Wait! I'm not a Demigod, I'm a Gamer!

Chapter 16: Accepted

Yuuya feels his body floating in the darkness, never touching the ground and yet there is no ceiling above him. Yuuya feels no panic or fear just bliss and peacefulness. He knows he's never been in this space before and yet it feels oddly familiar to him. He twitches his fingers, trying to get feeling back in his limbs. That twitch seemed to activate something since the surroundings morphed into a bright white space, his body feeling the ground. He slowly sits up and looks around, trying to figure out what has happened and where he was. "H-hello?" No response. "Is anyone there?" Silence. This only frustrated the man, not liking the fact he was alone. "You're not alone." A voice suddenly answers behind him, seeming to read his mind, that startles the poor man. He swiftly turns around and sees a woman sitting in a kotatsu style table, her legs hidden under the blanket, sipping her tea casually. She puts her cup down and motion him over. "Come child. Let us talk for a moment." Yuuya slowly gets up, feeling no fatigue, and walks over to her cautiously, almost expecting her to harm him. Seeing no movements from the woman, Yuuya sits down next to her, taking the offered cup of tea, quietly enjoying the warm liquid within. Neither one says a word for a bit, appreciating the warmth and calming atmosphere. Finally, after finishing his tea, Yuuya speaks up, "I've seen you before...haven't I?" The woman takes a long sip of her tea before answering, "Yes...Yes you have...Sakura." His eyes widen, hearing his former name. In a flash, Yuuya's form changes to his previous life's appearance as Sakura, a human girl. She looks down at herself, surprised to see no markings or any physical indications of the beast-man she once was. "How did you-" She begins to question when she sees a sad smile on the woman's face. A thought suddenly crosses her mind that brings a depressed frown on her face. "Oh...I get it...This is just a dream...isn't it?" The woman puts her cup down and laces her hands together. "I'm sorry Sakura. I wish I could do more for you. Truly." She reaches over and gently takes the human's hand in her own. "But my power is not unlimited. I know it's been hard...a shock really, but I knew you would understand this form the best...I made sure to provide you with all of your equipment, skills, and magic spells you've acquired playing as Yuuya to survive this world." Sakura shakes her head, trying to understand. "I-I don't understand...Did you...kill me?" The woman gasps, hurt evident in her eyes. "I would never! Even if you are not my child I would never wish death upon anyone! Especially not on you...You deserved to live a full life. Fate took that away from you and I do not have the power to change that...This was all I could do. I'm sorry." Unshed tears fill the woman's eyes that stab Sakura right in the heart for guiltily blaming her. "Oh-oh no I'm sorry! It's just...these past few months have been...hard." The woman sniffs, pushing away her tears, and looks at Sakura in the eyes. "I've been watching...I know it's been...an adjustment...but has this world really treated you wrong?" Sakura opens her mouth to confirm her suspicions, but stops right before she does. Thinking back on the times he was with the village, helping them as they helped her, several moments with Sam, her very first friend. She smiles at the memory and shakes her head. "Actually...It's been nice...really nice. I love everyone in the village and Sam has always been there for me...even when he knew I wasn't exactly...human." The woman looks down in shame, Sakura noticing her mood change instantly. "Um why are the humans in this world afraid of beast-men? Why do all the races not trust each other?" She questions as she thinks back to what Sam said in the beginning. The woman sighs as she takes her hand back to hold her head. "It wasn't always like this...They used to be living in peace. If only I hadn't..." She trails off at the end, leaving Sakura in suspense. "If what?" The woman looks up and says, "If only I hadn't created the dragons..." Sakura's eyes widen at the news and sits up straighter."Dragons?" The woman suddenly looks around her and grasps both of Sakura's hands. "Listen to me child. They will come back and will harm more of my children. Please save them. Please stop the dragons. Bring back the kitsunes. Only you can make the prophecy come true." As she speaks, the space starts to shake, almost as if an earthquake is occurring. The woman ignores it as Sakura looks around her nervously. "Wh-what's happening!?" The woman holds her hands tighter. "Listen Sakura, you must go to each kingdom, convince them of the upcoming doom, and bring them together to fight the dragons with you! Go to the royal capital in the human kingdom first, become an adventurer!" The space grows brighter as the shaking increases. "Wait! Why me!?" Just before the woman disappears, she smiles and says in a clear voice, "Because...you are the one."
