Kitsune Boyfriend: Toshiyuki (special preview)

Every year, there is a festival of lights along the border of the Polar when the frost first occurs. The passages into the kingdom are opened up, so the neighboring kingdoms all come together to celebrate. Your village is on this border, a small Polar town near the base of the mountains where hot springs naturally occur. It is also the site of one of the festival's best loved treats called the Fox Trap.

For generations your family as run boarding house, which includes special treatments using the hot springs on your property. You have been taught all your life how to be a hostess as well as prepare the beloved food that is served, including the Fox Trap. Your family has a secret recipe for it and people will gather far beyond the gates of the boarding house just to have one.

Story goes that your ancestor learned of the recipe from one of the kitsune that hides in the mountains above the hot springs. They camouflage themselves in the steam and snow to escape detection, taking on beautiful guises in order to sneak down into the village to steal food, gold, and sometimes hearts. The kitsune were particularly fond of food, especially anything easy to grab. The Fox Trap was made as a way to detect a kitsune in disguise. Your ancestor had captured a kitsune in such a way, and from that trapped creature, they were able to create the most delicious Fox Trap recipe in the Polar.

You hate it. Ever since you were little you have been unable to enjoy the festival because of your family’s business and the Fox Trap. You work the entire time, and everything is over whenever you get the chance to finally leave the grounds of the board house. You only get scraps or brief glimpses of how grand the festival had been. Even when you are serving, you barely get to see the floating lanterns as they are released.

You have tried for years to get away from the boarding house during the festival, as it is hard work, constant work, and you are often left burnt out and exhausted afterwards. You always end up staying, knowing the work will be difficult on your family, especially your parents now that they are older.

This past year has been particularly trying as they expect you to marry. You’ve been meeting their prospects all year, and it had become more and more grating with each new man you meet. Each one seems to have something to say about the missing finger on your left hand. The middle finger was severed a long time ago, back when you were young. You wear a specially made wooden prosthetic, but it still does not deter the comments.

The festival is drawing near so you are preparing large batches of Fox Traps. Vats are stuffed to the brim with filling while you work on flattening out the sheets of meat that will be shaped into pockets. As you are forming the pockets there is a tapping at the window.

You look up and see someone wearing a kitsune mask looking in. He’s quite tall so he has to bend over to look inside.

“Looks mighty tasty what you got there,” he says. “Mind if I have a sample?”

You look at him and furrow your brow. “It’s not cooked.”

He tilts his head to the side. “The filling is, isn’t it?”

You continue to frown at him. The sharp features and wicked eyes of the mask make it feel like he’s taunting you. “Are you a guest here at the boarding house?”