An Unexpected Harvest (1)
"I wanna do the same thing Mommy does!"
“······.”
Tia declared this out of nowhere, right in the middle of the lingerie shop.
So she wants to do exactly what I do, huh?
She'd clearly spat it out without having the faintest idea what it meant.
I looked back and forth between the chest I was shielding with my arms and Tia's little chest, then spoke up.
"The size Mommy wears is... let's see. About this big."
"Wha······?"
To make things easy for her to understand, I picked a bra from the display rack with a cup roughly matching mine and handed it to Tia.
The moment she took it, Tia's eyes went round as saucers—and then she slapped the thing right over her face.
It covered Tia's entire head with a little to spare.
Counting by cup size, that thing would be around a J-cup.
"Guess it won't work, huh? Let's find one in your size."
"Nnngh······."
I pushed along the deflated little girl's shoulders and steered her toward the shop assistant.
Now we would measure her chest and pick out a bra that fit Tia perfectly.
At first I'd considered just buying whatever on the way home from work and tossing it at her, but there was no way I could put Tia in the wrong size, so I'd brought her to the store instead.
She'd learned early on that squeezing into something too small could drive a person out of her mind, after all······.
Watching my daughter grow right before my eyes left me feeling a little unsettled, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all.
Far from being tedious, it was closer to genuinely fascinating.
"Yawwwn. Dying of boredom here. Why not just grab one of those junior bras off the rack? What's with all the dilly-dallying?"
“······.”
Leopard, the Hero.
If only this bastard didn't exist, the world would be a wonderful place.
Utterly indifferent to my icy glare, the man had claimed the shop's entire sofa for himself and lay there yawning away.
Me, briefly suspecting that bastard might be a woman? Yeah, I'm an idiot.
The guy was one hundred percent a man.
I'd received fresh confirmation of that very day.
"Shut your trap. You're not helping with anything."
"You'd really treat me that coldly? Really?"
“······.”
Chewing on cherries from a plate, Leopard shot me a greasy look.
Only, that gaze wasn't aimed at my eyes. It was aimed at my chest.
The way his tongue worked—sucking something, rolling it around inside his mouth—sent a shiver crawling down my whole body.
Perverted bastard.
"Tsk······."
I clicked my tongue and turned my gaze back to Tia.
Letting a guy like that into my field of vision was a net loss, plain and simple.
And if you asked why, out of everyone, I'd brought that bastard along for bra shopping······.
Well, that's a bit of a longer story.
"Ow. It stings······."
"Oh my gosh! You okay? Does it hurt a lot? And what about a bra?"
"A bra?"
Tia's head tilted to one side.
It was the look of someone who had no idea what that word meant.
At the sight, Irina let out a long sigh and then suddenly bellowed at the top of her lungs.
"Yulia!"
"Huh? What?"
"Get over here!"
"I'm busy!"
"Unless it's urgent, get here fast! It's about your daughter!"
"I told you I'm busy, seriously······."
As the grumbling drew closer and closer, Irina's blood pressure climbed steadily higher.
Her daughter had grown to this age, and not only had she never bought her a bra—she hadn't even taught her what a bra was.
And she called herself a mother?
Irritation flared up hot and instant.
Irina settled Tia onto her lap and waited quietly.
Soon the door pushed open, and Yulia appeared, looking utterly worn out.
"What is it?"
"Tia says her chest stings. Don't tell me you didn't know? Her first period came just yesterday, and she's clearly in a growth phase—you should've bought her a bra ages ago."
"Ah. Right. I forgot. I'll get one soon. It's fine."
"You forgot? Hey, you little brat! You can't do that as her mother! Do you have any idea how old your kid is already?!"
"Two months and eight days."
“······.”
Irina's words died in her throat.
She glanced down once at Tia sitting on her lap, then sheepishly bit her lip.
Two months and eight days.
That was the age of this child who had, without anyone noticing, already begun to show the first blossoming of girlhood.
"Well. My bad, okay? I didn't exactly expect her to start her second puberty two months after being born. Did you?"
“······.”
Confronted with Yulia's brazenly defiant counterattack, Irina found she had nothing to say.
Who could possibly have predicted a demon would grow this fast?
You could've told her it was the growth rate of a lizard instead of a demon, and she'd have believed it.
"She grows like an animal rather than a perso······. Hm?"
Irina's expression turned strange.
Tia had been squirming in discomfort, and now Irina was feeling an odd sensation on her stomach, right where Tia's back pressed against her.
As if something was stuck to her back.
Or as if something was sprouting out of it.
"AAAAH! Okay, okay! I'll go buy the bra! There, happy now?!"
"Uh······."
Having caught on to the strange turn of events, Yulia scrambled over and pulled Tia upright.
At some point, Tia's tail had grown to the size of a single finger, and she had unconsciously pressed it against Irina's stomach and rubbed it there.
Yulia glared furiously at her for it, but Tia couldn't have cared less, giggling a little "mhee-hee" as she snuggled into Yulia's arms.
What was that? A tag on her clothes or something?
For a moment Irina almost asked what it had been, but she decided to let it go. Probably nothing.
Since Irina's lips merely twitched without a word passing them, Yulia could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"You wouldn't know how to pick a bra for a kid, would you?"
"Nope."
"If we left it to you, you'd just grab some flat thing off a store shelf, chuck it at Tia, and go 'there ya go.' You wouldn't actually do that, right?"
