A Fox's Mission

by Brandon Varnell

  “You know a lot about Lilian, don’t you?” she asked.

  It was obvious. Kevin was Lilian’s mate. Back when they’d all been going to school together, there was rarely a time when those two weren’t attached at the hip; they’d go shopping together, they’d go on dates together, and they’d sleep together. Lilian went to all of Kevin’s track meets, and Christine knew that they’d spent a lot of time at the library together when Lilian first started studying manga as more than a fascination.

  “Well, yeah,” Kevin said, his voice suggesting the answer should have been obvious. “Lilian’s my mate. It’s only natural that I know a lot about her, right?”

  “Right.” Christine rubbed her chest again.

  After Kevin bought the Wacom tablet, they returned to the mall, where they’d continued shopping for several hours before going home.

  The ride on the train was silent, save for the sound of wheels running across the tracks.

  They made a quick stop at the local grocery store before returning home. Kevin bought a pound worth of steak, several different spices, and a number of vegetables. He wouldn’t tell Christine what he planned on making, and only said that she should, “look forward to it.” Having only tried his cooking once or twice, Christine couldn’t deny that she was interested in seeing what he made.

  At Kevin’s request, Christine stashed the presents they’d bought at her hut, underneath her bed. He didn’t want Iris or Lilian to discover them—at least, not until he’d wrapped them, which he would apparently do later that night, after everyone else had gone to bed.

  Kevin had gone to prepare the food, which meant it was just her, Lilian, Iris, and Polydora. She didn’t know where the mutt was, and she wasn’t sure that she cared. Cien, if she remembered his name correctly, had tried to kill her friends. That made him an enemy in her book.

  Why Kevin let him live is beyond me.

  As she suspected, Iris was dozing away in their bed. The vixen lay on her side, raven hair artistically resting over her body as if each strand had been strategically placed to emphasize her figure. Shapely hips were put on audacious display, and the way she bent one leg while leaving the other straight somehow seemed to enhance her overall visual appeal. Christine felt a sense of envy as she stared at Iris.

  It’s not fair how she can look so sexy without even trying.

  Unlike her sister, Lilian was wide awake. She sat cross-legged on the floor, looking down at several sheets of paper that were arrayed in front of her. Curious, Christine wandered over to her red-haired friend and sat down.

  “Are these your manga drawings?” she asked.

  “Hm?” Lilian looked up. “Oh, yes, they are. I’m just studying them to see if there are any deviations in my art style. I’ve been practicing a lot, so I’m confident in my ability to draw, but I’m still not at the level of a professional yet and can’t consistently make good art.”

  Christine looked at the many illustrations laid out before them. All of the pages were crisp and white, the illustrations clean and made from ink. She didn’t know why, but Christine had expected them to have been drawn in pencil.

  “They look pretty professional to me.”

  The smile that Lilian gave Christine, which was bright enough to eclipse the sun, made her face actually grow warm.

  “Thank you for saying so, but these still aren’t that good. This is just a practice manga for when I make the real manga that I plan on getting published.”

  “You want to publish a manga?”

  “Yes. I’m thinking of becoming a professional manga artist. I think that would be the coolest job ever.” Lilian paused. “I once thought of becoming a seiyuu, but then I realized that I don’t actually have a voice, so that wouldn’t work. Speaking of, I wonder who my seiyuu would be.”

  And she’d just lost Christine. “Um, what?”

  “Never mind.”

  Lilian waved her hand in the air, dismissing what she’d said. Christine sighed. It had been a while since she’d been with a kitsune. She’d forgotten how annoying talking to them could sometimes be.

  “So… about these illustrations of yours…”

  “Ah! Do you want me to tell you about them?” Christine was a little disturbed by how bright Lilian’s eyes were, but she nodded nonetheless. “Okay. Well, this particular manga is about a young boy who’s obsessed with animals. One day he finds an injured bird and nurses it back to health. Then he takes it with him to the grocery store, where it causes all kinds of problems for the staff.”

