"Na-na-mi."

Flinching at the drawn-out call, Nanami crept quietly outside, sparing the door one last paranoid glance. She could taste freedom now, and she broke into a run, snickering to herself. That fox could call for her all he wanted - she wasn't going to comply, not today.

She hadn't even reached the stairs leading down from the shrine when she felt a chill on her back. Before she had the chance to turn around, a pair of hands easily swept her off her feet; a moment later, she was glaring defiantly at Tomoe's disapproving face.

"Put me down," she demanded, wriggling with all her might. Tomoe sighed and rolled his eyes, but he released her.

"You can't keep running away," the fox familiar said irritably. "I've been chasing you around all morning. Stop being such a substandard land god."

"I practiced using talismans all day yesterday." Nanami started to back away slowly, but she knew from the way Tomoe's ear twitched that it had not gone unnoticed. "Today, I want to go out. Come on, Tomoe, we haven't been to town for fun for a while."

"Your talismans failed horribly yesterday," Tomoe said flatly. "Once they succeed consistently, we can go into town."

"My talismans failed because my heart wasn't in it. My heart wasn't in it because I haven't had the chance to go and do anything for so long that I'm stressed!"

"You're not stressed." Tomoe crept closer to her, and Nanami nervously increased her backward shuffle. "You were humming happily this morning until I reminded you that you need to practice."

The stairs were behind her now. Nanami knew that realistically, there was no way she could outrun Tomoe, but she had a trick up her sleeve. Namely, a talisman with the word fast scribbled on it.

She pulled out the talisman slowly, and Tomoe followed it with his eyes suspiciously. She gave him one last smirk before slapping the talisman on her chest and taking off.

Her surroundings became a blur and she immediately regretted her decision; just because she was fast didn't mean that she was used to being fast. She was already halfway down the stairs, an impressive feat, but every time her foot hit the ground she felt herself creeping a little bit closer to tripping. At this speed, tripping could mean peeling the skin off of her face. And possibly dying.

"Nanami!"

Her first instinct was to let Tomoe stop her run of destruction, but she was already most of the way down, so she sped up instead.

That was the fatal blow. Nanami's foot caught on a crack in the steps and she flipped forward, letting out a scream and closing her eyes.

As always, Tomoe was miraculously there to catch her, but she was going so fast that the both of them were propelled into a nearby tree at the approximate speed of the bullet train, Tomoe's body acting as a cushion that almost broke the tree trunk in half. Luckily, the trunk held on by a number of fibers, wobbling dangerously above them as Nanami shakily removed the talisman and threw it to the ground.

"Tomoe!" He was still propped against the tree trunk, covered in pine needles and entirely silent. Nanami cleared the pine needles from his hair, starting to panic. "I'm sorry, are you okay? Hey!"

Grey eyes irritably blinked open. "Well, that talisman worked, at least."

Nanami sighed with relief. "Sorry...maybe I'm not coordinated enough to handle being that fast."

"Well," Tomoe said, a gleam in his eyes, "luckily, you seem to have freed up your day for practicing." He easily picked her up with a wicked grin.

"Nooooo," wailed Nanami. She thrashed around a bit, but as she could have expected, it was pointless in Tomoe's arms. The fox familiar had already started heading back up to the shrine, and Nanami sighed, bracing herself for the use of her final tactic.

"Tomoe," she pouted, gazing up at him innocently. It was a corny act, but Tomoe's ear twitched. "We haven't done anything fun in town in ages. Can't we do something really quick?"

He did not respond, his tail flicking tensely.

"I promise I'll practice when we're back," Nanami insisted.

Tomoe did not look convinced, but Nanami thought she felt his walk slow ever so slightly.

"If we go, I'll wake up on time every day for a week," she said sweetly, dangling the offer in front of his nose.

It was decided. Tomoe glared at her, but gave a grudging nod.

That was how, a half hour later, Tomoe and Nanami were on their way into town, Mizuki trailing creepily behind them. Nanami considered just inviting Mizuki to walk with them rather than letting him stalk them, but she figured that Tomoe was probably having fun turning around and sending the snake death glares at regular intervals, so she let it be.

