Ep14: Acceptance

Virto woke up again to the sound of beeping from his watch. "Didn't I put you off?" Virto asked himself, groggily looking over at his watch. It was on snooze, going again since he set it to keep going off until he turned it completely off. He did that and sat up, barely remember going to a mailbox before falling back asleep in a nice, comfy bed. It was a real warm one too, unlike the floor in Isuka's library. Maybe he should ask her to poof one up for him.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He was wearing a white kimono, patterned with lily's and sunflowers drawn all over. The room he was in looked very different from his library, with a set of samurai armor on an armor rack in the corner, more clothing for someone else folded neatly in another. Lots of light came in through the wooden blinds, and there was a small, pillow-sized ball of tail fur that looked out of place in the entire bedroom.

He rolled off the bed, falling only foot or less onto the ground. "Watch, pull up my map," Virto said, running his hands along the screen of the watch. The blue, improved watch's screen came on, a blue hologram-like screen popping up in front of him. It showed a map of the area around his house, but then, the corner, completely disconnected from his home, was the map of the house layout he was in. He thought he had set the watch to keep gathering information as long as it could save his data, so what's with this giant gap?

He made a tiny drone appear in his hand, looking for an opening to let it out. He thought not to touch the windows, so he peeked out of the bedroom, looking for a way out of his room. There was no need to check for any footwear since his shoes seemed as missing as the rest of his original clothing. The drone silently idled on his palm as he walked through the hall, being careful not to make any thudding against the wooden flooring.

The house was like a maze, but like a friend that was given free rein to explore, he soon got a handle of the pathways he backtracked on. On his way, he passed some sound, music playing in the background while someone yelled at a volume to match it. He decided to take a peek, turning his drone into a mirror and holding it to see inside. He saw a Hinezumi and a busty, red hair and tailed inari doing a dance workout in the room. Skylights from through the roof illuminated them, both of them wearing yellow wrist and ankle bands. The fiery mouse looked to be falling behind, trying to mimic the inari. "Come on Ganan!" The inari said, going somewhere to pause the music, and coming back. "You will never be ready for the dance festival if you don't move your hips!"

The mouse panted, sweat falling on the floor from her forehead. "We have been...dancing...for an hour!" She felt her hips get poked, the inari massaging the sore ness out of it. "Otomi, what are you doing!?"

"Relax, just some rejuvenation!"

His curiosity now dead, he continued on, next ending up entering what seemed to be a garden. Now outside, he let his small drone fly up and do some cartography in air. He toured the garden while waiting, admiring the nice fruits and flowers that grew when he came across two people with cucumbers both over their eyes. They also wore kimonos as well, the right one looking a lot like Vargas but older, and less intense flames that decorated his ears and tails. The left had long hair that was mostly folded up in a bin, with a dark red dress that concealed everything but her white face. "Is that you masseuse?" She said, raising a hand. Virto froze, wondering if he was about to be caught.

"Our daughter must have brought us a new one. His aura feels different, doesn't it?" The man said. "Maybe one of Vargas' harem?"

"No dear, he said he would swear off having a harem. He's not one to simply go back so soon, so it must be…"

"Love? Also too soon for that. Maybe just another masseuse. Masseuse, if you could be so kind as to relax our shoulders for us…" They took off their kimonos without so much as sitting up, the father and mother both wearing swimwear underneath. "Please hurry, we plan to visit a waterfront lat- oh! You have such wonderful hands! Did Otomi spring for a better one?"

"She better not have used my savings to pay for it, but I don't have any qualms." The father sighed in relaxation.

"Must be tails. A native of our realm. Can you check honey, I want to know his face for future reference." The father lifted one cucumber off his eye, seeing no one there. There was a moving mass of blue nanites on his shoulders, and on his wife's as well when he looked. "Amaterasu, there is a weird moving mass on our shoulders. And the masseuse is not here."

