As it turned 3:00 AM in Stokerville, it was only 7:00 PM in Japan. Beck, hir mate Brianna, and Harper, were doing some sweeping at Kyūri's heya when they noticed a stranger strutting in. The newcomer appeared to be a humanoid monkey girl dressed in some kind of Chinese period costume twirling a staff over her head.
The monkey girl waved to Harper, Brianna, and Beck as she pranced into the heya. "HEY THERE!" she boomed exuberantly. "This is Kyodainayokai-beya, right? You know, old Kyūri-sensei's place?"
"Yeah, it is," Brianna said. "Are you hear to become a rikishi?"
The monkey girl laughed. "Nah, I'm just here to..."
"What's all that racket?!" Kyūri grumbled as he waddled out of his apartment. "Who's shouting at sunset?!" He then spotted the monkey girl and suddenly changed his tone entirely. "Ah, Linghua-san. You're here."
"You know her?" Beck asked.
"By reputation," the old kappa responded. "This is..."
"The great Sun Linghua!" the monkey girl cheered, doing a little twirl. "Otherwise known as the finest staff fighter on Flower and Fruit Mountain outside of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven himself!"
"What kind of yōkai are you?" Beck asked.
"Can't you tell, babe?" Harper grinned, already geeking out. "She's a sarugami, also known as a saru-yōkai or enjin. They're monkey people who live in the mountains of Japan."
"And in the mountains and forests of China!" Linghua sniffed indignantly. "And in the jungles of India and Southeast Asia, for that matter. And we don't go by those Japanese names in other countries. To me, we're called hóu yaoguai. In India, we're known as vanaras. But enough technicalities. I'm so excited to meet you all!"
"So, why is this gaijin here?" hissed Shizuka, who was slouched against the wall of the dormitory dodging work.
"Nobody asked you to be rude, Shizuka-san!" Kyūri barked. "Now get back to sweeping or I'm tossing you into the river!" Kyūri then turned to Beck and Harper, a kinder expression on his turtle-like face. "To answer Shizuka's question, I invited Sun Linghua here to give us a demonstration on staff fighting, the signature martial art of her clan. She's supposed to be quite proficient. I'll be letting all of my students challenge her. If Linghua-san wins, she gets cash prize of 15,000 yen per student she beats. That's about 103 dollars in your American money. If she beats ALL of you, she gets a 35,000-yen bonus. Any rikishi who beats her gets an extra portion of my chankonabe."
"Did someone say extra chankonabe?!" Ellie shouted as shi came running out of the dormitory main hall, where shi had been scrubbing the floors.
"Heh, the magic words," Beck snickered to hir mate.
"It will be a prize for beating our esteemed guest at staff fighting," Kyūri said. "Meet Sun Linghua, champion staff fighter."
"Staff fighter?" Ellie asked.
"The great art of my people!" Linghua grinned, twirling her staff so fast in her hand that it blurred. "Taught to us by our beloved king Sun Wukong himself!"
"Sun Wukong?" Harper grinned. "From Journey to the West? He's real? Awesome!"
"Why are you getting so excited about a Chinese folktale, sweetie?" Ellie asked hir mate. "I thought you were all about Japanese culture."
"Hey, it's a popular story in Japan, too! They named Goku after the Chinese pronunciation of Sun Wukong's name. Japan also made a live-action TV adaptation of Journey to the West called Saiyūki. There's an English dub called Monkey that became a cult fave in Australia."
"The 1986 CCTV series was better," Lignhua chuckled. "That show is required TV viewing if you're Chinese."
"Yaoguai watch TV?" Harper marveled.
"Hey, some of us believe in keeping up with the times," Linghua grinned. "Aren't most nekomimi J-pop idols these days?"
"Grandpa, what's all the talking about?" asked little Nariko as she scampered out to find her grandfather.
"Linghua-san is here, Nariko," Kyūri responded. "Could you ring the gong to summon all the rikishi? They should meet her."
Nariko giddily nodded and banged on a gong as hard as she could. Soon, all of the students in the shiyūdōtai wing of the heya were gathered on the lawn.
