Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 43 – Something You Like

Ava didn’t even wait for me to catch up and immediately made her way into the store.

“Hello!” She shouted.

I quickly followed her in, where the old man from yesterday was sitting behind an easel, calmly painting despite the noise.

“Well, hello to you too. Were the books I lent-” He peeked out from behind the easel and immediately turned his attention to me, making him pause for a moment, “Now, I didn’t expect you to be back so soon. Was the bribe I gave you that effective? Maybe I should start doing it more often.”

“Huh?!” Ava immediately turned around and looked at me as if she wanted an explanation.

Fortunately for me, the old man continued talking, taking Ava’s attention away.

“I didn’t realise the two of you knew each other,” he said, setting down his paintbrush and coming over to us, “Now, I might be mistaken, but I don’t think you two came here just to talk to an old man. So, what do you need?”

The old man looked at me, but I wasn’t able to say anything.

Thankfully, Ava spoke up for me, “My… friend has put together a gift for someone but didn’t think about how she was going to actually present it… So we’re looking for a small box? Maybe just something to wrap it in? I don’t actually know what the gift is, but it needs to look good. I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

The old man looked at me and smiled, “Lucky for you, I already have an idea of what that gift might be, so I think a nice small box would be the best. But what do you think?”

I immediately nodded in response.

“Alright then, I’ll go pick some options out for you. Feel free to have a look around the store while you wait,” He promptly got up and headed towards the back of the store, where he disappeared behind a curtain.

As soon as the old man was out of sight, Ava turned towards me, “You should’ve told me you already knew about this place,” She said, crouching down to match my height.

When was I supposed to tell you?!

You never even asked!

“I really thought I had something special with this place.” It was hard to put the expression on her face into words; at least, I couldn’t.

She was still smiling like usual, but something about it felt different. She didn’t seem sad, but rather something in between? Disappointment maybe? It was like the wind had been taken out of her sails, but she just kept on smiling anyway.

…

I don’t like this.

But… what am I supposed to do?

…

What makes her happy?

…

My eyes drifted down towards the wooden floorboards as I stood there racking my brain, trying to come up with an idea, any idea… but it was harder than I expected.

…

I… don’t know… much about her…

The realisation came as a bit of a surprise to me; even though I had spent the last few weeks living with her, I didn’t really know who she was. What she liked, what she disliked, even just what she usually did during the day. I knew almost nothing. The only thing I knew was that she wanted to brush my tail…

…

But I’m not supposed to take my tail out of my cloak…

…

…

Desperately trying to think of something, I looked up at Ava, and almost immediately, an idea came to mind, though I was a little hesitant to put it into practice.

…

…

I… don’t want her to stay like that…

…

“… A-Ava… g-good…” I got onto my tiptoes and, with my arm, reached up towards the top of her head.

However, as soon as my hand made contact, she jumped back, her face turning a little red.

Was that wrong?!

I-I shouldn’t have done that!

I instinctively took a step back while pulling down on the hood of my cloak so that I couldn’t see Ava anymore.

“No, no, no, don’t try to disappear now!” She grabbed my wrist just before I could bring it back into my cloak, “I-I was just a little surprised. I didn’t expect you to suddenly try and pat my head like that.”

She lifted my hood back up just enough so I could see her face without revealing my ears. She was still smiling, but now that smile felt a little more genuine.

Maybe… I did the right thing…

…

“The two of you get along so well I wouldn’t question it if you told me you were sisters,” The old man came out carrying a tray with a number of small boxes on it, “Oh… that does remind me, I forgot to apologise to you last time, I only called her your mom because it felt appropriate. She did correct me after, but I never apologised to you.”

My eyes were instinctively drawn towards Ava, but I could no longer see her expression as she had turned to face the man.

“Hmm…” He set the tray down while chuckling to himself a little, “This is most of what I have, although I do have a few different colours still in the back, so if you don’t find what you’re looking for, I can go find them for you.”

I walked up to where the tray had been placed and looked over what the man had brought.

Each box was completely different from the one sitting next to it. One was made from a dark wood, which had been carved to make it look like there were thin vines wrapped around it, while another had intricate golden inlays that almost made it look as if the gold was a liquid flowing through it. Each box could have been called a masterpiece in its own right, but none of them seemed right for me to give to Ovia.

It wasn’t that I didn’t think she deserved them, just that…

It wouldn’t make sense coming from me.

Looking over the try again, going box by box once again, I noticed one that I had missed the first time. Right at the back of the tray was a simple box that was just a little plush. It was covered with a black velvet fabric that immediately reminded me of Ovia’s fur. I reached out towards it but almost immediately stopped myself.

What am I doing?

I can’t pay for this.

But… I… need it.

