~Monday, the fourteenth of October, 18:07~

Kaharu Kahari faced the old God, smiling as he realized his own power. The old man smiled wryly as he accepted Kaharu's acceptance. He wasn't a fully-fledged god yet though. The old man sighed as he said

"Even though I said all of that, you're not actually a god yet."

Kaharu got riled up instantly as he said

"Whatcha mean!? You said that I----"

The old man nodded as he continued

"I know, I know. You're on the list officially, but you're not going to get any powers or be able to control anything unless we do the "confirmation".

Basically, when you appoint a god candidate, there needs to be an agreement from everybody at the shrine. This usually isn't a problem, since most shrines only have one god. But… we're a little bit special.

So if you actually want to do anything, you'll have to go get approval from the other two. I can't convince them for you, but I can at least make them visible for you."

The old man brought up his hands and clapped them, and with the sound reaching my eardrums, I grasped my head.

It didn't hurt, but everything came in so quickly that I wasn't able to deal with it properly. With a new sensation rising as I looked around me, the old man pointed to the forest beside him with a reluctant finger and said

"It's probably best if you get this one over with first..."

Kaharu rubbed his thumb against his nose in a confident movement as he said

"Approval, huh. This'll be a cinch."

With a smile mixed with excitement and frustration, Kaharu proceeded to turn his back completely and run towards the main area of the shrine.

The old man sighed as he exclaimed

"What a pain in the ass."

…

I rushed out to the center of the main area, where most of the people present worked.

That included Tsukino Scott, who stopped herself in her action as she saw me hunched over. Seeing me frantically looking around, with closed eyes, Tsukino wondered what was going on and slowly pushed out

"Kaharu, what are you---?"

"Shut up"

Tsukino pouted her lips instantly as her face turned red, the mild embarrassment took place on her face as she thought to herself

- Who is this guy!? He constantly interrupts me and tells me to be quiet! I'm almost thinking of giving up on this guy!-

Despite Tsukino's confusion as to what I was doing, I perfectly knew what I was trying to do. I was closing my eyes, purely focusing on my feelings.

I'd gone far enough to diminish the absolute dominance that the forest where I usually cleaned established. Similar to a dog sniffing the air, I lifted my head as I continued sensing something.

I quickly opened my eyes and drew them to the forest next to the staircase. As the half-green leaves were imprinted into my brain, I remembered the first day and the event I had in that forest. I smiled as I confirmed to myself that I wasn't wrong, and that I'd been correct about the existence of a creature there.

As I neared the forest, the question as to what it could've been entered my head. But I soon realized that it must've derived from those statues in front. So either it was something unknown, or it was a fox.

More details than that were inconceivable to me, no matter how uncool they were, they were still gods.

They were supernatural beings. Their very existence illuminating a menacing shadow over the earth.

I entered that forest again, and that sneaking suspicion of something being there popped up again. A small-time detective trying to snoop around and find the cause behind small-scale happenings, that was how I felt as I sneaked around the bushes and leaves that were there.

*CRUNCH*

My foot making lethal contact with a leaf opened up opportunity for answers as a quiet squeak was heard. I drew my eyes towards the origin of the sound and found a surprise standing in front of me.

A small creature with an equally surprised expression.

A fox, with pointy ears, a small mouth and squinty eyes showed itself.

It held its distance, slowly retreating with its small paws.

I looked at it with eyes shimmering with the lights of a star, and said

"Look, a fox. It's… kind of cute."

That was the most I could admit regarding the creature's looks, I didn't want to raise its confidence too much. I, with both an arrogant and sincere smile, slowly approached it while saying

"I wonder what you want…"

The fox hastened its retreat as it slowly turned around, and shortly thereafter it started sprinting away. I lowered the intensity of my fire as I cracked my knuckles, saying

"I figured. Guess I gotta catch you first!"

The chase started as I set off to catch the fox, but in a platonic sense. I wasn't going to eat it, or anything of the sorts. I would force it to give me permission, either through some sort of task given to me or instant permission.

…

~Monday, the fourteenth of October, 18:37 ~

*PUH PUH PUH*

"The bastard's really fast…!"

I stood still as I tried to regain my breath, which was impossible. I'd just experienced the toughest exercise in recent memory, there was no way I'd catch the fox or even recover enough to keep trying.

I cursed everything as I slammed my thigh

-Is this the end…!?

If I lose to a small fox, how can I even hope to attain the next permission? The old man hinted at it being a lot harder… -

I laid myself down on the ground, to try and regain stamina. But also to potentially get a sneak attack on the small creature, I wasn't going to give up there. In fact, my heart was beating even harder as I was determined to pull through. I didn't let myself calm down.

But in an unexpected turn of events, the fox actually jumped over me and approached me. Having lost again, the blood my heart had started to pump out neared boiling level heats, I let a frown slip as I quickly covered it up.

The loss wasn't the fault of the fox, it was completely on me and my powerlessness, there was no reason for the fox to have to see that emblem of my loss.

The fox stood still for a second, as it seemed to evaluate me, its eyes seemingly staring into my soul. Its eyes turning serious for a moment.

But, it soon started sprinting towards me as I silently prepared for something. I wasn't sure if I should try and catch it or not, even though it was the perfect opportunity.

I didn't think that a victory like that would've made negotiations later on easier, the goal here wasn't to catch the fox, but to make the fox accept me as a "God" here.

- I lost -

That's what I thought, but I soon realized something very different as my closed eyes failed to perceive something.

I felt something very furry and fluffy brush up against my chest and right arm, it moved around for a second before settling down. I opened my eyes quickly as I thought it was strange, and I saw a fox calmly lying between my arm and torso, with its warmth radiating throughout my body.

Before I had any time to think or question it, the old man with horns slowly approached us, wearing a surprised expression.

He said

"I see you got Puri, the fox god's, acceptance."

I took a moment to double-take between the old man and the resting fox as I with surprise exclaimed

"What do you mean!? This easily!?"

The old man scratched his half-transparent cheek as he said

"Well, Puri's wish was to have someone to play with."

"That's it…?"

"Not really, From what I know, Puri also treasures spirit. So, respecting your opponent and such."

"…!"

I couldn't really believe it. The fact that a God wished for something so simple seemed perplexed to me, they had the status of a god.

Yet all the fox had wished for was something innocent and child-like, a playing partner to avoid loneliness.

I looked over to the horned old man as he continued

"It's time for you to take on the other God here."

I bit my lip as I said

"Kuh… This'll be difficult."

As I thought about it, I realized something regarding the boned old man's previous statement. The fact that he knew so much about the fox god confused me, I asked

"If you knew so much about this 'Puri', why didn't you tell me anything!?"

The old man looked like he was taken aback by the comment, and he answered

"Well, that's part of the challenge as well in a sense. Either way, even I have a hard time getting in contact with the other god. There's something special about her case, but that's for you to figure out. I might want you to take over, but you still have to work a little.

I swear, folks nowadays expect everything, don't they?"

I thought of standing up quickly, but with respect for the fox god, decided to slowly stand up to then shout

"Shut up! Don't act like you know anything, you three-boned geezer!"

The 'three-boned geezer' got a depressed look on his face as he said

"Yeah, that's right. That's all I am, isn't it? Aah----"

I just glanced at the boned old man as I thought

- I don't think the next god is the only one with problems here… -