Hey.
There is no major plot development here, just Kohaku in his natural habitat. Sort of.
Warning: Slight mentions of Yaoi, but no actual Yaoi, though!
Not that type of fic.
Let's get back to it.
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"Scuse me, mister?"
Kohaku looked to the side and saw a small boy looking at him curiously.
"Yes?"
"Are they real?" The boy points to his large fox ears.
Kohaku blinks confusedly at him before smiling. He makes a back-and-forth motion with his fox ears and finds amusement in the young child's delight. The boy quickly dashes off to where his parents and sisters are sitting, watching the interaction with smiles.
"Huh... I just thought you were one of those Furry cosplayers..."
He looked away from the restaurant where the boy's family was and back towards the small bar area, facing the man who had given him a drink a few minutes earlier and was cleaning some already clean glasses.
"Furry cosplayers? People do stuff like that?" Kohaku snorted in amusement.
"You'd be surprised, just don't ask how they attached their fake tails..."
"Some sort of harness, I'd assume."
"Ha! More like a plug," The bartender smirked at Kohaku's naivety but laughed when his eyes widened in surprised disturbance.
"Oh... Oh! That's ummm... Dedication."
"That's one way to put it, Kid."
"Hmmm, well, I assure you, my tails aren't attached in such a manner. All genuine fox fluff," Kohaku revealed his four tails and stroked one of them in front of the humans for good measure.
The appearance of the fluffy tails caught everyone's attention in the decently busy restaurant. The kids around looked at them hypnotically and had stars in their eyes, while the adults were intrigued and genuinely curious about him.
It's not every day people get to meet a real-life Kitsune.
Usually, Kohaku would be more reluctant to reveal such things to the general human population, but being in the heart of Japan and Tokyo. The humans here are familiar with Kitsunes and fully understand that the Kansen on the Sakura Empire Island have a few fox girls running around.
Thinking back before entering this normal-looking restaurant.
This had been made painfully clear as walking through Tokyo; every other billboard or advertisement shows one of the Kansen girls promoting some product or fashion line even though they have never done any photo shoots or campaigns to such a degree.
Kohaku is aware the Admiralty of the Kansen will do everything to promote the Kansens to make the general populace trust them more and fund the Azur Lane programme. Still, he wonders if the Kansens know how much publicity they get.
It felt like a completely different world to him; the faces of the Shipgirls he knew, spoke to, and worked beside were plastered everywhere, not just on advertisement boards above their heads but in the form of Plushies in claw machines, figures and all sorts of merchandise in the shops and even cosplay stores, Kohaku could have sworn he saw a girl dressed up as Atago.
He even passed an Azur Lane-themed cafe with waitresses dressed as Royal Navy maids.
Kohaku wished he could say he was utterly unknown to the humans, but unfortunately, he wasn't. While looking around the shops for souvenirs for Akashi, he found a large poster of him standing in the middle of the ocean with blurred Sirens in the background, carrying a wounded Shikikan in his arms.
A male Shikikan...
And why were his clothes torn and showing way too much rippling oily muscle to be normal for anyone?
Better yet, why was the Shikikan looking at him with such lustful, loving eyes?!
Kohaku looked at the poster with horrified eyes.
Thinking back, the girl in her late teens approached him in a senior school uniform. She had long black hair and wore large glasses, giving her a nerdy but pleasant student-president vibe.
"Do you like it?" The schoolgirl asked.
"I have no words," Kohaku gawked at the poster still and desperately tried not to think of the Azur Lane Shikikan staring at him like that.
"Not my best work, but it's enough to go up for sale in my dad's shop!"
Kohaku swung around and stared the schoolgirl down, "Yaoi art? of all things?"
His sudden movement startled the girl, but she stared at him with wide eyes; Kohaku could see her eyes dart between the poster and him.
"Oh... My gosh!"
Kohaku's ears flattened when she squealed loudly.
"You're Kohaku?!"
"Yeah..."
"You're a Kansen?!"
"Yeah," Kohaku frowned. Was this what fangirling was?
"Gosh, a real-life Kansen standing in front of me?! The ears and tail should have been the giveaway!"
"I'm straight," Kohaku blurted out calmly.
The girl didn't respond to his comment at first, but once it clicked, she stopped fangirling and looked at him weirdly, "Huh?"
Kohaku pointed at the poster behind him, "I'm straight."
She looked at the poster again before smiling at him, "What's your point?"
"My point is I'm straight. I don't know how clearer I could be."
The young woman wanted to gush at the fluffy Kitsune, who seemed annoyed but looked more like a tsundere having a tantrum. She had so many new art ideas now, thanks to this encounter.
"You don't get how fanart works, do you?"
Kohaku bit his lip in annoyance and looked away, "It sounds rather self-explanatory."
"Exactly, then you should understand someone's imagination is not something you can stop. Besides, it's not a declaration of who or what you are. It's just art," The girl smiled up at him reassuringly.
