It's the second day since Asya's arrival, somewhere around noon, and I've decided that I should show her around the neighborhood. You know, since it's my job as a host to familiarize whatever liminal is staying with me with human society. But, to be fair, I didn't plan to take the girl to any of the sights, because I don't think it's a good idea to show her the places the backgrounds of which I don't know. But I'll do it sometime later, maybe.

At the moment, though, our activity was more like a regular stroll, where I choose the path and try to answer any questions Asya asks, most of which were about what this or that store sells. Can't say that this wasn't fun, since it was the first time I've seen someone have such a genuine interest in mundane things. She was looking around with such curiosity in her eyes that I couldn't help, but smile. In fact…

"Hey, Asya, how about we go there?" I asked, pointing at the grocery store we were passing. "The heat's killing me, and so I'd really love to have something to drink."

"S-sure," the girl answered with a nod. Unlike me, who was fanning his face violently with an open hand, she seemed to be perfectly fine. I wonder if she feels the temperature to the same extent as me.

Either way, we both walked up to the door, which I opened and held in place until Asya's body was fully inside, which took quite a long time. When the black scaled tip finally made its way past the door, I stepped in and stopped for the second, letting the cool air from the AC blow at my face. "Whew, what a hot august we have this year," I sighed.

Now, the shop we entered didn't differ that much from your standard one: pretty spacious with shelves full of different goods lined up along the right wall and refrigerated counters with meat, milk and the derivatives of thereof separating us. All of this was run by a woman, who appeared to be in her forties.

But I paid her no mind, since my attention was focused on Asya, who seemed to be experiencing quite a cultural shock. She was looking at the stock with a childish curioucity, studying the colorful packages and whispering 'What's this,' between the amazed gasps. She did this, moving from counter to counter, slithering over her own snake body, while I was choosing between the awailable drinks. Humming, I decided to stop on a bottle of kvass, the brand of which I couldn't remember seeing.

I was about to step up to the cashier to voice my choice when I felt a tug on my shirt. Of course, I found a hand, covered in black scales, holding on it, with the hand's owner looking at me with an almost begging face, her saphire eyes darting between me and one of the counters. I raised an eyebrow and Asya's face has turned red as she asked, turning her head to look at something beneath the glass, "W-what's this?"

"What, you've never seen quail eggs?" I asked, looking at a pack of 20 tiny eggs with black spots on their shells. Asya nodded timidly in respose, prompting another question from me. "Want me to buy some?"

"Ah, w-well, I... No, um..." she tried to refuse my offer, shaking her head, but, after I gave her the 'I know you want it' stare, she accepted. "Y-yes, I would like those eggs," she said quetly, the tip of her tail waggling slightly in the corner of my eyes.

'Hm, now I feel like an asshole, for some reason,' I thought while asking the woman behind the cash register to give me the kvass I chose and two packs of eggs for Asya. All together they cost me around 200 roubles. Not that expensive, actually, for the quail eggs. Could've taken a cheaper brand of kvass, maybe, but whatever.

After putting the eggs into the backpack I brought along, I walked out of the store with a sizeable bottle of beer-like brown beverage in hand, yet again holding the door open for Asya. While she was moving her tail, I overheard two women behind me talk to each other…

"Look at this ugly creature, slithering here. Can't it move faster?"

"At least she's leaving already. Doesn't she understand that there are people waiting outside while she's occupying the whole shop?"

"I doubt that the hell spawns like her know anything about human world. And, for some reason, government's even paying those hosting them, while old people like us are getting barely enough to buy food."

…And so on. Asya was already on the street, her tail coiling near me, and those hags have gone inside the grocery store, but I was still standing near the door, anger burning inside me.

What is wrong with those two? No, what's wrong with people? Why can't they just stay silent instead of voicing their trashy, despicable, infuriating racist comments? Do they feel some sort of need to spread all this filth? And not only them, lots of other people were doing it during my and Asya's walk. Every time I heard someone say something like 'monster' or 'freak', I felt like walking up to them and telling what I feel.

The only thing stopping me was Asya – her reaction, to be exact. Every time she would lower her head and raise her black wings, hiding from people's eyes. It cannot be denied that Asya felt nervous at these moments, maybe even scared, and each time this happened, I wanted to tell the aspid to ignore the people and stop hiding herself.

But I just couldn't do it. No matter how I thought about it, the words I wanted to say resembled a cheesy compliment rather than something encouraging, and I just… I just didn't want Asya to see me as some idiot, I guess.

To be fair, though, she did look quite good. Since she didn't have her cardigan on because of the heat, her amazing curves were visible under the sleeveless blouse and a skirt she was wearing. While her breasts and hips are not the biggest, they nevertheless are in a perfect proportion with her slim waist, resulting in quite the eye candy. Even her less human features, like the scaled arms, pointy ears, wings and a snake-like lower body were only adding to the charm the girl had. The fact that I am now living with such a woman under the same roof makes me feel really… excited since, well, you know, I'm a 24 year old male.

