The Cherryton Cooking Club

by Mr.Dr.Sadperson

Taking place one year before the events of the show, this story is a simple look at the (relatively) normal lives of average students attending Cherryton Highschool.

21. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: A Fox In the Squirrel House

Upon waking up that Saturday morning, Yasui found he had one monster of a headache. He couldn't seem to remember exactly what it was, but he was pretty sure he'd been having a very strange dream where his blanket had tried to eat him. With a grunt, he checked the time.

10:00am!? I slept really late!

Yasui roused himself and shuffled through his morning routine. His other roommates had yet to stir, so Yasui stayed as quiet as possible to avoid waking them up. Once dressed, Yasui went to the cafeteria for breakfast. As he ate, he texted Shinrai but got no response. With no other plans, Yasui decided he might explore the area around school a bit so he could try to find that candy store Juno had told him about. So once his breakfast was done and he had taken care of any necessary tasks like laundry and homework, Yasui made his way down to the street that ran perpendicular to the road to and from Cherryton.

There were quite a few other animals out and about, especially at the small collection of shops that was situated two blocks away from the hill Cherryton sat upon. There was a florist, a grocery store, a thrift store, and a bookstore all close together, to name a few. Eventually Yasui also found the candy store Juno had mentioned just a short walk away from the other stores. The Candy Drawer was a small and rather inauspicious store with a red awning. As Yasui opened the door, a bell chimed and a friendly voice rang out.

"Welcome! Let me know if you want to try anything!"

Behind the counter was a stout little otter in a green apron. She was just as cute and cuddly looking as most otters tended to be with a round face and dimpled cheeks. The display case showed rows and rows of sweets of all colors and flavors. There were fruit meringues, chewy caramels, chocolate truffles, wafers, bon bons, licorice, brittle, and many more that Yasui had never heard of. Even though this was clearly a small store, it put the candy section at the general store back home to shame. Yasui turned slowly to look at all the different candies being sold and whistled.

"Wow, that's a lot of candy."

The female otter giggled. She looked to be middle aged, probably around his mother's age actually.

"We try to have a wide variety. Anything in particular you're looking for?"

Yasui shook his head.

"No, sorry. I probably won't buy anything today, but later I'll have to get something to bring home to my little sisters. I mainly just wanted to have a look around."

The otter smiled at him sweetly.

"No harm in that. Let me know if I can help."

Yasui was looking at the multitude of marshmallows that were on sale when a timer went off behind the counter. The store owner jolted a bit before explaining.

"Ooh! The pralines are ready to get poured. Izumi! Can you cover for me! We have a customer!"

A surly female voice came from the back of the store.

"Yeah yeah, gimme a sec, Mom."

A familiar female otter emerged from the back and stood with her arms crossed beside her mother. She positively towered over the older female and glowered at Yasui before her eyes narrowed in recognition.

"Oh. It's you."

Yasui pointed at her.

"Hey! It's you! From the biology room!"

Izumi's mother looked between the two of them before comprehending what the connection must be.

"Oh! Do you go to Cherryton together too?"

Yasui nodded and Izumi yawned.

"Yeah, Mom. Same school."

Izumi's mother patted her daughter's hand before heading towards the back of the store.

"Well I'll let you talk to your friend while I finish with the pralines."

Without batting an eye Izumi retorted,

"Not my friend."

Ouch, that was a little harsh.

Izumi then rounded on him.

"Alright, shrimpy, whatcha want?"

"Shrimpy?"

"It's because you're so short."

"… oh."

Yasui scratched his head.

"Uh… I'm not going to buy anything today, but later this week I will. Just wanted to take a look around."

"Whatever. Freaking window shoppers."

Yasui frowned and continued looking at the mountain of sweets contained within the store. Eventually he realized he wasn't actually looking anymore, just kind of wandering around. He clasped his hands together.

"Well, I should go."

"Yeah."

"See you Sunday? I guess?"

"Yeah."

"Okay…. Bye, I guess."

Just then Izumi's mother returned holding a piece of something brown that filled the room with an absolutely heavenly scent.

"Want to try one?"

Yasui sniffed the air and looked at the flat, brown object warily. The older otter waved it enticingly.

"~It's hot and gooey~"

"If it's a free sample… okay."

Yasui accepted the still hot candy and popped it in his mouth. The immediate flavor was indescribable. It was sweet and sticky and nutty and buttery and caramelly and so many other things that ended in "y" he couldn't fathom them all. He immediately licked his fingers clean and the store owner laughed.

"Well I take that as you enjoying it."

"It's amazing! What did you say that was?"

"It's a praline. I had my first one when I visited my brother-in-law in New Orleans. They were to die for, so I added them to my sizable candy repertoire."

"To die for is right! That's the best candy I've ever had in my life! Well… not that I've had much candy, but still!"

"Well I'm glad you liked it. They are best right off the stone though. Want one? It's on the house for a friend of my daughter's"

Izumi rolled her eyes and grumbled to her mother that Yasui wasn't her friend, but the sweet semi aquatic mammal had already left and came back with another praline. Yasui gladly accepted and began eating the sticky treat with gusto. Once he was done, he said his goodbyes to Izumi and her mother and promised to return before he went back home.

Once he was outside of the store and its sugary smell was no longer filling his nose, Yasui aimlessly looked around for where he wanted to go next. He could always go to the small grocery store and check what was going on sale this week. That might help him decide what they would be cooking during club meetings. Or he could check out the bookstore. He didn't actually own any books of his own, he always just got them at the library. As he looked around, he noticed a greenish-brown crumpled up paper sitting on the ground near one of the small trees that lined the street. Yasui scowled.

Litter! How are some people so inconsiderate! I mean come on!

He stormed over and picked up the trash, and noticed a number on it. Curious, Yasui uncrumpled the piece of paper and froze. This wasn't a piece of trash. It was a green-brown rectangle with the number five-thousand printed in the top corners. This was a five-thousand yen bill. Yasui blinked and vigorously shook his head, as if trying to wake up. He squinted and adjusted his glasses. Sure enough, it was exactly what he had seen the first time. Yasui felt like he was going to pass out.

Hoo…. Hoooooo…. How!? What!? Why?! Did somebody drop this? Is it real? What do I do with it? Can… Can I keep it?

Yasui looked around but the street was empty except for himself. He wandered towards the more populated area where the grocery store was and approached one of the police officers who appeared to mainly be there to help direct traffic. The officer, a male hippopotamus, looked down at him as Yasui approached. He bent down a bit so he was closer to Yasui's level and asked,

"What do you need, kid? Lost your parents?"

Yasui shook his head, still dumbstruck by his finding. Finally he swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke.

"I, uh, I found this… on the ground." Yasui showed the officer the yen note. The officer whistled.

"Well look at that! Talk about good luck! The stars must be in your favor or something. Wow, five thousand big ones."

"So… I get to keep it? That's okay?"

The officer laughed.

"Sure, unless you feel like giving it to me!"

He paused when he saw Yasui's expression and waved his hands lazily.

"I'm kidding! Nah, that's yours kiddo. Just don't spend it all on candy, you hear?"

Yasui still felt numb. He was now five thousand yen richer than he had been ten minutes ago. This was insane! What were the odds of—

Oh my gosh! The fortune teller at the festival! He said I was going to get a lot of money soon! It came true! No! Freaking! Way! Oh I have to tell Juno about this! She'll get a kick out of it!

With an added spring to his step, Yasui bounded through the doors of the grocery store and began looking through the various items on sale. The main thing he saw that drew his attention was that carrots were on sale as well as walnuts.

Maybe we can bake a carrot cake to celebrate summer vacation? Or a walnut pie. I guess we can decide on Monday after we count the money we made from the festival. I wonder if Chaussette went with somebody to the actual festival after we were—

Yasui yelped loudly as he felt a sudden tug on his tail. He looked back to see a small rhino holding his tail with both hands. It laughed loudly and tightened its grip. It couldn't have been older than five or six, but it was already the same height as Yasui. Yasui frowned.

"Hey! Let go of my tail!"

The child grinned mischievously and gave his tail another hard yank, provoking another yelp of pain. Yasui attempted to pull his tail free from the child's grasp but the rhino just tightened its grip further. Yasui looked around for anyone who looked like the kid's parents but saw only various other shoppers giving the two of them weird looks. Yasui scowled.

"Stop it! That hurts!"

Once again the rhino laughed and gave Yasui's tail another hard yank, this one actually pulled Yasui so hard he lost his balance and toppled over. Yasui growled.

"CUT THAT OUT!"

Suddenly he heard a female's voice.

"What are you doing!"

He saw an adult female rhinoceros rushing over. A look of rage on her face.

Good! If she's any sort of good mother at all she'd spank this kid or something!

The rhinoceros mother pried her child off Yasui's tail (quite painfully) and then, to Yasui's surprise, whirled around and glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing to my son!"

Yasui spluttered.

"Me!? He just came over here and started pulling on my tail! He's the one who-"

"Don't you raise your voice at me, you dirty carnivore! You ought to be ashamed of yourself for growling at him! I should call the police on you!"

"I didn't do anything wrong! Your son was the entire problem!"

The rhino shook her finger at him.

"You foxes are all the same! You blame everyone else for your problems! Maybe if you weren't all so awful all the time your whole species might not have so many bad stereotypes!"

Yasui wasn't sure what to do, but fortunately for him somebody interfered. A female wolf who looked to be in her late thirties walked over and interposed herself between Yasui and the rhinoceros lady. She glared at the herbivore.

"That's enough! You have no right to talk to somebody else's child like that!"

The rhinoceros huffed.

"Well why do you think you can butt your snout where it doesn't belong!"

The wolf crossed her arms.

"Just walk away."

The rhinoceros sneered.

"You carnivores are all the same. You should have to go live somewhere else where you can't ruin the lives of herbivores!"

As the hippo left, the wolf bent down to be closer to Yasui's eye level. She gave him a sad look.

"Are you okay?"

Yasui was definitely shaken from the whole experience. His heart felt like it was quivering instead of beating and his stomach was queasy.

"I-I'm fine. Thanks for helping me."

The wolf scowled in the direction the rhinoceros had left.

"It's always this way after an incident. I'm surprised your parents left you unattended."

Yasui was about to clarify that he was not a small child but a sixteen year old high school student, but a different question pressed forward.

"An incident? What do you mean?"

"Oh, you don't know? It's been all over the news…. Maybe you should just ask your parents about it."

Yasui awkwardly averted his eyes.

"I'm not… that young. I just don't watch tv very much."

"Well… I won't go into details, but there was a devouring last night."

Yasui recoiled.

"A d-devouring! That's horrible!"

Yasui had only ever heard of one other devouring. It had happened in the next town over from where Yasui had gone to school. It had been the topic of conversation everywhere for months. The wolf continued.

"And what's worse, for you that is, is that the one who did the devouring was a fox."

Yasui's ears drooped a bit.

"Oh…."

The wolf gave him an attempt at an encouraging smile.

"It'll blow over, it always does. Just… maybe stay home for a while. Animals do crazy things when they're scared and upset."

She stood and walked away, giving him a little wave before returning to her shopping cart, where a young girl wolf who Yasui assumed was her daughter was waiting. As she left, Yasui looked back at the produce section. He suddenly didn't feel like shopping anymore.

[Shinrai's house, later that day.]

Shinrai was sitting in the living room with his dad as his mother cooked dinner. His parents always asked that he and his sister come home for at least part of the day on the weekend every few weeks. On the tv, a deer news anchor was speaking.

"This just in, the suspect in the devouring of the snow hare named Melina has been apprehended by police. We're going now to the scene."

The picture changed to show several police officers forcing a handcuffed fox out of a police car and towards the police station. Shinrai looked at the fox as he glared balefully at the crowds of reporters recording him and taking pictures. Shinrai noticed his fur was a dingy gray color, not like the rusty red of Yasui's coat. Beside him his father sighed. His father was a squirrel of average build with graying fur and creased eyes. He looked at his son and shook his head.

"It's a scary world out there. You never know which carnivores are going to snap and eat you."

Shinrai just nodded, absorbed in thought. His mother called for them to all wash their hands before dinner, and then they were sitting down to a meal of roasted vegetables and rice. As they ate, Shinrai's father looked across the table to his wife and asked,

"Have you seen the news? They caught the sicko who… you know."

Shinrai's mother shook her head. She was thinner than her husband, and had slightly lighter colored fur.

"I hope they lock him up and throw away the key. I feel sorry for the family of that poor girl."

Shinrai's father nodded.

"It's those foxes, they've just got mean temperaments. Some animals are just nastier than others, and foxes are pretty high up on that list. Them and poisonous snakes."

Shinrai felt something unusual after that comment. He was used to hearing this sort of talk. Ironically his parents tended to get along best when they were bashing carnivores. Herbivores were always vocal about their distrust and fear of carnivores behind closed doors, and he was sure he'd heard similar comments about foxes before. He knew all the stereotypes. That foxes were thieves, that they were violent, and sneaky, and loved preying on those weaker than them. But now he had a name and a face that went with that species. Whenever he thought of "fox" now, he saw Yasui's goofy face as he tried to work his new cellphone. Or that big smile he got when he talked about his family.

Shinrai shifted uncomfortably.

"Well… that's a little harsh. Just because somebody's a fox doesn't mean they're bad."

His father looked a bit surprised at that comment but just shrugged.

"I'm just saying their track record is bad and it's not getting any better. I'm sure there are some decent enough foxes, but even then instincts are instincts. They still have those same drives and desires. It's hardwired into them. They see a weak and defenseless herbivore, and they strike! They're all the same on the inside."

Before Shinrai could reply, his mother interrupted.

"Oh, by the way, your father and I had a chance to talk and you can have your school friend over for the weekend."

Shinrai smiled.

"Thanks Mom and Dad."

Shinrai's dad finished a bite of broccoli and asked,

"Speaking of school, how's high school treating you? Working hard?"

Shinrai groaned.

"It's so much harder than middle school. And there's so much homework."

Shinrai's sister looked up from the cell phone she had been surreptitiously using under the table.

"It only gets worse, trust me."

Shinrai gave her a look of despair.

"This isn't even the worst it gets?"

His mother laughed.

"Oh, Shinny, high school is a breeze compared to college. I still have nightmares about college."

Shinrai's father shuddered.

"A few weeks ago I had a dream that there was an exam I had forgotten to study for and I couldn't remember what class it was for. I woke up convinced it was real and your mother found me trying to look it up online. She had to convince me that I was still half asleep and it was a dream."

Shinrai was looking a little green.

"I don't think I want to pursue an education anymore. I'll just go live as a hermit somewhere."

