Spirit mask

"First things first, we need to get you an outfit, the one you wore at the stadium is good enough, but I'm assuming people will recognise it?" Ayame wanted to get the easy stuff out of the way before they accidentally leave it to the last minute.

"Hmm, it isn't a signature outfit of mine and that time in the stadium was the first time I wore it. The only people that would recognise me are my father's guards and himself. However, I doubt we are dealing with anyone in my father's close circle so it should be fine." Kasumi doubted a lowly gang would be a part of her father's organisation so there wasn't much to worry about.

"Hmm you will be surprised at how well-connected the gangs are, they are pretty much the private police but for criminals." Ayame was already seeing things that Kasumi would need to change. Training is one thing, but knowing how each group or type of person works is integral to how they should be treated.

"I guess… It's only the mask that would be recognised, but where would we get a new one?" Kasumi took a second to think about what Ayame said and came to the conclusion it would be safer to just get a new one. She was going on a genuine mission, so every precaution should be taken.

"Don't worry, there is a kitsune spell I can teach you which will give you your spirit mask." Ayame smirked as it felt nice being in charge as lately, it felt like Kasumi has been the one with all the power.

"Ohh?" Kasumi became intrigued by this spell and wondered why she had never learnt it since a mask is always useful.

"I will warn you, it will show your true nature as a person or your future self, so if you're uncomfortable with that then we can get a cheap one from a store." Ayame didn't want to force it upon Kasumi as it may reveal some gruelling information.

However, what Ayame said was a half-truth, it doesn't accurately tell someone's true nature and was more as if the masks were constellations that define the kind of person you are. You can choose to believe it, but nowadays the culture of mask reading has disappeared.

'Of course, there is a catch.' Kasumi hearing that it will show her true personality made her worried, but not that she had anything to hide. It was what Ayame will think especially if she can read what the spirit mask will say about Kasumi's personality.

"... I'll do it." Kasumi in the end decided to go through with it as surely it isn't as deep as she is thinking. The mask may be from the gods, but to define them all by a mask seemed rather absurd unless they controlled the strings of fate.

"Alright, let me draw the circle for you… Oh yeah the spare room, let's use that." Ayame was about to move some tables, but then she remembered there was an empty room that could easily be used.

"Sounds good." Kasumi didn't mind as she had no plans for the room anyway, so using it for practice wasn't a bad idea.

*

Walking into the empty room, Ayame kneeled down in the middle drawing the circle. The format was different to how Kasumi did hers, but it was similar enough that it wasn't hard to remember.

"That's some pretty complex runes." Kasumi noticed the writing on the rim which she could hardly read. Even though she was much stronger than Ayame, it seemed that what she lacked in strength was knowledge of runes.

"Oh these? I studied them for over a year and now I can read anything that a 7 tailed kitsune can. However, my strength is only that of a 3 tailed one, but I'm slowly getting there." Ayame was a little embarrassed since you usually learn runes as you get stronger, but because she was an assassin it was necessary to have the ability to read a spell. It was a very high chance she will encounter kitsune much stronger, so knowing the spell before it even casts allows her to counter.

Tomoe made sure that Ayame had this skill rather than fight since Tomoe believed that if you first understood the enemy then no matter the amount of tails a kitsune has you can win. It also applied to humans as many easily have the power to kill a kitsune.

" I can always help you get stronger, although I only have 4 tails, Im close to getting my 5th though." Kasumi was impressed with Ayame's knowledge but also felt that she should be stronger, especially in this kind of field.

"Haha I would like that, but right now I'm the teacher." Ayame hearing the other caused her tail to wag, but it would have to wait.

"Heh." Kasumi chuckled to herself seeing the tail wag, but she tried not to make her laugh obvious since it was indeed Ayame's turn to be in charge.

"The spell should be ready, so stand in the middle and focus your mana into the circle." Ayame finished writing the last rune and backed away.

