บท 83: Chapter 83
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Ethan woke up with a comfortable stretch. Although his strengthened spirit had relieved him of the fatigue, at the end of the day it was his body that had been the most tired.
But as he stretched in his bed, he felt something strange. A weight on him. Opening his eyes, Ethan was greeted with a grinning face. There was a girl lying on top of him, looking at him with a shit-eating grin.
Ethan would have been confused, were it not for the fox ears on top of her head, and the sensation of something furry on his legs.
Blinking, Ethan asked calmly, "Can you move? You're heavy, Miyuki."
The girl rolled her eyes, but she did move slightly to the side, now laying next to him as she said, "You're no fun. Couldn't you at least act surprised?"
Her voice felt almost ethereal. It was airy, soft, and beautiful. It made one want to listen to it more.
Ethan shrugged, laying back, "We already guessed you would be able to complete a hybrid transformation by your fifth tail. But it's nice to see some of our theories proved."
Miyuki, leaning on her elbow, nodded, "Yup. This confirms that I can only grow tails when no one is watching, and I'm sleeping. Pretty weird requirement."
Ethan chortled, "Magic tends to be… esoteric." He looked at her, and added, "Are you just going to stay naked?"
Miyuki, who was making no effort to cover herself, stuck out her tongue, saying, "I'm not putting your clothes on. So unless you've hidden away from girl clothes, no, I will not get dressed."
Ethan frowned, making his displeasure known, "I don't want to see you naked. It's weird."
Miyuki was beautiful, by all accounts. After all, it was in her very blood to be beautiful. Kitsunes were known for being seductresses. So, her human form was very charming as well. Much like her colour in her fox form, she had white hair, and light, supple skin.
Despite her young age, she looked like she was Ethan's age, which they believed was because of their bond. Much like the sudden increase in his spirit had caused her to sprout a fifth tail ahead of time, Miyuki also appeared a few years older than she was.
It had only been a theory before, but they were now sure that Miyuki grew her tails faster thanks to her connection to Ethan. Because of their long lifespans, Kitsunes usually took years to grow their tails, decades even.
In any case, no only was Miyuki beautiful, but she was also in a hybrid form, with fox ears and a tail, giving her a unique charm which Ethan was sure would charm basically any man.
But the thing was, Ethan would never see her as a woman. To him, Miyuki was his sister, or even closer than that. Things would never be romantic between them though, no matter how close they were, because it simply was not the kind of relationship they had.
With a roll of her eyes, Miyuki covered herself with Ethan's sheets, which only served to make her even sexier ass he looked like an innocent maiden, trying her best to hide her body.
Still, it was better than seeing her naked, so Ethan carried on the conversation, "What about your other abilities? They should have evolved. And you should have unlocked a new one."
Miyuki nodded, her teasing air from earlier disappearing as she became serious. The fingers on her right hand turned into razor sharp claws as she said, "Just like with the fourth tail, all my previous attributes have been improved. My claws are sharper, my metamorphosis has improved; I can turn into a partial human, but I can also change my size more easily, although I seem to have hit a limit on how small I can get."
Ethan rose an eyebrow at that, causing Miyuki to shapeshift into her fox form. She turned smaller, until she became small enough to fit in his palm. This was not much smaller than before. Her voice remained the same as she said, "My powers still fluctuate with size."
Ethan looked at her curiously, asking, "You can still speak in your fox form?"
Miyuki nodded, turning back into her human form, "Speech is not a by-product of my hybrid transformation, it is the power granted by my fifth tail."
"That's underwhelming."
She shrugged, not too bothered by it, "It's not too useful in a fight, but it's a big quality of life improvement. It's freeing, in a way."
Ethan nodded silently, and she continued, "As for my illusions and my Mental Magic, they both got better. They did not evolve dramatically to give me a new capacity like my metamorphosis did, but they are better at everything they could already do."
Saying this, she reached out to Ethan with her mind. They had used to be rather close in this aspect, but now, even with her evolution, Miyuki had not caught up to his mind. Ethan's spirit had grown immensely, more than doubling in size and quality, so a single tail would not close the gap. Ethan was not even sure another would be enough.
Still, overall, this was a good power up for Miyuki.
Later that day, Ethan's mother brought Miyuki to go buy some clothes after they revealed her new form to her and Ethan's father. They were both quite excited at Miyuki getting a human form, or something close to it.
Although she was not exactly a daughter to them, she might as well be. If anything, she was almost like a step-daughter, or a grand-daughter. Their relationship was hard to name because while they were close, they never really had much influence over her.
With the revelation of Miyuki's hybrid form however, another question popped up: legally, what should be done?
The British Ministry of Magic, and magical administrations in general, did not have the best track record of recognizing any magical race as having the same status as humans. Even some races very similar to humans, or derived from them, such as vampires and werewolves, were hardly considered on the same footing as humans.
So, getting her a wand would probably be impossible, as long as she was limited to her hybrid form at least. Even if they pulled some strings, the Ministry Officials tended to be a tad bit too conservative to accept any changes.
And even if they managed to use their influence in the Wizengamot to push for it, it would likely result in a scandal, and Miyuki would be left with more problems than anything.
However, the Ministry hardly had any powers in Hogwarts. Not with Dumbledore being at full powers. So making her a student was actually possible. She did not need a wand either to perform regular magic.
But Miyuki ended up refusing. Technically, she had always been able to learn human magic, and perform Charms, Transfiguration, and even school of human magic. The reason she had not was because she simply did not want to.
Despite her close bond to Ethan, she was not like him in regards to magic. While she held a fair amount of curiosity for it, it was mostly directed at her own magic, Fox Magic.
Ultimately, they decided not to upset the status quo, and keep her new ability to themselves. If Miyuki wanted to reveal it to someone else, then she would be free to do so, but until then, they would not tell anyone.
The rest of the summer then passed quietly. Ethan would train in the mind arts with his father, relearning how to manipulate his mind, while he continued his studies of Runic Magic with his mother.
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