"What's going on?" Kristi asked hir fellow American exchange students. "Kyūri NEVER cancels chores!"
"Shh!" Joelle hushed hir girlfriend.
Kyūri cleared his throat officiously. "Shiyūdōtai rikishi, I would like you to meet Sun Linghua of Flower and Fruit Mountain. She journeyed all the way from China at my request to give you a demonstration of the Sun Clan's signature martial art: staff fighting."
"That's right, Big K!" Linghua cut in. She twirled and tossed her staff like a baton. "All of you sumo guys are gonna fight me one by one. The more of you I beat, the more money Big K has to fork over to me! If any of you somehow beat me, you get an extra bowl of that chankonabe that makes you into big ol' porkies. I don't understand the Zhu Bajie look myself, but to each their own. Now I'd like to get to know you all a little better. Don't be shy!" She winked roguishly.
An obese kitsune with white fur and three tails bounced up to Linghua. "Welcome, Linghua-san!" shi said. "I'm Haia Yoshimoto. I'm the most senior student here now that Humiya's studying in America. If you need anything while Kyūri's busy, I guess you should call me."
"You're the substitute Big K, got it," Linghua nodded.
As Haia returned to the crowd, Shizuka reluctantly marched up to Linghua. "I guess you sorta know me already from your arrival," shi grimaced. "Let's keep this short, okay? My name is Shizuka Zayasu, I'm a bakeneko, I'm a direct descendant of angry ghost cats, I don't do well with humans or foreigners, and my hobbies are sumo wrestling and glaring at irritating people until they leave me alone. That's really all you need to know, monkey." With that, the surly cat yōkai sprinted back into the crowd with surprising grace considering her impressive sumo girth.
"Awkward!" Linghua winced. "Uhh, who's next? Someone friendly, hopefully."
Two massive-bellied tanuki waddled up to Linghua. "Hi!" one of them said brightly. "I'm Yoshino Kōgan, and this is my bestie Natsuki Haratsutsumi. I love sumo, drumming, dancing, blowing loads, walks by the river, and hanging out with all my friends! Wanna be my friend?!" Without warning, Yoshino caught Linghua in a tight hug, sandwiching the unfortunate monkey yaoguai between hir exposed titanic boobs.
"Eek, too friendly! Too friendly!" gasped Linghua as she struggled to free herself.
"Yoshino, let her go!" Natsuki frowned.
"Spoilsport!" Yoshino sniffed as shi let go of Linghua.
"Sorry about hir," Natsuki smiled to Linghua. "Yoshino's a creature of impulse. I have to try to be the brains of the outfit."
"Shi won't need a staff when shi fights me," Linghua laughed. "Shi can just hug me into submission!"
The two tanuki laughed as well as they returned to the crowd.
"That's all of our sandanme," Kyūri said. "Now for our jonokuchi. You first, Maruko-san."
Linghua watched as a plump tanuki approached her. While shi was certainly chubbier than any hóu yaoguai, shi seemed almost slim by tanuki standards. "Hello, Linghua," shi said. "I'm Maruko Futobara. Please excuse my appearance. I had a rough breakup and lost a lot of weight. I'm slowly gaining it back thanks to the chankonabe, but I'm still pretty deflated."
"Oh, I don't mind," Linghua grinned. "Hóu yaoguai prefer to be skinny. Besides, being lighter might make you more graceful at staff fighting. Who knows? Maybe you'll beat me and get that extra helping of chankonabe. I'll make you earn it, though." Linghua laughed and winked.
As Maruko returned to the crowd, a kitsune stepped up. Shi seemed to small to be a rikishi, looking more curvy than fat. Even chubby would be an overstatement. "Greetings, Linghua-san," shi said, bowing. "I'm Akane Inarimago. I came here to get my dream belly, and it's finally beginning to happen!"
"Good for you," Linghua smiled, trying to understand. "You've got a nice ass, you know. Sorry, too forward? It's a monkey thing."
