"Mistress! Mistress wake up!" A shout could be heard reverberating thorough my ears.

"Hnng... urhg... ow.."

I felt my body being aprubtly shaken upon waking up. Not because of the pain, although that was a part of it, but because someone else shook their body.

The sudden movement enabled even more pain to course throughout my body.

"Ow.. ow.!"

"A-apoligies Mistress, but are you alright?"

I opened my eye-lids to find the burning light of the ceiling above me.

No wait- that was the sky.

My brain started to cast into gear as I slowly became more aware of my surroundings.

"I'm.. fine.. I think.." is all I could reply to the mysterious figure. Upon closer inspection, I find myself to be outside in the outdoors.

In a... forest? No.. trees aren't actually that green, are they?

However that soon became the least of my concerns as I turned my head towards the person that sat beside me.

"Eh?.... EEEHHHH?" Was all I could muster at the sight. Next to me was a girl. Well, actually there were 9 of them. One sitting next to me while all the others stood hiding behind the other.

"Huh? Mistress what's wrong?"

My mind kicked into overdrive to process what was happening right in front of me.

Her mouth is moving... but that shouldn't!-

Wait.. let's step back a moment.

I'm in a forest. Outside.

With 9 cute girls sitting next to me.

Wait a minute..

These people look familiar..

These 9 girls that stood beside me all had shrine-like outfits, but all distinctly different. Yet I can remember them clearly. Also.. tails?

"Ah! The Kitsune Backpack!" I shouted aloud the moment it clicked for me. I was bewildered that I was able to even interact with these summons of mine.

But wait... that shouldn't be possible!

"Y-yes.. we are the Kitsune Pack you summoned mistress.. I'm glad you remembered.." one of the girls in front of me replied in a pained smile. The other girls weren't exactly as pleased to hear from the look at their expressions. However that was the reason I was so bewildered in the first place.

Expressions!?

No, no that shouldn't be possible..

Unless..

I tried pulling up the console to determine the reason for this phenomenon.

This is part of the event right? It has to be a game update or something, and they forgot to log everyone out right?

Raising my arm up at the air, I felt nothing responding to my command.

".... Eh?"

The console isn't working!?

I tried waving my arm in all different directions, but all with the same result.

The other kitsunes started to stare at me with eyes of concern and confusion.

"Mistress.. are you sure you're alright?"

The first kitsune asked me in a polite tone.

". . . The console isn't working. ."

This was bad. Now I don't have a way to confirm any of these theories I had in mind. My head turned back to the girl that asked me in concern.

"-I mean, I'm perfectly fine! Well.. not really, but.. there was a problem with.. wait- ah!"

My mind steamed up upon the realization that I'm even having this conversation. With an NPC. Yggdrasil, despite it being a popular game internationally, it deliberately didn't add a few features to help players distinguish the virtual world from reality. One of these things consisted the lack of facial expressions and mouth movement among players and NPCs. However, these girls had exactly that.

Are missing features being implemented now?

How? And why now of all times?!

I mentally screamed inside my head. Turning my head to face the kitsune pack once more, I spoke my first command.

"You 8, go scout the perimeter and report back to me when done. Tell me anything about where we are currently and if there are any threats I should know about. Avoid confrontation if at all possible."

"Yes mistress!" The other girls behind the first said in unison. Afterwards they all dashed off in different directions from our location, dissapearing from site.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was still able to issue commands upon my NPCs. Turning my head to the first girl that woke me up, I spoke.

"You, stand here."

"Huh? Uh. Erm.. right away Mistress!" the first girl drew to me hesitantly upon being given a command so suddenly. I pulled her body closer and turned her around to face the other side.

This.. this is just to test my theory. I have to know if taste and smell is also present in-game. It's not like I have any ulterior motives to this or anything.

I nod at myself as I accepted the excuse I created for myself. Drawing my hands closer, I touched her tail.

"AaAhH! M-M-Mistress! W-what are you- Ahn~!" The kitsune let out. Meanwhile I was helping myself to her fluffy tail. All 8 of them. Each and every one fluffy as the last, but that wasn't what I pulled her for. Driving my head in, I buried my face into her fluff. "M-mistress! W-wait! Ah~" she stuttered as I continued to massage her tails, all while sniffing it.

It smells like fried tofu..

