Abnormal Creature Memoirs c3

Translation: Razorace
Editing: Zeph
Proofreading/TLC: Selutu

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Wolf

 

Wolf ears?

 

Hao Ren instantly blanked out on the spot. After Lily had walked a certain distance, he rubbed his eyes forcefully. Once his vision stabilised, he still only saw the normal short-haired girl in front of him.

 

However, he was convinced that he had really just seen a pair of pointy and eccentric ears! It seemed real to the point where he could recall the appearance of the ears: a triangularly shaped pair of ears attached to the top of Lily’s head. They stood energetically upright and were covered in beautiful pale silver fur. Definitely! Hao Ren was very confident in his vision and short-term memory.

 

But now there was nothing at all on Lily’s head, furthermore the scene he just saw didn’t quite adhere to common sense, therefore he once again slapped his cheeks to comfort himself: “Why did I become drowsy this early in the day? I’m even seeing hallucinations.”

 

“Landlord, what did you just say?” Lily suddenly turned around. A pair of large eyes sparkled in the veil of darkness full of vigour looked at him: “something about hallucination?”

 

Hao Ren genuinely thought this girl had incredibly hearing, she was able to pick up on such a quiet mumble just now, but he didn’t show it on his face. He only casually waved his hand: “Nothing, I was mistaken. Let’s hurry, still need to get you settled by tonight.”

 

“Oh,” Lily shouldered the giant suitcase while walking in front and couldn’t stop moving her mouth as she walked: “That’s right – Landlord is there any place to eat near your neighbourhood? I still haven’t eaten~… I’ll pay the fees. Eeyy, landlord why are you walking at the back, you lead the way at the front, I don’t know the road…….”

 

Hao Ren caught up to her in a few steps and thought that even though this rambling girl was kind of r.e.t.a.r.ded, her straightforwardness was also pretty interesting. He casually replied: “No problem, I’ll provide food. After all, it’s just me. One more person makes no difference since it’s all just a single pot.”

 

Just as he finished, once again the sound from earlier “Pulala” could be heard from above.

 

This time, he reacted even faster than previously. Therefore, without a doubt, he caught sight of a bat the size of an eagle bolt across the sky.

 

Of course, he didn’t reckon that it was an eagle, he only thought that it was a giant bird from somewhere that was foraging in the residential district: not far from this place was the wilderness and occasionally having wild birds appear was nothing new. However, he worried that Lily might have a bad impression of the place, thus soothed casually: “Don’t worry, it’s possible that some wild bird got in since this place is pretty close to the wilderness.”

 

Lily’s voice suddenly appeared from somewhere really close and sounded a little hurried: “Why don’t you go first landlord, I……. I’ll come right after, I still have something to do!”

 

Hao Ren was stupefied as he heard what she said and replied in a nonchalant way while completely bewildered: “How can I do that, I need to lead the way, this places’ full of twist and turns, it’s easy to get lost even if you lived here…… Eeyy why are you nudging up so close?”

 

He only then realised Lily’s voice was very close when she spoke earlier and in the end turned around to see the latter person’s face only a few inches away from his own. Those large pair of abnormally bright eyes stared straight at him, even though it was beautiful but more so it startled people in the dark, just then Hao Ren staggered back over half a metre: “Let me tell you! I’m an upstanding person!”

 

This was one of his shortcomings: when he was tense, he would start rattling off without thinking.

 

He was not sure if it was an illusion, but Hao Ren found that Lily’s expression was tinged with some urgency. She looked up at the night sky, sniffed hard a few times with her nose: “Go ahead landlord, I can catch up to you, I’ve already remembered your smell …… aaah why are you so sentimental, I really have things to do!”

 

“No way!” Hao Ren’s stubbornness was incited, even to the point of disregarding what ‘I remembered your smell’ was about, he stated with a straight face: “What if something happens? To leave you behind in the pitch dark, in the middle of the night? My consci—just what can you not tell me?”

 

As stated previously, Hao Ren really was a “hao ren (good person)” – at least someone with an average sense of responsibility. Lily was brought here by him, therefore he felt responsible for showing her safely to his house. Even though the other party was a girl with abnormal strength, this was however not a deciding factor when it came to whether he was worried or not: if by chance something really happened to this girl, he would be tormented by his conscience.

 

He also couldn’t understand just what kind of major purpose did this girl in front of him have when she just came from another place, and had to be carried out at a time like this?