Tired violet eyes slowly open, taking in the unfamiliar room. The owner of the eyes sit up suddenly, remembering the dream they had. "What the hell?" Hearing their voice, the figure scrambles out of bed towards a nearby mirror. The reflection reveals the figure to be a fox beast-man, Yuuya. The man sighs sadly, missing his original form, and gently touches his head to feel the soft ears on top, giggling slightly at its sensitivity. Yuuya breathes out and looks around the room, not recognizing every inch of it. "Where am I?" He looks down and realizes he's wearing different clothes from before, consisting of a thin light blue shirt with long sleeves and long soft black pants. "When did I..." He takes a quick peek and blushes at the sight of new underwear. "Okay! I definitely don't remember changing." He takes a few steps to the door, listening through the wood for any noises. Hearing nothing, he carefully opens the door and pokes his head out, waiting to see if anyone was around. "Where is everyone?" Yuuya steps all the way out and walks towards the stairs, still seeing not a single soul inside, but now figures out that he was in Sam's house. "Hello?" No response. Yuuya sighs agitatedly, feeling a sense of deja vu. He heads to the front door and opens it, shielding his eyes from the bright light of the sun. He gasps at the scene of all the villagers walking around, fixing up their homes.
Yuuya slowly steps out and looks around, noticing how the village looking better than from when he last saw it. As he walks, people nearby turn towards the confused beast-man and wave happily. "Hey! Yuuya's awake!" "Yuuya! How ya feeling?" "Hey kid! Finally up huh?" More and more speak out to the man, making him blush until a familiar voice rings out through the crowd. "Yuuya!" And a body slams into him that causes the surprised beast-man to fall on the ground. "What the-" Yuuya groans as he opens his eyes and sees a blur of dark blue hair. He tries to move but his arms are trapped. Luckily, the figure moves up and releases his arms in the process. This allows the beast-man to identify the figure to be Sam who has tears of joy in his eyes. "Sam?" Yuuya smiles brightly and hugs the human tightly. "I'm so glad to see you!" Sam returns the hug wholeheartedly. "Me too...You had me so worried..." A couple of the villagers aww at the men, making them blush brightly and cough lightly. They move away but still hold on to each others' arms. Sam brings up his hands to Yuuya's face quickly to squish his cheek with a light glare. "What. Are you doing. Out of bed?" The human emphasizes the question while mushing his friend's cheeks. With his lips resembling a fish's lips, no words could escape his mouth only sounds. Not waiting for an answer, Sam moves one hand to Yuuya's forehead. "You should be resting! You had a fever for over a week. Do you know how long you were unconscious?" With his cheeks released, Yuuya answers nervously, "Uhhhh....over a week?" Going off what Sam said regarding his fever. Sam narrows his eyes more and moves his hands to Yuuya's shoulders. "No. You were out for almost a month!" Yuuya's eyes widen and mouth drops. "A month!? I was just talking to that woman a short while ago...What the hell!?" Seeing him surprised, Sam decides to take matters into his own hands and suddenly picks up the stumped beast-man in a bridal style carry. Yuuya face turns cherry red and tries to squirm out of his friend's arms. "Wh-what are you-I'm fine! I can walk!" The beast-man shrieks as he tries desperately to escape. The human silently struggles to hold the squirming man, but refuses to put the weakened man down. "I'm putting you back to bed. You are still too weak and I keep telling you mana sickness is serious!" The beast-man continues to struggle as the pair make their way to back to the human's house.
Only when Sam has put Yuuya back into bed in his room does the beast-man cease to struggle. He crosses his arms in a pout as the human brings up the blankets to his lap. "I told you I'm fine. It's just part of my skill. After it wears off I lose all strength and mana for a short while and then I'm back to normal. It's happened before and I'm still here!" The beast-man continues to plead his case as his friend tries to get him to lay down. "This is normal! It's why I don't use it often. But-but I get my strength back just fine. And my mana too!" The human pauses in his attempts to get Yuuya to calm and gives him a hard look. "You call this normal? Being in a coma for almost a month? This is not fine Yuuya! You-*sigh* I thought you were never gonna wake up...because of my village...because of me..." A few tears escape from Sam's eyes at the memory, making Yuuya flatten his ears in shame. "You-you had a f-fever during the second week...No matter what we did, we-we just couldn't get it down-*Sniff* Nothing we did...helped." Yuuya gently holds Sam's hands, trying to bring him closer. The human allowed himself to be held as he recalled the past month. "We-we tried to g-give you medicine...put a cold cloth on your head...we even tried to a cold bath!" The human starts to hiccup remembering his panic when his friend's fever wouldn't go down during all their attempts, the helplessness it brought when it only got worse. The beast-man pulls his friend closer to rest his head on his chest, right on the mark, allowing him to hear the familiar thump-thump of his heart. "That explains the new clothes..." Yuuya thought as he combs his hand through Sam's soft hair. Sam takes a moment to collect himself before continuing. "After about a week, your fever just went away all of a sudden! It confused everyone including the village doctor...It's like the Goddess took it away and healed you..." Yuuya looks