As for my choice of clothing, it was nothing special. Blue jeans, black T-shirt and black sneakers. Not the most creative combination, I know, but I didn't look like a clown, at least. I also had the aforementioned backpack, because I was going to stock up on groceries in the nearest hypermarket with Asya, since we ran out of food yesterday, and I wanted my hands to be as free as possible after I did so.

And, like that, taking an occasional swig of sour kvass, I haven't noticed how we made our way to the local university. We were walking past its administrative wing, which was a 3-storey building with grey walls and lots of right angles in its design.

As I walked past it, deep in thought, I suddenly got a feeling, that something was amiss. Looking around myself, I found Asya standing a couple meters behind me and looking attentively at the wall to the left from the entrance, more precisely, at the words "Bryansk State Technical University" spelled with big letters. What surprised me the most was the fact that the girl was so immersed in whatever thoughts were in her head at the moment, that she stopped paying attention to the looks she was receiving from a rare passerby. Curious as to what has caused such a change in her behavior, I walked up to Asya.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, tapping her shoulder. "What are you looking at?"

"A-Alexandr Bulatovich?!" the aspid stuttered at the sudden action, turning to face me with a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. "I, uh, I-I'm just curious about t-this place…"

"What? Should I explain to you what a university is?"

"N-n-no, I've heard what it is; I just want to know more about this one…"

Saying that, she turned away to look at the building's entrance. In the meantime I was studying the girl's expression. It was obvious to me that she was curious to know about my alma mater, but her eyes looked different from before. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think that the interest she has now is far from being random. Makes me wonder where does it come from, this curiosity of hers.

I was about to ask Asya about the matter, but a sudden itchy feeling made me stop for a second. When I moved my hand to scratch my left shoulder, a large palm had landed on the exact same spot, surprising me a bit. Or should I say "paw"?

"Heya, Sanya!" a deep, but cheerful male voice then said behind my back. "Long time no see, pal!"

"Fucking hell," I exhaled angrily, turning around to look at the person who has startled me. "Listen, Vsemil, you would've been a fucking French bulldog by now if I somehow didn't recognize your voice. Maybe you should try to approach people in a more civil manner?"

"Oh, c'mon, is this how you greet a friend you haven't seen for months?"

With that the assailant let go of me and stepped back, allowing me to take a proper look at him. He was a liminal, and he resembled a human only barely. His whole body was covered in light-brown fur, his legs and head were those of a wolf and behind his back there was a big tail, which swayed slowly from side to side. Basically, he was a wolf, whose only differences from an actual animal were his upright posture and a human-shaped torso and arms, but even then his clawed hands had black pads on their inner side. As for the clothing, he was wearing a red T-shirt and blue shorts.

I sigh, facepalming at my friend's behavior, before a meek voice of a certain aspid interrupts me, "U-um, Alexandr Bulatovich?"

"Ah, sorry, Asya. This is..."

"How rude of me to not introduce myself properly," Vsemil interrupted me, taking my place before Asya, who had immediately enveloped herself with her black wings in a defensive manner. "I'm Okhotnik Vsemil, this here human's friend. I'm a volkolak." He then extended his huge hand towards the girl with a friendly smile, which looked more like him baring his teeth at the prey. It's really hard to tell when this bastard is smiling - it took me a full month to learn to do so.

Either way, Asya looked like she was rather intimidated by the sudden gesture, so I decided to take the introduction in my hands. But, surprisingly, as I was about to step in, she have folded back her wings and shook hands with Vsemil, although there were still traces of hesitation left in the way she did so. "I'm C-Chernova Asya, an aspid…" she said quietly, looking down.

When the girl introduced herself, my friend's round ears suddenly stood up attentively and his yellow eyes narrowed. He then gave us both a strange stare, which I didn't really like. Even his usual smile was gone.

But, before I could even wonder about it, Vsemil let out a snort, putting an arm on his waist. "So, watcha guys doing? Is there a chance for me to join?" he asked in a familiar cheerful manner.

"Well, I've been showing Aya around, since I'm her C.E.P. host and all. I've also wanted to stop by at the hypermarket to buy some provisions," I replied after shaking my head, waving my hand in the general direction of our destination. "As for joining us… Hey, Asya, do you mind this doggie stick around for a bit?" I addressed my black-haired companion, to which she replied with a shake of her head.

"Good, let us move, then!" the volkolak said as he stepped closer and nudged me. "But applying for the Exchange Program, eh? Didn't expect you, of all people, to do this."

Groaning in annoyance, I waved off the bastard's statement and gestured Asya to follow us.