Once dinner was over and both children had returned to Cherryton, Shinrai's parents sat on the couch watching tv. Shinrai's father groaned and gave his wife a weary look.

"Please tell me Shinrai's friend isn't staying the whole vacation."

"Don't worry, it's just for the weekend."

"Well that's a relief. Which one is it? The rabbit or the alpaca?"

She frowned.

"I can't remember."

"I hope it's the alpaca. He's not insufferable like that rabbit. They're both a little bit rude if you're being honest, just in different ways. The rabbit is a little… piece of work and the alpaca just humble brags all the time. 'I lost my favorite keychain while skiing over vacation' or 'I don't really even use my computer much anymore. I mainly just use my brand new game-thingamajig that's super expensive and your family can't afford.' It drives me insane, and makes me feel like I'm doing a crap job at providing for my family."

She shrugged.

"I don't need expensive vacations or nice things to be happy. I like my life just the way it is."

He shook his head.

"It's still the principle of the thing. Why our son likes those two is beyond me. They're both kinda snobs."

"We can't control who our son is friends with. And besides, it's only a few days."

Sunday passed in a strange blur. The campus was bizarrely empty and quiet, but that didn't last. From the very start of the day on Monday, Yasui could feel a change in the atmosphere at Cherryton. Everything was quiet, and a bit tense as he made his way through the line for breakfast. He had gotten used to the general separation that tended to occur between herbivores and carnivores, it was pretty normal everywhere that for the most part the herbivores all stuck together and the carnivores did the same. But usually there was at least a little bit of interaction between the two groups. Now it felt like there was some sort of gap between the two factions.

Yasui also noticed that while most of the herbivores were avoiding looking at and speaking to their carnivore classmates, he was receiving dirty looks from herbivores and carnivores alike. He almost spilled his tray of food when a racoon slammed into him from the side. The racoon sneered.

"Oops, I didn't see you. Probably because of how sneaky you are."

Yasui hunched his shoulders a bit and wordlessly slipped outside. It was a rainy sort of day, but he had enough experience dodging bullies to know that sticking to places where he could hide easily was the right move. As he found a dry corner to hole up in, Yasui noticed another fox that looked older than he was doing something similar. The words of the wolf from yesterday rang in his ears.

Maybe I should just ditch class for today? Things seem pretty… tense. But… I mean… the teachers will definitely not allow any bullying in class, and so long as I duck out quickly after classes I should be fine.

With this strategy employed, Yasui was able to make it through his morning classes with few incidents. One of his classmates "accidentally" knocked all of his books to the floor, and later one just happened to step on his tail in passing. It seemed that all the other carnivores were taking their frustrations out on the species responsible for the predation.

For Shinrai, his morning was going much differently. He noticed the tension in the air too, but he had experience with this sort of thing from living in the city his whole life. Even so, he felt that it was much more tense here than it had ever been when he had been in middle school. He noticed that all of the carnivores were walking on eggshells near him, like they were hoping he wouldn't notice them. Then as he was heading down the stairs for small animals to go get lunch, he heard fast footsteps behind him. A blur of tan fur raced by and down the stairs, and as it did a notebook fell from its grip. Shinrai picked it up and called out,

"Hey! You dropped this!"

However the speeding animal had already turned a corner. Shinrai sighed as he realized this was going to make him have to wait in a huge line for lunch, but still chased after the creature. He barely managed to keep up as he tracked the hint of tan he would see rounding a corner ahead of him. Finally he stopped at an empty classroom on the second floor, and he heard crying from inside. Cautiously he opened the door. Immediately he saw the creature he had been following as it turned to look at him. It was close to his height, except for two large ears that were lifted high as he entered the room. The animal had sandy fur and shiny, beetle-black eyes. Immediately he realized what he had been chasing.

"Oh! You're… a fennec fox."

The fennec sniffled and wiped her eyes (Shinrai could now see it was a girl from the uniform dress she was wearing and generally feminine appearance.) She looked at him and scowled.

"What do you want!"

Shinrai gulped and hesitated. Suddenly his mouth felt dry and his skin was clammy. He felt like his throat was full of something thick and spicy. This was the same way he felt whenever he interacted with a girl. Shinrai moved his mouth soundlessly as he looked at her. He noticed her clothes and fur were dripping water and stammered out,

"Y-you… uh… why…. Why are you all, uh, I mean, uh, what… happened?"

The fox sniffled.

"It doesn't matter."

"But, uh, maybe…. I have your notebook!"

The fennec tilted her head.

"You think you have my notebook?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean… uh… you dropped this!"

Shinrai awkwardly shuffled closer and held out the notebook. She looked at it and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm before accepting it.

"Thanks. But why did you run after me to give it back?"

Shinrai froze. His mind was full of pudding and his knees were sweating. He didn't even know knees could sweat.

"I just… I just… I just…. Uuuuuuh."

She let out a slightly weepy sounding laugh as he stood there like an idiot. Immediately Shinrai grinned and tried to laugh along only to choke on his own spit and cough. When he stopped coughing he gasped,

"You okay? Are you… maybeeeeee?"

She laughed again, still sniffling a little but not as bad as before.

"I'm fine. It's just… I can't believe how mean people can be."

Shinrai groped around behind him for a chair and sat down heavily, knocking the chair back a bit as he did. The fox smiled again and Shinrai stuttered.

"What… happens? I mean, h-happened?"

"Some herbivore girls splashed a bucket of water on me. I'm soaked from head to toe. I know it sounds silly, but it's just…."

She trailed off, looking miserable. Shinrai energetically shook his head. Maybe a bit too energetically as he ended up giving himself a headache. He winced before continuing.

"Aaah, no! I mean… I know! You, uh, have a sister. I mean I have a sister! So I get it! Like, uh, you know…. It's like… embarrassing? Right? And they also totally makeupped you ruins! I mean ruins your makeup! I mean water is wet!"

She burst out laughing again. Shinrai grimaced and jerkily fished a handkerchief out of his bag. He held it out.

"I have this for your face! I mean, your face needs this! I mean… this is dry and clean!"

She smiled and accepted the handkerchief. She began to wipe some of the streaks of mascara that had been created by her tears as Shinrai bolted upright and looked over her head.

"I hope you feel better my name is Shinrai I'm going to go eat lunch so bye! It was nice to meet you and you seem nice my best friend is a fox!"

And with that Shinrai stood awkwardly for a few seconds before sprinting for the door. With a thud he ran into it before yanking it open and running into the hallway. The fox sat there staring after him before cracking up again. She sat in her seat shuddering with laughter before shaking her head.

"What a funny guy!"

For Yasui, once it was time for lunch, he got to the cafeteria as fast as possible to grab his meal and get out before anyone else could mess with him. He was successful for the most part, and carried his tray towards the room where Cooking Club meetings were held. Inside he saw the same two guys from before using the table. The scrawny wolf looked up and adjusted his large glasses.

"Smart move, fox cook. It's a warzone out there."

Yasui set his tray down at the counter where he usually chopped vegetables and sighed.

"This is crazy. The school is different today, just because of the news."

The cheetah who was still masked nodded and signed something. The wolf jabbed his thumb towards his friend.

"Jin had trash dumped on him by some older kids. All the bullies are using today as an excuse to really act up."

Yasui grunted.

"You should see the looks I've been getting. You'd think I was the one who did the crime!"

The wolf shrugged.

"That's always how it is. Whatever species did the crime becomes the punching bag for everyone else for a while. Last month, or maybe the month before, it was a wolf who ate somebody. I got stuffed in a trashcan. The fact that I'm not even a full-blooded wolf didn't matter to them, probably because I'm an easy target."

Yasui finished a mouthful of food and asked,

"You're not a full-blooded wolf?"

The, apparently, not a wolf frowned a bit and rolled his eyes.

"As if it wasn't a little obvious from my size. Yeah, my mom's a wolf, my dad's a husky. Also I'm a runt, which I think you understand pretty well."

Yasui nodded.

"Yeah…. Also, what did you call me earlier?"

"Oh, fox cook. I kinda forgot your name, if you told me that is."

"I'm Yasui. I forgot your names too."

"Well the cheetah is Jin and I'm Daniel. But you can call me Danny if you want. You can come sit with us if you want. We're not going to mess with you. This room is practically a sacred no-bully zone. Also, we're all pretty pathetic so any fighting would definitely be lame."

Jin signed something and Daniel translated.

"Jin says that I'm more likely to hurt myself in a fight than anyone else. Accurate, but ouch dude."

Yasui moved over and joined them at the table. He ate his lunch quietly as Daniel continued talking in between bites. Yasui noticed Jin wasn't eating anything.

"Hey, Jin." Daniel started, "You heard from Ryo lately? Haven't seen him in a while."

Jin signed something and Daniel nodded. He then turned to Yasui and spoke.

"Jin says our other friend Ryoshi is on his way here. He's an African black-footed cat, so whatever you do don't stare at him, and do not make any comments about his appearance."

Yasui wanted to ask more but then he heard a quiet knock from the very bottom of the door. Daniel stood.

"That's probably him now. Remember what I said."

Daniel opened the door and immediately cheered.

"What's up, Ryo! I haven't seen you in ages!"

A high, squeaky voice came from the floor.

"I've been busy. Cram school all last week."

As Daniel walked back to the table, Yasui saw who the source of the voice was. The only word to describe the speaker was "adorable." He was a tiny little cat the size of Yasui's hand, but maybe a bit bigger. He had a round face with light fur marked with black streaks. As he approached the table and moved a box so he could climb up onto a chair, he looked at Yasui.

"Who's the fox? A stray hiding from the angry mob outside?"

Daniel shook his head.

"Nah, this is Yasui. He's the president of the club that meets in this room. He said we can keep using it though, so long as we don't make a mess."

The cat nodded.

"Thanks for that. But seriously, you're hiding from the other students, aren't you?"

Yasui nodded.

"Yeah, I got some very good advice to keep my head down for a while. Even still, my tail hurts from where someone 'accidentally' stepped on it."

The cat rolled his eyes.

"People suck. A load of the carnivores here are all bent out of shape because the herbivores are mad at them and scared now, so they like to take it out on easy targets like us. You're probably getting it extra bad this time because of the whole fox thing."

Yasui had to remind himself not to stare. His squeaky voice and round cheeks made Yasui want to smile. Yasui took a sip of milk to cover his expression and replied.

"Yeah, it's been a tense day. And yesterday I got yelled at by some random rhino lady."

Ryoshi the cat huffed.

"Herbivores are crazy. They all have a massive chip on their shoulders. And they all just love to play the martyr. They claim that they're just worried for their safety and all that stuff, but I think they just like the feeling of superiority they get by bashing carnivores."

Yasui didn't reply to this. After what he had overheard after the festival, he was beginning to realize how fractured the situation was between herbivores and carnivores here. It seemed like both sides hated each other.

Except for Shinrai. We're best friends! So that has to count for something.

And yet, Yasui hadn't heard from Shinrai in a while, not since before the Festival of the Meteor. Maybe he was giving Yasui the cold shoulder because of the predation that happened. He could be a little scared of Yasui now because of the sudden reminder of how "dangerous and crafty" all foxes were in the eyes of the world at large. Yasui didn't want to think about it.

After lunch, Yasui's remained classes were pretty unpleasant. He felt eyes on him constantly as other animals glared at him or gave him a wide berth. In one class, the female pigeon who sat beside him went up to the teacher's desk and asked if she could sit somewhere else. His last class of the day was Math, and all throughout it a male hyena behind him used a rubber band to shoot folded up pieces of paper at him. When Yasui glanced back at him one time, the hyena whispered to him,

"Why don't you sneak off and hide? That's the only thing you foxes are good at. Besides lying that is."

All in all, Yasui was glad to be done with classes. He was supposed to have a club meeting today, but he wasn't sure if Chaussette was going to show anymore. They still hadn't counted the money they got from their booth at the festival, but with how weird school had been today he wouldn't blame her for skipping. However he was pleasantly surprised when she came slithering in a few minutes after Yasui had arrived.

"Hi, Yasssssui."

"Oh, hi Chaussette."

She fixed him with her lidless gaze and tilted her head slightly.

"Are you doing okay? Today wassss probably pretty hard."

Yasui sighed.

"I'm fine, I've been hiding here whenever I can. Thanks for asking though. How about you? You getting caught up in all the craziness out there?"

She shook her head, and her expression turned a bit… mischievous.

"We sssssnakesss are ussssed to keeping out of ssssight. Many other animalssss are… dissssturbed by our appearance."

"Well that's just awful! You're awesome, Chaussette, and only idiots wouldn't agree."

She looked down and flicked her tongue.

"That… wasss a very thoughtful thing to sssay. I appreciate it."

Yasui moved over to where he had hid the money and placed the lockbox on the counter.

"Alright, ready to see how much money we raised? That way we can buy some new ingredients to make… uh… something. We'll discuss what we want to make after."

Chaussette nodded and slithered over to lean against the counter as Yasui turned the box. He paused before looking at his club mate.

"Do, uh… do you have the key?"

"No, I thought you did."

Yasui winced. He couldn't remember who had taken the key. He pulled out his phone and texted Miss Diana to see if she knew who she had given it to. A little bit later Yasui received a text from her.

Miss Diana: Charles forgot to give you the key. I'm going to beat him over the head with a frying pan. We'll be there with the key in a half hour.

Yasui put his phone away and smiled.

"Mister Charles has it. They'll bring it here in half an hour."

"Oh, that'ssss a relief."

Yasui tapped the counter with his claws and rocked back and forth on his heels.

"So… is there anything in particular you want to cook this week?"

"Hmm, let me think for a bit."

Chaussette coiled herself a bit more tightly to help support herself and flicked her tongue in silence for a bit. Finally she sighed.

"I'm not entirely sssssure. Maybe something that'ssss ssssummery? Like… cake? With fruit? Or ice cream?"

From the door came a cheerful voice.

"Ice cream? You guys are making ice cream?! That's so cool!"

Looking up, Yasui saw the same rather crazy tigress from the festival.

Wait, isn't this that girl who said I was adorable? What's she doing here?

Yasui waved.

"Uh, hello. Can I help you?"

The tiger beamed at him and flounced into the room. She was wearing her school uniform, but she had accented it with a pink ribbon in her head and a shiny charm bracelet. As she stopped in front of him, she held out a slip of paper.

"I'm Yufine, and I'm here to join your club! Tada!"

Yasui blinked.

"You are?"

Yufine nodded enthusiastically. Yasui shook himself out of his stupor and spoke with more vigor.

"Oh! You are! Uh, hi! I'm Yasui, the club president. This is Chaussette."

Chaussette waved her tail awkwardly. Yufine clasped her hands behind her back and giggled.

