Ch-6 Tokura Village

(...Hey, you idiot, Yuuta! Why are you kissing my mom?!)

(...Huh, Akari? N-no, this is...)

...The Akari fades and disappears.

"Akariiiiii!"

Suddenly, I woke up. Haha, it was just a dream again. I thought, looking around.

Wait, where am I? I thought I was lying outside with Hoshi-san, badly injured after being attacked by a wild animal...

There's a roof... and is this straw? It seems I was sleeping on a pile of straw in a hut somewhere.

That's right! Where's Hoshi? I looked around frantically, and... there she was! Thank goodness. She was clinging to my lower body like a baby and breathing heavily... Hmm, why is Hoshi naked?

Then, when I looked closer, I realized that I was completely naked, too! Whoa, Hoshi, what are you holding on to?!

Ignoring my panicked state, Hoshi finally seemed to notice something and opened her eyes.

"Oh, Yu-kun... Good morning... Ah, wow! Why are you naked? Your.... um.... hard penis is stuck to my face... Hehe, I see. That's right. I guess I died. And God wanted to share one last memory with me before I left this world behind..."

"N-no, that's not true. It was just a coincidence, or maybe an accident... I don't understand the situation at all! We were buried in snow. Where on earth is this..."

"Oh, I'm naked too. I should be kissing you right now."

"Well, uh, no. I'm sorry. I wanted to kiss you; I lost my mind and did something stupid... or rather, what should I say to apologize?"

"No, there's no need to be in such a hurry. Don't tell Akari. She'd probably get angry too. But when I thought it was definitely over back there, I just wanted to kiss you, Yu-kun. For some reason, I'm still alive... so I hope you'll put this... energetic thing... away."

"Ugh, sorry!"

Holding myself with both hands, I hurriedly retreated deeper into the haystack.

My heart was racing with Hoshi-san completely naked next to me, but I took a deep breath and began to process the situation.

Both Hoshi-san and I had fevers, and the wound on my left shoulder had almost completely healed, the stiffness gone.

I was sure we had been saved by being placed in this pile of straw, but who on earth had saved us?

The answer soon became clear.

"Tokuripeni. Tatanoyore!"

A girl with brown curly hair, a little over ten years old, approached me, speaking a language I'd never heard before.

"Tokuripeni. Tatanoyore!"

I couldn't understand a word she said, but she didn't seem to mean any harm. There was no doubt that she had something to do with our rescue.

She was wearing traditional clothes that looked like Native Americans or even Ainu people of Hokkaido...

Huh? Animal ears? She had big triangular ears like a fox on top of her head. Was she even a human?

"Setohar. Imenj!"

Saying that, she turned around and went back, revealing a magnificent, bushy tail like a fox's growing out of her backside.

After a while, she returned with what appeared to be a large adult male beastman and said, "Imenji. Barua."

Then he pointed at himself and said, "Barua.

I thought this must be Mr. Barua. I pointed at myself and said, "Yuuta," and the girl repeated, "Yuuta.

It seemed that we were calling each other by name. The girl's name seemed to be Plum, and from fragments of her words, I guessed that "Imenji" meant father or papa.

But we couldn't understand anything else, and that evening, we had an unexpected visitor.

"Are you the human couple?"

Suddenly, a voice came directly into my head. Telepathy? That elf! It's been a hundred years since we last met, I thought. Just as I was about to jump at him, Hoshi-san stopped me.

"Yu-kun! Calm down! It's probably someone else. Let's hear what they have to say."

After I calmed down, I noticed that the elf was a gentle-looking middle-aged man, completely different from the one at the gate.

"Um, well, I'm sorry. We don't really understand the situation."

"Hmm. Sure, you were badly injured and had a high fever, so you must be confused. Still, it's impressive that a human was able to kill five werewolves."

"Werewolves?"

"That's right. The main force of werewolves that had been terrorizing this border region was recently killed by the border garrison, but a few stragglers escaped into the forest. We chased them with the people of Tokura Village, and that is how we found you. I apologize for the late introduction; I am Gotec, a priest of the kingdom's border garrison."

"Gotec-san, we have a lot to say and ask, and it may take quite a while. Could we have some time to discuss everything with you?"

