Chapter 25: Human (4)

Leona grabbed my collar and dragged me away and I couldn't even resist. When I tried to say something, she growled like an animal, and even when I tried to escape using all my strength, I couldn't move. Instead, she held on to me more strongly and restrained me against any attempt to rebel.

The longer this went on and the more I continued to resist, the more it felt like my clothes were going to rip off, so I gave up halfway and let her drag me along wherever. Maybe I was lucky, but there was no one passing by in the hallway to see us.

Then, rather abruptly—

Leona stopped when we finally reached the entrance to a deserted building. At the same time, I felt the grip on my collar slowly loosen. I took a couple of careful steps back and adjusted my clothes as she let go of me. The whole area around my collar had become wrinkled from how insanely strong she was.

"... Hey."

I had been adjusting my clothes for a while when Leona called out to me in a low voice. It was a tone full of threats, not the hard tone I heard in every lecture so far. At that, I couldn't help but pause and look at her.

Then, as she raised her stiffened head to glare at me, I faced her beast-like golden eyes. Earlier, she had blue eyes, but now they were the same as mine.

Leona spoke with conviction as soon as she was face to face with me. "...Did you see?"

"......"

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have done that, right? Be honest. Did you see it?"

Is there any reason to deny it? I did it to confirm that she was a beastman from the beginning. But the beast-like pressure from Leona was no joke.

"Look, I saw it, okay? Something was sticking out of your head..." I managed to speak, barely calming my trembling heart. But I couldn't help the slight trembling in my voice.

"......"

"...So, are those really ears?" I was curious, naturally. Leona raised the corners of her mouth at my cautious question.

Instead of words, she responded with actions,

Perkkk-

Leona's triangular ears perked up from her reddish-brown hair. They were not human ears, but animal ears. As expected, Leona was not human but a beastman, beastkin, whatever. 'So the reason you are wearing pants is to hide your tail?' I was thinking of a plausible hypothesis in my head.

Leona hid the ears that had risen above her head again and replied cynically, "Are your questions answered now? Or what? Do you want me to show you my tail too?"

"Uh... no. It's fine."

Again, it's a tone I'm not used to. The Leona I'd seen so far was normally a blunt, emotionless student, but now she's just a... delinquent student (ie. a bully), I guess. I even felt a sense of disparity as her tone of voice changed 180 degrees, even to the impression that it had become quite harsh and snarly in tone.

"Whoo..."

Leona, as if her feelings had become complicated, shook her head roughly and let out a deep sigh. I waited quietly for Leona to organize her thoughts and calm down. She must have hidden her identity because she had her own circumstances, but now that I found out her secret, things must have become twisted for her. If I knew this would happen, I would have just pretended not to notice and moved on, but instead, I let her know what I saw out of curiosity.

The girl started murmuring, "What should I do? It's too dangerous to get rid of aristocrat rats and birds without anyone knowing... Should I just threaten you? Ah, this is crazy..."

"......"

Leona's murmurs reached my ears one after another. It's all the more frightening because she seems to be sincere, they're not merely empty words.

I had a strong premonition that something would happen to my personal safety, so I called out to her cautiously. "Excuse me..."

"Huh? What? Do you have anything to say?" As soon as I called her, Leona asked me that with a cynical expression and tone.

I hesitated for a moment, then got the words out to say, "That, um... I won't tell anyone what you are, so you don't have to worry too much."

She stared at me. "If you were me, could you easily believe that?"

"Uh...well, it's true, you don't know me. And I don't know what you're up to either." An honest answer that doesn't contain any lies.

As soon as Leona heard my reply, she uttered a faint 'Haha!' that sounded like a gasp and muttered bitterly, "This punk is actually serious, huh..."

"......"

I shouldn't have said anything. I swallowed my saliva with a feeling of numbness in my throat from the mere threat. Originally, I would have kept my composure as much as possible, but for some reason, normal thinking was difficult now. Is it because of the daunting feeling emanating from Leona?

"Whoo... Fine. It's okay then. Anyway, don't ever reveal that I'm a beastman. Got it?"

"...And if I say anything?"

"I'll rip your limbs apart," Leona said while growling like before. I was scared that I would indeed find myself eviscerated, but I still had courage to ask one question. Why does Leona live her life at the academy while hiding her identity? If I ask this question, she'll get nervous again, but it's still worth asking.

After calming my trembling heart as much as possible, I mustered up the courage and said, "...I want to ask you something, can I?"

"You actually have something you want to ask in this situation?"

"Yeah. I'm curious."

She muttered, "Phew. I'm not even a Miao tribe member, so why are there so many curious people around here? Fine. Ask."

Leona crossed her arms and shook her head at me. As she crossed her arms, her voluptuous body was revealed through her school uniform. I opened my mouth, trying as hard as I could to keep my gaze from going to a certain well-endowed place.

"Why did you go to the bother of hiding your identity while entering the academy?"

"I don't think I'm obligated to answer that."

"Um... I see. So far, all that stiff attitude of yours in class has been acting, hasn't it?"

"Well, naturally. That way I won't be suspected of being a beastman. You humans think that we beastmen are a warlike, savage race, right? That's why I tried to act all analytical and rigid like one of you."

I nodded at her answer. As I've noted before, humans treat beastmen as savages or primitives. Furthermore, there are quite a few people who think of beastmen as nothing but slaves.

In addition, there is a widespread perception that beastmen are ferocious due to their usually belligerent temper. Because of this, humans unconsciously assume that there will never be a beastman with a rational and rigid personality like Leona. This is an aspect of humanity that Leona used well in her daily performance.

I asked, "Are you going to be like that forever?"

"Of course. It's something I have to endure in order to graduate safely without being discovered."

"I see. Is it really worth it?"

