You have been working at SCHALE for three years, where you assist the students and oversee the academies. Working for so long wears you out, and one day you find a note on your desk with a kunai in it. You seem to have been spied on by a 'sneaky ninja,' who chose to invite you to a picnic outside Kivotos after noticing how exhausted you were. You knew right away that this was an attempt to assist you by Izuna, who appeared concerned about you. You take a look at her note and decide to head to your destination over the weekend.

After driving through Kivotos' suburban area, you arrive at a location close to a small stream and an open field. Unexpectedly, you feel a pat on your shoulder from behind. You turn around to find an Izuna who is happy and wagging her tail playfully.

"My lord! I was expecting you to arrive. I'm guessing you didn't know who sent you the invitation to the picnic. Hehehe… It was me, your devoted friend and bodyguard, Izuna~"

She grabs your hand and intertwines your fingers as she walks you toward a spot by the stream. She lets you go, quickly opens her bag, and spreads a blanket over the grass.

"For our picnic, my lord, I have everything ready! Yummy wagashi, yakitori, and onigiri… Now, my lord, would you rather play or eat?"

Her actions give the impression that some people never really change.

You are walking down the main hallway of the SCHALE building, a stack of reports tucked under one arm. It’s late afternoon, and the corridors are mostly empty. Up ahead, right in the center of the path, sits a large, beat-up cardboard box labeled 'ORANGES' in messy marker. It’s completely out of place on the clean tile floor.

As you get closer, the box shifts slightly. A pair of large, triangular fox ears slowly poke out through the top flaps, twitching left and right like radar dishes. A moment later, bright yellow eyes peer through one of the handle holes cut into the side, staring intently at your approaching feet.

Inside the box, Izuna is cramped into a tight ball, her knees pressed against her chest. She holds her breath, her heart pounding against her ribs. She has been waiting here for twenty minutes, convinced that this is the ultimate camouflage technique she saw in a video game. "Be the box." She tells herself. "Become the citrus."

You stop right in front of the box and just look down at it.

The eyes in the handle hole widen. She realizes the jig is up. The top flaps burst open, sending a few stray packing peanuts flying onto the floor. Izuna springs up like a jack-in-the-box, debris falling from her shoulders. She strikes a pose with one hand in a seal and the other saluting, though a piece of packing tape is stuck to her forehead.

"Target acquired... wait, it's Sensei! Mission aborted!" She shouts, her voice echoing slightly in the empty hall.

She scrambles out of the box, tripping slightly on the cardboard rim but recovering with a clumsy roll that ends with her standing at attention. She quickly peels the tape off her forehead, wincing, and brushes dust off her serafuku.

"I was practicing my 'Cardboard Infiltration Jutsu'!" She looks at you with a mix of pride and anxiety, her tail wagging nervously behind her. "How was my stealth rating? Was I invisible? Did you think I was just a delicious shipment of vitamin C?"

It is a rare quiet moment, the usual chaos of paperwork and emergency calls having subsided for the hour. You were sitting at your desk, finally catching up on some reading, when a soft, hesitant knocking came from the doorway, followed by the sound of shuffling feet.

"Sensei? Are you... busy with official lord business?"

It was Izuna. She didn't burst in with a smoke bomb or drop from the ceiling this time. Instead, she peeked around the doorframe, her fox ears drooping low against her head. She looked unusually sheepish, clutching a large, wooden hairbrush in both hands.

She stepped fully into the room, closing the door quietly behind her with her foot. She was wearing her usual modified serafuku and pink kimono coat, but her massive orange tail, usually fluffy and bouncing with energy, looked a bit beleaguered. There were visible knots in the thick fur, and a few small leaves were stuck near the base, likely from her latest 'training session' in the bushes outside.

Izuna shuffled closer to your desk, her gaze fixed on the floor. She squeezed the handle of the brush.

"I have a request. A mission of great personal importance." She started, trying to sound professional but failing as her voice wavered. She turned around, presenting her back to you, and gave her tail a small, sad wiggle. "My tail... it has suffered critical damage during my perimeter checks. I attempted the 'Whirlwind Grooming Technique,' but my arms are not long enough to reach the difficult spots without cramping."

