(Discontinued )
(Work Dated: May 24 2021)
The streets of Shikagami City have a secret.
To save themselves from paying their severe debts with their soul to a Verdish Goddess of the Underworld, a desperate restaurant mascot has to help a Junhic fox...
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You decide to feed the fox.
When you ponder about it more and more in the chilly evening air, the clearer it becomes to you that you have no real threat from the fox. At one corner is a full grown human being, and at the other is a fox with roughly one-third the size and weight. It stands no chance if your interaction were to lead to a smack-down. Plus, you've never been denied a vaccine since infant-hood. As protected as you are from rabies and tetanus, you have absolutely nothing to fear. You build up courage and extend the spoon towards the fox.
"Pspspspsps," you call. The fox stands up and eyes the spoon. It licks its muzzle, twitches its ears and swivels them towards you. The closer you lean towards it from your seat, the further does the fox step away. The branches of an old plum tree, with hardly a leaf on certain limbs, creak and sway above your head, scattering the light from the fairy bulbs. The fox yips and backs away into the bush, leaving its nose and ears protruding out. You know darn well that the fox would've bounded off into the forest by now if it wasn't interested in getting a free bite. No, it was teasing you and itself, testing your interactive limits in order to get the free food you were offering and run away safely. A clever little tactic, you think.
The fox refuses to budge. You shake your head, look around and get up from your seat. You move towards it as slowly as humanly possible, hoping that it wouldn't ditch the effort for getting free food. You heel and drop the kernels before the fox. When it looks up after giving it a visual examination, you blink as much as possible to ease it into eating. You remember your dad's advise on interacting with animals, bits of knowledge bestowed upon you whenever you helped him in his veterinary clinic.
Crack, goes the bough that you had been under! Your brain slows it down somehow, the falling of the rotted wood onto the bench and the e-board. The bench splinters and bursts into flames from the sparks of the e-board, it's tongues licking and cursing over the wood. You spring backwards just in time to dodge a stray flare. A hobo screams and curses himself on the other side of the fiery rubble about spilling his rum onto the bench. The people on the sidelines are quick to ring up the fire brigade and confirm that no one was unharmed. In the blare of the sirens and lights, you try to look for your furry friend.
A white tail peeks from a bush on the banks of a road leading eastward. Firefighters are rushing in, armed with hoses. The fire has climbed up from bench to the higher branches of the old tree, and poses the danger of razing down the whole park. There is nothing you can do to save the park as you stand surrounded by people, smoke and heat.
｡:ﾟ.*･
｡:ﾟ.*･So what will you do?｡:ﾟ.*･
If you wish to FOLLOW THE FOX, chase its tail down the bushes to chapter 9.
Or
If you think that you've had enough adventure for a day, you can turn to chapter 3 and GO HOME.
