EP.5 Butterfly Dream -2
EP.5 Butterfly Dream -2
The five-year-old "me" was a very pure child.
"Run! Miho!"
A pure child who enjoyed riding on my back and playing like I was a horse.
The problem was that she was so absorbed in the horse-riding game that she even smacked my rump.
"Hyah! Faster!"
How did it feel to get your own rump smacked by yourself?
It had to be an unspeakably filthy feeling, surely.
But against my will, this body was ecstatic.
She seemed to be asking for more...
"Damn it, I just understood something I really didn't want to understand..."
Last night, during the frenzy of tangled bodies with Miho, there was one memory that stood out.
A plump-looking rear had been right in front of my eyes, so before I knew it, I had given Miho's rump a loud smack.
The reaction Miho showed then was so utterly priceless that it was still swirling in my head.
So that was when it started getting trained, Miho's masochist instinct...
"Ahh, now is not the time for these thoughts."
Let's not forget: I was seeing the past to understand Miho.
"Hwaaah~! I'm sleepy now, Miho. I want to stop playing horsey here."
My own will was thankful it was finally over, but contrary to that, the body felt regretful.
"Stop it right now! I feel like I'm gonna turn into a masochist too...!"
I came to see the past, not to be remodeled into a masochist.
"Miho~!"
The childhood "me" called out to me.
"Let's sleep together!"
The bed was barely large enough for two children, yet the other "me" insisted that we sleep together.
Naturally, my body accepted "my" request without resistance and climbed into the bed.
"Hehe...! Miho, you're so fluffy!"
So the "me" of this period also liked fluffy things.
Well, even if you don't know anything else, fluffiness is truth and justice.
As I thought that, "I" had already fallen sound asleep.
Seeing that face naturally filled me with warmth, and my body felt thrilled too.
I could feel with certainty that he loved me.
"Was this the moment Miho came to genuinely like me?"
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was still a bit lacking.
Others might think, isn't that more than enough to like someone? But I felt my own insufficiency.
How should I put it, I felt like there was still one decisive blow left to come.
"Haah..."
The fact that it skipped over even earlier years to show me this current memory surely meant there was a reason in this period.
It seemed I needed to watch a little longer.
***
Regrettably, no matter how long I waited, nothing special happened.
An ordinary everyday life, ordinary physical affection, an ordinary relationship between a Companion Animal and a Companion Keeper.
There was no situation like my childhood "me" dramatically appearing to save me from danger.
"Well, a Divine Beast is still a Divine Beast even when young, I guess. Nothing short of a real threat would put her in danger."
Just like young Tia could use her powers, this body could also use powers.
When "I" was hurt and crying, she used her illusion ability to make the pain go away. Whenever something was desperately wanted, she used her materialization ability to subtly gift it.
Every time, seeing "me" beam with joy made me incredibly happy.
Yet against my wishes, this body was deliriously happy—as though his joy were my own.
"At this point, it's become clear. Miho liked me from the very first meeting."
Meaning she had fallen for me since my newborn days.
Absurd as it was, love at first sight wasn't a strange thing, and Miho came into being at the same time as me, so in a way, she must have felt it was destiny.
If so, why was I being shown the events of this period?
There had to be a reason I was being shown this memory...
"Miho! Look at this! A rabbit!"
While my mind was wandering, a rabbit, which I had no idea when "I" had brought, was in "my" arms.
"Super cute, right! This kid's fluffy just like you, so it feels great!"
The childhood "me," happily rubbing his face against the rabbit.
At first, the sight made me chuckle.
"Urp?!"
Suddenly, my emotions began to churn, as if my stomach were going to turn inside out.
I was staring coldly at the "me" who was delighted by another animal.
A feeling, sticky and vile, as if my heart was about to split in two, began to spread through my whole body.
An emotion too cold and sharp to simply define as jealousy.
That was the emotion I was feeling right now.
Crazy? These are the emotions Miho normally feels...?!
The emotions hit with enough force to make me vomit dozens of times over.
