Chapter 25 - Kon part 1

It happened so suddenly. A big hole appeared out of nowhere, and that monster appeared at our home.

Red immediately encloses all of my vision, that the wolf started killing our species.

“MY BOY!”

My Ma carried me by her mouth, and started running. When I look back, I saw some of the adults were holding it back, but stood no chance against it.

“RUN! DON’T LOOK BACK!”

“Ma! That's Pa’s voice…!”

“Close your eyes, my boy. You don’t need to see it.”

Pa is the strongest of the pack, he should be fine…!

But when curiosity got into me, I slightly opened my eyes… only to see the monster kept chasing after all.

“PA!!!”

“Hold it, my boy…! I’ll definitely protect you at all cost…!”

“YUU-KUN! COME HERE, QUICK!” I heard a weird language I have never heard of, but Ma suddenly moved to the source of the voice, followed by the other.

When we’re passing the tunnel with some others I saw some other bodies already lying on the gound…

That monster came here first and killed everyone around here, and then ambushed us in the deep? Why do we have to be killed like this!?

"HELP!"

"Save us!" "I don’t want to die!" "AGGHH!"

“Ugh… let’s hold that monster here!”

“Roger!”

And so, another two souls fled the bodies of my kin. Then another, and another… it savored their blood like they’re a nice meal…

It felt like a nightmare… It was a cruel sight to see… Everyone stopped to halt the monster as long as they could, so that we who’s in front of the pack could escape further.

They finally reached the barrier to the safe zone, and…

“Akh!”

*BZZT* something happened, rejecting us from coming in. Huh? What just happened?

“Please! Take my boy in!” “My girl too!” “I beg of you!”

We were being held to the front, to the two figures with two legs that were making horrified expressions.

The grayish monster finally reached the front pack, and mauled the kin on our left.

OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!

“NoOOo!” "PLEASE HELP US!” “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” "Run! Run!”

“I love you, my Boy…”

“Ma…?”

Everyone else scattered, but not my Ma. But the harsh truth, my Ma was targeted first.

The monster bare its claws upon us, but my Ma… she threw me to the side, before the monster mauled her.

“LIVE, MY BOY!!!”

“MAA! NOOO!!!”

*SCRATCH* My Ma was killed… and the monster left to chase the others.

I rushed to my Ma, snuggled on her chest. But… there is no answer.

Seeing the giant monster, mauling all of our kins that tried to escape…

It was targeting the adults, one by one like they are no threat.

After all of them were mauled…

We babies who can’t fight back, started to get thrown in the air, letting them fall to the mouth and… *CRUNCH*

All the babies scrambled away back, besides me.

The monster chased them while being playful, munching them one by one.

All I could do was… nothing.

I lost my Ma… I lost all my kins… is there any point in struggling anymore?

Then, I felt something was picking me up. Ma, you’re alive!?

“Ma…! Huh?”

The two legged figure from before… They grabbed my paw and pressed a weird floating thing that suddenly appeared in my sight.

When the thing disappeared, the monster noticed us and started rushing towards us.

“Yuu-kun, your back!” the other two legged figure shouted. What’s she shying though?

The one who carried me was frozen for a moment, until he said “Bingo!” and was able to move again.

But the momentum he built was not enough, the gray monster opened its mouth and dashed at us.

“I have my portion of knowledge about canine, big guy!”

A spark occurred between us and the monster’s nose.

“GROWWL!”

It tumbled, but its speed momentum didn’t stop and hit us.

“Ugh!”

With that impact, everything went black…

>X<

“Good morning, little one~”

From a little afar, I saw the two legged figure with long hair greeted me

“Kyaun?” I tilted my head.

I don’t understand what she said, but I know she’s being friendly.

I backed down a little back and fell, I struggled and finally was able to pop out my head again.

The long-haired two legged figure smiled and slowly reached out their back hand from below.

After I took a sniff, a nice and sweet fragrance struck my nose. It calms me down a little.

I licked that hand slowly.

“Fufu… what a cutie…” The long-haired two legged figure chuckled in a low voice, and I still don’t know what she’s saying.

After some time, I finally looked up and saw the face of the short-haired two legged figure. Ah… it is the one I saw before…

But suddenly, the figure looked a little bit gloomy.

“Sorry, little guy. There is not much time left.”

The figure took me out from my jacket, and put me down…

“Ma!” I was excited, and wagged my tail. My Ma’s here! Hoorrayyy!

Ma! We’re safe now, Ma!

Why won’t you wake up…?

“Ma…? Wake up, Ma! Please, wake up!” I tried to snuggle and woke Ma up.

Ma, why are you so cold…? Why won’t you move…?

Please… don’t leave me behind…

“MAAAAAAA!”.

The long-haired figure immediately hugged me, and the figure started crying too.

“Don’t worry… We’re here…”

“But…! My Ma is…! My Ma is…!”

“Yeah… you may cry…”

“NOOOO! NOOOOO!”

“Crying won’t give anything… but it will make you more relieved…”

I didn’t understand anything the long-haired figure said, but I feel like the figure was consoling me.

“Ma… Ma…”

Once again, everything went black…

>X<

It’s warm… even though Ma’s body was cold…

Hnn… ah, the two legged figures are looking at me.

“Good morning, little guy.” The short-haired two legged figure said something to me.

If only I can understand what they are saying...

When I tilted my head deep in thought, the figure mimicked my head tilting… is the figure trying to tell me that he’s not my enemy by doing so?

I mean, I don’t clearly remember, but I know he saved me back there.