"It's nice to meet you! So, you said we're making ice cream?"

Yasui glanced around, trying to get his train of thought back.

"Uh… well… we're not sure. We were just trying to decide what we should make this week."

Yufine nodded happily.

"Awesome! Well keep going, I won't interrupt!"

Yasui cleared his throat.

"Uh, sure. But… uh… can you tell me why you want to join? J-Just for curiosity's sake!"

Yufine made a peace sign and winked.

"Because everyone knows that a girl that can cook is super cute! Especially if you have a super adorable apron!"

Yasui just stared at her for a bit before nodding.

"Uh… okay. So… have you done much cooking before?"

The tigress shrugged.

"No, not really. But I'm happy to learn! It can't be that hard."

Yasui blinked rapidly and shook his head a bit.

"Uh… okay. So, uh, welcome to the club I guess. And… well… do you have any suggestions for what you want to cook over the next meeting?"

Yufine gasped, a broad smile on her face.

"Wait, so I'm in?! I can join the club?!"

Yasui looked at Chaussette in confusion. Chaussette just gave him a look that clearly stated she didn't want to get involved. He took that as a lack of opposition.

"Yeah. You're in."

"Yaaaaay! You won't regret it! So, for things I want to cook, how about ice cream and cupcakes and soufflé and tea and those cute little tea cakes and—"

Yasui waved his arms to get her attention.

"Uh… can you just narrow it down to one? Please?"

Yufine smiled and giggled.

"Whoops, got carried away. So for this week, well, you guys were talking about ice cream. Maybe that?"

Chaussette slowly raised the tip of her tail.

"I'm ssssorry to interrupt, but could we possssibly do ssssomething elssse? I'm not a huge fan of ice cream. I was jussst mentioning it becausssse it'sss very popular thisss ssseason."

Yufine pouted a bit.

"You don't like ice cream!?"

Chuassette lowered her head a bit and looked at the countertop.

"It'ssss jussst… I'm cold blooded. Eating cold food makesss me feel lethargic."

Yufine gasped.

"O-m-g, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive."

Chaussette looked a bit taken aback.

"Oh… you're okay. I wasss jusssst sssaying."

Yasui raised his hand.

"How about we make carrot cake? I saw carrots on sale at the grocery store. I can pick some up on my way back from work tomorrow and we can make it Wednesday."

Yufine and Chaussette both agreed, and soon Miss Diana had arrived with the key to the lockbox. As Yasui began to open it, Yufine approached the leopard and smiled.

"Hiya! I'm Yufine, I just joined."

"I'm Diana, the club sponsor. It's nice to meet you."

Yufine tilted her head a bit.

"There's something vaguely familiar about you. Wait, are you a fashionista? Because that dress is to die for!"

Diana smirked and turned a bit to show her fancy clothes off a bit. She had ditched her low profile clothing from the festival and was now wearing her typical high society fashion.

"Do you like it? I had it custom made for this season."

While both female mammals were chatting, Yasui had opened the lockbox and was counting out the money. With Miss Diana's help they were able to factor in their total costs and found that they had returned a profit of almost ten thousand yen. Yasui was beaming.

"This is so much more than I thought was even possible! Like, holy crap this is a lot of money!"

Diana shrugged.

"Well you did sell out of everything, and you had prepared a lot of food at a decent profit margin. All in all I'd call it a very successful venture."

The meeting didn't last much longer after that, and soon the members of the Cooking Club were all going their separate ways again. Yasui found his way to a quiet corner of the library where he began researching recipes for carrot cake. Suddenly, his phone buzzed. He checked it and saw he had received a text message from Shinrai.

Shinrai: yo where r we eating dinner

Shinrai: havnt seen you in a while

Shinrai: i miss my bestie :'(

Yasui typed out a response and sent it.

Yasui: Sorry, I've been busy. We can probably eat under the same tree as usual if it's not too damp and rainy. If it's still raining we can go eat in my club's room. I have a key.

There was a pause before he got a reply.

Shinrai: \(.)/

Yasui wasn't quite sure what that meant but he assumed it was a smiley face. When it was finally time for dinner, the rain was still coming down hard. He reached the club room first, and sat down with his tray to wait for Shinrai. It was a solid fifteen minutes before Shinrai did eventually appear. The squirrel set his tray down and shook some water off his legs.

"Geez, dude. It's absolutely pouring out there. I used an umbrella but my legs got soaked!"

Yasui nodded.

"Yeah, eating outside isn't really an option right now."

Shinrai nodded and noticed Yasui's untouched food.

"Yasui, you didn't have to wait for me. Your food's probably cold now."

Yasui shook his head.

"I don't mind. I hate eating alone anyway."

Shinrai slapped the table and pointed at Yasui.

"Mph! Before I forget! I got the okay from my parents. You can stay with us over the weekend."

"Oh, really!? That's awesome!"

Shinrai punched the air a few times while chanting,

"It's. Going. To. Be. Awesome! I can't wait! We'll have to watch some movies and I can teach you how to play video games!"

"Cool. Oh, is there any chance we can go shopping or something? I want to get gifts to bring home to my family."

Shinrai shrugged.

"Probably. I don't see why not."

"Oh, and speaking of awesome stuff. You won't ever guess what I found on the ground Sunday afternoon!"

"What was it? One of those rare crinkle edge yen coins?"

"Nu-uh, it was a five thousand yen note!"

Shinrai spat out his mouthful of juice and coughed, eyes watering. When he had finished coughing he looked up at Yasui.

"Five thousand!? Like, the big five-zero-zero-ZERO!?"

Yasui nodded enthusiastically. Shinrai laughed and shook his head.

"No freaking way! That's awesome!"

Shinrai moved his chair closer and punched Yasui's shoulder.

"Let me see!"

Yasui took out the note and showed it to his friend. Shinrai whistled and reached for it. He stopped and looked up at Yasui.

"Can I?"

"Go for it."

Shinrai took the note and looked it over, his mouth wide open in disbelief.

"Holy crap! Like, hooooooooo baby! What are you going to get for everyone?"

"Well, I already got my mom a necklace; I'm thinking about getting my sister, well my older sister, a bracelet; candy for my two younger sisters; and I'm not sure what to get for my brother or dad. Any suggestions?"

Shinrai frowned.

"Well… how old's your brother again? Just a year older?"

"Yeah. He's not like me at all though. He likes sports and stuff, not books. And he likes to be cool. He spends way too long styling his fur and stuff like that."

"Okay, so maybe a cool jacket or something that you can't get back home? Like one of those biker jackets or something?"

"Hey, yeah! That's a good idea! Thanks!"

Shinrai gave him a thumbs up.

"What are friends for? Now, tell me about your Dad."

"Well, he's kinda quiet. Not shy, just doesn't talk unless he needs to. He's also very practical. He doesn't like stuff that he can't use. Especially fancy stuff."

Shinrai scrunched his face up and finally shrugged.

"I dunno, does he have a favorite food or something?"

"I don't think so, he never really talks about that sort of stuff. Honestly the only thing I can think of that he really really likes is coffee. He loves coffee."

Shinrai laughed.

"So get him some fancy coffee. Like, maybe that Hawaiian stuff. The kind that you hear about from those trendy cafes and whatever."

"That's an idea. I'll ask my boss for any recommendations."

The rest of dinner passed with them discussing the different movies and games Shinrai wanted to play and watch over Yasui's stay at his house. By the time the day had drawn to a close and Yasui was lying in bed, he couldn't wait for Friday.

After classes on Tuesday, Yasui broached the subject of what coffee to get for his dad with Mr. Nabuyo. After some deliberation, he fetched a bag of beans from somewhere called Columbia and gave Yasui a "special employee discount" on the beans. With the bag of coffee waiting in the back and the growing anticipation of his stay with Shinrai and then of seeing and giving presents to his family, the shift seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace. Even on Wednesday when they had their first real Cooking Club meeting with their new member, Yasui found himself wishing away the time. It seemed like Friday would never arrive.

But eventually, it was Friday morning. This was the longest day of school Yasui had ever experienced. His classes seemed to take hours and hours. He'd check the time after what felt like an eternity to see that only a few minutes had passed. And all the while, he fantasized about what he should do to make a good impression with his best friend's parents.

Okay, it's the first time anybody has ever invited you over to their house for a sleepover. Stay calm, I need to make a good impression. But what if they don't like me? What if I look stupid or rude!?

[Yasui rang the doorbell and stood waiting by the door. Eventually the door opened and two adult squirrels stood looking at him.

"Ah, come in! We've been waiting for you."

Yasui followed them in only for them to whirl around, eyes bulging with fury. Looking down, Yasui noticed he hadn't taken his shoes off in the entryway and that he had just tracked mud all over the floor. The mother squirrel scowled at him as her husband began pushing him towards the door.

"Out! Out!!! You are forbidden to set foot in our home ever again! And we're transferring our son to a different school! You'll never see him again!!"]

Yasui shivered.

And now I'm freaking myself out. Should I bring them a gift? What would I get them? I wish there were enough leftover ingredients to make them a cake or something. Wait a minute, there might be! I can run out during lunch to get anything else I need and make a carrot cake to bring them! I'll just tell Shinrai that I'll be there a bit later because I have to pack my stuff for the trip back home! It's perfect!

Yasui didn't pay any attention to his classes before lunch as he planned each step he would take. As soon as it was lunchtime, he made sure he was close to first in line. He ate so fast he gave himself a stomach ache and then immediately went to the grocery store. He got a few curious looks from the clerk as he got any other ingredients he would need to make another cake before making his way back up to school as fast as his legs could take him. By the time he had put the ingredients away class was minutes away from starting. He took his seat right as the bell rang, still breathing hard.

As Yasui began to daydream again, he snapped out of it as a serious thought broke his reverie.

I should be focusing! I'm not here just to make friends and have sleepovers! My parents would be so disappointed if they heard I was slacking off!

Filled with guilt, Yasui tried his best to listen to his teacher. As he sat through the last half of his class schedule, Yasui waged an internal war. Half of him was impatiently waiting for the bell to ring and just wanted to let the time pass as fast as possible by daydreaming. The other half that was fueled by guilt screamed that this was important information and what would happen if it was on a test. It was definitely the worst day of school he'd ever had. But finally, the bell did eventually ring and Yasui joined the flood of students who were all leaving as fast as possible to begin their summer vacations.

As he hurried along towards the club room to bake his cake, Yasui texted Shinrai a quick message.

Yasui: Hello, Shinrai. I'm sorry but I'll be a little late getting to your house. I have to get some things together before my trip back home. I hopefully won't be too long. Sorry for the delay!

There was a brief pause before a reply was sent.

Shinrai: Np take as long as u need

Smiling in anticipation of his surprise for Shinrai and his family, Yasui set to work recreating the cake that the three members of the Cooking Club had made on Wednesday. Except this time he made sure to avoid the one large mistake they had made when Yufine misread the recipe and added one tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon. Fortunately they hadn't started mixing yet, and so they scooped some of the salt out. But today there was no room for errors. Yasui read each step of the recipe he had found multiple times as he kept up an even pace of measuring, mixing, and finally baking the cake itself. While it was in the oven, he made the frosting and set it aside in a bowl.

The timer buzzed and Yasui hurriedly took the cake pans out of the oven and set them on the counter. He looked back at his recipe.

To ensure the cakes are cooked, insert a toothpick into the center of the cakes. The toothpick should come out relatively clean with a few crumbs.

Yasui looked around for a toothpick but couldn't find one. He remembered his mother used to just touch the tops of the cakes to see if they were done. Something about them bouncing back if he recalled correctly. Cautiously, Yasui pressed his finger onto the top of the cake. It left a little divot but sprang back up a bit.

Oh crud, I really hope these are cooked! They seem like they are, so I'll turn the oven off and let them cool.

While his cakes cooled, Yasui set about actually packing up whatever he thought he'd need for the weekend and at home. He left most of his clothes in his room, but kept enough of the more modern, urban clothes he had gotten at the mall with Miss Diana with him to wear until he got home. With his bag over his shoulder, Yasui returned to the club room and began to assemble his cake. It wasn't until halfway through frosting the cake that he realized he hadn't let it cool enough and the frosting was getting a little bit melty. Grimacing, Yasui carefully tried his hardest to contain the sweet concoction sloping off the sides of his confection. Eventually, he was satisfied with his work. It looked… okay. A little melty in some places but he was hoping it would solidify before they ate it. The baking process itself had definitely gone smoother the second time around.

Yasui's phone buzzed and he read the message he had just received.

Shinrai: btw wanted to let you know that dinner tonight not gonna be special or something

Shinrai: like dont think you need to dress up

Shinrai: mom said tomorrow night we were having a special dinner but still no need to dress up were not that kinda animals lol

Yasui tilted his head as he attempted to decrypt the information he had just received. He still wasn't quite sure why Shinrai apparently forgot all the rules of grammar when he texted and used weird words, but he felt like he had the gist of it. As such, Yasui had an idea.

If tomorrow is the special dinner, maybe I should hide this cake until then. That way I can say thanks to his parents for letting me stay over. Yeah, that's the plan. I'll bury this cake in my bag and bring it out for them just before dinner. They'll all be so surprised! Now, how to package this thing up?

Yasui looked around for anything he could use as a container, but was having a bit of trouble. There were plenty of plates he could use, but they didn't have anything he could cover it with. That is until he had a really dumb idea that just might work. Yasui carefully placed the cake on a plate before grabbing a relatively deep baking pan from where they were stored. He held it next to the cake and measured with his eyes to see if it would fit or not.

I guess it's a good thing I didn't make this super tall. This looks like it should fit.

Gently, Yasui lowered the pan over the cake until it hit the plate. Then he took the rather old and stained tablecloth that was over the table and wrapped the whole package up as tight as he could. Once he was happy that his makeshift cake carrier was secure, he gently deposited it in his bag and covered it in some clothes. It made his bag a bit heavier, and he had to be careful not to jostle his bag as he walked now, but overall it wasn't too bad.

He had made it to the bottom of the hill before he realized he had forgotten to do something. He had meant to go get his little sisters their gift today. Yasui hoped that the candy shop was still open. He immediately made a detour and found the same otter from Sunday organizing the shelves. She turned towards the door as he entered and smiled at him.

"Oh! It's you again! Izumi's friend. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing pretty well. I'm here to get enough candy for two little girls. It's for my sisters."

The otter gestured towards a sign that read "fill your own candy bag, 400 yen for 9 ounces." Yasui nodded.

"Perfect. So… uh… can you help me decide what to get them?"

"Well what do they like?"

"If it's sweet they'll love it."

