The Fox and the Fire Fox
"Whine... Whimper..."
"......."
Miho, straddling Frey, was kissing him with tears welling in her eyes.
Smack, slurp...
At some point, they'd moved to the bed in his room. With her body pressed against his, she tightly closed her eyes, melting her fox bead in her mouth and feeding it to him.
"...Gulp."
She was swallowing the unknown, eerie energy emanating from his body along with her saliva.
"Pwah... Puha... Puhah..."
After a long while, she finally pulled her tongue from his mouth and slumped limply.
Lick, lick.
She lay sprawled atop him, panting heavily for a time with a tearful face, then retrieved the shrunken bead from his mouth.
"I... I pushed it all in... Not a drop left behind. Perfectly..."
Completely exhausted, she barely managed to turn her head, speaking in a hollow voice.
"So please... Make it stop now... I beg you..."
"Get down."
"Eek...!"
At Lulu's command, Miho's entire body twitched as she began sliding off Frey.
"Haa... Haa..."
After struggling for a while, she collapsed beside him, covering her eyes with her arm and breathing raggedly.
"Sniff... Hic..."
Soon, she burst into sobs.
"How did you even gather it... I worked so hard to make that 'Gumi'... And it went to that human..."
"Come to my side."
"Eep...!"
But before she could even cry properly, she slipped off the bed at Lulu's order.
"What happened? Is he recovering?"
"Ugh..."
Lulu grabbed the still-dazed Miho's shoulder and asked. Miho stared blankly at her for a moment before slowly answering.
"I don't know. I never expected it. It shouldn't even be possible. But for now, he's definitely recovered somewhat..."
"So, the treatment worked?"
"Y-Yes. It was impossible, but his life force has recovered to some extent. Whether it's permanent, I don't know..."
"Don't say negative things."
"...At the very least, he's no longer a walking corpse for the moment."
Only then did Miho escape Lulu's grip.
"Puha... Puhah..."
Even after being released, Miho was out of it for a while. Then she remembered Frey's fluids inside her body.
"Ugh... Waaah..."
And that the fox bead she'd painstakingly gathered over ten years had gone to her sworn enemy in an instant. She began to sob.
"...Fox bead, was it? You said gathering it requires 'essence'?"
Lulu asked her this.
"So how do you gather essence?"
"........"
Miho glared at Lulu for a moment but soon lowered her eyes under the pressure and began to explain quietly.
"Th-There's a way to collect dew. Morning dew is full of earth's mana, perfect for gathering essence."
"...How long does it take?"
"A-At least a year to make it a usable size."
"Too long..."
Lulu frowned and asked again.
"Second way?"
"M-Mating with a male..."
"........"
"Eek... Th-That too... With the one you're giving the fox bead to... You have to... mate..."
"Next."
As Miho was forced to speak by the power of the Demon Eyes, Lulu said coldly. Miho grimaced and continued.
"L-Lastly... Squeeze life force directly from people. Using my ability, grab their heart in my hand and milk it like udders."
"Hm."
"It's what Serena asked for when convincing the bishops during the torture... It hurts a lot. Extremely painful."
Having heard that, Lulu smiled brightly and took her hand.
"Then... If there are lots of people to squeeze, the bead grows fast, right?"
"Y-Yes. But I only squeeze bad people! Like that guy lying there...!"
"........"
"A-Anyway, I can't just squeeze anyone. Not many can even endure it. So criminals..."
"I'll provide them."
"...What?"
Miho tilted her head.
"There are real bad guys. My master's former owners... My current master has them locked up. The Demon K-- Anyway."
"Did I hear something weird just now..."
"Anyway, squeeze them."
Miho looked suspicious at that.
"And if that's not enough... Squeeze me."
"Wh-What?"
"Squeeze my heart. I'll regularly catch criminals and supply you, but if I can't find any that day, squeeze me."
So saying, Lulu continued.
"Not all at once like this time--half to Master. That way, you can recover your fox bead faster than gathering dew."
She said this with a serious expression.
"Th-That's true, but..."
"Don't want to?"
"N-No... You sure?"
Miho asked, looking at Lulu.
"As I said, squeezing the heart causes extreme pain. It's not something you can just endure... Eek?"
She was continuing skeptically when.
"What are you doing?"
Lulu took her hand and placed it on her own chest. Miho's eyes widened.
"Squeeze now."
"What?"
"Test it. Squeeze my life force."
Lulu spoke seriously, then closed her eyes tightly.
"I'm Master's. My body, soul, life--all Master's. Of course I can give my life force."
Her voice trembled as she said this.
"...Got it, then."
Miho glanced at her, then shrugged with an whatever expression and gripped her heart.
