THE DEMON KING’S PRANK TURNED ME INTO A FOX
Pecora said it loud and clear: She wanted a fluffy elder sister.
She was smiling brilliantly.
But at first, I didn’t understand what she’d said.
People would often call cats and other furry animals fluffy—was that what she meant?
“I’m not really the fluffy type. My hair can be fluffy, though.”
“Elder Sister, do you know the name of this expensive mushroom?”
Oh, that question gave me a terrible feeling…
“It’s called the foxform mushroom. When one eats it—”
“You don’t have to tell me! I knew what it did the second I heard the name!”
Just then, my head and rear started feeling itchy, almost ticklish, but the sensation didn’t last long.
Instead, it felt like something was growing out of my body.
I gingerly placed my hand on my head and found two rather soft things up there. I checked my behind, too, and sure enough, something was there…
“Vania, could you bring over the looking glass?”
On Pecora’s command, Vania brought over a full-length mirror and held it up to me.
There, I saw—me, with fox ears growing from my head and a long tail.
In a word, I’d turned into a foxperson.
“Gaaah! You made me all weird!”
“How charming you are, Elder Sister! I was the unrivaled champion of the cuteness rankings, but you have surpassed me!”
Pecora took on something like a victory pose. Pretty bold claim to say she was the unrivaled cuteness champion.
I’d walked straight into her trap.
Crap! She totally got me with her wholesome I want to eat dinner with my sister on my birthday act! And I know that’s not what she’s like!
Some parts of her might be wholesome, but she was still a genuine demon king. I couldn’t forget that.
“What should I do to go back to normal?”
“Simply wait; it will happen naturally.”
“How long will that take?”
“Judging by the amount you ate, I’d say…five days?”
She got me. Everything was going exactly according to her plans…
“If you’d like to go home now, I will happily provide direct transportation to the house in the highlands. How about it?”
If they saw me like this, the image I’d cultivated would crumble…
It was better when I’d turned into a kid, because at least then, I just looked smaller. I was mostly the same now, except the fox ears made me look childish. My family would never let me live this down.
“I’ll stay here until the effects wear off… I bet you’re so happy about that, huh?! You’re so evil!”
“Well, I am the demon king. ”
Yeah, she’s right. If I searched for demon on a computer in Japan, I would get pictures of cute little demon girls. Really, it made more sense for a cute girl, rather than a repulsive monster, to prank people.
“Then you may go ahead and use my room, Elder Sister.”
“Can’t you give me a spare room?”
“But the present I wanted was a fluffy elder sister who I could pet. I must have that.”
She made it sound like it was a given.
“That’s selfish logic! You demon!”
“The king of them all, in fact. And Elder Sister, your tail is wagging.”
I looked in the mirror, and sure enough, it was moving back and forth like a metronome.
Did this mean I was angry? Or did it move like this when I got worked up? I’d never had fox parts on me before, so I didn’t know.
I lost the energy to fight back. “Just do whatever you want… Here’s your birthday present… Enjoy.”
Afterward, she had me show off my new look to Fatla. The ever-calm leviathan looked away, clearly laughing to herself.
“Geez, I’d feel much better if you just laughed out loud! Or waited until I wasn’t around!”
“No, it is rude of me to laugh before the person in question…pfft—”
“What you’re doing right now is plenty rude!”
I definitely wouldn’t be able to go back to the house in the highlands until I returned to normal…
“Elder Sister, I have not yet told Beelzebub about this. Shall I hide it from her?”
An image of Beelzebub cracking up when she saw me came to mind.
“Yes,” I answered instantly.
And if Beelzebub found out, she would relay the message to the family. I was glad that she didn’t have a phone to snap a pic with, but once she knew, she might make me eat a foxform mushroom again.
“Then you must never tell Beelzebub that you know she once turned into a third-rate demon.”
“I see… If you want to hide your own weakness, then keep quiet about others’…”
Pecora was the one who brought that little tidbit up in the first place, if I recalled, but I couldn’t say I didn’t get her point.
“Well, if Beelzebub does come along to bother you, you may use that topic.”
Great, then I’d use the info as my counterattack if I needed to.
“I’ll stay in your room for now…,” I said. “It’s an emergency, so I guess I don’t have any other choice…”
“Yes, it certainly is an emergency, isn’t it?”
“And it’s your fault!”
