ch-2

I noticed something. More specifically, something triggered my senses,

which was like a combination of sight, smell and sound.

That “something” leaped with a pyon kind of feeling.

When I surrendered myself to the sudden itchy tempting sensation that

arose, I reflexively launched myself forward to extend the mist surrounding my

body and slapped down on that something with a pechin(smack) sound.

「……………」

O, ohh…I’m quite suprised at how I reacted like a cat that’s discovered

an insect, if I may say so myself.

Leaving that aside…what is this….I did catch a glimpse of it just before

hitting it, and it did certainly look like an 『insect』, but I don’t know what it is. And

when I struck that 『insect』, it disappeared like mist.

Upon disappearing…there was the scent of something like sweet honey.

For some reason, that scent gave me a faint satisfaction, even though

the current me had no sense of taste nor hunger.

It was a somewhat nostalgic scent and flavor….It was like the time I was

a child in that dream world, sipping honey from a small flower…it had that kind

of nostalgic feeling.

s.h.i.+ver…s.h.i.+ver…s.h.i.+ver…(s.h.i.+vering in excitement)

My gaseous body trembled as if excited by something, and as if driven by

that sensation, I began wandering about my surroundings.

But really…how am I moving around?

From the previous feeling of striking down that insect, I’ve understood

that I do have a certain degree of physical strength, but without needing to

crawl, my body instead moves by floating towards the direction I want to go.

To a certain extent, I can bring out the same burst of speed as the

first time I moved. However, although I could move by barely skimming across

the surface of the ground, I couldn’t manage to fly…what a pity.

And while moving about….ah, found it.

The second mus.h.i.+-kun(insect) discovered.

I’m just a bit lonely, so I wonder if I could keep it as a pet…?

But…..

Pechin.

「………」

When I neared it, once again my body flew forward and smacked it…really

like a cat. My lack of self-control is rather shameful if I may say so myself.

There’s something irresistible about that sugary honey scent.

In the first place, it was in the wrong for provoking my cat-like

instincts, hopping up and down like that in front of me.

Then I suddenly realized something. The first insect had a flowery

honey-like scent, but the second one had…to give a description, it smelled a

bit fruity.

s.h.i.+ver…s.h.i.+ver…s.h.i.+ver…(excited s.h.i.+vering)

Should I keep on searching for a little longer….

From then on, my past time & daily routine came to consist of

searching for these mus.h.i.+-kuns(insects).

I, it’s not like I want a snack or anything, alright?

「……！」

Pechin, pechin(smack, smack)

「………！！」

Pechin, pechin pechin, pechin(smack, double smack, smack)

Mmmm, delish(デリシャス). Of course, when compared with the sweets I know from the dream world,

this is in every way a very modest taste, but it serves as a good compliment to

the cat-like hunting work involved.

I think it’s that; when you gather your own food, it feels much tastier,

probably.

And I’ve noticed something else too. The larger insects are better

tasting.

I’ll have you let me say this but, I don’t have a hobby of directly

eating insects. As of the present, rather than smacking them, just touching

them is enough to make them disappear, and since they leave no dead remains, it

doesn’t leave an unpleasant feeling afterwards.

I’ve noticed this while on the move, but there were some of these things

that were about the size of a mouse. When compared with the other “insects”, it

was much more cautious, and unless it approached me first, it was unexpectedly

quick in escaping.

This time for sure I’ll make it my pet~~…but even though I tried putting

some spirit into it, it vanished the moment I touched it.

Appearance-wise, it was mostly identical to those black furb.a.l.l.s

that appear in a certain movie from the dream world, chased around by a pair of

sisters that lived by the countryside in a remotely located house.(totoro)

I really wanted it…a pet.

Still, the flavor was good.I’d say that it tasted similar to cherry or

wild strawberry.

As I pa.s.sed away the days in that manner, a change appeared in my

body.

Eating too much snacks made me fat…is not what happened. Instead, it

appeared that my body which was light brown colored was turning into a deeper

shade resembling chocolate, but at the last moment it turned curry-like.

…Why, I wonder, did I use food as the standard for comparison.