They hit an ice cream shop first, of course; Mizuki was forced to admit his presence and join them, not wanting to miss out on a treat. Tomoe kicked the white snake's feet under the table while watching Nanami eat, wearing a fond expression in spite of himself. Whenever Nanami looked up and noticed this expression, however, it immediately became sour, and Tomoe's ears flattened.

After eating ice cream, the trio wandered around a bustling area that was filled with shops, wondering how else to spend their time. Mizuki wanted to go to a spa, but Nanami was more interested in a small, unique-looking shop. She pulled Tomoe over to it by the hand, and she read out loud, "Miss Magic's Trinket Shop," and then, looking at a sign lower down, "Half-off sale!"

She knew by Tomoe's defeated sigh that he already knew what was coming; pointing, she exclaimed, "Half-off! I always take advantage of a bargain!"

That was how, mere moments later, Nanami, Tomoe, and Mizuki ended up standing in the strange, dusty little shop. They didn't even notice the tiny woman that came up to them until she tapped Mizuki's shoulder, eliciting an unflattering little scream.

"Oh!" Nanami smiled widely at the woman, who was as tiny and wizened as an overripe apple. "We're just stopping by, thank you."

Tomoe was feeling less friendly. "Why is everything half off?"

The woman turned her beetle-black, beady eyes on him. "People keep getting cursed after visiting my shop, and I'm closing down in a month due to repeated reports of injury and damage associated with the items I sell."

"We're going," said Tomoe immediately, but Nanami glared at him.

"It's not as though we have too much to be worried about from a curse, right?" she protested, tugging at his sleeves defiantly. "Besides, how much of a fool would I have to be to pass on such extraordinary prices?"

"We don't even need anything in here," Tomoe practically hissed, motioning around the shop with one long-nailed hand. "Mizuki thinks so too, I'm sure. Let's go."

There was an awkward "Umm…" from a corner; following the sound, Nanami saw Mizuki, who was eyeing a beautiful snake-shaped pendant. "The shop is kind of interesting, Tomoe. It has an affiliation for snakes!" It was true, too; the entire corner near Mizuki was full of items that were snake-based in some way, including a foreboding-looking box with snake-like patterns and what looked to be some sort of novelty hat, adorned with a cartoon snake design.

Tomoe gave what Nanami could only assume was a disparaging sniff and made to grab Nanami's wrist, but she pulled her hand away sharply. She was already running to the opposite corner of the shop, her eyes sparkling.

"Tomoe, look!" She excitedly indicated what appeared to be a charm bracelet, hanging from the wall. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the only charm on the bracelet was in the shape of a minute white fox, which gave off a faint, ethereal glow.

"Nanami, don't touch that!" snapped Tomoe, and for once, Mizuki agreed; he joined Tomoe in rushing toward the oblivious girl, but it was too late.

Nanami had already touched the charm, which glowed so intensely that it blinded all three companions. When the light faded, there was utter and complete silence for a moment, broken only by a shriek from Mizuki and Tomoe's silent scowl. Nanami, meanwhile, didn't see any problem, except….were her friends always this tall?

While Nanami racked her brain trying to figure out why she'd suddenly shrunk to less than half her height, and why her entire body felt weirdly...fuzzy, she faintly heard Tomoe talking to the shopkeeper.

"Turn her back," he spat, and Nanami shivered at his menacing aura. Mizuki, too, seemed to be completely serious for once. He was glaring at the shopkeeper, who now looked significantly less short from Nanami's viewpoint.

"If I knew how to do that, do you think I'd be closing my shop down due to reports?" the wizened woman said drly.

"You…" hissed Mizuki, but Tomoe was busying himself with Nanami.

The fox familiar looked so genuinely concerned that Nanami braced herself for bad news, assuming that she must be actively dying; as if to confirm her fears, Tomoe did something rather rare: he stroked her head. "How do you feel, Nanami?"

"How do you think she feels?" snapped Mizuki, turning on him, but he was silenced by a glare from Tomoe.

"Nanami?"

"Short," said Nanami truthfully, and she frowned with facial muscles that didn't feel like hers. "And weird...and something's poking me in the eye…"

In irritation, she batted the fuzzy thing away, and in that moment, she realized two things: firstly, that she had a paw; and secondly, that she'd just batted her own tail out of her face.