In search for the Fox

Makio woke up with a heavy head. He felt as if he had drunk a bunch of alcohol yesterday, which, of course, never happened. He stood up from the bed, looking at himself, still fully dressed, rolling his eyes in annoyance. His phone was dead, on the floor, Makio picked it up to plug into the charger. He then switched out his clothes, went to the bathroom, and then went to the kitchen. As usual, he quickly prepared breakfast for himself and Yoshio. They both liked eating miso soup and today he added several types of mushrooms to it, feeling like this would be a nice addition for a change.

As they both ate, they did not talk much, and Yoshio soon left for the library. This meant Makio was left to clean up and start his search for the fox. However, he suddenly remembered he had a lot of housework to do. Thus, he cleaned all the floors, went to clean the garden, and fed the fish. He then put some rice to cook and fried some pork.

After he had finished all the tasks, it was after midday. He sighed and went to his room to finally take his phone. It was fully charged, ready for the search. He breathed out and typed "Kōga" into one of the social media apps, expecting nothing from that. To his surprise, there were many pages on the list, with names including various numbers or symbols. He clicked on the first one, only to be disappointed, as it was a random page with fox pictures. He then clicked on all of them, one by one. All were just random people, nothing special. The last page in the search had some random symbols around the word Kōga, so he assumed it would also be the wrong one. However, after opening his page his eyebrows went up. It was his page no doubt. Firstly, there were several thousand subscribers, secondly, he had a bunch of photos of himself, wearing different fashionable clothes. In the bio part, it said "Your foxy stylist and role model". Makio cringed a bit, however, he still thought that his page looked very cool, with all of the fits and aesthetic-looking random photos. He clicked through several posts, only to see that the last one was a week ago. So clearly, Kōga was not a frequent user, or maybe Makio just had to look into stories. But if he opened that, Kōga would see that he had seen it, making Makio look even more creepy. He sighed, putting his phone down, and contemplating what would be the best way to approach this. There was a new story for sure, he could see that. He was afraid to click on it, in case it was a nonsensical one, leading up to nothing. Maybe he should just write to him?

He stood up and walked back and forth. Thinking that no, he can not just message him like that. Then, he decided to put on some clothes, and go to the city center, to calm himself a bit. He was afraid he did/said something stupid yesterday, that made Kōga run away. Thus, he needed to be more careful with what he said to him this time. It would have been nice to have a friend...

The only person who had appeared in his head was that guy from yesterday, but it was the middle of the day, so he wouldn't be able to find him, even if he remembered where they'd met yesterday. This thought seemed rather sad, indicating how truly lonely he was.

The other person was Nami, but he kind of blew it a bit yesterday with her, maybe. But he was honest, and she knew it was not possible, and after all, Kōga was her brother... So maybe it was not the worst idea to talk to her? It was decided then. There are no other friends to consult with, Yoshio being off the table to begin with.

He glanced at himself in the mirror, putting on the beige oversized cardigan. He looked good, his navy trousers, a white t-shirt, and a cardigan all matched well. His hair was down today, he did not feel like putting it up, he brushed it with care, putting it behind him. He then put his phone into his pocket and put his shoes on. In a moment appeared in front of the ramen shop.

He walked in, it was lunchtime, so the place was packed with people eating, and staff running around. Nami was one of the waitresses too. The moment she noticed Makio she blushed a bit, and turned to her colleague, telling her something. She then ran up to him, took his hand, and pulled him out. He did not have time to react even, following her obediently. As they went a bit further from the restaurant she finally let go, turning to him, face full of anger.

"Are you insane?" She was almost yelling at him.

"What?" Makio felt wronged, he truly did not know what he had done wrong.

"What the hell did you tell Kōga yesterday, you, dumbhead?" She started at him, looking menacing.

"N-nothing, I just said we knew each other.." He felt lost.

"Really?" She folded her hands, glaring with suspicion, "Well, he texted me in terror, asking if you were some kind of assassin sent by my dad to torment him. Are you insane, I am asking you?! How could you do this to him after all he has been through?"

"Wait, wait, I have no idea what you are talking about! I said nothing like that!!" Makio was pleading, not sure why this misunderstanding had happened.

"I know, you are just an idiot." She sighed, taking a step back. "I haven't told you this, but it seems you are the type of a person who needs to be told everything. Kōga was thrown away, and dishonoured by our father, " she was making a theatric pause in between each word, as if talking to a child, "because he was gay." She breathed out.

Makio looked so surprised, he had no idea how to react to that. Because, well, he knew, as it was very obvious from the way Kōga flirted with him, that he was queer. So this information did not surprise him, however, the delivery did. Seeing his face, Nami misinterpreted it as if he did not expect that.

"Yes, I was not supposed to tell you, because it is not my secret to tell. Anyway, he had a boyfriend, whom he loved, and he wanted to introduce him to our homophobic father. And what's worse, he almost died with that guy. Father could not live with that at that time, you know, because..." She expressively gestured something unclear with her hands. "And since then Kōga had to avoid coming back, afraid of getting beaten up again. And then you come, telling him some stupid things, that make him afraid that he was about to be beaten up again, for some stupid reason."

"I-I had no idea..." Makio said, perplexed.

"Of course you did not, but it does not matter, because I had to spend my Sunday evening talking to him, convincing him that you are just one stupid idiot. I told him you were looking for him because of a girl, and I think he breathed out with relief. But I am not helping you find him, this time. I am so done with both of you, creating drama on the spot. I have to go back to work, so good luck." She gestured away with her hand, clothing her eyes, saying calmly, "He is not afraid to talk to you anymore, so if you came here to ask that, now you know. I am leaving." She did not wait for his reply, running away to the restaurant.

Makio stood there, a stupid smile on his face. He did not know why he was so happy now, but he really was not expecting this to be reason for misunderstanding. Maybe he did say something though, he thought. He took out his phone and typed a message to Kōga.