Chapter 13: Changes

Chapter 13: Changes

'I don't remember when was the last time I slept so much,' I thought once my consciousness, yet again, started to return.

Taught by the mistakes I'd made when I woke up the last time, I started by making sure I wasn't grabbing at anything potentially inappropriate. And only once I confirmed that I could feel the wind blowing on my entire body, did I allow myself to go with the routine check.

My body felt... Strange.

'No, that's the wrong way to put it. It feels... I feel better than ever before!'

Normally, after waking up, it would take a cup of a really strong coffee or an adrenaline kick from my aunt coming to intrude on me to chase away the drowsiness and exhaustion.

Yes, for me it was a norm to wake up exhausted, always struggling to get enough sleep between school, part-time jobs, and all sorts of duties my adopted family pushed on me.

But now, I felt a strange energy in my muscles, something I never experienced before. It felt as if my body... was raring to go?

Baffled by my findings, I slowly opened up my mind. And then all the thoughts of the curious change got swept by the lovely sight before my eyes.

Judging from my perspective, I was lying down on the lap of the fox-girl from before. The girl herself was staring somewhere off, patiently waiting while she enjoyed the view of the clearing.

Forced to acknowledge that the torture of this bait didn't end nor was but a dream I had, I now realized that as she stared off, this strange girl gently moved her hands up and down, caressing my scalp and gently rustling my hair.

And even though her perfectly round and bouncy pride was just a few inches away from my eyes...

I didn't feel horny, not at all.

The distant look on her face, the gentle massage of her fingers, the refreshing gust of wind that cooled down my face... How could I feel horny when this moment was so relaxing, so wholesome?

My eyelids lingered, growing heavy the more I relaxed...

But my body was raring to go. Filled with this newfound energy, I found it hard to just stay still.

"Are you dissatisfied?" the massive fox asked again, only to see me squirming to deny with my entire body by shaking my head to the side while crossing my arms to make a huge X sign.

"Not at all," I finally managed to get the words out of my tightened throat. "It's just that..."

A long wrinkle appeared on my forehead when I combed through everything in my mind to find the right words and ideas that I wanted to express.

"Please, wait. Let me start again from another angle," I requested before raising my eyes and looking at the lazily resting beast the size of a truck.

In exchange, the massive fox could hardly be bothered to look back.

'It seems I denied it strongly enough yesterday,' I thought, recalling some of the events that transpired before I went to sleep.

"I might be able to show you something interesting, but before that..." I hesitated for a second. "How long did I sleep?"

The fox finally turned its eyes and looked back at my face properly. It seemed my question managed to take it by surprise, sparking new flames of curiosity in its soul.

"Before, you slept for five hours, out of the exhaustion of your flesh," the fox replied with a huge yawn that revealed the two long sets of extremely sharp teeth. "Now, when your body had to adapt to the sudden growth, you slept for nearly thirty more."

'That makes it thirty-five in total,' I thought, gritting my teeth in frustration... Only for my forehead to tense up again. 'Or forty? Did it mean thirty hours or five and then thirty hours for the second nap? Wait, regardless, how the hell did I sleep for so long? And what's with all that about my body adapting...'

Now that I've learned something, my mind finally switched the gears back to its analytic mode. As I finally started to process all the information I had on hand, I only ended up shaking my head in renewed frustration when I managed to figure out two whole nothings and then some.

"Well, I don't know if it will work, but let me try anyway," I muttered as I turned my back to the foxes and focused on a random spot of the clearing, as far away from the three of us as I could. Then, as I swiped my hand, the gate appeared as if it was the most obvious thing to happen in the world.

"Can you see it?" I asked, turning my head over the shoulder to gauge the reactions to my little stunt.

The bigger foxes snapped on their feet, showing any signs of focus for the very first time since I first met them. On the other hand, the fox-girl nearby continued to patiently sit down on her knees, as if hoping I would change my mind and return my head to where it belonged...

'Wait!' I shook my head, trying to get the memory of resting on those lovely, soft things from my mind.

"Human Peter, what is it?" the voice of the massive fox filled my brain, this time with an obvious hint of wariness.

"To my understanding, your words from before I fell asleep mean that you wish to entrust your child to me," I spoke, turning my whole body towards the massive fox while leaving the gate as it was. "Is this understanding of mine correct?"