…

“So that’s the one you like… I see,” The old man said, picking up the box I was looking at, “Well, what should I do now… I can’t just give it to you for free… and I already gave you a bribe last time…”

“I can pay for her!” Ava spoke up, sorting through some coins she had taken out from the inside of her cloak.

But-

“Put those coins away. I already have something else in mind,” He said as he walked over to the wall and selected two small blank canvases, “Instead of taking your money, I want the two of you to paint for me.”

“What? But I can just pay you. I have the money,” Ava was visibly confused, still holding the coins out in front of her.

“You might have the money, but this box is for a gift. I think it would mean a lot more if the person who was giving the gift was the one paying for it,” He turned and looked at me, “Don’t you think?”

…

That makes… sense… a lot of sense…

…

I nodded, and the old man smiled as he handed me one of the canvases.

“Now, what should you paint… how about… something you like?… That sounds good. I want you to paint something that you like; it can be absolutely anything as long as you like it. Then, once it’s done, I’ll put it up for sale in my store, and that can pay for the box, does that make sense?”

So it needs to sell first?

…

I still have five more nights until I can see her.

It should sell before then…

…

I don’t have a better option.

Once again, I nodded.

“Now, one for you,” He said, holding the other canvas out towards Ava.

“But, I thought this was so that she could pay for the box herself?” Ava replied, still confused, “Why would I also need to paint something?”

“Yes, that’s so she can pay for the box, but… I saw that you have picked something out yourself, and you’re going to be here waiting for your friend to finish anyway, so why not.”

“…” Ava didn’t respond and instead blushed slightly.

“Now, go ahead and paint me something you like.”

Again, Ava didn’t say anything, but this time, she took the canvas and quickly made her way over to an easel. I followed her and sat down in front of the easel set up right next to the one she had chosen.

I picked up a pencil, planning to put together a rough sketch to start, but as soon as I did, I ran into an issue. I didn’t know what to draw.

What… do I like?

…

It was seemingly a simple question, but there just wasn’t a simple answer to match it.

I like…

Ovia… she’s nice…

…

But I can’t paint her, not to give away.

It… wouldn’t be good enough for a Goddess…

I can’t do anything to hurt her reputation.

…

But… is there anything else?

…

I like…

…

The name she gave me… but I can’t paint that…

…

Then what else…

…

I like… Umbra?

She also gave me Umbra… and I could paint Umbra…

…

I knew that I wasn’t going to come up with a better idea, so I put the pencil against the canvas and started to sketch. It was a simple sketch of Umbra sleeping peacefully on top of the pillow I had been sharing with them. It didn’t take long for me to finish the sketch and switch to using paint.

While I had already tried painting a little bit when decorating the hair clip, I found that it didn’t feel as natural as when I was simply drawing, and unfortunately, this time was no different. My painting definitely didn’t look bad, but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t make it look exactly how I wanted, whether that be from struggling to mix the paints to make the right colour or just accidentally smudging the painting with my wrist.

Looking to my side, Ava seemed to be struggling a lot more than I was, as her usual smile was nowhere to be seen and had instead been replaced with an intense focus. We both continued working on our paintings for a while, and in the end, I had something that didn’t look bad but was still far from perfect.

At least you can’t see any of the smudged parts…

I looked over to see what Ava had painted. On her canvas was a simple forest with a few colourful blobs haphazardly scattered through it, which I could only assume were supposed to be various animals, though I couldn’t tell what any of them were supposed to be.

“Are the two of you already finished?” The old man called out from behind his own easel, having gone back to continue the painting he was working on when we first entered the store, “Let’s see what you two have come up with.”

He got up and walked around so that he could stand behind us.

“Well, that’s a little unusual,” He said, leaning in a little closer towards my painting, “It’s not every day you see a fox, even if it’s just a painting.”

Huh?

I was slightly tempted to ask the man to explain what he meant, but he quickly turned his head and had a look at Ava’s painting.

“Oh my, and over here, we have a lively forest. Just looking at it quickly, I can see a squirrel, a bear and many more,” He said, picking up the two canvases, “I think you two have done a very good job, now then.”

He took both paintings behind the main desk and came back out with the box and something wrapped in paper.

What?

I thought he needed to sell the paintings first?

“You seem a little confused,” He said as if reading my mind, “Well, I just put your two paintings into my store, and they sold immediately. This might surprise you, but even my own work struggles to sell so quickly. I guess you two might have a special talent.”

Does he mean?…

Did he?…

Ava suddenly burst out laughing, “Can you thank the person who bought them for us?”

“Your thanks have been well received,” The old man joined in her laughter while handing the box to me and the other package to Ava, “Now, get on your way you two. I think you’ve spent enough time here.”

I quickly tucked the box under my arm so Umbra could store it in my shadow. Ava eventually stopped laughing and made her way out of the store, with me close behind.

“Thank you again!” She shouted back.

“…. T-thanks…” I mumbled, even though I knew the man wouldn’t be able to hear me.