Fox, Escape from Shawshank!
“Kang!”
Locked inside a collection bin that let me in whenever it wanted but wouldn’t let me out, I jumped and jumped and tried to escape, only to fail over and over again.
My Danger Sense kept telling me that this was dangerous, and the more it did, the more anxious I became.
Thud. Thud.
Before I knew it, I was running around inside the bin and crashing into the walls again and again, making the whole thing sway.
But nothing changed, and in the end I could only stop once I finally got hold of myself.
“This is bad...”
I had worked so hard to get into the bin, but I had never once thought about the important part: getting out.
If I couldn’t leave here, I might end up as a fox mummy and get mounted in the news.
Would my mummy be displayed in a museum?
I’d want them to give it a name like The Brave Fox’s Final End... no, now wasn’t the time to think about that.
“Even if a tiger bites you, you can still survive if you keep your head on straight!”
I took a deep breath, forced myself to calm down, and looked around carefully.
The first thing I saw was the door where clothes were taken out. I had checked it before I came in, and it was locked tight with a padlock, so opening it looked difficult.
Next were the clothes themselves.
If there were enough piled up, I could use them as a stepping stone and get out... wait.
If there weren’t enough, couldn’t I just stack them myself?
Hope surged through me, and my fluffy tail wagged hard enough to smack the bin.
It wasn’t an intentional movement, so it felt awkward, but I didn’t care.
I hurriedly gathered the clothes, piled them beneath the opening, and climbed up.
Then I leaped toward the exit with all my strength!
Thump.
“Kang!”
My hand barely missed the edge, and I cracked my head against it before tumbling back down.
Thanks to the clothes I’d stacked up, I wasn’t badly hurt, but my face hurt from the impact, and tears welled up before I could stop them.
If I hadn’t been the strong fox I was now, learned from Boss, I would have cried. But I wasn’t that weak anymore.
“There has to be another way...”
I could shout and ask someone for help, but facing a stranger head-on made my instincts recoil.
Yes, strangers were dangerous. That was only natural.
For now, it was best to leave that as a last resort.
Tap.
“...!”
Tap tap.
Then I heard something lightly tapping against the bin near my ear.
The steady sound gradually increased, and the smell of wetness began to grow stronger.
“Rain?”
As I guessed, I could see rain falling into the opening.
But the problem was that a sudden downpour had started, and the raindrops kept growing heavier.
“Ah...”
The sound of rain filled the whole area, and if I shouted for help now, there was a good chance no one would hear me.
With my last option gone, I grew even more restless and anxious. Tears rose again, but I wiped them away stubbornly and shouted, “I-I’m... a brave... fox!”
I refused to give up over something this small, got back up, and stared at the opening again.
If I didn’t have enough footing or jump power, then I’d add momentum this time!
Da-da-da-da-
I started running in circles inside the bin.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like my running had become much faster after awakening.
It might have looked a little ridiculous, me dashing on four legs instead of two, but I ignored that and pushed my speed even higher.
“Here I go!”
I stepped onto the piled clothes, sprang upward, and reached my hand toward the opening.
I can reach it!
The moment I smiled, certain I’d succeeded this time... the opening suddenly went dark.
“Good grief, I didn’t expect it to come down this hard all of a sudden... come on, let’s get these in.”
“Kang!?”
Someone, unwilling to get soaked in the pouring rain, hurriedly shoved the clothes into the bin, and I fell straight back in along with them.
Worse, a great many clothes poured down on top of me, and my fox grave was complete.
“Huh? Did I just hear something... no, must’ve been my imagination. Better get inside before I get any wetter.”
The unidentified culprit left the bin without the slightest hesitation, and I lay buried in the clothes, devastated.
“Humans really are dangerous...”
I struggled out from under the pile and looked up. Thanks to that person stuffing in so many clothes, the opening was now high enough that I could escape without much trouble.
It felt like all my hard work until just a moment ago had turned to foam and vanished.
Still, I didn’t hesitate. I headed for the opening and finally managed to climb out of the bin... no, out of prison.
“Kyaaaaaah!!”
I threw my whole body into the wind and rain of freedom and roared up at the sky.
Just like some old guy named Shawshank had escaped from prison and shouted in triumph.
“I’m exhausted...”
The moment I tried to head back to Boss to rest, I stepped on a small pebble and stopped.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, the reason I’d ended up trapped in that bin was to get clothes in the first place.
I turned back, looked at the bin again, and my tail drooped as I remembered I’d have to go back to that prison.
Maybe it was because I’d gotten soaked in the rain, but it also felt like even the sky was crying for me.
“Boss, I’m back.”
I returned triumphantly, arms full of clothes.
I’d have to dry them later since I was drenched, but the important thing was that I had clothes now.
