Fox and the Butterfly's Proposal
Before she awakened, back when she was still in elementary school, she had often thought about it.
On the days when she was so hungry she had nothing to eat and could only fill her stomach with tap water, she would always feel hollow and stare up at the sky.
The clouds drifting freely across the clear sky, so different from her.
I wonder how tasty those clouds would be... she had thought.
And today.
She had made that dream come true.
“Clouds are castella... It was cloud bread!!”
The cloud was soft and tasted like honey melting gently on her tongue.
It was a flavor beyond anything she had ever eaten before, and tears spilled from her eyes before she even realized it.
But dreamlike moments passed too quickly, and with lingering regret she licked the castella still left in her hand.
Then Yerin gave her another piece, and happiness returned once more.
...I’m full.
She wanted to keep going forever, to stay in this blissful moment, but sadly her stomach had grown smaller after her body changed, and she could not eat anymore.
So she instinctively tried to dig a hole and hide the rest for later, only for Yerin to gasp and stop her.
“You can’t put food in the dirt!”
“...?”
“It’s dirty, dirty!”
“???”
She had been stopped and cleaned up the moment she dropped her first piece of castella, so she could not understand why it was being called dirty.
“If you bury it, it’ll go bad and hurt your stomach! And ants will steal the bread, too?”
“!!!”
At the mention of ants, she remembered how ants had once stolen her mole.
“I can’t let them take the mole I hunted last time...”
“Y-You hunted a mole?”
Last time she had yielded, but having this cloud bread taken from her was something she would never allow.
“Anyway, let’s stop hiding things in the ground, okay?”
Well, Yerin had given her the gift of cloud bread, so she obediently nodded, but the remaining pieces still felt far too precious to waste.
“Kang...”
“I’ll buy you more later, so you don’t have to force yourself.”
Still, she could not bear to waste the bread, so she decided to sneak it away when Yerin wasn’t looking.
Of course, she planned to hide it some other way so the ants couldn’t steal it.
She was a clever, brave fox, so she would not make the same mistake twice!
She quickly tucked the bread into her tail.
Her tail was an amazing tail, possessed of the skill Fluffy Tail (F)!
Its fur was so soft and voluminous that it could store little things inside.
Even now, it held the one-won coin of her honor and the churu Yerin had given her, and somehow they hardly ever seemed to fall out.
“Huh? Where did the rest of the bread go?”
“...I ate it.”
Yerin was looking at her with suspicious eyes, but she got through it like the clever fox she was.
“Here, have some milk too.”
“...”
She had just eaten the cloud bread in a hurry, so her throat was dry, and she carefully took the milk and drank it.
The taste of milk, after so long, was refreshingly delicious.
“So good...”
“There’s plenty, so drink slowly.”
As Yerin wiped the milk from the corner of her mouth, something about it made her feel safe.
Her stomach was full and her heart at ease, and drowsiness began creeping over her bit by bit.
It had barely been morning, and there was still so much to do, but her eyelids were already growing heavy.
“Haaahm.”
“Sleepy?”
“N-No, I’m not sleepy at all!”
She fought the sleep with all her might, and by instinct her body moved toward a safe crack between the rocks.
“Naru?”
“Th-this is... yes, meditation. For surviving today... for making plans...”
She was half-delirious and felt as though she might lose consciousness at any moment, but she was a brave and amazing fox!
She endured with superhuman willpower and curled herself into a ball.
And then...
Snore...
“Snrrk...”
“So she really just fell asleep. Thank goodness.”
She had suddenly staggered about, which was worrying, but it seemed the fullness in her stomach had brought on the sleep.
Come to think of it, she probably hadn’t slept properly at all, running back and forth since before dawn, so it was only natural.
I wanted to stroke Naru’s head as she slept, or maybe touch that fluffy tail, but I held myself back.
Instead, I slowly looked around the place where Naru had been living all this time.
There wasn’t a single piece of ordinary furniture here, not a bite of food or a drop to drink. This was absolutely no place for a person, let alone a child, to live.
Earlier, she had said she hunted a mole.
That must mean she had been eating feed from down the mountain, or hunting things like moles and mice.
There were no traces of a fire, so she must have been eating everything raw...
...
I looked at Naru with even more pity.
I really couldn’t leave her in a place like this.
She herself might not have realized it, but what she clearly needed was an adult’s hand...
She needed affection.
“Meow.”
“...!”
Then Boss, the cat who had already finished his can, got up and walked into the crack of rock where Naru was sleeping.
Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he settled in beside her and lay down, and Naru, still talking in her sleep, hugged him.
“Boss...”
The sight of her following that cat like a parent, taking comfort in his warmth, somehow felt heartbreaking.
There was no such thing as something for nothing.
That was not something a child should have had to think.
Instead of the affection she should have received, she had learned loneliness and the cold reality of the world.
...
From the things I had bought, I took out a blanket and carefully tried to cover Naru with it, only for Boss, who was lying nearby, to open his eyes and watch me warily.
“I’m just covering her so she won’t get cold.”
“...”
Boss cautiously sniffed the blanket I showed him, then settled back down on top of Naru’s tail and lay there.
