Little Fox- Part 2

*Creak*

The wooden door opened, and I could see Haruhime coming out with a couple of workers on each side. Her long blonde hair was still wet; they must have given her proper 'preparation.'. She wore a loose-fitting Kimono.

"Congratulations, sweetie. You got a good one for your first time." encouraged an Amazoness with a friendly tone.

It was barely above a whisper, no doubt directed at Haruhime. But I managed to pick it out.

"It won't be a rough one, it seems." sagely responded the shorter woman on the right side, taking in my current appearance.

"Go get him, girl."

"R-right."

She drew closer and closer to me. I sat down on the opposite side of the small wooden table that rested in the middle of the room.

"Sit down." I gestured for her to take a seat at the opposite side of the table. She bowed obediently, and It almost seemed to be purely on instincts.

Yep. I suppose that was one of the reasons why she acted like that in the anime, other than her apparent lack of self-worth.

There was an awkward silence between the two of us. One might even say it was melancholic. The way she looked at me was kinda sad.

"It's my first time here. How do you usually do this?" I asked to break the silence.

She tensed up at my casual question. Sweat started to quickly accumulate on her forehead. She obviously didn't know how things were done…

Haruhime couldn't come up with an answer, eventually, she bowed her head. Her blond hair covered her expression, as such I couldn't see it. But I assume it wasn't pretty.

"The c-customer can do what he l-likes," she answered, voice cracking from nervousness.

"Is that so?" I muttered, gazing at her nervous figure.

I gestured to the bookshelves that were behind me and turned my head, only to draw an extended gaze towards it, indicating my interest.

Haruhime seemed to recover slightly when she saw that.

"Does the customer like reading stories?" she asked.

She was not wrong, I have done my fair bit of reading —even in this world. I was not a massive Danmachi Lore fanatic back before my 'death', so I had to make some adjustments.

It was again very hit or miss. Some stories referenced hero names that I was familiar with, but the contents would be either similar or entirely different, or a strange mix in between.

Despite my inner monologue, I replied mildly, "Call me Ken, and yes, I do like reading."

And almost immediately, I could see her fluffy tail steadily swing left and right at my positive answer, as her fox ears twitched. She couldn't hide the glitter behind her eyes.

'Fluff is justice.'

I put an arm under my chin and asked," What is your favourite story?"

Haruhime was about to answer immediately with a smile tugging her face, but she seemed to stop at its middle. She still answered, however, with much less enthusiasm.

"I really like the heroic tales of the Argonaut…." the smile on her face was no longer as vibrant as just a moment before.

—-

.

.

.

I sighed. I really underestimate her passion… After the initial melancholic air ran out, she kept rambling on and on about all kinds of heroes. I wouldn't necessarily say I didn't enjoy her company, however. It was a breath of fresh air.

"... A prostitute such as myself is unworthy of heroes." she paused. "The prostitute is always the villain the hero needs to vanquish to join the heroine." her voice turned more pained as she kept going.

"It sounds, to me, that you don't believe that,"

She stiffened at my 'accusation'.

At this point, I was confident I could have gone with something as corny as: 'If no one will be your here. Then… I will be your hero!' among other things.

My heart wouldn't be able to handle shouting such embarrassing lines. It was right next to shouting technique names. Strangely, or not, such cheesy lines were rather popular in Orario, romantic even. A virtue of it being a mediaeval-esque city.

It would have worked even more as Haruhime had a certain hero-con thing going on for her.

"Tell me. Do you like working as a prostitute?" I asked her.

She automatically shook her head as a response. Haruhime had already thrown the 'work code' out of the window... We were basically talking partners at this point.

Not that I think she knew of a working code, to begin with...

"Right. So what are you going to do about it?"

Her mouth closed and opened multiple times until it eventually rested in a closed position. She didn't know the answer. Well, she did. She just didn't want to answer.

"You're waiting, am I correct?" I crystallised her thoughts for the common man to understand. And it seems like I was correct going by the way she averted her eyes.

"Well, let me tell you something, sweetie…" I paused for effect as I drew close to her. My eyes locked into hers. "No one is coming for you."

"No one will come to save you. Hero or not." I shook my head.

The poor kid slowly shrank under my cold remarks, it was a dose of reality; she knew them. But it must have been completely different to be openly retold her thoughts.

Her Kimono sleeved hand went to her face, and I could hear some muffled sniffs from her.

Nonetheless, I pressed on.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Silence yet again.

"Why do you even need a hero, anyway?" I decided to guide her towards where I was heading with this.

There was no response besides the quiet sniffs.

"Tell me. Why do you need a hero?"

Haruhime peeked her head from the safety of the large piece of cloth, sensing my warmed up voice. Her eyes were puffy and red.

She barely was able to admit that, but she said. "To s-save me?"

I nodded at that.

"And what would you do if a hero doesn't come to save you?" I patiently asked.

"I w-would stay as a prostitute," she muttered, barely above a whisper.

'What? That was definitely not what I was going for…'

I sighed. I really have to go full-on corny with this to get my point across… "If a hero doesn't come for you… You should be your own hero. If no one saves you, then you should save yourself!" I hit the top of the table that separated us to hopefully combat my embarrassment.

The face she was making didn't help reduce my embarrassment... She had a look on like I just revealed the secrets of the Multiverse to her. I near damn blushed.

--

if you want to help me out or read advanced chaps, pt/MunirSM