“Ah, helloā¦ I’m Alice Darkmoon.”
She bowed slightly.
The top of Alice’s head drew a horizontal line.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Orca Linnaeus.”
“I’m Irina Hellynox! Nice to meet you!”
Irina, who was clearly on a different wavelength, exclaimed with sparkling eyes, causing the other two to flinch simultaneously.
Itās no wonder they felt a sense of camaraderie hereāthey were all a bit socially awkward.
“Finally, the party is complete! I never thought weād get such a great team! The top of the magic department and the so-called ‘killer whale’! With this, we might even take first place in the joint class, donāt you think?”
“W-well, maybeā¦”
“ā¦Itās too early to say for sure.”
“Nine, thank you. Thanks to you, weāve got a great team!”
“Yeah, yeah. So, bring more food. These dried fruits arenāt bad.”
Itās not exactly delicious, but eating fruit after so long feels kind of refreshing.
I donāt usually get to eat fruit.
Thereās no can opener for cats, and besides, cats are carnivores.
We canāt just eat anything like dogs do.
I used to not even taste things well, but after becoming a spirit beast, it feels like Iāve broken free from the constraints of being a carnivore.
So now, when I eat habanero sauce, I can actually tell it tastes bad.
Ugh.
Just thinking about habanero sauce makes me feel queasyā¦
Why did that even come to mind?
“Eat up!”
“Tsk. Donāt talk with your mouth full.”
It hasnāt been long since she put the fish jerky in her mouth, and sheās already devoured three pieces.
Now thereās only one left.
Should I give her some mental training?
ā¦Nah.
Iām a spirit beast nowāno need to be petty about something like this.
Compared to before, my need for meals has decreased a lot.
But Iām not about to give up on eating altogether.
I popped the last piece of fish jerky into my mouth and started watching the three humans exchanging glances.
“…”
“U-um, since weāve formed a party, why donāt we go eat something together? I know a good place!”
“ā¦S-sure, why not?”
“ā¦I-Iād prefer somewhere not too crowdedā¦”
ā¦Tch.
Honestly, would it even matter if the evil dragon revived?
If I just shoved these kids into a group, theyād probably suffocate on their own.
I shuddered at the sheer awkwardness radiating from the two, who had turned the area around the bench into a vacuum-sealed zone, and swallowed the last piece of jerky.
Iām the one who gathered them, but are these guys really going to be okay?
Itās not strange for them to feel awkward since itās their first meeting, so I guess Iāll have to mediate.
Itād be great if they could just get along on their own, but thereās no sign of that happening.
In the end, I had no choice but to step in.
“Why are you all so awkward? Sit on the bench first. Itās a bit chilly, isnāt it?”
“Ah, yesā¦”
“Alright. If Nine says so.”
“Sitting side by side is such a unique experienceā”
I hopped down from the bench and, as soon as the three of them sat down, climbed onto Aliceās lap and sprawled out.
ā¦Iāve gotten so big that now when I lie down, I end up covering two people.
If I get any bigger, I might reach a size where people would call me a wolf instead of a cat.
Selene can adjust her body size freely, so once I get used to controlling my power, I should be able to do the same.
Maybe Iāll ask Selene about it later.
“Youāre really big.”
“I am pretty big.”
“Can I touch your belly?”
“ā¦Go ahead.”
If my belly can help bring some oxygen into the situation, itās a small price to pay.
I felt the hands covering my belly and stared intently at Alice.
“I was curious about what a big cat would be like, but youāre even cuter than I thoughtā¦”
“R-reallyā¦”
“Without cuteness, weāre basically just corpses.”
80% of a catās survival in civilized society is thanks to their looks.
If cats were ugly, do you think professions like “cat butler” would even exist?
“B-but youāre good at catching mice, rightā¦”
“There are things in this world that are even worse than that.”
Orca spoke with rare firmness.
She was probably talking about monsters.
Monsters are almost entirely useless.
You canāt even skin them to make something useful like in gamesātheyāre pretty much just a nuisance.
Only a handful of monsters are economically beneficial.
“Is that soā¦”
Can the others even hear Aliceās voice?
Even I, lying on Aliceās lap, can barely hear her.
I felt Aliceās fingers fiddling with my chin and opened my mouth.
“Alice, everyone here is nice, so you donāt need to be so nervous.”
“B-butā¦”
“Alice. Thereās no need to be so nervous. Weāre not seniors or juniorsāweāre all in the same year.”
Orca, unusually calm, reassured Alice.
Perhaps Orcaās overwhelming presence and Aliceās faint presence balanced each other out.
