Chapter 62
Yomi was woken up by Lynn.
No—that was before. Now:
The moment the little sheep announced it, a brand-new stage of life officially began:
Dating phase!
Yomi was a conservative person. Now that he had only just started dating, of course he had no thoughts of announcing it to the world so quickly. During the first few days, he only dated Anxius inside the camper.
They had already often rested and spent leisure time inside the camper before, so no one thought there was anything strange about it.
In fact, the only new thing about their dates compared to before was kissing. Yet to Yomi, this already felt like an astonishing level of intimacy between two men in love.
Yomi liked kissing. When he was little, he liked being kissed by his mom and dad. Now that he had grown up and had a boyfriend, he also liked being kissed by this boyfriend.
Even if his boyfriend only kissed his cheek, there would still be an indescribable feeling of comfort, as though if they kept kissing and kissing, they might eventually kiss out some sort of glue and stick the two of them together forever.
These utterly shameless dates in the camper carried a strangely addictive sense of secrecy, as though they were sneaking around, and the more Yomi felt that thrill, the more immersed he became in those kisses tinged with that furtive excitement. Sometimes when they took a nap, he would simply roll onto Anxius, close his eyes, and wait for the other man to kiss him. If Anxius kissed him too fiercely, only then would Yomi hum and lazily kiss him back, saying as he did, “I’m so sleepy. Can I make it up to you with a few more kisses after I wake up?” He looked exactly like some shameless debtor being hounded over a giant unpaid debt—forced to cough up a little in response while casually drawing an even bigger promise for later.
How could Anxius possibly demand that he “repay” anything? Even stealing kisses every day, he could never get enough.
Yomi was already used to being kissed by him. Sometimes, half-asleep, he would even unconsciously stretch a hand over toward Anxius’s mouth, waiting for Anxius to kiss his hand.
After Anxius kissed it, if Yomi had truly fallen asleep, he would lie there lazily without moving. But if he was only pretending to sleep, he would eagerly stretch his other hand over as well and wave it in front of Anxius’s mouth…
Anxius: “…”
Every single time, the result would be that his boyfriend would nibble at his hand, kiss it a little, then turn over and viciously bite-kiss his mouth…
Their days of being in love and clinging to each other had barely lasted a few days before it was already time to go hunting again.
Drunk on love and lost in pleasure, Yomi finally remembered his precious eldest son, Gousheng!
Oh dear—he had been so sleepless and worried over Gousheng before, so how had he managed to forget all about it the moment he started dating?
Sorry, Gousheng.
While gently stroking the little wolf cub, whose face was filled with grievance, Yomi pressed his lips together apologetically.
Since he had remembered now, Yomi resumed carrying out his earlier plan. Early in the morning, he wiped Gousheng’s paws clean, brought him into the vehicle, and said, “Gousheng, today we’re going hunting. You have to study hard, you absolutely have to study hard.”
“Awoo!”
On the way to the hunt, Yomi once again fell into sorrow over the fact that Gousheng would leave one day. To ease his small sadness, he opened the window and looked at the scenery outside.
After the vehicle had gone on for a while, they passed a fork in the road. Over there was a little hill covered in wildflowers, with a stream beside it. Nearby there was also a tea stall he had never seen before, with quite a few people walking around it.
“Huh?” Yomi exclaimed in surprise. He had never noticed there was a tea stall there before. “What’s that?”
This time they were driving the cargo truck, and the others were all sitting in the back. Following his line of sight through the window, they all saw it too, but shook their heads.
In truth, even Yexi was not sure. But based on his past experience living on Junk Star, he rubbed his chin and guessed, “After winter passes, a lot of Junk Star people start thinking of ways to make money. That place is right at the fork between the hunting grounds and the road to the market. Setting up a tea stall there can bring in at least some profit, right? You see, when people are tired and thirsty from traveling, they’re willing to spend a little money on tea and a rest…”
“I see. It’s kind of like a café on Snar…” Yomi nodded, then subconsciously glanced at Anxius.
Anxius tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
After they arrived and parked, when he lifted Yomi out of the truck, he said, “After hunting, we’ll go there for a date.”
Yomi replied in a tiny voice, “Mm.”
The hunt began.
Yomi brought Gousheng to watch Lynn and the others hunting together. The moment Lynn’s group caught a smaller prey animal, Yomi immediately ordered Gousheng to go!