Beastmen are a race with a stronger 'instinct' than other races. Unlike demons who fight fiercely with their inner evil, the beastmen have no intention of suppressing their instincts. It would be appropriate to say that it goes against everything she is as a beastman.

After all, for beastmen, instinct is inseparable. No matter how well-controlled Leona is, her natural instincts can't be suppressed. Even if she doesn't want to stand out in public, as soon as I provoke her, her ears will pop out! And I can tell just by looking that they've popped out again.

Sensing what I was thinking, suddenly Leona smiled wryly as if she was mindful of that part too. It was a completely different expression from before. "...I'm putting up with it because it's worth it. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have applied to be a student here."

I found myself nodding. "It must be very hard."

"Of course it's hard... No, hey. Can you stop asking me stuff? How long are you going to do this?"

It's a pity. I just needed a little more. Leona's brows furrowed as all my regret was revealed on my face.

"Why do you look so sad now? Do you want to die?"

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"Whoo... Anyway. Don't tell anyone that I'm a beastman. Got it, human?"

"Ah, got it. Oh, there's one thing more."

"Now what do you want to ask?" From looking bored of all this, she suddenly became nervous.

Undaunted, however, I found the courage to ask, "Did you hear everything I was saying at the cafeteria a while ago?"

"Yes. I heard everything. Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious about what you think."

"Hah?" Leona stared at me, dumbstruck by my question. What's with this kid's face? It contained the full sentiment.

"You really... Haa. You're worse than the Miao Clan. Are all humans like this?"

"Nope. I'm just curious about lots of things, that's all. Especially for people of different races."

"Oh my..." In the end, Leona shook her head as if defeated by my endless curiosity. She seemed to have given up. Seeing her look of resignation, I giggled for joy inside, but still managed to keep my expression as bland as possible.

Eventually, with a sigh, Leona looked at me with her arms crossed. I also waited quietly for her to speak. In the meantime, as if she had taken control of her heart, her golden eyes returned to blue.

How much time had passed like that? Leona's tightly closed lips opened and her characteristic cynical voice came out. "I'm not going to tell you."

"Huh? Why?"

"I'm not going to tell you. Did you think I would answer you?" Leona grinned and strode over to me while I panicked. I hadn't noticed it until now, but as she got closer, I could see that she was quite tall. I think she's over 175cm since I have to look up a little.

Anyway, Leona stood tall in front of me and slowly raised her hand. Then she pressed it against my cheeks tightly and made my lips pop out.

"Uh boo? What ish it...?"

"By the way, why does this Red Cat have so many questions?"

Did she call me a red cat because my hair color is red? But for now, my priority was to shake off Leona's strong hand which had grabbed my lips.

Of course, her hand didn't even budge even though I struggled and found myself flabbergasted. The basic physical abilities of the beastmen are excellent among all races, and now that I've experienced this fact firsthand, I realized it is difficult to overcome Leona's power. It's not just unreasonable, it's impossible.

Even though I resisted, Leona kept a smirk on her face and issued her warning again. "I'm warning you again, human, the moment you say that I am a beastman, I will pluck out your tongue. It's actually rather difficult to rip off a person's limb in a place like this and get away with it, so I'll let it slide. Do you understand?"

"Yes..." There it is. But I have no choice but to agree because I am afraid.

Leona nodded her head with a satisfied expression when I said yes, and let go of my cheeks. I was holding my breath for a while, but my cheeks tingled.

"Let's hope your mouth feels heavy. Before that..."

Ugh—

As I rubbed my tingly cheeks, Leona leaned her head close to the nape of my neck. I was so startled and frightened that I tried to step back but was thwarted when she grabbed my wrist.

After that, Leona stuck her nose in the nape of my neck and started sniffing. "Sniff. Sniff. Sniff."

Feeling my face flush at the subtle sensation of her breath, I hurriedly tried to get out of her grasp, but to no avail. All I could do was push Leona's head away. But she didn't move a millimeter, so I had no choice but to shout and stuttered in embarrassment, "What...what are you doing?!"

"Oh? I'm trying to remember your smell. But the musty smell of books is wafting off you."

Leona sniffed for a while, as if trying to remember my body odor, then pulled her face away. She also let go of my wrist, which she had held firmly for a while. I hurriedly checked my wrist. There was a bright red bruise.

I caressed my throbbing wrist, frowning while feeling pain, and asked in a tone of incomprehension, "What are you going to do by remembering my smell?"

"I'm going to keep an eye out and take a look at whether you do something useless or not. How can I trust you?"

"......"

"You're done with my business now, right? I'm leaving." Leona tapped my head and moved away vigorously.

I caressed my sore wrist and looked at her back as she departed, then shouted Leona's name. "Leona!"

"Ugh, really...! What now?" As soon as I called, she turned her head to face me. Seeing her face, she looked like she won't let me go if I talked about useless things.

I regretted my impulsiveness a little because I thought I shouldn't have called her, but I brought up the last question I wanted to ask. "Do you read Xenon's Saga too?"

"What? Xenon's Saga?"

"Yes."

"Hah." Hearing my question, Leona let out a tired sigh. She then waved her hand and replied in a voice that sounded annoyed, "I don't know. Things like that... I have no interest in something like Xenon because it's not fun at all."

"...okay."

"Then I'll go. Don't ask anymore, I'll chew on whatever limb is closest if you ask me something again. Got it?" Leona started to disappear from my sight, leaving only those words.

I grabbed hold of my red, bruised wrist and watched her blankly, then suddenly thought of a strange thing she said.

"'...not fun?' Are you saying you read it?"

It was when I mumbled that...

Perkkk-

...she may have heard my murmur, since a pair of ears popped above Leona's head once more.

Editor and Proofreader:- In Valen's Name

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