Responsibility Without Pleasure
Responsibility without pleasure—in the end, humans are beasts. Just beasts with modifiers tacked on. "Social" beasts, or "rational" beasts, something like that. Whether there's a creator who made this world, who knows. If there is a god, maybe even god's just another beast. The great famines or plagues that killed countless humans? Maybe just the result of god sneezing. And this world being created? Maybe god just took a shit.
In that sense, that monster was far superior to humans, a higher-dimensional being, but ultimately, still a beast.
'Living humans... taste bad.'
The monster didn't know when it had come into existence. Didn't need to know. When it got sleepy, it slept. When it got hungry, it ate. To the monster, humans were prey. But the meat of living humans wasn't tasty. Rotten, decaying human flesh was what tasted good. So humans were prey, but incredibly convenient prey for the monster. As long as it didn't touch living humans, the dead ones would be delivered right to it.
'Dead humans... tasty.'
And so the monster lived comfortably in the lab. No need to understand why humans died every day. No need to know what kind of place this building full of humans was. Then one day, all the lab's humans died. The other monsters living in the lab killed them and left. The monster survived by eating the leftover corpses. A day passed, two days passed—who knows how many days after that. It could see the piles of bodies dwindling. What happens when I finish all this? Do I have to hunt humans myself...? That sounds annoying....
As it was thinking that, a small human showed up.
'Young human.'
Judging by the tiny size, it seemed like a juvenile specimen. An immature human. The monster had been worrying about the shrinking supply of corpses. And right then, a new human walked in. If I keep this human here, maybe people will gather in the lab again? Then I can go back to eating the corpses they provide.
That's what it thought—but the monster got punched by the small human.
'Ow.'
It felt like its insides were twisting. Two of its six legs had vanished before it knew it. It couldn't deploy the wings on its back anymore, and it felt its body shrinking. Crunch. Grind. Crunch, grind. Hurts, hurts, hurts....
After getting hit by the small human, its body kept changing. Guts twisting and reshaping. Eyes changing form, a nose growing, hair sprouting, fingers and toes taking shape, breasts swelling. Even vocal cords it never had before appeared.
The monster let out a ragged breath.
"Ow...."
The monster made a tearful face.
I poured oil into the pan and tossed in some finely chopped green onions. They say this mixes the onion scent with the oil to make it tastier. Honestly, I have no idea. My cooking skills are right at the average singleton level. I've never thought of myself as good at it, but I do have a few dishes down pat. For someone like me with no formal culinary training, fried rice is a simple menu item. Just throw everything in and stir-fry. The key is throwing everything in, period. The moment you start worrying about flavor balance, it's no longer singleton cooking. So don't overthink it—feel it.
So I threw in the rice, cracked in some eggs, tossed in ham, veggies—everything. The order might matter, but since I've never been to cooking school, I don't know what's step one or two. And thus, fried rice complete.
I placed the bowl of fried rice in front of "her."
"More."
She polished it off in under five minutes. She must've been starving; she devoured it like she was possessed. It was pretty gluttonous, but I suddenly thought that if she just looked like a cute girl, even gluttony would be picturesque.
"More."
"No."
"...Can't I have more?"
"Answer my questions first, and I'll make more."
I sat down across from her.
...The rotten corpse stench stabbed my nose again.
'What a stench...'
Intense enough to dredge up memories from three days ago. This smell was the real problem. Honestly, I didn't want to get involved, but... the cute girl in front of me showed no signs of leaving my doorstep. Better to bring her inside than risk weird misunderstandings from the neighbors.
And so, I'd cooked fried rice.
"Are you really the King of Flies?"
"Humans... called me that."
She answered in slightly clumsy speech. Looks like this cutie really was the King of Flies. How the hell did that grotesque monster turn into a girl...?
...Only one guess.
"...You got like this after I beat you up?"
"Yeah."
She nodded. The "incomplete cute girl mod," huh.
