"Lovely day for a walk, isn't it?" said the stranger with silver-blue hair in a short A-line cut. She was wearing an oversized puffy silver coat, and her bare legs looked very small beneath it. She was smiling, but there was no joy in her expression.

The taller woman who stood behind her stayed quiet. She looked older and far more fashionable in her swishy green skirt, layered autumn-colored sweaters, and a grey knit cap that covered most of her cinnamon brown hair. Both women were standing on the dirt trail, arms full of shopping bags.

Akari smiled and stepped toward them. "Yes, the weather's gr—"

Seshi grabbed Akari by the back of the collar and pulled her back beneath the chilly shadow cast by the bridge overhead. "Stay behind me," she hissed. "They aren't what they seem."

Inu, still limited to her dog form while outside shrine grounds, continued barking at the strangers. She could smell them now, and their scent was strange and complex. Fragrant food and perfume were the strongest components, but there was an animal scent hidden beneath, including that of the wild deer that she'd been smelling all around this area.

Seshi held a hand out to shush Inu. Seshi was taking her role as leader on this mission very seriously. When the barking stopped, she addressed the strangers. "You stole from my followers." Her voice was level, but far from calm.

"Oh no oh no," the taller woman muttered, wide brown eyes flicking about frantically. She was visibly panicked now, bouncing from foot to foot as if the ground was too hot to touch. The more she lost her composure, the more her illusion faded, revealing long furry ears that stuck straight out from the sides of her head. They were deer ears: white fluff surrounded by fur the same cinnamon color as her hair.

"Nezumi…" she whined. "You said there weren't any active gods in this city…"

"There aren't," the one called Nezumi answered. She nodded toward Seshi. "She's just a spirit, the same as us. And the other girl is a human priestess. They're from that Shinto idol group."

"Just a spirit," Seshi said, a grin widening across her face. "Did you hear that, Akari?"

"Huh? I guess so." Akari was feeling nearly as scared as that deer girl. She had no idea what to expect from cornered spirits, since she hadn't been present when Inara captured Neko all those weeks ago.

Laughing, Seshi strode forward. "I'll show you what I really am."

Her black-furred ears reappeared first, emerging from her hair like blades from an extendable razor. Then her tail materialized, long and sleek and forked low near the base. Both ends stuck up into the air, tips twitching as she stalked her prey. Akari was used to seeing Seshi like this, but it didn't stop there.

Seshi's eyes got larger and even more catlike, their emerald green color growing deeper and more vivid until they were literally glowing in the low light beneath the bridge. Her fingernails grew longer, curving to savage points like cat claws. Her illusionary clothing fell away like melting snow until she was completely naked, then new clothes coalesced around her: a wispy black kimono, made of sheer silk and loose around the shoulders, covering almost nothing.

Akari didn't understand why Seshi had changed into such a revealing outfit, but she definitely didn't mind the view. The thin cloth made Seshi's figure look particularly amazing as she crossed into the warm sunlight.

"A nekomata. Shit. Shitshitshit." Nezumi took a step back, now just as nervous as her deer friend. Her own illusion crumbled, revealing large round mouse ears on top of her head. "Shika, we need to run."

The deer-girl named Shika was very ready to flee, but she couldn't move: a strange vine with silver leaves was tangled around her lower half, wrapping her green skirt tight to the slender legs beneath. Unbalanced, she fell to the ground and landed hard on her butt. "Too late," she said, pouting.

Seshi continued her approach. "Thanks for living near so much wild silver vine. That stuff is good for more than getting cats high."

"Seshi, don't hurt them," Akari blurted, chasing Seshi a few paces out from the shadows.

"Seshi?" The mouse spirit swallowed hard and took another step back. "Your name isn't Neko?" She must have remembered the name from the festival performance she had watched from the rafters while Shika pilfered the shops.

Grinning from ear to ear, Seshi answered, "That's right. I've been named. Unlike you, little mouse."

Nezumi dropped her shopping bags to the ground and reached into one of her coat's many pockets. She grabbed something large, but before she could get her hand back out with it, Akari spoke.

"She's got a remote in her pocket, and it looks like it controls a flying drone. It will emerge from a vent in the wall behind us."

"What the?!" Nezumi almost dropped the remote in surprise.

Akari's eyelids flickered as she used her foresight. She was getting better with practice, and the intense situation was actually helping her focus. She continued, "And she'll get very upset if you break the drone. She calls it 'Emily'."

"Oh really?" Seshi flashed Akari a thankful smile, then fixed Nezumi with a sinister glare. "How about you leave your toy out of this, and I won't have to break it?"

Nezumi pulled her empty hand from her pocket and jumped back to dodge a vine that was attempting to wrap around her ankle, but she didn't run away. She whispered something to Shika, too quiet for even Inu to hear from that distance, then Nezumi's body seemed to disappear. For an instant, her coat floated in the air above her empty shoes, then the whole outfit fell to the ground. Behind that, a small spotted deer was trying to untangle itself from another pile of clothing: the outfit that Shika had been wearing.

