The next morning, Laura made her way into Hiyokuna, her backpack slung over her shoulders. The night before she and Gabe had managed to finish the beer she had left, and her tails had finally drained her shampoo bottle dry, so she was headed for the supermarket to get some more of both.
As the magically hidden, sword like metal club smacked against her thigh, the Kitsune was reminded that she would need to make a scabbard of some sort for it before she actually ground it into shape if she wanted to continue carrying it with her at all times. Putting wooden planks on her mental shopping list, she continued on, using one of her tails to keep the metal from scraping against the ground by pushing on the handle sticking out above her belt.
Once she was in town , she quickly spotted Mr. Tanaka carrying some supplies towards the alley his bar was in. Waving to grab his attention, she run up to him. "Morning Mr. Tanaka, sorry to bother you, but would you happen to know where might I get some timber here in Hiyokuna?"
"Ah Hello, you were one of Daiki's friends right?" The Middle aged man asked unsurely. "Well for smaller projects there might be some in the craft section of the Supermarket. Otherwise, I am sure Mr. Daikumusuko could help you get some." Mr. Tanaka continued as he put down the crate he had been carrying. Pulling a paper napkin and a pen out of it, he wrote directions for Laura on it. "Here, that's the way to his place from the train station. I hope to see you three in my bar again soon."
"Thank you, I have classes this evening, but I'll make sure to visit on the weekend." the spirit replied as she took the napkin form the bar owner. "I'll be on my way for now though."
"Yes, Have a good day." He said as he picked up his crate and continued on.
Walking on, Laura soon reached the supermarket, which turned out quite a lot smaller when she had to account for a hidden, a meter and twenty long weapon she could not move out of the way as easily as her tails. After grabbing what would normally be a years worth of shampoo, which would hopefully last a month with how much her tails used up, she spent a good while deliberating what beer to buy this time after having tried some of the local brands by now. After having finally settled on a dozen bottles and cans of beer, the Kitsune went on to the rather small section holding craft supplies, mostly thicker papers, various pens, pencils and glues. As she had expected little else, she paid for the things she was buying, slightly surprised that the cashier didn't give her an odd look over the amounts she was buying, and left the store.
Deciphering Mr.Tanaka's directions turned out a bit more challenging than the spirit had hoped for. While she could read his handwriting decently enough, the fact that his instructions constantly switched between using actual street names, which weren't always easy to discern, and having her count the number of intersections between turning right or left, had not helped her understanding much. In the end though she arrived at a small Carpenter's workshop. Walking up to the door, she noticed a small sign that invited customers to step in.
Doing so Laura was confronted with a rather small store like area, with only a counter and a cash register, behind which glimpses of the actual workshop could be seen through a half open door. Spotting a small bell on the counter, the young woman walked up to it, and rang it, seeing as no one else was around at this moment.
It took about a minute until she could hear someone approaching from the workshop, his grumbling easily caught by her fox ears. "Why can't people just let someone work quietly this early, always the moment I have everything ready for the day and start working, someone rings that damned bell."
The, from the rough sound of his voice, older man stopped his grumbling a couple of moments before opening the door fully and stepping up to the counter.
"Hello there miss, what can I help you with?" The craftsman asked her politely.
"Hello, I got directions here from Mr. Tanaka after asking where I might purchase some wood for a project I am working on." The Kitsune responded rubbing her neck. "I didn't expect to be sent to a carpenter's shop though."
"Nah he was right to send you here." the human told the spirit. "We don't have a hardware store in town, so I do sell some good wood for people to use in their hobbies when they ask for it. So how big a piece you need?"
"Hm, about a meter and twenty long, ten centimeters wide and two thick" Laura replied after a moment of estimating the final size of her weapon, adding a few centimeters to all measurements as she could always grind excess material away. "And two of them please."
"That sounds doable enough, any particular wood you want for this?"
"Not really no."
"Okay, just a few moments then." The craftsman said as he walked back into his workshop, where Laura could pick up the sounds of a table saw cutting wood for a handful of minutes. After that, the Craftsman did return, and after paying for the material, Laura gave short thank you as she began her walk back to Campus, hopefully making it in time for the first class of the afternoon.