Please to Kitsune-sama!

Chapter 213 : Kitsune-sama Makes a Phone Call

Now then. The flow of household chores differed from family to family, but there were constants: meals, cleaning, laundry, shopping. Such tasks filled the days of university students living alone, working adults, housewives, househusbands, and so on.

Yet… in the Kogami household, laundry was remarkably scarce. Inari’s, especially, was little more than towels.

At that moment, Inari was watching a shopping channel with Atsuage. A washing machine was being advertised—it came with a deal: trade in your old one now, and the price would drop even further.

“……”

“Mm? What troubles thee?”

Eru had not thought about it at first—Inari had been in pajamas after her bath, but now she was back in her shrine maiden garb. So, where had the pajamas gone? Or conversely, where was that shrine maiden outfit while she had been in pajamas?

She glanced out at the laundry swaying on the balcony—none of it was Inari’s. Could it be she had sent it to the cleaners without Eru knowing? Puzzled, she asked directly.

“Um… Lady Kogami, your laundry—”

“Mm?”

“Your changes of clothes… how do you handle them?”

“Oh, oh! I had forgotten to explain.”

Inari stood and gave her shrine maiden robes a quick pon pat. In an instant, they changed into a suit like the one the shopping channel host was wearing. A high-quality, standard design—but on Inari, it gave her the air of a mischievous high school boy. Such was the power of a suit.

“And next… behold!”

With another pon, her outfit became a woman’s suit, much like the female co-host’s. She looked a bit like a girl at work experience. Then, with one more tap, she returned to her shrine maiden garb.

“’Tis like this. My clothes never soil, and I can change their form as I please.”

“…I feel as though I’ve just witnessed something outrageously absurd.”

“Thinkest thou so?”

In fact, it was indeed an outrageous item—and armor besides. Its value in the wider world would be immense, though Inari herself cared nothing for that. Since she would never part with it, its worth was ultimately meaningless.

Incidentally, while Inari had stepped away from the TV, Atsuage had quietly changed the channel from the shopping program to a news-variety show.

“Thus, my laundry is ever few. Our fine washing machine must be weeping.”

“Hmm…”

White goods like washing machines changed models often with the seasons, but the one in Inari’s home was clearly high-end. Then again, everything in her apartment (chosen by the Awakener Association) was high-end, so it hardly mattered anymore.

“Oh, that reminds me. About the Echigo Trading Company.”

“…! Yes.”

At Inari’s words, Eru straightened her posture. This was the very reason she had come, after all. Important matters indeed… Surely not that it was already resolved.

“For now, I thought I’d try giving them a call.”

Inari said she had already looked up the number. Eru nodded. Charging in directly risked being brushed off. A phone call first was wiser.

“Um… will that really be alright?”

“Alright, in what sense?”

“Well… Even though the plan is to push me forward as a candidate… I fear that even with your name, Lady Kogami, they might treat you… rudely.”

“That, I have accounted for. Even Takemoto must have known that a complete outsider like me would never pass the first gate.”

“Eh? What do you mean by—”

“Like this.”

Saying so, Inari dialed on her Awakener Phone. The one who answered was… Yasuno.

“Good morning, Miss Kogami.”

“Aye, good morning, Yasuno. How fare thee of late?”

“So-so, I suppose. Eh? Wait, you mean you actually worried about me? Ufufu.”

“Aye, aye. And well, I have a favor to ask.”

“Eh? That’s unusual. What is it?”

“It concerns the Echigo Trading Company. Might I ask thee to make the connection?”

“…Geh.”

There was a clatter and silence, then hold music. After a while, Yasuno finally returned.

“U-um. Could I come by tomorrow to hear the details?”

“Of course.”

“By the way, when you say ‘involved’…”

“There is a child for whom I have become a backer.”

“…Would that be the Takemoto Samurai Corps’s—”

“Aye. Quick of thee to follow.”

“Er… In that case, um… tomorrow at ten in the morning, I will come.”

Ending the call, Inari smiled.

“Didst thou understand?”

Eru, still frozen in shock, did not respond. Inari lightly squeezed her cheeks, jolting her into blurting:

“Eh… ehhh!? D-did you just drag the Awakener Association into this!?”

“Aye. Even if they heed me not, with the Association’s involvement we may at least step into the ring.”

“W-well… I suppose that’s true. But still—eh!? For the Association to even pretend to get involved in such a matter—”

“Kind, is it not? As expected of an organization to support awakeners.”

Inari said it with such a serene expression that Eru screamed inwardly.

“No, no, no… Impossible! But wait—if the Association already knew and was concerned about this problem…? No, but still… eeeeh!?”

“Th-then… All we can do is pray tomorrow goes well.”

“Aye, indeed.”

Perhaps Inari’s influence was far greater than she or Takemoto had imagined. Eru found herself wondering if they had brought in someone far more extraordinary than they realized.