I was Betrayed then Reincarnated as a Kitsune

[Velvet POV]

The day after we finished hunting the king kobold, Luna was sending me and Soleil to the capital.  She told me it was at Soleil’s request, though I think it’s more her idea than Soleil’s.  Speaking of Soleil, she has been a bit strange after we killed the king.

It mostly started after our after-battle banter where she called me cute out loud.  After that happened and we went back to the shrine to clean up, the next time she saw me, she seemed resolved about something.  I did ask Luna about it, but she told me that it was something that Soleil and I would need to discuss, leading to me and Soleil going around the capital today.

“Is there anything in particular you want to do, Soleil?”

“Not really, I don’t really know what to do or where to go in a city, though I do want to try that shop that has that coffee stuff.”

“We can save going there for lunch today.  Since you have no preference, we can go to the shopping district.”

“Good thing I brought money then.”

I chuckled a little at her words and we headed off.  On the way there, we bantered a bit.  It was mostly Soleil asking what kinds of things I liked besides masks, and things I like to do.  I answered her and asked the same questions back.

It turns out that Soleil likes to meddle in blacksmithing and painting.  She also told me that she is great at chess and has only ever lost to Lord Deacon and Lady Amagi.  When we finally arrived at the shopping district, we were bombarded by noise.

“I’m glad to have these sound dampeners.”

“Haha.  I bet, when I came here with Luna, she complained about the noise constantly.”

“Understandable, big sis has even better hearing that I do.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she would be able to tell you the conversation of people three streets over, while I could only tell you some bits and pieces from the next street.”

“That’s interesting, I always thought that she had normal hearing for a beastkin.”

“No, we do have good hearing, but big sis is on a different level.”

“Does it have anything to do with a skill?”

“Not that I or anyone else close to her know.  Though I do remember her dad saying that his family always did have really good senses, so maybe it’s just a trait of her family.”

“I guess that’s reasonable.”

We decided to go and look through a few shops that sold some rather nice clothes and jewelry.  I even saw a nice looking necklace, but decided not to buy it since I didn’t think it would suit me.  Soleil ended up buying some clothes that I thought really suited her and we left the shop.  It was around noon that we left, so we decided to go to Mister Bart’s shop for lunch and a break.  I brought us to the shop and led Soleil inside.  It seemed like Mister Bart was expecting us and he led us to a private area away from the main seating area.  I asked him what this was about, but all he did was smile and walked away.  I did hear Soleil mumble something, but she said she didn’t say anything when I asked her what she said.

After a few silent seconds, Mister Bart brought us some menus.  We decided what we wanted and ordered then were left alone again.  We chatted about small things until our order arrived and we ate a little.  Soleil was only taking small bites and sips of her lunch with a strange look on her face.  Her eyes were darting around, and her ears moved as if they were making sure that no one was around listening.  After a few minutes of this, a determined look showed on her face.

“Velvet, I know this may seem sudden, but I think I like you.”

“Eh?”

“I know that we have only known each other for a small amount of time, but I can’t help feeling some attraction to you.”

I didn’t really know what to say.  I knew that Luna wanted me to get together with Soleil, but I didn’t think that the person herself would confess to me like this.  In order to buy some time to get my thoughts together, I asked her a question.

“Are you only doing this because Luna wants us to be together?”

“No.  I was thinking all of this over a lot last night and I’ve had this weird feeling about you since you and big sis came back to the shrine.  Every time you got flustered or acted cool, it made me think that you were cute, and I voiced those thoughts out loud a few times by mistake.  After fighting the king yesterday, when I said what I did out loud and you heard me, I decided to give it serious thought.

I don’t hate you, and I think you’re a cute and nice person that I don’t mind being around.  In fact, I like being around you.  I don’t really know if that means I like you, but if that’s what all this means, then I don’t mind it.  Heck, I didn’t even know big sis wanted us to get together until I saw her reaction to me asking if you preferred men or women.”

This was a lot to take in.  If I had to voice my thoughts of Soleil, I didn’t dislike her.  I think she’s cute and I did get to know her better today, but I don’t know if I like her in that way yet.

“You don’t care that I’m older than you?”

“Why would I?  I mean, look at big sis and the Goddess.”

“That’s true.”

“Not to mention that I’ll be immortal sooner or later.”

“You already know about that?”

“Of course, I know that mom, dad, Lady Amagi, and Lord Deacon are all Apostles and that I will become one when big sis can make them.  At that point what does age even matter?”

“True.”

“If this is all too sudden for you, then I won’t ask you to answer me right now.  I mean, even I don’t know if what I feel for you is love or something else, but the worst you can do is reject me.  It won’t change the fact that we are in the same party and following big sis.”

“I don’t dislike you or the idea of being with you, but I would at least like to spend some time as friends first.”

“That’s understandable, just know that I will try to get you to fall for me.”

“Haha.  I look forward to seeing what you will do.”

[Soleil POV]

After I confessed to Velvet and got her reply, I was relieved that she didn’t reject me.  It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but she at least seems open to the idea of being with me.  We continued eating our lunch, we talked about what we were going to do after today.

“Do you know what we will do next?  Once we turn in this quest, I will have to take a rank-up test right?”

“Most likely, you will be raised to D-rank.  Then you will have to go on an exam quest to kill some bandits to see if you can kill people.  After that will be some normal quests to fill the quota as well as two other quests that can be completed easily with Luna’s teleportation to get to C-rank.  I don’t know what the C-rank test is, but I think you will pass it easily.  After that, we’ll quickly clear the dungeon again to get you to B-rank.”

“I know big sis said that doing this will be good for me, but what exactly am I getting out of this?”

