5 I'm Cute!
It had been minutes since the goddess had cursed me with this new body, and I still didn't know how I looked right now. My eyes still wandered around, restlessly searching for a mirror, a puddle or a metal plate, anything that could show me my face, but there was nothing to be found.
Naturally, I had used my hands to feel for those fox ears of mine. Two big, furry ears were waiting to be touched by my restless fingers, each of them was warm and soft to the touch, and sensitive, too, though not as much as the base of my even more soft and furry tail.
The goddess had transported me into the ruins of a temple or a castle, right onto a large platform that easily reached my shoulders in height. It had been built using large, beige sandstones and countless tiles made of something like ceramic, that were painted in once bright colors which now could only be described as pale and dull.
Aside from a large, round hole in the ceiling right above the platform, there was no other source of light. And even this one now showed a slightly reddish and orange sky, indicating it was either morning or evening.
The sunlight didn't only fall on the platform itself, but on the walls of the hall, too, where it revealed weathered drawings of animals and colorful tiles and mosaics that once showed beautiful women. The cracked ceramic pieces formed ears like the one the goddess had, and red-brownish or sometimes black hair.
The by far brightest and most sophisticated of these paintings had become my bed and birthplace, as it occupied almost all of the surface of the platform I had woken up on. It featured the sole woman that had white hair instead, just like the brat had, though she looked much more elegant and mature when compared to the almost childish appearance of the goddess.
«Could be her mother...»
The brat didn't waste a single comment on my discoveries. She had been silent for some time already, which I obviously was more than happy about.
After all the things I had gone through today, I would probably be unable to stay polite and objective when subjected to her silly remarks. And even though she was a brat, she was still a goddess that could easily influence my life for the worse, should I dare to anger her.
My long search finally ended when I found a large crack in the ceiling, which let through a few beams of light and, much more importantly, I seemingly neverending stream of droplets, which gathered on the sandstone below my feet, forming a large, algae-infested puddle.
The light shining on the puddle wasn't exactly bright and its surface was covered with ripples, but it was still more than enough to confirm my fears.
When I bend over the puddle, the vague silhouettes of what seemed to be a more than just beautiful face appeared in front of me. The girl looked around my age, about seventeen years old, maybe slightly younger, and fox-red hair covered her head. It was pretty long, long enough to cover my bare chest, and slightly wavy like the white hair of the goddess.
The two ears I had discovered before looked almost exactly how I had imagined them. They hadn't got short hair like those of a cat, but were rather fluffy instead, making them look even softer than they really were.
"...cute."
「I know, I know!」 A gleeful voice rang through my mind.
"..."
「So what will we do now?」
"We? Nothing."
「But big sis~」
"I'm not your big sis! You lied to me!"
「How did I lie?! I would never lie to big sis!」
"You promised me a healthy new body!"
「I did give you one!」
"But it is a girl's! It isn't mine! I wanted my body!"
「I already told you don't know how you looked down there!」
"What about my harem?! At least give me girls?!"
「Girls? I never promised you girls, big sis?!」
"Wha- what?!"
「I will help you find a boyfriend! Lot's of them!」
"... no."
「No?」
"I don't want a boyfriend! Never! Don't even think of it!"
「Oh... ok?」 The goddess sounded somewhat dejected. 「If you say so...」
"..."
「See? I didn't lie! Never!」
She really didn't. Sure, she promised me a new body and a harem, but she obviously had formulated her promises better than I had chosen my demands. In the end, there was not a single wish she really had fullfilled, nor was there one she really had broken.
A random thought shot through my mind. «What about Mira?!»
"Mira," I asked her, "where is she? What did you do with her?"
「Mira? She is here!」
"Show me! Show me the way to her!"
「Okay~」
It took her a few seconds to come up with more than this short reply. A pale-green, half-transparent screen appeared in front of me, on it a series of white letters that I was oddly familiar with. The numbers, however, couldn't be any more different.
『Status
===Bio:
Name: Rika
Gender: Female
Race: Demi-Human; Sub-Race: Foxkin
Class: None
Level: 1 - 0% EXP
===Attributes
HP: 5
MP: 5
Strength: 1
Vitality: 1
Spirit: 1
Intelligence: 1
Dexterity: 1
Physical Attack: 2 (+0)
Magical Attack: 2 (+0)
Physical Defense: 2 (+0)
Magical Defense: 2 (+0)』
"..."
⊱————- Extra ————-⊰
Rika: 5 HP...
???: I couldn't help it, you know?!
Rika: I will die with one hit!
???: It will be fine! I will help you grow stronger!
Rika: How am I supposed to defeat monsters with this weak body?
???: We can start with insects, you know?
Rika: Insects?
???: Just squash them! Use a stick and make them go SPLASH!
Rika: Splash...
???: What is it? Why is you face looking so green?
Rika: Stick... wood...
???: Big sis?! Is everything ok?
Rika: Splash... blood everywhere...
???: Blood? There is no blood! You are fine, big sis! Everything is okay! Big sis isn't hurt!
Rika: I don't feel so-
???: Wha- Noo! EWWW! Stop it! NOO! It stinks! Put it away, big sis! My nose!!