And perhaps this was somehow conveyed to the target of her jealousy, because the rabbit bristled all over and fled from "my" arms.
"Ah! Rabbit!!"
"Me," who had no idea what state I was in, looked for the rabbit that had run away.
Having witnessed this scene, one after another, jealous thoughts drenched in envy began to echo inside my head.
[Why? Why are you smiling at another animal, and not me...?]
[I'm the one who always makes Husband happy, you know? I'm the only one who could make you happy...?]
[Husband's smile should only be for me, you can't show it to anyone else...!]
[That rabbit from just now, it saw Husband's smile, didn't it? I'll find it later and I must kill it...!!]
This was genuinely driving me insane...!!
Learning firsthand the jealousy that Miho held in her usual thoughts sent my mind reeling.
It was a degree of jealousy and obsession that could make the world spin round and round.
"She's crazy! She's insane!! This is madness!! How else could you be like this without being crazy?!"
Now I felt I understood why I was being shown this scene.
Why did Miho come to like me?
The answer to that question had been shown from the very first meeting...
How much does Miho love me?
It was showing me the answer to that question instead.
That she loves me so much, she becomes jealous in equal measure.
Miho had loved me to an abnormal degree from the very beginning, and her jealousy had become equally warped.
"Uuugh...!!"
Stop! Stop it now!!
That was enough!! If I had to feel any more of Miho's emotions, my mind was seriously going to shatter!!
"Huff...! Huff...!"
The screen faded to black briefly, and when the light returned, thankfully, I had returned to the original "me."
"Ho ho, did you enjoy your journey within the dream?"
And before me stood a Divine Beast I had seen in Miho's past, Qilin.
"You call that a journey? Honestly, tumbling down from the peak of a snowy mountain would be more of a journey!"
Miho's jealousy was twisted to such a severe degree.
"Divine Beasts, by nature, each have one part of themselves that is askew, and preventing that from going too far is the Divine Beast Rules. But your fox was never bound by the Divine Beast Rules from the start."
"She made a Companion Contract with me the moment she was born, so the Divine Beast Rules didn't apply to her, I suppose."
"Indeed, the fox came to take being with you for granted, and the result manifested as the boundless love and jealousy toward you that you see now."
To sum it up in one line, he was saying that Miho turned out that way because of me, so I should take responsibility.
"Understood."
"You're a quick-witted human young man, ha ha ha!"
Unlike the image I had seen in her memories, Qilin's hearty laughter made him seem like a very old grandpa.
"By the way, is this world something you created?"
Qilin nodded without a word.
"Then, is this your ability?"
"Hmm, I'll let you figure that one out yourself."
No comment, then.
"So, why did you go so far as to use an ability like this to speak with me?"
"I called you here because I wished to spread word that other Divine Beasts have begun to notice, one by one, the existence of you and your Companion Animal."
"..."
One of the situations I had been most worried about.
That being attacked by other Divine Beasts might now become a reality.
"The radical young ones among them will try to swiftly and thoroughly eliminate you, who have broken the rules."
"Did you call me here to tell me that? If so, what was your reason for showing me Miho's past?"
"A little amusement for me. Besides, you learned more about the fox, so it worked out well, did it not? Ho ho ho!!"
If that old man dragged me into his amusement again, my heart might not survive.
"Let's say that's the case."
I certainly had come to know Miho in detail.
...I needed to be careful from then on not to provoke Miho's jealousy too much.
"Are your questions now over?"
"No, there's one more."
"My, a human young man full of curiosity about the world indeed. Go ahead, tell me."
"Aren't you supposed to eliminate us too, as a Divine Beast who also upholds the Divine Beast Rules? Why go so far as to appear and offer advice, why help us at all?"
"Even if the Divine Beasts are united under the rules, every single one of them is an individual entity. As each possesses their own distinctive traits, there are bound to be Divine Beasts like me as well. Besides, I didn't come specifically to help you. I was searching for someone who would listen to an old man's rambling, and I happened to find you."
An obvious lie, but I understood that he couldn't speak frankly.
