Fiu was sitting on the couch in Snow’s shack. Soft sun rays shone in through the small windows of the cabin. The fox girl was chopping up carrots in the kitchenette part of the cozy cabin. She was wearing a white apron over her beige sweater that emphasized all the right places.

“So, what are you making anyways?”

“Soup.”

“Yeah, but what soup?”

“Hm? Just soup,” she said while smiling mischievously.

Fiu didn’t want to drag the conversation further, so he just sat quietly on the couch. His right leg was bouncing up and down anxiously, even though his expression seemed like he didn’t care about anything anymore.

The sound of the water boiling on the heater filled the small cabin, giving a soft background sound. Fiu stared at Snow as she was cooking. When she noticed the staring, a slight blush colored her cheeks and she looked back at Fiu with a raised eyebrow.

“Why are you staring?” She asked while pouting adorably.

Fiu averted his gaze, but he didn’t say anything.

“You’re going to make me embarrassed if you stare at me like that,” Snow murmured under her breath.

Snow turned back to the boiling soup, and continued mixing it with a wooden spoon.

Some time passed, and the soup was ready.

“Dinner’s ready! Come sit here,” Snow gestured at one of the seats at the table.

Fiu stood up from the couch, and stumbled over to the table to sit down.

Snow quickly served him a bowl of soup and gave him a spoon.

“Let me know what it tastes like.”

Fiu sinks the tip of his spoon into the soup, letting it fill to the brim. He brought the spoon to his mouth and tasted it. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth for a moment before he quickly masked it with an empty expression.

“It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

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Snow’s face was lit up with excitement and she squealed in delight.

“I told you it would be the best soup you’ll ever taste.”

“...”

“Again, what ingredients did you use?” Fiu asked while already taking another spoonful of soup into his mouth.

“That’s a secret!”

Snow flashed him a mischievous grin.

Fiu was skeptical about all this, but the food tasted great nonetheless, so he didn’t bother with forcing the recipe out of Snow.

Soon, Snow sat down in front of Fiu to eat, too.

“I’d be a great chef, don’t you think?”

“...” He didn’t care enough to answer, but felt that it was a bit rude of him not to do that. “I guess you could make some money by selling this.”

“Money? We don’t need money. We’re spirits.”

“How did you get all of this stuff in your house then?” Fiu asked. He was clearly confused by the idea.

“Well, I kind of just do this,” she said and held up a hand. A blue, translucent “thing” appeared in her hand, and it quickly materialized into another spoon in front of their eyes. She dropped the spoon on the table in her exctiement.

“...”

Even though he didn’t want to converse too much with this weird girl, he was amazed by what she could do.

“How did you… do that?”

Snow smiled widely at Fiu’s reaction. Her mind was already overflowing with the possibilities of this conversation.

“It’s hard to explain, but I can show you later, if you want me to,” she proposed eagerly.

“Fine, I guess,” Fiu responded half-heartedly.

Snow clapped her hands together excitedly and the spoon dissipated into blue mist.

“So, how do I do that?” Fiu asked, trying to sound gloomy, but his eagerness shines through his facade.

“I’ll show you,” Snow responded with even more eagerness than Fiu.

Snow extends her right hand again, and a little clone of Fiu appears in front of them. If that wasn’t amazing enough, it started slightly moving before turning into blue mist just like the spoon did before.

“Your turn,” Snow declared.

“Okay…”

Fiu waved his hands in awkward patterns, and the moment of truth came: nothing happened.

Snow giggled slightly. “You’re trying too hard. Relax! Think of something that feels… real to you.”

Fiu thought for a moment and extended both of his hands again. But, again, nothing happened.

“This is some bullshit,” he said angrily.

Snow giggled again at Fiu’s angered state. “You can always try again later.”

Fiu shook his head and let out an annoyed clicking sound with his tongue.

—————

To be continued…