Chapter 7
Beneath the sun, a silver starship, like some gigantic cosmic life-form, slowly came to a halt above a shabby little shop. With two soft mechanical sounds, a black wall of light quickly descended, shielding the entire shop.
No one outside could see a thing.
Anxius’s true form was fierce and enormous. Bending down, he stepped into the cramped room—then suddenly stopped and looked toward the “Emperor” sitting among a pile of fake monster limbs and horns—
Karl, following right behind him, instantly changed expression. Though he could not understand why the Emperor had appeared here, he still instinctively bent to salute. But before he could react, the Anxius beside him had already swung his sharp claw at that noble figure!
“Your Highness! No—”
There was no time to stop him.
In an instant, the sound of a skin-suit tearing apart rang through the air.
The suit crumbled into dust, revealing the white-bearded old man inside. He grinned mischievously. “How boring. You saw through me again, brat!”
“…”
Karl was both speechless and deeply shaken afterward.
Ordinary people could not see through a Snaran wearing a human skin-suit, but Crown Prince Anxius was different. When he was young, while still at the training base, he had awakened the skill to see through biological disguises. Not only Snarans—even if an alien race transformed into human form and infiltrated Snar Star, he could see their true body at a glance.
The white-bearded old man before him, Brule, was the black market’s famous human skin-suit designer… and also Anxius’s grandfather.
Only someone with that identity would dare wear the Emperor’s skin-suit and joke around with his grandson.
Brule had been born into the royal family, but he was stubborn by nature. Fifty years ago, after his partner passed away, he left the center of power in the capital and came here under a hidden name to work as a skin-suit designer. No matter what anyone said, he refused to return to the royal family.
At that moment, seeing that Anxius would not go berserk again, Karl quietly withdrew, leaving grandfather and grandson to catch up.
Inside the dim room, Brule turned and walked to the heap of prosthetics. He rummaged around for quite a while before finally digging a box out from among the pile of suits, then threw it forcefully backward.
Anxius instantly raised a hand and caught it. His sharp claws easily pried open the box, and he put on the suit inside.
“Since you can still recognize people now, it’s clearly not as serious as they’ve been saying,” Brule coughed lightly. After tidying his filthy, messy seat, he settled himself into it comfortably, then looked Anxius over in his human form and commented with satisfaction, “Not bad. Fits just right.”
Even in human form, Anxius was still tall. That black formal outfit was proper and severe, without the slightest disorder. Beneath his messy hair, the man had deep-set features and a high nose bridge, and his blade-cold gaze made him look like some machine ready to launch into battle at any second.
It was a handsome face that remained cold even before family.
Brule knew his temperament well and chuckled. “Anxius, if even facing a fake skin-suit person can make you angry, then what will you be like when facing your father? That won’t do.”
“…”
“So my earlier guess was right after all. It really was because of betrayal.”
“…”
Anxius clearly had nothing to say to him. Those thin lips, which only ever issued absolute commands, remained silent. After moving his arms to test the comfort of the skin-suit, he turned and walked steadily toward the door.
The long staircase leading to the starship was two stories high. Anxius stepped up one stair at a time. Just as he was about to enter the ship, he suddenly stopped moving.
A faint laugh, so soft it was nearly impossible to hear, drifted through the air.
Someone was saying, “Yomi… yes… just like that…”
Anxius’s eyes turned with a sharp, clicking motion, and he abruptly looked toward the glass window across from him—
There, in front of a lit black backdrop, stood a tiny figure. The little lamb horns on his head were almost glowing under the white light. He changed poses one after another, and then, perhaps because the photographer had said something, his previously serious expression suddenly changed. His eyes curved as he laughed brightly at the camera.
The golden pupils trembled.
Found him.
“…Your Highness Anxius, what’s wrong?” Seeing him stand motionless on the tall stairs, Karl asked in confusion.
Of course, he had no idea what Anxius had seen.
Behind that glass window, inside the black market’s doll shop, that little lamb-horned monster—wearing different pretty or handsome outfits and striking different poses for photographs—did not have any lamb horns at all!!!
He was not a Snaran.
He was a tiny human with a perfect human body!
Yomi was truly frightened badly today.
The first scare came from the gigantic starship that had suddenly appeared above the black market. The second came from the deafening noise that erupted from that ship and went on for quite a while.
At the time, it was not only Yomi—even Vera, who normally paid no attention to starships, had changed expression. Everyone thought someone had come to cause trouble, and they all pulled out weapons for defense…
It was only long afterward, when the starship finally left with that enormous noise, that everyone’s hanging hearts settled completely.
That evening, Yomi got off work on time as usual. He had arranged to eat with Lynn, and the two of them went to a noodle shop with an excellent reputation.
Ever since getting his horns, Yomi had hardly worn his mask anymore. When Lynn had asked about it before, Yomi cleverly explained that he had used the money to have a small corrective flaw surgery done, changing his monster flaw from his mouth to the top of his head!
Quite a few Snarans underwent that kind of surgery. Some did it because the location of their flaw made human-form movement inconvenient, while others simply did it for beauty.
After hearing the explanation, Lynn felt that Yomi fit both cases. He stared at Yomi’s horns for a long while and said, “It turned out especially well!”
Lynn truly meant it. He genuinely liked Yomi’s pair of monster horns.
Just like now—while they were waiting for their noodle soup, Lynn could not stop praising them. “This flaw switch was seriously the right choice! It suits your human form perfectly! Right now you look just like one of those little lamb spirits in the movies!”
Yomi was delighted by the praise. After finishing the meal, he and Lynn went to the supermarket together.
After putting on the horns, Yomi’s courage when facing all these monsters had gradually grown as well.
