Three bottles of sake down and still only pleasantly buzzing, Lilith cursed the changes in both herself and her home. She swirled the dregs of her last cup and watched the crowds ebb and flow around her. She cursed the magic which kept conversations out of earshot and added scenarios to each booth based on what she saw. Still nothing. No excitement. No release. No drama.

The crash was exactly what she needed to hear. A thundering roll followed by a clatter; somebody, somewhere, spilt their drink in surprise. Pricking her ears and narrowing her eyes, Lilith rose from her seat and scanned the club for clues. What she saw filled her heart with gladness and sadness at the same time.

“Neko, you great oath, get over here!” She waved at her companion feverishly.

As he entered, the nekojin had been swift overwhelmed by the barrage on his senses. Everything he saw shattered his conservative world view. The people of Akashima had, according to he, come undone from their senses.

“What in the kami’s name is this place?” he seethed as he approached. It took him several minutes as he had to bow apologetically to everyone he passes.

“The best place in Akashima to blend in.” Lilith sat then corrected herself. “Unless you’re you.”

“I did not see the…whatever that was until it was too late.”

Lilith wished she had seen him go arse over tit. “Are you hurt?”

Neko pouted. He sat opposite and inspected the three empty sake bottles. “Not as much as your liver will be tomorrow.”

“You know full well I can drink gallons to get the same drunk you get from a thimble.” She did not wait for him to object. “Meiko, drinks on table twelve!”

In a heartbeat, a serving girl appeared by their booth and bowed. She beamed a smile from behind humble make-up and the tell-tale lesser dress of a geisha in training. She cleared away the empty bottles and appeared to vanish the dirty plates with a wave of her hand. Though not yet skilled in entertainment, Yoro’s staff were hired for other talents. Many had been spirit warders or shinobi before the war ended.

“Aki sends her regards, Kazumi-sama.”

“Yet hides in the kitchen rather than be fetched another compliment.”

The meiko smiled meekly. “You are too kind to her.”

“Aki?” Neko’s ears twitched. “She works here now?”

“I’ll tell you later, after this beauty tells me her name.”

“Nuri, of Clan Oshiro.”

“I knew your father, Nuri – a man wise as he was stubborn.”

“They say The White Fox was once a ninja.”

“They say many things about me. But tell me, Nuri-sama, what do you think of the Senate?” She smirked. “Of the senator.”

Nuri’s smiled faded into a dour grimace.

“It is not my place to spread rumours, Kazumi-sama.” She took the compliment better than Aki but still appeared uncomfortable. “I can however spread good cheer, if you would permit me to take your order?”

“Fine, fine, have it your way. Let us move on to something stronger than sake. As fine as Yoro’s is it doesn’t excite me.” She turned to Neko, the only person in the room who looked like he was about to die of embarrassment. “Ambrosia, perhaps?”

“That will be fine.” The nekojin appeared distracted, ear turned to one of the closed booths on the eastern wall.

Lilith pouted. “I’m not going to argue with that. Ambrosia, if you would please. Perhaps if it is still open, we could have some fire chili ramen also?”

Nuri did not wait around for long. She vanished into nothingness and a wisp of smoke. Lilith watched Neko in silence, trying to guess what was on his mind. Defeated, she reached across the table and bopped him playfully on his nose.

“Hey! What’s that face for?”

Neko bristled his whiskers. “Can’t you sense it?”

“The electric atmosphere and the prospect of a night to remember? Of course I can.”

“Not the debauchery, mistress. That thing in there.” A shaking paw pointed to the closed booth ominously.

Lilith sighed, expecting it to be nothing. But as she turned her senses to the booth and focussed on what lay beyond her heart quickened and her eyes narrowed.

“Oh. How curious. How curious indeed.”

Though she had clocked the fox masked geisha performing traditional opera on the northern stage, she had not sensed the literal fox who gleamed with light through the spirit world gloom all around them. Like the denizens of the club who were kami in human form, whatever the creature was out of view appeared like a blazing sun to Lilith.

“I thought the Kitsune was the only one?” Neko moved his paws slowly to his concealed weapons.

“So did I, Neko. But that is not a Kitsune.” At least, she did not think it was. It felt different to the creature that had twinned with her soul. It was freer. It possessed a sense of self that went beyond congealed ideas. “At least not as we know.”

Less concerned than her companion and more curious, she stood and shuffled out from the table. She pointed to the booth.

“Where are you going?”

Lilith chuckled as she advanced.

“Why to introduce us of course!”

Before Neko could object, Lilith was at the paper divide and knocking politely on the entry panel.