The head priestess of the Hamamatsu Hachiman shrine lounged on her ceremonial divan. Lying on her side allowed her nine tails to fan out comfortably behind her, forming an artful backdrop of golden, fluffy fur. Elegantly pointed fox ears rose from the top of her head, occasionally flicking lazily as she took note of every small sound that was made in her office in the outer shrine.

  Those small sounds included the unmistakable sounds of the love-making going on in the inner shrine. The god was in fine form today. The sanctum had been soundproofed as much as possible, but fox ears were keen, and foxes had never been shy about enjoying themselves.

  Kaede was alluring beyond human notions of beauty. Nature, artifice and magic all colluded towards a single purpose— ensnaring men. Ordinary mortals had been driven mad, and more than one god had been made a fool of themselves while seeking her favour.

  None of that was necessary today. The silk robe, patterned and sheer, that clung to her voluptuous curves, was held closed. Depending on her mood, it could be artfully dropped, just slightly, to reveal a thin slice of enticing flesh. Or it could be held tight, hugging her body as tightly as an eager suitor, reminding the viewer of just what it concealed.

  Not today, though. Today, she was only speaking with her subordinate priestesses. The censers had been switched from the normal potent aphrodisiacs to a simple blend of cinnamon bark and agarwood. Even the long-stemmed pipe that dangled from her hand held only the faintest trace of opium, for relaxation. She needed something to take the edge off when dealing with her younger relatives.

  “Pranks are one thing, Haru-chan, but little Aya was lost in the forest for three hours, more than long enough for her mother to be concerned”

  “Yes, Eldest Sister.” There was an art to keeping one’s words and tone properly respectful while still sounding like a put-upon teenager. Harue had mastered it earlier than most. She had to admire the girl's skill, even as one of her ears flicked in irritation.

  “Distraught mothers complain, child. Yet another issue I will have to deal with at the next town meeting.”

  “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused Eldest Sister,” Harue said, still kneeling with her face down. Both of them knew that, in truth, Kaede had the town elders eating out of her hand. Literally, on occasion, when they had been very good and she had been very drunk. She rarely bothered to attend the meetings in person, sending a shikigami emissary instead. She would not be at all bothered by the fallout from Harue’s prank. Truth, however, had no place within these walls.

  “Your punishment will be cleaning the outer temple floors tomorrow and the next day,” Kaede decreed. Harue’s orange-furred ears perked up. Normally, an infraction of that magnitude would have her cleaning floors for the whole week. Something was up.

  Punishment for infractions was how chores were normally assigned at the shrine. Foxes were a feckless and shifty lot and didn’t work well with assigned schedules and rosters. Punishment was something that they at least understood. They also hated, avoided and did their best to evade it, but in the end, the Eldest Sister was better at this game than they were.

  In theory, a younger fox could avoid being assigned any work, just by behaving. Harue had managed it once. The envious glares she had received from her cousins made the reward seem worth the effort. The beating she had received from her elder sisters, upset at having to pick up her slack, had taught her that there was such a thing as too good.

  “You are correct,” the High Priestess said, noting the slight twitch. “I do have something else in mind for you.”

  She paused, as a full-throated cry of ecstasy rang out from the inner shrine. Hikari, from the sound of it, which meant that she had swapped out with Sakura again. She was going to have to find out what Sakura thought she was getting away with this time.

  A person might have thought that lazing about the shrine, having every need attended to by your younger sisters, would be the perfect job for a lazy fox. The occasional bouts of passionate coupling with a paragon of masculinity would only add to the allure. That person would know nothing about foxes.

  It wasn’t that they disliked any aspect of the lives they lived here. Foxes were just contrary creatures, right down to the bone. Give them cream and they’d ask for gravy. Whatever they had, they wanted more. Or something different. Or they’d never wanted what they asked for in the first place.

  Harue didn’t react to the screams, not even with an ear twitch. She was well aware of what went on in the inner shrine. Foxes were not shy, and it was an impossible task to keep a fox from poking her nose in where it didn’t belong. Harue had known about the details of intercourse long before her first day of school. Now that day had led to some complaints. So many that she actually had to deal with them in person. Still, the children were going to have to learn about that at some point.

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  “I’ve decided to send you to boarding school for the rest of your education,” she explained. “Aramara Academy. Your wedding is coming up, so I thought you should have a chance to see the world before committing yourself.”

  Harue considered Kaede’s words carefully. Most of what she said was nonsense. Harue was prepared to believe that there was an Aramara academy and that she would be going there. But her marriage to the god was still three years away. That might be considered imminent to someone of Eldest Sister’s ag—experience. But the High Priestess had never before suggested that there was any requirement for this role, other than the ability to lie on your back.

  Harue felt differently. She did want to get out and see the world, so there was only one possible response.

  “Eldest Sister is most generous to this unworthy shrine-maiden.”

