22 Fan Service!

Back at the Drifting Clinic, Akira, Mako and Reira were sitting at the doctor's desk and Tennouji was look at them with a profound smile.

Yotsuba and Nanase were at a side preparing the necessary tools for the tattooing.

Akira squinted his eyes at Tennouji. He somehow had a feeling that the three of them were played by this sly doctor.

"Sensei, I think you owe us an explanation," said Akira.

"Of course, I uphold the principle of staying honest to my patient." The smile on Tennouji widened and it makes him look like a cunning fox.

"What do you want to know?" Tennouji asked.

"What is with that lady back there? She's trying to kill us because of you? And what is this 'wife' that you are talking about? Isn't Nanase-san a soul, how can you marry a soul? Are you even human?"

A barrage of questions came from Akira as he raised a brow at the doctor.

Tennouji was patient enough, he replied with a faint smile, "I might have decided to be honest with you but you are not required to know that much. Firstly, let me explain about the wife, or wives, as I put it. I have seven wives, including Nanase here, who is new to the family."

Nanase was stunned for a second before she turned around embarrassed. She panicked and turned back around to prepare the medical instruments.

"The term wife is actually just a name to describe the relationship. It's more of a symbiotic relationship between me and the girls. I help them, they help me, it's a win-win situation. Besides, the society promised me to never touch them as long as I vow to protect them, so what else is better than making them my 'wives'."

"I helped them complete their final wishes or clear any regrets that are left but eventually, they decided to stay by me and help as much as they can. I supposed you've already met Yotsuba, Fumino and Ichika right? There are three more of them out of town to do something for me, so you will get to meet them if you have the chance."

"Sensei, the preparation is done." said Yotsuba.

"Well then, we don't have all night. You can ask questions along the way. Ladies first."

Tennouji stood up and walked over to the medical bed.

Nanase then handed him a tattoo gun that looked a little special. At the tip of the tattoo gun was no ordinary needle and the ink that the gun used was not black ink either.

After exchanging gazes, Mako was the first to walk over. She sat on the bed and extended her right hand but before Tennouji could start, she asked, "Sensei, what is this glowing needle?"

"This is the Needle of Life, it is my special 'tool' that I used for the soul tattoo process. The ink I uses isn't normal ink either, it is actually high intensity spiritual energy. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all." Tennouji assured Mako with a smile.

"Oh, I've noticed you have a pair of shikigami right? I'll add something for you to better communicate with them."

Tennouji noticed the pair of shikigami foxes during the initial inspection.

Mako nodded with a delighted smile and the process started.

The needle glowed bright silver when it was activated, but instead of etching the high intensity spiritual energy on the skin, Tennouji started to draw above her hand instead.

Magically, the silver high intensity spiritual energy was painted in the air without touching any surface.

Tennouji tattooed the kanji character 'Shin' for Mako as it was her name. After the drawing was done, the floating kanji character attached itself onto the back of Mako's hand and disappeared after a second or two.

"All done. A soul tattoo isn't something visible to the naked eyes, it will only appear when you use your spiritual energy."

Mako stroke the back of her left hand with the other, it felt strangely comfortable. "Thank you, sensei."

"Do test out the little gift from me, you may find it easier to communicate with your shikigami." Tennouji smiled.

Reira was next. The tattoo she got was the kanji character of 'Rei', meaning zero. Tennouji also gifted her with a little boost in her attacking speed.

When Reira clenched her fist, a spark of electricity ran through her hand and she grinned happily.

"Thank you, sensei, can't wait to try this out." She winked at Tennouji and went back.

"Lastly, Akira, you are up." Tennouji looked at Akira with a meaningful gaze.

The meaningful gaze did not go away even after Akira was sitting on the medical bed and extended his hand.

"Sensei?" Akira asked awkwardly, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, no. I'm just thinking about something else. Let's start shall we?"

The smile on Tennouji remained as he tattooed Akira's hand.

However, unlike the previous with Mako and Reira, the process took a lot longer and the needle on the tattoo gun even produced an unusual buzz.

"Don't worry, Akira, it's normal for people who have strong spiritual power." Tennouji assured.

The process was finally over after 15 minutes. The word that Tennouji tattooed on Akira was the kanji character 'Ten', which was the first word of his name, meaning sky or heaven.

When Akira clenched his fist, the word on the back of his hand glowed brightly with floating spiritual particles around it.

Akira happily jumped up and went over and held his Bladestaff.

He held it tightly with his right hand, where his tattoo was, and with a single thought, his Bladestaff disintegrated into spiritual energy particles and went into his glowing tattoo.