Receiving the command, Gousheng charged forward and joined the young men in the hunt. In the end, he even managed to bite hold of the prey!
Lynn exclaimed in amazement, “Gousheng’s already this capable?”
Gousheng shyly glanced at Yomi. Yomi felt gratified, yet also melancholy. Sometimes he actually wished Gousheng were not so independent. That way he could keep him by his side forever… No, Yomi quickly drove that evil thought out of his mind.
After successfully hunting, Gousheng, wanting even more praise, later ran into the forest by himself while Lynn and the others were still hunting, and caught a wild chicken on his own. He carried it straight to Yomi, his mouth covered in blood, and let out an awoo demanding praise.
Heavens… Gousheng had really grown up.
Yomi’s eyes nearly filled with tears…
At the very beginning, Gousheng had only been a little wolf cub with an injured leg. So many people had thought he would not survive, and yet not only had Gousheng survived, he had grown into something this impressive… One had to know that for a little wolf cub to catch a wild chicken alone was no easy thing.
The tenacity of an animal’s life was enough to move people all by itself. Even if Gousheng did end up leaving one day, Yomi did not regret taking him in in the slightest.
He rubbed Gousheng’s forehead hard, and only after Anxius returned carrying a massive prey animal over his shoulder did Yomi finally manage to calm down.
The others all came back with their own prey too. After loading the larger animals onto the truck, Anxius told them to go back first, because he and Yomi still had something to do.
Karl seemed to smell something unusual. His gaze drifted between the two of them for a second, then he quickly said, “Ah… all right.”
Lynn was rather worried. After all, in the past they had always returned together after hunting. Muttering to the others, he said, “Anxius isn’t planning to teach Mimi how to hunt, is he?”
“What?” Meikai’s face darkened. “That would be way too much for him!”
Harvey stole a glance back. “I kind of think there’s something between them…”
“Cough cough cough!” Karl suddenly coughed violently. “The prey is very heavy. Come help.”
The gossiping young men hurried off to help, and before long forgot all about it.
After watching his companions drive off with Gousheng, Yomi finally felt that sneaky, furtive sensation easing a little. He climbed into the cloth bag by himself and sat inside, perfectly obedient.
Recently, the bag had been modified by Anxius. There was now even a little seat cushion inside that resembled a tiny sofa. Yomi sat in it with great comfort, as though he were in first class.
Once the bag was securely hung up, Anxius flew toward the tea stall.
As his boyfriend flew, Yomi rested both hands on the edge of the bag. His hair was blown back, revealing his entire forehead, and the strong wind made his whole body tremble, yet he never ducked his head. His eyes blinked rapidly as he stared outside: This mountain forest is really so beautiful… Even without an aircraft, having Anxius means going out feels no different from riding in one.
Above the little person’s head, the monster’s eyes never blinked as they stared at him, as if he were the apple of those eyes.
When they reached the sky above the tea stall, Anxius slowed down. Just before landing, he hugged Yomi tightly and reverted to human form.
Yomi quickly climbed out of the bag, and together he and his boyfriend walked toward the tea stall.
Most people there seemed to come in twos or threes, which was perfectly normal. Whether going hunting or to the market, most Junk Star people rarely went out alone.
The tea stall looked shabby, but the variety of teas it sold was surprisingly broad. There were all kinds of tea leaves, and also various flower teas.
Standing on tiptoe, Yomi considered the options for a while and very soon ordered a cup of jasmine tea. Anxius ordered another kind of flower tea—the one Yomi had visibly glanced at several times.
Holding the two cups of flower tea, Anxius led Yomi to a seat where they could see both the stream and the hillside.
The two sat close together. No sooner had Yomi sat down than he took out the sour wild fruit he had brought. The skin of this fruit was hard to peel, so after taking a bite, he squeezed the juice into his flower tea. “Now it’s fruit tea…” After squeezing out the juice, he dropped in a piece of candy, then took out another sour fruit to do the same for Anxius. Just as he was about to bite it open, he suddenly remembered this one was for someone else to drink, so he stopped in time and began trying to tear it open instead…
“…Just bite it.” Although Anxius could have torn the fruit open effortlessly, the moment he saw Yomi squeezing juice out of it with his mouth just now, his hands stopped moving. “Baby only has to bite once and it’ll open.”
Seeing that Anxius really did not mind, Yomi stopped insisting on tearing it and instead bit a hole into the fruit, then promptly sprayed the juice into his boyfriend’s teacup. Afterward, he tossed aside the now-dry fruit, added another piece of candy, and pushed the cup over. “Dear, here.”