I was glad to see Orca finally taking the initiative.
Thatās more like it.
Thatās the Orca, the polar bear slayer!
Wait, thatās just a memeāsheās not really like that.
Still, itās not a bad thing for Orca to actively engage with Alice.
If I had to do everything from start to finish, it wouldnāt help if they remained passive.
“T-thank youā¦”
“Right, right. Just relax. Weāre classmates, after all.”
“Y-yesā¦”
Well, at least theyāve patched things up.
Should we move on to the next step?
We need to get closer before the joint class so we can work well together on the group assignmentādungeon exploration.
“Now that weāve all introduced ourselves, how about we go get something to eat?”
“Isnāt it a bit early for a meal?”
“I already had breakfast.”
“Umā¦ Iām fine too.”
You havenāt eaten anything.
Itās not like Alice would have the guts to say she wants to eat when everyone else isnāt hungry.
“Then letās go to a cafĆ© or something.”
“Nine, unfortunately, Iām too famous to go to a cafĆ©ā¦”
“Ah, I get it. The Linnaeus family is famous, right? If a famous orca walked into a cafĆ©, everyone would be shocked!”
“Itās more that people tend to be scared of meā¦”
ā¦Well, thatās true.
Meow?
The aura of a predator is terrifying, after all.
“Scary? I donāt think youāre that scary.”
“R-really?”
“Youāre not usually this sharp, right? If you acted like this all the time, youād make a lot of friends.
You know, like nobles?
Theyāre all like that.
Chatting with each other, eating delicious foodā¦”
Thatās a pretty biased statement.
Not entirely wrong, though.
“ā¦Iām not sure. Iāve rarely had that kind of experienceā¦”
“Ah, the Linnaeus family is often at war with monsters, right?”
“Yes, thatās right. So we rarely have the luxury of enjoying such things.”
“But as the eldest daughter of a noble family, you wouldnāt have to go to the battlefield, right?”
“The Linnaeus family always has to be at the forefront. We canāt stay behind and indulge.”
“T-thatās amazingā¦”
ā¦ā¦Iām sleepy.
Lying here like this is making me drowsy.
I yawned and closed my eyes.
—————
“I’m asleep.”
“You’re asleep.”
“Reallyā¦”
The three of them stared at Nine, who had fallen asleep.
The white cat that had appeared one day.
How much had changed in their lives since this cat arrived.
“I never thought Iād ever be helped by a cat in my life.”
“More than that, isnāt it amazing that she can talk?”
“W-well, sheās a spirit beast, so isnāt that normalā¦?”
“Nine could always talk. She rode in my carriage when we came here.”
“Really?”
“Spirit beasts are different from the start, huh?”
Whatās the easiest way for people to become friends?
Itās by finding a common topic to talk about.
Three girls from different backgrounds and departments found their common ground in Nine, who had brought them together.
Naturally, while Nine slept, the three girls lowered their voices and continued their conversation.
The main topic was Nine.
“S-so her name is Nineā¦”
“Didnāt Nine tell you her name?”
“Noā¦”
“She must have forgotten. Sheās smart, but sheās still a cat.”
Irina chuckled and hugged the brown fur sitting on Aliceās lap.
The brown fur, without any resistance, naturally settled into Irinaās arms and closed its eyes.
“Is she sleepy too?”
“Cats are nocturnal, after all.”
“The cat my teacher used to have would always cause trouble at nightā¦”
The girls, who were supposed to be the main characters, gradually got to know each other in a warm and friendly atmosphere.
“Nine isā¦”
“Nine isā¦”
“Nine, you knowā¦”
Since Nine was their common interest, it was inevitable that most of their conversation revolved around her.
However, the flow of the conversation gradually shifted to the joint class.
After all, the reason they had gathered was for the joint class.
“Ughāwe need to do well in the joint class.”
“I heard the dungeon for the joint class isnāt that difficult.”
“The difficulty isnāt the issue. Itās teamwork, right?”
“ā¦Iām confident in teamwork. Iāve done a lot of it while hunting monsters.”
“You should be the leader then!”
“Leave it to me. Iāll do my best.”
“…”
‘Can I really do this?’
A joint class that emphasizes teamwork.
Can I really pull it off?
Worry began to pile up in Aliceās heart.
“Alice, donāt worry too much. Itās not a very difficult dungeon, so youāll do fine.”
“Right, just trust us!”
“ā¦Thank you.”
‘Iāve never heard words like this before.’
A life that had been forgotten.
The pink-haired girl smiled like a spring breeze at the warm words from her new friends.