My life as a foxgirl was indeed beginning. When you live for three hundred years, you end up seeing a lot—and I really mean a lot.
Also, when I left the room, my tail got caught in the door.
“Ow! That hurts!”
That hurt as much as stubbing my pinkie toe on the corner of a dresser! I can’t believe the tail can actually feel pain!
“Oh, Foxy Elder Sister, please mind your behind. You are more liable to bump into things back there.”
“Dammit… Is there anything good about being a foxperson…?”
My eyes watered as I pet my tail. It was large and long enough for me to bring it in front of me. Of course it would get caught on things.
But as I stared at my tail—
I have pretty nice fur, if I do say so myself, I thought.
…Wait, there was no point in feeling proud of that…
It wasn’t the kind of positivity I needed…
I went with Pecora and quickly relocated to her room.
I wanted as few acquaintances to see me as possible. I mean, of all the demon bureaucrats, I only knew Beelzebub, and the goal was to avoid her more than anyone else.
Along the way, I heard some passing demons express their surprise at seeing a foxgirl working here, but demon society was diverse enough that foxpeople didn’t really draw much attention on their own.
Now that I thought about it, I had barely any memory of seeing foxpeople in the human world. Maybe they were just that rare.
Pecora’s room was huge, fitting for a demon king, and there were several smaller rooms inside it. I could keep myself hidden easily.
The tricky part was the entirely separate question of whether or not the owner of the room, Pecora, would cooperate…
Also, there was something even more pressing that caught my attention: a book on the table with a fox on the cover.
“I knew it; this crime was premeditated…”
“Oh, no, Elder Sister, it might very well be a coincidence~ You mustn’t doubt your younger sister,” Pecora said with a smug look.
“You…you put all your attribute points into pranks, didn’t you…?”
“Oh, Elder Sister, your tail is wagging again,” Pecora commented.
I looked behind me, and it really was bouncing all over the place.
“I’m just uneasy…”
“The effects of the foxform mushroom will wear off, and your ears and tail will disappear just as you are getting used to then. You only have to endure for five days.”
“Those five days will feel like a month…”
It looked like Pecora’s expression went just a shade more vicious, and her fingers tightened around the brush in her hand.
“Now then~ Shall I brush your tail, Elder Sister~?”
“Brushing…? I’m okay like this, and I can do any brushing on my own…”
“Nonsense! I may be the demon king, but I will still brush my pet……my elder sister.”
“Hey! You just said ‘pet,’ didn’t you?! Didn’t you?!”
She did say elder sister, but she had no respect for me at all!
“You are imagining things. You are my elder sister. It is the younger sister’s job to brush her elder sister’s hair, you see, and—you know—essentially, yes.”
“Your excuses are all over the place.”
“Well, why not? It’s not worth fretting over. Also, perhaps you should change into clothes made for foxpeople. I imagine your tail is not very comfortable at the moment.”
That was true. My tail felt pretty cramped.
Currently, it was popping out of the waist on my dress, through a little gap designed to help adjust the size. In addition, the gap also implied other races with tails could wear this, too. There were catpeople living in this world, after all.
But these clothes weren’t originally made for animal folk, so they were too restrictive to feel comfortable.
“I believe there is no harm in relaxing as a foxperson every once in a while. I will take care of you entirely, so please relax.”
It was too much trouble to protest anymore, so I nodded.
“Okay, okay. I’m Azusa the fox. Awooo.”
“‘Awooo’? That is not what the fox says.”
You’re choosing now to be realistic?
Afterward, once I’d changed, Pecora brushed my tail.
I lay down on the bed while she did.
“Hee-hee, you’re so soft; it feels so nice. You are wonderful, Elder Sister. ”
“As the soft one, I’m not having much fun.”
I wasn’t resisting anymore and just let her do as she pleased.
“May I cuddle your tail as I sleep?”
“Sure, but all the fur you brushed will just get messy again.”
I didn’t think of it as my own tail, so I didn’t really care how she treated it. I would only be like this for a few days, after all.
“By the way, Elder Sister, has anything changed since your transformation?” Pecora asked as she brushed me.
“Changed? I have ears and a tail—but you can already see that, so I guess you mean other things, right?”
“Yes, yes. Now that you have more ears, can you hear things from very far away? Or anything else of that nature?”
The questions were starting to get scientific. Now I was more of a lab animal than a pet.