"Well, I understand. I have questions for you as well. However, it's getting late, so please come to the garrison post tomorrow. I'll have someone from this household show you around."

With that, Gotec gave Barua instructions and then left.

After that, Plum brought us a simple bean and vegetable soup and our freshly washed clothes and underwear.

Finally, I could look Hoshi-san in the eye without embarrassment. Still, we'd be sleeping on a bed of straw. I guess we're not exactly guests here.

When we tried to put our clothes back on, Plum stopped us and led us naked to the back of the hut.

A younger girl, maybe five years younger than Plum, was waiting there with a bucket of warm water.

"Melon!" Plum said, pointing to her. Melon seemed to be Plum's little sister. She gestured for us to dry ourselves with towels.

"Haha, that's true. We are pretty filthy," Hoshi-san said. We both stank after being wrapped in raw werewolf pelts last night.

I started to wipe myself down, but Plum stopped me again. She gestured to Melon to wash her back, and Melon returned the favor.

Apparently, they expected Hoshi-san and I to wash each other. My face turned red.

"Yu... Yu-kun... it can't be helped. Maybe this is just the way things are here. And that priest said we were a 'couple', right? There could be some kind of... misunderstanding..."

Ah, they probably found us still kissing when they discovered us nearly frozen in the forest, but we decided to go along with it.

Hoshi-san and I washed each other, while Plum and Melon watched us with great joy and applauded.

----------

The next morning, breakfast was bean and vegetable soup, but to be honest, I wanted it a little saltier.

Perhaps beastmen prefer bland food to humans. Last night we got our clothes back, but they were still summer clothes.

We shivered from the cold as soon as we stepped outside, so Barua kindly lent each of us a small blanket.

The border garrison base wasn't far, but we had to leave the village briefly, so Barua brought a large sword for protection.

When we arrived, Gotec was busy, but he made time for us.

To make a long story short, when Barua and others found us, they saw the burned hunter's hut.

When they searched the area, they found Hoshi-san and me nearly frozen, kissing in the snow, surrounded by the bodies of five werewolves we had somehow killed.

Gotec healed us, which explains the quick recovery of my shoulder.

On the other hand, I explained to Gotec what had happened up to that point, but he said he had never heard any talk of invasions from other worlds or gates.

I wondered if he was trying to cover it up, but I didn't get that impression, and I thought it would be unwise to doubt the person who saved my life, so I let it go.

He also said that he had been stationed in the border area for a long time, so even if the higher-ups in the center were doing something, he wouldn't know about it.

He told me that if I really wanted to investigate, the only way was to go to the royal capital, but at the same time, he told me that it was impossible for us to go to the royal capital at the moment.

The reason is that humans are very rare here; they're not creatures that naturally thrive in this world.

Only a few, like us, occasionally wander into this realm. Since we don't have any outstanding abilities, our status is at the bottom, and the Barua family seems to treat us like rare pets.

As for communication, only a handful of elves like Gotec can speak with other species, so if we don't learn the official language of this world, we'll be considered suspicious when we go to the royal capital - and most likely killed on the spot.

So I asked Gotec if he could teach me even a few basic words, but he had to return to the Frontier Guard headquarters and was busy preparing for that.

Of course, he said he couldn't take us that far, but in the end he said this:

"As long as there are no magical beasts around, the border guards will be patrolling this area in about three years."

"Until then, work under Barua and learn the language and customs of this world. When we meet again in three years, I will decide whether you can go to the royal capital."

"I will explain your situation to Barua. However, any morally questionable relationship, such as with the mother of someone you love, is frowned upon here, even if it's only on the surface."

"So it would be better for you to stay together as a couple in public. I wish you the best of luck."

With that, Gotec returned to his work.

---

"Haha, we are a couple... but you know, Yu-kun, it's just a formality. Just a formality."

"Yeah, of course! No need to worry about it."

"But, wow... three years. That's a long time. Is it our only choice?"

"True, but if we go out without being able to communicate, we'll definitely die this time. Let's wait until we can talk to Barua and the others before we consider other options."

"I understand. I'm ready! Hoshi-san, please be my fake wife for the next three years!"

"Oh, a fake wife? I-I see. I'll do my best to play the role of a fake wife, too!"

We both burst out laughing, and Barua watched us with a very puzzled look on his face.