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I pulled my face back from her fluff as I now confirmed that the sense of smell was present in this world. Now.. for taste..

Releasing her tails, I draw my arms around her shoulders, holding her in place with my face behind her neck. "Mistress.. hold on-"

Lick.

"AHH~!" She screamed, right before elbowing me right in the gut. I stumbled back a bit, reeling from the minor attack just now.

"Eh? M-MISTRESS!? I-I'm Sorry!" The kitsune soon lowered her head in shame upon taking in the events that followed right after.

I stood there stunned.. mostly because I've learned two things from this experiment. One interesting confirmation was that there was definitely a sense of taste within this world. The second, more terrifying fact, was that these NPCs could rebel. I examined myself for a bit, but I determined I didn't take damage of any sort. However, that just now was an attack. An attack from my own NPCs.

So.... friendly fire is also enabled now.. how troublesome..

I continued standing in place with a hand to my perplexed chin. As the little kitsune in front of me apologized as much as she could.

This is too real.. this is way too much of a bump in AI interaction to be possible. The console isn't working either and I can't get out. Could this be..?

Then the very same voice apologizing broke into my train of thought. "I'm sorry. What?" I asked the kitsune girl right beside me.

"... Mistress.. what on Yggdrasil was that all about?" She replied condescendingly, almost as if she was re-evaluating her view on me entirely. Fidgiting in her spot.

"Wait. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for that." I rebutted, attempting to save any sort of grace I had previously.

"Ahuh.. and what is that reason?" Her eyes overturned like daggers, judging me from afar. Her arms crossed above her chest, as if protecting it from me.

"Well.. it's only a gesture of affection!" I replied coolly. Unerved by her eyes of contempt.

"Eeeeh?" Her monotone voice called out to me as she shifted in place. The girl's eyes completely unconvinced.

"You know. Like how mothers show affection for their children.. they lick them affectionately as if to protect them from potential harm or danger." I completely bullshitted.

"Hahhh? Is that it?" Her eyes continued to judge me as she continued to stare into mine.

『Passive Trade Skill: Poker Face』

A skill automatically activated, boosting my charisma to an ungodly amount. I continued to stare back with a straight expression, in hopes my bluff would work against the eyes of extreme judgement and skepticism.

"Well.. if Mistress says so then it must be true.." the fox girl decided before letting me off the hook. The stood normally, almost relieved, before walking up to me and standing in place. "What else would you have me do then mistress?" She lowered her head.

"Oh.. well. Could you turn around for a moment?" I asked.

"A-again!?" She shouted wide-eyed as she inched away at me in cowardice as her tail shivered in response.

"No no, I'm not going to do anything this time. Stand over there and face away from me for a moment." I clarified. The kitsune relaxed once more before doing as she was ordered. I sighed a huge breath of relief once she left.

Holy fuck. I managed to get through that.

Ahhh, my head. It hurts. AHHHHH!

I screamed internally to process the events that just happened.. again.

Okay.. calm down. There's just one thing left to confirm..

I looked down upon my body. Two small mounds appeared within my view as it stood there unamused with it's current predicament. Yggdrasil prohibited R-18 actions in-game of any sort, and if someone attempted doing so they would immediately get logged out of the server with a small time penalty. It was also a last resort for Shion. Closing their eyes, they proceeded with their experiment.

Grope.

Instead of opening their eyes to see a black screen with a pop-up notifying them that they were kicked out for 3 hours, they instead felt the pressure of their fingers grabbing their avatar's small mounds in place.

"Hah.. wait shit." I released my chest that was in captivity and stopped once I started to hear more sounds within the woods around me. First off, lewd. Second off, this wasn't a game anymore. This was reality and Shion was forced to confront that fact as the other kitsune pack members returned with news.

"Mistress." One of the members wearing assassin-like clothing called out. "We've all determined that there is miles of forest all around us, and that there isn't any creature over level 30 around our location. It's completely secure."

Before I could express of relief and gratitude, I had yet to come to terms with this new reality. If these girls were able to have emotions, no, they do have emotions. That means that they're able to rebel against me. I faced the assassin and her group with eyes of seriousness, as my passive was still active. I have to be careful with them, I must choose my next words carefully. If things go as badly as the first foxgirl, this could end in a disaster. "Good work. All of you. However I have one more job for all of you." I instructed with a tone of superiority.