  As she spoke, Lilian pointed to each illustration.

  “Do you notice how the main character and the bird stand out when compared to the others? That’s because I used thicker lines for them. I thought it would be a good way of making them pop out of the page, so to speak. The others have a much thinner line thickness. The shading is also more of a cell-shading for backgrounds, which I also feel helps make the characters take a bigger focus on the panels.”

  Christine had absolutely no idea what Lilian was talking about. She didn’t stop the girl, however, as this was clearly something that she was passionate about. She did notice something about the illustrations, though…

  “There isn’t much in them—the backgrounds, I mean. They feel kind of empty.”

  “That’s because I’m not confident enough in my abilities to add more to the background without overcrowding the panels,” Lilian admitted. “I also think that making the panels too crowded detracts from the characters and, if I decide to add thought bubbles or dialogue, then I don’t want it to be so full that I have no place to put them.”

  The longer Lilian spoke, the more Christine came to realize how well Kevin knew the vixen. It wasn’t just that he knew her either. Everyone knew that Lilian loved manga, and even she knew that Lilian had been learning to draw before they’d been separated. More astounding than his knowledge about Lilian was how Kevin supported her.

  Kevin had been buying Lilian supplies so she could improve as a manga artist. Christine knew that he’d bought her several books when she first started learning, and apparently, he’d bought her an art program for her last birthday. And now he’d gotten her a Wacom tablet for Christmas. Kevin knew what Lilian was passionate about, what she wanted to do, and he was giving her his support any way he could. That, more than anything else, told her how much Kevin loved Lilian.

  What… what is this feeling?

  The icy hand came back. It clenched her tiny heart, a massive fist formed from a glacier in Antarctica. She clutched the bodice of her outfit as if overcome with pain.

  “Christine? Is something wrong?” Lilian’s voice was filled with concern. It made Christine feel all the more guilty. Here was this girl who was concerned for her, and she felt jealous. What kind of friend was she?

  Opening her mouth, Christine prepared to speak, though just what she would say, not even she knew. Before she could say anything, though, Kevin entered the room, Cien trailing behind him. Kevin was wearing an apron and the scent of grilled steaks clung to him.

  Christine’s stomach rumbled, as did Lilian’s.

  “I’ve got dinner ready outside, everyone!” Kevin said.

  “Yay! Dinner!” Lilian cheered. Hastily stacking her illustrations, Lilian placed them in her bag and leapt to her feet. Christine followed suit, albeit, much more slowly.

  “Cien, could you wake up Iris?” Kevin asked.

  “Why me?” Cien grunted, only to be cuffed on the head by Kevin.

  “Because I said so, that’s why.”

  Grumbling, Cien moodily stomped over to Iris as the others went outside.

  “Why did you make him wake up Iris?” Lilian asked. “You know she hates dogs.”

  “I know.” Kevin smiled. “That’s why I asked him to do it.”

  Just then, a loud, piercing wail came from within the hut, and Iris, wearing nothing but a flimsy shirt, raced outside, into the cold. Her face was pale. A cold sweat poured down her neck. She looked frantic.

 
; Lilian giggled. “That was mean of you, Beloved.”

  “Considering all the crap she put me through, she deserves nothing less.”

  “Hey, Kevin?” Christine interrupted.

  “Yes?”

  “What the heck is up with that apron?”

  Kevin looked down at his apron. It was mostly black, except for the very front on his chest, which depicted a desolate desert landscape with many cooking knives embedded into the ground. Likewise, the sky was made up of many steel pots and pans. Within the center of these knives was a blond-haired, blue-eyed chibi figure holding a kitchen knife in each hand, one black and the other white. It was obviously Kevin. Above the chibi were the words: “I am the bone of my skillet.”

  “Do you like it? Lilian bought it for me last Christmas. I always wear it whenever I’m cooking.”

  His cheesy grin, infused with joy, was certainly handsome, but Christine felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach.

  “Ah, um, y-yeah… it’s great.”

  “Christine?” The grin faded.