“A blessing from the God of Adventure that will help your stat growth.  Luna thinks that you might try doing dangerous things out of a desperate need to catch up to us in strength.”

“She is such a worrywart.  I’ve always known I would be weaker than big sis.”

“True, though I’ve started to doubt if I won’t be somewhat closer to her in stats by the time I hit level 100.”

“What do you mean?”

“Luna gave me something that she was give by the God of Creation that took away my weakness to sunlight and raises my stats more every five levels.”

“Maybe she planned for this since she knew I would want to catch up with you, then.”

“We can think of it like that, but I think that she is acting out of an unnecessary fear.”

“So, it’s something like being overprepared for something that won’t happen, then being underprepared for something that will happen.”

“Putting it like that makes you sound like Luna.”

“It’s because she said that once.”

“Hahaha.”

“Hehehe.”

We finished our lunch and ordered some coffee and pastries for dessert.  I took my first sip of coffee and almost spit it out.

“So bitter.”

“Haha.  I was the same way the first time I tried it.  Put some sugar and milk in and it will be better.”

I did as Velvet said and tried the coffee again.

“So much better.”

“I know right.  I really don’t get why Luna likes it without anything put in.”

“Big sis has always had weird taste.  She really likes rich foods and soups.”

“No wonder she has so much of that in her inventory.”

“What kind of foods do you like Velvet?”

“Sweet things, grilled meat, oranges.  I’m especially fond of steaks.”

“Good to know.”

“What about you, Soleil?”

“I also like sweet things, meat, and fruits, but if I had to name my favorite food, it would have to be fried tofu.”

“It seems like you share that with Luna and the Goddess.”

“I think most kitsune like it.”

“I guess that explains why there was so much of it at the vanquishing festival.”

We finished our coffee and pastries and tried to pay but were told it was already done.  Velvet and I shared a look and left.  We walked around some more and visited a few shops.  Velvet bought herself a mask that looked like a bird and I bought a cute hat.

Before we noticed, it started to get late.  We walked to the place that big sis said she would show up to bring us home, but I stopped Velvet before we made it all the way there.

“Hey Velvet, can you hold on for a minute?”

“What’s up?”

“I thought I should give you this before we went back to the shrine.”

I pulled out the necklace that Velvet was looking at so intently at one of the first few shops we went to.

“You got this for me?”

Yep.  I saw how you were staring at it when we were at that shop and bought it for you.”

“Thanks for doing that, but are you sure you want to give me this, it doesn’t really suit me.”

“What are you saying?  It does suit you, not to mention that it will match mine.” I said as I showed off the necklace that big sis sent me so long ago.

“If you say so.  Mind putting it on me?”

“Not at all.”

Velvet turned around and knelt down a bit so I could put it around her neck.  While she was like this, I also took this chance to whisper into her ear.

“One day I’ll give you a ring as well.”

Velvet shot up at my words and started walking to our destination.  I could tell she was flustered because her ears were red, and she was walking faster than she needed to.  I followed after her and found big sis waiting for us.  She had a wide grin on her face that grew wider when she saw how Velvet was acting.

“Fufufufufu.  How was the date today?” (Luna)

“I got everything I wanted out of it.  Now I just need to wait for Velvet to fall completely.” (Soleil)

“So my advice helped a bit?” (Luna)

“Yep.  By the way, was it you who set everything up at that coffee shop?” (Soleil)

“Yep.” (Luna)

“How much of today did you plan, Luna?” (Velvet)

“The only thing I did was get the two of you a private table and pay for your stuff at Mister Bart’s shop.  Everything else was all on the two of you, though I do want to know what made you so embarrassed when you stopped and let Soleil put that necklace on you.” (Luna)

“That will stay between us.” (Velvet)

“Fine.  Let’s go home and get some rest then, we have a lot to do tomorrow.” (Luna)

““Right.””

Big sis grabbed onto our shoulders and we teleported away.  After I got home that night, I must have had a good expression on my face because mom asked why I was so happy.  I explained about what I did today which made her smile.

“Good for you, Soleil.  Make sure to get her to fall for you.”

“Just like you got dad to fall for you?”

“Just like that.”

“I’ll give it my all.”

Author's Note:

Luna: While I expected Soleil to take charge, I didn't expect her to be so smooth at the end.

Tamamo: I'm more surprised Velvet didn't figure out this was a date until Soleil confessed to her.

Luna: Same here, she can be surprisingly dense.

Tamamo: Especially since she knew that you were going to try setting her up with Soleil for a while now.

Luna: There is that, but now that I think about it, I don't think she was expecting Soleil to take the initiative like this.

Tamamo: Did you have something to do with that?

Luna: You weren't listening when I gave Soleil advice?

Tamamo: No, I was taking a nap with the plush you.

Luna: I will put my jealousy of my plush self aside and explain.  I told Soleil that it was best to make Velvet aware of her feelings at the start instead of dragging it out because that leaves room for both parties to overthink things and makes it harder to get those feelings across when they are bottled up for a long time.

That's good advice.  It really annoys people when that happens.

Tamamo: Speaking from experience?

No, but I have read a lot of stories like that, and all of them frustrate me.  Scenarios like that make me want to look up spoilers, which then make me lose interest.  Get the feelings out early and build up to a mutual relationship, don't hide them the entire time.

Luna: I get it.  I got annoyed by those stories as well.

Tamamo: Good thing I was upfront then.

Luna: I fell for you at first sight, so it wouldn't matter if you kept your feelings from me until we spoke again.

You would have figured it out by appraising the divine protection and Fated One titles anyway.

Luna: That's true.