Rays of morning light gently pierce through the curtains of Maria's room, if one could call it that. She changes into her dress and ventures through the corridor to meet the master. Throughout the journey, she feels like she has forgotten something, or rather someone. Maria stops and ponders, oh yes, Min. She stops in the kitchen, but there's no sign of the redhead.

"The fuzzball usually snores at this time," comes a voice from the other side of the kitchen, the same dwarf as yesterday. Maria nods in gratitude and slowly makes her way back.

When Maria reaches the fox's new room, she knocks on the door, but it remains closed. She tries again, still no response.

"Could they have passed each other?" Maria wonders, but immediately dismisses the thought. The only way would be if Min went out the main hallway, and she's not that foolish. After all, getting lost in the estate is easy, but the main corridor is marked by a black oak floor, making it easy to know where to go. As long as you don't leave it, you're fine.

Maria tries again, this time instead of gentle taps, she pounds on the door. There's a sound like something falling to the ground, followed by limping footsteps and a pained squeal. Clearly, Min stepped on something she shouldn't have. The door creaks open with a loud squeak, revealing Min.

"Y-yes? Maria, need something?" she asks foolishly. Maria sizes her up with a glance. Min is in a white nightgown, her long red hair reaching the ground and sticking out in all directions.

"Breakfast," Maria responds plainly, and the fox immediately realizes she overslept.

"Aaa!" she exclaims in horror. "Min apologize, Min overslept! Min—" Before she can continue her excuses, she is interrupted by Maria's sigh. "Yes, yes, Min, hurry!" she squeaks, slamming the door in Maria's face. Within seconds, it opens again, and Min is now dressed in simple brown clothes with a white apron. "Min is ready!" she proudly declares.

Maria eyes her. "After breakfast, we'll go to the town. The master wants you to have new clothes." As soon as Maria finishes, Min's eyes light up, and her tail quickly wags from side to side.

"Min, new clothes?" she joyfully exclaims. "But Min has no money..." She mumbles and lowers her ears, her tail now drooping like an unfurnished flower.

"Don't worry about money. The master has enough funds to buy you something."

"But Min can't accept this, Alf is too kind..."

Whenever Min refers to him by name, Maria can't help but smirk. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but using his name, let alone a nickname, is... offensive. Maria takes a deep breath and exhales. Although Min probably means well, it feels like she's looking down on her and her master.

Maria swallows all the snarky remarks she wants to make and continues. "I'll go prepare the money and the outfit for our outing. You go and prepare breakfast. Then wake up the master and wait with him until he finishes eating." Min seems eager to ask another foolish question, so Maria saves her the time by answering. "He has a habit of either tossing or hiding his breakfast." She replies, and before the redhead has a chance to say anything, Maria leaves.

--------------- Min ---------------

Min enters Alfonse's room with breakfast. It's dark, and if not for her sharp eyesight, she would surely have stumbled. She pulls back the curtains and opens the window, immediately leaning out to breathe in the fresh air. With all the wood and other nonsense Min has never seen before, it's genuinely suffocating. However, Alfonse, deeply asleep, doesn't seem to mind; it's only she who has an overly sensitive nose.

"No... Light..." Alfonse's sleepy voice sounds, clearly not planning to get up.

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She walks to the bed and pokes him twice with her nails on the arm. However, Alfonse, without any sign of willingness to wake up, continues to lie there. "Alf?" she tries to wake him again, this time more forcefully. The response is a grumpy grumble. "Alf!" she squeaks and shakes him.

"Alright, alright!" Alfonse exclaims irritably, covering his head with the blanket. "Five minutes..." he mutters from under the fabric.

Maria told Min not to be afraid to use force; would it be enough if she just takes away the blanket? With how tightly he holds it, he might lick the floor if she doesn't let go when she tugs. Min grabs the blanket and pulls on it three times. As expected, she takes Alfonse down with it. However, he's desperate to stay in bed and bundles up on the floor in the blanket. Min grabs his leg sticking out from under the blanket and tries to force him out, but in vain.

"Min waking you up! Alf must get up!" she shouts at the resisting Alfonse, who fiercely fights for the blanket. Min looks around the room and notices a bucket of water; without a second thought, she grabs it and pours all the contents onto the blanket... and it seems to have worked. The soaked boy finally shows himself.

