A Fox's Maid (26 page)

“
I’m sorry… sir…”

Coach Deretaine studied him like one might study a frog on a dissection table. Kevin blinked as his sweaty bangs fell over his eyes.

“
You look tired. Is there something going on that I should know about?”

“
No, sir,” Kevin shook his head, straightening up. Now that he’d gotten his second wind, he felt a little better. “I just haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”

“
Insomnia?”

“
Um, I suppose.”

Truth be told, he’d been up all last night thinking about his conversation with Kotohime. He still had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that he was going to be the most important person in Lilian’s life, not just right now, but ever. Being told that he was such a central figure to someone was, well, he would like to say it was overwhelming, but that felt like a gross understatement.

It didn’t help that his feelings for Lilian were still conflicted. There was a part of him that wanted to accept her love and return it, but he didn’t know if he could actually do that. Kotohime had said that he was the most important person Lilian would ever have in her life. Could he offer that same level of devotion?

“…
Swift…”

Kevin honestly didn’t know. Every time he thought about going with his feelings, he remembered Lindsay. He had thought he’d been in love with her, but when he’d confessed and been shot down, he’d barely felt a thing. The stinging pain he thought he would feel had been a mere pinprick.

“…
listen… me…”

What if his feelings for Lilian were like that? He couldn’t accept her feelings if his own weren’t as strong as hers. That would only hurt her.

“
Swift… Kev… Swift…”

Even the small conversation with his mom hadn’t helped. She didn’t know that Lilian wasn’t human, which was part of Kevin’s biggest dilemma. Unfortunately, he couldn’t very well tell his mother that Lilian was a kitsune.

“
Swift… listen… me…”

He could just imagine how a conversation like that would play out.

“
Hey, Mom! You remember how I told you that Lilian was deeply in love with me and wanted to marry me? Well, I kind of lied. You see, Lilian is actually a kitsune. You know, those fox people from my anime and manga? So, anyway, she’s a kitsune, and she wants me to be her mate and, well, since I’m her first, that means I would be the most important person in the entire world to her. That’s why I’m having such a hard time figuring out my feelings, you see?”

“…
Kevin, have you been drinking cactus juice again?”

“
I’m being serious here! Wait. What are you doing, Mom?”

“
Calling the psychiatric ward. Hello? Yes, I’d like you to fix my son. It seems he’s come down with a bad case of
Chūnibyō
.”

Kevin shook his head. Not a good idea. There was absolutely no way he could tell his mom that. He didn’t want her to think he was crazy, or on drugs, or crazy
and on drugs. That would just be unpleasant.

“
Kevin Swift! Listen to me when I’m talking to you!”

Kevin jumped and nearly fell on his backside when someone shouted in his face. He caught himself at the last second, and looked up to see the person shouting at him.

Coach Deretaine stared down at him. Was that concern in his coach’s eyes? Nah, couldn’t be. It was probably constipation or something.

“
You really are out of it, aren’t you?” Kevin opened his mouth, but Coach Deretaine spoke before he could say anything. “Take the rest of the day off, Swift. It’s clear to me that you’re not at your best. Go home, get some sleep, and when you come back tomorrow, you had better be at one-hundred percent. Am I clear?”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Good. Now get the hell out of here.”

As Coach Deretaine walked away, Kevin sighed and rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb. They were extremely sore.

It’s because I stayed up all night.

Curse that Kotohime for exacerbating his problems even more! As if dealing with Lilian’s feelings for him, while trying to figure out his feelings for her, wasn’t hard enough.

“
Hey, Swift!”

Kevin nearly groaned when his rival walked up to him. “What do you want, Chase?”

Chase clicked his tongue at the bored response. “The hell’s wrong with you today?”

“
Nothing.”

The expression Chase gave him just screamed “I don’t believe a damn word you just said.”

“
Whatever, Swift.” The sarcasm in his voice was so thick that calling it sarcasm didn’t do it justice. “There’s obviously something bugging you. You look like someone ate you up and shit you back out.”

“
Gee, thanks.”

“
You’re welcome. But seriously, you look awful. Get some rest. It’s no fun running against you when I have such a blatant advantage.”

“…
Right…”

Too tired to even retort, Kevin ambled off the field. He tossed a wave at Alex and Andrew, who were practicing their relay―oh, no. Wait. They were fighting again. Great. Eric wasn’t visible at the moment, but Kevin assumed that was just because the depraved high schooler was busy peeping on a girl or something.

“
What the hell do you think you’re doing Corromperre?! Stop trying to grope your fellow runners and get back to work!”

“
NO! Come back my delicious grade-A ass!”

Kevin watched Coach Deretaine chase Eric across the field. Meanwhile, Eric chased one of the girls on their team across the field, his hands making those pervy grasping motions again, like he was already imagining fondling that poor girl’s butt.

Must. Not. Facepalm.

“
Kevin!”

Kevin looked up to see Lilian and Kotohime approaching him from the bleachers, the redhead moving at a light trot while the older kitsune languished back, taking her time.

“
Lilian.” Kevin did his best to ignore the mixed surge of warmth and guilt pulsing through his veins at the sight of her. He only had a marginal amount of success.

“
Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Lilian’s eyes shifted from joyful to concerned. “I know you said you were alright this morning, but you looked really tired out there, and you drank nearly six cups of coffee this morning. I thought you didn’t drink coffee.”