...Guess the player has to finish shaping it themselves, hence "incomplete mode."
...What an original gimmick.
'The power to turn monsters into cute girls by beating them...'
I glanced down at my hand absentmindedly.
...What an absurd method, but let's think positive for now. It meant this fist held the power to fight monsters. And it didn't just change their appearance—it seemed to neutralize them completely.
"The tasty stuff tastes bad now."
The King of Flies licked her spoon repeatedly, looking a bit regretful. Hard to understand at first, but recalling her lore, I got it.
'She only eats rotten stuff.'
True to her name, the King of Flies had fly-like habits. She'd only prey on rotting food, but obviously, human senses reject that. Stuff that tasted good as a fly became inedible once she got this girl's body.
"So you've been starving for the last three days?"
"Yeah."
"...Meaning you came to me 'cause you're hungry? Not for revenge or to eat me?"
"?"
The King of Flies tilted her head. She looked less like a fly and more like a cat.
...She really has no thoughts, huh.
"I answered. More."
"......"
I sighed and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed the prepped veggies on the cutting board and picked up the kitchen knife. As I went to chop them, I suddenly looked down at the blade.
'Could I kill her right now?'
The thought crossed my mind. Normally, a puny kitchen knife couldn't kill a monster. But she's human now. One stab, and she'd be done. Appearance aside, she's still a monster inside. Maybe better to kill her.
...Nah, better not.'
I chopped the veggies instead. I can't even kill bugs—how am I supposed to murder someone? Plus, the height difference is huge. I'm barely 142cm, and she's pretty tall for a girl. If it came to a tussle, I'd lose in strength for sure. And even if I succeeded, I'd just end up with a cute girl corpse.
...Making me a murderer. Can't just kill recklessly. No hostility from her anyway, so best to resolve this peacefully.
"Here."
I brought out fresh fried rice.
"Finish that and go home. I have housework to do."
"Yeah."
She started shoveling it in.
Once you've tamed it, you have to take responsibility. Famous line from a fairy tale. Of course I knew that feeding a cat means taking responsibility. Just never thought it'd apply to a cute girl too.
"Hungry."
The next day, she showed up again.
"...You think this is a restaurant? Don't you have anywhere else to go?"
"No."
"......"
Fair enough. The lab got wrecked, so she got released. Felt like she'd keep bothering me if I didn't feed her, so I made carbonara and served it.
The day after,
"Feed me."
I was at the supermarket when she popped out of nowhere.
Not just there.
"Can't you feed me...?"
"I'm hungry."
"Wanna eat."
Out to toss trash, and she's lurking by the dumpster. Headed to the bank for a bit, and suddenly she's talking to me. Bought collab menu at a collab cafe, had to give her one drink.
'...She knows my location in real-time or something.'
Thinking back, it poured that day I escaped the lab. So I wouldn't have left tracks home.
...Yet she tracked me here. Means she can pinpoint where I am. Maybe the cute girl mod has a feature like that. Girlified monsters can track the player in real-time or... something. Why the hell would it...?
"Mayuri."
After bumping into her a few times, she learned my name. Today I was heading home with pizza. Collab with my favorite series. Got takeout cheap.
Horror game world or not, I couldn't quit my otaku life.
...This is what I get for being a total weeb in the first place.
"...Here for food again?"
I sighed. Each time, she looked more disheveled. Where the hell does she even stay?
Since becoming a girl, her stomach shrank—she couldn't finish a whole chicken anymore. Perfect, bought pizza; give her a few slices and shoo her off.
"No."
Or so I thought, but she denied it.
Then why...?
"Take care of me."
"......"
Guess getting annoyed at her showing up hungry every time, she went straight for the brazen demand.
'...Feed a cat, take responsibility.'
So what's this responsibility? For feeding the monster? Or turning it into a cute girl? Either way, responsibility without pleasure.
Monster completely conquered!
'King of Flies' added to compendium!
'King of Flies' can be summoned anytime.