Ellie, Harper, Beck, Brianna, Kristi, and Joelle blinked dazedly as they stepped into the evening sun. It had been the very early morning in America, and the new time zone would take some getting used to. The six Americans took in their surroundings. They were in a large field by a riverbank. Cherry trees grew along the river, and each side of the river had a complex of small buildings on it.
The six transfer students' attention was suddenly captured by an outrageously obese kappa with brawny arms waddling over to them, steadying himself on a walking stick to avoid spilling his head water. A child kappa scampered after him. This must be Kyūri-sensei and his little granddaughter Nariko.
Ellie and her friends hastily bowed to the kappa. "Good day, Kyūri-sensei," Ellie said respectfully. "I am Ellie Rubenstein. This is my mate Harper Browning, these are our packmates Beck Hamilton and Brianna Dixon, and these are our new friends Kristi Wenzel and Joelle Bowman."
Kyūri almost bowed back, but he thought better of it. After grabbing Nariko to prevent her from accidentally bowing, he gave Ellie a polite smile. "Good day, Ellie Rubenstein. Welcome to my heya. Here, you shall learn the secrets of sumo if you are willing to work hard and follow my rules. This is no fetish; this is both a sport and a way of life."
"I understand, sensei," Ellie said, bowing again.
"Very good," Kyūri said. "Now, this stretch river belongs to yokai, and yokai alone. Which one of you is the human?"
"That would be me," said Joelle.
"Harper, Beck, Brianna, and I are werehyenas," Ellie added, "and Kristi's a werefox."
"I'd prefer to be a kitsune, though," Kristi clarified.
"That can be arranged," Kyūri said. "And what about you, Joelle-san? What sort of yokai shall you become?"
"A kawauso," Joelle said. "They sound adorable."
"A fine choice," Kyūri said. "They are rare, so I imagine they'd welcome a new recruit."
"Didn't a kawauso just join us, Grandfather?" Nariko asked.
"Yes, dear one," Kyūri responded. "Hir name is Taki Morikawa. Perhaps shi will befriend you, Joelle-san. Now, the rest of you have one little problem: your gender. You are female, Kristi-san, and even the werehyenas are only shiyūdōtai in their beast forms. That must change. To learn sumo, you must possess penises even in your human shapes. Thankfully, the witch I brought here to change Joelle-san into a yokai can also alter your human forms to be shiyūdōtai."
Beck grinned excitedly at this news. "Awesome! That works better for my gender identity anyway." They fondled the packer in their jeans thoughtfully.
"You do not consider yourself female?" Kyūri said, sounding relieved.
"Not really," Beck said. "I'm non-binary. When I'm not in herm form, I use they/them pronouns."
"I'm glad," Kyūri smiled at the enby werehyena. "this is a sport forbidden to women, after all. That fact infuriates my new pupil Kijo-san, but I think shi is coming to enjoy hir new cock... even if shi has some trouble controlling it."
"Well, I've never considered myself female," Beck nodded. "Oh, these are for you." They handed the old kappa a jar of cucumbers that they'd had the good sense to bring.
Kyūri grinned greedily at the tasty treat. "I like you, Beck-san. I'll need to get to know the others better before I make up my mind about them, but you at least will fit in here as well as any yokai. Come, I'll give you all a guided tour."
The six Americans followed Kyūri as he waddled off towards the building complex on their side of the river. "On this side of the river," Kyūri began, "you will find the shiyūdōtai campus. There are two campuses in my heya: one for males, and one for shiyūdōtai like you The campus for males is on the other side of the river." Kyūri gestured at the collection of buildings on the other side of the river with his walking stick. "Now, the male campus is built on the other side of the river for a reason—it is forbidden to shiyūdōtai. You must promise me that you will never go there. My male and shiyūdōtai must be kept separate aside from the annual match between them."
"You don't need to worry, Kyūri-sensei," Ellie laughed. "We're all lesbians. We have zero reasons to sneak off to meet your male students."
"That's a relief," Kyūri sighed. "Now, this is is the practice ring." He gestured at one of the largest two building in the shiyūdōtai campus. "You'll be doing all your sumo training there. Next door is the kitchen and dining hall. Yes, that's where the chankonabe is made. I know you're all wondering."
