EP.10.5 Aftermath -2
EP.10.5 Aftermath -2
I'd always thought about it, but I kept waking up staring at the same ceiling every time.
And just like every other time, I came to looking up at my own bedroom ceiling.
My forehead throbbed, but waking safely in my own bed confirmed that I had survived.
Miho must have healed me after I got knocked out by that rock-filled snowball.
If not, getting hit by a snowball Tia threw would've killed me for sure.
Being in my own bed meant Yata had carried me home.
The faint, sweet scent of Yata still lingering on my body was proof of that.
That explained how I had awakened in bed without a scratch.
there was still one unresolved question.
"Wh-Who...?"
A mysterious girl had entered my field of vision, where I should've seen nothing but the ceiling and the light fixture.
The girl, who'd been blinking like she found all this fascinating, broke into a bright smile when I asked my question.
"You're awake!!"
Instead of answering my question, the girl energetically announced my current state.
She immediately threw herself at me and hugged me tight.
"Ehehe!!"
The girl's actions—like she was so happy she didn't know what to do with herself—gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.
Although I was certain we had never met, the girl felt strangely familiar.
"Pet me! Pet! Pet!"
"Um, this is kind of awkward when you suddenly do that..."
The girl suddenly demanded to be petted, shoving her head toward my face.
I felt bad for the girl, but when I grabbed her head to pull her off me completely, my fingertips felt something unusual.
"Huh...? What's this?"
Something sharp hidden within her soft hair.
It was too smooth and hard to be a scalp.
"Not my horn, my head! Pet my head!!"
"Huh? Oh, okay."
Maybe I'd touched the wrong spot, because the girl puffed out her cheeks in anger.
When I avoided the sharp parts and petted her again, she giggled in delight.
The innocent girl stirred that sense of déjà vu again, as did the horns no human should have possessed.
By now, I had a pretty good idea who this girl was.
"Are you... Tia?"
"Yeah!!"
"W-Whoa..."
Honestly, I was so shocked I could barely believe it, but looking at her cute behavior and pure reactions, I couldn't deny it even if I wanted to.
I'd learned from Miho before that Divine Beasts could transform into whatever form they wanted, but seeing a dragon who'd always been in a lizard-like shape suddenly appear as a girl left me feeling dazed.
"Your hand stopped! Pet me more!!"
"Ah, sorry!"
Tia voiced her displeasure again the moment my hand paused while I was spacing out.
I only noticed now, but beneath the dress the girl wore, her dragon tail was thumping against the bed sheets as if expressing her feelings.
Then, the moment I started petting her head again, she'd wag her tail back and forth because she was so happy.
Tia was still Tia, even after turning into a human.
"Lots and lots! Pet me lots!!"
"Okay, okay. I'll pet you lots."
"Hehe!!"
"You like it that much?"
"I wuv it!!"
Anyway, Tia's human form, huh...
Long, pale-green hair the same color as her original dragon skin, with yellow horns poking out on top.
Her sharp, vertical dragon pupils should've been terrifying, but her round, adorable face easily outweighed any scariness.
Her swaying tail and the wings hidden beneath her clothes only added to her charm. In one word...
Cute.
Her dragon form had been plenty cute too, but that cuteness hadn't disappeared at all now that she'd turned into a human girl.
"Heh heh..."
That cuteness was enough to automatically make a dad smile spread across my face.
Thanks to that cuteness, my hand kept stroking her head without stopping, but all sorts of questions were swirling around in my head.
Why had Tia suddenly taken on a human form?
Had my brain gotten messed up from that snowball to the head, making me see a baby dragon as a human?
If that was the case, then it was seriously a problem...
"Have you finally woken up, dear?"
"Ah, Miho."
"How is your body?"
"I'm fine. Couldn't be healthier. Probably..."
Perhaps there was something wrong with my head.
"Is that so? Then that's a relief! Right, Tia?"
"Yeah!!"
"Were you two that worried?"
"Of course! Especially Tia. After you collapsed and she realized she'd done something wrong, she stayed by your side the whole time worrying about you, you know?"
"Sh-She did?"
"She was super worried!!"
"I see..."
Hearing how worried she had been, despite the accident not being my fault, made me feel guilty.
Normally, I should've scolded Tia and told her never to do something like that again, but seeing that I couldn't bring myself to do it, I guess I really was a hopeless Tia fool.
No, maybe I'd completely given up on the option of scolding her from the start...
I already had two Companion Animals who ignored me no matter how sternly I scolded them.
"D-Dear? It's embarrassing when you stare at me so intensely...!"
Did Miho even know what kind of wrongs she'd committed?
Actually, mistakes aside, when I thought back on all the things she'd done from the past to the present, I doubted whether she even had a conscience in the first place.
But since she'd done all of it for my sake, it was awkward for me to say anything either...
It's so difficult. Really difficult.
After so many years without a Companion Animal, I had no idea how to raise or teach one.
"Hey, Miho. Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, Tia's in human form right now, right?"
"Yes. She couldn't hide her horns, wings, and tail, but the overall form is human."
"Thank goodness. So there's nothing wrong with my head after all...!"
"Now that I think about it, dear, that was your first time seeing Tia's human form since you woke up."
"You sound like you've seen it a lot?"
"Well, you see, I've been teaching her bit by bit ever since that arena incident. How to transform into a human form."
"That started quite a while ago, huh...? Why were you teaching her that, anyway?"
"Would human form not make it easier for her to understand human culture? Once she learns how humans behave, she will stop causing trouble for you, dear."
A fact I'd known absolutely nothing about.
Apparently, my Companion Animals were looking out for each other, thinking about each other, without me even knowing.
