Yokai Read Online Free PDF

cushion across from Master Mori, and bowed
her head. “I humbly receive,” she said, in unison with Master
Mori.
    Yumiko smiled up at her sensei, then
lifted her chopsticks and began to eat.
    “ Something smells
good.”
    Yumiko glanced up as a pile of
cushions tumbled over the floor, and a little brown furball rolled
to a stop beside them. As it righted itself, it shook itself out,
and blinked up at Yumiko from the dark patches that surrounded wide
eyes, like a raccoon. But it resembled more of a fox, in Yumiko’s
opinion, with a strong, slender body, although it was small for a
tanuki, or raccoon dog, as some people called it.
    Madame Mori looked up sharply, a frown
lining her face. “Is it that tanuki? He only shows up when there’s
food involved.”
    “ Your sensei wounds me,
little cherry blossom,” the tanuki said to Yumiko, feigning pain.
“She doesn’t yet realize that it’s your flowering beauty that keeps
me here, does she? I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun by letting her
onto us.”
    Yumiko rolled her eyes. “And here, I
thought it was the sake.”
    “ Sake?” the tanuki perked
up, then realized she was teasing, and pouted.
    While raccoon-dogs were certainly to
be found around Japan, this particular tanuki was a yokai, albeit a
harmless one. Thus, the talking. Since she’d returned from being
spirited away those ten year ago, she’d come back altered in many
ways. Since she’d been touched by the spirit world, by yokai, she
found that she was forever connected to it. She could see yokai
everywhere, when ordinary people could not. Yokai allowed people to
see them when they wanted, but Yumiko could see them all the time,
something that normally only other yokai could do. It’s what made
her such an accomplished yokai hunter. Humans normally made easy
prey for them, given that they couldn’t detect the yokai until they
were upon them. Yokai were unable to get the jump on Yumiko,
however, what with her special abilities.
    Of course, some yokai liked that she
was able to see them, such as this tanuki. She’d decided to name
him Tanuki to keep it simple, and because it seemed to annoy him
that she didn’t bother to come up with a proper name. And while he
could be an irritating presence sometimes, flirting shamelessly
with Yumiko, and getting into the Wadas’ sake, she kind of enjoyed
his company nonetheless. He was sort of a reassuring presence in a
way, despite what he was.
    “ Tell that mangy mutt he
needs to cut down on the sake,” Mori said, pausing. “The Wadas have
been asking questions again, and I won’t be covering for him
anymore.”
    Tanuki sniffed. “And you tell your
sensei that I’m doing the Wadas a service and drinking their
terrible watered-down sake before their patrons have a chance
to.”
    “ I’m not getting in the
middle of this,” Yumiko said, returning to her rice.
    Tanuki sighed, and there was a brief
golden glow that signaled to Yumiko that he was making himself
visible to the human world. Yumiko thought of it as a radio signal.
She was attuned to the yokai station following her experience, and
sometimes the yokai tuned into the frequency that humans lived on,
to interact with them. Otherwise, they chose to remain apart, like
ships passing in the night.
    “ Madame Mori,” Tanuki said
in a sweet voice as he went to sit beside her. “You look simply
beautiful in that kimono. Is it new?”
    Mori chewed thoughtfully as she
regarded him. “You’ve the devil’s tongue on you, rodent. You could
charm a snake out of its skin.”
    “ Oh, Madame Mori, you make
me blush with such compliments.”
    Yumiko hid a smile by holding her
chopsticks in front of her mouth for a moment. Then, she set aside
her chopsticks and placed the bowl next to Tanuki. “You can have
the rest.”
    Tanuki’s eyes gleamed with pleasure,
but then he squinted up at her, unsure. “Really?”
    “ Really.”
    “ You don’t have to tell me
twice,” Tanuki said, before digging his paws into