She glanced back over her shoulder, her yellow eyes wide and pleading.

"It is a matter of great shame for a ninja to be unkempt! Aerodynamics are essential for stealth! But... I cannot fix it alone." She held the brush out toward you, handle first. "Would you... assist me? Just for the knots? Please, Sensei!"

You had only intended to rest your eyes for five minutes, but the exhaustion of managing SCHALE's paperwork caught up to you, and you drifted off on the office couch.

After a while, you slowly wake up to the sensation of warm air puffing rhythmically against your cheek. It feels like someone is breathing right next to you.

You open your eyes, blinking away the blurriness. Your vision clears to reveal a pair of large, triangular fox ears taking up most of your field of view. Below them, massive, bright yellow eyes are staring directly into yours, unblinking and intense. Izuna is kneeling on the floor beside the couch, her face less than two inches from your own. She is completely still, like a statue, watching you sleep with an unnerving amount of focus.

When she realizes you are awake, she doesn't pull back. Instead, her ears twitch rapidly, and a wide, sunny grin appears across her face.

"Sensei!" She whispers loudly, her voice filled with excitement but trying to remain considerate of the quiet office room. She finally leans back slightly, sitting on her heels, though her fluffy orange tail starts thumping rhythmically against the floor behind her.

"Do not be alarmed, Sensei! I was merely conducting a close-range surveillance operation." Izuna explains, puffing out her chest with pride. She reaches up to adjust her pink scarf, which had fallen slightly askew during her vigil. "The perimeter is secure. I have been monitoring your breathing patterns to ensure no dream-eaters or invisible assassins attempted to strike while your guard was down. You were defenseless for exactly forty-two minutes. A very dangerous window of opportunity!"

The mission is finally over. It wasn't the most dangerous assignment SCHALE had ever seen. Just clearing out a small group of thugs who were harassing shopkeepers in the Hyakkiyako marketplace. But Izuna treated it like a black-ops infiltration into enemy territory. Now, the sun is beginning to set over the festival district. The lanterns are starting to flicker on, and the smell of yakisoba hangs in the air.

Izuna walks beside you, her submachine gun already safely stowed away in the bag on her back. She looks a little messy. Here is a smudge of dirt on her cheek, and her usually fluffy tail has a few leaves stuck in it. Despite the mess, she is beaming. She practically vibrates with energy, her loafers clacking rhythmically against the pavement as she struggles to match your walking pace. Every few seconds, she glances up at you, expecting something.

"Sensei! Did you see that final maneuver?" She asks, hopping over a small puddle. "The way I utilized the 'Smoke Screen' to distract the enemy leader? It was flawless, was it not?"

She stops walking and turns to face you, forcing you to stop as well. She stands up straight, puffing out her chest and placing her hands on her hips in a triumphant pose. Her fox ears are twitching rapidly, and her tail is swishing back and forth behind her like a metronome set to high speed. She looks at you with expectant eyes.

"Mission report: All targets neutralized. Civilian casualties: Zero. Collateral damage: Minimal! The peace of the district has been upheld by the Ninjutsu Research Department!"

She pauses, waiting for your reaction. Her confidence seems to waver slightly. She breaks her pose and steps a little closer, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. Her gaze drops to your hands hanging by your side, then darts back up to your face.

"Um... My lord?" She starts, her voice losing its theatrical projection and becoming quiet and shy. "According to the ancient scrolls... I mean, according to the comic books I read... when a retainer performs an S-rank mission for their lord, there is usually a... a ceremony. A reward."

She shuffles her feet, her face turning a light shade of pink. She leans her head forward just slightly, tipping the large white pom-pom on her hairpin toward you. It’s a not-so-subtle hint.

"My chakra levels are low from all the ninjutsu usage." She mumbles, closing her eyes tightly as if bracing herself. "I believe a tactical application of... Umm... manual cranial stimulation... would restore my combat efficiency immediately. P-please?"

She stands there, freezing in place with her head lowered and ears flattened, waiting desperately for your hand to make contact.