A Fishy Morning and Neighborhood Buzz
The morning after the mackerel hunt. I cautiously opened my eyes from the box bed.
"Yaaawn." It felt like the first time in ages that I was starting the day all by myself. Just as I was getting up, struck by that odd sensation,
I spotted something small wriggling right next to me.
"Huh?"
It was the shark grandma—no, the shark girl. When did she start sleeping beside me?
Out of sheer curiosity, I couldn't help poking her cheek.
"Ngh... ugh..."
The shark girl flailed around and yanked the blanket over her head.
They say old ladies don't sleep in much in the mornings. But it seemed that didn't apply to beastkin.
"Um... hey..."
Poke poke—I kept prodding what I guessed was her cheek under the blanket.
"Wh-what is it..."
"Why are you sleeping here?"
"Am I not your educator...? It's only natural we live together..."
Kek. So she planned to stick around until she finished teaching me. It was a hassle, but I needed to learn about mana. I decided not to show any sign of annoyance.
"Got it. But I have some morning chores, so I'll step out for a bit."
"Alright... take care of yourself..."
With that, the girl fell right back asleep. I stared down at her for a good while before slipping out of the tent.
The sun was just starting to rise, and the gentle rays peeking in lifted my spirits.
She said to start early in the morning, right?
Pushing through the bushes, I emerged to see a fierce-looking woman in the distance, along with a few trucks loaded with water tanks.
Just seeing the woman made my heart pound. Still, I approached her step by step.
"Do the mackerel and loaches go in together...?"
"Yeah. There's an item developed for aquaculture, so it's fine to mix them."
The woman was chatting with who looked like the truck driver. The moment I edged closer,
Crack! I accidentally stepped on a twig rolling on the ground.
"Hm?"
The sharp sound made both the driver and the woman turn to look. Caught off guard by their sudden stares, I whipped my head away in a panic.
"H-how are the minnows doing...?"
Tiny minnows were darting around under the clear pond surface. Pretending to observe them, I turned my back, and that's when she started walking toward me.
"...!"
My ears and tail fur stood on end. But I kept up the act, coolly watching the minnows. One, two, three... My trembling eyes counted them as the woman closed in right behind me.
"Um..."
"Y-yes...!"
I jolted in shock, freezing solid. I couldn't even turn around to face her. What is she planning to do to me, getting this close?
I held my breath, rigid with tension, until she stopped beside me.
"We're acquainted, aren't we?"
"Y-yes, we are...!"
I snuck a sidelong glance at her with just my eyes. She stood next to me, gazing down at the pond. What on earth is she thinking, with that melancholic expression?
I carefully took a step sideways, and that's when she spoke up.
"I'm sorry about last time."
"Uh, for what?"
"Everything I did. I'm truly sorry."
Everything? I wasn't sure where that started or ended, but I decided to accept the apology. Refusing it would just delay stocking the pond with fish—and right now, the fish mattered more than the woman.
"Okaay..."
I helped the woman check off the fish as they were released into the pond. Twenty mackerel. Thirty sweetfish. Four hundred loaches, and so on. It was mystical watching all sorts of fish mingling in the spacious pond.
"...The pond's pretty big, huh?"
"Yeaaah..."
I peered down at the pond brimming with fish. A pond harmonizing freshwater and saltwater fish—could you even call this a pond anymore?
Lost in wonder at the item's magic, staring endlessly at the water, the shark girl sidled up beside me. Even with the sun up, her eyes were still heavy with sleep.
"The harmony of two incompatible ecosystems. Truly astonishing."
"Yeah. And there are those expensive sturgeon too..."
I clamped my mouth shut mid-sentence. It hit me too late that the girl in front of me was a shark.
Was it okay to farm sharks for food? But sturgeon weren't real sharks, right? My brain raced in the awkward moment, but my confidence plummeted. All I could do was fidget with my fingers under my hem.
"Why the panic?"
"Sh-shark... do you eat shark... like, caviar...?"
"...I've never tried it."
Yeah, figured. To her, it'd be no different from cannibalism. Gauging her reaction, I whispered cautiously,
"Should I ask them to skip the sturgeon...?"
"...I know what you're thinking, but it's fine."
"R-really?"
"Yes. The difference between beasts and beastkin is greater than between humans and monkeys."
Ah, got it. Nodding, I turned my gaze back to the fish swimming in the pond.
"Shall we catch one ourselves?"
"How, without tools?"
"With my hands."
I lay flat on the pond's edge and dangled my hand in the water. A mackerel swam right under my hand's shadow, seemingly liking it, and settled there to rest.
Now!
Using my quickened reflexes, I snatched the mackerel. To keep it from escaping, I yanked it out and hugged it tight to my chest.
Flop flop! The mackerel thrashed with far more power than a minnow, but it was already out of the water. Clutching the wildly flopping fish, I stood up.
"You like fish that much?"
"Yeah. I didn't used to be this crazy about them, though. Weird, huh."
"Nothing weird about it."
The shark girl's eyes drifted up above my head. Was there something up there? The moment I looked up, my eyes met the woman's gaze as she peered down at me.
"Oh my. You caught one already?"
"Y-yeah... Should I let it go...?"
"No need. Why release something you caught for once."
Heh heh heh. The woman waved it off with an awkward laugh. Remembering how she'd burned horn rabbits while grinning like a maniac, I hurriedly ducked behind the shark girl.
Author: BeastkinLover
Author: BeastkinLover
"Hm..."
Guild Master Kang Jin-ho scrolled through his smartphone. Searching Yeomyeong Guild on the popular community site turned up mostly talk about the beastkin kid occupying the back garden.
A rare beastkin child plopped right in the guild's backyard—it was bound to stir up buzz.
Kang Jin-ho's job was keeping people away from her. But how exactly?
Tch. He clicked his tongue at the helplessness he felt because of the kid.
Closing off the backyard might be tough.
It was a park that served as a rest spot for the neighborhood. Private property or not, shutting it arbitrarily would draw public backlash for sure.
He considered putting up fences and "no entry" signs near her home but scrapped the idea. She was little more than a zoo monkey, after all.
For now, he'd have to trust Yeoreum and the beastkin who'd come for the kid. Kang Jin-ho let out a long sigh without realizing it.
At least there haven't been issues yet.
He kept browsing the internet. Soon enough, he spotted a fresh post about the kid.
"Hm..."
Posting pics without her consent, huh. Kang Jin-ho glanced out the window at the backyard.
People sneaking peeks at the two beastkin kids, and in their midst, the girl clutching a single mackerel like a treasure.
Fortunately, no one was sneak-photographing her.
They're just worried about the kid.
Fair enough. A child roughing it like a beggar would worry anyone. Kang Jin-ho resolved to get her inside the building as soon as possible.