29. Reconciliation

29. Reconciliation

“Hehehe!”

Now that I’ve sent the letter, all I have to do is wait. Sister will need time to admire my calligraphy, so it will probably take quite a while.

“Fox, high five!”

“Kkang!”

In my excitement, I raised my right hand high into the sky and high-fived the fox. Although it was a high-five, our hands didn’t meet; it was a hand and a paw. I hugged the fox, which jumped to respond, in an instant. It was fluffy.

“… Hmm.”

But then, as I held the fox in my arms, my eyes fell on the messy room beyond. From the desk to the walls and even the ceiling, sticky… fox footprints were everywhere!

Combined with the snow that had blown in when I opened the window earlier, the room was a complete disaster.

“Fox! What should we do?!”

“Kkang?”

Thinking that Sister would clean it up was too shameless. Of course, she’ll help, but I’ll definitely get spanked on my backside for causing trouble.

I’m not a child anymore-although my body is that of a child-so I don’t want to go through such an embarrassing experience. Besides, a wolf getting spanked isn’t cool at all.

To prevent such a disaster, setting aside the snow, I first need to clean these ink stains. But how?

“Ah, it got on my head too!!”

As I clutched my head, wondering how to clean this, ink got on my hair, staining it black. It was the ink I had applied to my hands earlier to make handprints on the letter. When I rubbed my hair to remove the ink, it only smeared, making my hair even messier.

My snow-white hair is one of my most cherished features, my pride. To have it like this… this must be a terrible nightmare.

“Fox!!”

“Kkang?”

Even in this situation, the fox was happily running around the room with its ink-stained paws. Because of that, the fox’s footprints kept increasing, and I felt like my room was going to turn completely black. I quickly picked up the fox.

“You shouldn’t do that!! Shoo!”

“Kkang….”

The fox pouted, but some things are just not allowed. As a mature reincarnator and a cool wolf, I should have prevented this foolish fox from causing trouble, but it was a huge mistake.

“What should I do… Will this come off with a towel?”

There are no towels in my room. If I have to get one, I’ll have to show Mom, Dad, or Sister this messy state, and a good future isn’t expected.

So, what should I do….

“Fox, do you think this will come off if I rub it with clothes…?”

I’m contemplating whether to rub my clothes with it. Towels are fabric, and my clothes are also fabric, so theoretically, rubbing with my clothes should have the same effect.

Hmm.

However, there was a strange atmosphere that made me feel like it would be truly irreversible, so I quickly gave up on that idea.

“Ah!!”

Instead, when I tried rubbing with my hand, the ink smudged.

“Kkang….”

Both the fox and I became dejected, letting out weak cries. While it’s understandable for the fox, these were not cries befitting a great wolf.

This won’t do. According to what I’ve learned from my past and present lives, if you challenge something with confidence, it usually works out. I stood up abruptly, puffed out my tail, and howled towards the sky.

“Fox~!!”

“Kkang?”

“This is a howl that inspires wolves, Fox. You can’t imitate it!”

“Kkang!”

“Hehe, you can’t do it even if you’re jealous!”

First, I need to find a way to remove the ink soon. I howled, so I should hurry-

At that moment, I heard a click behind me.

It sounded like a door opening, but it’s probably just my imagination. Let’s quickly think about how to remove the ink.

“Seol-ah, this….”

Hearing Sister’s voice is probably just my imagination too. I stared at the ink without turning around, wishing it would disappear quickly. After removing the ink, I still need to clean up the snow and wash the blankets, so time is tight.

“….”

“Hmm!”

Okay, I’ve thought of a good way to remove the ink. Like colored pencils, ink seems to come off easily when moistened with water. Since I’ve made a plan, there’s no reason to hesitate, so I turned around immediately.

“Seol-ah.”

“Huk.”

As soon as I did, something reached into my waist and lifted me high into the air. A familiar sensation. It’s Sister’s touch.

“Oh, Sister…!”

I dangled in the air, flustered. Sister, who lifted me, stared at me silently, which was chilling. Frightened by her gaze, I curled my tail under my legs and made excuses.

“It’s like this, um, I tried to wipe it off, but it wouldn’t come off, um, I only got it on my hands, but that foolish fox ran around…”

“Seol-ah.”

“Hiccup!”

Hoping she would go easy on me, I squeezed my eyes shut. Then, I felt a very stinging sensation on my backside… but it didn’t come.

Instead, something gently stroked my head.

“… Sister?”

“Sister is sorry, Seol-ah.”

