick,” he muttered under his breath. He stayed where he was, looking around the corner. “I’m not fooled by this; it has to be an illusion.”

Or was it? Just enough truth to keep you guessing, was what Harue had boasted. Would the kitsune priestesses abandon one of their own to get lost in this labyrinth to make a point?

Yes, James realised. Whether it was to make a point, prank him or just for fun, the foxes wouldn’t hesitate for a heartbeat. Did that mean that she was real, or not? James didn’t know. What he did know was that he couldn’t leave her to cry by herself.

“Hello,” he said, coming around the corner. “Are you lost?”

The little fox girl looked up fearfully. When she saw James, she shot to her feet. “No!” she declared. “I’m not lost!”

“Well, I am,” James admitted, moving cautiously closer. “Do you think you can show me the way out of here?”

“I can’t,” the girl said, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Why not?” James asked. “Do you want a handkerchief?” he added, looking at the mess that was her face.

“I’m fine,” the girl stated firmly. James winced as she wiped her face with her sleeve in exactly the same way that his mother always scolded him for.

“What’s your name?” James asked.

The girl scowled at him. “Your tricks won’t work on me!” she declared. “You can’t bind us with a name, not like other spirits!”

“That’s great, I wasn’t planning to. But if there’s no harm in it, why don’t you let me know what it is? My name is James.”

The girl frowned in thought. “Alright,” she finally said. “It’s Kagero.”

“Pleased to meet you, Kagero-chan. Why can’t you lead me to the exit?” James asked again.

“Don’t wanna,” Kagero said. She scowled at him again. “I can’t let an intruder in.”

“I’m not an intruder, Kagero-chan,” James said patiently. “I’m a guest of Kuzahana Kaede-sama, but your older sisters are playing a prank on me.”

“They do play a lot of pranks,” Kagero conceded. “On me as well.”

“Do you want to get out of here?” James asked gently.

Kagero nodded.

“What’s stopping you?”

“It’s scary…” Kagero trailed off and looked down.

“The exit is scary?”

Kagero nodded again.

“What if I went with you? Would that make it less scary?”

“Um…” Kagero thought about it for a while, then shook her head. “I can’t take a stranger into the inner shrine, I’d get in trouble.”

“But I’m not a stranger, I’m an invited guest,” James said. “I’m friends with Harue, if that helps.”

Kagero scowled. “She plays pranks worse than anybody,” she said.

Damnit, Harue, James thought. Out of ideas, he stuck his hand in his pocket. He might be able to turn things around if he had some candy to give her. But all he found was some spare change.

“Do you want some money, Kagero-chan?” he asked, holding out a few 10-yen coins.

“Coins! Yay!” Kagero exclaimed, jumping up and down and holding out her hands. James poured the coins into them.

“Okay,” Kagero said, after closely examining each one. “I guess I can take you to the exit.”

“That’s great! Thanks, Kagero-chan!” James said with all the enthusiasm he could muster. She seemed to accept it at face value.

“You’d better hold my hand,” Kagero said, “Or you’ll get lost.”

James agreed, and they set off. Kagero led him back the way he had come, passing straight through an intersection. Then she doubled back and led him through it again.

“Did you forget the way out?” James asked gently.

“No!” Kagero huffed. “The tunnels change when you go through the crossroads.”

“What?”

“I’ll show you! We have to go back this way, anyway.” With one hand, Kagero pulled a candy out of her sleeve and unwrapped it. Popping the candy in her mouth, she dropped the wrapper on the ground.

James almost laughed at the irony of her having candy while he didn’t, but he let her lead him back into the intersection a third time.

“See?” she said, pointing back the way they came.

The candy wrapper was gone.

“Thats…” James stared at the empty flagstone. “So I never had a chance of finding my way out?”

“Of cwourse nwot!” Kagero said, still chewing on her candy. “It wouwdn’t be mwuch of a mwaze if you could!”

Kagero tapped her nose. “You’ff got to smwell the way!” she declared. Her mood seemed to have improved a great deal since she ate the candy. Swallowing it, she continued.

“The tunnels look alike, but they smell different. So you just have to  go down the tunnel that smells like the exit.”

Her face dropped when she mentioned the exit, but James had focused on another word.

Tunnels? Are we underground?

He looked up at the ceiling for the first time. There were wooden beams that could support either a roof or a tunnel ceiling, he supposed. Oil lanterns were hung up high, too many to be easily filled and maintained.

Or maybe not too many if he’d been walking up and down the same stretch of corridor all this time.

Kagero resumed leading him to the exit, taking him through the intersection for a third time, before leading him through a bewildering maze of corridors and intersections. Not once did James detect that the intersection had changed when he went through it.

Finally, she stopped at a section of corridor that looked just like the others.

“Here,” she said, pointing at the wall.

“Where?”

Kagero rolled her eyes and pushed at a section of stone. It fell back easily, and a small section of the wall slid aside. The dark tunnel it revealed was about three feet high. Kagero could walk through it, but James would be crawling.

“Is there a taller exit?”

“No,” Kagero said scornfully, like he was the idiot.

“I can’t imagine the older priestesses crawling on their knees when they come here.”

“They don’t come down here,” Kagero said. “They get us kids to do the cleaning.”

That… tracked. Harue had often complained about the chores back home.

“Fine. Do you want to go before me, or after?”

“After,” Kagero replied quickly.

“You can’t hold my hand if you’re behind,” James pointed out.

“I don’t need to hold your hand! I’m not scared!”

“Sure, sure,” James said, bending down to look at the tunnel. Darkness. He could use his smartphone to light the way, but that seemed like it would result in the battery running out at a dramatic moment.