They'd been sharing the tasks that I should've originally been doing, bit by bit.
This meant I didn't have to handle and take responsibility for everything on my own, which made me feel a bit more at ease.
"Anyway, I've been teaching Tia on your behalf, so I think you can rest easy when it comes to Tia's education!"
"Thanks... But just in case I'm asking—what kind of things have you been teaching her so far?"
One bad memory from the past suddenly came to mind.
Before I'd collapsed, Miho teaching Tia the wrong way to have a snowball fight flashed into my head, making me a little anxious.
"Why, actions and mindsets that would make you happy, dear. Or methods to help you have a happier daily life. Things like that!"
"Hmm..."
Asking Miho only seemed to bring back abstract answers.
At times like this, hearing it from the student's perspective would probably be much faster and more accurate.
"Tia."
"Huh?"
"What should you do if you happen to see someone who looks like they're in trouble?"
"Ummm... I dunno!"
Tia smiled brightly despite admitting that she did not know even that basic fact.
Sure, it was cute, but the unease settling in my heart only grew bigger.
"Then, what should you do if there's someone bullying someone else?"
"Ah! I learned this from my big sister!! First you break all their limbs! After that...!!"
After that, what came out of Tia's mouth was so cruel and violent that it would all have to be covered with bleeps on a broadcast.
Only then did I learn how shocking it was to hear such violent words from an adorable girl.
"I learned well, right? Praise me!! Pet! Pet!!"
"What do you think? Didn't she really learn well?"
"Ha... Haha...!"
Tia, who had no basic common sense and ended up learning the wrong things, and Miho, smiling proudly like she'd taught her well.
Ah, my Companion Animals were making my head spin again today, without fail.
"Next time, shall we learn how to efficiently deal with your enemies, dear?"
"Yeah! I wike it!!"
I'd honestly rather they told me there's actually something wrong with my brain...
***
"Tia, no matter what happens, you must never hurt people carelessly."
"Even people who hurt Yuu?"
"Yes. Scaring them is okay, but you absolutely mustn't try to kill them! Got it?"
"Got it!!"
"That's right. Our Tia is so nice."
"Ehehe!!"
Knowledge that had gone wrong after learning it incorrectly from Miho.
It was a huge headache trying to figure out where to start fixing it and how, but after re-educating her over a long time, I thought I'd more or less corrected it.
Now, all that was left was the common sense Miho hadn't taught her.
This, at least, no matter what happened! I would teach her myself, and I planned to take charge of Tia's education going forward.
Miho's teachings were... beyond just wrong.
They were a whole bundle of problems.
"Let's stop here for today and learn the rest later. You want to play soon anyway, don't you, Tia?"
"Yeah!! I wanna play now!!"
"What do you want to play?"
"Tag with Yuu!!"
Tia had only recently begun using human form, so her pronunciation remained imperfect.
Unable to pronounce my name, Tia settled on calling me "Yuu."
Stretching out my surname, Yoo, into Yuu.
Being called by just my last name was a first, so it felt a little awkward, but since Tia was the one saying it, it had a certain warmth to it, and I figured I actually liked it better.
"So Yuu it is!!"
"Got it. I'll count to ten and come catch you, so run hard, Tia."
"Yeah!!"
Playing with me must have been such a happy thing; Tia was laughing excitedly even as she ran away.
Seeing her enjoy herself that much made me want to keep playing...
I felt like I now understood the hearts of fathers who had cute daughters.
"10... 9... 8... 7... 6..."
Anyway, let's toss away all idle thoughts and focus only on playing with Tia from now on.
"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Time's up!"
Tag started as soon as I finished counting.
Obviously, Tia had already vanished from my sight.
So now all I had to do was quickly search the mansion and find Tia, but if I caught her too fast, she wouldn't have any fun, so I decided to take my time looking.
Starting from Tia's room, I opened the door to each room and scanned inside, searching for any sign of Tia, but she wasn't as easy to find as I'd expected.
I also went around checking the facilities inside the mansion other than the rooms, but there wasn't a single trace of Tia, so it seemed I'd underestimated this game of tag.
I'd thought I'd find and catch her in no time, but looking at the current situation where I hadn't even spotted her, let alone caught her, it looked like I needed to get serious.
"Even a young Divine Beast is still a Divine Beast..."
I broke into a run and searched every corner of the mansion, but Tia was nowhere to be found.
Wondering if she'd gone completely outside, I tried getting a little help from the other Companion Animals in the mansion, but unfortunately, there was no one around; they'd probably all gone out somewhere.
"Tia? Where are you~? I can't find you, so come out!"
If Tia had truly gone outside, we had a serious problem.
Having no choice, I admitted defeat and desperately called out for Tia.
Just in case she hadn't heard me, I moved around here and there in the mansion calling her name, but no answer came.
"What the...? Did you really go outside?!"
As my suspicion slowly turned into certainty, my anxiety began to spike at the same time.
I thought there wouldn't be any major safety issues since she's a Divine Beast, but if some bad person outside had tricked her into following them, then that was a serious problem.
"Tia...!!"
It wasn't a confirmed fact, but I couldn't just sit still.
Judging I had to go find Tia, I quickly kicked open the front door and rushed out—only to find an unexpected figure waiting right in front of the door.
"Huh...?"
"We meet again, human... No, since this is your first time seeing my true form, perhaps this is not a reunion."
Standing before the door was a wolf I'd seen once before.
Unlike before, he was considerably smaller, and a crescent-shaped mark now adorned his back...
"Wha— why are you here...?"
He was the ice wolf I'd fought in the North. Hati's true body.