His tattoo then faded, as if nothing was on his hand, Akira touched the back of his hand with astonishment.

"Sensei, this is great! Thanks a lot! Did you give me anything extra?" Akira turned around with delight.

Mako and Reira also tested out with their weapons but instead of a white glow, their tattoos glowed in orange and yellow respectively.

"Nothing, special gifts are for girls only, otherwise I would have hired men to work for me."

Tennouji handed his tattoo gun back to Yotsuba and went back to his desk.

"What kind of answer is that…" Akira rendered speechless by the answer.

"Anyway, I still haven't thank you for running that errand for me. Here, have some candies."

Tennouji took some candies out from his drawer and pushed them to Akira.

Akira blinked several times before he took the candies with reluctance.

He put one in his mouth and said, "You could have just tell us though, that lady… your wife? She's scary."

Tennouji chuckled, "You are not the first to say that, but try not to let her know that."

The grin on his face widened.

Akira reluctantly grabbed the candies, gave them to Mako and Reira before he stuffed one in his mouth.

The sweetness expelled his doubts right away. He told himself that it was not his business and he should not be asking too many questions. As for the fact that the doctor played them, nothing actually happened to them so…

The three of them stood up and prepared to leave. They bowed at doctor and his nurses before the head to the exit.

As the door slid open, the person that stood behind frightened them.

It was Ichika! The lady Yoma who tried to kill them earlier!

Akira was so frightened that he swallowed his candy. Mako and Reira were cautious, they clenched their fists and were prepared to fight.

They anticipated a fight or at least a fierce, unfriendly gaze but what they welcomed was a laugh that sounded happy.

"Calm down children, I'm not going to eat you."

Ichika had changed into a doctor's robe with casual clothes inside. Her extravagant headdresses and pins were also removed, leaving her with a long black ponytail without bangs. There was also a pair of round glasses on her, making her look more quiet than fierce.

She smiled as she walked past Akira and the girls.

The three of them turned around in confusion. They were unable to grasp the change of emotion in Ichika.

Ichika leaned on Tennouji's desk and said, "Don't worry, I am not your enemy, I'm just mad at this guy here not telling me that he is accepting another girl to our expanding family."

She turned around and knocked Tennouji on the head with her fist.

Tennouji bitterly smiled as he scratched his head.

Ichika gestured at Nanase, who was bedazzled when Ichika showed, to go over.

She put her hands on Nanase's shoulder while facing Akira and the girls, she said, "Please look after our newest member, Nanase. Do contact her if you need a doctor's meeting."

"Nanase, would you be so kind as to see them to the exit? I'm afraid that Ai might drop them off at some place strange again." Ichika smiled.

"Y-Yes." Nanase nervously bowed at the three of them before she too headed to the exit.

Akira and the girls were still confused but had lowered their guards down. They bowed at Tennouji once more before they were escorted out by Nanase.

After the door slid shut, Yotsuba also bowed and disappeared, leaving Ichika and Tennouji alone.

Tennouji looked at Ichika with an infatuated gaze and remained quiet for a while before he said, "It's great to have you back. The past few days is hell for me."

"If you don't want me to do that again, you better be honest with me… what is with that boy?" Ichika referred to Akira as she sat down, crossed her arms and looked at her 'husband'.

"Oh you've noticed?"

"I sensed something unusual when I tried to strangle him but I can't tell exactly what it is."

"I guess it can't be helped, he is the son of Kaguya and grandson of Shinzo anyway, nothing surprises me anymore when the two of them mentioned."

"Interesting. The long lost son of Kaguya? How does that old man pull it off?"

Tennouji shrugged with his arms open, he added, "I guess we will have to wait and see."

******

The morning sun was bright and warm, fitting for the end of summer.

After a strange but productive night, Akira, Mako and Reira decided to head to the beach to catch the tail of summer.

Since it was a Sunday, Mayuri accepted Akira's invitation and joined them at the train station.

The downside of staying in the city was they had to travel far away to reach the beach.

Yuigahama Beach in Kamakura City was less than 2 hours away from Tokyo by train.

There were still quite a number of people at the beach trying to enjoy the last of summer, so it was rather crowded.

Akira managed to get a spot and set up a beach umbrella.

Several beach sheets were laid under the umbrella and boxes of food and drinks were placed on top.

Akira, wearing a loose sleeveless hoodie and shorts, sat down and grabbed a drink after all the preparation.

Mako, Reira and Mayuri then came back after they changed into their swimsuits.

Mako wore an orange bikini with frills on top plus a scarf tied around her waist.

