4 New Home (4)

"Hm? What's wrong?" the man asked, noticing too late that Iris was once again on the move.

She dived head first into the refrigerator to see for herself if there was anything good. If she left it to the man, he might decide to put her on raw meat diet, and that wasn't an option. She quickly glanced around, taking note of all kinds of vegetables around her—a cabbage, two cucumbers, a branch of tomatoes. They looked edible, but she looked around for something better. The partitions were see through, so she could easily see everything around.

Below, there were a couple of drinks, a packet of milk, and two jars with stuff she didn't bother to recognize. More than likely it was going to be something she wouldn't eat now. Thus, she lifted her head up, hoping for better luck there. Instantly, her eyes landed on something tasty - a couple of cutlets in a plastic container.

Her mouth watering at the sight of it, Iris prepared to climb up somehow, but the man chose that moment to fish her out. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, holding her by the scruff before his eyes. "What kind of manners are these? You're a guest here."

He shook his head with a smile, then changed his grip to hold her tightly to his chest. It didn't hurt, but Iris was no longer able to move.

"Silly little thing," he murmured, bringing out the plastic container out.

Iris swished her tail about, yipping at him what she thought about his word choices, but the man didn't seem to be bothered. He carefully broke off a couple small pieces off one cutlet and put them in a plastic plate. He then placed it on the ground and put Iris beside it.

"See if you like it," he told her, swiftly moving to close the kitchen door.

He seemed to be expecting her to bolt the moment she was put down, but Iris had no such thoughts. Although freedom was nice, food was more important. She carefully tip toed to the plate and inspected the cutlet pieces.

They were a bit cold, but smelled nice. Yet when she opened her mouth, she noticed a huge problem - anything larger than crumb-sized was mountain-like before her. Her mouth didn't open wide enough to swallow those pieces!

Annoyed, she wanted to slice them apart, but her hands were paws now... The moment she tried to pull one piece apart, it rolled away, her miniature nails having left almost no mark. She then tried again, but to no greater success.

With a huff, she stopped and glared at the piece of cutlet. There was no way she was going to let it win. Wouldn't all the foxes die of laughter if she managed to starve herself because the piece of meat before her was too large and tough for her fledgling teeth? Resolutely, she took a couple steps back, then crouched down and pounced on the meat.

Bam!

She landed on the opposite corner of the plastic plate, turning it upside down over her own now sprawled form.

"..."

Since when can baby foxes jump so far?!

Iris lay still for a moment, suddenly wishing for a handbook on how to be a fox. Apparently, she could really use one.

Right then, laughter came. She looked up to see the handsome man chuckling at her misfortune, his eyes bright with mirth. He didn't even bother to hide it.

Iris pushed the plastic plate farther down her head, to hide her face from his sight. She wasn't sure if foxes could get red-faced, but she wasn't eager to find out.

'Just hide under the plate, that's bound to get you out of this situation. Certainly. No doubt about it,' she told herself in an enthusiastic voice dripping with fake cheer.

 _(:3 」∠)_