My New Boss at the Yokai Pharmacy Is a Fox Who Cannot Lie novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Take Until Morning

Haruna woke to the smell of ginger and the weight of an arm across her waist.

The lamp had burned down to a coin of light.

Her yukata was on, though she did not remember putting it on, and the quilt was tucked in under her chin.

Kuzunoha lay beside her with her silver hair spread across both pillows and her face half buried in the crook of Haruna's neck.

She was sound asleep.

Haruna lay still and looked at her.

Kuzunoha's lips were parted, and her lashes were dark on her cheeks, and she had a faint crease from the pillow on one side of her face.

She looked younger than thirty, and entirely unguarded.

Haruna did not want to move.

She did not want to breathe, in case she woke her.

But the thermometer was lying on the shelf, and she was a pharmacist.

She stretched out one arm, inch by inch, and caught it between two fingers.

She slid the tip under Kuzunoha's ear.

It beeped, softly.

Thirty-seven point one.

Haruna read the number three times, and her eyes began to sting.

"Is that good?" Kuzunoha mumbled, without opening her eyes.

"It's normal. It's a perfectly normal temperature for a person."

"Is it?"

"It's the first one you've had in thirty-six years."

Kuzunoha's eyes opened, amber and sleepy.

She lay still for a moment, listening to her own body.

"It's so quiet in here," she said. "I didn't know it could be this quiet."

"Do you feel all right?"

"I feel..." Kuzunoha stopped. Her face crumpled slightly, and she laughed. "I don't have a word for it. I want to run down the alley. I want to eat three bowls of rice."

"You can do both."

"I'll start with the rice."

They ate it at the low table in the kitchen at what the clock said was noon.

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend