When I regained conciousness, I was lying on my back, my whole body feeling light and refreshed. I opened my eyes only to become petrified, as a giant creature was looking down on me.
At first, I could only make out a blurry silhouette in the endless white that had surrounded me, but as the fog cleared up, it slowly gained color and more detailed features. When I finally realized it was Ofris, I felt both relieved and anxious.
«Why does he look so worried? How long was I gone? Did something bad happen?»
A random idea grew somewhere inside of my head. It was something I didn't dare to dream off before, something I had long given up on. I felt a faint smile growing on my lips.
«Did I really turn back into a man?!»
Within a heartbeat, I was wide awake.
«Ofcouse he is shocked! I never told him anything about my past life!»
"Are you ok?" He asked, clearly hesitating to do so.
「I am!」 My answer came immediately.
A cold shiver went over my body. What should have been a cheerful and almost childish answer, instead came out as two high-pitched yelps. I felt my whole body turning stiff.
「A- a fox?!」
「Yes, you are~」 Shiro confirmed my fears. 「And such a cute one~」
I jumped up, trying to expose her lies, but instead of my usual, rather slender arms and legs, four small paws were now waving in the air, desperately trying to turn around my body.
「No, no, no!」
"It is all ok! Calm down!"
「How can I calm down?! She turned me into a fox!」
「Didn't you do it yourself?」 Shiro asked, fake innocence coloring her voice.
「It was you that did it to me! You gave me the magic! Now turn me back!」
「I can't.」
「OF COURSE YOU CAN!」
"Calm down, Rika! I don't even understand what you are saying! It's all barks and yelps!"
「WHO IS TALKING TO YOU!? TURN ME BACK!」
「I told you I'm unable to!」
「What do you mean unable to?!」 I screamed or rather barked at her. 「You used my magic before! Against the goblins!」
「I would die if I were to do it right now...」
「What?!」
A deadly silence spread in my mind. The vixen was gone once again, leaving behind not a single word of explanation.
«Can't she just tell me?»
"Have you calmed down now?" Ofris asked, sounding rather worried.
「I'm fine...」
"I guess that means yes." A loud sigh left his lips. "Just turn back for now."
「I can't!」
"You don't want to?"
「...」
«Let's try to use the magic again. I should be able to bark just fine...»
Naturally, I could bark like a fox now, but that did not mean I was able to say those 'kons' the magic demanded. When I tried to imitate them, only cute sounds left my lips, cute enough to lure in the rest of the party members which probably had been hiding away upon hearing my angry barks. Miriam was the first to attack me.
"So cute~"
「...」
She picked me up from the ground just the way I was, lying on my back, and placed me onto her warm lap. Two well-formed mounds were now blocking away part of the sky and her face. I couldn't help but gulp.
"Oww~ I want to pet you! Can I pet you? I can, right?!"
I couldn't even answer. Her attack had come to sudden and the unintended diversion hadn't exactly helped, either. Before I realized what was going on, Miriam was already full in cute-little-pet mode. With me being the pet, obviously.
She rubbed my furry chest, my soft tummy and my neck. When she then scratched the area behind my ears, I felt pure bliss. A faint purr could be heard coming from me.
"Did she plan for this to happen?" Ofris suddenly asked.
"What do you mean?" The rather envious looking Sophia asked.
Sophia didn't exactly make a secret out of what she felt when seeing me. She seemed to have a thing for cute pets, just like Miriam did. Sure, I didn't see myself yet, but I could easily see from their reactions what wonders this magic had done. This didn't change a thing about me hating it, though.
«That's the spot~»
"The book she gave me before has a chapter about foxes," Ofris explained. "I didn't know why there would be something like that in there. Now it is kind of obvious..."
"You mean she wants us to spoil her?" Jack asked from somewhere out of my field of vision. "She should just have asked you."
"Asked me..."
"Aren't you two a couple?!" He protested. "Don't let her starve on love like that!"
"I never did!"
«They- they believe were are a thing?!»
Jack sighed. "It seems you have already forgotten on how to treat a lady. Aren't you afraid she will be stolen away?"
The color in Ofris' face changed from pale to red and back to white. "She just used magic!"
«Couldn't you deny it a little more believeable!?»
Unable to fight off Jack's random accussions, Ofris could only use the sole escape route he could think of. He pulled forth the book from god-knows-where and hurriedly skimmed through the pages. When he reached the chapter he had talked about earlier, he began to read.
"Food, Daily necessaries, potty training, breeding... ah, there it is!"
"What did you find?" Sophia asked.
"She will turn back once she has exhausted her mana. There is no other way." I heard Ofris gulp. "The transformation requires less mana over time than she is able to regenerate without resting..."
「Wait- does that mean... I WILL STAY LIKE THIS FOREVER?!」
⊱————- Extra ————-⊰
Rika: Shiro?!
Rika: Shiro!
Rika: Listen to me, will you?
Rika: You will turn me back at once!
Rika: Else I will tell everybody you are a dog goddess!
Rika: I will tell them to build temples shaped like dog houses and offer you dog treats!
Rika: It will be a church of dog-lovers and you will be the bitch they look up to!
Rika: How does that sound?!
Shiro: Mating... mating...
Rika: Mating?!
Shiro: If I do this, she should become pregnant...
Rika: Pregnant?! ME!?
Shiro: This will do. Which of those males should I use? Ah, that one seems fine!
Shiro: Can't wait~
Rika: You- you are scaring me off! Stop it!
Shiro: Everything seems to be ready.
Rika: Ready for what?!
Shiro: Mating start~♡
Rika: NOOO!!
Shiro: PrincessRose has laid an egg! Finally!
Rika: Princess... what?!
Shiro: Ofcourse I want to hatch it!
Shiro: Can't wait to have them all~
Rika: You- YOU ARE GAMING?!