She thought for a moment before beginning to fill the bags with a wide assortment of treats. She recommended to him: caramels, nougats, marshmallows, white chocolate bonbons (which apparently was safe for canids to eat in small quantities), candied nuts, and a few meringues of all different colors each. The bags were full to bursting when the otter sealed them up and slid them over to Yasui. With an enthusiastic "thank you" and a wave, Yasui tucked the two bags of candy into his own bag and left the store. However he did accept the free sample of a white chocolate and marshmallow truffle she gave him upon hearing he had never tried any chocolates before.

As he left, he ate the sample and immediately hummed with pleasure. It was sweet and creamy and very tasty. He now knew that he enjoyed chocolate… at least white chocolate.

He walked down to the subway and followed Shinrai's instructions on which line to take and began looking at the map to see how many stops he had to wait for before he needed to get off.

Let's see… looks like from this station it's… four stops. Then Shinrai said you go down West Savanna Street for four blocks, and then you go left down Beechwood until you see a big apartment building named "Beechwood Flats." And… he said that it was the third floor, apartment number 312.

Anxious that he might forget a step, Yasui sat and muttered the instructions to himself over and over again. One stop from his station he looked up and noticed the other passengers giving him weird looks. Embarrassed, Yasui looked down and clutched his bag a bit tighter.

Well I probably look like a nutcase now. Great.

Finally it was his stop. Yasui exited the train and looked around for whatever stairs would lead him up to West Savanna Street. He was turning around to try to find it when one of the railway security guards, a wildebeest, began to walk over to him while staring straight at him. The guard said something into his radio and held his hand up.

"Hey you! Fox!"

Yasui jumped and faced the guard, clutching his bag a little tighter.

"Who? M-me?"

"Yeah you, what's in the bag?"

Yasui gulped, growing more and more nervous at the guard's hostile tone.

"S-some clothes and candy and some coffee a-and stuff."

The guard raised an eyebrow. Glancing around Yasui saw multiple animals had stopped and were pointing their phones at him and the guard, murmuring as they did. The guard gave him an incredulous look.

"Some clothes… and coffee?"

Yasui nodded. The guard scoffed.

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?"

Yasui gulped and looked around anxiously. The guard squared his shoulders and held out his hand.

"Give me the bag."

Yasui nervously clutched the bag and stared at the extended hand. Slowly he held the bag out as carefully as possible, not wanting to risk damaging his cake. As the guard took it, Yasui stuttered out,

"P-please be careful! There's fragile stuff in there!"

This seemed to make the guard even more suspicious of him and he opened the bag. He looked around inside before seeing the lumpy, discolored, tablecloth wrapped cake. His expression hardened as he gingerly took the package out of Yasui's bag. He spoke into his radio,

"I need backup."

He looked Yasui dead in the eyes and gestured to the vaguely head-sized ball of stained fabric.

"What's in here?"

"A-a cake… sir."

"A cake?"

"Yes sir."

Another guard arrived and joined the first, this one a horse. The newcomer looked at the package and then down at Yasui. Yasui gulped and shifted nervously, wringing his hands as he did. The second guard assisted the first as he gently set the bundle on the ground and began to slowly unwrap it. The crowd of onlookers had grown and everyone was whispering and pointing as they recorded on their phones. Finally, the first guard succeeded in removing the tablecloth and placed his hands on the baking dish that was covering the cake. His brow sweating, the wildebeest gingerly lifted the dish to slowly, ever so slowly reveal… a slightly lopsided and somewhat melty looking cake. He stared at the cake and then back at Yasui before shaking his head.

"Apologies, you're free to go."

He set the pan back down over the cake and Yasui scurried over to wrap it back up. The guards addressed the crowd now, most of whom were now laughing riotously.

"Nothing to see here, move along!"

Thoroughly embarrassed, Yasui repacked his bag and left the station as quickly as he could while still keeping his bag steady. Once he was back above ground he carefully made his way down towards Beechwood Street. He did get a little turned around at one point, but he realized his mistake and doubled back with little time lost. Soon he had arrived at Beechwood Flats.

The building was very plain and simple looking, with rows of square windows set into white walls. Each apartment seemed to have a small balcony, and he noticed that the apartments seemed to get somewhat smaller as the floors progressed up, based on the size and height of the windows. The first floor seemed to be suited towards large animals, the second to medium, and the third to small. Yasui ascended the steps towards the third floor and began counting door numbers until he reached his destination.

307… 308… 309… 310… 311… here it is.

Inside apartment 312, Shinrai's mother was washing vegetables to get ready to cook for dinner when the doorbell rang. She raised her voice and called down the hallway towards Shinrai's room.

"Shinny, I think your friend is here."

His muffled voice replied.

"Can you get the door? I'm in the bathroom."

She sighed and dried her hands on a hanging dish towel and made her way to the door. She opened it up and put on her best "mother of the year" smile.

"Welcome! Come on… in… uuuuuuh."

Her voice trailed away as her eyes moved up to meet the gaze of the animal who was currently looming over her. At her door was a fox with rusty red fur and glasses clutching a bag like he was worried somebody wanted to take it from him. He was a good head and a half taller than her, and his fangs were slightly poking out of his mouth below his lips. He blinked at her a few times and smiled nervously.

"Uh… hello. Is this the right door? Are you Shinrai's… uh… is this his apartment?"

She stood frozen on the spot. The fox just watched her before scratching his arm and coughing.

"Uh… I might have the wrong door. Sorry for bothering you."

Just then Shinrai's voice came from the inside of the apartment.

"Yasui! Finally made it, I see!"

Shinrai stepped up beside his mother and ushered Yasui in. He smiled and gestured between his mother and Yasui.

"Yasui, meet my mom. Mom, this is Yasui."

Yasui smiled and dipped his head towards her.

"It's nice to meet you. Thank you for letting me stay with you."

Shinrai's mother was still dumbstruck but breathlessly nodded.

"It's very… nice to meet you."

Shinrai beckoned Yasui forward.

"C'mon, you can set your stuff in my room. It's almost time for dinner so my dad should get here soon."

"Okay," Yasui replied, "Lead the way."

Yasui carefully took his shoes off in the entryway and followed Shinrai inside, closing the door behind him. Yasui followed Shinrai to his room and got his first look at his best friend's home. His room was… well it was a total mess. There were shoes all over the floor and manga and games scattered around willy nilly. There was also a bag of chips open on his bed which was unmade. The walls were decorated with posters of various bands and movies Shinrai liked, and the whole room was a little dusty in places that weren't high traffic. Clearly Shinrai's mother didn't force her son to adhere to the same cleanliness standards that his mother did.

"So, what do you think?"

Shinrai was looking expectantly at him. Yasui took a few steps inside and turned around slowly. He whistled and looked back at Shinrai.

"It's a lot bigger than my room. Do you and your sister share this one?"

"What? Gross, no way. She has her own room."

"Oh, it's just so big I wondered if it was because you shared it. I mean I share a room with my brother, so I guess I just expect other people too as well."

"Wait, your room is smaller than this and you share it with your brother?"

Yasui nodded and Shinrai shuddered.

"I do not envy you."

"Also you're kinda messy. My mom would have a stroke if my room looked like this."

"Hey! It's not that bad! I just… haven't finished unpacking my school stuff yet."

There was a knock on the doorframe. The two boys turned to see Shinrai's mother standing in the doorway with a slightly frantic look on her face. She tried her best to smile.

"Uh… Shinrai? Can I talk to you quickly? In private?"

Shinrai nodded and moved towards her.

"Sure mom. Whatcha need?"

She moved into the room and Yasui scooted around her and outside. She closed the door behind him, giving Yasui a wary look as she did. Yasui stood in the hallway and fiddled with his claws while trying hard not to eavesdrop. He heard a door open down the hall and saw a female squirrel a bit older than Shinrai emerge from a room texting rapidly on a cell phone. She glanced up and did a double take before yelping and throwing her phone straight at Yasui. It smacked into his chest and he fumbled it before clasping it in his hands. Yasui looked back up to see she was clutching her chest and huffing.

"Holy crap you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry! Uh… you must be Shinrai's sister?"

"Yeah…. I'm guessing you're the friend that's staying here for the weekend?"

Yasui nodded and she smirked.

"Well… dinner will be interesting I bet."

And with that she brushed past him towards the living room, taking her phone out of his hands as she did. Looking around Yasui was better able to discern the layout of the apartment. There seemed to be three rooms along this hallway and a bathroom. Behind him was a kitchen that connected to the main room where he had entered. Overall it seemed to be slightly scaled down to suit smaller animals, leading Yasui to feel tall for the first time in his life. Yasui wandered into the kitchen and saw a pot of noodles beginning to boil over on the stove. Yasui ran over and lowered the heat before using a nearby wooden spoon to stir the pot. He'd had plenty of practice taking over for his mother whenever she needed to wrangle his younger sisters to be comfortable cooking noodles.

Content that the pot wasn't going to boil over, Yasui looked around the kitchen. It had a small oven with a stovetop and a counter for preparing food as well as a sink. In the corner was a refrigerator. Beside the sink was a stack of dirty cookware and utensils. Yasui glanced around and smiled.

I bet helping with the dishes will make Shinrai's mom a bit more comfortable around me. At least she might warm up to me if I do.

While this was happening, Shinrai's mother had stood before her son pinching the bridge of her nose and trying to find the words to say. Finally she just threw her hands up.

"Shinrai. Care to explain?"

"Uh… explain what?"

She looked towards the door and then hissed,

"Explain why there's a fox in my house!"

"He's my best friend! I asked you if he could stay!"

"You never mentioned that he was a carnivore!"

"I didn't think it mattered!"

"Of course it matters! How am I supposed to feel safe with… that lurking around the same house as me! And what about your sister! Did you consider anyone else's feelings when you just happened to forget to mention that the friend you were inviting was a fox!"

"Why is this such a big deal! He's a really nice guy! You're just a speciesist!"

She gave Shinrai a stern look.

"We'll be discussing this when your father gets here."

She spun around and stormed towards the door. She paused with her hand on the handle and snapped,

"And clean this room! It's filthy!"

Once she was back in the hallway, Shinrai's mother let out a frustrated sigh before muffling a curse. She hadn't turned the burner down and the noodles had probably boiled over by now. She rushed to the kitchen only to find the noodles boiling evenly on the cooktop and Yasui scrubbing a frypan in the sink. He turned his head as she entered and smiled sheepishly.

"I, uh, noticed the pot was going to boil over so I turned it down. Oh, I also stirred the noodles. And, uh, well honestly I'm doing the dishes because I want to make a good impression."

Shinrai's mother froze and stared at him. Yasui continued, looking at the dishes instead of at her.

"So, uh, just let me know if you want me to help with dinner. I don't want to be a bother so feel free to put me to work."

He grinned and accidentally got suds on his nose when he awkwardly picked at something on his face.

Shinrai's mother worked her jaw a bit and sighed. She gave him a weak smile.

"Thank you for taking care of the noodles, and the dishes. So… where did you learn how to cook?"

"My mom. I used to help her out a lot because my little sisters could be such a handful. And because I just kinda like to cook."

She tied on an apron and huffed.

"Maybe I should have made my kids help me in the kitchen. They can all be a bit lazy if I'm being honest. And you've done more than enough. You're our guest, you can go watch tv or something like that if you want."

Yasui nodded and dried his hands after he placed the last of the clean dishes in the drying rack. He exited the kitchen and stepped into the family room where Shinrai's sister was sitting with her legs curled under her scrolling her finger along her phone. She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"Done kissing up to my mom?"

Yasui took a seat in the chair farthest from the couch where she was sitting.

"Uh…."

"Oh relax, I'm screwing with you. Honestly it's a good move on your part. Our parents haven't exactly had much close contact with carnivores."

Yasui tapped his fingers together and finally said,

"I'm Yasui."

"Hana."

When she didn't continue Yasui lapsed into silence. It wasn't long before the door opened again and a middle aged male squirrel wearing a business suit walked in, rubbing his eyes wearily.

"I'm home. Is dinner almost ready? I'm starving."

Shinrai's mother replied from the kitchen.

"Almost. Uh… can you come here please? I need a word with you."

He sighed in exasperation and muttered "what now" before catching a glimpse of Yasui out of the corner of his eye. He did a double take and swore loudly, flattening himself against the wall. Yasui winced, and at the same time Hana spoke without even looking up.

"Swear jar."

The dad just stared at Yasui. Shinrai's mom stuck her head out of the kitchen.

"Like I said, we need to talk."

Shinrai's father nodded and moved towards the kitchen, but first he took a coin out of his wallet and placed it in a jar sitting on a table by the couch. Yasui assumed this was the swear jar. Once both parents were in the kitchen, Shinrai's father gestured wildly towards the living room.

"What is a fox doing in our house!"

"Keep your voice down!"

"There is a carnivore sitting next to my daughter! I will speak how I want to!"

Shinrai's mother crossed her arms and glared at nothing in particular. Finally she spoke.

"That is the friend that Shinrai invited over."

"So uninvite him!"

"Ouga! Don't be unreasonable!"

"How am I being unreasonable! I have to worry about those bloodthirsty beasts enough out there! This is where we are supposed to be safe! I don't want this fox invading our sanctuary!"

She sighed.

"Look, I'm not a fan of this either. It's just that I've had time to think and… he seems harmless, and I don't want to throw someone out of our home after we agreed to house them just because of their species."

"Harmless?! Do you not remember what happened less than a week ago! I do not want to wake up in the morning to find that this fox has devoured our son! He is not staying!"

She gave him an icy glare.

"We are not throwing a child out of our house because you are uncomfortable around his species! So far he has been well mannered and… and honestly very helpful. He's staying."

Ouga grit his teeth and let an angry hiss escape as he scrunched his eyes up. Eventually he spat,

"Fine! But he is not staying in the same room as Shinrai! That is not negotiable!"

Shinrai's mother rubbed her temples and sighed.

"That is something we can both agree on."

Soon the table was set and Shinrai was called from his room to join the family for dinner. As he sat down, his mother asked.

"Is your room clean?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Good. Now wash your hands."

Shinrai huffed and stood once more. Once his hands had been cleaned and he was seated again, everyone began putting portions of noodles and stir fried vegetables on their plates. Everyone except Yasui, who looked around uncomfortably before clasping his hands together in the same somewhat circular shape he always did before eating and showing gratitude for the meal. Shinrai's father noticed this and leaned towards his wife to mutter,

"Is he praying? Is this kid, uh, religious?"

Shinrai's mother whispered back,

"I don't know. Don't make a big deal of it."

Finally Yasui looked up at Shinrai's mom and said,

"Thank you for the food."

She looked a little taken aback but quickly replied,

"Oh! Well, you're welcome. Please, enjoy."

