≈ Narration ≈
[speaking over phone or other electronic devices]
{setting/stage directions}
"Speech."
'Thoughts.'
"English speech."

[[SUZUME USING KOTODAMA]]
—¡–!–¡–!–¡— Scene shift/passage of time.
A whole line of text like this without quotes is a written letter or something similar.
WORDS IN ALL CAPS AND NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE SOUND EFFECTS.
Flashbacks and changes in POV will be labeled.
Unless stated otherwise, the POV will be third person omniscient.

Previously:

"Well, I guess I'd better go get started on that cheesecake!" Suzume said with a wry smile, sweat-dropping at his extreme reaction. Was it really that bad…?

"Yep~ I'm counting on you, Suzume-chan!" Yuuko said brightly. She was really looking forward to it.

"W-What did you do…?" Watanuki asked warily once Suzume was gone, wondering how Yuuko-san had managed to get her to become her indentured servant as well.

"What?" Yuuko asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Why do you assume I did something?"

"… Now that I think of it, I wonder what happened to that educational training student." Watanuki said, deciding to change the subject before he got himself in trouble.

Chapter 12: Fox Oden

"Oh, no! We're late!" Watanuki cried out as he and Suzume sprinted through the darkness from their school to the shop.

"You know," Suzume said as she pulled her bike along, "we'd get there a lot faster if you would just…"

"No way!" Watanuki answered quickly. He already knew what she was going to say, and there was no way he was getting on the back of her bike again, unless it was an absolute emergency! Though it was somewhat impressive how she could run so fast while still keeping that thing balanced… "Why did we have to stay for all of Doumeki's archery meet, anyway!?" He was even forced to bring that guy snacks!

"Because Himawari-chan wanted to watch it?" Suzume suggested with a knowing smile, making him blush. Actually, she had wanted to see it too, so the three of them decided to watch from the stands together.

"Yes, it was my good fortune to be able to sit next to Himawari-chan for the whole meet~!" Watanuki said dreamily with a goofy smile on his face as he remembered. Right next to her in the cheering crowd! "But it made us so late! Doumeki just had to stay in the meet all the way to the championship round!" He grumbled, doing an emotional one-eighty, as a vein throbbed on his forehead. "He could have done us a favor and lost quickly!"

"How dare he…?" Suzume asked with a wry smile, sweat-dropping. "Why do you like to blame him for everything so much? He's really not that bad, you know."

"Arghh! Don't even get me started!" Watanuki told her. "I gotta figure out what to make! The only quick thing I know is nabe, but we had that yesterday! It's so cold, it'd be best to have something hot for dinner, but there's no time!" They both smell something tasty. "What a delicious smell!"

"I think it's this way, Watanuki-kun!" Suzume said, following her nose.

"Hm? Hm?" Watanuki said, sniffing the air as the headed in the heavenly aroma's direction. There was a warm glowing light in the darkness. "Hey! It's a food vendor's stand!"

"I wonder what they sell," Suzume said.

"Maybe they give out free samples! If it's good, we can bring this back for dinner!"

"Good plan!" Suzume agreed. A young fox walking on its hind legs, dressed in kimono, passed walked past the front of the stand.

"…" The two humans and the little fox stared at each other.

"A fox spirit!!" Watanuki exclaimed loudly as he and Suzume jumped in surprise.

"Waaa!!" the little fox cried, so shocked he dropped the plates he was holding. Watanuki dropped his bag and quickly caught them on reflex.

"Nice, Watanuki!" Suzume cheered.

"Welcome to the shop!" an older fox calmly greeted them from behind the stalld.

"Wa!!" Watanuki shouted.

'There's two of them…!' Suzume thought. Judging by the size of the one behind the counter, the one in front was a child. 'We must have scared him...' she thought, noting how he was hiding behind the corner of the stand, shaking.

"I-It t-talked!" Watanuki said, sweating nervously.

"It really did!" Suzume said, amazed.

"Oh, a human," the bigger fox said. "We don't get many of those." The bigger fox bowed to them, and Suzume bowed back. "It's cold out there. Come inside."

"Uh… Umm… Are those costumes?" Watanuki asked as he and Suzume took their places at the counter.

"Hahahaha," the big fox laughed. "No, they're out customary clothing. We've been running this nights-only stand for a long time. But the number of humans who come in can be counted on one hand. You have pretty strong powers, don't you?" Suzume and Watanuki exchanged a glance.

"You can tell?" he asked. The big fox smiled.

"If you didn't have it… you wouldn't be able to see the shop… or us," he said.