Unfortunately, none of them were my size, and I didn’t have shoes either, but I thought this would be enough.
Besides, I was a brave and clever fox now, so I’d come up with a way to use three pairs of socks instead of shoes.
They kept slipping because they didn’t fit, but it was still much better than having nothing.
“Boss?”
When I looked around because Boss wasn’t visible anywhere, I heard his voice from between the cracks of a rock.
“So you were here, Boss!”
I set the clothes down under a tree so they wouldn’t get rained on, then shook myself hard to get the water off.
Instincts really are strange. I’d never learned this, never practiced it, and yet my body seemed to remember it automatically.
When I actually tried shaking water off like a dog, it came off much better than I’d expected.
I immediately followed Boss into the crack between the rocks and sheltered from the rain.
It was a little cramped, but Boss’s warmth made it comfortable in a way that put my mind at ease.
“Boss, something amazing happened today.”
“Meow.”
“I went to find clothes, met Norangi, and after finally finding them, it was so hard even getting inside...”
While we waited for the rain to stop, I told him about the incredible adventure I’d had today.
About entering the demon king’s castle called a collection bin, getting trapped in a pitfall and facing danger, then facing another crisis during my escape... and how, using what I’d learned from Boss, I solved it bravely and cleverly.
...
Stories, by nature, always involve a little exaggeration.
“Meow.”
“It’s true, Boss!”
Sadly, Boss didn’t seem to believe me right away, but as if it didn’t matter, he simply lay down on my tail.
Maybe because of my fluffy-tail skill, Boss seemed to be using my tail as a bed, but honestly, even if I used it as a pillow, it was soft enough to make me happy.
It was just a little damp from the rain, that was all.
Grrr...
As much as I wanted to drift off to dreamland and rest like this, I was too hungry to sleep after struggling all day.
Lick, lick.
I licked the raindrops as they fell, trying to fill my stomach with water, and that was when I suddenly remembered the mole I’d hunted yesterday and hidden away.
I couldn’t make a fire, but I couldn’t starve to death like this either, so I decided I’d eat it.
Human dignity?
Hunger came first.
“Boss, let’s eat the mole I hid yesterday together!”
“Meow?”
Boss looked at me in confusion, but I immediately got up and went to find the spot where I’d buried it yesterday.
Then I started digging excitedly, and the moment I did, my expression had no choice but to freeze.
“Kang?!”
The mole I had worked so hard to catch and carefully store away was already being devoured by a swarm of vicious ants.
Because I’d buried it underground, the ants had kept busy even in the rain, and the sight was so disgusting that I shrieked without thinking and jumped backward.
“My... my glorious first hunt...”
“Meow.”
Boss came over to me and firmly made it clear that there was no saving it now.
At his words, I looked at the mole again, and sure enough, it had already begun to rot and gave off a bad smell.
Even though the rain had softened the odor, it was still strong enough that my instincts told me this was definitely not something to eat.
In the end, I swallowed my bloody tears, buried the mole again, and buried it in my heart too.
Then I went back to the rock crack with Boss and waited for the rain to stop, enduring my hunger as best I could.
If there was one silver lining, it was that I was used to being hungry, so it wasn’t a huge problem.
How long did time pass like that...
At last, the rain that seemed as if it would never stop finally ended, and the friendly sun appeared, sparkling overhead.
“Boss, the rain finally stopped!”
“Meow.”
Even though the rain had stopped, Boss didn’t seem interested in moving, and he stayed curled up in the crack, so I let out a sigh and said, “Boss, it’s time to move now!”
“Meow.”
“What? You’re saying pointless movement is a waste of energy?”
“...”
Boss seemed too lazy even to answer me now, simply flicking his tail as a reply, and I ran out of things to say. So I decided to do my own job.
That job was drying the clothes I’d brought back this time.
If possible, I’d wash them, but such luxury wasn’t something I could afford right now.
So the only option was to dry them while the sun was out.
I carefully spread out the clothes one by one and hung them where the sunlight was strongest.
And while I was at it, I figured I might as well take off the clothes I was wearing and dry those in the sun too.
“Mm, the sun is warm.”
While the clothes were drying, I was about to go hunt something to eat, but then I realized moving around like this was embarrassing, so I covered my body with my tail and went back to the rock crack where Boss was.
“Sorry, Boss. I’m going to impose on you while the clothes dry.”
Boss closed his eyes as if he didn’t mind, and I lay down beside him again, staring up at the sky.
Grrr...
I pretended not to hear my stomach rumbling.
“Boss, you know... someday, I’m going to make it.”
“Meow.”
Today was supposed to be a day of victory, the day I got clothes, and yet I felt like I might cry anyway.