up to the ceiling nervously, "Seems like something she did...If that woman in the room is the Goddess then that means she's the one that probably helped me. I'll have to thank her next time I see her...Maybe not when I'm in a coma." The beast-man continues to comb his friend's hair to further calm the distressed human and speaks calmly, "Maybe she did. Either way, I'm here now. Awake and alive. I got enough strength to walk outside and I bet I got some mana back to do this." With his other hand, Yuuya summons a small ball of fire in his hand. The ball of fire was small enough to not pose a threat but big enough to provide heat to the occupants in the room. Sam sits up straighter in Yuuya's lap that forces the beast-man to let go of his hair, making the beast-man to miss the comforting feeling, and gasps at the sight. "What the-but-how!?" The human stutters out as he looks at Yuuya and the small ball of fire in his hand. Yuuya shrugs and moves his hand to make the fire crawl around his hand and wrist. "I told you, I've done this before. I may lose my strength and mana for a while using that skill, but I gain them back in time. I'm sure by the end of the week I'll be back to full strength." Yuuya slowly extinguishes the flame leaving no sign it even existed. Sam grasps his hand that held the fire ball gently, checking for any injury and looks into Yuuya's eyes. "Wh-when you say skill...do you mean...when you...turn-" "Yes." Yuuya answers cutting off Sam's question. Sam nods in slight understanding, "That must mean...you really are the revived kitsune the prophecy foretold!" Yuuya squints his eyes in confusion. "Prophecy? What prophecy?" Sam drops his jaw in shock as Yuuya thinks to himself, "Now that I think about it, that woman said something about a prophecy...Is that why she brought me here?" Hands gripping his shoulders bring him back to reality. "You don't know!?" Yuuya shakes his head nervously and responds, "You literally found me two days after I woke up in the forest. How would I have heard the prophecy?" He can't help the slight sarcasm in his tone, but the human was informed in the past about Yuuya's situation so the beast-man was a tad bit annoyed. Sam groans and slaps his forehead, "Right. You didn't even know the races' grudges against each other...How would you know about the several century old prophecy that is known across the lands." Sam sighs and sits up, moving his hands to his lap. "Okay well *sigh* remember when I told you the last kitsune released a powerful spell that sent the dragons away for a long time?" The beast-man nods and continues to listen. "That wasn't the only thing he did. You see the last kitsune was actually the king of his species, the King Kitsune. He foretold that a fallen kitsune will rise from the grave once again and that he would reunite the kingdoms. Together, they will finish the war and destroy the dragons. Bringing peace across the lands." Yuuya's eyes widen at the sudden realization. His skill allows him to turn into a kitsune...and he died. "Oh no no no no! This cannot be happening! I can't be the revived kitsune...I was just a human girl that loved to play video games too much. This is insane!" Yuuya's internal panic is seen by Sam as the beast-man grips his ears tightly, hyperventilating in distress. "Yuuya?" The human questions worriedly. Yuuya doesn't respond as a million thoughts cross his mind, "No way am I the kitsune from the prophecy. I'm just a beast-man. A fox beast-man that can turn into a kitsune occasionally...Oh God! This can't be! Is that why there are no fox beast-men in this world? Because of the kitsunes? This can't be! There were tons of fox type beast-men in the game, why do I have to be the only one!? No wonder everyone was bowing, they think I'm some kind of demigod! Why me-" Yuuya's thoughts are cut off when a pair of hands slap his cheeks, holding his face in place as Sam brings his own face up close. "Yuuya! What's wrong? You're about to rip your ears off." Back to reality, Yuuya registers a slight pain on his ears and blushes at the close proximity. "Uhhhh...I-I-I'm fine. Ju-just..." The beast-man stutters as he looses his train of thought, focusing solely on the bright green eyes in front of him. Sam doesn't seem to notice and rubs his friend's cheeks with his thumbs in an attempt to soothe him, resulting his cheeks to turn brighter red. "Just what?" Sam questions, concern the beast-man might be feeling ill. "Did his fever come back? His face is bright red..." The human finally notices their close proximity and his face matches the same color as his friend's. "Uhhh sorry." Mutters the flustered human as he backs up allowing poor Yuuya to breathe more steady. Sam looks over, still concerned and gently takes one of Yuuya's hands. "Yuuya." Said man snaps his head up hearing his name, the redness still stuck to his face. "I know it's a lot...but you're not alone. You have me, my parents, Ruby, this entire village! We're all by your side." Tears fill up Yuuya's eyes, "R-really? B-but I thought everyone was...afraid of me." His voice trails off as a couple of tears escape, trying not to be too emotional. Sam smiles warmly and pulls Yuuya into a hug, rubbing his back comfortably. "After all what you did, how could they be afraid? You saved them and brought the bad guys to justice. You even sacrificed your health for us. You're a hero Yuuya. And I'm proud to be your friend." More tears fall down the beast-man's eyes as he remembers his older brother saying a similar sentence back when he was Sakura. "Don't listen to them, Sakura. You're amazing and I'm proud to be your older brother." Ren's voice echoes in his mind, making more tears to fall onto the human's back as he holds him tighter.
