Ellie Rubenstein yawned as Selena led her, Harper, Beck, Brianna, Kristi, and Joelle into Morgana's shop. Ellie wasn't used to being out of bed at 5:30 in the morning, but it would be worth it to get to Japan and be restored to her normal, chubby self. She put a hand on her flat, muscular stomach, fantasizing about the layer of squishy blubber that would (hopefully) soon cover her hard abs.
"Sure is early, isn't it?" Brianna said. The tall, skinny African-American girl ran her fingers through the fluffy curls of her titanic afro. "I'm usually not up for another hour and a half."
"Well, we couldn't push it any later, Bri," said Selena. "Morgana, Vivi, and Dani can't keep holding the portal open forever, and we'll be keeping Kyūri and his students up too late if we delay any."
"No worries, Selena," Brianna smiled. "I understand. I'll put up with anything to make Beck happy." She squeezed Beck's hand lovingly.
"It's best if you get used to getting up early anyway," Selena remarked. "If my dad's pack is any indication, most werebeast packs get up hours before sunrise to hunt."
"Good thing we aren't in a pack, Kristi," Joelle said, nudging her mate.
"You two are planning on becoming yokai, right?" said Selena.
"That's right," Kristi answered. "I'm switching over from werefox to kitsune, and Joelle's giving up her humanity to become a kawauso. I'm also thinking about a career change. Being a camgirl's been fun, but I think I'd like to become a professional sumo wrestler. Maybe I'll come back to the United States and try to start up an American sumo league for magicals."
"That'd be so cool!" Beck said, an excited grin on their face. "I'd join that in a heartbeat!"
"I'd be your biggest fan," Brianna purred, pulling Beck closer to herself and stroking the platinum-frosted tips of the non-binary werehyena's light brown hair and running her fingers down to the stubble of their fade cut.
Harper gave Ellie a flirty look. "And I'd be your biggest fan, sweetie!" She pulled her mate toward her for a quick kiss.
"Okay, enough mushy stuff, everybody," said Selena. "Here come Morgana and Vivi."
"Welcome, everybody," Morgana smiled. "Is everyone ready for the student exchange?"
Selena eyed the six exchange students and all their luggage. "Yes, I think they are."
"Perfect," Morgana grinned. "Just give me a moment, and we'll gather their Potions of Understanding." Morgana and Vivi scurried over to a shop shelf and grabbed six potion bottles. They approached the exchange students and handed a bottle to each of them.
Beck uncorked a bottle and gave it a quick sniff. "Ugh, it smells awful!" they said, making a face. "It smells like vinegar mixed with paint thinner!"
"Blame your enhanced werehyena senses," Morgana said. "To a human, it just smells slightly pungent. Don't worry, it tastes better than it smells."
The six exchange students lifted the bottles to their lips and swallowed. Mercifully, in spite of the dreadful smell, the Potion of Understanding didn't taste of much. "Jeez, I feel my head heating up!" Brianna said, burying a coffee-colored hand in the thick curls of her oversized afro and clutching at her skull. "Feels like I'm running a killer fever! Is that normal?"
"Yeah," said Vivi. "That's just the potion filling your head with knowledge."
"I'm feeling it, too," Joelle said, her hand brushing over her eyebrow piercings as she felt her hot brow.
"Me, too," Beck said, feeling their own brow.
"Yeah, I'm burning up," Harper said.
"And me," Kristi added. "Oh, now my head's cooling down. Does that mean the potion's done its job?"
"Exactly," Morgana nodded. "Try saying something to me in Japanese."
"Yatte mimasu, Morugana," Kristi said slowly. "Mahō no kusuri ga kiita to ī nodesuga."
"Hey, that was great!" Vivi cheered. "And you couldn't speak Japanese before?"
"Not a word," said Kristi.
"Then I suppose you're ready," Morgana said. "Follow me."
Morgana, Vivi, and Selena led the exchange students to the shop's back room, where Dani stood concentrating on magically holding open the mystical gate between the shop and the sumo heya. The Latina witch apprentice's feline ears twitched happily at the sight of the approaching group.
"¡Gracias a Madre Noche que estás aquí!" she sighed happily. "Thank Mother Night you're here! Holding this gate open is pure agonía, I tell you! I'll be lucky if I can keep it up for another fifteen minutes."
"Don't worry, Dani," Morgana said, putting a comforting hand on her apprentice's shoulder. "You won't have to."
"You've done wonderfully," Vivi added, giving the lovely feline witch a kiss on her caramel-colored cheek.
"Now," Morgana declared, gazing sternly at the exchange students, "you're about to step through the portal and enter Kyūri-sensei's school. I expect you to be on your best behavior there. That old kappa has very high standards and he won't lower them just because you're from overseas. If any thing, he'll raise them. And if you fail to live up to those standards, he'll pulverize you with his wrestling skills and expel you... literally. Worse, he probably won't let me hear the end of those idiot American kids I sent him for centuries. Kyūri may be my friend, but that doesn't mean he doesn't love giving me a hard time."
"We'll all be on our best behavior," said Ellie. "I promise. I wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize the restoration of my belly!" She patted her flat tummy wistfully and cupped at her too-small breasts, trying to suppress tears.
"You'll put in all the work he demands of you?" Morgana asked.
"Of course!" Ellie declared.
"And you won't sneak over to the other side of the river to visit the boys' campus?" Morgana asked.
Ellie just laughed. "Morgana, I'm a lesbian. All six of us are lesbians. Why the hell would I be fooling around with boys when I'll have a campus full of sexy yokai futa girls to hang out with?"
"Good," Morgana smiled. "Kyūri is a strong believer in gender segregation in sumo. And you'll be very polite to him, his little granddaughter, and the other students?"
"Sure thing," Ellie said. "I hate rude bitches as much as Kyūri does."
"And you won't sneak into the kitchen to sample the magic chankonabe without permission?" Morgana asked, a bit skeptically.
Ellie paused for a moment. "It'll definitely be tempting, but I'll resist be able to stay and keep eating it. I don't wanna be the farmer's wife from Aesop's Fables who cut open the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs."
"And you understand that some yokai my look down on you for having been born as humans?" Morgana asked. "I'm particularly asking you, Joelle, since you'll still be a human when they first meet you."
"Sure, we won't take it personally," Joelle said. "We read up on yokai before we left; we get that some yokai breeds have good reasons to fear or hate humanity. We'll just have to prove to them that we're better than that."
"That should be everything," said Morgana. "You can step through the portal now."
Selena waved goodbye to the exchange students. "Bye, guys! To those of you in my pack, I promise we'll be thrilled to have you back when you return!"
"I'll be sure to challenge Skyler for the beta position the second I get back!" Beck laughed. Then, one by one, the six American exchange students stepped through the portal and into Japan.