That busy little look of his was simply the picture of a perfect boyfriend!
Anxius felt his heart beating so wildly it was almost beyond control.
So cute, so cute, so cute…
For one instant, he wanted to put Yomi into the fruit tea and steep him, then swallow him whole and carry him everywhere inside himself.
Yomi’s chest was also thumping wildly, because Anxius first let him drink from his own tea, and after Yomi had finished, Anxius then drank the fruit tea through the very same straw Yomi had just used.
After tasting both flavors, Yomi also shared his own fruit tea with his boyfriend. His boyfriend did not drink it, but when Yomi finished, Anxius lowered his head and licked his lips.
Yomi: …
No matter what, he was very happy. Even without going far away, he could still drink fruit tea and have a date~
This was their first real outing date since getting together, and Anxius felt that at the very least, there should be flowers.
Unfortunately, there was nowhere here selling flowers, and wildflowers felt too casual… Thankfully, some nearby farmers did grow roses at home.
In the eyes of many Junk Star people, roses were actually a highly practical kind of flower. Besides decorating courtyards, thorny roses planted in the yard could also stop thieves from stepping inside in the dark.
After all, once a thief got pricked and yelped, the homeowner would know there might be someone sneaking in.
Wiping the fruit juice from Yomi’s hands, Anxius found that the more he wiped, the more he felt that those hands really ought to be holding flowers.
His sharp golden eyes swept the surroundings. All around were Junk Star locals smiling and chatting, so it was quite safe. Anxius stood up and told Yomi to wait here for him for a moment. He would be back very soon.
Yomi nodded. While drinking his fruit tea, he adjusted the camera on his optical brain so that it pointed at his forehead.
He felt the wind had messed up his hairstyle. If there had been a restroom here, he absolutely would have used the excuse of going there just to fix his hair. Since he judged others by himself, he assumed his boyfriend too must be going out under some excuse to adjust his human form.
Before leaving, Anxius also went to speak to the tea stall owner and asked him to keep an eye on Yomi for a bit.
The owner smiled and nodded. “As long as he’s here, you can rest easy!”
Inside the tea stall.
Yomi fixed his hair and, seeing that the little face in the camera now looked quite handsome, took a few sips of fruit tea and a few bites of dried fruit, then began playing a matching game on his optical brain. He was not bored at all.
He was cheerful the whole time and never once noticed that a huge Junk Star native was walking toward him.
When someone sat down beside him, Yomi even thought Anxius had come back. Smiling, he turned his head—
and instantly went pale at the sight of a huge face exactly like that of a brown bear.
Except during hunting, fighting, or special circumstances, Junk Star people rarely moved around in their original forms. And since the tea stall sat in a wilderness area, Yomi’s first thought was that a wild beast had come!
The brown bear said nothing. It only stared at him.
Its black eyes were chilling.
Frightened stiff, Yomi swept his gaze around with the corner of his eye. His seat had been some distance away from everyone else to begin with. The others seemed startled by the brown bear too. A few of them even deliberately moved farther away.
The tea stall owner had gone still as well, clearly hesitating over whether he should come forward.
Yomi was on the verge of tears. The owner’s original form did not look especially strong. It was understandable if he did not dare to step in and rescue someone.
But what about everyone else? Why were they all just standing there watching? He was scared to death…
Yomi wanted to cry for help, but he was afraid that the moment he made a sound, the beast—who until now had only been curious—would suddenly open its mouth and devour him. Trembling, he held his breath, desperately forcing himself to stay rational and not be afraid… He remembered that once he had seen people discussing what humans should do when encountering wild beasts in the wild.
The answer had seemed to be that humans could not outrun fierce beasts, nor could they fight them. The best approach was to make yourself look larger and try to intimidate the beast. If you were lucky, you might even scare it away… If there were no tools at hand, then at the very least you should take off your coat, raise your arms, and wave them.
But Yomi was too nervous. He forgot to take off his outerwear. The moment the brown bear began to speak, he was so startled that he jumped straight to his feet, raised both hands high, and barked out a threatening sound in a deep voice:
“Humph humph humph—hoo hoo hoo—humph humph—”
His eyes had already gone red with fear, yet he did not dare stop the intimidation. Even if he could not scare the brown bear off, at least he might buy some time until Anxius came back.
