How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster (7 page)
Read How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster Online
Authors: M.C Queen
Tags: #love, #horror, #humor, #fantasy, #hot, #teen, #free, #monsters, #guys, #free download
“
Wow! This is awesome, the paper just caught fire by itself.
Where can you buy this stuff?” I asked.
interrogate Mana about the magic paper, but her eyes were wide and
her mouth was open in awe.
“
Daisuke, that's amazing,” she said.
“
Really?” I asked. Her sudden awe was puzzling, and I thought
that maybe I could have unintentionally used the power of my mind
to make it burn. I attempted the same thing to the grass near my
feet but there was no result.
Before I knew it Taisei
was also leaning over my
shoulder. “Hey Daisuke, are you sure you've never done any training
to be an exorcist before?”
“
No,” I said.
“
That's odd, normally it doesn't do that unless you know what
you're doing. Especially not to normal people. Are you sure you're
not related to the Matsumotos?” He stared at me sceptically. “But
you don't look like the pictures of the other Daisuke.”
ecstatic.“Does this mean that I also have amazing exorcist
powers?”
“
Maybe,” said Taisei. “Or Mana made a mistake when she was
writing the charms, we once had a batch that constantly let off
smoke.”
“
Hey! My calligraphy is perfect,” protested Mana.
“
Hey! Hey! Do you think that you could teach me some cool
exorcists tricks, like that thing were you send out a giant
lightning bolt?” I asked naively.
“
Ha!” Laughed Kiyori. “That's a good one.”
“
I don't know,” said Taisei “things didn't end well with the
last guy who begged us to join. We thought it would be fun to teach
him how to be an exorcist, but we spent a week cleaning him up off
the pavement. The worst part was breaking it to his
parents.”
with my mouth open in horror, and I would have never guessed that
Taisei was messing with me until Mana began punching him in the
arm.
“
Stop making up stories,” she said. “You're full of it! You're
always moaning about how you wish there were more of us out here.
”
“
Hey!” He said while fending off her assault. “We have to talk
to Akito, it's not up to me!”
“
But it wouldn't hurt to have another person right?” She
asked.
“
Mana,” I said with my eyes wide open in admiration. Too bad
that vouching for me only led to her lying in a pool of her own
blood.
“
He'll probably just get in our way,” muttered
Itsuki.
“
You aren't serious are you Mana?” Asked Kurumi. “Since when
do they let guys like this in?”
“
But he's the adopted son of Kousuke Matsumoto so that must
count for something. If we train him up, he might turn out to be
pretty good. It wouldn't be bad to have a guy called Daisuke
Matsumoto on our side, right guys?”
the others. I don't know if she expected them to cheer in support
but they just stared at her blankly. Souta opened his mouth, and
looked like he was going to say something encouraging, before a
glare from Kiyori silenced him. I sighed and returned to helping
Mana pack so that no one would see my face turning red. I thought
that was going to be the end of my exorcist career, but it was only
the beginning.
Chapter 7
this Akito guy?”
The place known as headquarters was a Shinto shine located on
a mountain outside of town. It appeared to have been remodeled
several times, and was a mix of an old Japanese house with modern
extensions (such as a kitchen and bathroom) protruding out in all
directions. There was a long verandah, a small Japanese garden, an
archery range at the back, and another field which was used for
training. There was also a large rock which I
named
the rock
of death,
but
I'll tell you more about it later.
It wasn't far from the place
where I watched them take down the raccoon. The path was littered
with crumbling statues, and there was even a large worn out shrine
gate. I thought it was a cool location until I realized one painful
thing.
Stairs
. My exasperated mind began to
count them as we began the never ending assent.
O
ne hundred and one, one hundred and two,
one hundred and three, one hundred and four.
great dismay) walked beside me like he was floating on air. “Akito
is kind of like our babysitter, he's the one who's been assigned to
look over our training,” he said with his high pitched voice which
I was slowly becoming accustomed to.
“
What's he like?” I asked.
“
He's pretty anal about stuff,” said
Kiyori. “Like curfew and training, but other than that he's pretty
slack. He's not a scary guy, so I don't think there's anything to
worry about. He might agree to let you
join,
maybe
.”
“
I wouldn't give your hopes up,” said Taisei.
pretty harsh thing to say, and it sounded like something that would
come out of Itsuki's mouth. “Hey!” I protested.
“
Well look at it this way,” Taisei explained. “How many
exorcists began training when they were fifteen years old. I'm not
trying to be mean, I'm only laying down the facts.”
“
But what about Nina's brother?” Asked Mana.
“
That was different,” said Taisei. “He already did some
training when he was younger, so it was easier for him to pick
things up. Right Nina?” He turned to Nina who was hobbling up
the stairs below us. Her leg may have survived the raccoon attack,
but it still looked painful to walk on.
Nina was off in her own world (she did this sometimes) and
didn't hear him. She had her head down, and was
glaring at the steps below her
with unnatural concentration.
“
Hey Nina!” Yelled Taisei in an attempt to get her
attention.
snapped back to reality and stared up at us blankly. “I'm sorry,
did you say something?”
“
What do you think Nina?” Asked Taisei while pointing at me.
“Do you think this guy can make it as an exorcist?”
at me but didn't say anything. I could tell from the look on her
face that she didn't have high expectations, but was too polite to
say so. Maybe she was thinking of how I spent the entire battle
clinging to Mana.
I swore under
my breath and turned my attention back to the giant assent before
me. The end was finally in sight, but I prayed that I wasn't
killing myself on those stairs only to have my hopes crushed when I
reached the top.
