Artificial 4: A Very Foxy Tale

Chapter 5: EPILOG

"H-Hachimon?"
I say with surpise and quiver in my lip as I can feel tears starting to form. Hachimon turns around and looks at me in confusion but then notices my ears. "Hachimon? My name is Jaune D'arc, I think you have the wrong person, miss. Also, are those real fox ears? You're not one of those people who call themselves furries, are you?"

My heart sinks as I recognize his soul. My husband's reincarnation is right in front of me, and yet he doesn't remember his own wife.
"N-No, I'm what's called a Divine, I'm a Malinal Fox. Feel."
I approch Jaune and allow him to feel my fuzzy ears to which they flicker and flinch.

"Holy crow, they're real!"
I look to see if anyone else was around the water fountain,
and even though I didn't see anyone,
I pulled Jaune into a nearby store and entered the changing room.
"Ummm, miss? Not that I'm complaining, but I don't think I should be in here!"
He whispers a bit loudly.
Thankfully,
no one saw us go in together,
or if they did,
they aren't saying anything.
"Shut up and watch!"

I whisper a bit softer than him and cover his mouth with my hand,
my nine fuzzy reddish pink tails shoot out of my lower back.
Jaune's eyes widen,
and he just gives me a simple nod.
I wrap one of my larger tails around him instinctively and take my hand off his mouth.
He didn't say a peep,
and I made my tail and ears disappear via magic concealment.

After our little trip to the store,
he hung around me,
and it was as if I was falling in love all over again,
a new Hachimon,
so to speak,
only reincarnation.
He treated me to some food at the mall's food court,
and he took a genuine interest in me.
It was as if the past hundreds of thousands of years had never happened.

We trade cellphone phone numbers and went our separate ways for the time being,
agreeing that the mall would be our meet-up spot.
Weeks passed as we engaged in flirting over text,
getting to know our likes,
dislikes, foods, etcetera.
After a month,
he found time to meet up,
and we grabbed some coffee,
chilling by the fountain we met,
chit chatting about life.

"Hey Jaune, is your last name special or something? It sounds like a well-known name around these parts."
Jaune's face softens as he breaks eye contact and looks so depressed at the table.

"Unfortunately, it is, my father, the head of the D'arc family is practically the city's mayor's right hand man, the family certainly loves their politics, and even though it's not said, everyone knows my family is in a position of power and authority, they practically run the city I live in. It's always on and on about the family name. I just........ don't want to be treated like royalty. My family's expectations are just too high. They overly criticize my actions, even the minor stuff saying that's not how a D'arc should act. Theu want me to be just like my dad and grandpa."

My bleeding heart goes out to him. Instinctively, I put my hand on his hand, feeling his warmth,
so I turn on the good ol' Yuzu charm and give him a bright smile.
"You can always tell me anything."
Jaune looks up,
blushing and softly smiling back. "Thanks, Yuzuhara, I'll hold you to that." Another month goes by,
and once again,
we find ourselves hanging out with the mall.
This time,
Jaune said he had something important to tell me.

Once we met up,
we walked for a few miles into an alleyway and down some steps.
The place looked like it hadn't been used in some time,
a minotaur tree house,
a beat-up rug with holes in it,
a smashed television,
a blinking light in the kitchen,
some mice or rats here and there,
and finally some fresh meat in the fridge,
only it wasn't fresh meat but human insides.
Disturbing. Anyway,
I turn to face Jaune,
and he gives me a sad expression.

"Please don't think bad of me, but I'm a-."
I cut off his sentence and fill in the blank a bit faster than intended.
"Artificial Demon? Yeah, I knew that since we first met, and I got ahold of your scent. You can lie, but my foxy nose doesn't."
Jaune was surprised but confirms what I said and explains how him and his friends are fighting the cravings as Artificial Demons put it.