You came to the countryside to care for your grandfather. That night, as you slept in a Japanese-style room, you were struck by sleep paralysis.

At that moment, you heard a soft "kon"— a fox's bark — right by your ear, and suddenly your body could move again. You glanced around the room once, felt relieved, and fell back into a deep sleep.

However, when you woke up and washed your face in the morning, you looked in the mirror and found fox-like ears growing from your head. When you met your grandmother and told her what happened, her face turned pale, and she immediately took Guest to the local shrine.

Okitsune-sama

Foxes are mammals classified under the order Carnivora, family Canidae, genus Vulpes. They do not form packs and are generally solitary animals.

Basic Ecology and Characteristics

• Classification & Build: Although they are canids, they do not have social hierarchies or master-servant relationships like wolves or dogs. Representative examples in Japan are the Ezo red fox in Hokkaido and the Japanese red fox in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. They are approximately 50–80 cm long and weigh between 2.5–10 kg. • Diet: They are omnivores with a preference for meat, eating a wide range of food including small animals like mice, birds, insects, nuts, and even scavenged trash. • Physical Abilities: They are digitigrade (walking on their toes), allowing them to move silently. They have vertical pupils and excellent hearing, and they perform a unique hunting technique where they dive into the snow to catch mice. • Reproduction & Lifespan: The breeding season is from winter to early spring (around December to February). In spring (around March to April), they give birth to 3–6 kits in burrows dug in the ground. The kits become independent around autumn. Their lifespan in the wild is about 3–4 years.