One Tailed Fox

Chapter 1: The Indeed No Good Masahiro

It was raining. If you looked closer you could see a large group of people surrounding a boy with serious injuries, some closing their eyes at the frightening scene while some were filming with their phones.

The boy could hear the ambulance getting closer because of the loud sounds the siren was making. He secretly hoped they would be late and wouldn't make it in time. It wasn't like he was suicidal or anything, he simply was tired of the same things happening daily. Nothing new or interesting ever took place in his boring life.

Even the first year of high school that he'd  been looking forward to, didn't bring any new changes. He'd been hopeful he'd awaken a secret superpower, get trained by strong people, become a ninja or that something out of a shounen manga would happen. Hell, he even expected he'd become a shoujo manga's main lead but nothing of the sort ever occurred.

But even he, logically thinking knew that the chances of such a development happening were low. He had a much simpler dream, one that could easily get granted. It was to gain the ability to see youkai, even a simple glimpse would be enough. He'd since long gotten used to the scenarios that would appear in his mind, when left to think by himself.

He could've been walking home from school, when he would suddenly fantasize about a youkai coming out of nowhere or he'd dream of a youkai attacking him if it meant he'd be able to see one. There were times when he'd be home alone and would think What if a injured youkai came through the window? One time he'd been so desperate, that he even said that in exchange for gaining the ability to see a youkai, he'd fail his college test and would even go to the dentist.

Even now, while dying he could only dream about a youkai coming and saving him. What had only started as a simple interest towards the class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore, had long since become an obsession he couldn't get rid of even if he wanted to. Every single space in his mind was occupied by the apparitions he'd forever longed to see.

He'd always thought that he would die peacefully without any regrets. However now, if anybody asked him if he had any regrets, he'd without any doubt say he only had one. It was to be able to see youkai, a dream which couldn't get fulfilled anymore. A simple regret that wouldn't disappear from the back of his head even in his last moments.

Really, no one is coming to save me. I actually knew since the beginning that this dream won't ever come true. No matter how I beg God, I'll never be able to see a youkai.

He had slowly become aware that he was dying and couldn't even think clearly because of the pain all over his body. But it's my first and only dream. Does this mean that all those days I spent researching youkai and reading about them were all for nothing. I don't want that! Please God, if you're unable to give me the ability to see youkai... Then at least, let me get reborn as a youkai!

It took every muscle of his body to just breathe, but suddenly the pain stopped. He couldn't feel anything anymore, it was a weird feeling. As his consciousness faded only a single hope remained.

As the last rain droplet fell on his face the boy gave his last breath, while closing his eyes slowly. He was hopeful that the next time he opened his eyes, what would wait him would be neither hell nor heaven.
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Is this really happening? Even though he had said all those bold stuff about being reborn as a youkai, he'd expected his next destination to be definitely hell. Where is this? It's not hell, that's for sure. So where am I? He felt a bit happy at the possibility of his long awaited dream coming true.

"It hurts!" He accidentally realised he had injuries all over and his body felt sore. It didn't look like they were the injuries he'd gotten from the accident. They looked more like the type of bruises you get from fights.

Whoever the hell is the cause of these bruises has a serious sadistic problem! It looks pretty one sided! The audacity of people these days! Wait a second. I feel like I'm forgetting something very important!

"Ah, I can't seem to remember!" His voice! Yes it was his voice. It sounded like a little kid's voice. Now that he thought about it, he feels a bit uncomfortable. He feels like he's wearing a shirt 10 sizes smaller. My hands look so small and my feet are pretty small too!

"Don't tell me this is the rumoured reincarnation in another world? I didn't want to get reincarnated into another world as a human, I wanted to be reborn as a youkai!"

Why was fate so cruel? Even after dying he still couldn't fulfill his dream. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his head. It hurts! What's with this sudden pain in my head? Are these someone's memories?

"It's because you are Abe no Seimei's grandson!"

"You'll never be as good as your brothers!"

"It's fine, nobody was expecting anything from you."

"I could care less about you!"

"Your name Masahiro, was it?

"You're annoying."

He couldn't stop the tears flowing from his eyes. The overwhelming feeling of sadness he felt from the memories he experienced, left him to ponder about his life now. The new information from the memories in his head didn't help him calm down. In fact they only contributed to his helplessness.

"Darn it. I didn't get reborn into a youkai! The body I reincarnated into is the grandson of Abe no Seimei! The greatest onmyouji of Japan's Heian period and a leading specialist of onmyoudo, a practice mainly used to exorcise youkai. I'm now Abe no Masahiro, son of Abe no Yoshimasa and Abe no Tsuyuki!"

What the hell is he going to do now? Yeah, his dream was to gain the ability to see youkai, however he never asked to become an onmyouji! I don't want to exorcise youkai!