“Hey, wake up! Wake up, Elliot!”

Elliot opens his eyes as he realizes he must have fallen asleep at some point. The sun has completely set, the forest has fallen into a deep darkness, and footsteps can be heard in the distance.

“It's the hunters, they're back! Elliot!” Kume is in a state of quiet panic, trying not to alert the hunters that she is here, in the open. But Elliot could immediately hear it: footsteps, clicking and clacking of various machinery, probably guns. And flashlights from the far distance.

“We need to run right now!” Kume screamed as quietly as she could. But Elliot could see that it was too late, and even if it wasn't, how would the two of them escape? With both of them intact, no less?

“Quick, get in my backpack.” Elliot brought his backpack and opened it, with all the contents at the bottom.

Kume looked surprised. “What?”

“They'll notice us. I know how they operate, too. Trust me, we'll have a higher chance of going straight to them rather than hiding, it'll make us suspicious if we do the latter.”

“Are you sure?” Kume asked, understandably uncomfortable and unsure of the idea.

Elliot nodded. “Trust me.” The flashlights were getting brighter and bigger: the hunters were closing in. There was no choice, so Kume turned into her fox form and went inside the backpack.

Elliot closed it and placed it on his back, then immediately got up and started running to them.

“Hey guys! Guys, do you know how to get out of this forest? I think I got lost.”

Inside, Kume was trying to hold her breath for as long as possible, trying not to make a sound.

The Hunting Bears looked at each other, clearly confused as to what a young 20-year-old man is doing in the forest, seemingly all alone.

“Please, can you just tell me? I need to get home quickly, and-”

“What are you doing here?” one of the hunters asked.

“I was doing some wildlife photography.” Now that Elliot mentions it, the hunters see the camera on his neck.

Oh god, the photos with her are there, Elliot quickly realized.

“Wildlife photography, huh?” Elliot nodded. “Can you show us some of your photos?”

Elliot starts to panic, and Kume’s breathing becomes deeper and quicker as she tries to muffle it even further through her fox mouth. “No, I don't think they're any good. I'm still very new to all this.”

“Well, it'd be nice to have a judge, right? Let you know how your photos are, what you can do to improve them.” Elliot realizes how he can get out of this.

“You know what? Sure. Just give me a second, I gotta turn on this camera,” he says, as the camera is already on. He quickly navigates to the gallery.

The same hunter says, “No, no, it's okay, let us-”

Elliot backs away. “This is my friend's camera that I borrowed for this. Please leave it be?”

“What are you doing, clicking on all that? Technical issues? You know, I know how to handle a camera, I can help,” said another hunter.

Elliot quickly deleted the photos with Kume. “Alright, sorry about that, they are already here.”

He hands the camera to the group, and they take a look at the photos. They don't look impressed by his photos.

Meanwhile, Kume already has ideas of her own. She starts moving around the backpack, and the hunters hear and look up. Thinking quickly, Elliot pretends to nearly trip. “Sorry, can I sit down? Not really used to the terrain here.”

The hunters look at each other. “Well, it checks out,” said the hunter who asked for Elliot's camera. “Alright, go sit down, and invest in some better boots next time.”

Elliot sits down and puts his backpack to the side. The thump of the backpack hitting the soil is the only sound they can hear for miles. He needs to get out of their sight, right now. No one is here to help him in the dark forest.

“Hey guys, I'm glad you decided to look at my photos, but I really, really need to go home now. Can you show me the way out?”

“Oh, sure!” One of the hunters hands back Elliot's camera. “Just one more thing, just as a security check.”

“What is it? And why do I need to do it?”

“We just want to make sure none of the flora or fauna gets out of this forest. Would be bad if some mice or bugs got into your house, right?”

Elliot silently admits that it's a good reason. “Alright, so what is it?”

“We just need to take a look inside your backpack, that's all.”

Elliot becomes shaken. “What?” But it's too late; one of the hunters has already taken his backpack and flipped it upside down. “What are you doing?! That's my stuff!”

All the contents fall out: the lunch box, the camera lenses, the power bank for his phone, the water bottle, and…

No sign of Kume.

What? Elliot wonders. Where is she?

“Oh dear, it looks like we broke your camera lenses. We're very sorry about this.”

