“Wah! Its tongue is so rough! Rougher than I thought it’d be! Why are only the big animals coming to me?!”
“That’s Arkey the tiger. A long time ago, we used to ’ave a round shrine dedica’ed to the tiger god. It’s all covered in vines now, though.”
“I’m a little more concerned about Halkara than historical facts right now. Are you really sure she’s all right?”
“Sheesh! Insistent, aren’cha? We’ve trained ’em not to eat anyone! But—I suppose animals do understand power hierarchies very quickly.”
Muu nodded sagely.
“So is Halkara in danger or not…?”
Just then, Nahna Nahna arrived with another round of well water.
“Please take a look at the space around you and Flatorte.”
I did as she asked, but I didn’t see anything different. However, when I looked a little farther away, I saw lions, tigers, and leopards staring toward us in fear.
“Huh. What did I do…?”
“Animals can tell instinctively if you’re the sort of person who will play with them. For example, they know that if they pick Flatorte up with their mouths, she will fight back.”
“Of course I will. I won’t let them get away with licking my face! I don’t care if it’s a lion or a tiger—they will be punished!” Flatorte exclaimed with feeling.
“Some of the larger cats may want to fawn over Miss Laika, but then the smaller cats would run away, which would put Miss Laika in a bad mood. Thus, they cannot approach her, either.”
I understood the ghost’s explanation, but—
“I guess that means Halkara’s licked.”
“Nice one, Azusa. Nahna Nahna, another glass o’ well water for Azusa.”
At least give me a real drink.
When Halkara was eventually freed from the lion’s mouth, she looked a little—no, very exhausted.
“Ah… I’m drenched… Predators are terrifying…”
Halkara came to lie down next Laika, who was still playing with the cats on the floor.
“You sure had a rough time there, Halkara…”
“Oh, do you think lion or tiger spit could be sold as a potion? It must be very difficult to obtain, so I could probably sell it at a premium!”
Apparently, Halkara wasn’t going to overlook any opportunity to turn a profit.
With that matter settled, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“I haven’t seen Rosalie for a while. Does she not like cats?”
Maybe ghosts couldn’t play with living cats—no, that couldn’t be right. If that were true, how could a country full of ghosts collect enough cats for a café? In fact, what would even be the point?
“What’re you on about? Rosalie’s playin’ just above us.”
Muu pointed skyward. And there she was, moving around with great delight.
“Eh-hee-hee-hee! That tickles! Stop, stop!”
“Huh? What are you doing up there all by yourself, Rosalie?”
“Playing with ghost cats.”
“There are ghost cats?!”
Now that I thought about it, it made sense that the souls of animals might occasionally remain in this world, too. In fact, the ghosts here were probably particularly interested in looking after ghost cats.
“Cats ’ave their regrets, too. We take care of ’em, both livin’ an’ dead.”
“That’s very admirable of you.”
As I was having this conversation, a little cat leaped up onto Flatorte’s lap.
“Do you not fear for your life? Hmm. I applaud your bravery.”
She cuddled the small creature—Flatorte didn’t hate cats, either.
Halkara was enjoying herself, too. She had a kitten riding on her shoulder.
“It’s a lot more comfortable to have a cat riding on me than for me to ride on a lion!”
I wasn’t sure if what had happened to Halkara constituted “riding on a lion.”
From that point on, lots of kittens started to gather around her. Apparently, there was something about Halkara that attracted baby cats in particular.
Laika looked jealous.
“It seems they think of Miss Halkara as a fellow kitten friend,” she said.
Perhaps the lion had put her in its mouth to protect her…
Presently, the same lion started walking around the café with my three girls on its back.
“This is fuuun! It’s like riding a horse~!”
“In a far-off land, there is a story about a man who rode a tiger. He knew that as soon as he alighted from the creature, he would be eaten. The story is supposed to illustrate a situation where one must forget minor details and push forward.”
“Riding an animal makes me feel as though the plants have won. It’s a very nice feeling.”
Their reactions were a little different from a normal child’s, but they were having fun, and that’s what counted.
“You put together a menu for us, even though we’re the only human customers you have,” I said. “Sorry for making you go through all the trouble.”
Muu was corporeal, but she still didn’t drink anything, and the other people of her kingdom did not have physical bodies at all. They had no need for cafés.
“Ah, you’re wrong, but I ’preciate it. We ’ave a corporeal regular already. I wouldn’t put together a menu just for you lot. She’ll be ’ere any second now, actually.”
“Oh, that’s right. Demons visit, too, these days, don’t they?”
“Yeah, but this one’s a li’l different.”
“Different from the demons…?”
“Yep. She’s been comin’ ev’ry day since we opened.”
Muu’s gaze drifted to the gate at the café entrance.
“Ah, there she is.”
A little ways away, at the entrance, stood a huge ball of hair.
“That’s—That’s Ost Ande!”
I’d never mistake her strange form. It was Ost Ande, the reaper.
Hands slunk out of the hair and pulled apart one section to reveal her face. It was her.
“…Hello,” she said. “What a coincidence.”
“I suppose it is… I didn’t know you ever left the Empty Wastes…”
“…This is a special place,” she said. She then took her spot in an empty chair and started petting a cat on the table. “…Literary scholars work at cafés… And they like cats.”
That had to be some kind of stereotype…
“Oh, you know ’er, Azusa?” asked Muu. “Yeah, I thought she was kinda weird.”
“No need to be rude. But she is exceptionally strange. You didn’t think anything of it?”
She’d cause a panic if she appeared in a human city.
“I got a strange feelin’ off ’er, since I couldn’t tell if she was livin’ or dead. But some customers are just like that, y’know? Business is business, don’t matter who’s payin’.”
