I got a Kitsune Caregiver, but...

Chapter 19: Nothing to do

"Really?" He replied to her complaining with little care. "You think my house is boring?"

"Yes, I'm saying exactly that." They walked as she moved about in the kitchen in rather lackadaisical motions. Her doing so only led to things being made more of a mess. Essentially putting all her work earlier with cleaning to waste. "There's nothing to do here while you're gone. All I got is sitting on your couch to watch that stupid TV of yours."

"I thought that was just your hobby." Apparently this habit of hers had nothing to do with her own personal likes and dislikes at all.

"It's literally because that's the only thing I can do around here." She snapped back. "Seriously, since I've been kicked out of the spirit world. I haven't been able to do anything I want to do."

"Welcome to life." He shook his head in disappointment. The absolute nerve of this girl sometimes. "Whatever, if it makes you feel any better, I can look for some stuff that you might be interested in."

"You mean you'll buy me some stuff..." She snapped her fingers, poofing their contract into existence in her hand. "...Right?"

"Why do I have to spend money just for your sake?" It was already bad enough that she added in on the cost of food with him. The man really didn't want to increase his budget any further.

"You are the definition of a cheapskate." She countered. "Honestly, you're loaded and you just have it stored in some bank away from here."

"It's called saving for retirement." He defended his financial planning. "But fine, as long as it's not too much I'll consider buying you something fun to play with."

***

And so they waited for the next day to do exactly that. Except Tenha slept in late yet again and Nishiki got called in work to spend half a day taking care of an emergency. However he did manage to pick something up for her to play with on his way home.

"About time you got back." She complained to him as he opened the door. "I got the note, but that doesn't mean you can weasel out of this one."

"Don't worry about that." He had his work bag in one hand and a shopping bag in the other. "I actually picked something up for you on my way back so you don't need to go shopping."

"Ah man, really?" She replied, disappointed. "I was looking through your computer online and there was something I really wanted." It was all she could do to pass the time while he was gone. What she saw got her real excited at the prospect of picking it up.

"I bet what I got you is a ton better." He put the bag on the table and reached in to pull it out. Nishiki then revealed a stick with a fuzzy little bird attached to the other end by string. "Tada!" The man put it right up to her face in a moment of pride. "The best gift ever, right?"

"What is this?" She was more than just unimpressed. Tenha was absolutely livid this was apparently the toy he thought would be good for her. "What type of lame toy is this!?"

"Huh?" He was shocked to see her act so angry upon seeing it. Nishiki was expecting her to be like a cat when she saw it. Basically in his mind he thought he'd be able to wave it around as she attempted to catch it with her hands. Instead, it looked like those hands of hers wanted to warp themselves around his neck. "I though fox girls would love a pet toy like this?"

"First off, I'm still a girl!" She yelled loudly at him to make sure they didn't get things twisted about their relationship and how he viewed her. "Secondly, I'm a fox, not a dumb cat. Besides, foxes are more like dogs anyway."

"So you want me to get you a bone to chew on?"

"Stop being stupid!" She responded to his inquiry by giving the man a good number of bops to the head. To her, he was already an idiot so they might as well go all the way to reaching the dumb zone.

"All right fine." He put away what he hoped would be his golden ticket to fun. It would've been nice to use it to play with the girl, but even if she did like it. She likely still would've complained that it could only be done when he was home, which wasn't often. Thankfully he only spent a few hundred yen on it. "So what's this thing you want online?"

"I still got it on that laptop of yours." She led him to the couch where she left the device. While he couldn't remember the last time he used this things, Nishiki did know he got it because there was no room to set up a desk and computer at his home. Which was probably for the best considering he rarely had the time to use the devices he already owned. "Here it is."

"I'm not buying that." His answer was quick and without hesitation. Tenha had wanted to buy a game console which had only recently come out. So therefore it was also expensive.

"Why not?" She asked in a whiny voice. "They said it's the best console ever. It's apparently the most powerful too."

"First off, try not to buy into advertising too much." He knew that back when he was younger he certainly had gotten suckered into purchases he should've known better. Never again, he promised himself. "Secondly, that's way too expensive. I ain't buying something like that for someone like you." At those prices, he didn't even know if fox spirits like her even liked video games that much. The man did not want to spend much cash on something she might dropped in a week.

"I doubt you have any better ideas." It was plain to see after the poor toy choice he decided to buy for her on his own.

"Actually, I do." He put on his jacket and began preparing himself to leave the house again. "There's a used game store not far from here. I'll just buy you one of their older consoles and you'll be happy with that." She didn't like hearing it, but there was no way she'd be winning the argument with him either. So Tenha simply pouted and followed out the door.

"People can see me, so don't worry about looking weird for talking to no one." She said as they walked down the road.

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about." He couldn't help but think that people would consider her appearance odd. Mainly due to the outfit she had on, since obviously her fox like features wouldn't be visible to normal people other than him. There were likely a fair number of people who thought it strange she'd be wearing it like she was a shrine maiden. At least since she was small, he could pretend she was his daughter that he was buying some game stuff for.

"This is the store?" She asked as they approached a dingy looking building. The exterior left a lot to be desired, and one of the neon letters had burned out for their sign. "No wonder you thought this was a good place to buy something."

"They've just fallen on some hard times." He defended this place of business. "It's not easy to sell older game stuff when people either want to jump on the latest stuff or the collectors only deal online."

"You seem to know a lot more about this stuff than you look." She always considered him to be an office stiff. Mainly because that was the case from the time they've lived together. So the idea of him being hip to what the kids liked seemed laughable.

"First off, I'm not that old." This was the second time he had thought more about his age in as many days. Perhaps it was more of a concern than he originally thought. "And secondly, I used to play video games back in my youth. After I got my job though, I realized I didn't use my old consoles that much and sold them off." A part of him regretted that not due to sentimental value, but because those consoles were now worth more these days and he could've made a killing if he waited a few years.

"Okay, whatever." She dismissed this piece of information as mostly unimportant. The pair walked into the store, which was near silent outside of the radio playing by the register. Inside was a rather cramped store with multiple shelves to carry the numerous games that had been donated by parents whose children left home. Tenha took note of the layer of dust building up on some of the area that clearly saw less traffic. "You better not complain about my cleaning after this." She told him, giving her opinion of the dreary interior.

"I don't think I've ever taken issue with your cleaning skills." He replied. If there was a problem he had with her, it definitely would be the cooking part. "Anyway, let's look around to see if there's anything we could buy for you."