"Ah, no, I wouldn't."
“······.”
Not remotely convincing.
A three-month rookie mom, saddled with a kid this big.
She really did need help.
But as Irina had always found, helping Yulia with anything involving Tia was never a chore or a bore—it was genuinely rewarding.
Just watching Tia grow up straight and strong in Yulia's arms made Irina feel as though her own past sins were being forgiven, and soothed.
"So once I finish up my shifts here······."
"Are you going to buy Tia's underwear? Then should I come along too-ouch?!"
With a crash-bang of noise that practically demanded the word uproar be written beside it, Sasha's new shoe came flying into the back room.
Her horn snagged on the doorframe the instant she entered, and Sasha toppled over on the spot.
Head forced back, clutching her aching neck, Sasha groaned in pain.
These incidents happened so often that her cervical vertebrae had apparently evolved to be unusually sturdy, so nothing serious was likely—but it still hurt.
"A-are you okay?"
"I'm fine! More importantly, come with me! To the underwear shop!"
"Hey, why are you butting in out of nowhere? Can't you see I'm talking to Yulia?"
"Mmm. That's just because you're busy, right? You always have so many requests, Unnie, but I don't."
"What does that matter? We'd go on a day off or after work anyway. Right, Yulia?"
"I'm planning to leave early today. I'm pretty tired. My period cramps are bad. So I was going to pick up a bra on the way home."
"Ah······."
Yulia answered while dodging Irina's heavy, meaningful stare.
Now it clicked.
Yulia had been planning to leave work early and go shopping with Sasha from the very beginning.
I got played. Completely.
The whole thing had been settled before the conversation even started—she couldn't help feeling betrayed.
"Fufufu. I'll just finish the cleaning up nice and fast. Let's clock out together and go buy Tia's underwear."
"Fine. First time in a while I'm leaving before sundown."
"Mheheheh!"
“······.”
Irina saw it.
Saw Sasha turn away with a distinctly smug smile on her face.
The dumb girl who hauled that long handle around on her forehead had never looked more shrewd than she did at this moment.
Irina was right in the middle of feeling the impulse to cancel every single one of her backed-up appointments and just walk out right then—
when the door slammed open with a bang.
"Yulia here?"
"Yes? Who might you······. Hk."
"What's with the 'hk' the second you see a person's face? Honestly."
Yulia's face crumpled as she poked her head out into the hall.
It was none other than Leopard, the Hero.
With the ease of long practice, he infiltrated all the way into the back room and seized Yulia's wrist.
"Wh-what are you doing?! I'm off work now! I'm not doing any more shifts!"
"Off work? Even better. Come buy clothes with me."
"Am I insane? Why would I go clothes shopping with you? Over my dead body!"
"You'll need a dress. A dress for attending parties. You're not planning to show up in some stripper costume with your navel hanging out and an ass-flap skirt, are you?"
"Well, no, but······. Even if I do pick out a dress, I'm not picking it out with you. Let go."
"H-hey, cut out the manhandling already, buddy. You're putting Yulia in an awkward spot."
"Yeah, yeah! Reckless thuggery has its limits too! You think you can act like this just because Dragonia covers for you?!"
“······.”
Voices of condemnation erupted from every direction.
This was Leopard, after all—famous for going around looking like a ragamuffin while beating anyone who crossed him half to death.
But watching the man tyrannize Yulia, the most popular hostess at Lyuba Tavern, even beyond her working hours was more than the regulars could stomach any longer, so each of them had squeezed out a measure of courage.
"I'll buy you a dress."
"Huh?"
"Are you deaf? Pick any dress you want—whatever it is, I'll pay for it."
“······.”
Yulia's eyes went wide.
Party dresses were plentiful, and plenty of them ran to twice her monthly salary.
Having finished the arithmetic in her head in an instant, Yulia opened her mouth.
"Shall we go now, then?"
"Gladly."
"But we're stopping at the lingerie shop first, okay? I need to buy Tia's underwear."
"Sure, sure. Fine by me."
Pride, it turned out, could be sold for money.
Leopard was only briefly surprised by her lightning-fast answer before a smile spread across his lips.
"Y-Yulia? You're going off with a man outside of work hours? You're joking, right?"
"You're not selling your virginity for a dress, are you, Yulia? I could pay double that, you know······"
"That is NOT what's happening, so get your heads out of the gutter, you perverted old men!!! God. Tia. Come here. We're leaving."
Having let loose a full-throated lion's roar, Yulia hastily gathered up Tia and vanished out the door.
Escorted, with courtly grace, by the Hero Leopard, who held the door open for her.
Even after the two of them were gone, everyone stood frozen, staring mutely at the door.
Sasha, broom still in hand, could only wear the expression of a leopard cat watching an eagle snatch her prey right before her eyes.
"Yulia······. So she finally got claimed······."
"Claimed, huh. Yeah, she's claimed······."
"I wonder if we'll see her on the second-round request board starting tomorrow? Might not be so bad, come to think of it."
"You—what's WRONG with you! What's good about that?!"
"So you're saying you won't be requesting Yulia on the second-round board then? Anyone who would, feel free to throw a stone at me! I'm merely being honest with my desires!"
"Someone get a rock! Stone this bastard to death and send him straight to jail!"
In the blink of an eye, the tavern had descended into utter chaos.