“It's ticklish~ Jeez, why do you like pads so much?”

To the sensation of the little hand caressing my paw, I keep twisting my body.

“Stop it, I say~ Ah! I can't be drooling now.”

Feeling my drool flow down my mouth, I try to stop it, but it somehow end up falling anyways.

Wiping my mouth, I open my eyes.

It's my usual room. The comfortable underground den is filled with enough fluffy cushions underneath to support my large body, and the sunlight is entering from above.

It feels like I was having a nice dream. Oh, that's right! I brought that girl yesterday. She has to be sleeping above.

I transform into the human form, and quickly check myself. The three tails, the clothes, yep. They are perfect.

I wonder if she woke up already? With expectations, I run upstairs.

“Good Morning~”

I enter the room I lead her yesterday. To be honest, I would have liked to sleep with her, but I have never slept in human form before, and I don't want to scare her with my fox form, so I had no choice.

However, where she is supposed to be sleeping, there is nothing else than the bed that I prepared for her. Did she wake up already, I wonder?

“Ah, here you are! Good morning, Rina!”

Is that her? No, the voice is different. I look at the gray demi-human fox in black clothes walking towards me while waving. Well, it's just Joel.

“I thought I told you to not enter my house without permission! How did you even get in here?”

“Isn't it fine since I worked so hard yesterday? I wanted to see that girl as well.”

Saying that, he points his finger to the window.

Even though we don't care too much about personal spaces, you should be careful because we also have Luxe here. Humans are delicate, after all!

I guess it's alright since she is not here right now.

“About that, she was gone when I woke up. I wonder where she is?”

“Hmm, maybe she went to take a walk? Shouldn't she back soon enough?”

“I hope so...”

“Are you worried about something?”

I remember the dinner we had yesterday. She seemed to have something in her mind. She is usually so eager for food, but that was not the case that time. Well, she did eat everything after all, so I thought it was fine back then.

Can it be, that she got already tired of my food? After all, I only gave her what I usually eat, and that is just simple meals without much seasoning.

I remember the cookies my mother made me bring for her. Yep, if that is what humans like eating, then what I gave her might have been bland.

“Okay, it's decided!”

“What's up?”

“I'll definitely make something that fits her taste and attract her attention back.”

“Oh... Good luck with that.”

I grab Joel who is slowly heading to the door while saying such. Why are you trying to run away after intruding this early in the morning?

“But what do you want me to do?”

“Wait a second... Ta-dah!”

I show him the cooking book that mother gave me yesterday. Yep, it is a book about human sweets.

“A recipe book for sweets, huh? Don't you need to eat something that fills the belly for breakfast, though?”

“It will be fine, there should be a suitable one, for sure.”

…

“How about this one?”

Joel stops at a page. There is recipe for an ice cream. Ingredients are sugar, milk, cream... I think I can make this.

“Joel, you are supposed to look for something that can be eaten for breakfast, not something you want to eat.”

“Eh, but I wanted to try it out!”

Oh, no. This guy is hopeless. He isn't even trying to hide his intentions at this point.

I take the book off him, and start searching by myself.

This one might be good.

On the page I stopped, there is an image of a pancake with syrups nicely drizzled on it. Since it is made mostly with flour, it should be good for breakfast. Moreover, I can use the secret weapon.

“Joel, come over here.”

Oh, no! He is ready to run away again the moment he hears my voice.

Even though I called him nicely!

I quickly catch him and continue.

“Go get some red eyed bee's honey, okay?”

“Huh? But I don't wanna...”

“Excuse me? I can't hear you very well.”

Patience is a virtue, yep. Since I am a gentle fox, I put on a smiling face that can't look any kinder.

“O...okay, I'll go get them, I'll do it so just don't kick me.”

How rude! You make it sound like I'm a violent one!

…

While we usually eat simple meals with cooked meats, grains and fruits, we do have the ingredients for various recipes. It is because food is our village's specialty, thanks to the good synergy of water magic with cooking.

I pour together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, egg and butter. I can do the mixing part with my magic, and the batter is done!

I heat the frying pan with some oil on it, then pour the batter.

“It's almost ready, but I wonder where she is? It is going to get cold if she doesn't return soon.”

I put on a dish the first pancake that has been completed, and start preparing the second one.

“Also, it's about time Joel returns, too! At this rate, pancakes are going to get cold.”

Thinking about how to preserve the pancakes until they arrive, I put the second completed pancake on the dish.

Wait a second, where's the dish? Is it gone?

I look around to look for it. I just put it there and there is no way that I would be mistaken about this! With confusion, I turn around.

And there she is, sitting at the table with an empty dish in front of her and her mouth so full that her already round cheek got completely inflated.

When did she get here? And she is not supposed to eat them yet without any honey on it! There are so many things I want to say, but what I had to remark was something else.

“What are you wearing!?”