Sure enough, the strategy worked! The brown bear was dumbstruck!
As long as it had some effect, that was enough. Yomi continued, hands raised high: “Humph humph humph—hoo hoo hoo—”
Get scared to death! Go away!
The owner at the side was utterly stunned too. Just as Yomi was about to continue intimidating the bear, the owner finally started striding toward them quickly…
So there really were more good people in the world after all… Thank you! Yomi was so moved he could hardly bear it, but he also worried terribly that the brown bear might attack the owner. Yet before he could warn him, the owner urgently spoke first:
“Oh dear, he hasn’t even done anything! Why are you surrendering already? Does this mean you agree? At the very least, shouldn’t you first get to know each other?”
???
What in the world? He could not understand a thing! And besides, he was not surrendering—he was intimidating! …But survival came first. Just as Yomi was about to pull the owner into raising his hands together for safety, a powerful gust suddenly howled from outside, followed by the swift landing of a huge shadow.
Anxius!
Yomi looked over tearfully.
The monster folded back his wings and at once noticed the situation here. He rushed over, scooped up his pitiful boyfriend, and was instantly frightened by the glimmer of tears at the corner of Yomi’s eyes. Even his body trembled slightly. “What happened?”
Now that Anxius was here, even the biggest brown bear was no longer frightening! Yomi quickly pointed at the bear and complained, “A wild beast came! It almost ate someone. Luckily, I held on for a while…” As for the fact that so many strong Junk Star people at the tea stall had watched the whole thing and not helped… forget it, he would not complain about that. They had never had any duty to help him.
Hearing that the bear had nearly eaten Yomi, Anxius’s nerves instantly snapped tight. His face darkened, rage flaring through him so fiercely that he almost activated his skill on the spot. Thankfully, the owner rushed over in time and loudly explained, “No, no! What wild beast? Not at all! This gentleman is one of my regulars. His original form is a brown bear, that’s all… He’s not a wild beast. He’s disabled—he can’t transform back into human form. He’s usually very taciturn too… I never imagined this young gentleman would mistake him for a beast… Didn’t you know? Our tea stall is actually a blind-date corner. Everyone here comes to meet potential partners. I thought you’d brought your younger brother here to look for a match. It’s all just a misunderstanding…” By now the owner was panicking so badly he was practically waving all four limbs.
Yomi: Huh?
“What exactly happened?” The monster’s low pressure nearly engulfed the entire tea stall.
Sweating profusely, the owner carefully explained the whole incident step by step, including how Yomi had “surrendered” to the brown bear.
Yomi: “…”
So the brown bear had been trying to go on a blind date with him?!
He was stunned. “This really is a blind-date corner?”
“Yes,” the brown bear finally spoke, blushing. “You were sitting here, so I thought you were also here for a blind date. I just wanted to get to know you.”
Yomi lowered his head.
…This was too embarrassing.
Hearing that someone had set their sights on his precious boyfriend, Anxius’s face now could not even be described as ugly anymore. If Yomi had not been holding tightly to his hand, he absolutely would have gotten into a fight with the brown bear on the spot.
“Dear, it was all a misunderstanding,” Yomi quickly soothed him. Then he glanced over at the brown bear, and unexpectedly felt a little guilty. This misunderstanding was just too… Those things he had done earlier were basically like rubbing salt into the man’s wound!
What Yomi did not know was that when he had stood there with both hands raised, “intimidating” the bear, the brown bear had already been so charmed he felt dizzy.
And now, after hearing the little person call the monster “dear,” the brown bear knew he no longer had any chance at all. He lowered his head in loneliness, and the heart that had been fluttering not long ago now began to ache faintly.
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the brown bear turned and left. But after only a couple of steps, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him:
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! I…”
The brown bear stopped, and then heard the little person continue:
“Well… I don’t think being unable to turn back into human form counts as being disabled, so please don’t be sad!”
The brown bear turned back foolishly.
There, in the arms of the monster, the beautiful little person was waving to him. “Goodbye!”
“…Goodbye.”
The brown bear turned and continued walking away. As he walked, that sense of loneliness gradually gave rise to a few sweet little feelings. He thought that for a very long time to come, he would probably sleep well while remembering what this little sweetheart had said.
Yomi had not just said those words to comfort him. He truly believed them.
Anxius, too, had once been a disabled Snar native, yet in Yomi’s eyes, that disability had never mattered in the least.