Kasumi followed Ayame's instructions which then caused the circle to glow a bright purple. Soon the light rose from the ground creating beams that surround Kasumi. Soon the beams of light broke from the circle and spun around her until they suddenly shot towards her face.

Kasumi flinched but quickly realised they weren't doing anything other than making her face warm. However, suddenly a physical material began to form covering the top half of her face. A black and purple kitsune mask formed with a rather unique pattern that Ayame has never seen before.

The light of the circle faded and the spirit mask was finished forming. Kasumi's purple eyes glowed through the mask giving off a rather intimidating aura.

"Cool mask you got there." Ayame was a little envious as she wanted a black one as well, but she was stuck with a white one.

"Can I take it off like a normal mask now or will it disappear?" Kasumi wasn't sure if the mask was a real physical object now as conjuration spells like these don't last long without a source of mana.

"You can take it off for as long as you want, you can actually resummon it if you ever lose or break it." Ayame understood the scepticism, but it was quite funny to watch Kasumi treat the mask like a treasured item that she shouldn't be touching.

"Oh okay." Kasumi then took off the mask to see what it looked like and to her surprise, it looked really good. Although she preferred her whole face to be covered it was acceptable.

"So… What does it say about me?" Kasumi was really curious about how the mask represented her and wanted Ayame's analysis.

"Let me have a look." Ayame needed to have a closer look since the pattern is what contained the different traits of a person.

Kasumi passed the mask over and Ayame closely examined the purple lines.

"Interesting, looking at it as a whole it shows a purple flame which means you have a burning desire and that you are extremely faithful. The purple itself shows some kind of nobility which makes sense and the sharpness of the lines represents intelligence or cleverness." Ayame thought out loud as she decoded more information about the mask. Not many people knew how to read it, but because she studied runes so much she ended up learning a lot of symbols and meanings behind certain attributes.

"That's good." Kasumi was relieved to hear everything about her mask was positive, but there was a tiny bit of doubt that there was something bad.

"However, this black… is the purest black mask I've seen, usually it's more grey than black, but it's like looking into the abyss. My best guess is that something deep within is waiting or it's just pure evil. Not to say you are pure evil now, but something will cause a change making you do something." Ayame became worried as the masks were from the gods and they most likely know more about Kasumi than she knows herself.

'No, it's all just made-up stuff.' Ayame knew she shouldn't believe in the readings, but the back of her mind was still holding on to that belief.

"W-what?" Kasumi hearing it became anxious because she had no intentions of the sort, yet the mask indicates such a thing. She was also unaware of the fact that the readings were made up by people centuries ago, so she fully believed there was truth within Ayame's words.

"Don't worry too much about it, the colour usually is either white or black depending on the colour of your tail rather than actually have meaning. I barely have seen any other masks, so I do not know how common it is nowadays since the books I read are old." Ayame saw the stress on Kasumi's face, so she tried to make it didn't sound all bad since realistically her readings can be equivalent to a fortune teller's.

"Alright…" Kasumi felt better about her mask, but it still plagued her mind that something terrible might happen. Knowing her it is very possible that her father does something to ruin her life causing Kasumi to spiral.

"So do I just use mana to dismiss the mask?" Kasumi wanted to get the mask out of her sight as she needed to calm down from all the dark thoughts that invaded her mind.

"Mhm, just will it away and the mask shall go. Want it back, just think about it and it will appear." Ayame quickly did it with her mask which looked rather cool as an orange flame appeared materialising the mask.

"I usually use a fake one since I don't want people reading my mask if I encounter another kitsune, but it's up to you." Ayame to some degree was paranoid since it was a very niche thing that people can tell who you are by the mask, but it was still a worry.

"I'll see…" Kasumi most likely would get a fake one as she was self-conscious about it especially if the pure black base colour meant evil. However, she wanted to give it some more thought as Ayame's words were not 100% so it could mean nothing.

"We should move on now to actual techniques and handy spells." Ayame handed back the mask while also moving on to get Kasumi's mind off the mask.