Your reaction to the fox literally made me cry with laughter. The fox does have some "good leaves"(you can restore SP without having to go home now!), but they're also EXPENSIVE leaves; they get cheaper as you raise its link, which involves QUESTS. Accepting a quest at the shrine uses no time(so you should go to the shrine to get your first fox quest ASAP), but turning in a quest you've completed DOES use up your afternoon time slot(so try to save that for rainy days). Most of the quests take multiple in-game days to finish(the quests themselves use up no time, but you often have to come back the next day for the next phase of each quest), and involve finding someone around Inaba(they're usually, but not always, in the shopping district or the flood plain) and helping them out.
The tater long is used out of battle to fully restore HP; unless I missed something in my playthrough, this is the
ONLY tater long you get, so save it for when it really counts!
Dojima's link is like Nanako's in that you NEED to get Expression up to get very far into it(although you only need level 4 expression to max his link, unlike nanako's where you need Lv.5(max) expression), access to it is cut off a couple months before the end of the game, and it's only available in the evening. His link is only available when there's nobody in need of saving(ie. between the time you beat a dungeon and when the next one opens up), and Nanako is only available when Dojima isn't. I highly recommend doing either of their links at night unless you have a night job to go to(both of them should be opening up shortly, although I don't think your social stats are high enough to take either one), and if you're prevented from progressing in their links because of low Expression, working on Translation.
Speaking of social stats!
Expression is THE hardest social stat to increase, and it's used in a few other s-links(mostly for dialogue options, if I remember right), so prioritize it when you can. Knowledge is needed for doing well on tests and one social link, and not much else(if I remember right). Diligence is basically useless(it gives you more pay from envelope-making and, once you unlock fishing, lets you fish more times in one timeslot) and is easy to raise so don't go out of your way to raise it. Understanding is used for several social links in some manner, but it's easier to raise than expression so you don't have to worry about it quite as much. Courage is mostly used for extra dialogue options and isn't too vital, and it's easy enough to raise so don't worry about it either.
