Idiot Hero, You Explain It, Nyang!!!
It wasn't as if Caselia had failed to think about the problem tangled up in this tail.
Kim Seon's sly little tail might come loose at any moment. Caselia had the temporary lodging the Association had provided, and Kim Seon had a home that was hers alone. So once the tour ended, Caselia was genuinely at a loss for what to do.
What do I... want?
If she were honest with her heart, she wanted to go to Kim Seon's house—and because of the tail, she had no choice. Absolutely none. From what she'd heard, that house was one Kim Seon had bought herself with money earned by working unbelievably hard (???). To latch onto a home someone had worked that hard (???) to secure, clinging like a shameless freeloader, would be rude. It would be uncomfortable for Kim Seon, too. But asking to stay together at the Association's temporary lodging would only flip host and guest on their heads. And so Caselia spent a good long while clutching her head.
But then—
"Wanna... come to my place, nyang?"
Kim Seon was the one who reached out first!
"!!!"
Caselia had never been so happy. She crushed down the corners of a mouth that threatened to launch itself into the sky and forced the excitement back under control. It did feel a little shameless. Kim Seon, though, showed no sign of displeasure. If anything, she asked carefully, as if she were sorry about the tail. And so they came to Kim Seon's house—bus, crosswalk, elevator, and at last the front door.
"You can just take your shoes off here, nyang."
"...Yes. Thank you."
They left their shoes in the entryway and stepped up onto the wooden floor. And then Kim Seon's tail slid loose from around her waist......
"Eh?"
The sound that left her was utterly vacant. When she turned her head, Kim Seon was wearing the exact same expression.
Wh-what is this......?
The tail... had let go. The very tail that refused to come undone no matter how hard Caselia tried to shake it off had found its proper place the instant they arrived, as if the whole struggle had been a lie. Her pupils trembled like they'd been struck by an earthquake. Caselia's heart dropped with a thud.
I-if this is how it is, am I about to be thrown out of Seon-nim's house?
Of course the question rose. Kim Seon seemed to chew on something, and then she opened her mouth.
"Idiot Hero."
"...Yes."
Caselia was terrified that an eviction order was about to fall from that tiny little mouth. And her fear came true.
"Now get out of the house, nyang."
"...!"
Ah. So that was how it would be after all.
Right.... With the tail's constraint gone, there's no reason to stay with Kim Seon......
Then—
Clamp!
Kim Seon's tail wrapped itself around Caselia's waist again!
"?"
"Eeeek?!"
Kim Seon's face went red.
"You little—!!! I knew it was that, nyang!!!!!!"
She shouted as if she had seen it coming.
"Idiot Hero! From now on, the Idiot Hero lives at our house, nyang!"
This time it was the exact opposite of what she'd said a moment ago.
"...Pardon?"
And yet—
Slide.
The tail came loose once more.
"!!!"
It brushed softly along Caselia's waist as it swayed past, then drooped limp beneath Kim Seon's rear.
"Kraaaang!!!"
"S-Seon-nim?"
Kim Seon roared.
"Idiot Hero, go find your own house and figure out how to live, nyang."
Clamp. The tail cinched her waist.
"Idiot Hero! You can live at our house, nyang."
Slide. The tail slipped free again.
"Nyang!!!"
Seizing the opening, Kim Seon fled. She bolted down the hall on all fours and wedged herself into a corner of the living room, determined to put as much distance between herself and Caselia as she could.
The tail's monstrous love for Caselia, however, would not be restrained.
"Kyek!!!"
It wasn't long before the tail dragged Kim Seon back out. That was no figure of speech. The tail really did drag her. Kim Seon thrashed for all she was worth, sprinting in the opposite direction, but the tail stood bolt upright and hauled her along. She was completely helpless.
"Wh-what is this......"
Faced with a situation she simply could not understand, Caselia felt her mind wobble. Wasn't Kim Seon the owner of the tail? And yet the scene in front of her had the tail as Kim Seon's master.
"Kraaaang!!!"
At last, what arrived before Caselia was the tail... no. Kim Seon.
"......"
Kim Seon flopped onto her back and flailed like a child throwing a tantrum because nobody would buy her a toy, while the tail swayed at Caselia, shy as anything.
"Hwaaaaang!!!"
Bashful, bashful. Sway, sway.
That line from a moment ago, the one about getting out of the house, right after the tail had come loose? It had already left Caselia's head a long time ago. Before a sight she had never seen or heard of, she quietly stopped thinking and closed her eyes.
Seon-nim......
All she could do was call that name, inwardly, and pity her.
This insane tail.
So your scheme was to drag Caselia home all along!!! When I tried to throw her out, you clamped onto her. And the moment I told her she could live here, you swayed and let go.
"What is this, nyang!!!!!!"
How could a situation this stupid even exist?
"Idiot Hero! You explain it, nyang!!!"
"Yes? Wh-what am I supposed to......"
Written all over Caselia's face was That's your tail, though. Somehow that only stoked my anger hotter.
"Eeeek!!!"
I glared and pecked at her.
"......"
Her unsteady pupils traveled over me. Her face said she was trying to work out how to soothe me. Her hands had lost all sense of direction, fidgeting as her eyes flicked between the tail and me. But blaming Caselia and Caselia alone wasn't going to solve a thing.
"Haaaaah."
I sighed and steadied myself.
Right.... The Idiot Hero's fault isn't that big.
I couldn't say she had no fault at all. She had definitely seduced my tail. The sharp glare I'd been aiming at Caselia swung toward it.
This brat...
A lowly little tail, and there it was, blushing at the sight of Caselia. Bashful, bashful. The sheer nerve of it. So I thundered at Caselia.