"It's alright," Akane giggled as shi returned to the crowd.
A chubby karasu-tengu with a crumpled wing stepped up next. "Hello, Linghua-san," shi smiled. "I'm Tsubame Sorayama. I grew up on a mountain with my massive clan."
"Same!" Linghua grinned.
"I came here because I wrecked my wing and got to feeling pretty worthless," Tsubame went on. "I'm hoping that sumo can give me a purpose."
"I bet it can," Linghua encouraged. "Staff fighting gives me a really strong sense of identity. I bet sumo will be the same for you." Tsubame nodded and returned to the crowd.
An oni with pale green skin, wild black hair, a single rhino-like horn growing from hir forehead, sharp claws, and a pair of wicked tusks jutting up from hir lower jaw was next. Shi had a decent layer of pudge clinging to hir powerful muscles. "Pleased to meet you, Linghua-san. I'm Kijo Onidzuyo. I've been rocking the amateur sumo circuit for years. I came here to show Japan that girls can be great rikishi... and then Kyūri-sensei had a witch put a dick on me." Shi rolled hir eyes. "Oh well. It makes for some pretty good masturbating. Don't touch it, though! It has a hair-trigger."
"Noted," Linghua smirked.
Next up was a truly massive tanuki whose naked tits flopped wildly as shi trundled up to Linghua. "Hi! I'm Hōman Harekōgan! I'm my villages sumo champ and future greatest student of Kyūri-sensei's career!"
"I like your attitude!" Linghua winked. "Flaunt what ya got! Humility gets ya nowhere."
"Agreed!" Hōman nodded with a smile as shi returned to the crowd.
A two-tailed kitsune with just a hint of pudge walked up next. "Hi, Linghua. I'm Misaki Satō. I actually haven't been a kitsune for very long. I was a human girl, a miko at my father's Inari shrine. I stumbled into this heya by accident, and one thing just sorta led to another."
"That's how life should be," Linghua smiled. "One crazy thing leading to another."
Next came a smiling kawauso who was only beginning to develop the first hint of a gut. "Hi there, Linghua! I'm Taki Morikawa. We kawauso have a long and storied sumo tradition, but we're being forgotten as our numbers dwindle. I came here to remind the yōkai community what the kawauso are made of."
"I wish you luck," Linghua nodded with unusual respect for the cheeky monkey.
Kristi and Joelle came next. "Hi!" Kristi said. "My name's Kristi Wenzel, and this is my girlfriend Joelle Bowman. I was a camgirl who specialized in the BBW subculture. Then I accidentally put on a werefox transformation belt and got saddled with werebeast metabolism. I'm here to get my belly back... and maybe find a new passion."
"And I'm moral support," Joelle added. "I had to become a futa kawauso to stay here, and it's honestly working for me!"
"Always nice to discover new things about ourselves," Linghua nodded.
The werehyenas all came up together. They all politely bowed. "You kinda already know us," Ellie began, "but we're Ellie Rubenstein, Harper Browning, Beck Hamilton, and Brianna Dixon. We're Americans like Kristi and Joelle, and we're in a werehyena pack from Washington state. Our Japan adventure's happening because I used to be human and enjoyed being chubby, but my werehyena transformation flattened by belly. Then Beck got interested in getting some flab, and our mates tagged along to keep us company. Plus, Harper's a weeb."
"And proud of it!" Harper laughed.
"That's all my pupils," Kyūri said at last. "You can meet my tokoyama Aiya Kumoyama later. Fair warning, shi's a jorogumo."
Linghua frowned. "A spider yaoguai? The Great Sage Equal to Heaven had to fight off some of those guys when they tried to seduce and eat Tang Sanzang."
"Aiya is nothing like the foes of Sun Wukong," Kyūri laughed. "Shi's really quite sweet."
"If you say so," Linghua shrugged, fondling her tail. "Now, where will I be sleeping?"
"Just follow my granddaughter," Kyūri chuckled. "She knows every inch of my heya. Just brace yourself for excited questions about Flower and Fruit Mountain."