Please to Kitsune-sama!

That day, the clerk at Aniki Mart was zoning out.

It was a convenience store chain known for the catchphrase “Reliable like your big bro (Aniki)!” and the catchy jingle “Everyone’s big bro, Aniki Mart.” The clerk was just your average part-timer.

Even though the world had changed, convenience stores remained pretty much the same. They didn’t really carry anything specialized for Awakeners either—just a “normal” place overall. Well, the number of customers wearing armor had definitely increased, but part-timers these days had gotten used to that kind of thing and didn’t bat an eye.

Didn’t bat an eye—except for today. Because today, something unusual walked in.

“Wait, fox ears... and a tail? Whoa, she’s gorgeous... She’s totally an Awakener…”

A stunningly beautiful girl with fox ears and a tail, dressed in a shrine maiden outfit—her whole look was cohesive in a way you don’t often see. The kind of beauty that made everyone else in the store pause what they were doing to look.

“Wow, she’s gorgeous...”

“She’s so cute...”

“She totally seems like the kind to say noja or something...”

One of those was clearly off, but never mind that. As the fox maiden wandered the store, she murmured “Umu...” with a thoughtful expression.

What was she looking for? The clerk would’ve loved to help but couldn’t just leave the register.

He wasn’t the only one itching to say something either.

Everyone else in the store seemed to be holding back for fear of getting rejected—or worse, reported. With someone that pretty, it was hard to approach.

Anyway, the girl in question was, of course, Inari.

Thanks to the proceeds from the dungeon loot, she’d come to do a little shopping.

That’s right—Inari could now shop like a modern person. She entered with that confidence, but...

“This place... has everything, does it not? It feels as though naught exists which cannot be found here—truly, 'tis akin to a general store most wondrous.”

“Noja confirmed!!”

“Wha—what was that!?”

Inari looked up from the shelves and saw everyone suddenly avert their gaze.

Someone must have yelled that weird line, but she couldn’t tell who. After glancing around and seeing everyone pointedly avoid eye contact, she gave up on identifying the culprit and returned to browsing the shelves.

Detergent, trash bags, soap, toothbrushes, and so on. Even the bread was neatly packaged, and they had side dishes too.

“Oh! Even rice balls, I see... Just how many kinds might there be, I wonder...”

Salmon, bonito flakes, pickled plum, kelp, tuna mayo, meat—like a department store for rice balls.

Inari’s eyes sparkled at the sight, but sadly, she wasn’t here for that today.

“Mmm... ‘ikura,’ was it? Salmon’s eggs, if memory serves... Could it be tasty, I wonder...?”

Her gaze lingered, but she pulled herself away with great effort. Her goal today was something else.

She turned to the hot food corner near the register—a staple of convenience stores, but for Inari, it was a mysterious zone.

Getting closer, she saw warm, steamy items inside.

“Meat buns, sweet red bean buns, pizza buns... ‘Ichii Tetsurou’s Gourmet Karaage’...?”

There was a promotional sign featuring a smug-looking guy with the price listed as “200 yen per skewer.” A collaboration product with a famous Awakener named Ichii Tetsurou—sales were strong.

Inari, however, knew nothing of him. Or of what a collaboration product even was.

So naturally, her interpretation was...

“What manner of sin must this man have committed to be punished thus? To meet thy end as fried chicken—how pitiable...”

“Pffft!”

The clerk couldn’t hold back a laugh. No matter what someone’s done, their fate doesn’t usually end with them becoming fried chicken—but once Inari said it with a straight face, you couldn’t unsee it.

“Aha, um, that’s just a collab item! It’s made with regular chicken, I promise—bwahaha!”

“Oh! I see, I see! So he is a karaage artisan, then! What a relief it is, truly!”

The clerk had to turn away to laugh. Others in the store began chuckling too. Once the laughter died down, the clerk composed himself and returned to business.

“Er, actually, he just supervised the flavor. He’s an Awakener.”

“To use one’s Awakener powers for cuisine, eh...?”

“No no, he still raids dungeons and stuff normally.”

“Then why chicken...?”

“Sorry, I’m just a part-timer. No clue...”

Probably said he liked karaage in an interview or something, the clerk guessed. But he wasn’t confident enough to say so.

“By the way, miss—were you looking for something in particular?”

“Oh, indeed! There is something I seek!”

“Yes?”

“Where might one find a sumaato-hon, pray tell?”

At that question, the clerk gave the most professional customer-service smile he could muster.

“Ah... unfortunately, we don’t sell smartphones here...”

Inari looked so genuinely disappointed that the clerk felt a bit guilty. But alas—if they didn’t stock it, they didn’t stock it.

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Trivia: The noja speech pattern in Japanese signifies an old-fashioned/archaic way of speaking.