He took his sword necklace out from under his shirt. It had started glowing right at the start of all this, so could he make it…

He could. Green light shone out, lighting the tunnel in jade.

“Let’s go, then,” he said, starting to crawl. He heard Kagero follow behind him.

It started easy enough, but James noticed that the tunnel was getting narrower.

“Am I going to fit through the end?”

“Um, probably. You’re pretty fat.”

“Charming.”

Suddenly, Kagero gave a yelp.

“It’s coming!”

“What is?”

“The scary thing! Let me go first!” She started trying to push past him, tangling his legs.

“Wait! Stop—let me!” James said, but Kagero ignored him, squirming past with frantic wiggling.

“Run faster!” she called out when she was past him. James couldn’t keep up with her, but she stopped when she got to the edge of the light he was putting out.

Then he heard a scraping sound behind him.

“What?”

James tried to turn around, but it wasn’t easy. Fear almost made him summon his armour, but while it had no weight, it did have bulk. He’d get stuck for sure.

He managed it somehow and was vaguely aware of Kagero approaching again as the light he was shining in that direction diminished. He thought about the light getting brighter, and it did.

What it revealed… was teeth. A great gaping maw that filled the tunnel so perfectly that its teeth were all that James could see. There were rows and rows of them leading into its gullet.

Kagero screamed from behind him.

“There’s another one!”

James tried to look behind him, but he couldn’t see much without turning around again. That would mean turning his back on this monster, and he didn’t want to do that.

Kagero was screaming and hanging on to him. He thought about summoning his sword, but not only was she hanging onto his sword arm, but he didn’t have room to swing it.

The scraping sound grew louder, and it was coming from both sides now. James tried to find a position that could defend from both directions, but it was impossible. He—

—He was falling.

The light around him was so much brighter that it blinded him for the brief duration of the fall. He fell into a pool of water with a mighty splash.

The water was hot?

It wasn’t very deep either, just enough to break his fall. He struggled to the surface, only to hear—

“Ara, ara, what am I to do? A young man has fallen into my bathtub.”

James froze and took stock of his surroundings. He found his feet and rose out of the bathing pool, dripping with water.

The—no, not the most beautiful, James would hold Suki in that position no matter what, no matter—sexiest woman that James had ever seen was standing before him with a mischievous smile on her face.

Her hair was long and lustrous, golden with red and orange highlights. It ran down past her shoulders—James tried not to look, but his eyes betrayed him—down to her slim, curved waist. The rest of her figure was almost ridiculously exaggerated, but somehow managed to look perfectly natural and unbearably attractive.

She wore a thin robe that barely managed to hold her assets in check. James was desperately trying not to look, but he had the feeling that he couldn’t see anything he shouldn’t.

His imagination was writing a dissertation, though.

The only thing it was safe for James to look at was her ears. They were beautiful and long, much larger than Harue’s fox-ears. They were decorated with sparkly hanging earrings and looked adorable.

Behind her, her tails fanned out, soft and fluffy and luxurious. James didn’t look closely enough to count—that was too close to the dangerous parts of her body—but nine seemed like a good estimate.

“I’m sorry, Kuzahana Kaede-sama.” There was only one person this could be, after all. “I did not mean to intrude and—what the hell am I saying, you arranged for all this to happen!”

Peals of delighted laughter echoed through the room.

“Could have been worse,” a voice from below James said. He looked down to see Kagero floating on her back. “She could have dropped you into her bed.”

Kaede tsked with annoyance at the little fox and made a gesture with one hand. To James’s astonishment, Kagero turned into fire. Blue and red flickering flames swirled up from where she had been floating. The flames got sucked up into a stream, which thinned as it flowed towards Kaede’s hand until it was thin enough to wrap around her finger.

As James watched, the flames swirled around and formed a ring, first of fire and then of metal. Kaede smiled and paused for a moment to admire her new golden ring, encrusted with small sapphires and rubies.

“So… she wasn’t even real?” James asked, but even as he said the words, he felt some doubt. Was turning into flames and then a ring something Harue could do? He couldn’t rule it out.

“That would be a fascinating discussion for philosophers, James-chan,” Kaede said. “Just the question of what you meant by ‘real’ could occupy them for days.”

She smiled and licked her luscious red lips. Looking at her delicate mouth was dangerous, but not as perilous as looking at her sparkling green eyes. They had depths to them that drew James in, and…

He shook his head, fighting off the effect. Smiling at his obvious discomfort, Kaede kept talking.

“You might have meant, was she a solid creature, made of flesh and blood like you are. By now, though, I hope you’ve learned that things aren’t so cut and dried in the world of spirits. Spirits can be more or less solid, more or less flesh. Real can become not just a matter of opinion, but a matter of mood.”

Kaede was blocking, or should he say commanding, the steps leading out of the pool. But the pool wasn’t that deep, nor were the sides that high. James took a few steps back and lifted himself out of the water, putting the bath between him and the fox spirit. She watched on with amusement.

“You might have meant to ask if she was a real person, with hopes and fears and dreams of her own, but again I have to say it isn’t that simple. I know that Harue has told you that even rocks have feelings, so why can’t an illusion?”

She beckoned him closer. James didn’t want to go, but there wasn’t anywhere else for him to run. The exit was behind her. He walked warily along the edge of the pool, clothes still dripping on the stone floor.

“So I’m afraid I’ll have to leave that question for the philosophers to discuss and argue over,” Kaede said. “And I’d invite you to consider a different, more immediate question. Why don’t we get you out of those wet clothes?”