Kei: Oh no, it’s me who should be sorry.
Tsudzura: P-please raise your countenance! You are not at fault, Kei-oneesan!
Tsudzura: Merely neglecting to chase me out was an act of such supreme, venerable mercy, I cannot face my feet your way when I sleep, but to have your hand bitten by a tenant’s pet fox, a cardboard box would be too kind a dwelling for me!
After letting loose a bizarre stream of language without hesitation, she spins on Obana-chan and raises her clenched fist.
Tsudzura: You stupid fox—! Konkonchiki—! Go learn from the crane and turtle and repay your debts properly—! (TN: Konkonchiki – it means fox, but it’s also a curse word against humans.)
As if from a struck temple drum, a good noise resounds through the room.
Tsudzura: To think you’d return grace with spite is a something-or-other awful deed unfit for the most brutish of beasts—! Obana you’re lower than a fox you’re a LESSER fox—! Don’t get on your high horse just because you’re white—!
Your language is deteriorating, Tsudzura-chan.
Kei: Stop it, stop it. I was just surprised, and it doesn’t hurt that much anyway, so…
Tsudzura: ……Is that so?
Kei: Yeah, I’m fine.
It hurts enough to bother me, but not enough to make me cry.
I show her a smile, and Tsudzura-chan lowers her arms.
With this, the threatening is finished.
Kei: I’m sorry, Obana-chan. When you’re approached like that by someone you don’t really know, it’s scary, isn’t it?
Tsudzura: …………
Even for me, if I was approached by some stranger saying, “I’ll give you some candy, so let’s be friends. Let me pet you, okay?” I’d definitely feel a danger of bodily harm.
Kei: I’ll just leave it right here, so eat it if you want, okay?
When I set it a distance from where I sat, Obana-chan, who had been petting his head with his fuzzy tail, stops his movement and looks at me.
Suddenly, our eyes meet.
Tsudzura: Onee-san, are you really all right?
Kei: I’m fine, I’m fine. Something like this’ll just heal if you lick it. Right?
Just as I seek confirmation, *tottottotto* Obana-chan mutely pads in my direction.
Kei: Eh!?
Even when he’s right before my eyes, he doesn’t stop.
Kei: Eh!? Eh!? Ehh!?
Without pause, he jumps.
Could he be… about to do something to me again?
I reflexively shut my eyes, and guard my face with both hands.
——*pon*
A clap on my head.
I say “a clap,” but it’s really about as light as a person setting their hand there. Much the same as Youko-chan’s typical greeting gesture.
……So that’s it.
This is what he does to get atop Tsudzura-chan’s head.
Feeling convinced, I relax.
Feeling relaxed, I open my eyes.
At the same time, he takes a half turn atop my head.
Kei: Uhya!?
A white fluffiness enwraps my head from front to back, blurring out my vision.
And finding itself stroked upon its bare neck, my body cringes at the ticklish sensation.
And yet, even though the surface he’s standing on is so unstable, with fully unperturbed movements, Obana-chan moves from head to shoulder, from shoulder to upper arm, and finally settles his forward body on the palm of my hand.
……?
What in the world does he want to do?
Kei: ……Huh? Huh? Wha—?
Where once he had bitten my finger, this time he’s licking it. *pero pero*
Tsudzura: Onee-san, it seems he’s taken a liking to you.
Kei: He has?
Tsudzura: It’s exceedingly rare for him to approach someone on his own.
Kei: Wow, so that’s it.
Kei: Aha! That kinda tickles, you know.
*pita* Obana-chan stops his movements, and turns to stare at my face.
Kei: Thank you. I’m okay, now.
When I say that, he slips off my hand with a jump and begins eating the manjuu I’d set out.
Kei: Wah, Obana-chan’s really smart, isn’t he? Does he know what I’m saying?
Tsudzura: Now that you say so, it does seem that way. Well, we can just say he resembles me in that way.
Kei: Ahaha. Is that something you can say about yourself?
Tsudzura: I say what must be said. This is a world where the value of humility is hard to express, after all.
Tsudzura: By the way, these manjuu are delicious. This place has been lacking in sweet things, making it troublesome to stay in one place.
When I look at the box upon the floor, its contents are already half gone.
Kei: Wah…… since when……
Tsudzura: Omee-han, ‘ou aren’ habing any? If ‘ou don’ hurry, they’ll ahl be gone, ‘ou know?
Kei: I still haven’t had more than one—!
Tsudzura-chan’s mother, father… Just as you intended, Tsudzura-chan’s been brought up to be hardy.
……But maybe a little too hardy, don’t you think?