The evening sun fills the house accompanied by the smell of freshly baked Tarts and Bread. Just as Fauna sets aside the bowl with freshly prepared bread for tomorrow, there is a familiar honk outside. Looking outside, there she is, the brown blob wobbling her way towards the front door of the house, leaving her solar powered truck parked up front.

Before Mumei can knock on the door, it opens wide with Fauna, this time wide awake, welcoming the intrepid adventurer inside with her hand.

- “Oh my, someone’s having a day?” - After stepping inside, Mumei hops her butt onto the table and looks around. - Shucks, I forgot the basket!” - Mumei pulls in her shoulders and hands up to her head and looks over at Fauna. - “I’ll take a detour and bring it over on my way back home?”

- “I’ll take a ride with you into town. I need to stock up on fish and flour anyway.” - Fauna grabs a back-up basket and throws the bread inside, covering it with a napkin. - “There you go.” - She hands the basket to Mumei who slides off the table with a bounce and grabs it.

- “Let’s get going then. Can’t have the people waiting for your bread!” - Mumei begins making her way out of the house and Fauna follows suit. She throws her apron next to the still messy kitchen and boops Snail on the nose with a gentle smile on her face.

- “I’ll be back soon, keep watch over the kitchen please.” - Fauna slides on her comfortable shoes and starts making her way out.

- “I will protec, like a lion! MEOW~!” - Snail roars out and immediately yawns before hopping off the table and with a paced trot making his way onto the couch and curling up.

As the two ladies exit the house, and the door locks behind Fauna. Snail begins his breathing exercises by snoring away into a soft slumber. The house goes quiet, but outside and behind the house. In a small shack that now stands unused there’s a loud rustle and rumble.

Inside, atop a small cardboard box stands the mighty and fearsome leader, her large round ears wobble around as she points her paw at her companions, squeaking stories of grandeur, promises of a better living conditions.

With every squeak the crowd of rats gets louder and louder. On queue, the evening sun shines through the cracks, illuminating the leaders azure eyes and bright red fur with black and white patches.

She crosses her arms and stands triumphantly before hopping off and flopping through the crowd as their squeaky cheers propel her along. Hakos points to a few rats she passes by who join her on the voyage with some rats waving pieces of a torn napkin at them for good luck.

She exits the shack through a small hole with a group of 10 others and they all quickly make their way through the garden, hopping from one clump of grass to the next, bounding on Hakos’s command as she leads them to victory. Once under the window, the group begins their short but hard climb up the vertical wall of the cottage, squeaky grumbles and mumbles can be heard with every inch they make in progress.

Hakos, being the first on the windowsill starts helping out the following group with her hand, pulling them up one by one and quietly cheering the slackers, pumping her tiny fist into the air in rhythm to help them climb.

One by one, the group makes it onto the windowsill and lines up just before entering the house, looking inside for the annoying furball that scares them away sometimes. BUT! The coast is clear and with that, Hakos energetically waves her hand forward and the rats quietly, but rapidly spread out throughout the house. While the group makes sure the coast is clear, Hakos trots up close to the remaining loaf of bread.

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It’s far to big for one rat to take care of, no matter! The rats quickly assemble around it and find some gaps and breaks in the crust to grip. Hakos quickly positions herself by the open window and lifts up one paw. In unison, the group heaves the loaf up. In response, Hakos then drops one paw and lifts up the next with a muted squeak, the group responds, taking one step forward. Left, right, left right, the Rats follow their leaders rhythm and a few minutes later, the loaf makes it onto the Windowsill.

With the leader, spreading out her arms vigorously, the group gently lets the loaf down and plops on their fuzzy butts, some holding themselves up on the loaf itself and taking a few deep breaths. Hakos, leans over the edge of the windowsill and her ears perk up, picking up on upcoming danger.

She loudly squeaks at her crew and they spring to action. Lifting up the loaf again and moving it to the edge. Hakos then pushes at the back and the group joins, sliding the loaf off the edge of the window. Behind them a loud, lazy meow can be heard as the fearsome guardian of this house wakes. Knowing there isn’t enough time, Hakos jumps!

The wind wooshes against her big fuzzy ears and with loud squeaks the group follows right behind her. Hakos spreads out her tiny limbs and plops onto the ground, hitting a patch of grass with a loud thud. The group piles on top of her! But they quickly recover and with small puffs of dirt coming from their feet they run around the bread, pick it up with a mighty heave and begin making their way back to the shack. Left, right, left, right! The rats follow Hakos as she leads them to victory.

And with the sound of wheels rumbling along the cobbled road, a small solar powered truck arrives at the cottage, driven by a brown blob and accompanied by Fauna. The kirin, oblivious to the heist of a lifetime that just occurred at her home, enters through the front door.

- “I have returend~.” - She proclaims and waves at Snail who is curiously looking out of the window with his tail at attention, swooshing left and right. - “I hope nothing happened while I was gone?” - Fauna walks over to snail, setting down the two wick baskets. Her smile tilts into pursed lips and a raised eyebrows at Snail.

- “I almost had our culprit! Meow!” - Snail replies, his meow unwillingly turning into a yawn. - “But they ran away~!” - He looks over at Fauna with big eyes. Behind snail, there’s a circular shape left behind where the flour didn’t settle properly, and from it a long drag mark with tiny little feet, all the way to the window.

- “Oh my, they must’ve been very elusive to have missed your senses, huh? “ - Fauna playfully pulls at Snails tail who quickly shifts around and bumps his head into the palm of her hand. After rubbing behind his ear for a little bit, Fauna stretches out her arms and tries to pull them as far behind her shoulders as possible with a loud, stretchy grunt. - “Lets find out what might’ve happened, shall we?”

Snail hops off the cupboard and follows Fauna to the front door and then outside as they head to the other side of the window. This time there’s a clear but light track of flour and crumbs of the bread skin leading right into the shack. The two curious owners of the cottage slowly make their way over to it and before they can even reach it, the tiny sounds of trotting and squeaking can be heard from inside.

The evening sun pulses briefly, illuminating the garden by the house and the old rustic shack. Fauna’s hair shines a vivid emerald green under the sun’s watchful eye. Snail’s whiskers shimmer as he looks around the area, lazily yawning as his eyes follow the bread’s route. Fauna’s pursed lips relax, her quiet smile painted on her face once more as the shack quiets down. No more squeaks, no more trotting of tiny little feet. Grass brushes against her ankles as she takes a deep breath and looks at Snail.

- “It seems we’ve lost the track my old friend…” - Fauna turns around and begins walking back to the house. The flowers bidding her farewell as she does.

- “It seems we did.” - Snail blinks slowly, looking at the shack for a little longer, before turning around and trotting towards Fauna before they both enter the house.