Without needing to be asked, Inu leapt into action. She bolted up the trail and tackled the deer to the dusty earth before it could get free. Inu was slightly bigger than Shika and much stronger, because her human body's physical fitness translated to her dog form as well. The little deer kept struggling and scrambling to escape until Inu placed her jaws around her throat and started to press down.

"I yield, I yield!" Shika cried, literal tears trailing from her big round eyes.

Seshi scanned the scene but the mouse was nowhere to be seen. She could have easily escaped into the underbrush or a storm drain, and then even Inu wouldn't be able to track her.

"Very well." Seshi shrugged and her kimono slid a little further off her shoulder. Somehow, the slip only made her look even more in control, even more menacing. She stalked closer, claws raised. "We'll just hold onto this deer until the mouse surrenders herself," she announced loudly.

"No need," came a tiny voice from right next to Inu. A small white and tan mouse was sitting on top of a fallen shoe. "I never left. I would never leave Shika behind."

Akari said, "Aww, that's nice of you."

"You know what would also be nice?" Seshi asked, looming over the frightened animal spirits. "A little tea party, with just the five of us. Would you please invite us inside your home?" Her words were polite, but her tone was anything but. It wasn't a request. It was a demand.

"The key is in my left front jacket pocket," Nezumi said. Then she planted her little mouse feet and bravely faced the unusual dog that had her friend. "Can you please let go of her throat? She won't run. Right, Shika?"

"R-right. I promise I won't run." With how much Shika was shaking in fear, her four wobbly legs wouldn't have been able to carry her anyway.

Inu let go of her throat, but stayed close while Seshi rummaged in Nezumi's jacket for the key.

"Ahh, so that's how you hid your ears," Seshi said with a giggle. "You were wearing a couple dozen charms under that silly coat, using their power to boost your illusion. I prefer altering my form directly instead of illusions." It was a boast, a reminder of just how much more powerful she was than her foes.

Seshi stood up with a small silver key in her hand and started toward the door in the concrete wall. She asked Akari, "Can you grab all their stuff? Don't want some jogger thinking they discovered a murder scene."

"Sure thing." Akari made sure to gather up their shopping bags as well, though it would take two trips to get it all.

Seshi put the key in the lock and it turned smoothly. She opened the door to the repurposed maintenance room, but didn't enter it yet. She gestured inside and said, "It would be rude to enter before our gracious hosts."

The room was small and cluttered, with salvaged scraps of carpet covering the bare concrete floor. A few wall hangings, mostly anime wall-scrolls and posters advertising video games, adorned the plain grey walls. A single futon mattress and a dozen mismatched pillows filled one corner of the room, taking up nearly a quarter of the floor space. Clothes of all sorts filled most of the remaining area.

The only other significant feature in the room was a computer desk with a high-end gaming chair in front of it. Aside from a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, the desk's surface was covered in tools and partially disassembled technology, including a dozen cell phones and several drone propellers.

"Let's skip the bullshit," Seshi started. She was leaning against the steel door that was the room's only known exit, and she was back in a casual jogging outfit. She hadn't bothered to hide her ears and tail. "You stole money and charms from the festival. Were you working with anyone else?"

The little deer shook her head emphatically. "No, it's just us. It's always been just us." She and the mouse were huddled together in the middle of the mattress, looking very small compared to their human-sized 'guests'.

Akari raised a hand. "Can I ask why you did it?"

Seshi sighed. "This isn't the time for 'good cop, bad cop'. Let me handle this."

"But I need to know if they had a good reason. If they really needed the charms, then maybe I can forgive them."

Rolling her eyes, Seshi said, "What did I just say? Stop playing good cop, Akari."

Akari mimed zipping her lips closed. Seshi had been the one tasked by Inara with this mission, so Akari would follow her orders. To occupy herself, she went to check on Inu, who had been sniffing around the cluttered room for evidence. She crouched next to the dog and whispered, "Find anything?"

"Yeah," Inu croaked back, sounding very much like a dog trying to bark at whisper volume. Her ability to control her voice while in animal form was far weaker than Nezumi and Shika's. Inu pointed her nose at a black duffel bag and said, "That's filled with the remaining cash and charms. And I bet everything else in here is stolen too."

"She can talk!" gasped Shika, after overhearing their whispering. Despite her serious fear of Seshi, Shika was easily distracted and hadn't been paying much attention to the ongoing interrogation.

Inu huffed and turned away, pretending to continue her search. She felt helpless, unable to take a human form outside of her home shrine, while these criminals could even hide their ears and blend in among the public well enough to go shopping. Not that Inu wanted to go shopping, but it was out of her reach nonetheless.

Apparently that power is thanks to all the stolen Omamori charms, Inu thought.