Quick, keep up the act! “Yeah, why didn't you let me hand the contents to you?! Do you know how much it'll cost to replace them? What am I supposed to tell my friend?” But as he's saying that, one of the other hunters brings out her wallet. “How much do those lenses cost? We'll repay you right here in full. And a little extra, we know we were kind of being assholes.”

“Um… I think 200 bucks?” Elliot didn't care about the lenses at this point. Where the hell is Kume?

The huntress brings out 250 bucks. “There you go. Hey, you seemed kind of out there. Scared. Everything okay? You saw something?”

Yip!

The hunting group immediately looks up. “That's the one!” The huntress nods and then looks to Elliot. “Your phone has a compass?” Elliot nods. The huntress says, “Open it and keep walking towards the west. Eventually, you should reach your car. I think it's your car, it was parked outside the forest. Blue hatchback, right?” He nods. “Yeah, that's my car.” The huntress continues, “So just keep going to the west. You'll get there eventually. By the way, that's a pretty nice car-”

“Luv! What are you doing?! Hurry up, we'll miss it!”

“Alright, I'll go!” The huntress, now known as Luv, gets up and runs towards the group, leaving Elliot behind without any thought. He takes many deep breaths as he tries to rapidly calm himself down at this close encounter.

I can't go find Kume, they'd expect me to go west. Maybe if she can come to me… And thus Elliot gets up and starts walking as loudly as he can, hoping Kume hears his footsteps. Or smells his scent. Anything. And so he starts walking, walking, walking, walking, until he sees the edge of the forest, with his blue hatchback right there, like Luv said.

Maybe I'll go back to Kume in a couple of days, Elliot thinks-

Rustle.

Elliot turns around quickly. Could it be?

A flash of orange getting bigger quicker and quicker-

Kume runs straight into Elliot, hugging him. Elliot quickly returns the hug.

“I'm so sorry I ran like that, please believe me, you-”

“You saved me there,” Elliot says. “Thank you so much.” He starts to cry. “Oh god, I thought we could have died back there… seriously, thank you, Kume. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Then Kume starts to cry. “I'm sorry about all that-” then Elliot immediately responds with, “Don't be. You helped save us from them. Now let's get going,” as tears of fear and relief fall out.

Elliot starts walking to his car, but then has an idea.

“Kume, would you like to stay with me?”

Kume looks up, fully expecting to be left behind in the dark forest. “What?”

“It's not safe for you here, because of those hunters. And sorry to be frank, but if you're not killed by the hunters, you'll die of starvation. I don't want that to happen.” Elliot has laid his cards on the table. Quickly, Elliot tries to add more. “I'll do the cooking, I can help you clean up, I'll keep you safe-”

“Really? Can I really… stay with you?” Like says, eyes wide with curiosity.

Elliot nods. “I just want to keep you safe, and you can always return to the wild if you don't feel comfortable with me.”

“I'll stay with you!” Kume says. “I'd be so grateful to be able to spend more time in the human world… especially with a human companion like you.”

Elliot is still a little taken aback. “You sure?” Kume now wears a big smile. “I'm sure! Maybe… you could consider this payment for me helping save your life?” They both giggle at that, and Elliot is surprised that she's got some sense of humor. Dark, but it's there.

Elliot smiles. “Alright, then let's go! And don't forget, you can always return to the forest if you ever feel like it, okay? Don't feel forced to stay with me. Understand?”

Kume is smiling so widely that it's hard to tell whether she's taking this seriously or not. She nods enthusiastically.

“Alright, let's get in before the hunters realize you're here,” Elliot says, as he unlocks the car and opens the doors for the two of them to enter through.

Elliot turns on the car, and it rumbles to life. “What's this?” Kume asks.

“It's a ‘car’,” Elliot responds. “It helps people travel quickly. Maybe you've seen these before?” “Yes, I have! I didn't know their name, though,” Kume says.

The radio comes on suddenly, and Kume jumps a bit in shock as Elliot turns down the volume. “Sorry about that,” Elliot says.

“What is that?!”

“It's a radio. It plays music. You know what music is?”

“Well, we kitsune did have our little songs and melodies that we'd sing to each other sometimes.”

“Well, we humans have our songs and melodies, and the radio is one way we can play them!”

“Wow! I didn't know this technology existed!”

“Oh, then prepare to be more mind blown once you get to society,” Elliot says with a big smile, as he switches the radio to calming classical piano to help take their minds off their near-death experience.