EP.8 My Pets Are Getting Obsessed -5

It was breakfast time after spending some happy time with my companion animals.

Unlike the gloomy day before, a very harmonious atmosphere now filled the room.

"Husband, I'll give you mine too, so please eat up!"

"Th-thanks."

"Dear husband, eat mine too!"

"Uh, uhh..."

On both sides, my two companion animals were trying to take care of me just a little bit more.

This time, however, neither one was fighting—they were smiling cordially.

Seeing that, I felt at ease, thinking what I'd done yesterday hadn't been in vain...

But my body felt otherwise.

"Ugh..."

All I did was pick up my chopsticks, but my hand wobbled uncontrollably.

I tried to put strength into my fingers, but I couldn't muster any power at all.

The backlash from going at it nonstop, insisting I'd pound them recklessly, had come home to roost.

"Husband, is it hard for you to move? If so, I'll feed you!"

"I'll feed you too! Here! Say aah~♡"

Like a chick being fed by its mother, I sat between the two of them and accepted bite after bite.

It was unreasonable in so many ways.

The lead had clearly belonged only to me, and I was always the top while they were the bottom.

Then why was I so haggard, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while they were brimming with luster and vitality?

Were my companion animals equipped with spiked armor or something?

The one on the attack was dying while the ones on defense were thriving—I found that reality unreasonable.

"Anyway, Yata."

"Yeah?"

"You still can't see that future where you said you were happy...?"

"As I said before, a future that's already disappeared can never return."

"I see."

"Don't look at me with such a pitiful expression. It's okay now."

"But still, it was because of me..."

"It really is okay. Thanks to this incident, an even better future popped up!"

"Oh...?! Really?"

"Yeah!"

What a relief!

I'd been worrying that Yata might stay anxious like the time she grabbed the kitchen knife, but a new future had appeared...!

When I realized I no longer needed to hold Yata every single night to make her happy, I felt way better.

Sincerely, what a relief!

"Could you give me just a little hint what kind of future it is? If the future might change again, you don't have to push yourself to say."

"The previous future didn't change all that much, so I think it's probably okay to tell you."

"Yeah? Then would you tell me?"

"Yeah! If the vanished future was one where I became the bride loved by my husband, then the new future is one where I become the sex slave loved by my husband..."

Yata hadn't even finished speaking, but I quickly had to clamp her mouth shut.

For good reason—the word she had been about to say was extremely dangerous, and there was someone present who absolutely could not hear that word.

"Kyui?"

"T-Tia, you don't need to worry about it! I just thought Yata had some food around her mouth, so I'm wiping it for her!"

Only after the baby dragon accepted that and refocused on eating did I take my hand off Yata's mouth.

Then I made a pointing finger, put it to my own lips, and conveyed my intent to Yata.

"Oh, husband, reeeally~! You're embarrassed by something like this?"

"Please, be embarrassed to spit out words like that so casually!"

It would be one thing if it were just us.

I wanted her to refrain as much as possible from bringing up that kind of talk where Tia, the crystallization of pure innocence, could hear it.

It wasn't good for a child's emotional upbringing.

And the same went for what she did yesterday...

"Hey, Yata."

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad the future took a good turn again, but please don't jump to the idea of dying with me just because you can't see the future like you did yesterday."

"Ah... I'm really sorry about that, dear husband! I'm still deep in reflection about it even now!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I finally realized the problem was that I'd been depending only on the future all this time. So from now on, I'll trust only my husband, the one who makes me happy!"

"Good. Then promise me. That even if you can't see the future, you won't give up on the present."

"Got it! I promise!"

"Then that takes care of that. Next, Miho."

"Yes?"

"You remember what you tried to do yesterday, trying to brainwash me?"

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I missed my husband's lo...ve so terribly that I ended up doing something I shouldn't have...!"

"I understand why you did it. Your past was extremely lonely. But I'd like you to refrain from using your illusion ability on me. It's genuinely terrifying, to the point that I start suspecting whether everything I'm seeing right now, along with all my past, might just be illusions you created."

When thinking about Miho's ability, the scariest thing was exactly that.

The hypothesis that Miho and I had been enemies from the very beginning, and that all the reality I was seeing at that very moment was an illusion made by her.

In my heart, I firmly believed it absolutely wasn't true, but the thing about humans was that they always ended up having pointless delusions, and I was honestly terrified that it might actually be the case.

In that sense, what Miho had offered to do yesterday—brainwashing—had been the very thing I dreaded and feared most.

"I'm sorry!! I swear that from now on I won't use my ability on my husband however I please!"

"Good. And just in case, I'm asking: you don't have any illusions cast on me even right now, right?"

"You don't need to worry about that! Because in the reality my husband is seeing, there isn't a single illusion made by me or anything like that!"

"All right. I'll trust Miho who's willing to go that far."

"Thank you for trusting me, husband!"

With that, all of my worries and problems regarding the two of them were resolved.

Now then, it was time for me to acknowledge ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my own faults and apologize to both of them.

Thinking that, I immediately stood up and bowed my head in front of my two companion animals.

"Both of you, I'm sorry! When you get down to it, the root of everything this time is me!"

Getting angry because I didn't want to see them fight—that much I thought was understandable.

But after that, coming up with the countermeasure of ignoring them both was clearly my fault.

There must have been a more reasonable solution, yet I had not considered one at all.

In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠other words, I had resorted to the absolute worst move as a companion keeper—ignoring and cold-shouldering companion animals who only liked me.

