Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

After Medusa left the premise of the Hanekawa household in Los Angeles, Tsubasa stopped observing her leaving figure and trailed her gaze on her mother who was back to that alluring smiling expression of hers, as if the anger she had shown just before while facing Medusa was just a lie all along.

"I thought the two of you were friends."

"We are or we were friends once upon a time. I guess she felt betrayed by what I did to her."

Tsubasa shrugged and did not ask more questions regarding this matter. Simply adjusting the mask on the side of her face she informed her mother.

"I am taking the Fox Mask with me."

"You do know the risk of taking a divine weapon to the outside world, right? Once you leave, America, this mask is basically fair game for anyone. Even the American organizations that will be aiming for the mask might attack you to obtain it."

"I know and honestly, as long as a Zodiac doesn't attack us, I have full confidence in defending myself. So, you don't have to worry about it."

"...You already assimilated the power of the two spiders?"

"It was surprisingly easy for me… I guess they decided that submitting was the easiest way for them.".

Inari looked at her daughter with clear doubt brimming in her eyes. However, after some time, she was forced to nod in acknowledgment of that statement.

"You are not lying indeed. You really did assimilate their powers."

She was slightly speechless at the speed at which she was able to accomplish the task. What Tsubasa had accomplished was by no means a normal everyday thing. The two spider spirits she had in her body were Evil Yokais of practically the highest order. They were extremely vicious and because of their innate evil nature, taming even one of them was hard as is.

Controlling the two of them simultaneously was impossible.

When Tsubasa initiated the ritual, Inari had expected her to fail or face rejection from the spirits inhabiting her body as they would fight for supremacy. But now…

"You really are a monster…"

"I will take that as you compliment my talents mother."

"You should and this is why I am all the more surprised. You stopped training for five years and even after resuming your training, you chose a spider yokai rather than sealing the kitsune spirits that we specialize in."

"It's rather simple really. All I wanted was to observe Adam and protect him from afar. The power of a gold rank was more than enough for the human we thought he was. This is why I sealed the Jorogumo in me. Now though, I need even more strength because he is growing fast. Way too fast. He will have much stronger enemies in the future and I will have to become ready for them."

Her eyes twinkled as he spoke of the boy, "As for why I did not choose a Kitsune spirit, it's because it cannot bring anything to the table he doesn't already have. I would be useless to him with simple illusion and fire magic."

"You truly are infatuated with that boy…"

"No Mother… I am in love. Pure and simple as that…"

Inari was lost for words in the end. All she could do was just shake her head in resignation.

"From the moment I saw him, I was interested in him."

The more she spoke, the redder her face became. Her eyes were shining like stars. Even if one was dense to the point of having no understanding of no social cues, it would still be possible for them to say at one glance alone that she was in love with Adam.

"But what will you do if he rejects you? He already did once, right?"

"He did not reject me!"

This was the first time that Tsubasa's voice rose. That too an octave. Clearly, she was quite shaken by the words of her mother,

"He did not reject me…"

She shook her head, her voice soon subsiding to a whisper…

"I was simply too intense in my approach. He was just a normal human and I understand why he must have been put off by my actions. But now, I am sure that he will understand me."

It was the first time the mask of confidence she had always worn seemed to break, even though it was very slight. But far from being happy, Inari was quite distraught that her words had such an effect on her daughter.

After all, for all the indifference she showed, she still cared and loved her daughter very much.

"I apologize for the unsightly display."

Tsubasa had seemingly gotten a hold of her emotions once more. She was slightly dissatisfied that she had lost control like that, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her eyes held a firm light, her will unwavering. It had been six years since that wretched day.

Years during which all she had to sustain herself was her own love and resilience. She was the one who loved him.

More than anyone else.

More than anything else.

Tsubasa chased away the image of the expression he had on his face as he took a few steps back from her back then.

She was sure that this time… This time he would understand her undying love for her.

She just had to not press him too much and it would be alright.

They loved each other after all.

She was the only one who truly understood him and she knew nearly everything about him.

'It will be alright. It will be alright. It will be alright. It will be alright—'

" —Tsubasa."

"Ah…"

Shaking off the useless thoughts that were gnawing at her head, Tsubasa went back to a more stable mindset.

"I am alright. I also need to take a bath."

Acting like all of this never happened, she simply started to walk away, leaving Inari behind, still sitting alone on her patio.

"Sigh~ I wonder if this is a curse we cannot escape from."

She knew that the mind of her daughter had always been unstable. Even from the time of her birth. This was something no heir of this family could ever hope to escape from.

This was the price they had to pay to become strong enough to control the spirits sealed inside of them.

In the far past, rather than a noble family, they were nothing more than weapons and sacrifices used for the greater good of people.

She had tried changing the way they trained, but there was no denying how efficient it was.

'If only you were here, dear.'

Ever since her husband died, she had been struggling with her own sanity and was slowly losing her sense of self day by day.

Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder who she really was. She could understand why Medusa was more and more reticent about interacting with her. She was not really the friend Medusa knew anymore, after all.

"I wonder if I should try to know more about the boy."

She shook her head and stood up finally.

ndαsvεl m Most of the information she had on him was clearly outdated and she did not want to enter the room of her youngest daughter.

Lifting her hand she shook a bell…

"Yes, milady!"

Immediately, three women clad entirely in dark-as-night clothes appeared behind her.

"Send a message to the Jukugo. I wish to talk to her." [1]

[1]: Jukugo means sacrificial victim or simply Sacrifice.