"What?" She sat up and looked on her shoulders too, picking off the nanites and holding them in her hands. They stopped moving as soon as they were taken off, reduced to just a handful of metal pieces. "They smell human. You don't think…"

"But how could they sneak into the house? The only ones that bring humans are Otomi and…"

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"Vargas, where is that kidnapper…" Virto muttered under his breath, finding a washroom. There he saw his clothing, now squeaking clean. Someone was sitting in the corner, meticulously working on shining one of his shoes. Virto shined a light on the person, seeing Vargas slowly turn around, his ears perking up as he saw who had found him. "Ah, I thought it was my mother."

"Why are you….actually why am I here!?" Virto reasonably yelled. "You was asleep in the woods, and um….you stunk. I gave you a cleansing, didn't you smell yourself?" Vargas responded.

"No, of course I…." Virto paused to take a whiff of his armpits. They did smell like pine leaves… "...ok so maybe I was not able to bathe in days, but that doesn't mean you should kidnap someone!"

"I thought since we kissed, you would be ok with me cleaning your clothing as well."

"Kissed, what do you mean ki-" Vargas held up a group to Virto, Virto flipping through them quickly. In each he's making out with Vargas, most of them looking initiated by him. His sake-drunk self didn't seem to remember anything, the last picture being them kissing over a shared dream. Virto blushed, speechless as he stared at them. "No...I- that's impossible."

"Possible...I like you too Virto." Vargas blushed as he finished the shoe, picking up the shoes and his clothing and handing him back to him. "I was wondering...if you would...like to go o-" Virto punches him in the face, Vargas's tail not moving fast enough to block as it just grazes his cheek. "Hell no you did something to me! Why would I go out with some...some..."

"Please no violence!" Vargas said, leaping back when Virto tried hitting him again. "You won't win anyways, I have the clear mana advantage."

"Oh, who needs magic to beat up someone? I'll have you know I picked up a thing or two in Baltimore." Virto dropped his clothing to the side, readjusting his glasses as he put his two fists up towards the chest. "But all of us use mana here. It is how we live!" Vargas started explaining, dodging each of Virto's jabs as they pranced around. "Interesting! You're leaving so many spots for a counter yet you keep pressing on! I've never seen this technique be used before!"

"You've never heard of MMA, you should try it!" Virto exclaimed, side stepping behind Vargas before attempting to land a turning kick to Vargas's stomach. The inari leaped up, gracefully landing back down on a vase as undisturbed as ever. "You should not be able to stand on that without breaking it."

"It is all about how you stand on it, my love. You're technically right, but with the right balance and co-," Midway through another explanation, Virto through a punch at his leg, Vargas hopping off while tail-grabbing the vase to bring it from harm. He landed behind him, grabbing Virto by the chest while his tails sat the vase down to the side. "You are getting too rowdy! You almost broke a treasured heirloom!"

"Let me go you- mmph!" A tail stuffed itself inside Virto's mouth. "Please, just listen alright! I'm not going to let go until you calm down!" The scientist struggled for a bit longer, before tiredly gasping through the tail. "Good. Now I never did anything to you. I would never even want to harm a hair on you, or anyone! But why did you get so defensive when I showed you the pictures? It is like you have seen it for the first time."

"I have!" Virto said, spitting out the tail that had blocked off his sounds. "When did we do all those things? W-why did we do all those things, I barely even know you!"

"Well….I guess that's right."

"Yeah, I don't know how it works in your world, but most people don't kiss and get married after the first date." He shrugged off Vargas' bear hug, picking up his clothing and shoes. "So...you aren't coming back?"

"What do you think, of course not!" Virto said a-matter-of-factly, leaving the inari there as he left the room. Vargas sat on the floor, sighing as he listened to the footsteps of him walk away...then come back, fast.

"Huh?" Vargas said, looking up as Virto ran back and closed the door, nanites from his hand locking the door behind him. "You have forgiven me?"

"No, um….there are two people that look really fancy walking this way, um they are calling your name."

"Oh, it is probably just my sister and Ganan. What do they look like?"

"You, but older and a gal in a really poofy white and red dress with very long hair. Like, too long the floor." Vargas' felt his heart drop as he got to his feet and put an ear to the door. Sure enough, he heard his name being called, his chest skipping a beat. "Oh heavens that's my mom!"

