Chapter 9-A: After Lunch

"Eryn, could I help wash the dishes?"

"It's fine, Iris. I'm almost done washing them."

After having a warm lunch with the monstergirls, Eryn washed off all their dishes and returned them to the dishwasher. As usual, Iris asked him if she could wash the dishes instead, but he told her to enjoy her pudding. She shouldn't be this involved with chores… of course, he appreciated her help. There was just more to life than doing chores…

… like eating sweets, for example.

"This pudding tastes so good!" Melty exclaimed in joy, her eyes forming star-shaped pupils.

Lofie nodded frantically to express her agreement. It should come as no surprise that she… shoved the entire pudding into her mouth. Luckily, the pudding was small, so she could chew and swallow it easily.

"I guess I should try it out." He smiled as he turned to them. He picked up his pudding and tossed it into his mouth. A sweet and fluffy taste enveloped his tongue. Pretty good, I must say!

"So, what do you all think about today's lunch?" He asked, glancing at each monstergirl. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah!" was the automatic reply. They all dearly loved the lunch Eryn made. The food tasted great, but it was primarily the fact that he was the one who made the lunch. As long as it involved him, the monstergirls were bound to enjoy it.

"Glad to hear that." He let out a sigh of relief. Lunch was a success. I could prepare dinner in a similar manner… he'd get used to making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for them.

"Eryn, Eryn." Lofie walked up to him and wrapped her little arms around his waist as much as she could. She softly headbutted him.

"What is it, Lofie?" Eryn patted her head, finding her way of getting his attention odd yet amusing.

"When is bath time?"

"Bath time?" Eryn glanced at the clock on the wall. "Do you want to take a bath, Lofie?"

"Hum!" she nodded, looking at him with upturned eyes.

"Sure." He smiled. "Let me just get your change of–…. Oh." His voice trailed off at the end as he realized something quite crucial. He observed Lofie's clothes from top to bottom, the pajamas he handed to her recently. Do I have any other clothes that fit them? He didn't know if he had any more change of clothes for Iris and Melty, too. As far as he remembered, he didn't find any other clothes in his sister's room. And his clothes, being too big for them, were out of the question. Their old clothes from the shelter haven't been washed but he'd rather not have them wear those again.

"Ah, Lofie… I just remembered something." He crouched down to her level. "I don't have any new clothes for you to wear."

"Oh." Lofie bowed her head down to look at her clothes, then looked back at him. "Then I will not wear clothes." She said confidently.

"No, no… that won't be good, Lofie." He chuckled and caressed her hair. What a bold idea of hers. "I'll buy you some new clothes."

"New clothes from Eryn…" Lofie's eyes sparkled at the thought of receiving new clothes from him.

Eryn stood up and checked his phone. He searched up the mall he often visited. There should be some clothing brands there I could explore. He scrolled through their website to see the available stores. Hmmm… are there clothing brands exclusive to monstergirls? The centaur and Arachne came to his mind. Special clothing would have to be tailored to their kind of bodies. Looking at the little monstergirls, their bodies looked human enough for typical children's clothes to fit them. Aside from their ears and tails, minor adjustments could be made.

Eryn put on his windbreaker and mask. He grabbed his wallet and inspected his savings. This should be enough, hopefully.

"What are you doing, Eryn?" Iris asked.

"Oh, I'll be heading to a mall." He answered. "To buy new clothes for you, Melty, and Lofie. We can't have you wearing only pajamas now, can we?"

"New clothes for us?" Iris's eyes widened in surprise. To think he would provide them not only a home, a bed, meals… but also new clothes? She felt extremely grateful to him. "Can I come with you?"

"I want to come along, too!" Melty exclaimed, latching her arms around his hand.

"Me too…" Lofie headbutted him again.

"A-Ahhh…" Eryn rubbed the side of his neck awkwardly. He anticipated this would happen. Looking at their adorable faces, he found himself hesitating to turn them down, but he had a valid reason (which he only remembered just moments ago) to do so. "Sorry, I can't let you come with me."

"Wha…" Their expressions immediately broke into shock and frowns, which made Eryn feel guilty.

"Why not, Eryn?!" Melty fumed, squeezing his arm. "You went jogging with me before! What's wrong with going to the mall?"

"I want to go with Eryn…" Lofie pouted.

"Is… there a reason why we can't go, Eryn?" Iris rubbed her fingers together.

Eryn hummed. I wasn't expecting Iris to ask the reason. He was already going to explain himself, but she made things easier for him to bring this up.

"There's a very important reason." Eryn dropped to his knees. "Melty, when we went jogging, we stopped by that bakery, right?"

"Yeah!"

"It was fine for us to enter the bakery." He continued. "If I remember correctly, the shopkeeper said the bakery opened a few weeks ago… and she was a monstergirl, I believe?" Some type of spider, I forgot…

"Ah! The Arachne?"

"Right, the Arachne." He nodded, finally remembering the name. How do I explain this in simple words… "You see… for little shops like that bakery, it's totally fine for us to enter them. It's managed by a monstergirl, right?"

"Right."

"Then… what about the big stores? Like malls and plazas? Those are places where many humans and monstergirls visit. And those places would require all monstergirls to have a monstergirl ID."

"A… monstergirl ID?" Iris tilted her head at a curious angle.

This was a fact Eryn only just remembered recently. He knew it was required by law for monstergirls to be registered to their owners. Though there were few exceptions to this rule. Monstergirls who have reached full maturity and are able to assimilate into human society on their own can acquire a monstergirl ID without owners, though this was not common.

"You'll need to register these monstergirls under your ownership eventually." Aiden had mentioned to him the day he took the monstergirls into his care.

"Yep!" he nodded. "As much as I would love to, without those IDs, I can't take you all outside to places like the mall."

"That's not fair!" Melty puffed her cheeks out.

"Mhmm…" Lofie's ears draped down in a sad manner.

"Ah…" Eryn's heart tightened at the sight of their sad faces as if chains were coiling around his heart. There's nothing I can do about this… at least not now.

"We shouldn't force Eryn to take us out." Iris turned to the two monstergirls, putting her hands on her hips. "It's not Eryn's fault."

"Iris…"

"I'm… a bit sad we can't go with Eryn but…" she gave him the brightest smile she could muster. "I know Eryn wants the best for us."

"Mnnngh…" Melty crossed her arms with a pout. "I know that…"

Lofie remained silent, just twiddling with her fingers. They both couldn't say anything because they didn't want to bother Eryn.

I can always count on Iris to keep her sisters together… it's no wonder she's the eldest one.

"Iris." He stroked her head. "Can I count on you again to watch over the house?"

"… Yes!" Iris pumped her fist to her chest proudly. "I will do my best!"

"Thank you." He smiled softly at her and then stood up. I don't want to leave them alone… I'll be back as soon as I can. He walked to the door, the monstergirls following behind. He opened the door and stepped outside.

"Be safe, Eryn!" Iris waved.

"Don't take too long, okay?" Melty exclaimed.

"I wi–woah?"

Lofie ran up to him and hugged him tightly, nuzzling her head against him. "Please… come home soon."

"Lofie…" this was a side of her he hadn't seen yet. Her expression tugged away at his heartstrings. He dropped to her level and pulled her into his tender embrace. "I'll be back soon."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Eventually, Lofie pulled away and gave him a timid smile. She walked back to her sisters and waved goodbye to which Eryn returned.

After locking the door, Eryn walked to a small garage located behind his house. He lifted the garage door, revealing his trusty vehicle–his motorcycle which originally belonged to his mother. It's been a while since we rode together… he readied his helmet and keys for the motorcycle.

Time to fire up the engine!