A/N: Do check out the original version of this chapter on AO3 if possible, to see the extra features added to this chapter.


Keiwa tried to gently tie the small handkerchief around the injured leg before his hand slipped and it got too tight the white fox suddenly gave out a loud yelp and now Keiwa also started panicking. And before he knew it, the white fox suddenly started licking his fingers as if trying to assure him that it wasn't angry at him for the slip-up.

Keiwa smiled fondly at the white fox as he leaned closer towards it. "Aren't you a very considerate one? For a sec, I started to question myself which of us actually was taking care of the other..."

And then the white fox suddenly licked the tip of his nose. And Keiwa laughed.

That was a bad move.

.

Because the white fox just suddenly jumped him—pushing him flat onto his small bed—before starting to lick him vigorously on his face; cheeks, eyes, nose, ears, neck... and even the inside of his mouth! And Keiwa could barely push it away because suddenly it felt as if the white fox had gained ten times its original weight suddenly despite its size remaining the same. But eventually, it stopped licking him and Keiwa could scramble back to sit up properly and catch his breath.

"Whoa!" Keiwa gasped aloud. "Did you love me THAT much, little guy?" he asked as the white fox started licking him on his cheeks again. It did feel as if he was just dealing with a massive puppy—and oh! He could faintly taste the jerky from earlier. That tasted good, maybe he should go back to the shop later to get some more...

"Woaaah! Oh my god!"

A loud cry suddenly rang from outside his room as Keiwa suddenly grabbed the white fox and pressed it onto himself in fright!

He turned his head to find his sister Sara standing at the other side of the door, looking terrified.

"W-w-wha... should we call the firemen? Police? Animal control? What was that!?"

Keiwa hastily held out a hand to try to calm his sister.

"It's all right! It's okay... big sis! There's nothing to worry about!"

Sara kept shakily pointing her hand towards the white fox sitting beside Keiwa on the bed. " B-but... that's a FOX, right? H-how?"

.

Keiwa quickly ran his hand over the white fox from its head to the base of its tail as he smiled at his sister. "This guy is really a very gentle fox, right Ace?" he chirped before cocking his head towards the white fox that he suddenly christened.

"YOU even gave it a NAME?" exclaimed Sara as her eyes might as well turned into tiny saucers by now!

Keiwa shrugged. "Well, it does look like an Ace, don't you think?" And he might have just imagined it, but for a second he thought the fox's eyes just shone even more brightly at him. As if it really liked the name Keiwa just gave him.

And then Keiwa's stomach suddenly growled.

"Ah! I just remembered something," exclaimed Keiwa before turning towards his sister. "I forgot to prepare anything for dinner!"

Sara also gasped loudly at him. "Ah, mou... Keiwa! And I've been especially looking forward to it!"

"I'll get on it!" said Keiwa as he got on his feet. And the white fox bit the edge of Keiwa's pants to stop him from leaving before he gave another cry. "Ah, that reminds me—"

He turned around towards the fox. "How about some fried tofu as snacks? I'll get a few other snacks for you too, but would you like that?"

"Keiwa... I think that's only true in the folklores—!" Sara tried to argue but Keiwa just shrugged at her.

"But Ace seemed to want it. Big sis... can you take care of Ace for a bit? One of his hind legs was hurt—so I wanted to take him to the vet tomorrow..."

"Ah, sure—" Sara yelped as Keiwa sped past her like a breeze.

As the main door of their apartment slammed close, Sara turned her attention back to the white fox Keiwa had called Ace.

"Well, I guess I'll just... roll with it for now."

xxx

The sound of some band playing from some shop lot fashioned into a makeshift indie band concert stage caught Keiwa's attention as he was on the way back from the grocery store. Somehow, the upbeat music just grabbed his attention... and the song was really catchy as well. The song sounded like something he could listen to all day without getting tired of it.

Keiwa idly turned away from his usual routes and decided to check out the live band.

.

Luckily, entering the mini-concert wasn't really too hard. And the crowds weren't too packed around this time of night. And the current band that was performing right now was pretty good. A four-member band, three playing electric guitars—or maybe one or two of them were playing the bass guitars—and one drummer. And it looked like the one member standing at the centre of the formation looked like the main vocalist. That guy looked so cool singing onstage, or actually, all four of them looked and sounded amazing.

What genre were they singing again? Rock? Punk?

"What're you talking about, man? It's PunkRock! Haven't you heard about Weather Hearts?"

A random guy standing right next to him just suddenly spoke out to him out of nowhere as a random lady just gave out a leaflet to Keiwa with information about the band. And the random guy just suddenly started rambling to him excitedly about the band and how he was glad that the group made another comeback after disbanding almost a year ago. Yet all those flurries of information just went right past Keiwa's head as he stared at the random guy curiously...

"Michinaga?" he spoke out absentmindedly as the long-haired young man stared at Keiwa's face in confusion.

"How did you know my name?" asked the young man immediately as Keiwa finally noticed that the young man was slightly shorter than him than he initially thought. But yes, not that the young man said it...

How did he know that guy's name?


A/N2: Because I wanted to write something cute for a change. You need balance for stuff like these anyway.