They all stood straight, including the first kitsune that joined them as soon as they returned. They all awaited my next command. "What is your view of me? What do you think of me and why do you all follow me?" I asked in a serious manner.

They all looked upon me quizzically, as if they were given a puzzle, or sentence with special meaning. Soon the girls would group together to talk amongst each other. After a couple of minutes, the assassin foxgirl turned to me and replied. "We all are no more than mistress's tools. We live to serve you no matter what. That is our purpose." She answered, determined that was the right answer as all the others nodded in agreement.

This is bad. I can't continue treating them as objects like I did before.

I remember using them in more ways in one. Some days I use them as inventory space, and other days as sacrificial pawns for engaging raid bosses, and distractions against PKers. They were essentially simply tools as they said, as I can summon them a multiple number of times without consequence. I didn't really bother to look at their stats or abilities, as long as they worked. Hell I still don't even know their names.

Ah. So it comes to this. I have to find a way for them to introduce themselves without suspecting me to be that terrible of a person.

Bringing my hand to my chin once again, I tried thinking of a way to confirm their names.

I think I remember giving them names when I summoned the kitsune pack for the first time, but without the console I can't even check their stats...

"Alright. Is this what everyone believes to be so?" I asked, interrogating them in the same voice of superiority. They all nodded. "Yes, I managed to discuss it with everyone, and everyone agrees." The assassin replying, with everyone else nodding afterwards. "I see..." was the only two words I could reply with. If there was any some sort of disagreement, they would call out eachother's names to provide that information. However that didn't happen as I hoped it would.

Ahhh! What now!? I can't just ask them their names. They already think bad of me enough as it is. I'm a good person, I promise!

In the amis of Shion's thoughts, they soon realized that all the kitsune pack have been referring them as 'Mistress' this whole time. What if.. "Hey, do any of you know my real name?"

The other girls fidgeted in place, with one girl coming out to say. "...I believe your name was 'TouchFluffyTail' mistress.." That girl soon hid herself away within the group hiding the red in her cheeks at the moment she said it. "Ah.. I-I see.."

My username was 'TouchFluffyTail' as a reference to a game called 'Monster Maiden Adventure'. It was actually the game I based my avatar off of, as it was one of my favorite games that got me into kitsunes in the first place. However this was obviously an awkward problem in itself.

Looks like I have no choice...

"Well.. if anyone of you is uncomfortable with that, then you all are permitted to just call me Hitomu-san or Hitomu-sama. TouchFluffyTail was just my merchant name, Hitomu is my real last name." I declared. The other kitsune grown extra relieved afterwards, all sighing simultaneously as if I was releasing a huge weight off their shoulders.

"Then let Ni-san thank you for this opportunity." The assassin bowed infront of where I stood.

"Nee-san? S-sister?" I exclaimed out loud. The assassin fox soon flushed furiously afterwards as, bowing even lower to hide her face from my view.

"Eh? No no, Ni-san. I am Number 2, you mustn't tease me like this mistress. Er- I mean, Hitomu-sama." She said clarifying, fully believing I was just teasing her to get a reaction out of her.

"Is that so?" I hid my mouth to hide my surprise. My pokerface skill was still active once again, and the other foxgirls just assumed I was hiding a smirk under my mouth, thinking I'm playful by nature.

That means.. That's right, I remember now! I named them all after numbers because I couldn't be bothered to make names for all 9 of them myself. Ahh! I'm an idiot!

I mentally facepalmed myself for lacking this amount of foresight with my NPCs.

How could I name them all numbers!? That's horrible! No.. that was because I thought of them as objects before. It can't be helped. I'll have to rename them later, but for now.

"Alright, so. How far have you all scouted? And is there anywhere we could stay the night Number 2?..." I asked.

Now it sounds like I'm calling her literal shit.

"Ah! Well we found an abandoned church 8 miles away from here. We can make camp out of there." Ni-san pointed in the general direction of the mentioned building. I nodded and agreed before ordering everyone once again.

"Alright, everyone get into cargo formation and surround me. We'll head to the place Ni-San pointed out and make that our temporary base for now." I declared. The kitsune pack nodded and proceeded to do just as they were told, escorting me to the specified place.

As we walked, I was already determined to find a place to sleep in order for me to take this all in and process it, but most of all, it was to eventually prepare myself to come to terms with the terrifying fact that kitsunes taste like tofu.