"Explain why the tail is like this, right now, nyang!!! My tail's fallen head over heels for the Idiot Hero, hasn't it, nyang!!!"
"Th-that's... even if you say so, I......"
Caselia lifted both hands, looking utterly wronged.
Why is the Idiot Hero the one acting wronged?!
I'm the wronged one! Don't you dare steal my grievance!
"Uuuugh......"
I dropped my head. Caselia sank into thought. To comfort my wilted heart, I groomed my tail.
"Lick, lick."
It had been a while. Even a tail that made my life miserable was still my body, so the basics had to be done. And right then, Caselia spoke.
"If I may."
"Nyang?"
"Hup."
"...?"
She had taken one look at me grooming my tail and swallowed a gasp. The tilt of her head lasted only a second. Then her ears went red, and she pressed on.
"Seon-nim's tail fastened itself to my waist on the first day of the tour, you see. When I think back on what you and I did then."
"When you think back, nyang...?"
"Yes. That time you lost your balance on top of the vanity. I caught you as you fell, did I not?"
"That's right, nyang."
I nodded. I'd been patting on lotion and dropped the bottle straight onto the floor. A mortifyingly feline thing to do. But why bring that up?
"Th... from that moment on, seeing as your tail had stuck to me."
......Huh?
"...S-so, nyang?"
A strange, strange suspicion flickered through my head.
"Well......"
Caselia's face flushed red as a beet. She swallowed dryly and said it.
"I wondered if perhaps, because I saved you, the tail fell for me......"
"......"
I stared at her, one brow twitching. It was a truly absurd chain of logic.
"...You think, nyang?"
What—the tail fell in love because she saved me? Say something that actually makes sense.
"The Idiot Hero's imagination is incredibly rich, nyang!"
She seemed to know how strange it sounded herself. Her face went even redder.
"I'm sorry......"
But still. When I thought it over carefully.
"......"
If it was that tail, I had a bad feeling it might actually be true, and that scared me a little.
It doesn't seem... entirely unrealistic.
A tail that fell in love at first sight, just from watching Caselia catch me safe in a princess carry when I lost my balance and dropped?
Sway?
This thing—back when I was a guy, the pillar in my groin had a second self of its own. Didn't the tail have yet another self, too? Even so, I could hardly poke my own tail and ask, Hey, do you like Caselia? A cat talking to her own tail! I shook my head.
Absolutely not!
Which meant I could make Caselia do it. I called her with a triumphant little smile.
"Idiot Hero."
"Yes."
"You ask, nyang."
"Yes? Ask... what?"
"You just ask the tail, 'Do you like me?' That'll do it, won't it, nyang?"
"E-eh?!"
Caselia startled and sprang up like a cat.
"Y-you're telling me to speak to the tail? Right now?"
"Understood perfectly, nyang."
Pat, pat. I stroked the tail. Caselia sent me a scorching look that asked whether I was serious. I ignored it, and shamelessly pressed her.
"Hurry up and ask, nyang."
"......"
I'm a smart cat, so I can't do something like that.
"You truly want me to ask?"
"Nyang."
I nodded. To the very end she kept giving me a look that said Is this really all right?, and then, with a small sigh, she poked my tail.
"Um... Tail-nim?"
Sway?
"!!!"
Oh. It responded. So this thing really could understand people—and it had abandoned me, its owner, to do it! A moment later Caselia asked, careful as if she were afraid of offending Tail-nim's delicate feelings.
"By any chance... do you like me?"
"Nyang-keke!!!"
I clutched my stomach and howled.
"The Idiot Hero's face turned into an apple, nyang! It's so red, nyang!!!"
"Nnh...!"
"Kyaha, kyaha! That's the Idiot Hero for you, nyang! As if a tail could understand a single wor—"
And then—
Nod, nod!!!
"Eh?"
Nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod, nod!!! The tail launched into a violent up-and-down, exactly as if it were nodding an answer to Caselia's question.
"Eh?"
"Uh... S-Seon-nim?"
Wait a second! Had it actually understood? Half of that was a joke! I snatched the tail and demanded, fast,
"Hey, do you like Caselia, nyang?!"
......
Still.
This little shit?
"Nyang!!! I'm asking you, nyang!!! Do you like Caselia, nyang?!"
......
Not a word. The tail had gone quiet as a dead mouse.
"Kraaaaaang!!!"
You—you are never getting groomed again!!! See if I ever do it!
"Grooming is banned, nyang!!!"
I hurled the tail aside. The tail I'd thrown swayed toward Caselia as if nothing at all had happened. Only half convinced, Caselia asked again. Like a blow to make sure the thing was dead. Cruelly.
"Tail-nim.... By any chance, do you like me?"
Nod, nod!!!
"Youuu!!!"
I grabbed the tail and strangled it.
"Heh."
Caselia laughed. Then she tapped the tail the way you'd pet something.
"Seon-nim is truly adorable."
"Wh-what."
I couldn't tell whether that had been meant for the tail or for me. Whichever it was, she was clearly teasing me.
"Hiss, hiss!"
And in the middle of all that, Caselia—who had been calmly stroking my tail—abruptly changed the subject.
"Seon-nim. Aren't you hungry?"
The afterglow of my rage hadn't even cleared, and still I was swept mercilessly away by that turn in the conversation.
Grrgle...
"...I'm hungry, nyang."
"Chicken... how does that sound? I'll buy. Korean fried chicken. I want to try it."
"......Fine, nyang."
And something chimed inside my head.
I wike Caselia!
It wasn't my thought. Which meant...