“WAIT! PRETTY!”
“They seriously don’t get it, do they…?”
—If only that had been the end of it.
“OOH! OOH!”
“…………”
“…………”
Passing by the gorilla exhibit, they were met with drumming and mating calls through the glass.
“SNORT!”
“…………”
“…………”
Near the polar bear enclosure, one swam up to the edge, lifting its head as if trying to press its snout against the barrier.
“ROAR!”
“…………”
“…………”
At the elephant exhibit, a trunk stretched out toward them—forcing Rui to dodge with the agility befitting an Excia, as they sprinted away.
“Hah… hah…! What kind of theme park nightmare is this zoo?!”
“……Sorry.”
“Huh?”
As Ibuki knelt to catch his breath, he glanced to the side—where Rui stood awkwardly, one arm crossed, wearing a guilty expression.
“N-No, no!”
He scrambled to his feet, shaking his head frantically.
“Honestly—this is actually really fun!”
“……What?”
Rui tilted her head at the unexpected response.
“Fun?”
“Yeah. I’ve never been to a zoo like this before.”
“……I see.”
For a brief moment, Rui looked surprised—then quietly nodded, offering a small, dry smile.
“Back in elementary school… during a field trip to the zoo…”
“Yeah… Oh.”
“Mhm……”
Ibuki didn’t need her to finish.
No doubt, the horrors unfolding at close range had traumatized those poor children for life…
“Well, but…”
Her sapphire-blue eyes locked onto him.
“This… isn’t so bad, maybe.”
The girl smiled softly.
“……!”
For a moment, he was entranced—until his wandering gaze landed on a nearby sign.
Ibuki pointed at it.
“Hey, want to go check that out?”
“…… “
Rui was now sitting with her knees properly folded on a fluffy carpet.
And around her,
“Meow, meow!”
“Meow~”
“Meow!”
Cats, cats, cats in overwhelming numbers.
What Ibuki had found earlier was a so-called interaction space.
Although it was labeled as an interaction space, given the characteristics of the place where drinks could also be purchased, it wasn’t much different from a cat café. In the center of it,
“………… “
Cats were gathering around the beautiful girl like they were drawn to catnip.
Standing nearby with a wry smile watching this was Ibuki.
At first, he was a bit flustered that almost all the cats in the store had gathered around Rui, but looking around, he saw that almost all the customers were entranced by the heroine of the cat mountain, so he abandoned his concerns.
“I really didn’t expect it to turn out like this……”
On her lap, both shoulders, back, and on her hands placed on the ground, cats were coming to rub against her entire body.
As for the catnip heroine herself,
“──── “
She had completely frozen up.
Throughout their zoo visit, Ibuki had noticed that she didn’t seem to be very fond of animals.
However, in this cat café (or interactive space), Ibuki had a clever idea.
“Doesn’t this cat look like Hinata-chan?”
Just one whisper in Rui’s ear, that’s all it took.
But the reaction was dramatic.
Rui’s eyes became fixed on one cat with brown fur sitting on her lap.
(Hehehe, I thought she’d definitely be reminded of Hinata-chan when she saw this brown fur. Since we’re at the zoo, I want Rui to enjoy herself too!)
Ibuki smiled contentedly. A shadow approached his feet.
“……Hm?”
Looking down, there was just one Ragdoll cat with white fur and blue eyes at Ibuki’s feet.
That cat was staring up at Ibuki. When he crouched down to pet it, it purred and rubbed its head against his hand.
“You’re so cute…!”
At this moment, there was another pair of eyes watching the young man who had begun to get absorbed in petting the cat.
“………… “
It was Rui. She had been completely immobilized by the devilish whisper Ibuki had left earlier. Because,
(I can’t shake off a cat that looks like Hina…!)
As expected of a self-admitted otaku, the cat resembled Hinata just as Ibuki had suggested.
Here for the first time, Rui learned a method to overcome her dislike of animals by comparing them to people.
Of course, she hadn’t completely overcome it, but an unexpected situation was occurring for Ibuki as well.
The Ragdoll that had been getting affection from Ibuki right in front of Rui’s eyes.
(…………Somehow, isn’t it—doesn’t it look like ME…!?)
Yes. The white fur reminded her of Rui’s usual casual clothes or squad uniform, and those blue eyes were almost the same color as hers.
Such a cat was,
“So cute~”
Being petted by Ibuki.
The moment she realized this.
“~!!”
Rui’s face flushed red like a boiled octopus.
But with her lap being occupied by the Hinata-like cat, Rui couldn’t turn her face away from the scene before her.
“There, there~”
Watching the Ragdoll having its chin stroked, she could only face head-on the strange feeling creeping up her spine.
“Ah… uh…, ~~~~”
With no choice, she tightly shut her eyes.
For several minutes after that, the sound of cat-petting voices reached her ears.
In her vision closed to darkness, Rui continued to hear those sounds while desperately trying to shake off the fantasies of what was happening in front of her.
Afterward, Ibuki, whose complexion had improved, and Rui, who was exhausted, thoroughly (?) enjoyed the zoo.
It would be several days later when Rui and Ibuki realized that they hadn’t talked about Hina (Hinata-chan)!
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
Afterword
Last time, I filled the afterword with acknowledgments and thought:
“Well, writing afterwords is actually pretty easy.”
In conclusion, I’m struggling to come up with things to write right from the start, enough to begin with reflections (sweat).
I’ve already written everything I wanted to say in the main story, and it seems nonsensical to talk about the story from the outside. But then again, there’s nothing interesting about my personal life to discuss either. …Wait? Could it be I have nothing to write about?
S o l e t ‘ s m o v e o n t o a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s.
Suddenly, many things I want to write have sprung up. What’s this about?
First, my thanks to all the readers. After the release of volume one, I saw many purchase reports and… posts with impressions. Some were quite lengthy. As someone who writes, I believe I understand how much energy it takes to write something. I’m very pleased to have been able to convey such “passion” to someone. Of course, this includes you, who are reading these words right now. This is volume two, so I think those who found volume one interesting have picked it up. I feel the same joy that you found it enjoyable.
Digressing a bit to personal matters, I’d like to thank my unique acquaintances. To the one who went crazy and bought three copies then was confused about it himself (I was impressed that you properly purchased them at TO Bookstore and even collected the bonus SS), to those all across the country who sent photos of bookstores and purchased books in abundance, to those who had never read light novels before but purchased and finished reading them… Without joking, I bow down in gratitude.
Enormous thanks also to Shin’ishi-sensei, who continued to be in charge of illustrations following the previous volume. Needless to say, the designs of the two new characters are wonderful, and throughout the main story, I keep describing Rui as beautiful, but thanks to the sensei’s gorgeous illustrations, I think we’ve been able to deliver those words without falsehood. Moreover, in this volume, Rui’s outfit is different in all four insert illustrations! I’m trembling at such luxury! Having said that, the author’s favorite is the furious Hinata (lol).
And to my editor who always takes care of me. Due to having discussions about the book at an early stage, thank you for extending a hand to this author whose head was a mess from the plotting of chapter two. I’m truly happy that thanks to you, we were able to release it to the world in the form of “volume two.”
So, that’s all. …I notice I ended up touching on both the story and personal matters within the acknowledgments. Thank you for bearing with my inconclusive conclusion. This was Tokioka.
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