Yuuya doesn't say word as he sobs softly, relieved to being accepted as his true self and diverting away from the prophecy talk. Sam rubs his back and whispers comforting words. After about ten minutes, Yuuya finally leans back and rubs the last of his tears while Sam holds onto his shoulders, on the standby in case the tears return. "Damn. *Sniff* Today has been emotional huh? Heh." Yuuya laughs tearfully while rubbing his eyes some more as Sam laughs with him and nods. "Well, you did just wake up from a month long coma, during which you had a fever. Making everyone worry about you nonstop." Sam counters, lighting up the grim subject a bit. The men laugh, the atmosphere finally becoming cheery. The door open and Evelyn walks in with a tray of food. "Sam, I brought up some food for you. Why don't you-" She cuts herself off seeing Yuuya awake and sitting up in bed. The beast-man waves his hand awkwardly with a small smile. "H-hi Miss Evelyn-" The woman drops the tray, barely being caught by her son in a panic, and tackles Yuuya into a tight hug. "Oh Yuuya! You're finally awake! You had us so worried." She grabs his face squishing his cheeks, a sense of deja vu crosses the man, as she inspects him. "How do you feel? Hot? Cold? Tired? Oh!" She steals the tray out her son's hands as he sits back on the bed breathing heavily. She holds out a spoon full of stew in front of Yuuya's face. "You must be starving, son! Here, have some meat stew. Get your strength back." The beast-man has no choice but to accept the offered food, chewing slowly at first before stars appear in the man's eyes, the food making him realize just how hungry he was, and swallows the food quickly. He reaches for the bowl, but it's taken away from his range at the last second. Evelyn tsks at the man and scoops out another spoon full of stew. "Now Yuuya. I know you're hungry, but you must eat slowly. You haven't eaten any solid food for weeks. You'll make yourself sick if you eat too fast." Evelyn continues to spoon feed Yuuya until the bowl was empty. Yuuya requests seconds and was given some, the humans refusing to allow the beast-man to feed himself.
News of his awakening spread across the entire village within a couple of hours, even the villagers out hunting heard the news and raced back home, wanting to confirm for themselves. Rick came back with the hunting group, racing back to his home. He finds his wife and son sitting by Yuuya's side on the bed, the man hugs the beast-man tightly before slapping his back hard, criticizing him for scaring everyone that makes Yuuya chuckle apologetically. Once Ruby heard the news she full on bear hugs the beast-man, refusing to let go for the entire day. In the beginning, Rick and Sam refusing to let the poor man walk on his own legs even though he reassured them he was fine. Luckily, Ruby and Evelyn take his side after a few days before the beast-man was allowed to walk outside without any help. By the end of the week, Yuuya was able to summon his magic easily no matter how difficult the spell, promising not to turn into a kitsune for a while. The villagers treat him just as they did back when he pretended to be human, showering him with praise and gifts. Occasionally checking on the beast-man, some feeling guilty for abandoning him and forcing Yuuya to return with mana sickness after rescuing their loved ones even though he was banished. Yuuya forgives them wholeheartedly and even helped with the chores to show no hard feelings. Yuuya learns from Rick that the bandits he captured were sent to the royal capital to be judged and imprisoned for their crimes, making the beast-man relieved that they won't ever be returning any time soon. Of course even if they did returned, Yuuya promised to give them an even harder lesson and do worse than what he did to the giant summoning they had. His vow making some of the villagers weary, including Sam and his parents, while others including Ruby were thankful to him. After a couple of weeks, the village was restored to its former glory, the villagers celebrating with a grand feast followed by heavy drinking from most of the older gentlemen and some games for the children, Yuuya joining in happily.
The next day at breakfast, Yuuya sits quietly at the table as Sam and his family talk amongst themselves, planning for the day. Noticing he hasn't eaten Evelyn questions the immersed beast-man, "Yuuya? Is something wrong? You haven't touched your food." Her question draws the rest of the occupants' attention, looking at Yuuya in confusion. Yuuya doesn't say a word for a second before looking up at everyone, giving them a determined look. "I think...it's time I head out."