Before Anxius underwent his human-form surgery, Yomi had always thought he was handsome and cool, not inferior in any way to those Snar natives who possessed human forms.
Of course, as a pure human, he himself was not inferior to these aliens either! Size and appearance were things one was born with; there was no changing them. Not being strong enough was not his fault.
Looking at the brown bear, Yomi quietly gave himself some courage.
Then, while he was still watching the brown bear’s retreating figure, his eyes were suddenly covered!
Yomi: Had it gotten dark?
The sky had not darkened at all. It was simply that Anxius would not let him keep looking.
Turning while holding Yomi in his arms, Anxius started carefully checking him over. If even one single hair had gone missing, that brown bear would not have been allowed to leave.
Only after finishing the inspection did Anxius’s expression ease a little. He kissed Yomi’s cheek, then finally revealed the rose he had been hiding behind his back.
He had bought it from one of the farmers.
Yomi’s eyes widened slowly.
A rose! It was actually a rose! So romantic~
Anxius gently handed it to him.
The bouquet had been wrapped in newspaper, so the thorns would not prick his hands.
Yomi held the bouquet and could not stop looking at it. A few seconds later, he shyly glanced at his boyfriend. Today’s date suddenly felt very formal…
Being in love really was wonderful. Hehe!
Yomi kept hugging the bouquet and smelling it. Then Anxius, back in human form, kissed his cheek hard—hard enough that his face nearly changed shape—and then kissed his mouth too. His whole body shivered under the sensation as Anxius stood up and took his hand to go for a walk.
The top of Yomi’s head only reached Anxius’s shoulder. So when Yomi wanted to walk “side by side,” what that really meant was that he walked arm-in-arm with his boyfriend. Still, that kind of size difference was very common among human couples too, so Yomi actually felt rather used to it.
When they reached a hillside where there was almost no one around, Anxius suddenly reverted to his original form for no apparent reason and blocked his path, crouching there motionless.
Yomi was dumbfounded. “What are you doing? Are you tired from walking?”
Because if that was the case, there was no way he could carry Anxius.
The giant monster crouched there and looked at him quietly, his voice tight. “Surrender.”
Yomi: “…That wasn’t surrender back then, I was trying to scare him!” Why are you still remembering that?!
His face was filled with embarrassment. He felt as though he had left behind a forever-black-history moment.
The unscrupulous monster began tempting him. “One surrender, and ten rides at the VR cinema from last time.” Meaning: you can ride me like a horse.
Ah! That was really hard to refuse…
Yomi’s brows furrowed in indecision for a few moments. Finally, he slowly raised both hands, stood on tiptoe, and shyly “surrendered” to Anxius.
All ten fingers wiggled adorably in the air.
One minute later.
Anxius reverted to human form, pinned Yomi down, and madly cradled his face, kissing him for a very, very long time.
Lying there on the ground, Yomi looked utterly powerless to resist. He was kissed until he felt shy all over, and in one startled jolt, he instinctively triggered his skill—transforming right at that moment into a little white sheep lying belly-up…
The helpless Yomi bleated, “Baa~” Ah, I didn’t mean to!
Anxius: “…”
He pressed the little sheep down, rubbing its face and belly, kissing its ears, and the poor sheep only became more pitiful.
Yomi weakly kicked his hooves: Pervert!
And then the pervert continued bullying him, rubbing and rubbing until it felt as though all his wool would come off!
Yomi, who was terribly ticklish, soon could not stand it anymore. Before long, with a few pitiful bleats, he transformed back into human form.
The moment he transformed back, his boyfriend hugged him tightly into his arms. This time the embrace was so tight that he was not allowed to move at all.
A soft breeze passed over them. They lay on the hillside covered in grass and flowers, looking up at the setting sun.
Everything around them was quiet, and the wind felt wonderfully comfortable. Yomi yawned sleepily.
Bruel had been right. It really was not good to transform too casually. It felt as though his energy dropped all at once… But he was still so happy.
“The sun is about to set,” Yomi said, lifting one foot and lazily resting it on Anxius, wriggling a little without having the slightest idea how spoiled and delicate he looked.
Anxius lowered his eyes and looked at him, bit his soft cheek once, then went on kissing and sucking at those lips, never getting enough.
“Mmph…”
When their gazes met, Yomi’s little face turned bright red, and he quickly turned his head to look at the sky.
Could this be what people meant by:
I love you the way a mouse loves cheese?