"This was what we smelled, right?" Suzume asked, looking at the food they had on display.

"There was this delicious smell..." Watanuki said.

"It's our oden," the big fox said. "But you wouldn't like that." Watanuki and Suzume shook their heads and grabbed some chopsticks. On the contrary, they would love to try it. "Then have some." The big fox put together two bowls and served them. Watanuki and Suzume took their first bites.

"It's delicious!" they both said, enjoying it immensely.

"Especially these boiled and fried veggies!" Watanuki added as they ate more.

"That's because we're fox spirits!" the big fox said. "We're specialists at fried foods!"

"I see!" Suzume said with a smile. She and Watanuki made eye contact with the little fox, who was peeking at them from around the corner of the stand.

"I'm sorry for scaring you back there," Watanuki told him.

"Me, too," Suzume apologized. The little fox blushed shyly and shook his head to let them know it was okay. He stared at Watanuki's bag.

"What is it?" Watanuki asked. The nervous little fox's fur stuck out.

"I guess there's something interesting in your bag," the big fox said.

"Inside my bag?" Watanuki said.

"I wonder what that could be?" Suzume said.

"I doubt there's anything in there that's special..." Watanuki said, digging around in it. "The lunch is all eaten..."

"Ah!" the little fox gasped when he saw the item in Watanuki's hand.

"This?" Watanuki asked, holding the tail of a broken arrow. "This is just the end of a broken arrow. The end with the fletching. Doumeki won his meet with this arrow, but since the arrow broke, he thew it into my bag. The little creep!" a vein throbbed on his head at the thought. But the little fox was staring at it as if it were the greatest thing since sliced bread. "Is this what you wanted?" The little fox looked down and played with his paws, mumbling something. "It's yours," Watanuki told him with a smile.

"Eh!?" the little fox said, surprised and excited.

"Take it," Watanuki said, holding it out for him.

"Can I?" the little fox asked.

"Sure," Watanuki said. The little fox took the broken arrow and hugged it.

"Thank you!!" the little fox said. Watanuki and Suzume smiled. She thought he was adorable.

"Thank you very much!" the big fox said. "Here is what we'll do. We'll call that payment for your oden."

"You can't do that!" Watanuki said. "Besides, it wasn't my arrow to begin with!"

"We really should pay you," Suzume said.

"Nonsense," the big fox said. "It's payment aplenty. Oh, and take this." He held out a wrapped package to Watanuki. "It's my gift to the people at your destination."

"Ah! You're right! We have to run!" Watanuki said, remembering the time.

"My best regards to Yuuko-san," the big fox said as both foxes bowed to them.

"Eh?" Watanuki and Suzume said, surprised. Suddenly they were standing in the middle of the street by themselves.

"Eh?" Watanuki said.

"Eh?" Suzume said

"An illusion maybe?" Watanuki said.

"Then what about what you're holding?" Suzume asked. He still had the package the big fox had handed to him.

"You're right… evidence shows that it's not," Watanuki said.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"We're sorry we're so late!" Watanuki and Suzume called as they entered Yuuko's shop.

"It's Watanuki and Suzume-chan!" Moro and Maru said.

"IIIIIIIIIIII'm soooooooo huuuunnnngry!" Yuuko groaned, slumped over.

"Sorry!" Suzume said.

"We're sorry! Here!" Watanuki said, holding up the takeout from the foxes' oden stand. Yuuko and Mokona immediately perked up.

"Fox-spirit oden!?" Yuuko said excitedly, suddenly full of energy. She took it from Watanuki. "Wheee!"

"Wheee!" Mokono said, dancing on her shoulder.

"Ah! That was quick!" Watanuki said.

"Yuuko-san, you know them?" Suzume asked.

"It was a long time ago…" Yuuko replied, unwrapping the food. "Oh, look! Rice-paste-kabobs! These things are to die for!"

"You know everybody, don't you?" Watanuki said.

"He's a nice fox-spirit, isn't her… that shop owner?" Yuuko said, smiling slightly as she bit a piece of octopus.

"Yes!" Suzume agreed with a smile.

"The kid is too!" Watanuki said, also smiling.

"Yeah, he's just adorable!" Suzume agreed.

"Fine, today we'll start out with some warm sake," Yuuko said, getting down to business. "Then we'll follow up with some of the less-expensive stuff, and finish out with rice brandy!"

"How much do you intend to drink tonight anyway!?" Watanuki asked incredulously.

'I'm becoming concerned for her liver...' Suzume thought.

"Move it! Move it!" Yuuko ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Watanuki and Suzume said, getting to work.