Back at their hotel room, Joelle and Kristi were staring intently at the screen of Kristi's laptop. On the screen were numerous articles on the breeds of yokai that inhabited Japan. Regular humans like Joelle weren't allowed to attend Kyūri-sensei's sumo heya, so Joelle needed to become a yokai if she wanted to go and support her werevixen girlfriend's weight regain. The wide array of choices was more than a little overwhelming, so Kristi was helping her pick.
"I still have enough inhibitor potion for next week, right?" Kristi asked her girlfriend.
"Yep," Joelle nodded. "After all, you've only taken it once so far. It's working great, by the way. You seem just about back to your old self, just with a little dash of whimsy."
"Thanks," said Kristi. "So, see anything you'd like to be? What's jumping out at you?"
"Kitsune are pretty cool," said Joelle. "They're sort of like werefoxes, but with magical powers. Foxfire sounds fun!"
"Zenko or yako?" Kristi asked, but she guessed the answer.
"Zenko, full stop!" laughed Joelle. "They don't have to put up with that obessessive mischief crap that yako and Western werefoxes do. I always wanna be in complete control of myself. Why do you think I don't do drugs or take more than one beer in an evening?"
"You know, most people would take one look at you and assume you'd wanna be a yako," Kristi remarked, admiring Joelle's edgy fashion sense. "Stereotyping sucks, doesn't it?"
"You got that right, Kris," Joelle nodded. "So, I guess zenko kitsune is the front-runner option right now. What else we got?"
"What about tanuki?" asked Kristi.
"You mean the raccoon dog people?" asked Joelle, scratching at her choppy neon blue pixie cut as she thought. "I'm not sure I wanna actually be chubby. I love having a big beautiful woman for a girlfriend, but I don't know if it's exactly my look, y'know? On the other hand, being a herm sounds kind of intriguing."
"Some kitsune are herms," Kristi shrugged. "Maybe you'd get lucky. I guess we can rule out the kamaitachi?"
"You mean those weasel guys with the claws?!" Joelle flinched. "You bet your sweet life we can rule those little shits out! I read about them with Ellie and her friends. They used to assault people with those claws, and even today they're a bunch of thieves. They sound like unmedicated werefoxes, but worse."
"There's the yuki-onna," Kristi went on. "They have a fearsome reputation, but they've 'chilled out' over the years. Haha!"
"Not funny, Kris" Joelle said, stony-faced.
Kristi blushed. "Uh... anyway, it could be interesting to be a yuki-onna and have the power to turn into a cloud of snow, breathe icy winds, and leave no footprints in the snow. Only problem, you'd have to become the sworn guardian and priestess of a mountain kami."
"Wowwww," Joelle said seriously, "big commitment. What else can you find?"
"I'll just assume you'd rather gargle rusty nails than become a jorogumo or an ushi-oni," Kristi said dryly.
"You can say that again!" Joelle said firmly. "I fucking HATE spiders!"
"There's the kappa," said Kristi, "just like my new teacher. They look pretty strong, don't they?"
"Yeah," said Joelle. "Only thing, that head dish full of water's a pretty huge vulnerability, isn't it?"
"The kyonshi?" Kristi offered. "That's the famous Asian hopping vampire."
"Somehow, I can't see it," Joelle chuckled.
"Chōchin-obake?" Kristi asked.
"You're fucking kidding, right?" Joelle asked, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous-looking webpage illustration of a paper lantern with a human face.
"Maybe," Kristi grinned impishly. "Hey, making stupid jokes keeps me from thinking about how obnoxiously skinny I am. In all seriousness, though, how about an oni? They look cool, they're incredibly strong, and they can learn to do magic like a wizard."
"Now we're talkin'!" Joelle grinned as she looked over the picture of a mighty blue-skinned demon with horns and a warclub casting a spell. "I could get used to being that cool. Oni are probably my best bet after zenko kitsune."
"Then there's inugami and bakeneko if you're a pet-lover," said Kristi. "The yokai of dogs and cats."
"I think I'll pass," said Joelle. "Their usual origin stories are too messed up for me."
"I get that," Kristi nodded. "Tengu sound okay, though. They're a race of mountain-dwelling bird-people who devote themselves to mastering swordsmanship and the mystical art of Shugendo."
"Sounds badass," Joelle agreed.
Kristi clicked onto another page and flinched. "Uhhh... let's... let's just skip over the akaname."
"Why?" asked Joelle. "What's wrong with them?"
"They sort of... eat the filth out of dirty bathrooms," Kristi said sheepishly. "That's what the long tongue in the picture's for. The akaname uses it to lick up..."
"Ugh, no, sorry I asked!" Joelle winced.
"Hey, the kawauso look cute," Kristi said. "The website says that they're shapeshifting otter yokai often found living near kappas on account of their river-based nature and love of sumo. They can magically mimic voices and physically transform into beautiful humans, and a lot of them can be quite the little flirts. Kawauso are fun-loving yokai who enjoy a good prank. Most of them are good-natured, but their species has also produced a few cannibalistic femme fatale serial killers. There was a cult of those around Ishikawa in the Edo period that gave their species a bad name for centuries."
"They're an option as long as the psycho cannibal seductresses aren't the norm," said Joelle.
"Don't worry," said Kristi. "Most kawauso despise the criminals of their species. I'm sure they'd be happy to have you; they've grown rare. Their mundane animal counterpart, the Japanese river otter, is already extinct. Hey, how about the Samebito? That's a kind of humanoid shark with the head of an oni."
"I do enjoy swimming," Joelle said, tugging gently on one of her facial piercings as she considered it.
"Of course," Kristi mused, "nobody ever said you had to become an Asian magical. You just have to give up your humanity and join the magical world. You could be a werehyena like Ellie, Harper, Beck, and Brianna if you'd like. Or you could be a werevixen like me, or a vampire like the von Karnsteins."
"Ugh, why is it so damn hard to choose?!" Joelle groaned frustratedly. "I have to settle on something! I don't wanna be the only human in the heya! At this rate, I'll have to stay behind and miss out on seeing you get fat again."
"Just listen to your heart, babe," Kristi smiled encouragingly. "Deep inside, you know what you're meant to be."
Joelle nodded and took a deep breath. Once she cleared her mind, she peacefully reflected on the countless breeds of yokai, as well as the more homegrown varieties of magicals that she knew about. Soon, the answer came to her. Joelle was destined to be a...