 

Lily’s face was already desperate, furthermore, her actions were clearly starting to become strange: She laid down her suitcase on the ground, and a loud “dong” resounded as a result. Thereafter, she constantly surveyed the tall surrounding walls. The aged houses alongside this small road were all between two to three storeys high and were representative of the glorious days when the residents were wealthy. Though due to the pa.s.sage of time, the new and vivid residences of yesterday have all but become mottled old buildings. Only the uneven but still significant walls hung overcast on both sides of the small path, leaving a narrow strip of night sky between the buildings in one’s view.

 

Lily’s line of sight was darting back and forth between these tall walls with flying speed, while simultaneously she began sniffing frequently, as if trying to identify some kind of smell within the air, while lightly exercising her limbs and legs. Seeing this scene, as slow as Hao Ren was, would also have noticed something was wrong with the situation, even if he still thought the girl here was peculiar in various aspects. However, the weird noise from the sky just now meant his nerves were too tense to notice. But upon seeing Lily’s peculiar actions, he naturally knew the other person had found something: “Hey Liu Lily ……what’s wrong?”

 

“Just Lily is fine,” the other unconsciously said, thereafter looked at Hao Ren in surprise: “Ah! Landlord why haven’t you left yet?”

 

“You didn’t listen to anything I said earlier right?” Hao Ren cautiously moved to beside Lily. Even though he sounded calm, he was already clenching his fists. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary in the surroundings, however he did indeed feel that the atmosphere here was strange – a faint scent of blood and cold wind uncharacteristic of the season drifted densely from all directions – honestly, he felt weak in the knees.

 

Hao Ren considered himself to be pretty courageous, but one could not contain their anxiety in the face of the oddity in front of them.

 

Till now, Hao Ren still didn’t know what this was all about. He had heard of many urban legends and modern ghost stories, including the grievant soul of the alley and the reaper of the crossroads and such, but he had always considered them as the content of small talk after a meal, but what was with this situation?

 

Initially, he could still explain it away using the excuse of being overly sensitive and being “contaminated” by Lily’s weird actions. But as time pa.s.sed on, the smell of blood in the air was already rich enough that as soon as one opened their mouth, it filled with a sickening flavour. The frigid wind blowing in all directions around them was already enough for one’s breathing to be visible. As much as he believed in science and rejected superst.i.tions, he knew that he had run into something abnormal. At this moment, he abruptly recalled Lily impatiently trying to drive him away earlier, remembering this girl already being cautious when “everything was normal” and preparing her guard without a trace of panic …… He suddenly realised, this girl labelled as “r.e.t.a.r.d Maiden” in his head totally knew what was going on!

 

“My G.o.d, just what is wrong with this world line[1], why did I run into this kind of situation……” Hao Ren gingerly looked all around; while enduring the pungent smell of blood and omnipresent cold he felt even his thought process was slowing down. “Is this still freaking reality, where was the promised ‘accept science take hold of happiness’?”[2]

 

“Landlord, sorry for getting you wrapped up in this, this ‘thing’ is probably after me,” Lily’s sound suddenly came from behind, tinged with coa.r.s.eness, “You’re a good person, a bit better than all the people I’ve met before. I’ll try my best to let you live, I promise!”

 

“Could you stop giving out good person cards at this kind of time……”[3] Hao Ren’s teeth clattered but he somehow still managed to turn around and tsukkomi[4], yet became unable to continue speaking after seeing Lily’s appearance:

 

 

An almost unfamiliar maiden stood beside him. Waist length silver hair, elegant and refined features, yet possessed a pair of abnormal golden eyes not belonging to any human. The pair of mellow gold pupils were even glowing in the dark, different from the brilliance found in any normal pair of eyes. A pair of silver-grey ears similar to a wolf’s were spiritedly erect on her head, swaying constantly in the chilling wind while keenly moving to pick up every noise source around them.

 

Furthermore, behind the maiden, a bright silver tail appeared from between the clothes, shaking around in the air.

 

A wolf like girl…… or using popular terminology, kemono-mimi attribute?

 

Hao Ren didn’t know why he could still tsukkomi, but he knew that his life was going to be rough.

 

If he still had a life after today.

 

[Editor’s Note (Zeph): He’s still able to tsukkomi at a time like this….*thumbs up*]

 

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Footnote:

[1]: Steins;Gate reference.↩

[2]: Essentially a common advertising slogan for atheists, to promote science as a way for prosperity and happiness.↩

[3]: “Good person” as in friend-zoned. Common idiom (as seen in chapter 1), the friends.h.i.+p/good person flag from a galgame.↩

[4]: “Straight man” retort, for more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_owarai_terms.↩