I got a Kitsune Caregiver, but...

Chapter 13: When was the Last Time?

While they may not have personally had a conversation between each other about what had transpired. Nishiki and Tenha seemed to return to their normal relationship throughout the coming days. Though there was one thing she noticed he hadn't done since officially meeting each other.

"Hey, Nishiki?" She got his attention as they quietly ate their breakfast. "Do you not pray at the shrine anymore?"

"Nope." He answered as he took a sip of some coffee. "Haven't done it since we met."

"Why?" She asked. "I know you used to do it every night after work."

"Well, I don't get off work as late as I used to." He replied. "Not to mention that now that I know who I was praying to. I kind of don't have that desire anymore." Someone like her didn't deserve his prayers, he thought. While she might not be that monster Kinuko described at first. There was no way someone as lazy as her should be allowed to have others worshipping her.

Nishiki remembered back when he did it in the first place. It was during a trip back from work when he saw the shrine, barely illuminated by the street lights. The place seemed as though no one had come by in some time. So the shrine had been left in a decrepit state.

The man decided to clean it up a little throughout the days until it finally became a respectable location where some people might be more willing to come by. That was also when he picked up the habit of making a prayer every night on his way home from work. "I guess old habits die pretty easily, actually." One would think he'd continue after all these years, but his disdain for the fox spirit overrode that bodily urge.

"Ooh, what's this?" As they were hanging around before he was to head to work. The television was on. While the pair didn't care much for whatever was airing at this time, Tenha did take note of the commercials. At the moment, there was a trailer ad for an upcoming film.

"Looks like some shojo movie." He commented. Those definitely weren't made for him, which is why it didn't attach his interest when it began playing.

"Can we go see it?" She asked him, tugging on his shirt. "Please?"

"What? I don't want to watch it." He replied. It likely would've been suffering if he had to be stuck with her watching some dumb film for two hours. "Don't act like I have all the time in the world to be wasting it on you."

"Come on, all you do is work." She replied. "What's wrong with your lovable fox spirit caregiver giving you some good advice once in a while?"

"Probably the fact that you neither give good advice, nor are lovable." He responded and headed out for the day. On his walk to work, he did ponder when was the last time he watched a movie in theaters. That was likely back during his college years.

Oh right, it was for that film of a popular anime series, 'Monster Killer'. He sighed thinking back of what had been a more innocent time for him. Nowadays, he could never hope to catch up to a series like that with all the work piled on him these days. This made Nisiki wonder if his parents still kept his complete manga set back at home.

As much as Tenha's suggestion gave him that inch to want to go see a movie again. There was never a good time in his schedule outside of the weekends to watch one. And of course, it was viewed as weird to go see a film in theaters all alone. Maybe he should take that girl up on her offer after all.

Though at the same time, he really didn't want to. Not only because of the movie she wanted to see, but also because that would mean admitting defeat. Doing so would only earn him a good look at her smug face.

What kind of arrangement does he have with her anyway? She's just supposed to be cooking and cleaning, even if just a little based on the contract. They shouldn't be hanging out going to the movies like they're best buds. Though to be fair, he was the one who did it first. Back when he offered to have lunch with her the other day. With things like that, one might almost think they were a couple living together.

A statement which if someone called them as such, he would violently correct in saying they were not in a relationship. She would definitely do the same thing.

So that was that. Nishiki decided a trip to the movies would be worthwhile enough of an endeavor. Though he wished he didn't have to watch the one she pointed out on the television. "Hey, Hinae." He leaned over to the woman whose desk was next to his. "Are there any good movies out or coming out this weekend?"

"If this is your attempt at asking me out, the answer is no." She responded, not even taking a moment to glance away from her computer.

"It's not that." He corrected her. "I was thinking of maybe catching something at a theater this weekend. That's all."

"All by yourself?" As expected, someone already thought it would be weird to see a film on their own.

"Can you answer the question? Or should I just go back to work?" Having a conversation with his neighbor made him remember why he didn't like to converse with anyone during work. This woman, Hinae Omori, had been working alongside him throughout his entire career. She was a little older, probably about to hit 30 soon from what he could remember. For whatever reason, she seemed to treat him a bit bitterly. So the man never usually tried to talk to her outside of business.

"You should be focused on your work." She scolded him. "All I know is there's some dumb shojo film coming out. It looks like it's pretty popular, but obviously you won't be into it." Hinae wasn't into it either, but she only knew about it because her younger sister wouldn't shut up about it.

"I see. Well thanks for nothing." With that, he returned to his task without saying anything else to her. Talking to that woman was nothing more than a waste of time. It appeared there was no other option. If he didn't go see that movie with Tenha, then not only would he be out of any ideas to spend his weekend. But that the little girl would most certainly keep nagging him about it anyway.

After work, he headed back home uneventfully. Upon getting inside, he noticed that Tenha was nowhere to be seen. Considering how small the house was, Nishiki usually saw her the moment he stepped into the door. It seemed that dinner had already been prepared for him on the counter. So she knew that she would be out at this time for some reason.

The meal left for him tasted bland. Not only that, but it was sloppy in presentation and the kitchen was a disaster compared to the rest of the house which was spick and span. Apparently whatever reason she had for leaving must've come up suddenly for her to feel the need to rush through things. The man left the kitchen alone since it was her job to take care of it when she got back.

Given that this was his first dinner alone in a while, Nishiki sat down on the couch and put something on television. There he saw another commercial for that movie Tenha wanted to watch running. At the end of the ad, they also announced the oppertunity to get free tickets to the showing by arriving to some kind of event. Interestingly, it was being held right in town. "Man, she would've loved to go to that." He commented, taking a bite of his disappointing dinner.

Right on cue, he heard the sound of his door being knocked down. Yes, that really was the case as he turned around to see his door slammed onto the floor with Tenha coming inside. "The door!?" He yelled out in a mix of confusion and anger.

"Haha, don't worry about it." She was bright and cheerful as she walked in. "Guess who just won us two tickets for that movie coming out?" She held up the tickets in her hand to show it off. "Now you have to come watch it with me." Nishiki was speechless as his eyes darted between the tickets she had just won and his door still laying on the ground.

"My door!"