Yasui helped himself to some food and sat listening as the family of squirrels conversed around him. Hana had been saying something to her mother and Yasui caught the conversation partway through.

"…So because of that, I was wondering if we could go to the mall tomorrow. I just really need you to help me get that handbag. We could, like, get lunch or something too?"

Shinrai's mother frowned.

"I don't know. The mall is always busy on Saturdays, and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving Shinrai and… his friend here unsupervised. Your father is already going to help Tobi get a car tomorrow, so nobody would be here."

Shinrai interjected.

"Actually, Yasui wanted to go to the mall anyway. He wants to get gifts for his family before he goes back home."

Shinrai's mother looked over at Yasui.

"Oh, are you not from the area?"

"No ma'am, my family is from a village a few hours away."

Shinrai grinned.

"Yasui's here on a scholarship. He's, like, super smart. He helps me with homework."

Yasui blushed and looked at his plate.

"Well… I don't do that much to help you. And I'm only a little above average at this school."

Shinrai's mother however looked surprised.

"A scholarship?! That's impressive. I'm sure your parents are very proud."

Yasui smiled.

"I hope so. Sometimes I feel like I'm having too much fun and not working hard enough, but I still have really good grades so I must be doing an okay job."

Shinrai rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you somehow have time to be the president of a club, have a part time job, and still be in the top quarter of our class. That's more than okay."

Shinrai's mother gave him a surprised look.

"You're the president of a club?"

Yasui nodded.

"The Cooking Club. It's pretty small, just three members. But we have fun."

Shinrai spoke up.

"I heard that they sold killer food at the Festival of the Meteor."

Hana actually looked up from her hidden phone and added,

"Totally. I got a crepe from you guys, and it was to die for."

Shinrai's mom gave him a look of mild surprise and approval.

"Good for you."

Silence returned after that. Yasui kept his eyes on his plate as much as possible to avoid the knowledge that Shinrai's dad was staring at him. He also had to really focus on eating carefully. He was only opening his mouth a tiny bit for each bite to hide his teeth, and he had his fingers curled in to hide his claws. After a few minutes of awkward silence Shinrai looked at his father and asked,

"So… how was work?"

"It was pretty normal."

"That's good…. So you're still helping out Tobi tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Cool…. Tell him I said hi."

Silence once again. When everyone was almost done with their food, Shinrai's mother turned towards her son and spoke as nonchalantly as possible.

"So… we were wondering if your friend might be more comfortable if he slept on the couch in the living room."

Shinrai frowned.

"Why would he be more comfortable out here than in my room?"

"Well he'd have more space for a start. And he wouldn't have to use a sleeping bag that's too small for him. Don't you agree?"

"I mean… not really."

She grimaced a bit.

"We just think it's a better idea."

Shinrai raised an eyebrow.

"But why? I'm confused."

Hana rolled her eyes.

"Shinrai, can you seriously not figure out why they don't want him to share your room?"

Shinrai gave her a confused look for a moment before narrowing his eyes. He then gave his parents an incredulous look.

"Seriously?! Because he's…. Wow."

Yasui suddenly became very interested in something on his pants and stared resolutely down at it. Shinrai's mother let out a quick huff of breath.

"I don't know what you're insinuating, but I'm just saying that he might be a bit cramped in your room. Our apartment isn't exactly massive and he's, well, almost twice your size."

"His room back home is smaller than mine! And he shares it with his brother!"

"How can you even know that?"

"Because he told me!"

Yasui raised his hand like he was waiting for somebody to call on him to answer a question. Shinrai's mother noticed and paused from what she was about to say to let him speak. All eyes turned to him that weren't already on him.

"Uh… I don't mind sleeping out here. It's fine, really."

Shinrai crossed his arms.

"You don't have to do everything they tell you to just because you're in their house."

Yasui held his hands up defensively.

"It's not that! It's just… I don't want to cause an argument. Well, another one that is."

Hana snickered.

"Oh trust me, we'll have more of those either way."

Shinrai's mother shot her daughter a scathing look. Meanwhile Shinrai scowled.

"It's not your fault that my parents are being ridiculous! That's on them!"

Shinrai's dad had apparently had enough.

"Shinrai! That is enough! You are not in charge here! This is not your apartment, it is ours! You will do as we tell you!"

Shinrai jumped to his feet.

"Or what!"

"Or your friend is out of here so fast your head will spin!"

Shinrai huffed and spat out a very angry "fine!" before sitting down rapidly in his seat. Yasui was now incredibly uncomfortable. He was used to him and his siblings having arguments at times, but his parents had never allowed them to yell like that. And Yasui couldn't imagine ever talking to his mom and dad like that. Then again, he couldn't imagine his parents yelling at each other like he had heard earlier from Shinrai's parents in the kitchen. When everyone had finished eating and Shinrai's mother began to stand and pick up her dishes, Yasui jumped at the opportunity to get out of the way quickly. He sprang up and began hurriedly gathering dishes.

"I'll take care of these dishes, ma'am. Thank you for dinner, it was very good."

She froze.

"Oh, uh, okay. Thanks?"

Shinrai glowered at him.

"Don't bother trying to get in their good books. They're not going to change."

Yasui's ears drooped a bit and he sagged slightly.

"I just… wanted to help."

Shinrai glared back down at the table as Yasui happily rushed back into the kitchen. Even if it was just being one room over, and in one without a door at that, it was still better than sitting at that table in Yasui's mind. He took his time with the dishes this time around, really giving them a thorough scrub and a vigorous drying off with a rag. He jumped a bit as a glass was set down on the counter to his left. The refrigerator door opened and he saw Hana pouring some iced tea into her cup. She leaned against the counter and took a long sip before blowing out a long breath.

"Well, welcome to our family. I take it from your reaction that you're not used to this?"

Yasui shook his head, keeping his eyes on the dishes.

"No, I'm not. I just… do you always do this? Yell at each other?"

"Yeah. That's why I hate coming home."

"Oh…. My parents never yell at each other. And they don't let us yell either."

"Ah, so you have parents that are still in love. Well, between you and me, my parents only stick together for the tax benefit."

Yasui felt a little sick to his stomach. Not only was the stressful atmosphere unpleasant, he also hadn't liked the side of his friend he had seen either. Hana drained her glass and added it to his pile of dishes.

"Well, here's hoping we don't drive you too crazy during your stay here."

And with that she left. By the time Yasui had finished with the dishes everyone had moved to the family room. The tv was on but everyone was on either a phone, a tablet, or a handheld video game. There was a small couch that fit two on one wall, a slightly larger one that might hold three perpendicular to it on the other wall, and an armchair. Shinrai's father was in the armchair and both Shinrai and his sister were on the couch that held two. The only open seat was with Shinrai's mom on the couch. Instead of taking that option, Yasui found a somewhat empty corner between the two couches and sat on the floor. Shinrai looked at him then turned to his sister.

"Hana, can you move?"

"No, but you can."

"How does that make any sense?"

Yasui shook his head.

"I'm good down here. I like to stretch my legs out anyway."

Shinrai and Hana ignored him as Shinrai gestured towards where his mother was sitting.

"Why can't you sit with Mom? That way Yasui can sit here?"

"Because watching tv from that part of the couch gives me a neck ache."

"How?! You're not even watching it! And it's almost the same as where you are now? Just, like, a meter different!"

"Standing at the edge of a cliff is almost like jumping off except a meter different."

"Why are you such a pain!"

"Why are you being extra annoying now that you have a friend over?"

Yasui spoke again.

"Seriously, I'm fine here."

The two siblings bickered back and forth until Shinrai's father glanced away from his phone.

"Both of you shut it! Geez! Can you stop driving everyone crazy for five fff… flipping minutes."

Shinrai and Hana turned away from each other in a huff. Yasui was really wishing he hadn't come now. This was awful. Instead of focusing on the highly dysfunctional family around him, Yasui looked at the television. He still hadn't watched terribly much tv, despite having access to one in the common room at school. It switched from an advertisement to a show called "Interesting and Unusual." An energetic looking female antelope was walking down the street and looking into the camera.

"Hello again! And welcome to another foray into the interesting and unusual people, places, and things we have in our amazing city! Today, we're meeting with one of the most unusual families you'll ever see. Let's take a look!"

The scene shifted to a pleasant looking home where a female zebra wearing an apron was cooking some eggs. She turned her head and called,

"Kids, breakfast!"

The announcer spoke again.

"Lin and her husband Mati seem like your typical zebras. She's a stay at home mom, and he works in the sales department at a business downtown. However, their family is anything but unusual."

As Yasui watched, a male lion in his teenage years strode towards the table where the zebra was scooping eggs onto five plates. He yawned widely, showing his large fangs. As she passed, the zebra placed her hand on his chin and closed his gaping mouth before ruffling his mane.

"Careful, you'll catch flies!"

"Mrph, whatever Mom."

"Mom, have you seen my essay?" A small female voice came from off camera. A female sheep with pure white wool strode into view. She looked younger than the lion, but probably was either a teenager or a preteen. The zebra handed her a piece of paper and placed some toast and fruit on her plate. The sheep smiled.

"Thanks, Mom."

The zebra returned the smile before asking,

"Did you wake up Al?"

The sheep nodded, her mouth full of toast. The zebra headed towards a room with a sign that read "Al" and knocked.

"Al, you're going to be late for school!"

A sibilant, somewhat harsh male voice replied,

"I'm not going!"

"Al, what's the matter? Are you sick?"

"Yes! Just… don't come in!"

The zebra frowned.

"Al, if something's wrong I need to know. Do you need me to take you to the doctor's office?"

"No! It's just…."

Slowly the door creaked open and a young lizard, probably in late grade school, opened the door. His green scales were cloudy in some places with white bits hanging off. The zebra clasped her hands to her mouth before letting out a little, "daww" and touching his shoulder.

"Your first shed! My little Al is becoming a grownup!"

Al the lizard shuffled uncomfortably.

"Can I please stay home today, until I finish shedding?"

The zebra pursed her lips and eventually sighed, stroking the lizard's scaled head.

"Okay, I'll call the school and explain what happened. But you're going tomorrow! And you're going to help me clean today!"

The lizard looked relieved.

"Thanks, Mom."

The camera cut to them all eating breakfast together. The announcer continued,

"When Lin was told she couldn't have children, they looked into adoption. They were intending to adopt a zebra baby, until they went to the orphanage."

It cut to an interview with the female zebra.

"Well we were sitting there waiting for the head of the orphanage to meet us to show us the different zebras that were up for adoption, when this little lion toddler came stumbling up to me holding a picture book. He looked at me and then at his book, and started babbling all excitedly at me. He was hopping up and down going, 'zbeba! Zbebe!' And then I saw the book he had. It was called Zebra Family Goes to the Beach. He looked at me and held out the book, like he wanted me to read it. So I took it and then he reached out towards me, gurgling out this adorable little 'uppy! Up' and stretching onto his tiptoes."

The zebra smiled brightly.

"So I picked him up and held him on my lap as I read him the picture book. He was so happy and cute, and kept rubbing his chubby little fingers on my arms along the stripes giggling and saying 'Zbebe! Zbeba!' And that's when I just fell in love with my little Nendo. Everyone told us not to adopt him. They said we were too different, that he would be too much trouble. But they didn't see what I saw. They just saw him as a lion. A little one, but still a lion. I saw him for what he was, a sweet little child who needed a mommy and daddy. And as for my husband and I, well, we've never regretted our choice. We love our son with all our hearts. And the same is true of our other children."

It then cut to both the male and female zebras sitting on a couch talking to the announcer. The antelope asked,

"So have there ever been any issues between your children due to their differences? Particularly in regards to your daughter as she's a herbivore and your oldest is a carnivore?"

The male zebra shook his head.

"No, he's always been an amazing big brother to her. When she was really little he was so protective of her. He didn't want to let her out of his sight!"

It then cut to the three kids. The antelope asked the female sheep,

"So what's it like having a lion and a lizard as brothers?"

The sheep grinned.

"I never have to worry about a boyfriend trying anything with me. They know my brothers wouldn't allow it!"

The lion laughed.

"Yeah, if you want to hurt my little sis, you have to go through me first!"

Suddenly the picture changed to a baseball game as Shinrai's father changed the channel. Yasui frowned.

Aw, I was watching that.

The time seemed to crawl by until finally Shinrai's parents went to their room to sleep. Shinrai immediately moved to the couch where his mother had been and gestured for Yasui to join him. Yasui sat on the other end of the couch as Shinrai picked up the remote.

"So, what do you want to watch?"

"Oh, I dunno. Whatever you like. I don't really watch tv much."

"Oh! How about this! You ever heard of 'Phoenix Orb Z'?"

"No. What's it about?"

"Pretty much just this ripped dude punching the crap out of evil aliens."

"Cool, let's watch it!"

Once they had changed the channel, Hana left. The show was… unique. Although Yasui felt the story would have moved faster if the characters didn't spend so much time yelling while floating above the ground. He didn't quite understand why the extremely muscular lion with a very spiky mane was fighting the bizarre, smooth aliens but Shinrai seemed to be enjoying it. Soon Yasui felt his eyes getting a bit itchy. It was time to sleep. He waited for the episode to end before yawning.

"Well, that was pretty cool. But I'm ready to call it a night."

Shinrai gave him a look of disbelief.

"But it's so early! It's only, like, ten!"

"That's pretty late for me, Shinrai. I've lived my whole life on farm time. We get up early and go to bed early too."

"But we didn't even get to do anything!"

"We can do stuff tomorrow. I'm just tired is all. It's been a long week."

Shinrai sighed.

"Fine…. But you're going to have to play some video games with me, okay?"

"Deal, but I'll probably still be bad at them."

"That's no problem. They're just more fun with a friend."

Shinrai got him a pillow and blanket, and soon he said goodnight. Finally, Yasui was alone in the quiet of the family room. He sighed.

What did I get myself into?

That night Yasui dreamed that he was trying to walk a tightrope, except that people kept telling him he was going the wrong way. He would then carefully turn around and start going back the other way, only for them to say he was going the wrong way again. Finally somebody told him that he was supposed to be doing the high dive, not the tightrope. Seeing the pool of water, Yasui jumped towards it, wind whistling in his ears. He heard the crowd laugh. Apparently he was mistaken. He was supposed to be on the tightrope.

It's too late now, I guess.

Before he could hit the water, Yasui jolted awake. He immediately looked around, expecting to be in a tub of water, but instead he was sitting on a couch. Through the curtains on the window, he saw the early morning rays of the sun as it was rising in the sky. Yasui rubbed his eyes and fumbled around for his glasses. Once he had them on, he checked the time. It was early, around half past six. Yasui laid himself back down on his "bed" and grunted. He couldn't hear anyone else who was awake, so he simply took out his phone and began exploring what it could do.