As I
explained to you at the beginning, Akito was the guy who would
become my teacher, and then attempt to kill me once the fox monster
had us cornered. I'm still not certain if he's trying to prevent me
from running, or if he intends to do the deed himself, but either
way, he's not my favorite person right now. Things would have been
a lot simpler if I had given up and turned around that afternoon,
but I continued to put one foot in front of the other until I found
myself walking through the threshold of headquarters.
Just as
Kiyori said, Akito didn't appear to be a scary guy (he never seemed
like a scary guy until he made the decision to back-stab me). He
was a few years older than Sis, with cropped black hair and a few
wrinkles around the eyes. He didn't look happy to see, but he
didn't look angry either. He politely guided me into the main room,
sat their patiently, and listened to the story of why I desired to
be an exorcist.
“
I see, so you're Kousuke Matsumoto's adopted son,” Akito
nodded. “It's been a few years since I've seen anyone from the
Matsumoto family here.”
brought out a bunch of paper charms, and made me set them on fire,
much like I'd done a few hours ago. He raised an eyebrow in
surprise, but other than that his face didn't give much emotion
away. The whole meeting went rather well, and I would have never
suspected that he intended to give me up as fox food.
“
You seem to show quite a bit of potential,” said Akito. “So
I'm willing to let you undergo training if you promise to abide by
the rules, and do everything you're told.”
agreed to everything, even though I was busy daydreaming about
Obake and no longer listening. I was just over joyed that Akito had
agreed to take me on without a fight. I thought becoming an
exorcist was hard, but it suddenly seemed like a walk in the park.
Or so I thought.
to the principal so if anyone as school asked, I was now
volunteering for community service. I decided to try out my new
privileges by arriving at class ten minutes late. As expected my
homeroom teacher frowned but didn't say anything.
“
Dude
, what
was that? He didn't scold you at all,” hissed Keira as I took my
seat.
hands behind my head and leaned back in my chair. “Community
service,” I said with a wink.
“
What community service?! I was told there weren't any spaces
left.”
“
Sorry,” I said. “They were short one person, and our homeroom
teacher thought it would be a good way for me to atone for all my
sleeping in class.”
To tell the truth, my homeroom teacher wasn't happy about my
sudden induction into the community service club. He said that I
was now academically doomed, and my chances of getting into a good
university
were slim.
for lying to Keira. He seemed like the sort of guy who'd get a kick
out of spoon feeding elderly people.
“
Sorry,” I said. “I'll tell you if there are any
openings.”
“
OK,” he nodded.
class was physical education. P.E was my favorite subject because
it didn't have homework. All the girls left to change in a
different room, leaving the rest of us guys to put on our gym
clothes in the classroom. Keira used this opportunity to start
telling me about the girl he liked. Her name was Ami, or Aki, or
something starting with A. I didn't pay much attention to our
fellow classmates, so I couldn't remember her face.
“
Do you think I should ask her?” He whispered so only I could
hear. “But I don't know if she'd like a guy like me. What if I tell
her, and then she spends the rest of high school avoiding me?” He
asked.
“
Just do it man, if you leave things the way they are, nothing
will ever change,” I advised.
initial expectations Keira was a pretty cool guy. We ate lunch
together everyday (fortunately there was no repeat of the Hello
Kitty incident) and he lived close to my house. I knew he wasn't an
exorcist, but I was also trying to show Mana that I was a popular
guy with loads of friends. Keira was a good friend who never
screwed me over (unlike a certain someone) so I hope he doesn't get
too upset once I'm dead. He was always pretty nerdy, so I'm not
sure if he's capable of making new friends, and I'd hate for him to
spend the rest of high school as a loner.
I pulled off
my shirt and searched my bag for my gym clothes. Keira was
contemplating all the terrible things that could happen if his
confession failed, when he suddenly yelled “what the hell happened
to your back!”
I stretched and attempted to see what was there (like a post
it note saying
kick me
) when I realized he was
talking about my scars.
There was a spider web of
scarring that extended from below my neck to my lower back. It
looked like I was attacked, or impaled by glass, or got into a car
accident, or one of the hundred different ways that people get
hurt. Because it's my own back I couldn't see them, so I often
forgot they were there. It wasn't until I took off my shirt and
people began freaking out, that I suddenly remembered my old
injury.
me that it was probably a wound from the same accident which killed
my parents.
A few of the
other guys were also looking over due to Keira's outburst.
“
Wow that's nasty dude,” said one student.
“
Were you in a gang during middle school?!” Yelled a guy from
the back.
pulled out my gym shirt and slid it on. “I was in an accident as a
kid,” I muttered.
“
An accident? It looks like someone took a knife and attempted
to carve your back up,” said Keira.
“
Maybe,” for all I knew he could be right.
that Itsuki was also staring, but when our eyes met he quickly
looked away.
We played
basketball for gym class. I wasn't particularly good at sports, but
I wasn't bad either. To me Itsuki seemed like a die hard nerd, so I
expected him to be bad at basketball. Against my expectations he
was quite athletic (it was probably all the exorcist training) and
almost fell to the ground laughing when the ball hit me in the
face. I was disappointed. Just once I wanted to see him struggle at
something so that I could point and laugh.
Chapter
8
out, becoming an exorcist wasn't as exciting as I expected. Akito
said that I was nowhere near ready to face a real Obake, so I would
have to spend some time studying about different monsters and
learning simple skills. If I had known I was going to die soon, I
wouldn't have tried so hard.
