“I don’t really get what your cooking, Woof!” Tamamo Cat, the Fox Maid of Chaldea, was utterly confused by this wannabe Tamamo copycat.
Who cares if she wanted to beat the Original in a battle for position of being their Master’s partner?
Cat knew only two things.
One! Too many servants had this sort of claim on their Master, so fighting for it was just silly nonsense.
Two! Only Cat was Master’s true Partner. So why bother fighting for what was already hers.
“But, like, don’t you wanna prove to that Fake fox that you’re better than her?” The golden haired Fox Saber demanded.
Cat yawned loudly, before stretching herself.
“Nyah, not really. Cat is already stronger than the Original and the rest of the Nine, so why bother? Master needs the Original, so until Master says so, she can live.” Cat stated, proud of herself for being so magnanimous towards the root of all malice.
The dumbstruck look on the other foxgirl’s face was amusing, before it quickly turned to one of indignation.
“Like, fine then! If you won’t help, I guess I’ll just cut down that fake fox.” The Saber fox went to turn and leave, when a thought struck Cat’s sleepy mind.
This girl is trying to start trouble with the root of all malice. Master won’t like that. I should stop her.
To which Cat clamped a claw down on the slender Saber’s shoulders, and dragged her into Cat’s nest.
It was good that the Saber fox wasn’t fighting, because Cat didn’t have the energy to do so.
She’d been rayshifting all week, and she really wanted a catnap.
What Cat had failed to notice, was the look of shock on Suzuka’s face when she realised just how strong Cat was, and realised the folly of having let her get caught in her paws.
“Now, Master is very busy, saving the world or something, so they don’t need you causing trouble.” Cat mumbled sleepily, as she pulled Suzuka to the pile of pillows and blankets that Cat used as a nestbed.
“So we are gonna sleep, and then we can talk about dealing with the Original after, or we can cook a delicious meal.”
Before Suzuka could raise an objection, Cat had pulled the young foxgirl into the nestbed, and essentially coiled herself around her.
The snoring that quickly followed confirmed to her that she was now stuck here for however long the strange Fox Maid was gonna be sleeping for.
She had spent three years acting as the wife for an Oni, so this was far from the worst she had dealt with.
As Cat slept, she unconsciously covered herself and the trapped Foxgirl with her voluminously fluffy tail, and Suzuka was lost in a world of such seductive softness.
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Tamamo……was concerned, about what one of her Tails was doing, wrapped around the Saber Fox who seemed to really enjoy stirring trouble.
“…..ou wann sumfin?” Her Tail asked sleepily, one eye open just enough to see her.
Tamamo didn’t miss how Tamamo Cat’s own tail had pulled the Saber Fox in range of her claws, meaning anything Tamamo might do would force her to deal with those vicious digits.
She sighed, any thought of mischief small and fleeting, and definitely not worth the effort of toying with a sleepy Cat.
“No, Master just wanted to know where your Body Pillow was, and I decided to check up on you first, solving both of my issues.”
She smiled sadly, seeing how desperately the Saber Foxgirl clung to the warmth of Tamamo Cat’s fluffy tail.
“Hey Cat?”
“Yes, Original?” A quiet and very awake Cat cautiously asked, her whole body tensing.
“Love her like how you love Elizabeth. Convince her to turn this foolish rivalry into something silly, so we can have fun competing in seducing our beloved Master.”
She paused, turning away.
“I get the feeling she could use some love at the moment.”
“…..you owe me?” A sleepy Cat replied, already lightly snoring before Tamamo even had a chance to reply.
She couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at her dorky yet pure berserker of a Tail.
“Yes, Cat, I’ll owe you.”
As much as Tamamo yearned to be the only Wife of Ritsuka, it was an impossible dream in Chaldea. She had long since given up on seriously pursuing a monogamous relationship with them.
Besides, with rivals like the Emperor and Shuten, monogamy is practically impossible for our beloved Master.
As she had once done in some far-flung fields, she quietly fled her Tail’s room, not wanting to dwell on her feelings.
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Feigning sleep was second nature to Suzuka.
Having spent 3 years pretending to be the wife of an Oni who would later become known as one of Japan’s Three Great Monsters, short of touching her or placing a mirror near her mouth, very few servants would be able to tell if she was sleeping.
She wanted to hate Tamamo-no-Mae, another of Japan’s Three Great Monsters.
She could hate her for stealing her cute fox aesthetic.
She needed to hate her for the Beastly Evil she was derived from.
………but hearing the genuine sadness in her would-be rivals voice dampened any of the smouldering rage she thought she had felt towards the fox Caster.
Suddenly, Tamamo Cat started to purr, a deep but quiet purr that reverberated through Suzuka, causing her consciousness to finally drift away to sleep, to undo the lie that was her sleeping and make it truth.
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Purring always did the trick! Nothing ever survives the purr!
Cat slowly relaxed, and began to actually enjoy hugging the new foxgirl-shaped body pillow she had acquired.
Hmmm, maybe I should take the Originals advice, and convince this body pillow to stay with me……..