This time, he chose to walk around the supermarket like a normal Snaran. But his body was still too small. Even when standing on tiptoe, it was difficult for him to reach items on the shelves, and several times Lynn had to help him take down what he wanted.
The supermarket was full of people coming and going. As Yomi walked, he suddenly felt as though someone was watching him, and he turned back in confusion.
In the aisle, tall Snarans moved back and forth. There were indeed some curious children staring wide-eyed at him.
Yomi continued shopping.
After a while, that familiar feeling returned. Again, he felt that someone was watching him!
He turned his head—and there was no one behind him at all.
Lynn asked, “Mimi, what’s wrong?”
Yomi scratched his head. “Nothing…”
He felt it was probably because he had been frightened by the commotion during work today, which was why he kept jumping at shadows… Once he got home, he would have to get a good night’s sleep.
But the next day, that feeling came again.
That morning, Yomi had no shooting work to do. With nothing else going on, he pushed his little cart around nearby to collect junk and scrap.
Houses in the capital were far too expensive. If he wanted to buy a little house of his own someday, he still had to work hard and save up.
Yomi went to a nearby plaza. He often found defective mechanical raw materials discarded by Snarans there, and those could all be sold to the scrap station.
The machinery pieces were large. Yomi first parked his little cart, rolled up his sleeves, and went over to pick up a steel pipe. But just as he struggled to turn around with it, he froze.
His cart, which had been completely empty moments ago, was now piled full of the most expensive type of raw material by unit price.
What was going on?!
He set down the steel pipe in shock and ran over. No matter how he looked at it, this was definitely his cart.
“Who?” Yomi looked around. “…Did someone drop this?”
An old lady nearby who was wiping down the entrance of a cleaning shop glanced at him and said kindly, “I saw someone throw it in there. If they tossed it away, then it must be unwanted scrap. You can just take it.”
Yomi could not believe it. “Unwanted… really?”
The old lady glanced over again and smiled. “Go ahead and sell it without worry. Look, it’s even labeled ‘scrap’ right there.”
Yomi looked carefully, and sure enough, in the corner there were labels reading “scrap” and “throw away.”
But with this much material, he could not push the cart at all. In all the time he had spent collecting junk before, he had never once filled the cart to the brim…
So he had no choice but to open his optical brain and call the scrap station owner.
The moment the other party heard that Yomi had picked up a large amount of mechanical raw materials, he was delighted. He told Yomi to stay right where he was, then quickly drove over in person to inspect and haul everything away.
Yomi stood there, dazedly staring at the star coins credited into his account.
There were still nearly two hours left until lunchtime. Yomi could not sit still, so he pushed his cart off again to collect old doll clothes.
Dolls had no life in them. They did not sweat or get sick, so naturally the clothes they wore were not dirty. In fact, the fabric was usually very good. Most of the time they were thrown out simply because the style was outdated or the child no longer liked them.
Sometimes Yomi would go door to door and buy old male doll clothes at a low price. If they did not fit him properly, he would alter the size himself, and once he wore them, they looked just like new.
This was one of Yomi’s little money-saving tricks.
But on the way to the residential district this time, that strange gaze found him again.
Only, every time he turned back, there was nothing there.
His heart kept rising and falling uneasily. By the time he reached one villa, he only collected a single old doll outfit before leaving.
On the way back, the sky suddenly grew overcast. Yomi pushed his little cart alone down the broad avenue, walking faster and faster. When he reached an uphill slope, that feeling came again!
Not only the feeling—even the sound had arrived too!
Footsteps!
Yomi slowly turned around.
“…”
Right behind him stood a gigantic monster walking upright, with savage demonic horns, blade-like wings, and black scales covering its entire body, its eyes lowered as it stared down at him.
So… it was not that the sky had turned dark at all. It was that monster, blocking out the sun overhead.
A chill rushed down his spine. His body seemed to tremble… Faced with such destructive danger, tiny Yomi was unable to move for several full seconds. When he finally came back to himself, the very first thing he did was reach for his alarm bracelet—
But he never got the chance to press it.
That terrifying giant monster really did move and raise its claw—but not toward him. Instead, it reached behind itself and removed a backpack.
The monster hurriedly pulled out one exquisite brand-new doll outfit after another, still in unopened packaging. His eyes were anxious, but his movements were careful and gentle as he stuffed all the new clothes into Yomi’s little cart, one piece after another!
Until the pile stood taller than Yomi himself.
“???” Yomi stared at him blankly.
The big one and the small one both stood motionless.
Perhaps sensing Yomi’s instinctive fear, the monster suddenly stepped back. Its sharp claws drew back in an instant, and even its wings folded neatly behind its back.
Yomi could tell now—he meant no harm.
This monster had no human form. He was a disabled Snaran.
Though Yomi’s fear had nothing to do with the other’s disability, he was afraid that his own reaction might wound this unfortunate monster. Using all his strength, he straightened his small back and asked, “Are all these unwanted? But they’re very new. That would be such a waste. Do you make doll clothes? Are you clearing out stock…?” Then, after a pause, he added, “But I pay very little for secondhand clothes.”
The monster stared at him and shook his head.
So Yomi did what he always did: he took out his little notebook, recorded the number of clothing items, then opened his optical brain to transfer the money.
The monster still shook his head.
Yomi assumed he thought the price was too low, so he immediately added another hundred star coins. “Actually, even at this price, you’re still losing out. It would be better for you to take them to the secondhand market.”
Suddenly, the monster bent down. Those sharp golden eyes stared straight at him, and then lowered… sniffing at the top of Yomi’s horned head.
Yomi nearly fainted from fright. He stood stiffly at attention, not daring to move.
Then he heard the monster speak.
“Yomi.”
!!!
“Y-You… how do you know my name?!”