“Not really, no. Do these ears even work…? Haven’t they just been plopped on my head?”
I pictured a human wearing a kitty-ear headband.
“But your tail did hurt when it got caught in the door, and it moves in response to your emotions. In that case, there might be other physical changes.”
“Now that you mention it…”
“There have been barely any reported cases of people transforming into foxpeople after eating foxform mushrooms, so the details of its effects are not known. Please let me know if you notice any unusual changes.”
Suddenly, this whole incident had taken on an academic meaning.
“As of right now, nothing, as far as I’m aware—”
Suddenly, a strange sensation came over me.
What is…this? Hunger…?
“I want to eat…”
But this was different from normal hunger. It wasn’t coming from an empty stomach.
It was a purer and more intense desire!
“I want to eat abura-age…”
I said it before I could stop myself.
My fox instincts shouldn’t crave abura-age! No, this wasn’t just pure instinct; on Earth, foxes that had never eaten the stuff would overwhelmingly outnumber the ones that had. Basically, my past-life knowledge that “foxes like abura-age” was influencing me now.
“What is ‘abura-age,’ Elder Sister? I have never heard of an animal by that name,” Pecora asked, genuinely unsure what I was talking about.
Indeed—there was no abura-age in this fantasy land. It didn’t exist. And yet I wanted it so bad!
“I want abura-age… I really, really want it… Abura-age, abura-age…”
“Elder Sister, what is that? I cannot help you if you don’t tell me.”
How was it made again…? Was it a by-product of tofu? It definitely involved processed soybeans, but…
“A tofu shop would have it…”
“What is ‘tofu’?”
Obviously, there was no tofu, either!
Gaaaaah, I want it so badly, but I can’t have it!
I whirled around and grabbed Pecora by the shoulders. “Abura-age, give me abura-age! Give it to me, now!”
“We don’t have that, Elder Sister!”
This was weird. The desire for abura-age was stifling my reasoning.
“You will give me an offering of abura-age. Give it to me! I’m your elder sister! I’m okay with inarizushi, too!”
The Japanese folklore surrounding foxes was influencing my actions. This was bad… The brakes were starting to wear out…
“Elder Sister… I am happy that you are interested in me, but what is ‘inarizushi’…? And ‘offer’ it to you? That is something a divine being would say…”
“I just can’t seem to calm down… It’s likely an effect of this transformation…”
My body—my feet, to be precise—started moving on their own, and soon, I was standing on the bed.
“Uh, what’s happening…?”
Was I trying to go on a journey to find abura-age?! I knew logically that there wasn’t any abura-age in this world, but boy, did my instincts crave it!
I hopped off the bed, and I noticed my jumps were a little more powerful.
“Sorry, Pecora, but I can’t really control my body anymore. I’m going out on a quest for abura-age for a little while!”
“But what is ‘abura-age’?!”
I dashed out of Pecora’s room and ran down the hallway.
I did have my wits about me, but I’d lost all control of my now very obnoxious body.
And my sense of smell had greatly improved. I could sniff out scents from much farther away than I used to.
I arrived at the kitchen.
When I stepped inside, Vania was washing up.
“Phew, there are so many plates. I have to keep moving~ Maybe next time, I’ll put a lot of food on one plate to save time—Oh, if it isn’t Miss Fox Azusa.”
I immediately cornered Vania.
“Give me abura-age. Abura-age. Abura-age.”
“Aburage? What region is that dish from?” Vania, of course, didn’t understand.
“I want abura-age. Right now, I’m fine with atsu-age, too. That’s really thick abura-age from Fukui and Niigata and stuff.”
“They sell it in Fuquie? But that’s very far from Vanzeld Castle.”
Coincidentally, it seemed like Fukui was the name of a place in this world, too. Not that it mattered.
“Vania, I don’t know if it’s because I turned into a foxperson, but I want to eat this stuff so badly. I might run around the castle for a little while, but…it’s not like I’ve completely lost my senses… I’ll probably go back to normal in a little bit…”
I attempted an explanation with the remnants of my rationality.
“I don’t quite understand, but I can tell you’re in trouble.”
What she said didn’t exactly inspire hope in me, but I preferred it over her saying she didn’t understand anything.
“Foxform mushroom is a high-quality ingredient, but you shouldn’t eat too much of it. Perhaps that is why you are in a temporary state of excitement. It will die down in an hour or so.”
