There Are Times a Fox Must Never Back Down
"Naru, won't you come out now?"
"Grrrr!"
I was dug in under the sofa, holding a sit-in against the arch-traitor who had deceived me. Whenever a hand snuck in trying to fish me out, I bit it without mercy and drove it back. I was a merciless fox who never forgot a grudge! I would never forget the way she had tormented me with countless instruments of torture. And I would have my revenge!!
The moment I finally dozed off from holding out like this—
In that instant…
…
…
Anyway, I was going to take savage revenge!!
It was absolutely not that I couldn't think of a single method of revenge.
Ding-dong—
"!!!"
The sudden sound made me jolt, and I went even more on guard. The traitor's presence receded. I thought she had given up on dragging me out—until another unfamiliar presence joined her.
"I bought all the stuff you asked for."
"Thanks, Unnie."
"So where's the box fox… I mean, the kid?"
"Under the sofa…"
"???"
Soon an unfamiliar human shadow drew close. She bent down, and our eyes met.
"Grrrr!!"
I scrambled deeper under the sofa and tried to look threatening, but the stranger only sparkled even harder.
"Oh my gosh, she's way younger and cuter than I expected. Why is she under the sofa, though?"
"Ahaha, well… she was covered in mud and had been living in the mountains, so I gave her a thorough wash, but I guess it was a pretty scary experience for Naru."
"Ah, yeah, that would be terrifying the first time. The puppy I raise still freaks out at bath time even now."
"Anyway, nothing's going to move forward until Naru comes out…"
I quietly eavesdropped, snorted, and made up my mind.
I am absolutely not coming out of here!
The two of them were whispering, clearly plotting something, but they could forget it. I was a clever, revenge-starved, terrifying fox! If me staying put put them in a tight spot, then I was absolutely not going to come ou—
"Sniff sniff."
Right then my keen nose caught a familiar sweet scent.
This smell!!
I had only smelled it once before, but I would never forget that fragrance. It was the smell of the cloud bread Yerin had given me last time.
Where on earth was that delicious smell coming from? I turned my head and saw a tiny piece of cloud bread sitting on a plate near the entrance.
"!!!"
I swallowed hard and drifted toward the bread as naturally as iron filings to a magnet. In that instant, a tiny imaginary version of me appeared in front of me and blocked the path.
Aah?! Could it be… imaginary me?!
Yes, that's right! And snap out of it, Naru! There's no way cloud bread just appears out of nowhere! That's a trap!
The great imaginary fox that was me, warning me it was a trap.
And my answer was…
"I know."
Sometimes you have to move even when you know it's a trap. And that time is when cloud bread is right in front of your nose!!
"Nom!"
I immediately hunted down the unsuspecting cloud bread and ate it on the spot. My tail wagged on its own; my shoulders and hips bounced up and down. But the piece was so tiny it vanished in a second. I was licking the plate in regret when another piece appeared right in front of me. I didn't hesitate—I ate the next cloud bread too. And amazingly, yet another piece was waiting.
The world has cloud-bread copy magic!
So I kept eating cloud bread and slowly advanced… until at last a real, complete cloud bread appeared instead of little scraps, and I lunged for it the second I saw it.
"Gotcha!"
"Kang?"
Shockingly, the cloud bread's location had been right on top of Yerin's lap, and I ended up caught in her arms.
"Kugh, taking Casurooro as a hostage is so underhanded!"
"It's castella."
"Yeah, that."
"Anyway, Naru, won't you talk with Unnie?"
"No!! You betrayed me!!"
"That's not true. I can prove it."
"…Prove it?"
"Look at your tail, Naru."
"My tail?"
I snuck a look. Today, too, my proud tail was fluffing out its rich, soft glory.
"If I hadn't washed and dried you just now, the rain and mud would have ruined your fur."
"…"
Come to think of it, the rain had left my tail dirty and not fluffy at all… but now it looked as clean as before—no, cleaner and fluffier than before.
"And more than anything, I was going to give you this castella."
"Huk!!"
I looked at the cloud bread I was already diligently eating and was shocked. Even I, a smart and clever fox, had to admit that maybe Yerin hadn't betrayed me after all.
"Here, have some milk with it too."
"!!!"
Yerin held out a cup of white milk. I hesitated for a second, then stuck out my tongue and lapped it up. The cloud bread in my mouth got damp, the gentle sweetness bloomed even stronger, and the dry thirst in my throat was deliciously soothed while I ate.
"It's so gooddd!!"
"Pffft."
