A Wholehearted Date Course for a Leopard Beastkin
A cafe on a busy street in Neo City.
"Haa…"
It had always drawn a crowd, but today the place was packed tighter than usual, and the reason was the Hero who had just walked in.
Tucked into a corner seat, she let her leopard tail sway and heaved sigh after sigh. Every time her head moved, her short, bright-yellow hair shifted with a soft gleam.
I did end up agreeing to meet her, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to say…
Reshi nursed a strawberry smoothie, drawing on the straw in small, reluctant sips. She couldn't bring herself to ignore the invitation, so she had come—and now that she was here, she had no notion of how to start. Not that she could simply avoid the woman forever after this. The hero industry was, surprisingly, a small world. There were vanishingly few heroes to begin with compared to ordinary people, and they often formed teams to sweep up villains and kaijin. An A-Rank working alongside a B-Rank was nothing unusual, especially when the two already knew each other. The higher-ups gave no thought at all to grudges and quarrels that had only sprung up recently. They cared about whatever loomed large enough to see.
Knowing unnie, she'll show up crying and making a scene…
Ask anyone about the B-Rank hero Angel, and they would call her cold and composed. She had been nothing but chilly and severe with her juniors, and it had bred plenty of complaints and friction. With her seniors she walked around with her chin held high, and she caught no end of grief for it. Get close to her, though, and she was someone else entirely. Warmth lay coiled inside a heart like midwinter. She was only clumsy at showing it, and with the people she was close to she tried, however awkwardly, to be kind.
…It's always the ones who know a single thing who shout the loudest.
People who judged without really knowing were the worst. The thought creased Reshi's brow on its own, and even the sweet strawberry smoothie left a faint astringent edge on her tongue. Even so, every eye in the cafe stayed fixed on her, and outside the windows the street was thick with people trying to get a shot.
What do they even like about this.
They didn't know. They had no idea what kind of pain their heroes swallowed, or what burdens they carried. Awaken a trait, and you gained drawbacks to match the advantages. Some people might have none at all, but those were a tiny minority. A hero was not a god, and not some absolute being. And still ordinary citizens called them heroes. Foolishly.
"……"
She was grinding the straw between sharp teeth without realizing it when—
Jingle!
The cafe door opened, and the bell rang. At the same moment, half the attention that had been pinned on Reshi swung toward the woman who had just come in.
"Angel—it's Angel…!"
"Two heroes in the same shop?"
Angel—Shin Yuyeong—stepped inside with her pure-white wings neatly folded. She scanned the cafe, found Reshi, gave a small wave, and crossed to the table.
"You got here first and waited. Sorry."
"…It's fine. You already know I always show up early and wait."
Yuyeong sat down across from her, and a green-grape ade appeared in front of her at once. She caught the straw lightly between her lips and took a sip.
"……"
"……"
For a long while the two of them drank in silence. Neither could find so much as the start of what she ought to say. Each was waiting for the other to break the stillness first.
"So… about what happened at the house that time…"
It was Yuyeong who spoke, out of that awkward quiet. She kept her voice low enough that no one at the other tables would hear.
"Haa. How am I even supposed to say this…"
She fidgeted, fingers twitching, then squeezed her eyes shut and went on, careful and small.
"…He's my boyfriend."
"……"
She said it so softly that even the woman across from her could barely catch it. The moment the words landed, Reshi's ears flicked several times, and then she went completely rigid. Her tail, which had been swaying, stopped dead. Everything but those ears looked as if it had turned to stone.
"You're shocked, right…? I wanted to tell you. I just didn't know how—"
"No. I understand all of it."
Reshi cut her off.
"If you're lovers, of course you can't just tell anyone. We live off our image, one way or another."
"…I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry. And between lovers, doing… that… is natural, isn't it?"
Both of them knew exactly what that meant. Yuyeong flushed and looked away.
"N-natural. Right. Yeah."
No matter how many times she had gone at it like an animal, embarrassment was still embarrassment.
"…Where is he now?"
"Well…"
"…?"
At Reshi's question, Yuyeong let the end of the sentence trail off, looking awkward as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"He's on his way here. When I arrived, he said he was almost here."
The bomb went off. Reshi startled hard, looked around, and shot to her feet.
"W-w-why are you only telling me now that he's coming here?!"
"I—I thought if I said we were coming together, you might not show up… He said he wanted to explain and clear up the misunderstanding, so I called him without telling you."
"What kind of—!"
Badly rattled, Reshi made to get out of the cafe at once. She was just leaving the table and reaching for the door handle when someone on the other side pulled it first, and the door swung open.
"Ah…"
The one who had beaten her to it was a man she had seen before. The very man Yuyeong unnie had just been working so hard to explain. And so, at the cafe entrance, they came face to face.
"Looks like I got here right on time."
"……"
The moment he opened the door, Arang looked down at the Reshi standing in front of him. A little later, and she would already have been gone. The whole plan would have come to nothing.
"Unless you've got something urgent, I think it'd be better to go back in and talk. Of course, I have no intention of forcing you."
"……"
The gentle way he said it startled her for a second. Then, without a word, she turned and went back to her seat. Arang watched her go, followed, and sat down beside Yuyeong. The instant he was in the chair, Yuyeong pressed close against his side, putting their relationship on display.
"……"
Seeing it, Reshi confirmed once more that what Yuyeong had told her was not a lie.
"Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Choi Arang. I handle Miss Angel's Sidekick duties."
"I'm the A-Rank hero Shadow Claw… Angel unnie and I have been close since the academy."
She met Arang's eyes, gave a small bow, and introduced herself in turn.
"And… I apologize for what happened at the house before. I was so thrown that I got worked up instead of thinking any of it through."
"It's all right. Life's full of this and that, isn't it."
Arang smiled in an easy, good-natured voice and let it go.
The nicer I look, the easier it'll be to get close. I'm not trying to settle everything today. Making a point of contact is enough.
He had no intention of rushing any of it. Training was a long chain of patience and waiting. Push too fast, and even what might have worked would fail—that was the nature of the thing. He had felt it again and again since he started training Yuyeong. It was only a fragment, small as it was, but even that fragment gave him plenty to think about.
"If you have the time, since we've met like this, how about we spend a while together and get to know each other?"
"Together…?"
"We're going to be seeing each other often anyway, so getting closer doesn't seem like a bad idea. I'm not pressuring you. Choose whatever's comfortable."
"……"
Reshi studied Arang for a long moment, then her gaze shifted to Yuyeong. Pressed tight against his side, Yuyeong met her eyes. Reshi's look asked, plain as anything, whether this was really all right. Yuyeong only smiled and nodded. Yes.
"…Then let's do that. I just hope I'm not getting in the way of unnie's date…"
"You don't need to worry about that. And I'm the younger one, so how about you speak comfortably with me?"
"How… old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
At twenty-two, Reshi's eyes went round and her head tipped. She had clearly been assuming he was older than she was.
"Then… I'll do that. No—I'll just talk like this…"
Still unused to it, she slipped back into polite speech, corrected herself at once, and cleared her throat.
"Then shall we head out? I've got the whole course ready. All you have to do is come along."
Through Yuyeong, he had already learned everything Reshi was likely to enjoy, and he had prepared to match. All of it was a method for training her, dressed up as a friendly outing.
Before any training, I need enough familiarity to get her guard down.
Arang and the two women rose and left the cafe. A course with the feel of a date, meant for Reshi alone. He had packed it full of the things she liked. Surely that would be enough to draw them closer.
…I can feel a prickling stare on my back.
He had a fair idea of what it was, so he didn't turn around. Looking back might only make it worse.