Chapter 27
Lots of Kitties
Translator : PolterGlast
No, what do you mean
"what to do?" The truth is, I'm a child.
Unyaumyaa. Unyananana.
Goronyan goro.
There were a huge
number of cats all around. It was as if catnip had been scattered, a large
number of cats were sticking to each other with their bellies exposed. "U,
uuuuu..." There were so many that even Ichi and the others looked scared,
or so I thought, but they appeared and fought back with a "Kishaa!"
Stop it.
"...What is this?
What a sight."
【Appraisal Result: Male (18)】
The appraised result
that popped up was just a reflex that had become a habit. Yozaki-san, holding
his spear, called out to me as I leaned against the wall and sighed. Ichi and
the others quickly hid. Nyago-nyago, nyaooooooon. I had come outside the gate,
intending to think things over, but this was what I got. The culprit was my
Tamer skill.
【You can become friendly with animals and monsters.
Maybe.】
This was the detailed
explanation of the ability at Lv. 1. Now that it was Lv. 3, the
"maybe" part had been removed, making it even more powerful. In other
words, it was a skill that allowed me to become friendly even with ordinary dogs
and cats other than Ichi and the others. It was amazing.
I had all sorts of
useless skills, but maybe even dust could accumulate into a mountain. So, while
I was periodically shuffling through several types to level them up, I
accidentally got a cat hooked on me in the city, and then it became
"everyone come here, meow," and this happened. Help.
(No good, release,
release.)
Ignoring Yozaki-san,
whose eyes were shining with amazement, the cats suddenly looked like they had
woken up and disappeared one by one. I was also surprised by the appraisal, but
I had a lot on my mind right now, so I just sighed.
"Ah, a-ah,
aaaaaah~~..."
"I wanted to
share my lunch with them," Yozaki-san said with a sad voice, but even if
it's okay for humans to eat, there are many things that cats shouldn't, so
please be careful. I called out to him again as he slumped his shoulders.
"Excuse me."
"Could I stay
here and laze around a little longer?"
"Sure. Monsters
don't usually come this far. But be careful."
"The people at Harapeko-tei
will worry if something happens," he added. "Of course," I
nodded.
It wasn't like I was
slacking off from work. I had been given a break, so I was just sorting things
out in my head. Harapeko-tei had hired me on a temporary basis, but Sutra-san's
injury was getting better day by day, so the day I got fired might be soon. She
was the one serving customers now.
"Well, see
ya," Yozaki-san called out to me. He had a very white, unusual hair color,
but he was still friendly and easygoing. "Oh, right. How's Sutra-san
doing?" "So-so..." I replied, wondering if her name seemed to
come up quite often. "I see," Yozaki-san said with an overly cheerful
expression, unlike Lotus, and then left with a face I couldn't quite understand.
What was that about?
I leaned against the
wall again and thought. Lotus had slept here the same way before. Thinking too
much about Lotus made me feel suffocated, and I had thought about running away,
but I had ended up coming here. So I decided to think one more time. The three
slime cushions were soft and squishy, so neither my stomach nor my back hurt.
I was sure that Lotus
liked me. If I hadn't overheard the conversation at Harapeko-tei, I might have
pretended not to notice even if I had suspected it, but I had clearly understood.
How did I feel about
that? I knew Lotus was a good person. He was also a character in a game, and in
the future, he was a super powerful enemy. I was working hard to prevent that
from happening. Thinking about that was too difficult, so when I simply
explored my emotions, there was a slight happiness. And then, "Eh, this is
troubling, was I that attractive?" I also felt a little conceited. Sorry.
I was on the villain's
side, not the heroine's! The half of my brain that wasn't going "uhe he
he" calmly knew that. I mean, I'm a kid.
The form Lotus knew
was solely thanks to my illusion skill, a beautiful and pretty older sister. I
didn't intend to make fun of Lotus for liking me based on looks alone, but
looks were still very important. In the first place, our ages were different.
There were more
age-gap marriages in this world than in Japan, but even so, there were limits.
Lotus had nothing to do with my memories from my previous life, and I was a
young girl. Lotus was a young man. That was all there was to it. I was
completely deceiving him. I was a fraud. I deliberately thought in heavy words
to turn the blade against myself. Yes, I was deceiving him...!!
"Uwaaaaaa."
The damage was severe.
While writhing on the ground, I pulled out a handful of grass. Oh dear. I
hadn't meant for this to happen. No, wasn't this too unavoidable?
Because I hadn't meant
for it to happen. I just wanted to live happily and avoid the bad ending. My
peaceful everyday life was getting further and further away.
The Detection skill,
which I had set instead of the Tamer skill, beeped frantically. Ichi and the
others shined and disappeared to keep their distance, embarking on a
long-awaited cleaning trip outside the area. Don't eat anything weird and get a
stomachache, okay?
"El, what are you
doing?"
"Just taking a
break..."
It was Lotus. My
Detection skill had become quite excellent lately. His sharp eyes glared at me
as he tilted his head sharply, resting it against the city wall. (No, in the
first place, we're human and... a demon...) Even though I kept telling myself
that humans and demons were the same, maybe I was the one who cared the most
about that boundary. What did Lotus think about that? Was he someone for whom
those boundaries were more ambiguous than for other people?
"You've got a
really weird look on your face. You know, people's expressions are
important."
It was true that I
probably had a terrible face right now, combined with sleep deprivation from
overthinking, but Lotus was the last person I wanted to hear that from. I used
honorifics in my adult form and spoke normally in my child form, so sometimes
my head got confused. "Let's see," I sighed, thinking.
"...What's that?
Did your best friend tell you that?"
It was probably a line
someone else had told him anyway. Because looking at Lotus's face, anyone who
was reasonably close to him would want to say it.
"How did you
know?"
He looked surprised,
his eyes widening. Judging by his reaction, it was probably about his dead
demon friend he had mentioned before. I felt anew how deeply rooted that was in
him. "Whew," I sighed for the umpteenth time. Lotus was a good
person.
I knew that. I also
thought he was cool. But that wasn't the issue. "Lotus, maybe you should
do something about yourself too. And your hair. Let me comb it for you next
time. It's all messy." "You're only getting away with it because
you're handsome," I said, looking in the wrong direction, and let out a
tired "phew..." Then, "Huh!?" he touched his head, looking
surprised. He probably wasn't someone who paid much attention to such things.
He didn't care about his hair or appearance.
Lotus was a good
person, a wonderful person.
I had come to know
that well enough.
That's why I
deliberately.
"I'm sorry, I'm
going to another city from now on, so we won't be able to meet anymore!"
I clapped my hands
together and bowed my head in my adult form.
Lotus just widened his
eyes slightly and looked at me in the night city. Then, he replied with just
one word, "I see."
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