Bonus Short Stories

The First Girls’ Night Out for the Fox, Spirit and Bat

It happened one day that Mirka issued an urgent, emergency summons to the girls.

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s get this girls’ night out started!”

Once they had gathered in Mirka’s room, both Athena and Fram tilted their heads in unison.

“Hey, hey, what do you do for a girls’ night out?”

“At four hundred-something, I would hardly even consider myself a girl anymore.”

“Why Fram, you hardly look a day out of primary school— Aah, wait, please don’t leave!”

Mirka had firmly wrapped herself around her, so Fram quite reluctantly returned to her original seat.

“Urgh...you see, at work, I hear about ‘girls’ night out’ being held on a regular basis, but for some reason, I’m the only one who never gets invited... I just want to know what it feels like, you know...”

“Before all this party talk, why not take a good look at yourself and ask why you’re never invited?” Fram suggested.

“You do tend to be a real pain from time to time, Mirka.”

“Could you please not gang up on me!? Alright, alright, let’s just get to it. Ready, set, go!!”

Mirka lightly clapped her hands, forcefully kicking the get-together into gear.

“Mnnn, for now, we should start by talking about something, right?” Athena prodded.

“Yes, yes. I figure the standard would be to talk about romance.”

“Hmm! Who’s Roman!?”

“I’m not really interested to begin with. What about you, Mirka? Did anything relevant happen to you?”

“No, no, no, of course not. Who do you think I am?”

............

........................

“Alright, let’s move on to the next topic!” Mirka advised in a sudden panic.

“You’ve clearly picked the wrong people here.”

“Hey, who’s Roman!?”

“Athena, deary, how about I tell you another time... For now, let’s talk about which restaurants have good food or something!”

“Oh, if you wanna talk about food, just leave it to me!”

“Certainly, that does seem more up Athena’s alley.”

With a slight laugh, Athena stuck out her chest triumphantly and delved into her extensive pool of knowledge. “To start off... Reptem’s place doesn’t give you nearly enough meat!”

“Mirka, move on to the next topic.”

“Why are you cutting me off just when I was getting into it?”

“From the start, I could tell it would devolve into an endless ramble about meat.”

“What’s wrong with meat!? Girls all love meat, right!?”

“Well, I’m sure not too many hate it, but...”

In order to sooth a sullen Athena, Mirka had no choice but to move on to the next topic. “Then has anyone gone anywhere fashionable?”

“Oh, I might be able to contribute to that one.”

“Really? Well I guess I can count on you, Fram! So what sort of place was it?”

“I would best describe it as a jewelry store. It sold accessories embedded with magic.”

“Great! Now that’s just the sort of talk I was hoping for!” Mirka’s wings began to flap with glee as Fram continued on.

“They put some work into making the storefront appealing, and the accessories were designed quite well. I’m sure that’s why it was very popular with the women who came for sightseeing.”

“I see, I see, maybe I should take a peek one of these—”

“The store’s already gone under.”

The moment after Fram said that, Mirka’s expression stiffened.

“Admittedly, some effort was put into the appearance of the store and the design of their products, but the magic I could sense from the gemstones was feeble at best. The metal used in the ring mounting and banding was all cheap material with a bit of gold veneer. I went in to ask the store-owner if they felt embarrassed, tricking tourists like that, and they kept playing it off, so we ended up dueling.”

“Oh...alright. So what happened after that?”

“When I won and made them admit they were selling fourth-rate fakes, the customers stopped coming and the store had to close its doors.”

“What happened to talking about fashionable places?” asked Mirka.

“It was a fashionable place that just so happened to sell knock-off goods.”

“That’s not... This definitely is not what I was looking for...” Mirka groaned as she slumped down, tapping her hands irksomely against the table.

“You know, I really think you’ve got the wrong people here.”

“Yes, I really have!”

And in the end, Mirka never got the girls’ night out she was longing for.

A Spirit’s Necessities

“—You’re no fair, Fram!” Athena suddenly blurted out as they were eating lunch at a shop arbitrarily chosen along the way. The abrupt words caused Fram to remove her mouth from the straw connecting her to her juice.

“What are you on about?”

“I mean, you’re always eating nothing but sweets and juice!”

“And you’re always eating meat. Be a good girl and eat your veggies.”

“I’m the sorta girl who’ll eat them at the end!”

“That’s what you always say, but you do tend to forget about them, from time to time.”

“I can eat them, I can!”

As she saw the girl’s cheeks puff out, Fram let out a very deep sigh. “As I’ve already told you, the body of us Spirit Tribe folk mainly consists of mana: magical energy. Our bodies generate mana from pure calories and sugar, so sweets and juice are our staple food.”