Something that can't be even called a clothe, made from broad leaves connected by vines. It might match her hair's color, but it is so … primitive, that her cute features are all hidden behind its weirdness!

“Take that off right now, I'll give you a new clothe. What happened to the other one anyways?”

“It disappeared.”

Disappeared? How? Well, I'll start by changing her.

There is no such thing as a button to take the clothe off. After looking for a bit, I decide that I have to tear it off. But why are the vines so tough? After struggling for a while, I finally manage to remove the clothe.

“I'm back~”

Joel enters the house while shouting. However, he freezes up upon seeing the scene.

“I'm sorry! I just came to bring the honey you asked. I didn't see anything, so.... bye!”

Looking at Joel hurriedly leaving, I start wondering what's wrong.

I look back at Luxe. She is half prostrating on the ground, looking blankly at the what used to be the leaves clothe.

Her face is expressionless as always, but the way she stares it looks like she is grieving for her dead companion. I shake my head, and prepare another clothe for her.

“Here, wear this instead.”

Looking her nodding, I go back to preparing more pancakes.

“So you put the honey like this... Use this fork to eat, here you go.”

Watching her eyes shine as she eats with her mouth full, I keep making more and more pancakes. As expected of the red eyed bee's honey, it's taste is so superior. Looking at her eating so eagerly, I feel like I can keep making them infinitely.

“Are you not eating anymore?”

Seeing that she finally stopped eating and started staring at me, I ask her.

“I want to try.”

“You want to try cooking?”

Seeing her nod, I hand her over the frying pan.

She starts pouring the batter. It seems that she saw properly how I made it. However..

“Ah, that's too much! It is not going to be heated evenly if you do that.”

“The more the better?”

She tilts her head looking at me. My chest feels itchy whenever she does that, so I need to ask her to stop. No, I mean stop pouring so much!

“No no, it's important to have the right amount, you know? Ugh, it's too late already!”

Well, she is going to learn her lesson soon enough. Deciding as such, I watch her cooking.

She drizzles the honey on the now completed pancake.

Only problem is that, it is obviously swollen in the middle, and that part is certainly uncooked.

I patiently wait for her to learn her lesson. However..

“Why are you bringing it to me?”

Looking straight to me, she tries to hand me over the dish.

Her round eyes look like jewels. The deep and sparkly green eyes of hers are so beautiful, that if it was actually a gem, it would be the most beautiful emerald in the world!

I shake my wondering thought off my head, because I realized that, since I wasn't taking her dish, she put it on her fork and started approaching it towards my mouth.

“But you should eat it since you made it, you know?”

“Rina made me delicious food. I also want to make you.”

Her beautiful eyes are telling me that there is no speck of lie in what she just said. She is doing this purely with good will! And to think I wanted her to get disappointed at her own food!

I unconsciously nod, and soon feel the pancake entering my mouth.

Yep, it's delicious! This honey is my favorite, and it's something she made for me, after all!

Once I swallow it, she feeds me some more.

After being continuously fed until all she has cooked is gone, I have to admit it.

She has no talent for cooking!

Having learned my lesson, I invite her to sit at the table again while I cook.

“But I feel sorry for being the only one eating.”

“It's fine, it's fine. I love cooking, so there is nothing you need to be sorry about.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep, that's right. So just wait there for me, okay?”

“I want to eat together, though...”

I just say whatever comes to my mind to prevent her from making me eat those again.

But eat together, huh? If that's her wish, I have to show her what I am capable of!

Using the water magic, I can control the moisture. It's useful in cooking, since I can't simply transform it, since the appearance isn't the only thing that matters.

With my delicate control, I can precisely remove the moisture from where is being heated, and put it back to the proper level once it is done, to accelerate the process.

I take a bite on the completed pancake. It seems it has become a bit more crispy, but I can call it a success.

“With this, we can eat together!”

Ah, since the taste became a bit different, I'll take my revenge from earlier!

“Say ah~”

Looking at her opening her small mouth slightly shining due to the grease, I put a piece inside.

“How is it?”

She looks at me with sparkly eyes, still munching. Well, that tells everything.

“Here, eat some more.”

It feels like just watching her eating so happily makes me full just with that.

I hear a small thumping sounds from the window, and look towards it.

My eyes meet with Joel watching from there.

“What are you doing from there?”

“I thought I should remind you that we have school today.”

He is for some reason fidgeting. What's wrong?

“I see. But I was asking why are you staying there instead of entering. Look, there is breakfast ready for you as well.”

“I... didn't want to ruin the good atmosphere.”

“???”

I don't really get what this guy is saying.

Anyways, thinking about school, I can't leave her alone right? I look at Luxe still fully focused on eating.

“Do you wanna come to school with us, Luxe?”

“School?”

“Yep, it's a place where we learn about bunch of stuffs.”

Seeing her resuming after nodding, I think to myself. Yep, school might not be so boring with her around.