While everyone else was focused on Seshi and Nezumi, who were now arguing about how to possibly return so much stolen property, Inu sniffed out a small pile of charms and slipped her nose through their strings. Once she was wearing five around her neck, she tried to transform.

Normally, back within the sanctified shrine grounds, the transformation process was easy and instant. This time, her goal felt frustratingly out of reach, like a word on the tip of her tongue that she just couldn't think of no matter how hard she tried. She added another two charms and tried again, and this time the transformation came easily. There was a puff of smoke and a low WUMPH.

Everyone turned at the sound. The blonde dog had been replaced by a blonde woman with the same ears and tail as before. And other than seven little talismans around her neck, she was completely naked.

"Inu? What are you doing?" Akari asked, trying not to stare at her friend's nudity.

"Damn, she's hot," said Nezumi, her beady eyes openly scanning up and down Inu's firm and fit body. Inu had the figure of an athlete who trained for function rather than aesthetics: toned and angular, yet soft in just the right places.

Seshi grabbed Nezumi by one ear and lifted the mouse into the air, hissing, "Eyes on me, thief."

Blushing red from chest to ears and covering what she could with her hands, Inu said, "Sorry. I was testing something."

She lifted the charms up and over her head, then dropped them back on the pile. As soon as they left her fingers, she reverted to her dog form, unable to maintain the transformation.

Inu could still feel a bit of spiritual power just from being in the same room as so many charms, but it wasn't enough of a boost unless they were touching her body. Apparently the mouse and deer could take human form as long as they were within the charm-filled room, and they could even hide their lingering animal features if they wore the charms directly.

And of course Seshi could do both without any help. That's just how much stronger she was.

I should get stronger too, Inu thought, if only to better serve Inara. Inu had never seriously considered trying to ascend to superior spirit because she'd never seen the need. But now she understood how weak she was, even compared to other major spirits…

She wanted to be stronger. She wanted to be more useful to Inara, wanted to be the one the Goddess went to first, not an afterthought brought along for her nose. And there was a path to that goal, the same one that Seshi was walking. It would take an astronomical amount of work, especially since she was starting off so far behind, but Inu had never shied away from hard work.

I'm not there yet, but maybe I should reuse 'Michi' as my name. Akari went through so much trouble to find it for me, after all.

"We admit fault and agree to return every stolen thing that is possible to return," the two rogue spirits said in unison. "We promise to stop stealing from the people of Shinjō, and we promise to pay the Mori-jinsha shrine back for the full value of the omamori charms we are being allowed to keep."

After nearly an hour of back-and-forth about the timeline on returning the stolen merchandise, the terms of their new debt to the Mori-jinsha shrine, and how spirits were even supposed to earn human money, Seshi and the two spirits had come to an agreement. They could even keep living in their underground maintenance room, since the local government had clearly forgotten about it.

"Finally! Was that really so damn hard?" Seshi huffed. Then she shrugged and smiled. "But since you're being so cooperative, I won't have to bring out the big guns."

Shika, still in deer form and curled around her mouse roommate, said, "Big guns? You aren't the big guns?"

"Nah, that'd be our Goddess," Seshi answered. "And believe me, it's best if she doesn't have to get involved. When I was causing trouble, she mopped the floor with me in about two seconds, and didn't even break a sweat."

"O-oh… Okay."

Akari crouched down next to the bed and gave the spirits a warm smile. "She's actually a very kind and wonderful woman. I hope you get to meet her someday."

"We'll take your word on that," Nezumi replied. "After today, I've had my fill of other spirits for a good long while."

Akari was still curious about these new acquaintances. "So how long have you two been living in Shinjō?"

Nezumi answered, "Only about six months. But we've been traveling together, what, 40 years?" She looked to Shika, expectantly.

Shika nodded. "Yep, that sounds right! I love my little Nezu, and always will!" She nuzzled the much smaller mouse with her nose.

Nezumi made a half-hearted attempt to push her away. "Not in front of the strangers…"

"They aren't strangers anymore! They're other spirits, and for once they aren't trying to eat us!"

Akari gaped. "Uh, what?"

Shika nodded somberly. "Normally, powerful major spirits try to eat weaker ones, since it's the quickest way to gain spiritual power. Nekomata in particular are well known for hunting smaller spirits and playing with them before consuming them." She smiled and added, "Seshi doesn't seem to be like that."

"At least not anymore," Nezumi muttered.

"Shut your trap," Seshi spat. Firmly shaking her head, she continued, "I've never eaten other spirits. I prefer my spiritual power to have a more… intimate flavor."

"Um," Shika started, rising to her hooves. Even with the added height from the mattress, she was barely over knee height. "Sorry for the change in topic, but can we have some privacy to return to our human forms and get dressed? I'm much more comfortable that way."

Seshi beckoned for Inu and Akari. "Yeah, yeah. Seeya in a week for your first progress check-in. And if you skip town, I will hunt you down, and I might just eat you after all."