The downpour came fast and left fast. After Jhin had used the [Elemental Armament] to snatch up a dozen-odd bubble frogs, the sky cleared completely. It was only in the very last moment before the rainstorm dispersed that everyone finally saw the bubble frogs leaping out from inside the straw trees.
"So they'd been hiding inside the straw trees the whole time?"
"No wonder they only appear during a rainstorm. With straw trees this tall, if the rainwater didn't fill them up, the frogs wouldn't be able to jump out, right?"
As the girls marveled, Jhin recalled a certain kind of frog he'd once seen in an educational video—creatures that spent the overwhelming majority of their lives living inside segments of bamboo. He figured the bubble frogs' way of surviving was probably much the same.
He took the wind-element net bag full of bubble frogs from the battle armor's hands, lifted it up, and asked Pecorine, "Just the fruit on their backs?"
"Yep, just pluck off the fruit and let them go."
Megumin rolled up her sleeves, fully intending to volunteer herself for the job, but the muck smeared all over the bubble frogs made her flinch. The garbage-heap stench on her right hand and face still hadn't faded even now, and she didn't want her left hand to pick up the smell too—otherwise she probably wouldn't even be able to stomach a meal.
Seeing the disgusted looks on all the girls' faces, Jhin manipulated the battle armor to remove every last fruit from the bubble frogs' backs and then released them, after which he rinsed the fruit twice with water element and let it soak in a large bowl.
With the special ingredient now in hand, they had no reason to keep lingering in the swamp, so they left along the sheet of ice they'd created.
As dinnertime drew near, Megumin used the soap in the Capsule House's bathroom to scrub the stench from her hands and face. Gazing at the fruit soaking in the water, which looked just like so many pomegranate seeds, she voiced a doubt: "Can this stuff really be eaten?"
"There's no problem at all. I just tried one a moment ago—it was really sweet!" Pecorine confidently gave her a thumbs-up.
"You really are hungry, using taste-testing to tell whether some weird fruit like this is poisonous or not."
"You should try one too. It's really sweet."
Since someone had already test-tasted it for poison, Megumin stopped worrying about the fruit's safety, grabbed a handful, and popped it into her mouth.
"Mm... mhm... it really is sweet, and there's no pit either... super juicy too... the taste isn't bad. I feel like we could grab some more on the way back."
"Right!"
Seeing the two of them eating with such relish, Kyaru and Kokkoro, who had been holding out and watching, joined in as well. By the time Jhin walked out of the kitchen, only a third of the fruit was left in the large bowl.
"Leave some for me, would you!"
He wiped the water off his hands, hurriedly grabbed two handfuls of fruit, and tossed them into his mouth. His cheeks puffed out like a hamster's as his teeth steadily chewed the plump, juicy fruit.
"Burp~" Megumin let out an unladylike belch, utterly unbothered by it. "Just eating a little of this fruit makes me feel full. This stuff is tasty and filling—how come Pecorine only discovered it now?"
"It's probably because no one else ever thought of eating something like this. Only a foodie like her would have such a unique idea."
"Kyaru, it's not right of you to say it like that!" Pecorine pounced on her with a bear hug, clutching her in her arms like an oversized plush toy and groping her all over. "I've wanted to ask for a while now—why does the beastfolk race have four ears?"
"Isn't that perfectly normal? The ears on top of my head are sound amplifiers. If you plug the ears beside my face, I can't hear anything."
"Ohh, so that's how it works. Can I touch your cat ears?"
"No! A beastfolk's ears and tail are both very important places—only a lover gets to touch them."
Jhin, who had walked up behind Kyaru and was quietly stretching out a sinful hand toward her tail, froze at her words. Just as he was about to slip away before Kyaru noticed, that fluffy tail reared up like a rattlesnake and shouted, "Hey, kid—were you just about to cop a feel of me?"
Odd—could Kyaru's tail talk before?
Before he could ponder it carefully, the tail went on, "Hey, I'm talking to you. You wanting to feel up this fluffy, sexy body of mine, huh?"
Caught red-handed by Sis Tail, Jhin couldn't very well deny it. "Yes... Sis Tail, if you're not happy about it, I'll leave right now."
"Tch, who said you could leave?" Sis Tail called him back, swaying about rather seductively. "I'm a natural-born beauty, but it's a real shame—to this day not a single member of the opposite sex has ever touched me, what a waste of my smooth, silky fur. Today, you and I crossing paths counts as a bit of fate, so I'll let you cop a couple of feels."
"But... won't this make Kyaru angry?"
"What do you care about her for? Is she the tail, or am I the tail?" Sis Tail's tone shifted, transforming from a seductive beauty into a shrewish auntie with hands on hips and a mouthful of curses. "I've followed that girl for over ten years and barely so much as laid eyes on a handsome young lad. Day in and day out I deal with nothing but little cats that only know how to meow and have eyes for nothing but food. If it weren't for the occasional chance to catch sight of a male, I'd damn well think I was serving a sentence in some Land of Women. Talk about a feast or a famine!"
"Sis Tail... just how long have you been holding this in..."
"Never you mind all that. Just tell me—today I'm letting you cop a feel, so are you gonna do it or not?"
In a daze, Jhin seemed to see a big-sister boss standing before him, clad in a black jacket and wearing dark sunglasses. She lifted a foot and pressed those can-stab-a-person-to-death high heels right beside his ear, grabbing him by the collar and viciously interrogating him.
"Big Sis... cool your anger. I'll touch it, I'll touch it, all right? But if Kyaru comes to give me grief later, you've gotta back me up."
"No problem at all. If that brat gives you any trouble, I'll just tie her legs together!"
"Sis Tail, you're magnificent!"
Jhin cautiously stroked the tail, and the formerly domineering Sis Tail instantly turned into a gentle little kitten. "Yes, yes, yes, that's the spot—ahh~~ keep touching a little longer..."
His fingertips sank into the fur, combing from the base of the tail to the tip as though grooming someone's hair. Sis Tail let out moans that would have needed to be fully censored from start to finish. The tail coiled around Jhin's wrist a few times, suddenly clenched tight, and then went limp and loosened.
"Whew~ You... kid... you've got pretty good hands. I'm very satisfied with this massage—I'll come find you again when I get the chance." Sis Tail approvingly patted his shoulder with its tip. "I'm off to rest. See you next time."
"Oh... oh, take care, Sis Tail." Having successfully communicated with Kyaru's tail, Jhin felt a little dazed. From the sound of it, did she mean she'd come find him again in the future?
Being able to freely stroke a tail with such an excellent feel to it, he wasn't all that opposed—he was just a little worried about being discovered by Kyaru. He stealthily glanced upward and found that she was still covering her cat ears, dodging Pecorine's assault.
Sure enough, a cat's tail and the cat itself were two different species.
Lamenting this in his heart, Jhin tiptoed away. He had just straightened his back when a hand settled onto his shoulder, and a hoarse, thoroughly metallic voice came from behind him: "Master, isn't it about time you gave me a cleaning?"
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🔥 New history: Path of Elation in Warhammer 40K
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