The other day he had seen some sort of music button somewhere, but he wasn't sure how it worked. After some searching he located it and clicked it. A little message popped up asking him to make an account to listen to music. Yasui shrugged and began filling out the account creation screen. Once he had successfully done so, he felt a little tingle of pride in his guts.

To think, I didn't even know how to work a computer a month ago.

He idly swiped around the music app, unsure of how it worked. Finally he ended up clicking on a little magnifying glass that brought him to a search bar that asked him to type in the name of whatever he wanted to listen to. Yasui scrunched his face up in concentration.

The only music I'm somewhat familiar with is those old records that Mister Bolboi had. We used to listen to them while I helped Mrs. Mifune shell peas. She always said I did it so much faster than her because I had claws. Gee… I hope she's doing okay. She seemed really lonely the last few times I visited her. She's been a lot sadder ever since Bolboi… died.

Yasui sighed and draped his forearm over his eyes.

I miss that crazy old goat. He told the best stories. He was the closest thing I had to an actual grandpa since my real grandparents all don't really like me. Well, my great-grandpa was usually nice to me whenever I visited, but that's probably just because he's so old. Come to think of it, he's the same way as Miss Mifune is now. When their spouse died they both got all quiet and sad. It makes sense though, you spend so long married to a person that when they die it's probably like losing a limb.

IYasui smiled and typed in one of the bands that he remembered Bolboi and Mifune dancing to sometimes. Sure enough they appeared below and he clicked on their name. He saw the song that had been their favorite and tapped it. He laughed as he remembered one particular day when he was little.

[Yasui's village, eleven years ago]

Yasui was slowly moving around Bolboi's sitting room on his hands and knees peering under furniture. Bolboi, a very wizened old goat, was sitting in a chair by the record player. He wheezed,

"Any luck yet?"

Yasui shook his head and gave him a snaggletoothed frown.

"N-no. Ssawy."

"Bah, it's okay. It'll turn up."

His wife Mifune came tottering in and frowned quizzically at the young fox crawling around.

"Bolboi, what is going on?"

The old goat grinned.

"I called for reinforcements in the search for your earring."

Mifune huffed and playfully slapped her husband's back.

"You lazy old fart."

Bolboi took on a look of mock offense.

"Me? Lazy? Why, I'm simply being logical! If I get down there, I'll never get back up!"

"Fffffowend ich!"

Mifune covered her mouth and gasped as Yasui leapt to his feet holding a little pearl earring. Mifune hurried over and took it from him, examining it in a fit of joy.

"There it is! Ooh, I was so worried I'd lost it in the garden! Thank you, Yasui! Oh, such a good boy!"

She bent over and hugged him tightly. Yasui grinned and Bolboi slowly stood and moved over to his wife. He grinned.

"I remember how pretty you looked with those earrings on our wedding day. Oh! And this was our first dance!"

Mifune listened and grinned as she heard the chorus to the song approaching. Bolboi took her hand and began to slow dance as it played, she laughed,

"You're a bit less agile than you were back then."

"Meh, it's slow dancing. You just have to shuffle around. Besides, everyone knows it's just an excuse for us guys to cop a feel."

Mifune's jaw dropped and she lightly slapped his hand.

"You old rascal! There are young ears present!"

Bolboi just grinned and winked at Yasui who was laughing from his seat on the floor.]

Yasui felt his eyes sting a bit as the song played. He carefully wiped them and got up. He changed out of his pajamas and then folded up the blanket before setting it and the pillow with the bag he had moved out of Shinrai's room. This same bag still held his cake for tonight, so Yasui made sure it was all zipped up. Yasui sat on the couch and checked the time. It was now a little past seven. There was no way that everyone was going to sleep much later than eight, so Yasui moved to the kitchen. He had had the idea to make breakfast for everyone, the same way he used to do back home. Yasui looked around to make sure that the pantry was stocked before grabbing everything he needed. He tied on one of Shinrai's mother's aprons and washed his hands

Time to get to work.

Shinrai's mother was woken up by the faint sound of clattering pans in the kitchen. She looked at the clock on her nightstand. It said it was currently 7:47. She rolled over and sighed. Beside her, her husband shifted and turned towards her, not opening his eyes.

"What's that noise?"

"I don't know."

The faint sounds of clattering cookware continued and Shinrai's mother groaned.

"So help me if that fox is raiding our fridge I'm going to scream."

"Should we go check it out?"

She sighed before wearily getting out of bed and putting on a bathrobe.

"Yeah. I'm already awake now, might as well. I have things to do anyway."

Her husband followed her lead, grumbling about being woken up.

They made their way to the kitchen where the smell of pancakes met their noses. They stopped in the kitchen doorway as they saw Yasui flipping a pancake in a small frying pan. His ears twitched and he looked over his shoulder at them.

"Good morning! Pancakes are almost ready. And if you tell me how you like your eggs, I'll make you some."

The two adults stood stupefied in the doorway as he said this. Yasui glanced back as they remained frozen and gestured with his spatula towards the coffee pot.

"I also made some coffee. Go ahead and get some and I'll bring the food out in a sec."

Shinrai's mother still looked confused but gradually moved to pour some coffee for herself. Shinrai's father followed suit but paused to address Yasui.

"I, uh… like my eggs over easy."

Yasui nodded as the squirrels left. He finished up the pancake he was currently cooking and quickly fried up an egg for Shinrai's father, as well as two for himself. With a plate stacked high with pancakes in one hand and the eggs in his other, Yasui moved to the kitchen table. He set his dishes down and nodded to his hosts.

"Well, dig in. I hope you enjoy them."

Cautiously they both got some pancakes and topped them with syrup and butter to their liking. Shinrai's mother ate slowly, still a bit confused, but Shinrai's father took a bite before immediately digging in with gusto. He was on his fourth pancake when he finally spoke.

"Mph, good pancakes. Where'd you learn this?"

"From my dad. Pancakes are pretty much the only thing he's really good at cooking. He taught me when my mother was pregnant with my youngest sister and was feeling a bit under the weather."

Shinrai's mother nodded.

"That's right, you said you helped with the cooking back home."

Yasui grinned.

"Yeah, but breakfast was typically all me. I'd make it while I waited for my turn in the bathroom."

Shinrai's father pointed with his fork as he took a sip of coffee.

"Why'd you— dang that's good coffee— get up so early? Couch too uncomfortable?"

Yasui shook his head.

"No, not at all! I usually wake up pretty early. I've lived my whole life on farm time, so it's early to bed and early to rise for me."

Shinrai's father looked intrigued.

"Farm time? You live on a farm?"

"Yes sir. It's a few hours to reach my home by bus, and the buses don't go there too often because it's not exactly high traffic. The first bus home is on Monday, which is why I appreciate you letting me stay with you so much. I know it must be weird having me here, so I want you to know how truly grateful I am. And I want you to know that I'm happy to help around the house as much as you want."

Shinrai's father shifted in his seat a bit, apparently slightly uncomfortable.

"You, uh, don't have to make a big deal about it. And… well… thanks for breakfast."

And with that he returned to his meal. The rest of breakfast passed in silence. At nine, Shinrai's father left to go run his errand with their oldest son. This left Yasui and Shinrai's mother sitting in awkward silence in the kitchen. She finally stood and brought her plate over to the sink.

"Well, thank you for breakfast Yasui."

"You're welcome."

She coughed and glanced around. Finally her eyes alighted on something sitting up on a high shelf. She sighed.

"Oh nuts, he did it again."

"Who did what?" Yasui asked.

"My husband put my pot up on the top shelf. I know I don't use it very often, but it's a real pain to get it down from there."

"Want me to get it?"

"No, I have a step stool."

She walked to her room and shortly returned with a small step stool clasped in her hands. She set it up and clambered up towards a large slow cooker sitting on the top shelf. Yasui grit his teeth as she reached for it.

"Ma'am, that doesn't seem very safe."

"I know, that's why I tell him not to do it. But he forgets and does it anyway. Almost, ah, here we go- AAH!"

The pot threw her balance off and her foot slid off the top of the stool. Immediately Yasui threw himself towards her, having anticipated something like this. He managed to grab her around the middle by wrapping his arms around her, but her momentum caused the pot to keep going and smack into Yasui's head. He yelped as stars swam before his eyes and he staggered backwards into the wall. Dazed, he slid to the floor, still clutching the female squirrel. She extricated herself from his now limp arms and turned to check on him.

"Oh my gosh! Yasui! Are you okay? Oh I'm so sorry!"

Yasui rubbed the goose egg that had arisen on his head and winced.

"I'm fine. Just a bump. How about you?"

"I'm fine thanks to you! Those are some quick reflexes you have!"

Yasui grinned and stood, with Shinrai's mother fussing over him as he did.

"Well, I guess they come from dealing with my little sisters. It seems like I'm always having to catch them when they fall out of trees and the like."

"Here, sit down. I'll get you some ice to put on that lump."

Yasui moved to the family room as Shinrai's mother set her slow cooker on the counter and prepared to get started on the family's dinner for the day. She frowned as she stared at the somewhat dusty pot.

"Wow, it really has been a long time since I made hotpot. Oh well, it's like riding a bicycle."

Hana was the first child to awake. She came stumbling out and saw the pancakes on the table. She grinned and moved towards the kitchen where her mother was chopping onions and adding them to the vegetable broth in the pot.

"You made pancakes?" Hana asked.

"No, Yasui did."

"Wow, I already like him better than Shinrai's other little friends. Those two are kinda turds."

Her mother rolled her eyes.

"Hana, be nice to your brother's friends."

She glanced around and whispered conspiratorially to her daughter.

"But honestly I agree with you."

Hana ate her pancakes and then returned to her room, waving at Yasui as she passed by the living room. For his part, Yasui was looking up what time and day he would have to get a bus for his return journey from home. There was a bus coming to the city from the town of Aka-Shukusha on both Wednesday and Saturday, so he would have to decide when he wanted to leave.

Finally, at nine, Shinrai came staggering out of his room in a pair of pajama shorts and a t-shirt. He grunted as he sat down at the table and began loading his plate with pancakes. He yawned and spoke through it,

"Thanks for, gyuuu… breakfast, Mom."

She rolled her eyes and smirked as she began stirring in seasonings to her hotpot.

"Not me. Yasui made it."

He swiveled his head towards where Yasui was sitting.

"Thanks, Yasui!"

"You're welcome, Shinrai. Do you want eggs with it?"

"Nah, I'm good."

Shinrai ate seven pancakes over the course of twenty minutes. He finally groaned as he got to his feet and shuffled over to the couch where Yasui was sitting. He flopped down with a quick "hurp!" and leaned back with his hands over his stomach.

"So full! What— *burp* did you put in those? They're so goooooood."

Yasui laughed.

"Family recipe, so I'm not telling."

Shinrai leaned towards him excitedly.

"So, what are we doing first? Want to play some games?"

"Well first I want to take a shower."

Shinrai's mother strode out of the kitchen with her hands still damp from washing them.

"I'll go set out a towel for you. Do you have soap?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You don't have to call me that, just call me Hanako."

Yasui's expression grew strained.

"I don't feel comfortable calling you something so informal. It seems disrespectful."

She laughed,

"How old fashioned! Alright, Mrs Hanako then."

Yasui returned her smile.

"Okay… Mrs Hanako."

She showed him where the bathroom was and set a towel by the sink for him. Yasui grabbed some clean clothes and soap before returning to the bathroom and turning the shower on. Once it was warm, he stepped inside and began to wash himself, only to realize that his face was well above the shower head. This struck him as highly amusing.

Wow, for the first time in my life I feel tall!

He had to bend down pretty far to rinse himself, but eventually he managed to get clean. Once he had dried off and changed, he returned to where Shinrai was watching tv. He chuckled and tapped Shinrai's arm.

"Hey, Shinrai. Now I know how it feels to be tall."

"Hm? Oh yeah, everything here's probably a little small for you."

"Not too bad. What are you watching?"

"Just the news. Nothing else is really on. So, want to play some games? I've got some cart racers, fighting games, uuhhhh… that's about it for multiplayer."

Yasui frowned.

"I think I've played a cart racer once with Jack, but I was pretty bad at it."

"Well you can learn, c'mon."

And with that Shinrai swapped the tv over to a different input and turned on a small black rectangle below it. He shrugged.

"It's not the latest console, but it's still pretty good. Kashi and Don both have the new ones, the graphics are unreal."

He put a disk in the rectangle and handed Yasui one of the controllers. And with that he began to try to teach Yasui how to play.

"So the "A" button is to accelerate, you have to hold it down. And, uh, "B" is your brakes. "X" and "Y" do the same so you don't have to mess with them. The right trigger, that one, is to use power ups. And the left one is to drift while turning. That part is a bit advanced so maybe wait to try doing that."

Yasui still was pretty bad, but he was actually starting to get the hang of it by the third race. He only went off the course two times. Even still, he could see why Shinrai liked video games. This was a blast, especially with a friend.

"Haha! Suck banana peel, slowpoke!"

"Why is the peel all big as my wheels? That's one huge banana."

"It's so you can see it, dingus."

"Oh. That makes sense. Hey! What's this power up do?"

"The rocket ship? It makes you fly forward super fast and the game steers for you. They give it to the players in last place."

But Yasui had already pressed the button and began to laugh.

"Yeah! I'm going to the moon! Eat my space dust!"

"As if! Good luck catching me!"

They were still playing the racing game when Mrs. Hanako came into the same room as them.

"Alright, finish that one and get ready. You said you wanted to go to the mall with us, right?"

They both nodded and to nobody's surprise Shinrai won again. However Yasui managed to get fourth place this time. Shinrai stood and stretched.

"Alright, I'll have to go take a shower and change. You learn quick, Yasui. Maybe when we get back we can play a fighting game, those are my favorite."

"Sounds good."

By eleven the three squirrels and one fox were leaving the apartment and heading towards the subway to go to the mall. Even after having been there before, Yasui couldn't get over just how big it was. Mrs. Hanako checked her watch and turned towards Yasui and Shinrai.

"Alright, me and Hana are going to go clothes shopping. Meet us in the food court at twelve thirty."

Shinrai crossed his arms behind his head and nodded.

"Uhuh, got it. See you later."

The two females left, leaving Yasui and Shinrai together. Shinrai dropped his arms, letting them slap against his legs.

"Alright, where did you want to go first?"

"Well, I need to find something cool for my brother. And then I want to find some charm bracelet that's popular with girls our age."

"Oh, which store sells it?"

Yasui's ears flattened a bit and he nervously chuckled.