I took that as permission and draped the blanket over her again. Naru twitched for a moment, then smiled softly in her sleep and drifted deeper into it.
She was sleeping so comfortably that it looked as though she were on a five-star hotel bed, but in reality she was lying on a hard, cold floor.
“I’m worried about hygiene and her health too.”
I picked up a fallen leaf near the rocks as I spoke.
Even though it was already the turn of late spring into early summer, nobody had cleaned up the leaves, and the place was simply rotting away on its own.
And inside the crack in the rocks, whether Naru had brought them herself or not, she had gathered filthy, worn-out clothes and used them as bedding.
This was a terrible place for a child to live.
And if I remembered correctly, the rainy season was supposed to be coming soon.
“I’d like to take her home and raise her. But...”
Was the reason I was helping Naru simply pity?
If I, who had started all this from a selfish desire for a broadcast, took this child with me, could I really bear the responsibility?
“Responsibility, huh...”
Leaning against the rocks, I sat down and thought of the way my parents had raised me, then reached out to stroke Naru’s head.
“Mrrr...”
“You’re like a cat...”
Watching her sleep so peacefully, making those odd little noises, made me smile without meaning to.
While I was waiting for Naru to wake up and trying to sort out my thoughts, I checked my smartphone and found that the missed calls and messages from the manager and editor had piled up.
“Right, I ended the broadcast in a hurry.”
I instinctively started to call them back, but it was obvious I wouldn’t hear anything pleasant if I did, and if possible I wanted to focus on Naru a little longer.
...
It’s absolutely not because I’m scared of the viewers’ reaction that I’m putting it off.
Glancing to the side, I saw the source of this messy situation, Naru, sleeping soundly with little snorts.
Tap, tap.
“Kang...”
With just a tiny bit of revenge in my heart, I poked her cheek, and it was absurdly soft and springy for a child who hadn’t been cared for properly.
I had only meant to tease her, but the touch was so addicting that before I knew it, I was absorbed in it.
Then I noticed the castella still stuck at the corner of her mouth and took out a handkerchief to wipe it away.
Lick.
“Hehe...”
“...!”
Naru, still half-asleep, gave my hand one lick as I wiped her mouth, then, as though she were eating castella in her dreams, she chewed at the air earnestly and smiled.
“I really can’t just leave her like this.”
I couldn’t leave such a small, fragile child alone here.
No matter what happened in the future, I had decided to take responsibility for her.
Of course, it might be a lighthearted decision, the same way one might decide to pick up a dog or a cat, but even if we ended up parting later, I didn’t want to regret not acting now.
How much time had passed after I made that decision?
Naru woke with a huge yawn, and Boss, who had been lying on her tail, rolled off.
Boss, as if he were used to it, simply adjusted his position and went right back to sleep.
“Haaahm!”
Still half-asleep, Naru crawled out from between the rocks, stretched like a cat, and smacked her lips.
“Huh?”
Then she noticed the blanket I’d given her, draped over her tail, and blinked at it for a moment before our eyes met.
Three seconds.
After an awkward silence, Naru finally came to her senses, startled, and jumped straight up.
“Kang?! A... a strange human!? Emergency! Emergency!! Air raid warning!!”
“N-Naru! Calm down! It’s me, it’s me!!”
“...Kang?”
At last fully awake, Naru remembered what she had just done and slowly turned red.
“Th-this is training... yes, that’s right! I was training in advance for some dangerous situation, just in case!”
“I see. You’re impressive even first thing in the morning.”
“Hmph! I’m a great fox, so of course I am!”
Apparently thinking she’d gotten away with it, her tail swayed back and forth.
“Meow.”
“Sorry, Boss. I woke you up.”
She was quickly scolded by the cat and froze up, but that only made her even cuter because it was so very Naru.
For some reason, being with that child made me feel like I could endure anything.
“Naru, do you have a moment?”
“I have a lot to do now... Besides, why are you still here? No matter that you gave me castree, I still can’t trust you!”
“Castella.”
“Right, that!”
“Naru, don’t you need castella, warm clothes, and a home?”
“!!!”
At my words, Naru’s tail reacted dramatically.
“That’s true, but... I’m a clever and brave fox, so I can get all that in no time!”
She put on a show of bravado, but I was sorry to say that I didn’t believe her in the slightest.
Of course, I buried that feeling deep in my heart and kept speaking.
“I’m sure you could, Naru, but there’s an easier and faster way.”
“There is?”
Her ears perked up with interest at my suggestion.
“Why don’t you come with me and live together with your older sister?”
“...?”
“You can live at my place and never have to suffer like this again.”
“...”
“Of course, you may not trust me yet... but I mean it. I want to help you, Naru.”
At my words, Naru stared at me blankly, then finally spoke.
“If I go with Yerin... can I eat casura?”
“Castella.”
“Right, that.”
“Yes. I’ll make sure you’re never hungry again!”
Seeing her drooling, I thought she’d come around more easily than I expected.
“But I refuse!!”
“...Huh?”
Together with Naru’s answer, dark clouds were slowly rolling in from far away.