Reira, on the other hand, wore a bolder one: a set of expensive black bikini with extra straps around her chest and waist, perfectly tied around her voluptuous body. With a beige sun hat and sunglasses, she looked like some rich young lady and would turn heads wherever she walked.

Lastly, Mayuri wore a simple blue bikini but she wore a large T-shirt outside to cover most of her body.

"Reira-neesan, you sure are rich being a wandering exorcist." Akira said with a puzzled look on his face.

"Exorcist assignments pay well sometimes, and it's good to have savings, boy." Reira sat down and grabbed a piece of sandwich.

The four of them sat back and relaxed, joked and chatted about many things while having the food they brought.

It has been a while since Mako had a day off, both from her duties at the shrine and duties of an exorcist. It was Akira's suggestion to bring everyone to the beach, he did not expect Mako to agree at first but with Reira on Akira's side, Mako took it as a day off.

She actually wanted to stay behind to train with her shikigami but even her grandfather, Samuro, told her to get some rest for she was a workaholic.

It seemed like Mako had made the right choice, the time spent by the beach was really fun and she could finally relax after some busy days.

They played in the water, took pictures and even built a sand castle. Akira even bought everyone kakigori, meaning shaved ice, after they came up from the water.

After finishing their kakigori, Mako and Reira decided to go search for more food at the stalls nearby, leaving Akira with Mayuri under the beach umbrella.

Drying her hair with a towel, Mayuri looked at Akira who was drinking water.

"You look happier than usual today. Anything good happen?" she asked.

"I'm not surprised that you can tell! I got something last night and I'm still very about it. I can't tell you what it is, you know it's related to… that kind of 'stuff'." Akira whispered the last part of his sentence. What he was referring to was the tattoo that he got from Tennouji, it did put a smile on his face.

"Hmmm?" Mayuri moved closer to Akira with squinted eyes, she was a little bit curious but since she remembered Akira told her to better not get involved, she changed her saying, "Is it a new girlfriend?"

Akira immediately waved his hand repeatedly with a bitter smile on his face, "No way, hahaha who would like me? I'm a boring person, I work at the shrine and stay indoors most of the time."

Mayuri bashfully looked away, and whispered to herself, "I do…"

"Yes?" Akira asked.

"N-Nothing!" It was Mayuri's turn to wave her hands repeatedly as she awkwardly laughed.

The conversation continued and the topic eventually extended to their friend Taka.

It was not long ago that their teacher died and Taka was the most affected one. Akira could not help but wonder how Taka was doing.

Mayuri assured him that Taka must be doing good, she knew Taka must have gotten the courage from his best friend and learned to live life to the fullest instead of dwelling in a sorrowful past.

The conversation then further extended to Maryuri's side, she revealed that her family's construction business is getting better, so she would have less free time in the future.

It was the awkward stage in her life where she officially transitions from a young adult to a working adult.

It was hard to find a balance between work and personal life and it has been a social problem throughout the entire Japan for many years.

Akira offered to bring her out whenever she had time and it made her happier.

Mako and Reira came back with more food like takoyaki, okonomiyaki, sushi and some other stuff.

While they were heading back, several boys tried to flirt with Reira and asked her out.

There were around six of them versus the two girls.

Mayuri noticed that in the midst of the talk and looked at Akira, she was worried that something might happen to them but Akira assured her with a smile and pointed back at them.

A faint grin appeared on Reira as she passed Mako the food. She clapped her hands lightly and a spark of electricity appeared in between, she looked at the boys and said, "Why not I take all of you out instead?"

In a blink of an eye, Mayuri saw all six of the boys had fallen down with their face in the sand.

Reira was clapping the sparks off her hands and said, "Guess you guys are not my type."

"Let's go Mako."

Mako reacted normally, like it was not the first time.

Mayuri was surprised and a strange sense of admiration showed from her gaze.

She asked Reira what happened after the two of them came back.

Reira simply said she taught them a lesson for being impolite and even offered to teach Mayuri if she wanted to learn some self-defense techniques.

Akira cut in and claimed that he would protect Mayuri from bullies, just like the old days.

Mayuri blushed while the other two girls laughed at Akira for being silly.

The group continued eating in laughters and spent the rest of the day by the beach.

Akira thought he could finally get away from all the exorcist responsibility for a while and had the most fun, he was not being irresponsible but he was just a little too playful and always behaved wrongly at the wrong time.

Though unbeknownst to him and the girls, someone was actually following them even though they were quite far away from the city.

Behind a little beach hut further away from the four of them, a person scrunched a photo and put it into his pocket. The person took a last glance at Akira before he disappeared into the shadow.

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