The walk to the hypermarket took us around 20 minutes, since it's situated rather close to the university. During that time I and Vsemil were discussing the events that have happened to us in the time we didn't see each other. I've told about how I inherited my grandfather's house and applied for the C.E.P. I also didn't forget to mention that I've met Asya only yesterday - just in case my canine friend got any funny thoughts.

As for the wolf, he was re-applying to the university. Yeah, this cheery idiot got himself expelled on his sophomore year while I was dicking around in the army. Don't know how he managed to accomplish this feat, but at least he can enroll in the second year. I've also made sure to tell him that he won't get any help from me. Not for free. I'm an adult who needs money, how can you blame me?

And Asya was following us, listening closely to our friendly bickering. Just like before Vsemil had joined us, she would ask a question occasionally and I would answer, although this time they were about our student years. Told her about the people I've met during that time, the department I was studying at – the good stuff. The girl was surprisingly eager to learn about this and I was happy to satisfy her curiosity.

She was also interested in how I met my canine friend, although I don't think the story was exciting at all. It happened in the beginning of my last year in university. We both ended up in the same club, and Vsemil – a sophomore back then – was looking for help with programming and, of course, I ended up being the one helping him, that's all.

But boy, how much yelling he had to endure back then, as I tried to explain everything to him. Vsemil had the most basic understanding of a computer and his familiarity with programming languages was almost nonexistent. I can't comprehend how someone like him could ever end up at the Information Technologies Department. But he did learn everything he was taught, I'll give him that. Makes me wonder how exactly he got kicked out.

"Well, this is where I leave you both," Vsemil said as we approached the bus stop near the hypermarket. "Gotta go home now."

"Whatever," I sighed, shaking his hand. "So, you're living with your former host family?"

"Yes, I'm renting a room in their house. Thankfully, they're not asking much money."

"Well, good for you, pal. See you later."

"Yeah, see you later, but…" the volkolak said, pulling me closer. "Friendly advise – be careful with that girl," he whispered, nodding his head at Asya.

As my friend did that, I felt my eyebrow rise at how serious his expression was at the moment. His gaze was heavy, and voice - cold. I think it's the first time I've seen him act this way, in fact. 'Well, he sounds like he's genuenly worried, but...' I thought, looking over my shoulder at the girl in question, who was gripping her right arm and looking at passing pedestrians nervously.

No, no matter how I look at her, she doesn't seem like somebody to be careful about. Of course, with her being a half snake with claws, slit pupils and all that, she might look rather intimidating to an average human, but for a fellow liminal to be vary of her? Strange... No no, Vsemil might have his reasons to not trust her. Maybe there's a bad history between their species or something. After all, it's not like liminals don't have racism.

"Well, don't think too much about it, Sanya," Vsemil moved his hand on my shoulder, interrupting my train of thoughts. "After all, you always know if there's danger, right?"

"Yeah, of course," I replied dismissevly, shaking the furry hand off. "Anyhow, you better not miss your ride," I finished, pointing at the space behind the humanoid wolf's back.

"What... Oh crap, that's totally the route I need! Bye then! See you later too, Asya. It was nice to meet you!"

With that, my friend waved his hand at us and quickly rushed over to the white Peugot minibus, jumping inside it mere moments before the door closed. After seeing the vehicle approach the bridge over the Desna River, I faced Asya. "Well now, let's get this done already, Asya. Let's go," I said, throwing the empty bottle in the nearest trash can and urging the aspid to follow me to the hypermarket.

But halfway through the parking lot I've noticed the girl suddenly stop. Turning around, I found her looking up at me with a struggling expression on her face with sky-blue eyes trembling and full of... fear? Pain? Wait, what's happening? Why is she suddenly like that?

"H-hey now, Asya, what's wrong?" I asked, slowly approaching the girl, who looked like she was on the verge of crying.

"A-Alexandr Bulatovich," Asya addresed me in a shaking voice, lowering her gaze to avoid mine. "Are... are you afraid of me?"

"Afraid? N-no, of course I'm not, but-wait. The hell did that come from?!" I asked her back, taken aback by the sudden question.

"Then you must find me disgusting, right? Just like all those people. I've felt their stares; I've heard the bad things they were saying about me; I've-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Wait! But what about Vsemil? You had fun talking with him, like, just minutes ago!" I shouted, looking for the right words to calm the shaking girl down. But it seemed to only worsen the matters as Asya raised her slitted eyes to look at me with an expression full of gut-wrenching, pained anger.

"B-but I saw his reaction when we met! He went silent the moment I told him my species' name! And he also said that I can be dangerous to you! I… I've…" Asya screamed back with tears in her eyes before hanging her head. "I knew it… I should've just stayed with my family, like mother-Ahh?!"

