I Prepared an All-Out Date Course for the Leopard Beastkin (2)
Through Shin Yuyeong, he had been able to learn everything there was to know about what Reshi liked.
A leopard is a feline to begin with. Of course she follows a cat's habits.
She liked raking things with her claws and watching running water, and hunting small beasts was a hobby of hers. Most of the time, of course, what she hunted were not animals at all but kaijin; only when there were no kaijin did she take to the mountains. She preferred to roam at night, and he had considered meeting her then, but the idea fell through. After dark, there simply wasn't anywhere worth taking her on a date.
"...So where are we going? If it's far from here, wouldn't it be better to just take a taxi?"
"Most of the course I planned is right around the café. A famous place like that has plenty to do nearby."
Arang answered in the laziest, softest voice he could manage. Felines were said to favor voices of that sort. Whether the same trick would work on a leopard beastkin was anyone's guess, but he had to try every method available to him.
The first stop on the date was a simulated hunting ground where you could hunt with your own hands. It ranked among the largest in Neo City, which made it seem ideal for letting her hunt animals, so he had chosen it to open the course.
First I need to get the mood as high as I can.
The moment they stepped inside the building, Reshi's eyes lit up as she looked around.
"Is this your first time at a place like this?"
"...Yeah. I mostly hunted in the mountains instead. And even that, I never had much time for."
The mountains. With wealth like hers, she could have come and gone from a place like this whenever she pleased. Why hunt out there at all? The question flickered through Arang's mind, but he let it go and smiled. Wondering about it now would solve nothing. In the situation at hand, he had to pour everything into satisfying her.
They paid the fee and stepped into the hunting ground proper.
"Shall we split up to hunt, or would you rather stay together?"
"Together. We split up and you get hurt for no reason—then what?"
The place charged nearly two hundred dollars an hour, no small sum, but money was no object. He was using Yuyeong's card, not his own. She had said she would watch from outside.
More precisely, that was an order I gave her.
The reason the two of them were going in alone was simple. If he could build affection, or at least some familiarity, everything that followed would go more smoothly. With Yuyeong there, it might not take at all.
Jealousy is a terrifying emotion. You never know where it will strike.
He didn't know whether she was aware of it, but he could feel it. What leaked from Yuyeong's body was pure jealousy—the sharp, unmistakable sense of someone insisting she was the lawful wife.
I don't mean to blame her... but I'll still have to handle this carefully.
He had trained her in order to survive, so he had to bear the responsibility that came with it. He had extended her life; throwing her away was out of the question. He hadn't the slightest intention of doing so, and it was a path he would never choose.
All right. Let's begin.
Arang and Reshi pressed on into the artificially made forest. She kept her ears pricked, sniffing at the air again and again. Arang wore protective gear, just in case.
With my ability, I hardly need it...
He had meant to walk in as he was, but Yuyeong had forbidden it, swearing she would bite her tongue and die if he didn't put the gear on. He'd had no choice. And thinking of abilities brought another question to mind.
Come to think of it... I have the same ability as Yuyeong. Why hasn't she said a word?
On the day she had come to the house, she had definitely confirmed his ability. The odds of a sidekick awakening a trait—and the exact same trait as the hero they assisted—were vanishingly small, small enough to call impossible. Even so, she had voiced no question and made no attempt to dig into the secret.
Is she showing me some consideration because I'm her boyfriend?
However suspicious it seemed, she appeared to trust the senior she was close to. That didn't mean she had escaped suspicion entirely. If a gap ever opened, she would dig into Arang's secret.
Before that happens, I need to strike first and finish training her.
If the secret came out before the training was complete, he would be in serious trouble. It was an unprecedented trait: fulfill certain conditions, and he could copy a superhuman's trait exactly as it was. They would never leave someone who possessed a thing like that alone. It wasn't as if ordinary humans had never researched the traits of superhumans such as heroes and villains. People always covet what they don't have.
According to the setting, they dissect kaijin and villains for research. Why would heroes be any different?
The moment they decided he wouldn't obey, or that his value had dropped, they would use him as a test subject. He was certain of it.
This trait goes with me to the grave.
A secret that must never come to light.
Once they had gone some way into the forest, sound began to rise around them—the rustle of undergrowth, the whisper of wind through leaves and branches, even the howling of wolves and the chatter of birds. The place was already a complete ecosystem in its own right.
To build an ecosystem on this scale, they must have hired a hero or a superhuman with a nature-type trait.
High-rank heroes could alter an environment itself with ease, provided they had a trait suited to the work. He kept moving with Reshi, scanning their surroundings.
"Stop."
They had been walking for a while when the brush began to stir on every side, and she reached out and halted him.
"Looks like they're coming to find us first."
"...You can tell that much?"
"Just think of it as my ability."
Fair enough. Revealing an ability carried far too much risk. If her trait were countered, it would be a disaster, and if that information reached villains or kaijin, it would be the worst possible outcome.
"What should I do?"
"Just stand there and watch. You jump in and get hurt, and I don't think I could face my senior."
"......"
Arang didn't particularly object. Every stop on this course was for her, after all—meant to raise her affection and forge one solid point of contact. So he had to play along, within reason, without rubbing her the wrong way.
This is also a decent chance to get a real sense of what an A-rank hero can actually do.
The game had been a visual novel, so the combat had never played out as animation. The only piece of official lore that stood firm was that an A-rank in this world equaled the military power of a small city.
If I succeed in training her and obtain her trait, I could reach A-rank power right away. Actually using the ability would be another matter, but in raw physical class I could get there. From then on, I could operate as an independent hero without any trouble.
The moment he possessed a certain degree of strength, Arang would no longer need to hide behind the title of sidekick. He would still be far from the strongest being in the setting, but at least he would be able to protect himself.
Awooooooo!!!
The thought had barely ended when wolves began emerging from the undergrowth, one after another. Their numbers crept upward until nearly twenty of them had crawled out. They had clearly come looking for prey.
Much bigger than ordinary wolves.
Growling as if they owned the place, they drew steadily closer. The way they formed a circle and closed in on Arang and Reshi was textbook hunting.
"...Will you be all right?"
He asked it just in case, watching her. Even an A-rank hero, hemmed in like this—he wasn't sure she could fight without any harm coming to him.
"...Ha."
She let out a dry laugh and settled into a stance.
"Do I look like the kind of A-rank hero who falls apart because she can't handle one pack of wolves?"
It was confidence, and certainty. The certainty that she would win.
"Lately I've been bored out of my mind, with no villains or kaijin worth fighting. This works out. I just hope they make at least a little entertainment."
Fwoosh—!
The words had barely left her mouth before she vanished.
Shhk—!
A storm tore through the clearing. Something ripped, and she was standing where she had been.
"Ptui!"
Her mouth was smeared with blood. Reshi wiped at it with her hand, cleaning the mess from her face. Arang stared at her for a moment, then looked around.
...Holy shit.
All around them, the wolves' corpses lay strewn across the ground—legs, torsos, and heads torn to shreds. She had killed every one of them at a speed his eyes couldn't even follow.
...This is insane.
She could take his life whenever she wanted. More easily than these wolves. The realization sent a chill through him.