******************************

"If Alf had gotten up, Min wouldn't have had to use water!" Min protests while rubbing his back. Alfonse throws an offended look at her.

"But you didn't have to throw a bucket with a dead fish at me!" he exclaims angrily.

"Min didn't know there was a dead fish there! And why would there be a dead fish in Alf's room?!"

"It was a test, he failed, and it died overnight." He pouts angrily.

Min dries Alfonse's head; in the meantime, he has cooled down a bit and doesn't seem as offended. "What did Alf want to achieve with the fish? Why is the fish dead?" she asks again.

"I found it battered by the stream, someone probably tested its limits and then threw it back. So, I took it and tried to fix it," Alfonse replies, with a somewhat sad tone.

"Alf talks about the fish like it's an object," Min remarks. Although she doesn't master the language perfectly, 'fix' surely isn't slang for healing. Alfonse doesn't respond further; he looks quite thoughtful, and Min decides not to press him any more. After all, it would not bring the fish back to life and wouldn't change anything, and frankly, she feels quite relieved. After all, if he turned out to be an animal tyrant, she wouldn't want to stay with him twice.

******************************

"Um... What is this?" Alfonse asks while staring at the breakfast.

Min pouts offendedly. "Min prepares breakfast, and Alf asks silly questions?"

"No, I just..." He tries to salvage the situation, but quickly realizes it won't work. "What is this supposed to be?"

"Maria said Alf should eat healthily, so Min prepares healthy food!" she proudly replies. Alfonse stares at the bowl of rice as if it were some strange creature. "Min eats this all the time! A good base for the day!"

"That's not exactly how you say it, but fine... a good base for the day." He mumbles under his nose and starts on the rice.

"Min heard Alf is going to buy clothes." She begins uncertainly, but Alfonse doesn't pay attention to her as he is currently choking on rice. He taps the table. "Hm?" She looks at him surprised.

"W-water..." he exhales and immediately coughs. Min quickly brings it to him, and he swiftly takes it and drinks. "Ahhhh," he exhales. "I thought I was going to die!"

"Alf doesn't eat rice?" She asks in surprise.

"No, it's gross and dry!"

"Alf, don't insult the food!" Min says angrily and snatches the bowl from his hands.

"H-Hey!" Alf reaches for it, but Min is quicker, taking a step back and keeping the bowl out of his reach. "Okay okay, I apologize to you, Mrs. Rice..." he apologizes to the food, and Min returns the bowl to him with a smile.

"Are you done?" Maria asks, startling Alf once again. Min has quite good hearing, smell, and all the other senses; how didn't she notice Maria?

"Y-yes." Alf answers and places the bowl on the table. Min glances at Maria, not sure why, but she has an uneasy feeling that whenever she's not looking, Maria is piercing her with her sharp eyes. But when she does look at her... she seems normal. If Min bothered her, Maria would surely tell her, right?

******************************

"So, does it suit you?" Maria asks.

"Why does Maria switch between informal and formal with Min?" Min asks confusedly. Maria gives her a piercing look and remains silent for a while.

After a minute of silence, she interrupts with a calm voice, "do you want me to use informal or formal?"

"I-informal, can Min use informal with Maria too?" Min asks eagerly.

However, Maria doesn't share her enthusiasm and continues with a cold voice. "You've been using informal with me all along, so the answer doesn't carry much weight." Does it mean that the reason Maria is upset is that Min unknowingly uses informal language? After all, in Min's language, there's no such thing, so she didn't consider it something to be cautious about.

Min lowers her ears and stares at the floor. "Min sit in the dress," she replies stiffly.

"Great, let's go so that we're back by lunch."

--------------- Maria ---------------

The entire journey to the town passes without a single word. Not that Maria minds. Quite the opposite, at least she doesn't have to listen to nonsense.

"Did Maria sleep poorly?" the redhead asks after a long time.

"No, I slept very well," Maria replies and completely shuts down the fox's attempt to start a conversation. Honestly, she slept poorly, and even though the redhead didn't bother her that much yesterday, for some reason, just her face annoys her now.