As you probably know, the Fox is one of the most important social links but also one of the trickiest. By taking quests and rebuilding the reputation of the Fox's shrine, you get the standard arcana fusion boost of any social link but also an invaluable quality of life feature in cheap SP healing. Completing the final quest you will earn you the Steam achievement 'Fishing Master', and obviously completing the questline is necessary for earning the 'Legend of Inaba' achievement, if you care about those. Over my two playthroughs I found the progression of these quests unclear and wished I had a direct walkthrough of every miscellaneous prerequisite within the quests.

This guide is verified by in-game research. I felt uncomfortable with making this a guide to the Fox quests because those already exist and I used them. This supplements a guide like Wild Cloud’s ‘All Quests Guide’ to clarify/correct things and suggest strategies.

Report to the Fox on rainy days where the culture club SL isn’t also available. These days are also best for riding the scooter once necessary for quest 15, and for fishing. Accept the new quest the next day and immediately work on it (unless it's one of the few that pass time, then work on it as appropriate), because they’re very easy to lose track of. The questline can comfortably be completed in October even with that restriction (considering I was able to in a playthrough with mistakes).

Quest 11 and Quest 15 are unique in how steps of them pass time, so be aware to factor that. Quest 11 takes three evening/days off segments and Quest 15 in isolation takes one day/night but is the end of an involved sidequest that’s best to treat as part of it (five days of prerequisites that pass time of seven total). Additionally, reporting Quest 15 is bugged (it will fail the check for Expression the first time its turned in) and takes two days.

Quest 8: Meat Gum (certain Chie evening interactions, or Chie during quest)
Quest 10: Prize Sticker (freebie with any Tanaka order)
Quest 13: one Red Goldfish (more on this in ‘Fish and Bait’), complete quest 18 (which needs one Peach Seed) and quest 20 (which needs an additional Red Goldfish)
Quest 15: Access to Shichiri Beach (go out on the scooter three times ‘around the neighborhood’ and on three ‘long rides’), Deep Sea Rod (more on this in ‘Fish and Bait’), Lv. 5 Expression

As a reminder, fishing and bug catching are available at both day and night. Bug catching doesn’t pass time but fishing does. You can fish in the rain but cannot catch bugs in the rain.

Over the course of the quest line you need three red goldfish (for the woman in the shrine at night to get the bug net; for the cat in quest 20 to progress quest 13; for quest 13 itself). Pick one night in the early game to fish for these, bringing a bait inventory of at least three breadcrumbs (which are traded in Shiroku Pub for three tatsushime ladybugs).

To prompt quest 15 you will need to catch the river guardian, which is baited with the inaba jewel beetle. The river guardian and jewel beetles will only spawn once you have unlocked the beach and talked to the fisherman about sea fishing. Jewel beetles are common at night, and I suggest having six of them. Pick a rainy day or night (improved spawn for the guardians) and save scum for your life. The guardian will have a large, splashing ripple when it bites (you will know when you see it), so 'reel in' early to keep your bait and reroll until you get it. Also, I recommend setting bgm volume to zero and putting on endgame boss music like ‘The Fog’ in another tab. Upon catching the river guardian, show it to the fisherman to spawn genji beetles and obtain the deep sea rod that enables catching the sea guardian.

Within quest 15 you will catch the sea guardian, which is baited with the genji beetle. The setup is identical, it’s just a harder variation of the river guardian with a rarer bait.

April/May – Ladybugs and Breadcrumbs, Fishing Rod
Talk to the bugcatcher at the shrine and give him the drinks or snacks he requests. You can get one ladybug a day this way. Once you have obtained a gemstone from dungeon crawling, you unlock trading ladybugs for breadcrumbs at Shiroku Pub. The first time you trade bait, the hostess’ fish will cough up a fish hook. During the day, show the hook to the old fisherman at the river to get the fishing rod. Additionally, use six nights in the early game to read Beginner Fishing and Catching Bugs.

April/May – Red Goldfish
Budget one day or night to catch three red goldfish.

May 4 – Meat Gum
Spend the evening with Chie. This uses an evening but allows quest 8 to be completed immediately instead of in the next window Chie’s available to talk to in.

May 23 – Quest 18
Give the man in front of the bookstore a peach seed.

May 29 – Prize Sticker
First opportunity to order from Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities.

June 1 and later – Bug Net
Talk to the bugcatcher to learn of his lost net, and on that same night talk to the lady in white at the shrine and give her a red goldfish. She will give you the lost net to return to the bugcatcher the next day, and he lets you keep it.

June 1 evening – Prize Sticker
First possible delivery.

June 3 – Quest 20
Talk to the man in front of the bookstore after completing quest 18 to prompt. Feed a red goldfish to the cat in Samegawa Flood Plain to have the cat follow you home.

June 9 and later – Scooter
If you don’t have a need for Cafe Chagall, it’s best to put this off until you’ve accepted the Quest 15 ema. Budget four days to unlock Shichiri Beach – it takes six bike rides but the two days you unlock locations are free once doing so. Once reaching the beach SELECT THE OPTION TO FISH, which won’t pass time as you remark you need a better rod, and talk to the fisherman to start the river guardian sidequest.

June 28 and later – Expert Fishing
Take three nights/days off to read this book because catching the guardians is nearly impossible without it. By lategame it will be easy to find time for.

This is the first guide I’ve written for Steam and I hope it was helpful! If you need clarification on anything, I possibly have one of the dates wrong, or you just want to talk about about role playing games feel free to message me.

Finally, as you challenge the guardians, take with you this inspiring quote by a gay beaver in Animal Crossing: “SOME folks see this weather and say, “Can’t fish, it’s raining.” I look at it and say, “Fish don’t know I’m wet”.”