The American exchange students all nodded sheepishly.
Kyūri pointed at the other largest building in the shiyūdōtai campus. "That's the dormitory. You'll all be sleeping there while you're my students." He pointed at another building. "That's the gymnasium where you'll do all of your non-sumo exercise."
"Look, a torii gate!" Harper chirped excitedly. "Is there a Shinto shrine here?"
"Yes, Harper-san," answered Kyūri. "each campus has a shrine of its own. The shiyūdōtai shrine is dedicated to Inari Ōkami, the kami of fertility, prosperity, agriculture, rice, foxes, tea, sake, merchants, swordsmiths, and the protection of warriors. Shi was chosen as the patron kami of the shiyūdōtai campus because Shi is a shiyūdōtai Hirself and a guardian of warriors. The male campus on the other side of the river has a shrine dedicated to Takemikazuchi, a kami of thunder and the martial arts who helped to invent sumo, but you six, being shiyūdōtai, shall pray exclusively at Inari's shrine."
"Cool!" Harper grinned. "I've heard of Inari. Shi's really a herm like me? Most textbooks I've read are pretty unclear about Hir gender."
"Humans wrote those books," Kyūri scoffed. "Humans have never fully embraced shiyūdōtai. I assure you, Inari Ōkami is a proud shiyūdōtai, as are a surprising number of Hir kitsune."
"That'll include me soon," Kristi smiled.
"Quite right, Kristi-san," Kyūri said. He pointed at another building. "That is where our tokoyama lives and works."
"Your what?" Ellie asked.
"The hairdresser in charge of styling my wrestlers' topknots," said Kyūri. "I should warn you, my tokoyama is a jorogumo."
"You mean those horrible spider-women?!" Joelle winced. "Yuck!"
"Remember what we read, Joelle," Brianna said, fluffing her afro. "Some jorogumo have become civilized over the years."
"Quite right, Brianna-san," Kyūri said. "Despite hir species' unsavory reputation, my tokoyama is a very sweet, friendly yokai. Hir name is Aiya Kumoyama, and shi is very dexterous with hair. Shi weaves it like spider silk."
Joelle winced again. "I'm still not looking forward to meeting hir."
"Don't be rude," Beck whispered.
"Don't bother with those two buildings over there," Kyūri said, gesturing at a pair of boarded-up structures. "They're abandoned. They used to house my gyōji and my yobidashi."
"Your what?" Kristi asked.
"His referee and his announcer," explained Harper, ever the otaku. "The gyōji keeps the rikishi informed that the match is still active (by shouting 'nokotta, nokotta!' periodically), determines the winner of the match, consecrates and purifies the ring before each tournament, and keep a record of match results and the wrestlers' statistics. Oh, and the gyōji gets tossed into the air by the rikishi at the end of a tournament to bid farewell to the kami. The yobidashi calls the rikishi to the ring, sweeps the ring, provides the purification salt, and displaying advertising banners for a tournament's sponsors."
"Exactly right, Harper!" Kyūri grinned. "I honestly didn't expect an American to know so much about our ways. Unfortunately, I now have to do the gyōji job myself, and my little Nariko usually stands in for a proper yobidashi." He gave his granddaughter an affectionate pat on the shell. "You see, my heya isn't a prosperous as it was even a century ago, and I couldn't afford to a pay for a proper gyōji and yobidashi. It's a miracle that I can afford to pay Aiya-san, really. That's why I agreed to let a gaggle of fat-crazy Americans attend. It put it bluntly, I need your money."
"We're happy to contribute to saving your heya, Kyūri-sensei," Ellie said.
"Thank you, Ellie-san," Kyūri said, sounding less grouchy than usual. He quickly composed himself. "Well, that's the tour. Now I'll introduce you to your fellow students. I must warn you, however, that some of them won't trust a human like you, Joelle-san. In particular, one of my pupils is a bakeneko, a yokai breed that does not often feel much love for your kind."
"I understand," Joelle nodded. "I'm sure I can convince hir to open up to me in the end."
"Then come this way," said Kyūri. "They're in the dormitory."
"I can't wait for you to meet everyone!" Nariko chimed in.