I prefer to think that the color has become a hair dyed brown.

It might as well have turned into a milk tea color to look cuter, but

life just doesn’t go the way you want it to.

When the color changed, at the same time, the density of my gaseous body

further increased, becoming all syrupy.

Oh, will I evolve into a slime?　…Or so I thought, but I was wrong. My body didn’t

become sticky, but became like iron sand.

But…have I evolved with this?　It’s harder to move now that my body is heavier.

Ahh~~…I let a nezumi-chan(mouse) run away again.

Is it possible that I really did get fatter…?　Nee nee(hey hey), did I really get

fatter……?

But while in the midst of being torn between the desire to diet and the

seduction of snacks, for the first time, in a way, I came across another

existence other than me.

「……！？」

Even I understood why my body twitched in shock.

I didn’t become aware of it until it had approached closeby. The moment

I did, I felt that my iron sand body would break and collapse from the

overwhelming, enormous sense of intimidation that washed over me.

It was a huge black panther.

If I was the size of the average cat, then that black panther was even

larger than a horse.

And…it was beautiful.

It didn’t give off the impression of being short and stout, which was

common among wild cats, but instead appeared to be supple and slim.

Fur that gave off a deep…dark, and beautiful l.u.s.tre of a brilliant

jet black.

You would think that brilliant and black wouldn’t go together, but I

couldn’t describe it any other way.

A whip-like pair of tails, split into two parts, that were even longer

than it’s body.

Silver claws and fangs. It was my first time in this world, seeing such

a pair of silver eyes that also carried 『purpose』.

「…………」

It was scary. For the first time in this world, I felt fear…a danger to

my life.

But…even more than that, I was mesmerized. I couldn’t take my eyes off

of this black panther.

s.h.i.+ver…s.h.i.+ver….(excited)

I, I want to pet it.

It would definitely feel all silky and good. There might even be a

fluffy part somewhere.

『……？』

After a while, the indications of wanting to eat me faded away, and the

black panther appeared to be curious as it tilted its head to the side.

『……Why aren’t you afraid?』

That was a 『voice』. What I heard was the faint growl of a beast. But its growl resounded

inside of me and turned into words.

「…！…！？…！」　…！？　…！」

I was surprised by the first intelligent voice I got to hear in this

world. An unexpectedly good voice….

The black panther’s tone was deep and masculine, a lovely voice that

seemed to belong to an oji-sama(uncle/old man)…scratch that, a lovely voice

belonging to a man in the first half of his thirties, on the brink of becoming

an oji-sama.

It’s very much my type of voice. Before I noticed, I was shaking in

excitement and made a sound…but it didn’t become words.

The black panther was surprisingly making a similar fl.u.s.tered

expression to my panicking self.

『Can you…understand words?』

In response to its question, I tried to nod my head…but no matter what I

tried I couldn’t nod, so I hopped up and down where I stood. Thereupon,

『……Oh?(ほぉ) so you’re able to comprehend my words.』

It approached me as it spoke, and when I instinctively tried moving

back, it swiftly used its forefoot to pin me down.

『……As I thought, you don’t disappear. You must have a significant amount

of will and intelligence.』

「………」

……Eh? By any chance, is it that if you don’t have any will or

intelligence, you’ll be eaten just by being touched?

Aside from that, although I do have a will, but as for

intelligence….When I was in school, I scored magnificently average in my

subjects.

I was trembling like pudding while having such thoughts when the black

panther said,

『Don’t be so afraid…no, are you angry?　You’re an interesting one.』

And then it showed signs of laughing.

No no, although I’m not angry but how should I say, I just can’t

understand….

My confused thoughts might have gotten across, because the black panther

then released me from its forefoot and brought its face close enough to peer at

me.

『Relax.I won’t have any more thoughts of eating you…but leaving that

aside.Why are you staying in that kind of body?』』

「…？」

Why, you ask….It’s not like I look like this because I want to~.

For a while, I attempted to communicate through iron sand fluid body

language, when the black panther began showing signs of being astounded.

To put it simply, it seems that individuals with a body like mine

usually transform the body for easier movement.

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