VS Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Part 2
"...The sound of shaking branches and leaves is getting further away… In any case, It doesn't seem like she'll be attacking anymore~."
Fennec, who had been the sole target of the assault from the beginning, having strained her ears for reassurance, turned to the others seemingly in relief.
"Man, that was scary~. I thought that I was done for~…"
Common Raccoon ran up to the seated Fennec, despite being scared of the flame that Kaban was holding.
"Fennec… Arai-san's so glad that you weren't hurt noda…"
"It's all thanks to yours and Kaban-san's help~. Kaban-san, that thing there, it's impressive~."
"Kaban-san, thank you nanoda! But as Arai-san thought, that thing… It's kinda scary."
Kaban, who took a deep breath, at Common Raccoon's and Fennec's words, hastily pressed the torch against the ground, snuffing out the flame.
"Ah, s-sorry. After all, this is scary to you guys. Since while cooking the Professor, the Assistant, and Serval-chan were all afraid of it, the I thought that maybe―"
Having said as much, Kaban had suddenly jumped up at the name that came out of her own mouth.
"Serval-chan!"
Kaban rushed back to the sitting Serval. Serval, despite the beads of sweat forming on her forehead, was smiling sweetly.
"That was amazing, Kaban-chan. You've saved everyone once again."
Serval's smile and the wound on her right arm have appeared simultaneously in Kaban's eyes. The blood flowing out of the lacerated gash stained the fur on Serval's arm red. With the dust having settled, Kaban's heart shook greatly at Serval's niceness, as she had become wounded while protecting Kaban and didn't say a single word of condemnation.
Before Kaban had realized it, she was tightly hugging Serval's body.
"Serval-chan…! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… Because you were protecting me, you got that gash…!"
Rubbing her face against Serval's shoulder, A stream of tears overflowed from Kaban's eyes. Having noticed that Serval was surprised. Before that, Serval was the one crying after having seen Mirai's recording at the Lodge. At that time Kaban had taught her what "crying" was. When experiencing extreme sorrow or pain, as well as when experiencing happiness that cannot be put into words, tears naturally start flowing out. Back then, she didn't understand what she herself was crying over, but in the case of Kaban's tears right now, even Serval, for whom thinking isn't her forte, could understand where they were coming from. Due to Serval's wound, the compassionate Kaban felt pain.
The flustered Serval frantically moved her hands, but she couldn't do anything due to being tightly hugged.
"H-Hey hey! I'm doing just fine! Even when I'm wounded, even when I've fallen, it's alright! …Yeah? So, please don't cry, Kaban-chan." Serval laughed it off to comfort the panicked Kaban.
Despite that, Kaban's tears haven't subsided. Serval could feel Kaban's throbbing heartbeat from her chest and hot breath as she stuck to her. Serval, who couldn't do anything, became flustered, and gave herself up to the embrace.
...
...
Haah… Maybe if I were a bit stronger, then I would've been able to save Kaban-chan without getting hurt. Because of my clumsiness, I made Kaban-chan cry… Since we aren't wearing many layers of… clothing… was it? Well, what I do get is that Kaban-chan's body is… warm.
warm, and smells good. and her body is nice and soft. her heart throbbing… soft… warm… a nice smell…
...
...
she seems pretty tas―
...
...
...
Serval's facial expression has stiffened.
To make sure that she gets away, Serval let go of Kaban, and jumped back to make some distance. Common Raccoon, Fennec, and Boss had become perfectly silent at Serval's sudden actions. Even Kaban, who couldn't stop crying, had held back her tears.
"Serval… chan…? What's up? ―Ah, sorry…! Have I made your wound sting?"
Seeing Kaban lower her eyebrows apologetically, Serval shook her head while controlling her ragged breath so no one noticed.
"N-No! It was… Just… You know, I was just thinking that Assistant could be coming back!" Not being able to look at Kaban straight, Serval looked downwards and replied.
Common Raccoon, who had been dumbfounded, smiled dryly.
"Ah-hahaha… You surprised us noda. You're a worrywart nanoda, Serval."
"Though, what Serval said is sound~. Let's head to the Library before Assistant comes back~. If she were to attack again, it won't end safely this time~"
As Fennec was the one being targeted, her words had weighed on everyone. Since Serval was also injured, and since everyone wanted to let their bodies rest a bit, everyone had immediately departed towards the Library. Serval, who took a step back out of confusion, shook her head a few times as if to get rid of something, and caught up with the rest.
"Ha… Ha… Ha…"
"Haa… Haa…"
―At the distant entry to the forest, two shadows had been breathing heavily, which were chasing after Kaban's group, unbeknown to everyone.
Hello everyone, this is PoGu. In this chapter wee have a wee bit of head hopping. In the original Japanese version, the latter part of Serval's inner monologue had forgone using kanji, so the best way to reflect it in English that I could come up with was foroing using capital letters.
Anyway, since FF doesn't like any kind of link anywhere, I'll instead leave directions on how to find the original work.
First method is to search for "「けもの」の本能" and find the link that leads you to a Japanese site called "kakuyomu".
Alternatively, you can go to the kakuyomu site and add "/works/1177354054882921926" to the domain.