"Uh… good question."

"Wait, you don't know?"

"I don't remember."

"Well crap."

Shinrai scrunched his face up as he thought before he threw his hands up in defeat.

"Well I've got no idea, sounds like a question for my sis. I guess we should shop for your brother first."

Yasui followed Shinrai to a few different clothing stores where they looked at all the different jackets in the men's section, however none of them really piqued Yasui's interest. They had just left store number four and were sitting on a bench together when Shinrai groaned.

"Aw crud, dude. None of those jackets were what we wanted."

"Yeah, the problem is I don't even know what type of jacket I want to get for him."

"Well I was thinking something like this."

Shinrai opened his phone and swiped through some pictures before showing Yasui a picture of an adult male fox wearing ripped jeans and a faux-leather jacket. He had an earring in one ear and was wearing sunglasses while holding a bright red electric guitar. Yasui tilted his head.

"Who's that?"

"The lead guitarist for a band I like. They're called "Wild Hunt." It's a more classic rock style group than some of the more modern ones."

"Oh, I don't know much about rock music."

Suddenly they were interrupted by a female voice from right in front of them.

"Hey! It's you!"

Yasui and Shinrai both looked up to find a female fennec fox standing before them. She was wearing a pair of denim shorts with a green graphic t-shirt with a character from some anime on it. She also had a pair of thin, circular framed glasses resting on her snout. The fennec fox smiled at Shinrai with her hands in her pockets. Shinrai immediately froze up and stared at her with a look of panic on his face. She shifted on her feet and glanced around.

"Uh, sorry. Maybe you don't remember. But, uh, we met on Monday? You followed me after I… well that is to say… you cheered me up, remember?"

Shinrai's mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. The fennec continued.

"You let me borrow your handkerchief, and I wanted to give it back to you. But I didn't see you at school, so…."

She trailed off. Shinrai was still looking at her with a dazed expression on his face. Yasui looked back and forth between the two and felt the awkward tension filling the air. He looked at her and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Hey, uh, you wouldn't happen to know a guy named Voss, would you?"

She turned her face towards him, a look of mild surprise on her face.

"Oh! You know Voss?"

"Yeah, I'm friends with two of his roommates. Jack and Legoshi."

She grinned.

"No way! He's my cousin! How did you know?"

Yasui coughed and looked at her large ears.

"Uh… family resemblance."

She closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly.

"Yeah, our moms are sisters. Do you know Voss too?"

She had addressed this last bit to Shinrai who still looked like he had turned into a zombie. Yasui intervened.

"Well, kinda. We all went to a taco restaurant before the Festival of the Meteor. Voss and Shinrai were both talking about this show they both like. I didn't catch the name of it though, something about pixies?"

She laughed.

"No way! You like Pixie Tail too?"

This seemed to snap Shinrai out of his trance somewhat. He stammered out,

"Y-yeah. You… you like?"

She giggled.

"Don't you recognize my shirt?"

He looked at her chest and nodded robotically.

"Oh…. I like Tatsu too. He's cool."

"And of course Smiley. 'Aye, sir!' I love that show, it just… it makes you feel happy, you know?"

Shinrai seemed to be reviving somewhat. He nodded a bit more vivaciously.

"Yeah! I-it's like… super cheerful and upbeat! So, like, you don't even care that there are lots of plot holes and, and, and, and stuff! It's just…."

His voice seemed to fail him but he continued to gesture wildly. The fennec fox laughed.

"I get what you mean."

They lapsed into silence again. Finally the fennec fox drew her mouth into a thin, flat line and blew out a puff of air.

"Well, uh, I'll be going now. It was nice to see you again."

Shinrai grimaced.

"You too! Uh… yeah."

She pivoted on her heel and started to walk away when Yasui thought of something. This was a girl, she might know about the bracelet.

"Hey, wait!" Yasui called to her. She stopped and looked back. Yasui continued.

"Can you help us with something? We're trying to find this bracelet but I can't remember what store it's in."

She frowned.

"Can you describe it?"

Yasui scratched the back of his head and looked away.

"Well no… but I've heard it's very popular with girls our age. Like, teenagers, you know?"

The fennec fox raised an eyebrow.

"One: that's not a lot to go on. Two: what makes you think I know about this bracelet?"

Yasui didn't even hesitate.

"You're a girl."

She huffed.

"So what? Oh, I'm a girl! That means I like jewelry! And I looove to gossip about cute boys and who's dating who! And I'm obsessed with movie stars and diets to have the perfect body! Is that seriously what you think?"

Yasui shook his head. He hadn't expected that response.

"Not really. I'm just clueless about this sort of thing. I don't really get fashion or what girls like, but I want to get my sister something nice and a girl I know said that this bracelet was 'all the rage' or something like that."

The fennec fox sighed and tapped her finger against her arm for a few seconds before slumping her shoulders.

"Fine, I'll try to help you. But only because you're actually doing a nice thing. Do you have anything else to go off of?"

Yasui shrugged.

"Just that it's a 'charm bracelet,' whatever that is, and that it's sold in this mall."

She squinted.

"Charm bracelet, charm bracelet… hmm… I actually might know what you're talking about now. And ironically it's the same store I'm headed to."

Yasui smiled.

"Great! Lead the way."

They began walking towards the south side of the mall. As they did, the fennec fox looked up at Yasui.

"Hey, sorry for snapping at you. It's just the whole 'girls like blank' thing drives me nuts. My parents are always on me about how I need to be more feminine, and how my interests aren't very typical for a girl."

Yasui copied her posture and put his hands in his pockets.

"So what do you like?"

"Well anime, manga, and video games to start. But also action movies and stuff like that, not the dumb romance crap. I also really like watching volleyball. Baseball's okay too. But my parents think I should like romance movies and dress shopping and whatever. Especially my mom, she's really old fashioned about this stuff. She always had these ideas of us having these girls' days out where we would go to the spa and get new clothes and all that boring junk. Unfortunately for her I'd rather chew my own leg off."

They were passing a game store when she stopped and looked at a display in the window. She gasped.

"Oh junk! I forgot! The new Alley Brawler dlc character is being announced tonight! Crap I should put a reminder in my phone so I can watch the livestream."

This seemed to completely awaken Shinrai from his trance. His eyes snapped to her.

"You play Alley Brawler?"

She blew a raspberry.

"Freaking yeah! I kick soooo much tail as Ren!"

"I'm a Chen Lu main!"

"No way! She's my third fave, after Goile."

Whatever had frozen Shinrai in his tracks seems to have suddenly been fixed. He and the fennec fox were talking up a storm, ranging from fighting games to their favorite movies. He snapped his fingers.

"Oh! Do you like westerns? Like, outlaws and gunslingers and all that?"

"Who doesn't!"

"Have you watched Gravestone?"

"Of course! That movie is the definitive western! Doc Hallaway is an icon."

Shinrai squinted and placed his hands on two invisible guns on his hips.

"Why Rango, you look like somebody just stepped on your grave."

She laughed and lowered her voice to as deep as it could go.

"I'm your hucklebearer."

Shinrai burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah! Best line in the movie by far."

The fennec fox adjusted her glasses and held out her hand.

"I'm Hikaru, by the way. You never actually asked me what my name was."

Shinrai smiled sheepishly.

"Right, sorry about that. I'm Shinrai."

"I remember. You yelled it at me before slamming into the door. Oh! By the way, here's your handkerchief back."

Shinrai accepted the handkerchief and carefully tucked it into his pocket. Eventually they made their way to a store called 104 Trending. Hikaru led them both to the jewelry section and pointed to one of the bracelets in the display.

"I think that's it right there."

The bracelet was silver in color with small metallic charms of various shapes that were socketed with either blue, green, or clear gemstones. It was priced at 1,500 yen. Yasui leaned a bit closer.

"Wow, I thought it was going to cost more."

Hikaru shook her head.

"Nope, hence why it's so popular. The brand that makes it specializes in affordable yet fashionable pieces. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get something for myself. See ya!"

She began to head towards the women's clothing section before Shinrai called after her.

"H-hey! Wait!"

She turned to face him, an amused expression on her face.

"This is the second time you guys have done this."

Shinrai blushed and looked up at the ceiling.

"O-oh! Sorry…. It's just… can we keep shopping together? We, uh, also want to find a jacket for Yasui's brother."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"And you think I'll be much help there?"

"Well no…." Shinrai admitted. "But… I like hanging out with you. We both like the same stuff. Yasui's my best friend but he doesn't really get my taste in movies and games. It's just… nice to be able to talk to someone about stuff I care about."

Hikaru thought about it before shrugging.

"Meh, why not. It's not every day I meet a kindred spirit. I'll meet you in the guy's section after I'm done."

Shinrai nodded and gave her a thumbs up. Soon she was lost among the racks of clothing. By this time Yasui had already finished his transaction and was putting the change from the 5,000 yen note he had found into his wallet. He went to stand by Shinrai who was gazing at where the fennec fox had gone. Without looking up at him, Shinrai mumbled.

"I can't believe it…."

"Believe what?"

Shinrai looked up at Yasui with an expression of mild disbelief.

"I just talked to a girl. Like, without freezing up and getting all sweaty and nervous."

"Well I wouldn't say that. You just stared at her when we first met."

Shinrai waved him off.

"I'm talking about after that! I just… I never thought I would be able to do it. I've been terrified of girls since the fifth grade."

Yasui nodded.

"No kidding. I guess I get that though. I've never been good at talking to girls who aren't in my family either. Although it's more that I don't understand them than that I'm scared of them. They're all… different from guys. It's like they expect you to understand some sort of code when they talk."

"Yeah. But with her… it's like I was just talking to another person."

"Well girls are people so—"

"Oh shut up!"

Shinrai grinned at him and punched his arm. Yasui laughed and rubbed the spot where his friend hit him. Shinrai sighed.

"Alright, let's go to the guy's section."

As they walked over to it, Shinrai wondered aloud,

"Why did she seem to want to go to the girl's section by herself?"

"I dunno." Yasui replied. "Maybe she needs to buy, like, girl stuff. I remember my mother having Yone and I stay at the front of the store when she would take my sister to buy girl stuff."

"No way, my mom did the same with me! Is there some sort of secret about girl stuff that us guys aren't supposed to find out about?"

"Shoot, maybe. I'm definitely not going to ask."

They found the rack where men's jackets were on display and began to look through the ones that Yasui thought might fit Yone. Soon they were joined by Hikaru who was now carrying a shopping bag.

"So, you two find anything good?" She asked.

They both shook their heads and without hesitation Shinrai asked,

"What did you get?"

Yasui shot him an alarmed look and Shinrai clapped a hand over his mouth. He immediately interjected,

"Sorry! I didn't mean to pry into your personal biz!"

She just laughed.

"Chill dude. I just got a new swimsuit. I want to go to the beach sometime over this vacation and my old one didn't fit anymore. It was way too tight in the chest. I mean, I'm not in middle school anymore so it was probably about time. See, check it out."

She reached into the bag and pulled out a pink two piece with a little black diamond pattern on it. Yasui blushed and Shinrai chuckled in a strange sort of way and gave it a double thumbs up.

"L-looks good! Sweet! I bet it's great on you!"

He blinked a few times and added.

"I meant that in the friendly, supportive sense. I'm not hitting on you."

"I gathered that, dummy. So, what type of jacket are we looking for?"

Yasui shrugged.

"Something for a guy who tries really hard to be cool."

"Ah," Hikaru smirked. "I gotcha. Let's see."

It took almost twenty minutes, but finally Hikaru found a really cool looking piece if clothing she referred to as a 'bomber jacket.' It was dark brown with white fluff along the collar. Yasui did have to admit, it looked really cool. The price was 2,400 yen because it was from the winter clearance rack. Yasui was very impressed with Hikaru's judgment in looking over there. When Yasui brought it up, she just shrugged.

"Mom always said the best time to buy a coat was in the summer."

Once they had paid for the jacket and left the store, Hikaru said she had to get going. As she was leaving, Shinrai called out.

"Yo, Hikaru! Let's meet up sometime and play Alley Brawler!"

She turned and walked backwards so she could face them.

"Sounds good to me! Later!"

Shinrai smiled and waved after her. Once she was gone, the two boys began walking back to the food court to meet with Shinrai's mother and sister. As they did, Yasui nudged him.

"I guess that's your second friend who's a fox. Are you trying to collect one of each type of fox?"

"I would, but the only ones I know about are regular old foxes and fennec foxes. I didn't even know there were more."

Yasui gazed upward as he began to try to remember all the different species of foxes.

"Well there's red foxes and fennec foxes like you said, but also Bengal foxes, Blanford's, Cape foxes, Corsac, Tibetan Sand foxes, Arctic, Kit, Pale, Ruppell's, Swift, Gray, Island, uhh… Darwin's? And a few more I can't remember."

Shinrai rolled his eyes.

"Dude, I can tell that most of those are made up. The only real sounding ones are Tibetan and Arctic."

"No, those are all actually species of foxes! I swear!"

"Uhuh, yeah."

Yasui and Shinrai spent a few minutes looking around the food court for the rest of their party. Finally they all found each other and headed towards one of the food vendors. For lunch the four of them got two different pizzas and shared them. Yasui was very enthusiastic about this choice as this would be his second time getting to have pizza, and he had been a big fan the first time around. However, as they ate, Yasui couldn't help but really notice something for the first time. Despite being around half his size, Shinrai ate a lot more than he did. By the time Yasui was on slice number two, Shinrai was polishing off his sixth one. As his friend reached for another helping, Yasui cast him an incredulous look.

"How do you eat so much?"

Shinrai held up a finger as he chewed his mouthful and then answered.

"We small animals have fast metabolisms. That's why our meals are actually close to the size of medium sized animals at school. And especially during adolescence, we're literally just always hungry."

His mother nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah, it's crazy. And he's not nearly as bad as Tobi was."

Yasui wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Tobi is your oldest son, right?"

"Mhm," she nodded. "Tobias is seven years older than Shinrai. He's out on his own now."

Yasui nodded and stared as Shinrai stuffed piece number seven into his round little squirrel cheeks. Shinrai was still thin as a rail despite his appetite, but Yasui had the feeling that if he ate as much as his friend he'd end up being rather chubby.

The journey back to the apartment was uneventful, and soon Shinrai was teaching him how to play Alley Brawler. Despite not understanding exactly what he was doing, Yasui was weirdly good at the game. Although apparently his strategy of "button mashing" as Shinrai called it was the lowest form of playing the game. Yasui did find Shinrai's attempts to teach him "combos" and "grabs" and whatever else slightly amusing.

"Yasui, stop just pressing jump and kick. Try doing a combo!"

"I don't get how to!"