It was true that it would be impossible to tell if a god like Ost Ande was alive or dead, and maybe to Muu, the divide between living and dead was more important than that between human and demon or whatnot.
“Well, I guess it’s fine, so long as there aren’t any problems.”
There was no need for me to expose her as a god, and if she wanted to, she would say so herself.
“Lady Azusa, you know that hairy person?” Laika asked me from the floor, but her face was covered in cats, so I couldn’t see her. She was really spoiling those animals.
Now that I thought about it, none of the family knew about Ost Ande. This would be a great opportunity to tell them, but I had no idea if it was all right for me to tell them about her divinity…
I asked Ost Ande in a whisper, “Hey, you don’t mind if I tell them what you actually are, do you?”
“…Do as you like. I’ve led an embarrassing life, but it’s nothing worth hiding.”
I had her permission, so I told the family and Muu that she was the reaper.
Shalsha was intensely interested and asked Ost Ande all sorts of questions, but that was all that happened. This was a world of demons and spirits, after all.
“Huh. So she was a reaper. She did look the part,” Muu murmured, watching as Ost Ande sat with a cat in her arms and answered Shalsha’s questions.
“It looks like that doesn’t bother you at all, Muu. You’re not scared of her as a spirit?”
“The reaper deals in freshly escaped souls. She’s got nuffin to do wiv us; we’ve been dead for ages.”
That meant I wouldn’t need to negotiate a peace between the spirits and the reaper.
“Actually, why don’t ya ask ’er yerself. Go join the Q&A wiv Shalsha.”
Muu was right. I brought over a chair and sat beside Shalsha.
“So, Reaper, do you not capture the souls of this world?”
“…Correct. By remaining, spirits maintain the balance. It is not good for too many to leave this plane.”
I see, I see. Ghosts are normal, then.
“…Though I don’t capture spirits, I can still see them. Like this.”
Ost Ande’s tendril-like hands reached out into empty space.
“…There is a ghost cat here. There are many, in fact, since this is the land of ghosts.”
“I see. I bet they like having a lot of friends around.”
At that moment, her tendril hand began to shudder.
“…Oh. It’s going wild. Really wild.”
We couldn’t see anything, so it was hard to tell, but I had a feeling I knew what was happening.
“You’re wrapping your arm around the cat, right? Even a ghost would put up some resistance…”
“…No. It is reacting to the presence of a string-like object and playing with it.”
“I guess cats are still cats, even in the afterlife.”
Some things never changed…
“…The ghost may only be playing, but it is getting a bit excited. It has a lot of energy.”
Again, very catlike. It’s probably getting more and more into playing with the string.
Ost Ande’s tendril was jumping all over the place. It looked like she had her hands full.
“…Calm yourself. It’s not good for a spirit to lose control.”
There was something ominous in what she said. Coming from the reaper, however, anything could start sounding scary. It was too easy to read into her words.
“What do you mean ‘not good’? Will its soul fall apart or something?”
“…No. With an excess of vigor, a spirit may gain the ability to enter into things it usually cannot.”
In the next moment—
—I felt something hit my head!
“Whoa! What was that?!”
It was a lot like walking down a path and suddenly being blindsided by a flying ball. It didn’t hurt, but I could feel my whole brain shudder.
I toppled over backward, chair and all. There was no pain, but I sure was surprised.
“…I am sorry. The cat spirit jumped away from me and…crashed into you.”
“Spirits can do that…?”
I stood, holding my head. Shalsha extended a hand to help me up and asked, “Mom, are you okay…?”
I still felt dizzy. “Thanks, Shalsha. I’m not hurt, so don’t worry. I’m fine.”
“…Both ghosts and living beings have souls. The souls rarely interact, but one can sometimes slam into another when it gets overexcited.”
From what Ost Ande said, it seemed the cat ghost had started rushing around and bumped into my own soul.
“So the overexcited ghost cat just happened to fly right at me. I get it.”
“…As the reaper, I was not strict enough with the spirit… I apologize. How embarrassing. I wish to crawl under a rock.”
Ost Ande hid her face behind her hair again. She was extremely humble for a god.
“I’m not angry, so you don’t have to hide yourself. It’s not your fault anyway—it’s the cat’s fault.”
I could say it was the tendril’s fault, but she hadn’t intended to excite the cat, so there was no use placing blame.
“…It’s still my fault. I was not paying enough attention.” Ost Ande’s voice filtered out from the ball of hair.
“No, no, it really isn’t your fault, Ost Ande. I’m not even hurt.” I still had my hand to my head, but there wasn’t even a bump.
“…That may be so, but injury is not the only issue.”
She was really being down on herself, and I was starting to feel bad.
“It isn’t your fault, Ost Ande, really! You can come out now! As they say, hate the sin, not the reaper!”
“…I thank you deeply for your kindness.”
Ost Ande’s face finally appeared from behind all the hair. I had no idea she was such a stickler for politeness. Personally, I thought she was a little too polite.
My head had stopped spinning, so I took my hand off it.
And then—
“Oh.”
Shalsha looked surprised.
“What? I’m sure I wasn’t injured. Did I get a leaf in my hair when I fell?”
I’d been saddled with all manner of odd jobs ever since reaching max level, but one thing I was grateful for was that my body was way sturdier now.
“Mom… You’ve got way bigger problems than a leaf in your hair…,” Shalsha said. Her voice was grave, but her lips were twisted into a little smile.
What did she mean?
“Be more specific, please. You’re worrying me.”
“Mom, put your hand on your head again.”
I did as she said, and I felt something soft.
From behind me, I heard Muu say, “Here, take a gander.” She was holding out a hand mirror.
I took it and looked at myself.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login