I walked towards the figure, sniffed and licked the figure’s hand.

“Perhaps it remembers you saved him?” The long-haired two legged figure said… I think she’s curious about something?

“Or maybe because of my scent. This guy spent a lot under my jacket after all.” The Short-haired two legged figure sounds like he got some conviction.

“Thank you for saving me!” I tried to say that to them, but I think they won’t know my words since I can’t understand theirs, so…

I wag my tail so hard and put my front paw on the short-haired two legged figure. I want to tell them that I am thankful.

“Yuu-kun, isn’t this kid too cute?” The long-haired two legged figure said.

“Lucky’s cuter though.” The short-haired two legged figure said.

“... Yuu-kun, can you not ruin the mood like that?” The long-haired two legged figure sounded somewhat angry.

“What? Why are you angry?” I tried to ask even I if they don’t know what I said.

“I can’t help it, Lucky is the best pet I ever had! Call me biased, I don’t care! Though the cutest being is my little sister. She’s an angel!” The long-haired two legged figure said something so proudly.

The long-haired two legged figure looked like she’s getting tired of the short-haired two legged figure.

The long-haired two legged figure then picked me up and held me in their arms.

“Let’s forget the creepy baka over there, kay~? He loves acting alone after all~” The long-haired two legged figure talked to me.

“You sound so happy~” I love the tone the figure is using at me.

“... I can feel pain too, you know…” The short-haired two legged figure said.

The short-haired two legged figure cleared its throat, looked a little bit embarrassed, and then said

“Kaun… kaun kaun…”

“Kyaun…?” Is he trying to mimic me…? But I still can’t understand anything!

“Yuu-kun? What are you doing?” The long-haired two legged figure asked like she was getting kinda creeped out.

“Trying to learn language skills or something. I bet there is one that will let us communicate with the little guy.” The short-haired two legged figure replied.

For some reason, the short-haired two legged figure went so much with it...

“Alright, got it.” The short-haired two legged figure said. Wait, huh? Did he just say something?

“For real?” The long-haired two legged figure sounded a little bit surprised.

The short-haired two legged figure pulled something circular in front of my eyes so I could see… ah…

“This is… Ma’s scent…” I whimpered, looking at the fangs.

“Little guy, this is the only thing I can make a memento of your mom.”

“Okay…”

“Do you want to avenge her?” Wait, huh? I can understand what the short-haired two legged figure said now!

“Yuu-kun, what are you saying to a baby!?” The long-haired two legged figure shouted at him, and I still can’t understand what she said.

“I bet that wolf will eat more monsters to gain EXP. It’ll eventually become the strongest monster that we can’t handle. Before that, we have to defeat that wolf.”

“I know that! But…”

Yeah, I can understand the short-haired two legged figure now! I don’t know what EXP means, but I know we had to defeat the monster… he called it Wolf, right?

“Little guy, do you want to get stronger to defeat that wolf?”

“Of course I am!” Not even waiting, I answered the short-haired two legged figure question.

After all that wolf did to my Ma, and to my kin, that’s the sole reason I’ll live for!

“I guess that’s a yes.” The short-haired two legged figure said.

“Yuu-kun!?”

“I’ll definitely do it!”

“Uuu… fine! I’m scared, but that wolf also irritates me, so…” The long-haired two legged figure sounded kinda weird.

“It’s decided then.” The short-haired two legged figure said.

Seems like we have the same goal. I’ll follow these two!

…

“So, what will we call this kid?” The long-haired two legged figure said when we’re about to head out.

“Hmm? Ah, right…” The short-haired two legged figure stopped for a moment. “We can’t let him stay as Inari Fox A forever.”

“Let’s think of a name!” The long-haired two legged figure sounded so excited.

“What is it?” I whimpered curiously, but got no reply.

It seems like the short-haired two legged figure was only guessing my answers, it’s not like he can understand my words exactly.

“This little guy is a male, but which pattern will we go with? Strong and cool, or cute and fitting?”

“Cute and fitting!” Yumemi quickly responded.

“Yeah, couldn’t agree more.”

Strong and cool? Cute and fitting? What are those?

“Let’s see… How about Un-chan? From the idiom the breath of A-Un.”

“Yuu-kun, isn’t that just because Un is the Japanese word for Luck? And the kanji from the breath of A-Un is nowhere close to representing Luck. Besides, it has no meaning if there’s no A in the first place.”

“Alright, let’s go simple and use Kon. It’s cute and how we Japanese describe how foxes cry.”

Kon?

“... Yuu-kun, this kid cries Kyaun, remember?”

“I… forgot about that, but isn’t that fine anyway? We’re looking for a cute and fitting name, not matching how he really cries after all.”

“... Kon-chan… true, that sounds nice.”

“Alright, Kon it is.”

What is it? What are they talking about?

The short-haired two legged figure kneeled down in front of me, and pointed a finger at themself.

“I am Yu-U-Ma.”

“Ah, I’m Yu-Me-Mi!” The long-haired two legged figure also did the same gesture.

“Yuu…ma?”

Then both of them pointed at me.

“And you are Kon!” “And you are Kon-chan!”

“Kon…? I like that! I’m Kon!”

“Ah, I got [Foxlingual].” Ah, I can understand the long-haired two legged figure now!

I felt the short-haired two legged figure look a little bit sulky when the long-haired two legged figure said the thing.

The long-haired two legged figure reintroduced themself again. She’s called Yumemi.

Yuuma, Yumemi, Kon. I like all they sound!

“Alright, you two. Ready to go?”

“Yes!”

“Of course!” I said.