For once, Nishiki had an enjoyable dinner. The last time he got to enjoy cooking that good at home was when he still lived at home with his parents as a teen. They told him the last time they talked over the phone that he didn’t visited them enough. If anything, he never visited them at all since moving out of the countryside and into the city for school and eventually work.

Back then, he thought their words of doubt on if he should follow this life were wrong. Waking up this morning, he began to believe that perhaps it was he who was wrong all along. That despite this arguably being his highest point in years, it still did little to encourage him.

But to him, it was too late to bother about that now. Instead, he was now stuck in a contract with this fox spirit. Admittedly, there was no way for anyone to predict this part happening to him. Though if they had an inkling of an idea, they’d probably warn him about getting scammed.

“Sheesh. She gets up a lot later than I do.” He commented. The girl was still in her fox form, resting peacefully on the couch. Throughout her entire time living here, he had never seen her actually wake up from a night’s sleep. Just that one time where she was dozing from a nap while he was busy slaving away at work.

The man turned on the television to some show he did not care for. With his busy work schedule, it was difficult to follow any series consistently. Binging on anything over the course of a day was also out of the question. So if he was left behind on something, it eventually became yet another TV show for him to drop despite his opinion of its quality. So mostly he just had some things on whose titles he couldn’t remember and go check on the newspaper.

As he sat back reading, she still hadn’t woken up yet. A bit strange to him as she went to bed at around the same time as him. Did she need more sleep than him because of their differences? Or was this just another part of her lazy nature? Then again, she was now defenseless against him.

Not that he was into animals, please get your mind out of the gutter. Instead, it was her tail that caught his attention. When he had asked before, she vehemently denied his request to touch her tail. For unknown reasons to him, she just didn’t want him to get anywhere near that.

But with her sleeping at the moment, this left her wide open. If he was gentle in just one tiny caress, then she’d be none-the-wiser. Slowly, the man reached his hand over her, carefully trying to get close enough to not stir her. Soon enough, he’d be able to see if fox spirit’s fur were softer than that of real foxes too.

Just a mere inch away, he was about to find out. However, in a near instant, her tail whipped at speeds nearly invisible to the naked eye. It slapped his hand hard causing him to recoiled and fall off the couch.

“What did I say about touching my tail?” She spoke irritated at him while still in her fox form. “You were about to touch it.”

“Can you blame me for being a little curious?” He defended himself. I just want one. That’s all and then we can drop it.”

“After you tried to sneak one in while I was defenseless. Fat chance.” She transformed back to normal with a cloud of smoke. The rate was nearly quicker than how fast she hit him. “It’s a good thing us Kitsune can detect danger at any turn or you would’ve gotten away with it too.” He couldn’t consider rubbing her tail to be dangerous under any metric, but it was clearly a touchy subject for her. No pun intended.

“At least you’re finally awake.” He said. “It’s kind of been a bit boring have to be all quiet today.” At least before she moved in, he didn’t have to worry about his volume levels on his days off.

“It’s not my job to entertain you.” She responded, getting up to stretch out her body after being cramped on the couch in her fox form. “I swear I’m going to get back issues thanks to you.”

“We’ll deal with the sleeping setup in due time.” If they were to live like this in the long term, then he decided it would be best to give her a few things to make living more bearable. Though with how long it had felt since she came in, which had only been about a few days at most. The man dreaded the thought of looking forward to having this life for the week let alone the coming months.

“Well, you better take care of it fast.” She commanded him as if he was the servant between the two. Not only did her size lack any sense of threat. Her ruffled up clothing made it challenging for him to take her seriously. It didn’t even make sense, seeing as she slept in a version that didn’t wear this outfit.

“What’s up with you? Why are you such a slob?” He complained. How could this person be what was essentially maid to him when she couldn’t even keep herself clean?

“You’re one to talk.” She replied in a snide manner. “Look at all the dirty clothes you’re just piling up here.” The girl went over and pointed at his hamper as if it were a gotcha moment. “When are you going to do your laundry?”

“I normally do it once a week. Today, specifically.” Since he lived on his own, Nishiki wasn’t worried about the matter of organizing everything. Not to mention that work getting in the way made it challenging to do it on any other day than today. “And by doing it today, I mean you’re the one doing my laundry.” It counted for her cleaning for the day, so he figured it was fair.

“Ugh, fine.” She straightened out her outfit and carried his hamper of clothing effortlessly. “Where’s your basin?”

“What’s a basin?”

“Don’t play dumb. How else am I supposed to wash your clothes?” To his surprise, she wasn’t aware of the wonderful piece of tech known as a washer and dryer. Somehow, despite the fact that she could navigate a computer.

“What? Just use that machine over there.” He directed her towards his own personal washer and dryer. While the man wasn’t a fan of spending the large amount of money on it. He did so because there was no way he’d spend the trips going to the laundromat. Work took so much time and energy that this was a requirement to living for him.

“And how am I supposed to use this?” She started at it confused on how it could possibly be used to clean clothes properly.

“Just figure it out.” However, he felt no desire to aid her this time. The man was tired from dealing with her and just wanted to move on. “I’m going to make some breakfast, so just take of it and meet me in the kitchen.” With that, they separated temporarily. He decided to make some simple toast this time, as their dinner was already quite filling even into the next day.

As he got it into the toaster, suddenly he heard a scream of fear.

“Ahh!” It was Tenha. Quickly, he rushed over to the laundry room to check on what happened to her. To his dismay, there was suds of soap everywhere. Worse yet, when he stepped in, there was a layer of water already on the ground. “I have no clue what happened, but your machine is a monster!” She was in the middle of everything. From his point of view, she was being consumed by the suds, threatening to eat her and swallow the little girl into his washer.

“Hey, careful now!” He reached over to her, grabbing the girl’s hand that was barely visible under all the soap. His feet slid about, unable to find grip due to the mix of water and soap on the floor. “Whoa!” Unsurprisingly, he lost his footing and collapsed into her. If this were a battle against a sea creature, than the pair would’ve certainly met their doom here. And if it said sea creature had a certain type of appendage, then Tenha would most certainly find herself on the cover of a questionable manga.

However, it was simply his washer which had been messed up by her actions. So the pair were perfectly safe as he laid on top of her. “S-sorry.” He tried to get back up, but his hands never found any grip to allow the man back onto his feet. So it was a pitiful sight of him constantly falling back onto her.

“This is really embarrassing. Can you get off me now!?” She yelled at him.

“I’m trying, I really am.” He felt his face heating up despite the cold water washing over them. It had been ages since he was so physically close to a girl. Especially once whose outfit was soaked with water, revealing her underwear underneath.