"Ack...!"
In that instant, a sharp scream echoed through the mansion.
"Aaaargh!!!"
"S-See? I told you no one can endure it."
As Lulu screamed as if being torn apart, Miho panicked and tried to pull her hand away.
"K-Keep... Keep going..."
"......?"
"I'll... save Master..."
Holding Miho's hand in place, Lulu whimpered. Miho squeezed her eyes shut and continued.
"Aaaah...!"
And a long time passed.
"Haa, haa..."
When Miho released her heart, Lulu collapsed to the floor, utterly drained.
"You'll just keep withering away. And this is temporary. No guarantee your rotting master will survive. Still..."
Miho looked at her pityingly, trying to persuade her.
"...Hehe."
But even in that state, she crawled toward the bed.
Lick, lick.
She burrowed beside Frey and licked his quietly closed-eyed face.
"Sniff...!"
Then she took his hand and began choking herself with it.
"Only you can control me... Own me... Even kill me... Only you..."
After such an anxious day, her masochistic and self-destructive habits had resurfaced after a long time.
"So if you die..."
Licking the seemingly dead Frey, she squeezed his hand tighter around her throat.
"...I'll die too."
She whispered into his ear, pressing harder.
"So if you don't want me dead..."
Then, whether by chance or her voice reaching him, Frey twitched and slightly pulled his hand back from her throat.
"...Please live."
Smiling happily as if she'd known he would, she rubbed her cheek against his hand.
"You saved me, so now I'll save you. I'll give you my heart. My life force. I'll squeeze until I'm withered, give it all to you."
"I want to live as your pet until my last breath."
Today, she was the heroine from a novel.
"So live long with me, die together, buried in the same grave."
The kind from a romance novel, with reddened eyes.
......
"Phew..."
Quite some time later.
"What a ordeal..."
Miho left Frey's room, sighing deeply as she descended to the first floor.
"Still, Serena couldn't have planned this..."
She muttered with a dejected expression.
"...Asking every night for the past few days to squeeze her heart?"
Then she chuckled and shook her head.
"Nah, no way. Even a genius can't foresee that. Impossible."
As she descended the stairs, she paused, frowning inwardly.
Or maybe... it is possible...
Miho had spent a lot of time with Serena lately. Excluding her confidants and Frey, she'd interacted with her more than anyone.
That's why she'd noticed Serena changed at night.
Clumsy and cute in the morning, but at night, a shadowy underworld mastermind.
And at those times, she solved daytime cases in seconds, devising brilliant strategies.
"What... is she really?"
Shaking her head at all the strange experiences since leaving the East Continent, Miho thought.
Come to think of it, what about that dogkin Lulu?
She narrowed her eyes.
She glanced toward Frey's room, where Lulu had been licking him, muttering, then suddenly growling out the window.
That energy... Definitely from the slave market... That lewd feeling...
When she'd turned mid-boss at the slave market, someone had made her rampage further.
The sinister ruby energy and lewd vibe--why had it come from Lulu looking out the window?
"What's outside?"
Wondering if an assassin targeting that scumbag was outside, Miho reached the first floor and quietly approached a window.
"Hm."
But no assassin.
The mansion was surrounded by protesters.
"...Pitiful."
Whispering unconsciously at the sight of territory folk she'd never met, swept in collective rage, throwing stones and shouting.
"Huh?"
She looked confused.
"What do you mean pitiful... That trash."
Of course, a frail pretty boy vomiting blood and dying would be pitiful if terminal.
But he was the empire's top scoundrel and villain, as far as she knew.
No need for pity...
What was that thought?
Grrr...
Probably from the forced kiss and lying on him--too many distractions causing silly thoughts. She shook her head and stepped back from the window.
"Hm?"
Then tilted her head.
"...What?"
The protesters had suddenly knelt and prostrated en masse.
".....???"
Perking her ears at the bizarre scene--like those odd incidents with Serena--she scanned.
Ding-dong...! Ding-dong...!
"Hm? Serena?"
The doorbell rang. She strode to the entrance.
"Gotta tell her to hurry out. This place is dangerous."
Excited to see Serena--the weirdo she'd grown to rely on, planning to leave this house--Miho opened the door grinning.
"Ah......"
Then froze.
"Oh, what a cute fox beastkin."
The empire's second in line for the throne, the First Imperial Princess.
Gulp.
Top of Night Serena's danger list:
1: Rifael Solar Sunrise
[In short, the fire fox.]
[Her savior is none other than Frey, yet she's clueless, corrupted, and rampaging like an idiot.]
[On par with that brainless rose bitch.]
The dazzlingly beautiful princess, yet spine-chillingly creepy, stood before her.