“
I don’t drink coffee, at least not usually.” He tried to brush off her concerns. “Anyway, I’m fine. You really don’t need to worry about me.” When he saw that Lilian still looked worried, he gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster. “Thank you for being so concerned, though. I appreciate it.”

Lilian scrutinized his face, but decided not to argue, accepting his words at face value. Kevin felt like he’d just stabbed himself in the heart with a knife straight from the forge.

I’m such a jerk. Here I am, lying to the girl who loves me more than anyone else, and she accepts what I’m telling her just like that. I really don’t deserve her, do I?

“
Well, if you’re sure.” Lilian perked up a second later. “Anyway, here. You look like you could use a drink.”

Lilian handed Kevin a bottle of water, and he ignored the jolt that shot through him when their hands made contact.

“
Thank you.”

As Kevin took a quick drink, Kotohime placed a hand on Lilian’s shoulder.

“
You’re always so thoughtful, Lilian-sama. Your mate really is lucky to have someone as amazing as you. Why, you're like every boy’s dream girl; kind and caring and thoughtful and so very beautiful. I don’t know a single male who wouldn’t want to be your boyfriend.”

While Lilian beamed at her maid-slash-bodyguard, Kevin twitched. That was totally a jab at him, wasn’t it?

“
Thanks,” Lilian said, “but I don’t really care about any other men. The only person who matters to me is Kevin.”

Now it was Kotohime’s turn to twitch. Her smile became fixed.

“
Indeed. Your dedication and loyalty to your mate is truly inspiring, Lilian-sama.”

A loud crash echoed from somewhere behind the bleachers. Lilian and Kevin looked at each other before rushing over to see what had caused such a ruckus, Kotohime trailing after them at a more sedate pace.

The scene they found was a familiar one. Eric Corrompere was laid out on the ground, his face planted into the pavement. The ground around his head was cratered, and several cracks had spread out from the center of impact. The giant baseball sized lump on his head was coated with a thin layer of ice.

“
Christine,” Kevin greeted the snow maiden cautiously. The cute girl clad in gothic lolita clothing looked rather livid at the moment, and he really didn’t want to get on her bad side, especially when she got like this.

“
Kevin,” Christine grunted, retracting the almighty fist she’d used to bash Eric’s head in, “you really should keep your friend on a tighter leash.”

“
What do I look like, Eric’s keeper? I don’t have any control over what that idiot does.” When Christine glared at him, Kevin nearly squealed and retracted his previous statement. “B-but I will certainly keep that in mind and do my best to stop him from bothering you.” That seemed to satisfy the girl, so he relaxed. “I’m guessing Eric did something perverted again?”

“
Yes,” Christine growled. Kevin and Lilian took a slow step back at the sight of the girl’s eyes freezing over, turning into two thick glaciers of icy blue. The air around them became cold, freezing even. Their breath came out in thick streams of mist. When they looked down, they saw the cement beginning to freeze over as hoarfrost crept along the surface, icy lines of pure white that spread out like the writhing, amorphous tentacles of Yog-Sothoth.

“
Uh, Christine?” Kevin spoke up hesitantly. He almost squeaked when Christine’s icy cold eyes glared at him.

“
What?”

“
N-nothing… it’s just… your powers…”

Kevin’s words seemed to have a powerful calming effect on the girl. Taking a deep breath, the yuki-onna visibly settled down. The hoarfrost receded, the temperature started to rise, and the mist stopped coming out of their mouths, which was good because it meant that they no longer looked like a trio of chain smokers.

“
Okay,” Christine said, breathing out a deep sigh, “I feel better now.”

“
Uh… huh…”

Kevin looked at her skeptically. For some reason, he didn’t believe her.

“
Uuuugggg…”

Eric just groaned—he wouldn’t be feeling better for a long, long time.

***

Kevin, Lilian, Christine, Kotohime and a broken, bleeding Eric strode across the school grounds toward the parking lot.

“
Eric, why are you following us?”

“
What do you mean, why am I following you? What kind of best friend asks something like that?”

Pressing the palm of his hand against his face, Kevin had a difficult time keeping a sigh from escaping his lips.

“
I might have been let out early because I’m not in the best of shape right now, but Coach Deretaine did not give you permission to leave. What do you think he’s going to do when he realizes you’re no longer practicing?”

When Eric didn’t respond, the group turned to see the lecherous and lanky student staring off into the distance, a look of wide-eyed horror etched on his normally pervy features.

Kevin deadpanned.

“
You completely forgot about track, didn’t you?”

“
NNNnnooo-aaahhh!!”

The three youngsters plus one kimono-clad female watched as Eric disappeared into the distance, a large cloud of dust trailing in his wake.

A strong wind blew through the clearing. Kevin could hear a few crickets chirping, and a crow in the distance was cawing in a most annoying manner.

Christine managed to sum up everyone’s thoughts rather succinctly.

“
What an idiot.”

***

After Eric ran off, the group continued moving--unfortunately, they bumped into someone annoying before they could get too far.

“
Ah! My lovely,
dulce la flor
―”

“
Stop calling me flour!”

“―
How are you doing this fine day?”

Kevin wondered what kind of bad karma he must have incurred to have a run-in with this idiot. Wasn’t school supposed to be closed? It was, so what the heck was someone who wasn’t part of the track team doing here?

“
I would be doing much better if you stopped stalking me like some kind of creeper.” Lilian didn’t seem too thrilled about seeing the idiot, either. In fact, she looked even more annoyed than Kevin.