"Vargas? Vaaargas, we think there is a human on our grounds…" The mother said, using her power to sense any beings in the vicinity. Besides two signatures moving around like their lives were at stake, there was her son's signature, coupled with a human one that paled in comparison. "Vargas, what have I said about bringing people here. You have to at least tell us so we don't curse them!"

"What the- curse??" Virto said. "Hey, I'm in just as much trouble as you. We need to hide you, and your scent." They both looked around frantically, settling on the clothing that was washed.

"Vargas!" The father said, the door flying wide open like there was no lock at all. His father and mother peered in, seeing Vargas posing beside an armor rack. "Didn't you hear me call you?" His mother asked. "Yes, but I...accidentally knocked this over."

"You did?"

"Yes, sorry I know these pieces are thousands of years old."

"Well they are, but where's the human?"

"Oh! Yes I offered to purify a follower's clothing, so…" He walked over to a basket, taking out Virto's lab coat. "It stunk for a bit, and his aura lingered about."

"Must have really stuck if it's still here."

"Oh it did! It was like smelling someone that had emerged from the pits of depravity! It was like retrieving something from the trash after you accidentally turned it in. It was like-"

"I-I get it. So I put on my garments for nothing…wait, do you know where this came from?" She held a drone in her hand, the light on it still beeping. "I will look into it," Vargas said, Amaterasu nodding and leaving. "It is alright if you wish to make a new harem you know. We wouldn't judge," the father said, closing back the door. Vargas opened it and watched them walk away, before closing it back and knocking on the armor. It disintegrated, Virto sliding down to the floor laughing. "Oh my god, you knocked over an armor?"

"What would your excuse have been exactly?" Vargas asked. "Nothing, but wow, how clumsy are your tails. And my lab coat…" he kept laughing, repeating various phrases of the word. He eventually got Vargas chuckling. "Yes, I guess insulting your lab coat is a bit funny…"

"Yeah, oh my sides. She cut you off so hard….anyways just uhh get me out of here so I can forget this entire place." Virto wiped a tear from his eye, picking up his clothing as Vargas took him back to his bedroom. Vargas waited outside for him to change, Virto handing him back his kimono once he was done. "Was it soft?"

"It was pretty breathable, yeah. So, how do you get back exactly?" Virto said, checking his map once more. It was near complete, saving some top and bottom portions when his drone was taken down. "You just need to go past the tree at the front gate. My magic should do the rest…" Virto nodded and started walking out, turning back to the inari one last time to wave before exiting the area. Vargas felt a bit more lonely now, but at least it wasn't before it had developed into something that would hurt more.

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It rained the next couple of days. He remembered Otomi asking someone to specifically have it rain outside the household, so "Vargas could really get the sad out of him." It was annoying, but at least it set the proper mood.

Eventually, one day, he had decided that he had enough. Virto was just one person that he would come across in his lifetime, and there were many other people he could go to ask to be the one. After eating with his family, he stepped into the garden, seeing someone waiting there. His green hair was folded up into a ponytail that went below his waist, and he wore a cap that covered his eyes, but for the most part he was dressed in the same manner. At first he had thought his eyes had deceived him, some yokai playing a prank on him. Nevertheless he went up to the illusion, the vision he saw rubbing his shoulders as Vargas went in front of him. "Virto?" he asked. He nodded. "But you said you weren't coming back…"

"I wanted to confirm your side of the pictures. It turns out they were hidden under Isuka's hat. She didn't want me to panic about being raped by a youko or something," He said.

"Do...you still want to go out with me?"

"No, but….we could start as friends." He took off his cap, jumping up into Vargas' arms. "Maybe see where it goes."

"Like in your world? But this carrying, is something that couples do."

"Yes, but it doesn't count. You are just a really nice bed to sleep on. Good night." The scientist fell asleep instantly, nuzzling his head into Vargas' chest. Vargas chuckled, carrying him back to his bedroom so they could sleep properly.