I stuffed my mouth full of cloud bread and milk and moaned in bliss, and my happily thrashing tail smacked Yerin square in the face. I was too focused on eating to notice until every last crumb was gone. Finally, with a nice round belly, I patted my stomach in satisfaction and looked up at Yerin—only to find quite a bit of fur stuck to her face.
"Did something happen?"
"Mm, something nice."
Yerin wore a strangely content expression, but I didn't really care.
"Anyway, you really didn't betray me?"
"Of course not! Why would I ever betray Naru?"
"…"
I eyed her suspiciously.
A careful, clever fox always checks the stone bridge with her tail first, even when crossing.
"You dragged me into prison by force!"
"It was a bath. And it's not a prison, it's a bathroom."
"You sprayed water everywhere!"
"It was a bath."
"You smeared me with weird poison!"
"It was a bath. And it wasn't poison—it was shampoo and rinse. I was going to put on conditioner and oil too, but you hated it so much I held back."
"You forced my clothes off!"
"It was a bath. And please don't phrase it like that. Unnie could get arrested."
"You attacked me with a scary noisy gun!"
"You were wet from the bath, so I had to dry you. And it's not a gun, it's a hairdryer."
"…Huk!"
Listening to Yerin's answers made it clear she really hadn't betrayed me. Still, even if the bath hadn't been that scary… forcing me into it was definitely Yerin's fault. I would get revenge later, but I was a generous fox, so I decided to let it slide for now.
"Fine! I'll specially believe you!"
"Pfft!"
"!!!"
Right then a strange sound came from not far away. I peeked over and saw an unfamiliar human sitting on the sofa, laughing at me. She was a woman with short light-brown hair and eyes that gave off the same catlike vibe as Boss.
"Kang?!"
The unexpected stranger locking eyes with me made me leap straight up in shock and take off running.
Thump-thump-thump.
While I ran I instinctively searched for a place to hide, and Yerin, right beside me, shouted,
"Naru, calm down! She's Unnie's friend, a friend!"
I was so busy desperately looking for cover that I barely heard what she said, but I immediately used Yerin as a shield and hid behind her.
"Strange human!! Dangerous!!"
I peeked out with one eye to size up the stranger, but the stranger was weirdly covering her mouth with one hand, fighting desperately not to laugh. And in her other hand she held a rectangular something I felt like I'd seen before but couldn't quite place.
"Unnie, were you filming even through all that?"
"No, kuh… she's just… too cute… ahahaha!!"
"Grrrr!"
Yep, the stranger was definitely not normal. I could not understand where she saw anything cute.
"Yerin, that human is weird. Dangerous!"
"It's okay, Naru. She is… a little weird, but her name is Kang Subin. She's an unnie I know."
"Hey! Why am I the weird one?!"
The human called Kang Subin stood up from the sofa and slowly approached. I instinctively lowered my body and clutched Yerin's clothes tight.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Kang Subin. You can call me Subin Unnie."
"Grrrr!"
"Haha, still wary, huh."
The human named Kang Subin suddenly grinned in a sinister way and covered her face with both hands.
"…?"
I stared hard, trying to figure out what she was doing, when her hands suddenly flew open and she shoved her face right up close.
"Peekaboo!"
"Kyaaang?!"
I was so startled I jumped high enough to fly, then went thump-thump-thump and bolted. I was so panicked that I kept bumping into things, knocking stuff over, and hearing things break, but none of that mattered right now. Then my eyes found a safe place again. I dove under the sofa in a flash and clutched my pounding heart.
"Ahahahahahaha!!!"
"Unnie!!! What do you think you're doing with a prank like that!! Naru was terrified!! What if she got hurt!"
"Sorry, she was just too cute, I couldn't help it."
"Ugh, seriously… everything fell over, look at this mess."
"Sorry, sorry."
I burrowed even deeper under the sofa, stayed on guard, and peeked out to check the situation—only to see, to my amazement, that Yerin was attacking the dangerous human.
"Aack! Oww! That hurts!"
"You deserve every hit! This kid's already super wary! And you pull a mean prank like that!"
"I said I'm sorry, she was just so cute I couldn't stop myself…"
"What do you mean 'couldn't stop yourself'!"
Smack—
"Aack!! My back! Is an Awakened even allowed to hit a civilian like this?!"
"Got a problem? Then quit and report me!!"
Gulp.
Could it be… that the boss of this whole territory was Yerin all along?! The dangerous human was just taking the hits without any resistance and apologizing. Apparently Yerin ranked a lot higher among humans than I had thought.
…
I vowed that for the time being, I would not take revenge on Yerin.