Don’t feed me stuff like that, I thought, but it was probably nothing from the demons’ point of view. It was a real headache for me, though.
I couldn’t help it. My feet were moving again…
“Okay, this fox is going off in search of abura-age, then!”
“All right. Take care!”
I ran around Vanzeld Castle.
And every time I spotted a demon, I asked “Do you have abura-age?”
Their response was always “What’s that?” So I searched for the next demon.
I heard voices around me.
“There’s an evil fox spirit out here!”
“It’ll curse you if you don’t give it aburage!”
“I don’t have anything like that!”
Rumors of an evil spirit were spreading throughout the castle… As a human, should I be concerned…?
But my legs wouldn’t be stopping soon, it seemed. An endless sea of golden-brown abura-age filled my mind’s eye.
Abura-age, abura-age, oh sweet, delicious abura-age…
“I can’t, I can’t! I can’t control my desires!”
My tail swishing back and forth, I ran so far and so fast that I could have explored every corner of the castle.
“Hey! So you’re the suspicious foxperson, huh?”
A guard almost stopped me, but I barreled over him like I was a bowling ball and he was the pin.
“Move, move! You can’t stop me!”
I’d maxed out my level, so no guard could stop me, but they still kept coming after me. Every time, I knocked them away.
“Sorry! But I can’t do anything about this, either!”
“She’s superstrong!”
“Mobilize the army!”
“This is unprecedented!”
I could also hear more panicking cries.
The whole commotion was about to go up in scale… But this wasn’t my fault…at least, I didn’t think it was. It was Pecora’s responsibility, since she was the one who made me eat the foxform mushrooms…at least, I thought it was.
When I reached the garden, a massive demon army stood before me.
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
“Stop right there, foxgirl!”
“We’ll be forced to use offensive magic if you don’t stop!”
Crap! I’m totally a suspect now!
“Give me abura-age! If you don’t, I’ll pull a prank on you! Trick or tofu!”
“She is speaking a weird language!”
“Be careful! It might be ancient magic!”
“If you don’t have any abura-age, then I’ll force my way through!”
I slammed into the demon army and sent everybody flying. If I really was bowling, I would’ve gotten a strike.
Hmm… My swath of destruction is widening…
Then a male demon with a stouter body than everyone before him appeared.
“You there, you lawless miscreant! Halt! I am Selvan, the strongest man of the four lords of Vanzeld Castle.”
A midboss character finally showed up!
“I cannot turn a blind eye to someone who disturbs the peace and order of the castle! This place will be your grave! You will rue this day in hell—”
“Give me abura-age!!!”
I body-slammed the demon and sent him sailing through the air. This basically meant I’d conquered the castle, didn’t it…?
“Ugh… Not bad, fox… But Her Majesty’s power is far greater than mine…”
It’s Her Majesty’s fault that I’m like this, you know.
“She defeated the strongest man of the four lords!”
“Call the demon king!”
“Gather the scholars! Is there any scholar who knows anything about abura-age?!”
“Call a scholar who knows about foxpeople, too!”
“Demons, let’s put our heads together and solve this predicament!”
Have I become the monster they all fear? Have I become this world’s Godzilla?
“There’s a scholar with knowledge of Abrah Ageh!”
“Oh! Well done!”
Oh? Does abura-age really exist here?
Abura-age—the fragrant, golden-brown food I could put in my miso soup, fry to a crisp, or eat with ginger soy sauce. Would I finally be reunited with that rich, beany flavor?
“There’s an account in an ancient text of a monster called Abrah Ageh that was sealed underground!”
“Then does the fox have something to do with that ancient monster?”
“That would explain why it’s so powerful!”
Definitely not!
If you were wondering, they eventually did summon this Abrah Ageh monster—
“This thing isn’t like abura-age at all! It’s got tentacles coming out of its mouth!”
—and I destroyed it with a single hit, too.
I roamed about Vanzeld Castle after that. Three more demons showed up calling themselves the remaining three of the four lords. I punched them into oblivion, too.
So I defeated all four of them, I guess… I really would 100-percent clear the castle at this rate…
But I suddenly got a whiff of a familiar scent. One I knew especially well.
Beelzebub stood right in front of me.
“Hey, you, fox. Stay right there.”
Her high status gave her an aura of dignity—of a boss character, in fact. But since she wasn’t one of the four lords, that meant she must be weaker than them.
