FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This morning, I went to the Kuri hardware shop to have the fan repaired. Kounosuke wasn't there, and who greeted me instead was his younger brother Yukiharu. He was a cute little furball of a tanuki, looking almost like a smaller Kounosuke without the glasses. I was kinda saddened though that he could barely remember who I was. Then again, he was just a toddler when all of us were already at middle school. Since Kounosuke was out, I left the fan there and had Yukiharu remind his brother about it later.

With my business in the shop done, I made my way towards town. And just as I was passing by the bookstore, through the window I saw Kounosuke inside it, the tanuki browsing at the shelves. Knowing him, he would be so immersed in the books he could barely notice what's around him. I went inside and headed towards the tanuki, taking a peek of the book in his hands.

"Whatcha reading, Kounosuke?" I whispered.

Sure enough, Kounosuke was startled and closed the book he was reading. Looking at the cover, I had to double-check to make sure my eyes weren't fooling me. It was a copy of "F-Men Mixture of Different Species Battle", a compilation of erotic beastmen comics made by the best authors around. The volume he was holding was the last one the company released before going bankrupt. If anything, Kounosuke had crazy luck picking that one up.

"You better not tell!" Kounosuke said.

I grinned. "Oh, I won't. That is, if you lend me that from time to time."

"Wait, so you're also...?"

I looked at Kounosuke dead straight in the eyes and nodded without saying another word.

Kounosuke picked up another book from the shelves. "Oh look, there's an extra copy."

I raised my eyes in surprise. "What?! Gimme!"

The tanuki took the book away. "First, promise you won't tell. Do, and I'll do just the same got it?"

Shaking hands with malicious grins on our faces, we made our little "Non-Disclosure Agreement", making sure that people weren't around to see us. We made our way to the register and paid for the goods, the clerk's intrigued look as he bagged them making us nervous. Since I was on my way to the shrine before stopping here, I had the tanuki hold on to my copy for a while and promised to pick it up later. Parting ways with Kounosuke, I continued on my walk towards Minasato Shrine.

After walking for a long while and climbing an ungodly long flight of stairs, I was finally at the shrine. It had been a long-established custom for everyone here to pay a visit the shrine of any area we were visiting either for the first time, or one we haven't visited for a long time. To not do so would incur the wrath of the gods that protected the area, the elders said. Regardless of that, we did it as a sign of respect to the people. Dropping a coin on the donation box, I rang the bell, put my hands together and bowed my head.

"I'm home," I said. "Sorry it took me so long. I hope this summer's meaningful for all of us."

As I turned around to leave, a young wolf who was eerily similar to Shun-kun was in front of me, smiling.

"Nice to see you again," he said.

Just then, a strong wind carrying green leaves passed by, causing me to close my eyes for a moment. When I opened them the wolf was gone without a trace. The seniors of the village always told us of those new to the village who, after praying to the dragon god, were greeted with a breeze. It meant that their presence was favored. Since the stories came from the elders, it might just be superstition. Brushing it aside, I heard some voices coming from the right of the shrine. As I thought, it was Tora and Tatsu-nii, the dragon running around with Tora clinging to his tail.

Tatsu-nii tried to shake the tiger off. "Let go Tora! S-Stop! N-Not there!"

"Come on! It's no big deal," Tora said.

"Jeez! I already told you to stop going for my tail many times now."

The tiger grinned. "But it's so soft and smooth. What would happen though if I touch right... here?"

Tatsu-nii's shaking got even quicker when Tora grabbed the base of his tail. For as long as I could remember, Tora always had that crazy habit of pouncing on us, his frequent targets being me, Tatsu-nii, and Juuichi-san. Seeing this as my chance of payback, I grabbed Tora from behind and tickled him.

"H-Hey! Hiroyuki! S-Stop... Ahahah..."

It didn't take long for Tora to lose control and let go of Tatsu-nii's tail, both of us falling on the ground. Both of us got up afterwards, rubbing our aching backs.

"Thank you, Hiroyuki!" Tatsu-nii said, shaking my hands violently.

"T-Tatsu-nii! S-Stop! Please!"

The dragon let go. "Sorry. But really, thank you!"

"Why are you two even here?"

"Old man's orders. I had to check the shrine's condition."

Tora joined the conversation. "And I gave Tatsu-nii a surprise attack!"

"Wait, don't you have training and stuff?" I asked.

"I do my swimming in alternating days," Tora said. "And I'm done with weight training for today so I'm free?"

"Then shouldn't you do your homework?" Tatsu-nii said.

"I can do that later! Geez, are you gonna be like Juuichi-san on me?"

The dragon laughed. "C'mon. I'm just messing with you."

With Tora unaware, I lunged at him and tickled him again, this time having Tatsu-nii join me. Finding the dragon open, I changed targets and tickled him instead, the whole thing escalating into a tickle fight. Last time we had something like this was back in fourth grade, with me winning it. And like that time I won again, Tora being the first to give up and lose. Like a villain escaping the hero, Tora ran away from where we were and vowed to get us back another time.