  “I suppose so,” Kaede agreed.

  “Does Eldest Sister have any… instructions for this one to follow while she is there?”

  “No,” Kaede said idly, “Not at this time. Just stay in touch, we will miss you when you’re gone, Haru-chan. Oh, you’ll need a phone, of course.”

  Harue’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t look up to contradict Eldest Sister. She was a student in a modern-day Japanese middle school. Of course, she had a phone.

  Kaede made a beckoning gesture, and a lesser fox spirit crept out of the High Priestess’s desk and leapt into her hand. This was not one of Harue’s sisters. Lesser spirits tended to gather around their greater kin. Barely capable of thought, they made useful tools for a fox that could control them. Harue was hoping to gain the ability when she got her third tail.

  Now Kaede focused on the small spirit sitting on her palm. It appeared as a glowing spot of light— if you looked closely, you could see a tiny fox within. Kaede concentrated for a moment and then clapped her hands together. When she brought them apart, the light had changed into the familiar oblong of a smartphone, wrapped up in a cute fox-themed case.

  “There, this should be a significant upgrade,” she said, smugly.

  Harue clapped and smiled, looking up for the first time so that Eldest Sister could see how grateful she was.

  “Thank you, Eldest Sister!” she said brightly. It was a significant upgrade, after all. A magical smartphone didn’t need to worry about signal or batteries. It could do a lot of things that a regular smartphone couldn’t, and it could do them without Harue having to bother with poking a glass screen.

  The only downside was that it was Eldest Sister’s creature, not Harue’s. That wasn’t something she could complain about, though, because she didn’t have anything that she wanted to keep from Eldest Sister. Not at all.

  “Feed it your existing contacts and files,” Kaede suggested, handing the phone over.

  Harue’s smile didn’t waver as she brought out her most treasured possession and placed it on top of her new phone.

  Someone unfamiliar with spirits would have been startled. The blank, black front of the phone turned into a gaping mouth that expanded a little to let the other phone fall into it. Then it chomped closed. There was a crunching sound before the fox phone returned to looking like a phone.

  Harue didn’t need to check to know that all the information on her old phone had been transferred to the new. The old phone would never be seen again.

  Harue tucked the phone away and resumed her previous pose, kneeling with her face to the ground. “Thank you again, Eldest Sister,” she said.

  “It’s nothing,” Kaede said. “Just make sure you stay in touch. As for instructions, no. You should use this time to learn and grow. Make friends.”

  The slightest of smirks twisted her gorgeous lips. “Perhaps you can make some progress on losing that virginity that’s been troubling you.”

  Harue’s face contorted into a snarl. But she kept her face down, so it was fine. Kaede could pretend she didn’t notice.

  “Is that allowed then?” Harue said, keeping her voice calm. “After what they did with Akira, I thought…”

  “Oh, child, you can’t put a juicy morsel like that in front of your sisters and not expect them to eat it up.”

  “I didn’t bring him within five miles of this place,” Harue muttered. “I didn’t know that having his scent on me made him a free target for my sisters.”

  “Well, live and learn,” Kaede said philosophically.

  “He couldn’t look me in the eye, afterwards,” Harue said bitterly. “He was thirteen.”

  “Old enough, from what I heard at the time,” Kaede said. “He had an experience that he’ll remember fondly for the rest of his life. Some girl will no doubt feel grateful for what he learned that day.”

  “That’s if he can ever look at a mortal girl again.”

  “If he can’t, then he’ll be another valuable customer, once he’s old enough to have an income.”

  Harue took a deep breath and let her anger flow out of her. The meditation exercises that were a part of her shrine maiden training weren’t a requirement for any of her official duties, but they sure came in handy for dealing with her family.

  “As you say, Eldest Sister,” she said calmly. “So to be clear, I have your permission?”

  Kaede laughed, a warm and rich chuckle. “You do not, child. That’s never stopped you before, though, nor has it ever stopped anyone from this family. Make the most of your time away is all I will say. That… and you should learn a little about Aramara Academy before you go. Hikari should be free in about an hour; she can fill you in.”

  Harue frowned, but she again kept her face down. “As you wish, Eldest Sister. May I go now?”

  “Yes, yes,” Kaede waved her dismissal. “Those floors aren’t going to clean themselves.”

  Harue backed away and made herself scarce, sending in the next miscreant to be disciplined.

  Kaede wondered if she was doing the right thing. Self-doubt was a rare emotion for her, but things had already drifted so far away from the unchanging status quo that was her preferred state of affairs. This was the logical counter to Hachiman-sama’s foolish notions, but… Both the Black Dragons and the Golden Dawn were stirring, calling in old debts. For one of hers to be exposed at this time was… dangerous.

  Well. Time would tell, and she would be ready when it did. Time for those ancient brotherhoods to learn… a fox never honoured her debts.

  They were, every last one of them, a feckless and shifty bunch, after all.