  “It’s nothing.” Shaking her head, Christine smiled at Kevin, though doing so felt like she was twisting the knife further into her chest. “It looks good on you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Kevin stared at her, his lips turning downwards. He bit his lip, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to say it. Christine, not wanting to deal with him right then, wandered over to Lilian and Iris. The raven-haired beauty was hiding behind her sister, practically hissing at Cien, who seemed to have found entertainment in taunting the girl.

  Dinner that evening was good. They sat around a table that Kevin had somehow found, though he wouldn’t tell them where he’d discovered it, only that it was, “a secret.” He’d made grilled steak and vegetables with the seasonings he and Christine bought from the store. He also had some blue cheese for them to add onto their steak.

  “Enjoy!” Kevin said as he set their plates down. Steam wafted from the food and into their noses, releasing an appetizing scent that permeated the area and caused their mouths to water.

  “Thank you for the food!” Lilian took the first bite, cutting a slice off and sticking it in her mouth. “This is soo~ good!”

  A grinning Kevin struck a suitably suave pose. “I’m glad you like it!”

  “Ufufufu, that was very Yukihira of you, Beloved.”

  “I wanted to try it at least once.”

  Kevin and Lilian high fived. Christine frowned and focused on her food which, despite smelling delicious, somehow seemed tasteless to her.

  “Ne, Stud,” Iris moaned from where she sat, giving Kevin a pitiful look. “I’m too tired to cut this. Feed me.”

  “Uh, no.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Cuz I don’t wanna.”

  “That’s awfully childish of you.”

  “So is trying to make someone feed you because you’re lazy.”

  Iris pouted at Kevin, but he seemed to have grown desensitized to her. Realizing this, Iris switched targets.

  “Lily-pad,” she whined, “feed me!”

  “You’re such a child,” Lilian sighed, but moved her plate and sat down next to Iris, where she did, in fact, feed the other vixen.

  “I’ll feed you,” Cien said before pausing. “Oh, wait. I don’t feed foxes… I eat them.”

  “I’d tell you to bite me, but only Kevin and Lily-pad are allowed to do that,” Iris spat at the dog, who’s grin reminded Christine of a rabid Rottweiler—all sharp-toothed and vicious.

  Christine watched as if staring through a tinted window. Kevin, Lilian, and Iris had a ceaseless flow of conversation going between them. They seemed to feed off each other’s one-liners, keeping up a constant chatter. As she watched, Christine could easily imagine how—and why—these three actually worked in a relationship.

  They’re not fighting for Kevin’s affection at all.

  Whenever two people loved one person, it was only natural that they would fight over them. Who the hell wanted to share? However, that wasn’t happening here. Iris wasn’t trying to butt into Kevin’s and Lilian’s relationship so much as unobtrusively insert herself into it, and because she didn’t try to steal Kevin from Lilian or vice versa, it made accepting her easy.

  She watched as an ecstatic Iris let Lilian feed her. The expression on her face was beyond content. Christine imagined that if Iris were to die seconds later, the two-tailed void kitsune would have felt no regrets.

  She amended her previous thoughts.

  Actually, it seems like Iris is more interested in Lilian than Kevin.

  Was that why they worked? Christine couldn’t say. All she knew was that seeing the three of them get along so well made her feel like an outsider.

  “How could you… you people…”

  All conversations, all thoughts, everything ceased as Polydora, who’d been silent up until then, spoke. To be honest, Christine hadn’t even realized she was present until just then.

  “What did she say?” Iris asked.

  “Something about a pole, I think,” Lilian said. Kevin remained silent.

  Her teeth clenched, lips peeled back in an almost feral snarl, Polydora stared at the trio with something akin to anger burning in her eyes.

  “You people… you three disgust me. How can you idle here, laughing like this, while My Lady Phoebe’s life is in jeopardy? Do you not feel anything for her? Is she so far beneath your notice that you don’t care that she’s been captured?”