At that moment my panicked mind could think of only one way to calm down the crying girl before me – hug her. So I proceeded to do just that, cutting off whatever Asya was saying and pulling her human half in a tight embrace. Her huge black wings spread open as she yelped in surprise, blocking my vision, but I didn't notice that as I was gently stroking the resisting girl's smooth black hair, cursing myself.

How could I let this happen to her, even though all this time I knew that being around other people was too much for her to handle. I've noticed it, understood it! And, despite all this, I chosen to ignore those signs and carry on, pretending everything's alright… If only I've decided to go back home instead of dragging Asya along I wouldn't be having her cry in my shoulder right now.

After a minute she stopped trying to force my arms off herself and the intervals between her sobs became long enough for me to deduce that she had calmed down enough to talk. Taking my hand off her head, but not loosening the embrace, I asked her calmly, "Are you okay now?" As I felt her head rub against my shoulder, which was her nodding, probably, I continued, "Now listen closely, because I'm saying this only once. People may think and say whatever they want about you – bastards like them know nothing better other than badmouth others. The only opinion that should bother you is mine and mine only. And to me you're not a 'monster', not a 'freak', but just a girl." I said, finally letting go of Asya and taking a step back and giving the warmest smile I could muster. "Understood, silly?"

"Y-yes," she nodded, wiping off the tears from under her red eyes with her hand. I sighed in relief at that, only to instantly bend forward and grab my knees tightly as the ground threatend to throw me off itself.

Okay, I've managed to defuse another situation with her, but holy shit am I embarrassed right now! My heart's racing, palms are sweaty, and mind is in chaos. You know, if this keeps happening, I see two possible outcomes: either Asya starts hating me… or I die of a heart attack. It's in my best interests to learn to deal with such situations before they'll have a chance to happen. I was legitimately scared that I've managed to fuck up big time there!

"Are you okay, Alexandr Bulatovich," Asya asked in a worried tone, startling me.

"I-I'm good!" I shouted, hastily turning around to hide my flushed face. "A-ahem!" I cleared my throat. "N-now, since you're okay, I think it's about time we've headed back home."

"B-but didn't you want to-"

"No objections! I'm your host and I decide where we go! And I've decided that we'll go straight back home, where you'll explain what the hell happenned with you!" I shouted, putting up a finger. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, I then turned my head to face the girl and quietly added, still sounding a bit nervous "O-okay?"

At that Asya had blinked her big blue eyes a couple of times, probably not expecting such an action from me. But then, though, I've noticed a small smile appear on her face as she nodded. "Okay," she said in a much more chipper voice than before.

With that, we both went home with me leading the way through less populated areas of the district, just in case.


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Expectations up + frustration down.

So, uh, more than a month has passed since the last update... Don't have any excuse this time, really. I've been playing games instead of writing, again: The Binding of Isaac (The Antibirth mod, to be exact), The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, Homefront and Borderlands The Pre-sequel. I was also waiting for my "beta reader" to comment on the text. Yeah, I have a "beta reader" of sorts, although none of us is sure if this term is applicable. So, that's another part of the reason why this chapter got delayed this much.

Either way, about the chapter. I introduced a new character - Okhotnik Vsemil, who is a volkolak. He's going to be a side character, but I can't say for sure how often he will show up in the story.

Basically, in my fanfiction, volkolaks are "furries". You know what I'm talking about. In reality, though, they're just a slavic take on the werewolf. They are either voluntary or involuntary shapeshifters, who take the form of a wolf. "But there are werewolves in the MonMusu canon, why would you add more?" you might ask. Well... Because I wanted to. Besides, it's Monster Musume, so why not push the "monster" pedal a little bit harder? Since, you know, werewolves, kobolds, and their subspecies, in canon, are all relatively human to me. "Hairy humans" in kobold's case and " basically humans with canine limbs" in werewolf's. So why not add furries? After all, there are also those mole-people-things, that are shown in the same chapter as Coolie the vampire. So yeah, I'm adding furries (Not really a fan of those, if you wondered).

We also had a little bit of character building with our heroes. More specifically, Asya is not very good with humans. It's so bad that she broke down crying on her and Alexandr's first trip through the town. I hope that that moment wasn't that bad and out of character for both our heroes. I'll try to make sure that I won't make their personalities into an illogical mess.

And there's also another moment which points at the reason of the aspid's participation in the Cultural Exchange...

Ok, enough of me retelling the chapter's contents. This is the last chapter for this year, and I hope that I'll be able to write something before the Orthodox Christmas (It's celebrated on the 7th of January). If not, well... just wait? Either way, leave your reviews, PM me if you want to be more personal about something and throw the mistakes I make at my face, I'll gladly accept your critique. Happy New Year, Holidays, Christmas and whatever else you want to celebrate! This was ChillingComrade. До встречи!