It had been days since they got the game console, but it seemed his decision to buy her something on the cheaper side was the right one after all. Though not for his original thought on her dropping it when she’d get bored, but more accurately it was something she didn’t get bored with.

This meant things had settled down a bit now that the fox girl was satisfied in her entertainment needs. While it was nice for him see her playing along happily, it did seem she had shirked a tiny bit in her duties. Not enough to get them both killed or anything, but Nishiki couldn’t deny the food started to taste a little bland.

If things got too bad, he’d have to take away her gaming privileges before they both got destroyed. Hopefully it wouldn’t have to go that far as such an action would clearly put a strain on their relationship.

But for now that would not be a problem. Instead, as he woke up from his mostly peaceful slumber, Nishiki saw something else that would cause issues. Upon looking out his window, where he now made sure to keep closed to prevent some intruders from entering so easily. The man took note that the green, though dreary outdoors was replaced with a blanket of white.

A blanket of white snow, to be precise.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” He let out a massive sigh in disappointment as Nishiki went about the rest of his usual morning routine. There wasn’t much different outside of seeing the snow other than one other things.

“Brr, it’s really cold all of a sudden.” Tenha was actually awake during this morning. Her normal slumber on the couch was disturbed by her shivering from the drop in temperature. “Oh my gosh, it’s snowing outside.” When she peered out the window, the girl saw the cause of her feeling the chills. The sight instantly warmed her up as she excitedly jumped up and down in joy.

“Glad one of us is happy.” He didn’t share in her enthusiasm as the man straightened his tie. “I’m sure this makes for a good excuse for you to bundle up inside. But unfortunately for us working people, we don’t get snow days.”

“What do you mean by stay inside?” She replied. “I want to go out and play in the snow.” To her, this snow looked like a ton of fun. When Nishiki took a good look at her white hair and big fluffy tail that matched the weather outside. He figured this must be a part of her nature as a snow fox. While it wouldn’t make sense that she would somehow be based on one, but he could figure that spiritual deities have likely influenced the growth of nature now that he had met someone like her.

“Do whatever you want while I’m gone.” He put on an extra burly coat to combat the cold. Though once he opened the door, he could tell that it did little to protect him from the biting chill that hit him. Hopefully today would be the only time he’d have to deal with these harsh conditions and tomorrow would bring about slightly better times ahead. “Well, goodbye.” Since he rarely saw her awake when he left in the morning. Nishiki felt a bit awkward in bidding her a farewell as he walked out the door.

As he said before, the man hated the snow. It was cold, slippery, got in his shoes to give that wet feeling for the first hour once he got to work. This was an all around miserable experience for him.

He quickly made his way to the office, though it was still slower than how he normally went to work on a normal day. Nishiki hated every minute of it and the moment he stepped into the building there were only two thoughts left in his mind. The first being of relief on finally making it. The second was the dread of having to do that all over again, but in the evening when it would be dark and even colder. “Winter sucks, doesn’t it?” He said, greeting his coworker.

“I think every day sucks.” Hinae replied to him, also bundled up with a hat and heavy coat. While she wanted to stay warm and cozy for the day, he took off his coat as it would get uncomfortable sitting at his desk. As the man tried to write on his paperwork, he could it difficult to grasp his pencil. His fingers still felt numb from the biting cold as a result of the snow.

“Some pretty harsh weather out there.” Their boss, Teiji came up to the pair as Nishiki stretched out his fingers in an attempt to warm them back up. “Guess we’ll have to skip out on going to the pub this week.”

“Probably shouldn’t be going out every week anyway.” He scolded him as if he were the superior.

“And why are you telling us this?” Hinae also joined in on the cold treatment. It was a good point though. Between the two of them, Nishiki had joined in one of these outings, and that was literally only once during their entire tenure here at the company. “You know we don’t care about that stuff.”

“Actually that’s why I’m telling you.” However it wasn’t because he was dumb that lead to this seemingly illogical opener of a conversation. “You two are used to going straight home, what would you do to enjoy a day when we can’t go out?”

“After I’m done with my job, I’ll be heading straight back to my apartment. There I’ll pop up a nice wine and enjoy myself with a movie.” She explained how she’s spend her evening.

“Wait if you drink, then how come you don’t want to join us at the pub?”

“Drinking wine is a sophisticated activity compared to you just grabbing some beers.” She spoke with disdain on the last word. As if the idea of beer for a source of alcohol was disrespectful. “People get too rowdy when they drink, but when I do I’m much calmer.”

“I’ll agree on the first point.” That was also why Nishiki rarely drank.

“What about you?” Teiji asked the man. “What are you going to do when you get back?”

“Hmm…” He thought about it. With Tenha, he’d likely come back to some dinner, and then perhaps play some video games with the girl. But it wasn’t like he could just tell them about Tenha. Mainly because it would be too complicated to explain that relationship. But also because he would receive a ton of judgment and harsh words from Hinae about his personal hobbies. “I work too much, so I’ll just bundle up and sleep when I get back.”

“Sound exactly what I’d expect out of you.” She remarked. Even when he did something innocent she was still a bit strict.

Meanwhile as he went about his day at work, most of which was spent suffering. Tenha was having the time of her life playing outside for the first time in a long time.

“Hahaha!” She laughed as she had gone to a nearby park. While he had said that the working man didn’t get snow days. That didn’t mean little children didn’t get time off school. So she was able to play along with all the local children. The fox spirit fit right in with all the younglings as they ran about, threw snowballs or made snow angels.

A few of them thought she had on a strange outfit. There were even a couple that wondered how come they had never seen her at school, since she looked to be around their age. Though they rationalized it as her being a smaller older student in junior high or even high school.

Either way, it wasn’t enough to get anyone asking questions from either the kids or their parents as everyone had their fun. “Ah, the snow’s so nice.” She said, running her fingers through the light blanket that had formed on the swings. If she weren’t in front of a bunch of people, she would even have her tail run along it. But that would look weird to everyone who couldn’t see that important body part of hers.

So she went for the next best thing. “Hey everyone, watch this!” She readied herself in front of a large pile of snow that had been shoveled up to make way for the walkways in the park. She crouched down, then leaped with full strength. The girl pointed her hands down as she dove right into the pile of snow.

The complete top half of her body dug into the snow. Her legs stuck out as she got trapped by the snow in her own foolish move. When she was in her fox form, this worked out much better than being her her human body. The children laughed as she shook her legs, trying to get free. Her voice got muffled as she struggled to escape. “Hey, uh, can someone get me out!?”