The result was their obsessiveness and extreme actions.

If I had earnestly faced and talked it out with them from the beginning, none of that would have happened.

"I swear this kind of thing will absolutely never happen again! No matter what happens, I'll never ignore you or treat you coldly!"

"Husband..."

"Dear husband..."

"I know I'm shameless. Still, I hope you'll forgive a foolish person like me."

I bowed my head deeply once more, seeking their forgiveness.

I felt that nothing less would earn their forgiveness...

But as if to tell me my thoughts were groundless, arms embraced me.

One was a soft, fair arm; the other was a sleekly tanned arm.

Their arms slipped around my neck and lifted my head, surrounding me with their warmth.

"I'll forgive you, husband."

"I'll forgive you too, dear husband!"

My two companion animals were holding me close and smiling brightly right in front of my nose.

A smile spread across my lips, and I pulled them both into a tight embrace.

My two Companion Animals were simply too lovable.

"Kyui!"

"Yeah. Tia, you come here too."

"Kyuiit!"

My three adorable companion animals, including the baby dragon who came flying at me.

Somewhere along the way, they had taught me to smile this freely.

After all, I was happier than anyone in the world.

***

That evening, everything had ended sweetly and sentimentally.

I was already in a great mood, and was now enjoying a bath with Tia too, so I felt so good it was as if I could float right off.

Was this what it felt like to ascend to heaven?

I'd peeled away the lingering bitterness in my heart that morning, so it was time to peel away the lingering fatigue from my body through the bath.

"Kyuiit! Kyuiit!"

The baby dragon was splashing around with a rubber duck toy floating on the warm water.

Just looking at Tia being this cute made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered.

If the world were peaceful, it would surely be thanks to Tia.

Right as I was soaking in that drowsy, languid mood and slowly sinking my body below the water's surface...

"What do you think you're doing!!"

"That's what I want to ask!"

I was snapped back to my senses by the sound of two women's raised voices coming from outside the bathroom.

"Those two...!"

I'd just reconciled with them this morning and was resting, thinking we'd be able to get along peacefully for the time being, and they were already starting to fight again.

Realizing this couldn't go on, I hurriedly changed clothes and stepped out of the bathroom, leaving only a quick word to Tia to go to the room after the bath.

But there was no one in front of the bathroom, which meant the two were fighting somewhere quite far away.

Even so, their shouting reached me clearly, telling me just how big the scale of this fight was.

This was dangerous...!!

If they seriously fought, I had no idea what would happen to the surrounding area!

I sprinted toward the source of the noise, intent on getting there a second sooner, and finally I could catch sight of them—the place they were fighting was right in front of my room.

"Have you finally lost your mind? You birdbrain?"

"The one who's lost her mind is you, not me, you beast."

The two glared viciously at each other, radiating intent to fight at any moment.

Before things could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get worse, I wedged myself between them in their deadlock and put a stop to it.

"Both of you, stop it!"

"Ah! Husband..."

"Dear husband...!"

Both of them simultaneously looked at me as I barged in, and their hostile atmosphere temporarily dissolved, which put me a little at ease.

"Didn't you two patch things up this morning and get along well? So what happened that you're already fighting!"

"W-Well, we were just talking, like trivial wordplay, and before we knew it..."

"It sort of escalated into a verbal fight...?"

"What?"

So they were telling me they'd only exchanged a brief conversation and it blew up into a huge fight?

Given how fundamentally incompatible they were, it was a plausible explanation.

It was still absurd.

"We're really sorry for fighting, husband!"

"Truly sorry, dear husband!"

Still, this time the two quickly apologized and showed remorse.

I suppose you could call that fortunate, but I was at a loss for how to scold them this time.

"Haah~ You two never change. Nothing to be done, I'll let it slide for today..."

"Ah! Are you going to punish us again today?"

"Uh, uhh...?"

"We were entirely at fault for fighting over something so trivial, so we'll gladly accept any punishment!"

What? I hadn't even said anything yet, so why were both of them talking like this, all worked up?

And with ragged breathing too, as if they'd been waiting eagerly...

Wait, don't tell me, you two...?

"W-Wait just a second!"

"Husband♡ Are you going to give us badly-behaved girls a thorough punishment again today?"

"If we did wrong, we ought to receive fair punishment, right♡ Right, dear husband?"

"I haven't even said I'm going to punish you yet...?"

If anything, I'd been about to let it slide.

But as if they hadn't heard my last words, the two each grabbed one of my arms, already having decided that they were going to be punished, and were getting excited.

"Y-You two... you didn't fight on purpose, did you...?"

Was this all an act just to get punished by me like yesterday?!

"As if we would~♡ We really were fighting! Me and that rotten birdbrain."

"Exactly. Why would I ever deliberately fight that damn beast woman?"

Dragging me all the way to the bed in my room, the two were dripping bodily fluids onto the floor along the way.

I struggled, trying to resist however I could, but unlike yesterday, neither of them budged an inch.

With this, I was now certain.

The whole situation was staged, and these two were planning to use punishment as an excuse to fuck me silly!

"N-No!! I hate this!! Please don't do this!!"

"Husband~♡ You have to punish us lots today too, okay?"

"You'll punish us all night, right? Dear husband~♡"

Ignoring my final, desperate cry, the two slowly closed the door to my room.

And so, once more today, my companion animals obsessively clung to me, craving my love...