"Oh! Never did I think I would encounter this once more in such a place..."
It was a simple packet of furikake seasoning, sitting on a shelf in the Aniki Mart grocery section.
To anyone else, it was an everyday item—but to Inari, it was sothing she'd only seen before, never tasted.
Seaweed-egg mix flavor, cod roe flavor, sesa-salt mix… all the classic standards.
And perhaps because of that, they struck her heart like a lightning bolt. That longed-for flavor from back then… was now, finally, within reach.
"Back then, all I could do was gaze at furikake longingly… But now, I can buy it myself. What a joyous thing this is… Fufufu, now then, which one should I get?"
Inari’s feelings were simple: "I never had sothing like furikake rice offerings before, and once everyone was gone, that kind of thing vanished completely. Being able to shop like this openly is really nice."
But to the nearby custors browsing the magazine rack, or standing a bit farther off—or even to the store staff—her aning ca across completely differently.
“No way… she couldn’t even afford furikake until now? What kind of life has she lived…?”
“Wait, maybe she was so ultra-rich princess who didn’t eat this sort of thing… and now she’s fallen from grace…!?”
“I want her to eat so much furikake rice…”
Sohow, everyone around ended up with the impression that this girl had co from a place so harsh, so deprived, that even furikake was a luxury.
And, well—strictly speaking, that wasn’t entirely wrong. Which is what made it even stranger.
Feeling the gentle, sympathetic gazes falling on her, Inari blinked in confusion.
“Wh-What is it now…?”
But seeing as they weren’t malicious—rather, they were quite warm—she let it be.
"Hmm… I’ll definitely get the seaweed-egg mix… but what about this pickled plum one? The bonito flavor looks good too. Maybe I should just buy them all? But one bag is 200 yen… so if I get five kinds… um, how much is that? Is it too indulgent, I wonder…"
Inari, truth be told, was earning more money than she could ever spend—not just comfortably, but to the point where buying 100 bags of furikake would feel like buying air.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t escaped the mindset of a frugal commoner. She knew she was making money, sure—but she didn’t care about it enough to track it. As far as she was concerned, her bank balance was just "uhh… lots." That said, she could at least recognize that buying all the furikake wouldn’t hurt her.
Not that she realized she could afford to buy the entire store without blinking.
"Very well, I've decided. I shall purchase only the seaweed-egg mix…! To waver between options would be an insult to the furikake!"
And with that declaration, Inari paid with her Awakener card at the register and marched ho in high spirits.
Once ho, she washed her hands, rinsed the rice, and set it in the rice cooker, smiling brightly.
Once the rice was ready… at last, it would be ti for the furikake she had so long awaited.
Just what kind of happiness awaited her?
Imagining it, she swayed her tail from side to side as she held the packet in her hands—until her phone rang with a brrring, prompting an inquisitive "Hm?"
Carefully setting the furikake aside, she checked the caller. It was Akai.
"Hello, 'tis I."
“Miss Kogami, thank you for your ti. Is now a good mont to talk?”
"Aye, it is. There’s still so ti before the rice is done, after all."
“Thank you. This is regarding the recent temporary dungeon conquest…”
"Hm? Was there so problem, perchance?"
“It’s more like… the lack of problems is the problem. As expected, we’ve received nurous inquiries from various clans addressed to you.”
Indeed, the lightning-fast clearing of the Akihabara dungeon had been televised and picked up by nearly every major news outlet.
But the details weren’t officially released. While people knew that the dungeon had been cleared by the FoxPhone clan, they didn’t know who had done it.
Of course, Inari was their mascot—but nobody believed she’d cleared it alone.
Those with access to insider information—such as major clans or well-inford mid-tier groups—could reasonably guess the truth… but very few had accurate intel on the Awakener known as Kogami Inari.
Even so, once people caught wind of her involvent, it was only natural that they’d want to et her.
Thus, many clans had sent requests to FoxPhone to speak with Inari—but that wasn’t the real issue.
“We can handle the clan inquiries on our end… but there’s sothing else we’d like your judgnt on, Miss Kogami.”
"My judgnt? What matter requireth mine input?"
“Yes. Actually… we’ve had quite a few people ask if there are any Miss Kogami goods for sale. So FoxPhone is considering launching a large-scale production and rchandise campaign. We’ve already received many proposals and would like to arrange a eting—do you have ti to discuss it?”
Inari paused and rolled Akai’s words over in her mind.
Three seconds passed. She gave it thorough consideration.
"…Couldst thou explain it in simpler words?"
“We want to sell lots of cute Miss Kogami rchandise and make a whole bunch of money.”
"Hmm. Now that is honest of thee…"
Inari stared into the distance, quietly resigned.
“Well, I am the mascot… I suppose refusing is not an option, is it…”
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