  “Polydora,” Kevin started, “that’s not—”

  “She’s probably being interrogated even as we speak!” Polydora continued, her voice gaining a higher pitch. “Yet none of you even seem to care about that! You’re content to remain here, wasting your time on food and drink! I guess My Lady Phoebe really doesn’t mean anything to you, does she?”

  “Now that’s not true,” Iris said. “I rather like the woman. She’s got spunk.”

  “Then why aren’t you doing anything?!”

  “It’s not that we don’t want to do anything,” Kevin said. “It’s that we can’t right now. We’re not—”

  “Do not try to deceive me!” Polydora spat. “When Lilian was in danger, you charged headlong into the fire for her! Even knowing that you were going up against one of the most powerful yōkai in the entire world, you risked life and limb to save her! Yet you won’t do this for My Lady Phoebe! Is it because she’s not your mate? Because you don’t love her? Is that why you won’t let her bear your child?!”

  For the first time since she’d known Kevin, Christine saw something she thought she would never see: Anger. His clenched fists shook, teeth ground together behind thin lips, and vivid blue eyes blazed like furious bonfires.

  ‘Nya. Doesn’t Kevin look hot when he’s angry?’

  Yeah, he… no, wait. Shut up!

  ‘Nya-ha-ha!’

  Kevin took a deep breath. Christine was almost certain that he was about to lay into Polydora.

  He never got the chance.

  The sound of glass shattering filled the small area. Everyone turned to Lilian, who’d stabbed her fork through her plate and into the table. Even as they watched, the fork dug further into the table until it broke through to the other side.

  She was glaring at Polydora. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you. If you really think so lowly of Kevin, then you obviously haven’t learned a single thing about him! Kevin always puts himself on the line for others! He even accepted this mission, even though it’s dangerous, even though we’ve nearly died several times! So don’t you dare say that Kevin only risks his life for me!”

  “Lilian,” Kevin muttered, stunned by her proclamation.

  “Then why hasn’t he gone to rescue My Lady Phoebe?” Polydora shouted back. “If it was you who’d been kidnapped, then I am positive he would have already left! If My Lady Phoebe was so important, then he would’ve gone to save her the moment I told him that she had been imprisoned! Yet here he stands! I think
that shows who truly matters to him! Never mind. I don’t need his help—or anyone’s help! I shall rescue My Lady Phoebe with my own two hands!”

  ‘This situation is getting out of hand, nya.’

  I’ll say.

  Lilian’s two tails bristled, and her canines glinted as she bared them at the retreating Polydora, who disappeared into the waning light. Perhaps she was merely imagining things, but for a moment, Christine could swear Lilian’s eyes flashed white, that her entire pupils had disappeared. It must have been a trick of the light, for when she blinked, Lilian’s eyes were green again.

  A hand landed on Lilian’s shoulder.

  “Easy, Lilian.”

  “K-Kevin?”

  He smiled at her. “Thank you. You’re always sticking up for me.”

  “Of course, I am,” Lilian said, her earnest eyes gazing into his with a love that made Christine envious. “You’re my mate. I’m always gonna have your back.”

  His smile widened. “And I’m always going to have yours. However, why don’t you let me take it from here?”

  Something passed between the two. Christine didn’t know what it was. Kevin and Lilian seemed to be holding a conversation with nothing but eye contact.

  “Okay.” Lilian backed down. “I’ll let you handle this.”

  “Thank you.”

  Kevin gave Lilian a quick kiss on the lips, then he turned around and went after Polydora.

  Within the stillness left by Polydora’s rampant shouting, only one person was audacious enough to break the silence.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Iris said. “I wonder who shoved a dildo up that woman’s ass?”

  No one answered her.

  I can’t believe that I actually thought Kevin was a decent person.

  Polydora stomped across the gravel road, traveling without a destination. She wanted to leave this place, but she didn’t know how to escape. All she could do was traverse the perimeter of the barrier which, from the inside, appeared as a giant dome of shimmering lights.

  It’s clear to me now. He never cared about My Lady Phoebe. That must be why he won’t let her bear his child.