Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 7] Ch. 2 Cold Realizations

Sebas

I shrugged. "It's not always the case. They usually hate each other and don't get along at first. The plot device is used so that they hate each other creating sexual tension at first and then still act like they hate each other even after the both fall in love before they confess their feelings. It's the slow development that makes the moments they get along really stand out. The rest of the time, the tsundere girl usually sends the protagonist flying after he accidently gropes, trips over, or walks in on her in little to no clothing."

"Do those things happen often?" She cocked a nervous eyebrow at me.

"Sure, usually the protagonist gets abnormally clumsy around the Tsundere in particular." I explained.

"Okay, what about loli?" She was oddly agitated.

"The loli is a character that is a little girl like a little sister or looks like a little girl because she's short or underdeveloped in womanly features. It's a trope targeted at the nurturing and protective instincts boys and men have. Supposedly." I shrugged. "Most stories try to cover every preference by exaggerating certain characteristics and creating overgeneralized archetypes of personalities mixed with body types. For example, at first glance Tierra is a Loli, and based on her consistently emotionless face she'd be a Dandere. A personality type who is unable to visually show her emotions on her face and is cute because of disconnect between her true thoughts and what can be seen."

I felt like a nerd talking about these things but...

"So there are several Dere's what are the others and their significance?" Julie asked as she scribbled away in her notebook.

"Um before that... should I be worried about how intently... your familiar is staring at me?" I asked a little unnerved that the white fox hadn't even blinked.

"Oh, how rude of me. Normally, I'm very good about introducing her." Julie leaned back and pet the white fox naturally. "This is Delynis Inari, my loyal partner. Like me, she's wondering how you know so much about things that we were unable to discover for ourselves... not that we had time to delve very deeply since we started our research."

"Inari!" I jumped in the air and stumbled to the ground.

"His daughter anyway. Don't worry, so long as you don't mean any harm she won't bite." Julie picked up Delynis and buried her face in the fox's fur. "Isn't that right, she's so sweet and fluffy she's helped me out of more tough binds then I can explain." Julie simply glowed as she cuddled the willing and friendly fox.

"But that would make her a divine spirit, or a demi-god! Do you really have a familiar contract with her?" I asked as I climbed back to the bed enthralled with this discovery. I already kind of knew but seeing the real thing was a completely different experience and I had to restrain myself from using my magic eye to learn more about her.

"Well I summoned her and formed a crest contract." Julie pulled back the collar of her shirt and the fox hopped into her skin forming a tattoo as she become one with it. A second later it jumped out and back into Julie's lap.

"To be able to make a contract with a divine spirit... do you understand the significance of this!" I said leaning forward to get a better view of Inari.

Julie giggled as Delynis swatted when my face got too close. "Faunanelfa and Zorlo had similar reactions. Nyah, it sets a precedent that the Gods can be tamed by mortals, I may even become a target by the gods since Inari is unpopular among his kin. Luckily, nyow that I'm a Magus Initiate, I'm protected so long as I am not openly hostile towards any denomination. But you also made a significant discovery when you contracted a humanoid. Doesn't that open the possibility of contracts with monsters outside the norm. Like contracting a Lich or goblin."