Damn this girl and her argument, "I guess."
"Besides, this is nothing! You should see what they do with you on Rule 34!" The girl pulls out her phone and starts typing.
"No, no, that's fine!" Kohaku waves his hands in front of his face.
"See," The girl turned the phone around and pushed it into Kohaku's face.
His face instantly turned bright red, and his four tails became fuzzy like a cat in a horror movie.
This is art? Why was the Shikikan in most of these artworks with him?!
The Shikikan and him kissing...
Him giving the Shikikan oral care...
The Shikikan pushing his naked form over a desk...
"Eh?! What the f*ck, enough!" Kohaku recoiled and backed away from the phone.
"Oh, don't be such a prude, this is nothing compar-"
"I don't wanna know!" Kohaku shouted, dreading what could be worse than the art of him getting railed by another guy.
"Pfff, fine, but hey, I got to meet a Kansen!"
Kohaku looked away, ignoring her, but he was still bright red; he decided to forget everything as best he could and look at the other posters to take his mind off what he had just seen. One poster caught his eye. "Your dad owns this place, right?"
"That's right!"
"Do you work here too then?"
"Yep, I just finished school, actually, soooo my shift has just started. I didn't get time to change." The young woman points to herself in her school uniform with a smile.
Kohaku pointed to one of the posters far from the creepy Yaoi one, saying, "I'll buy that."
Turning to the poster with a smile and handing it to him, giving him a wink, "Sure thing, Shipboy!"
He didn't know if she was flirting or messing with him but ignored it and looked at the poster with amusement.
It was just perfect.
"Actually! Give me five. I know some people who would love to have this." Kohaku grinned evilly.
- - - - - - - - - -
Kohaku still sat at the bar, thinking back to his encounter with the schoolgirl, and now and then, looked down at the bags with his souvenirs and posters he had recently brought throughout the day.
But he did wonder what it would have been like to have been a school student, all those cute schoolgirls, school bullies, peer pressure, tests and sitting in classes for hours...
Kohaku frowned and thought, 'Screw that."
"Hey, Kid?" The bartender grabbed his attention.
"Hmmm? You know I'm older than you, right?"
The bartender looked slightly surprised but chuckled, "Right, right, I should've figured that out already, but can I ask a favour?"
"If you want to draw me like one of your Iris Libre Shipgirls, then it's not happening."
The bartender looked puzzled briefly but laughed loudly when he remembered Iris Libre were French and got the reference, "Hahah! I just wanted to know if we could take a picture together. My daughters and son will never believe me when I tell them I met a Kansen, the only male Kansen at that!"
Kohaku was honestly flattered, "Oh, sure!"
"My daughter Inukami is a big fan of yours, has a poster of you and everything," The Bartender says, preparing a camera and not noticing Kohaku tense at the idea of another poster of him put out there somewhere.
Shaking off the unpleasant thoughts, Kohaku smiles politely next to the human bartender and stares at the camera, his fox ears and tails fully revealed and moving to show his whole nature.
Soon after, the picture was taken.
"Scuse me, mister?"
Kohaku heard the familiar voice of a young boy pulling on his clothes, holding out a small camera and a bashful smile. Still, this time, his slightly older sisters stood behind him, smiling shyly at him.
Kohaku found himself smiling in return and lost track of time when person after person approached him, asking for a photo of him or with him.
The news started to spread, and soon, he had attracted hundreds of people to the restaurant, not that the bartender or the restaurant staff were complaining.
Business was business, after all.
Even more surprising was when the waitresses from the Azur Lane-themed cafe showed up and begged for pictures with him. Happy for such attention, he agreed and was soon surrounded by cosplaying royal maids.
Kohaku would admit the ladies cosplaying as Belfast and Sheffield were way too accurate. He wanted to ask the Sheffield waitress cosplayer if she knew the genuine Sheffield wore no panties but kept his mouth shut. He was also sure the Belfast and Sirius cosplayers were intentionally stroking his tails up to the base on purpose.
Naughty maids, Just like the originals!
While enjoying himself, Kohaku had no way of knowing these pictures would go viral and would soon reach the hands of the Shipgirls connected to the internet, like San Diego or Long Island.
In turn, the pictures would spread among the rest of the Shipgirls.
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Done!
I had lots of fun with writing this one!
There is no actual plot development or anything, just where Kohaku is and what he's doing.
Kohaku is in the big city, getting everyone's attention.
It was only natural everyone in that world would be Kansen-obsessed; they are the defenders and heroes, after all.
Kohaku is finding out the true extent of the Yaoi craze for him. Poor straight Kohaku!
I have nothing against Yaoi; it's just not my thing.
The posters are going to certain individuals who won't be impressed. I'm sure you can guess who.
How will the royal maids act when they see Kohaku in pictures with cosplayers of them? That's going to be funny.
How will Nagato, Enterprise, and Warspite react?
I own no Art of Gifs.
Thanks for the support and votes.
Zero-