Yuri's POV.
Bathing.
A surprisingly effective method to gather one's thoughts. Exactly what I need after what happened today.
Once I lower myself into hot water, I decide to examine myself.
The scars are gone without a trace. Not a single reminder of the restless nights spent with such deadly tools. Absolutely nothing to tarnish the deathly pale skin on my arms. Unfortunately, it means nothing when I can't even go outside. No matter how well I could disguise myself, there is no way for my new height to remain unnoticed. My voice would give away my inhuman nature as well. I can't tell what exactly is wrong about it, but I simply can't recognize it as something that belongs to a human.
I raise my tail above the water. The motion is surprisingly natural to me. It's not any different from bending my spine. I can't see where it starts, but the scales here are dark purple rather than white. It's rather unremarkable aside from the blade on its tip, which is big in comparison.
I raise my leg and wiggle my toes. There's nothing human about it. 3 long clawed toes on the front and one on the heel of my foot. They don't appear to be capable of grasping anything like birds do, but at the very least I'm not forced to walk on my toes. Moving my gaze up my leg, I see no other changes aside from the scales that cover my skin. I see no reason to examine my other leg and so I lower it into the water.
I put my hand on my ribs. I can quite easily trace them, something I couldn't have done before. It feels like there's nothing but scaly skin and bones here. If not for...uh...everything else, I would appear to be poorly fed. As I move my hand closer to my back, I feel the strong muscles of my wings. Just like my tail, they are covered with dark purple scales, but their membranes are much lighter. I still haven't tried flying and that is something I plan on fixing tonight. I try not to move them too much in order to avoid leaving scratches on the bathtub or damaging anything else. The blades on their fingers are just as sharp as my claws and judging by the marks left on my desk, it would be better to keep it all under strict control.
I reach out for my horns and grasp them tightly. They are curved slightly inward and their points are surprisingly dull. I've expected them to be much sharper, but I'm glad that I was wrong. I can imagine how troublesome it would be. Even putting on a shirt would take more effort than needed.
I put a finger in my mouth with minor difficulties. It looks like my fangs have grown much longer while the rest of my teeth became much sharper and much less varied in shape. I'm not sure if I can chew anything with these, but I don't have to look in a mirror to know that my smile is not going to look friendly with these.
Finally, I decide to find out the maximum length of my tongue. I slowly stick it out of my mouth and try to touch my forehead with it. I succeed and it's...disgusting. What's the point of it? It's not sticky and I doubt that it's used to clean something.
With that done and over with, I focus my attention elsewhere. The results are not pleasant.
The hunger does not subside. Even after...that happened, it's still not sated.
My heart does not beat. It's been dead silent since afternoon.
My lungs expand and deflate in vain as I no longer have any need to breathe.
None of this makes any sense, but somehow I don't feel the need to panic. On the contrary, this is quite interesting.
...
I think it's time to do it. I let the water drain and step out of the bathtub.
The moon shines brightly in the night sky, illuminating my pale skin. Standing on the roof, I take a deep breath. It's too late for anyone to be outside, granting me an opportunity to take off into the skies above with no risk of getting spotted. With that goal in mind, I spread out my wings. It might take several tries, but I am confident in myself. It doesn't sound too difficult. I have more than enough time to accomplish this self-imposed task. I make up my mind and jump off the roof. Just as I start descending, I flap my wings. I keel flapping my wings whenever I start losing altitude. Despite doing it for the first time, I feel like I've done it countless times before. Every flap of wings is more refined than the previous one and with each flap, I lose less energy and produce less sound until none comes.
The feeling of flight is exhilarating! I've never felt this good before! I can't help but laugh when I think about this situation. Thousands dream of unassisted flight and here I am, given this chance for reasons unknown to me. This is something I've been missing out my whole life and I am giddy with excitement! I must show this to others!
...while I'm at it, I should head home and take whatever I want with me. I can't walk around in these torn clothes and there are several books I'd like to read. Thanks to my improved eyesight, I can see my house from up here and accurately gauge the distance. It shouldn't take more than five minutes to reach it. With these wings, I could travel wherever I want and reach my destination faster than any c-
I spot someone. She can't see or hear me. Before I realize it, I dive towards her and land inches away from her. She jumps in surprise. Just look at her. So weak. So frail. I could snap her like a twig and nothing of value would be lost.
"W-Who are you?!" - she asks. She doesn't look old enough to be walking at night with no one to accompany her.
"Children should be sleeping now." - I say as I grab her by her shoulders. She's so warm...
"I-I've lost track of time and..." - she replies with absolutely no confidence in her voice. The expression on her face when she sees my wings is priceless. Now that she's aware of my inhuman nature, she can't stop shaking. Just as it should be.
"Excuses...excuses...You know what could happen to you with absolutely no one around to help you, don't you?" - I ask her. It's not safe so late at night.
"I-I-I-" - she stutters in fright. I can't blame her. A mere human in my presence should-
No, this isn't right! I...I shouldn't be doing this! I take off into the skies once again, doing my best to ignore the sweet scent of a living human, so, full of-
When I open the door to Kazuki's house, I see Natsuki standing in the doorway. She looks upset.
"So...you want to tell me something?" - she asks, glaring at me.
"...I...um...I've brought my belongings." - I reply. It doesn't look like she believes I'm telling her everything.
"Look, if it's about that little hobby of yours, I'm not going to tell anyone" - she says and...she knows about it, doesn't she?
"...Yes and I'm not proud of it." - I decide to go with what she thought happened to avoid more questions.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I'd be much happier if you dropped that shit altogether, but hey, that's something." - she smiles, baring her fangs.
"Now then, could you help me with these?" - I ask, showing her everything I've brought with me.
"Sure." - she agrees, taking everything I offered her.
As I enter his house, I look at the clock. It took me longer than I've expected, but I'm not going anywhere tomorrow and I still don't feel the need to sleep despite feeling drowsy last afternoon. With nothing better to do, I take a book and my spare clothes with me. I'll need to make some modifications if I want to wear these. My tail blade should be enough to accomplish this task, but it wouldn't be as precise as using tools made for this. It doesn't take me long to locate everything I need to make adjustments and it's done in no time at all. It's still a little bit too short, but it's good enough.
With my previous attempts at finding the best sitting posture in mind, I don't bother looking for chairs and sit on the floor. With my tail curled around me and my wings folded to cover my body, I open the book in my hands. I must make sure not to accidentally damage it, but it's a small price to pay for the worlds these books offer me. Nothing could replace that.
I say nothing when Natsuki enters the room, but I'm surprised when she sits down next to me.
"So...what are you reading?" - she asks. Why would she be interested in my literature?
"Well, it's called The Russian Sleep Experiment. It's about a facility where five people are kept awake using an experimental gas-based stimulant, but then-"
"No no no no no! Stop right here!" - she interrupts me.
"Eh...why?" - I ask.
"You're spoiling everything again and...W-Well, you see...I sort of don't have anything to do and I'm not quite ready to go to bed just yet, so, I wanted you to...you know..." - she replies. I'm not sure I understand what she means by that.
"And that is?"
"...um...you see, I can't really read anything with these things, so..." - she says, waving her hands in front of my face for emphasis.
"So?"
"...could you read me something?"
Ah. That's new. Well, I don't see a reason to deny her that.
"...just don't tell anyone about this." - Natsuki adds.
"Alright then." - I say, unfolding one of my wings. She understands what I'm trying to do and scuttles close enough for me to drape my wing over her small frame.
Hunger gnaws at my consciousness.
