“Ahh… It’s already almost midnight…” Another day, another late night for Nishiki Sugai. As always, he’s spent way too long in the office trying to get all his work done. At this point, all of his coworkers have already left for the day about a few hours ago. It’s just him here as the janitor began to make the rounds.

“Have a good night.” The man said to him as they walked by each other.

“Thanks, you too.” Nishiki replied to him right on schedule, like clockwork. His body moved and acted on its own without much input or thought from his brain. A sign of his exhaustion from another long day at work. All he wanted was to head home and plant his face firmly onto his pillow for a quick six hour sleep where he’ll do this all over again the next day.

There’s only one place for him to stop by before heading on home. No, it’s not a convenience store, like where most might head towards to pick up a late quick and easy dinner. For him, his final stop before going home would be to the shrine located near his home.

As he does every time he gets off of work, he walked up and clasped his hands together in prayer. “Please give me good health…” He asked for the same things he always does, though how often he gets what he wishes for is up for debate. Still, it was a part of his routine, so he has no plans on changing it any time soon. He yawned deeply for a long while shortly after his prayer. Just the final thing to cap off his routine.

“Fufufu.” However, on this fateful night, it seems there was something in the darkness ready to change his life.

“Who’s there!?” Being as sleep deprived as he was, Nishiki feared of what lurked nearby. It sounded like the voice of a young girl, but one could never be too sure.

“You wish for good health?” The voice continued to speak, acting as though he never asked his question. “Perhaps I can help with that?” The voice made her appearance known as she stepped out into the moonlight. The glimmering sparkled onto her traditional outfit, but that was not what caught his tired eyes.

What was more important would be her fluffy tailed, whose color matched that of her hair and the full moon above. “Hello, I’m Tenha.” She bowed while making her introduction. Nishiki didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he wiped his eyes and shook his head a bit before taking a second look at this small looking girl with a fox’s tail.

After a moment of silence before one another, he turned around and began to walk away. “Huh? Hey, where are you going!?” She yelled at him. However, he continued to not acknowledge her existence. In his mind, this had to be an illusion, a hallucination conjured up by his exhausted mind. Surely, there was no way a fox spirit would be talking to him.

So instead of saying anything, he decided to just walk home and assume she would vanish into thin air. “Did you hear me? I’m trying to talk to you.” She continued to pester him as they walked home. Once inside, she seems to quickly follow him in once the door opened. That would mean she can’t just phase through the way, which signaled to him she may be more real than anticipated.

“I’m sorry, who are you exactly?” He asked, knowing that she was likely real and not a figment of his imagination. Nishiki regretted allowing her into his home, but it was too late for what ifs now. All he could concern himself with was if he should be heading for a phone soon.

“I already told you, my name’s Tenha.” She repeated herself. “I’m the fox spirit who watches over that shrine you pray over every day.” The girl showed off body with a twirl, whirling around her tail to really showcase that fact that she was a fox. It was a bit much for him, as the fur got spread all over the place, causing him to sneeze.

“Really? You’ve been watching me do that?” Never once did he ever consider that he was being watched over so intently while praying. Sure, there was hope in him that something might come along his way to help his life, but certainly not like this. “So what, you’re here to answer my prayers?”

“Bingo.” She snapped her fingers. Both to indicate him being correct, but also to poof up a piece of paper out of thin air. “See, I’m going to reward your dedication by becoming your own personal servant.”

“Oh, so like that anime.” Though he didn’t remember needing anything signed for it to happen.

“Yeah… Like that anime...” She seemed confused by what he meant by both the word, anime, as well as what about it that this looked like to him. “Anyway, just go ahead and sign this.”

“Wait a second, why should I?” Something about this had the hairs on the back of his neck standing. This all seemed too good to be true. Especially with how often people try to scam him when they come to his door. Granted, those people typically stayed outside of his house when they tried. “What do you even offer?”

“More like, what don’t I offer?” Tenha then proceeded to clean up the mess she had cause from her fur. Her skill and grace would’ve impressed even the best of maids as her feet skated along the floor like ice. “See, wouldn’t life be so much easier with me around?”

“Well, you’re the one who made that mess in the first place.” He commented, but it would be nice to have someone around to take care of the house. The place looked a little rundown because most of the time he was at work. The only times this place got cleaned were during the weekends, which greatly took away any free time he might have had.

“Don’t think I can just clean either.” She proclaimed as if in an advertisement. “I can also provide other services such as cooking and healthcare.” Quickly, she rushed behind him and gave the man a shoulder massage.

“Ooh, that’s nice.” He said as Nishiki felt the tension just melt away in moments. “Hmm, you are driving a good point.” It seemed a bit weird to only have a good thing for free, but it is something he would like to have at home. For once, maybe he could get something no one else had. “Where’s that contract again?”

“Right here!” She instantly poofs it up again. “Just sign your name on the dotted line right there.” Tenka points it out for him and gives him a pen. Normally, he would read the actual contents of this contract. That would be the business sense in him, but the man is quite exhausted from a long day of work. So he doesn’t consider it at all as he puts down his signature.

“And that should be it.” He said, handing her the paper. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Fufufu.” She giggles. Her tone took a drastic shift as his body began to feel like it was burning up in the atmosphere of the sun.