“I am the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Minister Beelzebub. In accordance with our ministerial ordinance, I will take you into custody.”
“Hey, you sound like a real bureaucrat!”
“…For a moment, you reminded me one of my acquaintances, the Witch of the Highlands, but we will leave that aside for now. Yes, just my imagination…” She looked so done with me—she had to know who I was. I mean, all that happened was that I grew fox ears and a tail. My face was still the same.
“So?! This is all Pecora’s fault! Now I can barely control my own body!”
I slammed into Beelzebub. The blow would most likely knock her into the air, but she probably wouldn’t get any serious injuries.
I’ll cast some Recovery spells on you later, okay? Forgive me?
But this was Beelzebub we were talking about.
She grabbed me tight with both her hands to stop me.
“I have come to understand your movements to a degree. I can hold you in place at least temporarily!”
“This might seem like a strange thing to say right now, but thanks…”
Still, my power was greater than hers, and Beelzebub was slowly losing ground.
I was almost like a rampaging elephant…
Beelzebub then turned slightly to glance over her shoulder.
“Fatla, bring it out! It may work!”
Fatla, who had apparently been standing at the ready behind her, grabbed something and came this way.
“Miss Azusa, please eat this!” she cried, shoving it into my mouth.
Across my tongue, I could suddenly taste the delectable flavor of soybeans!
Was this abura-age? No, not quite. But…even though it was different, it was still delicious!
This is pure bliss!
My body happily relaxed, and I fell to my knees on the spot.
“Ahhh, this is it~ This is what I wanted to eat~”
I didn’t need a mirror to know I was grinning.
“Hmm, the plan appears to be a success. ’Twas the right answer to interview the foxpeople on staff.”
“Indeed. Even those who are turned into foxes by force must adopt their tastes.”
Beelzebub and Fatla were chatting about something. I could also see two foxpeople standing nearby.
“The foxes apparently like an elven food called bilanwa, which is made by processing beans. I suppose you like it, too, no?”
Oh yeah, the elves also had a condiment like soy sauce.
There were probably lots of other foods made from beans.
As I nibbled on the bilanwa, I finally calmed down.
After that, I was taken to Pecora’s room, where Beelzebub gave her liege a real good scolding.
“Your Majesty, you have honestly done your worst this time. Do you have any idea how much effort it will take to cover this up?”
“…My apologies. My practical joke went too far.”
Pecora was dejected. She probably didn’t think it would turn into this much trouble.
I wanted to comfort her, but since I was partly responsible for the mess, I didn’t have much room to talk.
“The four lords have lost all confidence after being pummeled so thoroughly. They are in therapy right now.”
Gah! I harmed them emotionally, too… I’m really sorry…
“And now we know there are problems with the defense structure of Vanzeld Castle, so all’s well that ends well. Wouldn’t you agree, Beelzebub?”
“That is a completely different topic!”
Oh, that half-baked excuse only made her angrier…
They decided Pecora would offer an official apology, and they would apparently establish limits on how many foxform mushrooms could be harvested. I essentially ended up being a live test subject.
But either way, the whole situation was resolved for now. All I had to do was stay put until my fox form wore off.
“By the way, Azusa.”
Beelzebub turned to face me, which made me jump a little. My tail shot straight up.
Was I next in line for castigation…? It was true that I caused all this trouble…
“Your fox form is…erm…rather adorable…”
“What?”
Did she just say what I think she said?
Beelzebub was looking at me with something like adoration in her eyes.
What is this…? Did she take a love potion or something?
No, wait.
She wasn’t looking at me—she was looking at my tail!
“Would you allow me to pet your tail for a bit? I am certain such a pleasant texture would relieve my stress.”
“What?! What’s with the reaction…?”
“There is no harm, is there? And I will have to work extra hours to clean up this whole incident.”
It was hard to protest after that. Sneaky.
“Fine. Pet it if you want…but just my tail, okay? Don’t touch my ears.”
“Yes! Understood!” Beelzebub said with a bright smile.
Oh yeah, single people often kept pets for emotional support or as a distraction from loneliness. When I was a corporate slave, I remembered, when one of the ladies in the office got a cat, people would say, “She’s given up on marriage, huh?”
“Oh, how fluffy you are! It feels like it’s enveloping me gently, but it feels strong at the same time!”
The one who ended up petting me for the next few days wasn’t Pecora, but Beelzebub.
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