“Eeh...but sweets and juice won’t fill your belly.”

“It’s better that way. On a full stomach, simply digesting the food will deplete our stamina. Rather than eating a large amount of food at once, it’s best to periodically take in smaller snacks with high sugar content.”

“But, but...it’s still no fair!”

“Oh my, living off pure sweets isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, you know?” Fram picked up a fork and began prodding at the vegetables remaining on Athena’s otherwise-diminishing plate. “Sweets are all, generally, well, they’re sweet. There’s fruit, chocolate, vanilla, a few variations on sweetness to be sure, but in the end, that’s all there is, isn’t there?”

“Err...I guess so?”

“I do want to try other foods, but chewing will needlessly use up what little energy I have, and digestion will constantly drain it over a drearily long period of time. Despite how it looks, it is rather inconvenient.” She punctuated her explanation with a few loud sips from her drink, each causing Athena’s ears to glumly droop.

“...But, how should I put it, like this, it never really feels like we’re eating together.” Lonesomely hanging her head, Athena sullenly stuffed her cheeks full of steak.

Fram stared long and hard at her before turning to the waiter and lightly raising her hand. “I’ll have whatever she’s having. The smallest serving you have,” she listlessly declared.

“You can’t! If you eat meat, you’ll die!”

“No, I’m not going to die. The Spirit Tribe isn’t that weak.” Sighing at Athena’s genuine concern, Fram rested her chin on her hands and awaited her meal. “It’s not like I can’t eat a normal meal...just for one day.”

She turned her head away, and Athena’s expression immediately lit up. “Yay! I get to eat with Fram!” she shouted.

“Yeah, yeah. Good for you.”

Fram watched her frolic with a bitter smile before rummaging around in her bag.

“Athena, please clear some space on the table.”

“Hm? There’s enough space for food.”

“Not that, I need to set this down.” It wasn’t long before she had set up the contents of the bag.

“............What’s this?”

“A mana-operated food pulverizer. Some might call it a blender.”

“...What are you going to do with it?”

“I will break the food down into paste to make it easier to digest.”

In the time it took Athena to recover from her daze, Fram’s food arrived, and she immediately shoved it into the blender. With a hand pressed against her lower back, Fram curiously yet confidently took a sip from her cup of mash.

“Mnn, the taste of meat pairs perfectly with the sharp acidity of the sauce. Delicious.”

As Fram glugged the off-colored concoction down, Athena trembled and stood. “This... This isn’t eating together at all!”

She smacked at the table again and again, as if to say she simply couldn’t accept it.

Your Big Sis Wants You to Eat Meat

“Waaaaah! Meat really is the best!” Athena cried out in delight as she saw the heaping plate set out before her.

As he looked at her, Yuri couldn’t help but ask, “I always had that image, but do the people of the Beast Tribe tend to prefer meat?”

“Nah, not really. There are some kids that like veggies too. We get all sorts. There are people like me who can eat both and just prefer meat, but generally I’d say they tend to lean more strongly one way or the other.”

Athena had explained all this while stuffing her cheeks. Sure enough, while the meat ratio was abnormal, comparatively speaking, she did occasionally sneak in a bite from the vegetable side dish as well.

“I see... But you definitely do feel healthy after a nice serving of meat!” exclaimed Yuri.

“Right, right! The protein fills you with strength!”

“I totally understand! Animal protein is necessary for good mobility!”

In the midst of this back and forth, Yuri began fishing through his bag as if he had only just recalled something.

“Speaking of protein, I know a really efficient source!”

“Oh, what’s up? Your Big Sis will love anything you want to give her!” Her tail wagged and her eyes sparkled as she waited expectantly.

“—Here it is! This is some high quality protein!”

One look at the caterpillar wriggling in the bottle and Athena’s expression froze over. “Aaah, haha... I hope you find that delicious ingredient soon.”

“What are you talking about!? This is the larva of a raize moth!”

“Why are you getting worked up!?”

“The taste of a raize moth larva is mellow and creamy! Back when my master ordered me to go out and survive, I was eating them almost every day as a snack!!”

There was a wide, innocent smile on Yuri’s face as he produced the writhing larva from its case and tossed it into his mouth whole. The morbid crunching sounds that came as his teeth crushed the morsel between them caused Athena’s expression to sober up entirely.

“Yuri... Please, take all of Big Sis’s meat...”

“Eh? T-Thank you?”

It was at that moment that Athena was filled with the overwhelming desire to feed this boy a proper meal.