"Do 'A', 'A', down and 'B', then 'X' to use your basic combo."

"What's 'down and B' even mean?"

"Down on the control pad."

"Like this?"

"Now you're just spamming slide kicks!"

Shinrai growled and jumped onto Yasui's head. Yasui laughed as Shinrai wrapped his arms around his face to cover his eyes.

"Try playing blind and see if you can spam like this!"

"That won't make any difference! I still won't know what I'm doing!"

"Distraction!"

And with that Shinrai grabbed his ear and began tweaking it in various directions, but not so hard as to cause pain. Yasui began laughing.

"Shinrai! C-cut it out! Hey! Not the ears, they're sensitive!"

"Victory at any cost!"

And with that Shinrai began rubbing his ear with a mad cackle. Yasui's controller slipped from his hands as he howled with laughter and flopped onto the ground.

"S-stop! Gyahahaha! Th-that tickles!"

"You're powerless against me! Squirrel power forever!"

"D-don't make me, bwaha! Don't m-make me get physical!"

"Do your worst! I know your weakness! You can't— woah!"

Yasui had twisted and wrestled the small herbivore off his head and had him by the ankles. Shinrai's mother called from the kitchen where she was sitting and reading on her tablet,

"Don't get carried away you two. I don't want any hospital trips today."

Yasui grinned toothily at Shinrai.

"Do you yield?"

"Never!"

Yasui snickered and shook Shinrai gently. The squirrel's shirt fell over his head, and Yasui had an idea.

"Well don't say I didn't warn you."

Shinrai's mother poked her head into the room and gasped as suddenly Yasui opened his mouth and lunged towards Shinrai's exposed stomach. Her expectations of a scream of pain were not met however, as instead she wasn't sure what she really heard.

Plrrrrrrrrpt!*

"AAAHAHAHAHAHA! N-NO S-STAHAHAHAHP!"

Yasui pulled away and let go of one of Shinrai's ankles to wipe his mouth.

"Then give up!"

"N-no, TYEEHAHAHA!"

Once again Yasui blew another raspberry on Shinrai's stomach. Hana walked by and rolled her eyes.

"Ew, what are you, five?"

Shinrai was howling with laughter and squirming.

"S-SHUT UP HAN-AHAHAHAH!"

Hana let out a little *tsk* sound and returned to her room with a drink.

"Weirdos."

The afternoon passed quickly, and soon Shinrai's father returned with an adult male squirrel who looked similar to Shinrai. Shinrai gasped when he saw him.

"Tobi!"

"Hey hey, little bro!"

Tobi clapped Shinrai's shoulder as he approached him. He saw Yasui and raised his hand in greeting.

"I heard Shinrai had a friend over. I'm Tobias."

"Yasui."

"Nice to meet you, Yasui. I'm Shinrai's brother."

As the three boys talked in the living room, Shinrai's father joined his wife in the kitchen. He gave her an expectant look as she put the finishing touches on dinner.

"So? How did it go today? Any problems with… him?"

She stuck her nose in the air and smiled.

"Today went quite well actually. Yasui is a very sweet and considerate boy. Personally I'm hoping some of his manners rub off on Shinrai."

Her husband looked surprised at that before shrugging.

"Well, he makes good pancakes. That's really all that matters to me."

"Oh shut it and help me set the table."

Once the table was set and everyone had gathered around it, Mrs Hanako began to try to carry the large and very full pot over to the table. Immediately Yasui sprang to his feet out of habit and took it from her.

"I've got it!"

"Thank you. It's, uh, a bit heavier than I remember."

Hana gave her mother a deadpan look.

"That's because the last time you made hotpot was the last time Tobi was here for dinner."

Tobi laughed.

"Wow, you must really hate cooking this dish then, if you only make it every few months."

Mrs. Hanako huffed as she sat down.

"That's because it's a real pain in the tail to make and takes forever. But it is delicious though."

Yasui sniffed the steam rising from the pot as he set it down in the center of the table.

"It smells amazing. Thank you, Mrs. Hanako."

Mrs. Hanako smiled at him as he sat down.

"Thank you, I hope you enjoy it. Alright, dig in!"

The hotpot was delicious. Yasui's mother had made hotpot multiple times, but there was something that had been added to this one that added a little more complexity of flavor that Yasui was really enjoying. It was so delicious he had seconds. As he refilled his bowl he grinned at Mrs. Hanako and said,

"Don't tell my mom, but this is the best hotpot I've ever had."

She laughed.

"Your secret is safe with me, but I can't claim all the credit. It's a family recipe that my mother taught me."

Shinrai lifted his head from his third bowl and nodded vigorously.

"We're spoiled when it comes to hotpot. We literally can't eat anyone else's but Mom's because it's just not as good."

Mrs. Hanako beamed as she ate her portion. She seemed quite happy at all the positive attention her cooking was receiving. Once Yasui was finished and everyone else was beginning to slow down, he cleared his throat. The family of squirrels all looked at him, and he began.

"Uh, I wanted to say thanks for letting me stay with you all. So, uh, give me a second."

Yasui stood and went into the family room. He returned holding the impromptu cake carrier he had assembled on Friday and placed it on an empty spot on the table.

"I, uh, made this yesterday before I came over. I hope you all enjoy it."

And with that he removed the cover and showed his somewhat lopsided cake to everyone. Shinrai grunted.

"Oh crap, why didn't you tell me to save room for dessert?"

Tobias elbowed his brother.

"I have a sneaking suspicion you'll find room for it."

Shinrai's dad whistled.

"What type of cake is it?"

"Carrot." Yasui replied.

Hana grinned and said,

"No way, carrot cake is my favorite!"

Mrs Hanako retrieved a knife, some forks, and small plates from the kitchen. She cut them all a slice and Yasui was happy to discover his cake was perfectly fine. In fact, it was still quite moist despite having been made yesterday.

Oh… maybe I did take it out too early. Well, all's well that ends well, I gess.

Once the dishes were cleared away and any leftovers were stored in the refrigerator, they all moved to the living room where Shinrai's mother asked,

"Okay, who's turn is it to pick a movie?"

Shinrai spoke up.

"I think Yasui should get to pick because he's a guest."

Tobias shrugged.

"Sounds fair to me."

Hana shrugged and Shinrai's dad looked at Yasui expectantly. Yasui glanced around.

"Oh, we're all watching a movie."

"Yup." Shinrai said. "It's sort of a family tradition to watch a movie together on Saturdays."

Yasui worked his jaw and rubbed his shoulder as he tried desperately to think of any movie he had heard of. Finally he admitted defeat.

"I'm sorry, I've never really watched many movies. In fact I think I've only seen, like, one."

Tobi looked surprised.

"How have you never seen any movies?"

Shinrai stretched his arms and groaned.

"He's, like, from out in the sticks. They didn't have TVs and stuff like that."

Yasui frowned.

"It was more lack of time than lack of availability. People in town have TVs, it's just that up in my village we don't really have any way of getting TV signals and stuff like that. We all have to use landline phones because we're so far away from any cell towers."

Hana shuddered.

"Remind me to never visit your home."

Mrs. Hanako clapped her hands together.

"Well that means it's my turn."

All the guys groaned and Shinrai let out a despondent cry of,

"Please no! Not another terrible RomCom!"

Shinrai's mother crossed her arms.

"Don't be so pathetic. I don't complain when you and your father pick whatever dumb movie with explosions and guns and whatever. So don't complain about my choice."

Yasui wasn't entirely sure what this disagreement had been about, but he soon discovered the reason. The movie Mrs. Hanako picked was called Stormy Moon, and it was not exactly terribly interesting to Yasui. It appeared to be about some woman whose husband had died at sea who now lived in a lighthouse with her daughter. Then a handsome stranger came to town on his motorcycle and she ended up getting into a disagreement with him. It was after the woman's best friend was telling her that maybe she had feelings for the handsome stranger that Yasui felt a shooting pain in his stomach. He winced and placed his hand over his midriff.

After a few more minutes, the pain grew more constant. He was beginning to think he had eaten too much. But this wasn't like any indigestion he had experienced before. His stomach felt like it was full of crushed glass and also on fire. He felt beads of sweat growing on his face as his stomach gave another painful lurch. His expression must have betrayed some of his discomfort as Shinrai gave him a curious look.

"You good?"

Yasui nodded but didn't say anything. He didn't want to make a big fuss over a little stomach ache. He felt another stabbing pain in his guts and let out a little hiss. Okay, maybe not a little stomach ache. Tobias chuckled.

"It's probably the movie, it is quite painful."

Mrs. Hanako rolled her eyes and scowled.

"Oh shut up. It's cute."

Yasui leaned forward a bit and wrapped his arms around his middle as his stomach continued to feel like he had eaten a can of rusty nails. It didn't even feel like indigestion or nausea, just like he was being sawed in half. Shinrai was looking at him with growing concern.

"Yasui, you really don't look good. Are you feeling sick?"

Yasui shook his head as everyone turned their attention to him.

"No…. Just… hurts."

He winced again as the pain intensified.

"Maybe… water."

Yasui stood and audibly gasped before doubling over and crumpling forward onto his hands and knees. The sudden increase in discomfort had completely taken him by surprise. His stomach was filled with fire. It was like he was being eaten alive from the inside by hundreds of tiny bugs. He was aware of everyone suddenly standing and moving towards him. Shinrai squeaked.

"Yasui! What's wrong!"

Tobias squatted down to try to get a closer look at Yasui's face which was contorted in pain.

"Do you think he's having an allergic reaction to something? Shinrai, does he have any allergies?"

"Not that I know of! What could it even have been? Mom, what was in the hotpot?"

Mrs. Hanako wrung her hands and squinted.

"Let's see… uh… tofu, red pepper, vegetable broth, ginger… uh… dried kelp, onions, a little—"

Hana's head snapped towards her mother.

"Did you say onions!?!"

Mrs. Hanako nodded.

"Yes, two of them. I always put two onions in my hotpot."

Tobias grew pale.

"Mom! Canids can't eat onions! They're poisonous to them!"

Mrs. Hanako held her hands over her mouth as a look of horror grew on her face. She whispered,

"I-I didn't know…."

Hana tapped away at her phone.

"I'm calling an ambulance!"

Shinrai hovered around his friend nervously as Hana spoke to the animal on the other end of her phone call.

"Yes, we have an emergency. My brother's friend, who is a fox, accidentally ate food with onions in it…. Uh… less than an hour…. Yeah he's doubled over in pain on the floor…. Okay."

She moved her phone away from her ear.

"They say that it hasn't been too long yet, and we need to induce vomiting."

Shinrai yelled,

"HOW THE HELL DO WE DO THAT!"

Mrs. Hanako's face grew determined and she marched forward.

"Help me move him to the bathroom, I've done this before."

It took all of them to half drag, half support Yasui to the bathroom. Mrs. Hanako rolled up her sleeves and Shinrai asked,

"When have you done this before!?"

"Years ago. Tobias ate some cleaning products when he was a toddler."

She directed Yasui's head over the toilet and gulped as she pried Yasui's mouth open, looking nervously at his many sharp teeth. She hesitated before moaning.

"Oooooh… I'm sorry about this."

And with that, she jammed her hand into the back of his throat. Yasui's eyes bulged and a nasty *hurk!* sound exited his throat. Mrs. Hanako moved her hand as fast as she could, cutting her arm on one of his canine teeth. Her moving her hand was done not a moment too soon, as Yasui was violently and loudly sick into the open toilet.

For his part, Yasui was not having a fun time. His stomach hurt, he was sweaty now, and he was currently puking into his best friend's toilet. He lifted his head and took a deep breath. He was dimly aware of Mrs. Hanako still kneeling beside him. He stifled a gag and moaned.

"Sorry…. This is really gross an— *hurk!*"

And then he was ill again. She patted his back and sobbed.

"Y-You have n-no reason to be sorry! I'm just… I'm so sorry!"

Yasui groaned and propped his head up on his arms. Once the floodgates had opened his stomach had decided that everything must go. But now his stomach felt empty. His stomach lurched again and he heaved but nothing came up. Yasui slumped against the wall. The person at poison control that Hana had talked to said that so long as he vomited everything up, he should be fine. Apparently this situation happened frequently and typically didn't cause any long lasting damage. Yasui curled up and sighed.

"I think it's over."

Mrs. Hanako sniffled.

"H-how do you feel?"

Yasui hiccuped.

"Not too bad…. I think I'm fine now."

"I-I'll go get you some water."

She stood and shuffled out of the bathroom. She ignored the curious looks her family gave her and headed to the kitchen. She poured Yasui a glass of water and delivered it to him before returning to the kitchen. She opened a high cupboard and removed a bottle and a long stemmed glass. With shaky hands she poured herself a large glass of wine and downed half of it. She was topping it back up when her husband slowly walked in.

"You, uh, you okay?"

"W-what kind of question is that!"

"Hey, calm down. It's not—"

She jerked, wine slopping onto the counter.

"Calm down! I just poisoned my son's best friend! I could have killed him!"

"No, uh, the person at poison control said that unless he had eaten almost a whole raw onion it probably wouldn't have killed him. The little amount he had cooked down into his food would have, well, it just made him sick."

She wiped her eyes.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better!"

Her husband sighed and walked away.

"Just go easy on the wine."

The rest of the evening passed in a sort of uneasy silence. Once Yasui crept out of the bathroom he insisted he was fine and that they finish their movie. His stomach still hurt, but it was more of a dull, empty pain than anything. As they all went their separate ways for bed, Yasui waved Shinrai over. Shinrai looked concerned.

"You feeling okay, Yasui?"

"Yeah… just tired. Is your mom doing okay? She looks… bad."

Shinrai sighed.

"She'll be fine. Probably just a bit of a shock. She probably just feels bad about making you sick."

Yasui frowned as Shinrai left to go brush his teeth. Yasui stood and moved down the hall to Shinrai's parent's room. He knocked gently on the door. Shinrai's mother replied.

"W-what do you want?"

"Mrs. Hanako, can I come in?"

There was a pause. Finally she sniffed.

"Yeah."

Yasui opened the door slowly. Shinrai's mother was still in her regular clothes sitting on the end of her bed. Shinrai's father was reading a book on his side of the bed. They both looked at him as he entered. Yasui gulped.

"I just… wanted you to know that I'm fine. So, uh, don't feel too bad… please?"

Shinrai's mother nodded hollowly and Shinrai's father returned to his book. Yasui said goodnight and closed the door. He went to bed with the feeling he hadn't actually made it any better.

[Author's Note]

Fun fact! This chapter was at one point almost 32k words long until I realized how insanely long it was and cut some parts that were a bit too monotonous. I hope you enjoy!