FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

So, Kounosuke and I were accompanying Shin-kun while he was doing the day's grocery shopping. Since he would also be going to Kounosuke's house right after, I thought it to be a good idea, even though the tanuki was protesting against it. I also needed to acquaint myself with some old sights that I might have forgotten so it was a win-win situation. But the idea of Shin-kun shopping kinda surprised me. I had this image in my head where he would just have high-class stuff delivered right at his doorstep. That, or he would just have his servant do the work.

"Why bother ordering from far away?" Shin-kun said. "We have so much fresh produce nearby, it'd just be a waste not to buy. And don't mistake me for some reclusive moon princess. Besides, Amaki can't do everything himself, you know?"

Kounosuke joked. "Hiroyuki, too much anime's not good for you. Were you thinking Amaki's some sort of super butler?"

Unable to think of a comeback, I moaned in frustration as the two chuckled.

Shin-kun continued. "Besides, I consider this as my form of exercise. The fresh air out here's good for my asthma. And you never know what deals you might find while out here."

"Hey! Kuda-jii's having a sale on apples today," the tanuki said. "Let's go there!"

The three of us then went to the fruit stand. Never bothering to learn the owner's name back then, we just referred to him as Kuda-jii: the old fruit seller. It was amazing that he was still around. Maybe that thing about fruits and long life does have a truth to it. Anyway, we got to the stand and all three of us bought our share of apples. A kilogram for 400 yen? How could I resist! Prices back in the city were as if the damn things were made with gold so price drops like there were a relief.

After our little spree on apples we headed to Kounosuke's house. Shin-kun's business there was that he brought a hand mixer there for repair. Being reminded of it, Kounosuke went behind the store counter and looked for something, muttering some numbers to himself - maybe the model's serial number. A short while later he put a box with the numbers he was muttering on the counter and Shin-kun inspected what was inside. Just add black coats and hats along with a film noir atmosphere and we would have ourselves a shady mafia trade scene.

"Don't you think it's time to get a new one?" Kounosuke said.

"I don't think so," Shin-kun said, smiling. "It hasn't been used much and I only use it for heavier whipping work, so I don't see a need for a new mixer."

"You fix things like this too?" I asked.

The tanuki crossed his arms. Sometimes. We normally fix farm tools, but for machinery like there we usually take them to the specialists at Kazenari. We kinda charge an intermediation fee for that."

"You can't fix it yourself?"

"Well, I can take it apart to figure it out. But for one-of-a-kind machines I'd rather not risk breaking it."

While me and the tanuki were blabbering Shin-kun looked calm, as if he was used to something like this. Not that it was disturbing, on the contrary it was reassuring. At least it didn't seem like we were boring him.

Shin-kun picked up the box. "Well I'll be going home now. How about you Hiroyuki?"

"I'll be staying here. Kounosuke and I have some business to do," I said.

The cat's ears perked. "Business with Kounosuke? Well, it's fine. See you."

Once me and the tanuki were alone at the shop, he invited me to go into the house. Passing by Harue-san in the living room, we excused ourselves while heading straight to Kounosuke's room. There, I sat near his table while he was rummaging one of his drawers for something. Finding what he was looking for, he laid the thing in front of me. It was a bunch of photos, mostly nature scenery from what I could see. Maybe "Nature" was the theme he was going for with all these. None of them looked bad. In fact, they were pleasant to the eyes, though some weren't as spectacular. Maybe those were the earlier works he was talking about.

"You're going for a nature theme?" I asked.

He frowned. "It was supposed to be 'Nostalgic Scenery'."

"Eh? But these are all nature scenes."

"So no good huh?"

"I-I'm not saying they're bad. The photos were great. But it's just that they don't exactly say 'nostalgia'. Hold on..."

I took a good look at the photos one more time and found one thing in common with all of them: most of them seemed to be close-ups on the thing he was trying to take a picture of rather than the scenery as a whole.

"It seems like you're only focusing on one thing in your photos."

He tilted his head. "That so?"

"Yeah. Try to zoom out more. And if you want to go for something nostalgic, go for something that people would remember fondly. Like a can of Sakuma Drops, children's playgrounds, or even..." I had to pause for a moment, having my own moment of nostalgia, "... even an old top."

"Ah! So that's it!" Kounosuke said, getting a small notebook and scribbling something down. "Let's go right now! No time to waste!"

"W-Where?"

"Searching for scenery of course!"

Even if his enthusiasm to photography was admirable, I still had to remind him I had other plans The frown he had stirred up my compassion for the guy, but I also found it somewhat cute. To lift his spirits up, I made another promise to help him look for scenery when I have the time. That aside I had to fulfill my first promise: treating him to shaved ice at the candy store.