Sister hugged me tightly. I might get ink on Sister’s clothes, but Sister didn’t seem to care. I was buried in Sister’s chest, my body covered in ink.

“Sister… aren’t you going to spank me?”

“S-Seol-ah. If you say that, it sounds like Sister spanks Seol-ah every day.”

Huk. I quickly shook my head. Sister was far from being a violent person. She was always kind and gentle, and she cared about me. Then Sister opened her mouth.

“I read the letter Seol-ah wrote.”

“How was it? Did I write it well!”

I asked, my eyes sparkling. I thought it was a very well-written letter, so I wondered what Sister’s thoughts would be. Sister replied to me, who had her hands on her hips and was snorting.

“Uh, yes. You wrote it well. Our Seol-ah, shall we play writing together later? We can study spelling and….”

“Yes!”

It seems Sister wants to see my beautiful handwriting again. If that’s the case, I can’t refuse, because I’m really good at writing!

Sister stroked my head for a moment and then said.

“I’m truly sorry for lying to Seol-ah. Seol-ah… will you forgive Sister?”

If she says that, my answer is already decided. I smiled brightly and replied.

“Yes!”

——

Although a dramatic reunion between sisters occurred, the problem still remained. The room was still a mess. Of course, my body too.

Even so, I only dirtied my body. The room was messed up with ink by the foolish fox. The snow that melted and messed up the room was also caused by the fox opening the window, so it was all the fox’s doing.

I worried if Sister might mistake these for my doing, so I said defensively to Sister.

“Th-this isn’t what I did. It was the fox…”

“Hehe, Sister knows. Seol-ah’s footprints wouldn’t look like this.”

Fox footprints really look like fox footprints. It’s a shape where a small circle is dotted on top of a large circle. My footprints are ordinary human footprints, so the two are clearly distinguishable.

Fortunately, Sister seemed to understand that. I smiled sheepishly.

The fox had disappeared at some point. Seeing the fox footprints heading outside, it seemed to have slipped out without us noticing. It truly is an elusive fox.

“But how do I clean this? It won’t come off.”

“Don’t worry, Sister will clean it for you. More importantly, Seol-ah, did you happen to see the books in Sister’s room?”

“Books? No!”

When I was looking for paper, I saw books scattered on Sister’s desk, but I didn’t get a good look because it was an urgent situation. Besides, I can’t read books properly except for picture books. I asked Sister curiously.

“What are they about?”

“Nothing much. We can tidy up the room later, so let’s wash up first.”

Sister carried me and headed for the bathroom. Even though the fight with Sister was very brief, it felt like we had been separated for a very long time. That’s why these everyday actions felt so incredibly moving to me now.

On the way to the bathroom, savoring that happiness, Sister quietly opened her mouth.

“Seol-ah, weren’t you cold? The stove wasn’t even on, was it?”

“It was so cold!”

How lonely and scary it was. There wasn’t even a common candle lit, so I shivered in the dark for a long time.

If it weren’t for the fox, it would have been really cold… No, it got so cold that I couldn’t bear it because of the fox, so the fox is the most at fault!

“It’s all because of that foolish fox. If that fox were a wolf, it would have lit the stove itself!”

“Haha….”

What the fox has done for me so far is only detecting danger and curing my cold. I don’t know exactly what else it can do, but honestly, it seems quite useless.

I took out the transparent stone and turned it around.

“Hehe….”

“Seol-ah?”

“It’s nothing!”

If I place the stone on Sister’s head, it turns gray. But when it returns to my hand, it becomes transparent again. That change was somehow amusing, so I lost track of time, repeatedly placing and lifting the stone on Sister.

“Let’s wash.”

“Kkang!”

My playing stopped only when Sister poured water on my head.

As I shivered and shook off the water, Sister covered my drooping tail with a towel and said.

“We’re going hunting tomorrow.”

“Really?! Then I-“

“But tomorrow is the day we go to catch something really big and really dangerous… Sister wants Seol-ah to stay home so she doesn’t get hurt. Is that okay?”

“Ugh… How big is it? As big as a rabbit?”

I can probably handle anything of that magnitude. However, Sister’s answer was beyond imagination.

“It’s a hundred times bigger than a rabbit.”

“Huk…!”

A rabbit is about my size. But a hundred times that!

I raised my hands high into the sky to gauge the size, but my short arms could only measure about twice my own size. It was truly an unimaginable size.

Courage and recklessness are different. A cool wolf knows how to distinguish between what’s possible and what’s not. I nodded, tears welling up.

“Okay….”

“Yes. Thank you, Seol-ah.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sister hugged me tightly again.

And a day passed.