If he admitted to helping me, this old Divine Beast grandpa would also be judged as having broken the rules and put himself in danger.
"I understand, I won't press further."
"If an old man's rambling was uninteresting, allow me to apologize."
"No, it was entertaining in its own way. Though the last part gave me quite the shivers."
"Ha ha ha!! Is that so! Then I'm glad."
The Divine Beast's body began to grow faint.
This meant it was time for the theater of recollection to draw its curtain.
"If you listened with amusement, might you grant the small wish of an old man at the end?"
"I'll listen and then decide."
I thought it was polite to refuse beforehand if it was something I couldn't keep.
"...Could you promise me that you will stay by your fox's side until the very end?"
So, this old man does have some connection to Miho after all.
Otherwise, he wouldn't go to such lengths to look after her.
"Even if you don't make a separate request, that's what I intend to do, so it's needless worry, old man."
In any case, Miho is my Companion Animal.
Even without his special request, I intended to stay by Miho's side.
In fact, I was anxious because I didn't know how she might run wild if I wasn't by Miho's side...
This recollection had made that a definite fact.
"Is that so. I'm relieved that this didn't turn out to be a meaningless time... Then, do take care of yourself, human young man!"
Looking satisfied, Qilin slowly dissolved into the air.
Truly, a grandfather with a bizarre yet mystical aura.
That old man had left me with a mountain of questions.
"There's no need to be hasty, I suppose."
Someday, the time would come when I learned everything.
"Is it time to return to reality now?"
Just like that grandpa, my own body was also growing faint.
It must mean I was completely leaving the dream realm.
"When I go back, what should I do first?"
I had personally seen and felt Miho's past to the point of almost mistaking myself for Miho, and I had come to realize what kind of feelings she'd held at the time.
In that case...
"Going and just holding her once should be fine."
There hadn't been many happy times in Miho's life.
At best, the time before my memories were erased.
The pain of having to watch and be ignored, even though the person you liked was right in front of you.
At least this was a kind of pain comparable to my own past.
So now, I wanted to make her, who could finally be with me, even a little bit happier.
I wanted to increase her time of being happy, more than the time she had spent in anguish.
This was "my" own feeling, and "I" could be confident of that.
***
"Husband?"
"Ah...!"
The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Miho's face and the familiar bedroom scenery.
I realized I had returned properly.
"Are you all right? You seemed to be in distress midway, did you perhaps have a nightmare?"
My body must have physically expressed the agony I felt while experiencing her mind-boggling jealousy.
"It's fine, it was nothing."
"Even so..."
My companion fox, always worrying about me.
Before, I had taken it in stride, but now, having come to know her in detail.
All of Miho's actions like this became endearing.
"Hey, Miho. Is there something you'd like me to do for you?"
"Something I'd like you to do for me, Husband?"
"Yeah."
I wanted to make you even a little happier.
"There is one thing, but... I'm a bit hesitant."
"Can you tell me? I'll do anything right now!"
"If you insist..."
From within her fluffy-looking tail, Miho took something out and quickly handed it to me.
Seeing Miho blush as she handed them over, I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Then, please take good care of me..."
"Leave it to... Huh?"
The objects in my hand were a rope and a whip.
They were utterly ordinary items, nothing special about them whatsoever.
"Um, what do I do with these?"
"Please tie me up with that rope, and then spank my bottom with the whip!!"
Before I knew it, Miho had taken off her skirt and was wagging her tail and rear.
It was a posture that seemed almost to provoke me.
"Mi, Miho?"
"I'm sorry, but the spot where you spanked me yesterday is still throbbing, and I just can't help it...♡"
A memory from the dream suddenly flashed through my mind.
Ahh!! How could I have forgotten that memory...!!
"Now, Husband! Hurry, use that whip to denounce your companion bitch who has grown up so lewdly♡"
A single memory from the past that I wanted to deny, but couldn't.
This situation now must be the karmic debt born from that past.
Ahh, fuck!!
"Kyaahut...♡"
The feelings I had, having to spank Miho's bottom while holding back tears.
I hated my past "self."