Tall Tails

Chapter 2: The Family Business

The next day Miyuki awoke early and rushed off to class catching the bus heading into the city from the suburb where she lived. She wasn't sure if it was meeting Grey the day before that had triggered it, but she found her thoughts wandering to her own Exodus to the United States. She had entered graduate school for anthropology initially wanting to understand her own people and culture better. However, she also had a nasty habit of being antisocial and realistically understood very little of her own culture outside an academic setting, something one of her professors in Kyoto had perpetually harped on. "How can you expect to understand where we came from if you don't understand where we are now?" They'd point out.

Miyuki replayed the events of the previous day feeling a bit envious of Grey. His confidence, and his understanding of fox culture had given him an in with the foxes of Kyoto and in LA as well. Miyuki on the other hand, had always longed for a connection to her people and had spent much of her life feeling like an outsider. She ruminated on the situation a bit before realizing maybe Grey was an opportunity for her. He obviously had social skills and a fairly extensive knowledge of fox culture and also seemed fairly friendly and outgoing. Maybe he could be a resource for her, and as the bus for campus pulled up, Miyuki was feeling much better about things.

Her mind drifted towards how best to ask Grey for assistance all through class, and she was still thinking about it afterwards. Miyuki was so focused on the idea that when she spotted Grey on the other side of one of the public squares on campus she actually thought she was imagining it. However, after a few moments she realized it actually was him and her tail wagged slightly as she began walking over to greet him.

Grey was busy scribbling notes in a composition notebook and appeared to be studying something in the top of one of the trees on campus. "Bird watching?" Miyuki asked, stepping up beside him with her hands laced behind her back. Grey looked surprised but quickly smiled and closed his notebook. "Oh hey, Miyuki,right?"Miyuki smiled and nodded, feeling a bit victorious that he had remembered her name considering how awkward she had felt at their initial meeting. "That's right, do you go to school here as well?" Grey chuckled "Nah, I'm just a working stiff at this point, in fact, that's kind of what I'm doing here."

Miyuki tilted her head and gave Grey a puzzled look before looking up into the tree "you are?" She asked, seeing nothing of immediate interest in the tree. Grey nodded and pointed to the joint of a branch high up in the tree where a small device with a blinking green light was positioned. Miyuki squinted at the device and then turned towards Grey "is that one of the devices you were talking about yesterday? The ones that direct chi?" Grey smiled and nodded "That's right, I'm taking notes and measurements at each location to make sure the devices are functioning properly" Grey pulled out his phone where an app was open showing a series of red blips on it. Grey opened one of the menus, in the app displaying a list of numbers and smiled while nodding approvingly. "From what I can see the devices are having a substantial effect on negative energy buildup. Maybe even as high as 35% or 40% versus the 33% I thought. This is really fantastic news." Grey smiled and looked at Miyuki excitedly. "Do you realize what this means?"

Miyuki slowly shook her head as she thought back to their conversation the day before trying to think if Grey had mentioned anything which might give her a hint at the answer. "It means the build I compiled yesterday is working like I intended" Grey beamed, seeming very excited and quickly scribbling some more notes in one of the pages of his notebook. Miyuki couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, almost forgetting her initial reason for wanting to talk with him. Miyuki took a deep breath preparing herself to ask for Grey's help "Um...Mr. Grey, may I ask a question?"

Grey stopped writing for a moment and turned his attention to Miyuki "Sure, what's up?" Miyuki took a deep breath and let it out before asking "would it be possible for you to teach me about fox culture?...er...modern fox culture I guess, more specifically the traditions and festivals and things you learned about in Kyoto." Grey blinked a moment looking very confused "You want me...to teach you about...your own tribe's culture?"