Story of Foxes

Preparations

Soft knocks on the wood frame that came from outside broke the heavenly sword out of his reverie, and with a small smile, he sat down the novel he was reading and stood up, stretching for a bit before stopping as he heard several bones crack, rubbing a particular spot on his back. It really is unavoidable when you're as old as me. I wonder how Kogarasu-san deals with it?

More soft knocking was heard, followed by a small cough. "Give me a moment." the man replied in his gentle, soothing voice. He strode over and slid open the door, revealing none other than his saniwa on the other side, ready for bed in her favorite tank top and pajama pants.

"Ah, aruji-sama. What brings you up at this late hour? Trouble sleeping?"

"Ah, no," the redhead said, trying to peek over his shoulder. "I was looking for Kogi. Have you seen him anywhere?"

"Come to tell him off for eating the fried tofu again?" the tachi smirked, folding his arms and chuckling.

"No. I wanted to ask him—he's doing what again?!" the sage shot him an exasperated look before rolling her eyes and storming off to the kitchen. "Of course. Thanks, Jiji."

When she was several meters from the spacious kitchen, she heard the sound of oil sizzling and faint humming. Picking up the pace, she hurriedly made her way to the entryway. At the large gas stove adjacent to the entrance stood a tall man, wearing a pink Gudetama-print apron over his sleepwear to prevent it from getting stained, humming to himself as he took out several blocks of tofu out of the large wok, fried to a mouth-watering golden brown, its smell wafting through the kitchen, the white tufts on his head seemingly twitching in delight.

"Kogi!" the sage yelled, causing the man to yelp and nearly drop said tofu. He grimaced, gingerly turning to face his master. "N-nushi-sama! It's not what you think—!"

Folding her arms and squinting, the redhead gave him an unimpressed look. "Oh really? Then care to give me a valid explanation for all this?" she gestured widely to the room, giving particular emphasis to the large plate on the center island's granite countertop, neatly stacked with the same golden-brown tofu from earlier.

"Ah, well... You see," Kogi's scarlet eyes moved sideward, avoiding his saniwa's icy blue gaze as he stacked the last batch onto the plate. "I have plans. For tomorrow."

"Plans? Like what?" the sage quirked an eyebrow, still unimpressed. "Wait, don't tell me. Naki put you up to this again, didn't he?"

"No! Well, okay, kind of-maybe-yes?" the fox man said, scratching the back of his neck.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, well, Nakigitsune and I planned to visit to Inari-sama's shrine tomorrow. Hakusan has been invited to come with, but I haven't gotten a response from him yet."

Chiaki blinked. "Oh."

"I know. 'That sounds boring', you might be thinking, but well, it's—"

"I was actually going to ask you about that."

The white fox blinked a couple times before setting aside the pan and chopsticks. "What about it?"

"I meant like, I was going to ask you first if you wanted to visit the shrine as well. I know that at this time of the year, it isn't really common to do but I still wanted to... pay a visit..." The redhead trailed off, letting her gaze wander to the food that had been prepared.

Kogitsunemaru went up to his master, playfully ruffling her hair, like he always did. "Ah, nushi-sama, you've grown to be quite courteous now, haven't you?"

She pouted at his statement, which quickly became thoughtful as her gaze lingered to the platter. "What's wrong?" Kogi asked when he saw what she was doing.

"That's too much inarizaki, even for the four of us. What do you plan to do with all of it?"

"Offerings."

"To Inari?"

Kogi only hummed contentedly in response.

"Hate to break it to ya' Kogi, but I don't think even with a shrine as big as Inari's accepts food offerings nowadays. Especially given that this is modern day Japan. It's just going to be monetary instead."

Kogi's smile faltered, and she swore the earlike tufts of hair on his head seemed to droop downward. She went up to him, patting him on the back comfortingly. "There there, Kogi-san. I'll think up of a way to get these to Inari. It'd be a huge waste if they didn't."

The tachi straightened up, giving her a heartful smile, though she noted that it didn't quite reach his eyes. Together, they cleaned up the kitchen, magically sealing the platter to keep it warm, fresh and most importantly, uneaten; it was then put away inside the extra large, double door fridge. For good measure, she scrawled a message that hovered over the platter, which read:

For Inari. Yes, the Inari. Don't attempt to eat unless you want to regret being alive.
-Aruji