It’s aliiiiiive! Finally, my internet is back (after 1 week and a half of no connection at all)… I must say that in these days when everything is done online, not having internet is more than inconvenient…..No music, no Netflix/Crunchyroll, no work, no nothing….. It was horrible….
I wish the technicians from Tele2/A1 the same torture they forced upon me!
With this being said, I am now back and ready to work ^^
I won’t keep you any longer….. Enjoy chapter 11 of Ototsukai!
Also, many thanks to @thediabolicalgenius for Roll’s pic!
And to @Error verifying humanity. for their kind words! ^^
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Chapter 11: A Rotating SoundRoll is probably on top of the car.
Just what in the world is she planning to do against that gigantic dragon?
As I thought about that, I heard a "baam" from above.
Don"t tell me she just jumped?
Unbelievable!
The only thing I can do, since I can"t take my hands off the steering wheel, is to pay attention ahead with all I have.
Because of the severe force feedback, I must hold the steering wheel strongly.
The road was rough and the truck shock violently.
However, I didn"t slow down at all, instead, I pushed the acceleration even more recklessly.
I didn"t have time to listen to the sounds outside.
It happened right then.
The dragon descended from above, right in front of me.
It was the same edged dragon.
It made a terrible sound as it fell on the ground. It took me by surprise but I stepped on the break with all my strength and stopped the car before running over it.
The windscreen was now obstructed by the huge body of the edged dragon.
"……..You gotta be kidding me!"
I got off the truck, muttering those words.
The edged dragon died with its neck twisted, its tongue and eyes popped out. Its legs were still moving.
Did Roll do this?
"At any rate, this thing sure is huge……."
I approached the fierce dragon and touched its blade-like scales.
Its scales were sharper than I thought and I ended up cutting my firger a little.
But where did Roll go?
I focused on my hearing and I heard Roll"s heartbeat on the other side of the dragon"s corpse.
I walked to the other side of the corpse. At which point, I heard Roll"s footsteps moving in the opposite direction, as to avoid me.
"……..?"
Is she in the mood for hide and seek or something!?
As I chased after her, I circled the edged dragon"s body once.
This girl…….What is she doing?
"Roll! What are you doing?"
I faced Roll, who was separated from me by the dragon"s corpse, and asked her.
However, she didn"t answer.
With stealthy steps, I tried walking towards Roll again. But she escaped again.
Was she always this playfull……or better say, tiresome?
"Really now, what are you doing!? Cut it out!"
I raised my voice, at which point a faint answer could be heard from the other side, her voice so weak that only I could hear it.
"I used the "Stay Cat"…… It takes 10 minutes to change back……."
I see.
In short, Roll is supposed to have cat ears now.
And the reason why she didn"t show me this until now is because she"s truly embarra.s.sed.
It seems that she can"t change back instantly like Kuroinu-san.
"Hmm……"
I dashed off with all my might.
I must see it no matter what!
"Why are you coming this way!?"
Roll started to run too.
"Because I want to see!"
"It won"t be decent!"
I chased after her for a while but I couldn"t catch her. I couldn"t even see her shadow.
I felt rather hummiliated because I couldn"t keep up with a girl, but Roll was using an enhancing ability right now, so it was inevitable.
She"s just way too fast.
I already circled around the edged dragon a couple of times.
As I went out of breath, I thought of a great idea.
All I have to do is create a chasing sound.
The moment I thought of this idea, I began to put it in practice.
I took cover behind the truck, as I created a sound that sounded like me chasing Roll.
It"s not like I neglected my ability training these past days.
I silenced my breathing as much as I could, and I waited for Roll to be caught in my trap and run towards me.
I leaped in front of her right when Roll got close to the truck.
"Wha! You……..!"
This time it was Roll who quickly took cover behind the truck.
She looked just like a cat……I mean, she WAS a cat.
Yes, it was only for an instant but I saw her.
Beside cat ears, I saw a tail too.
"…….It"s better not to see me."
"I already did. Come out now."
To be honest, I didn"t clearly see her. But since I already saw this much, there"s no reason she wouldn"t come out and show me herself.
And so, Roll came out from the shadow of the truck, while holding down her ears and tail.
But her hands couldn"t hide them completely, and I managed to sneak a look at her.
"……Haa"
"This is…….."
After a complete look at her from upfront, it was impossible not to feel a shock.
How should I put it? She was just too cute……
How comes cat ears and a tail change a person this much? No, it"s not that. Most likely this is the Stray Cat"s ability.
So this is the so-called psychological gravity?
In fact, my feet moved towards Roll, like she was sucking me in.
She"s too adorable.
I truly felt like I couldn"t abandon this stray cat.
I want to pet her. I want to love her. I want to rub my cheeck against her.
"Roll……, this is really bad……."
"See? I told you that it won"t be decent!
You are truly mean……"
Roll sighed.
"Take your hands away."
"That won"t happen. You want to pet me, right?
Being petted is…..you know…."
Is what?
Still, she"s way too adorable.
I can"t endure it anymore. I"ll forcibly hug her.
"This is really bad!"
"I"ll hit you if you get any closer. This is a bit too effective on you. It"s abnormal."
"d.a.m.n it! Let me hug you!!"
I jumped at Roll, ready for a honourable defeat. She threw her fist into my stomach, sadly, and I crumbled down on the spot.
_________
I regained a bit of composure, as I sat in the pa.s.senger"s seat and pretended to look at the pa.s.sing scenery. I was rather more concerned about the cat eared and tailed person beside me.
The truck advanced uninterrupted.
We reported to the secret base about the edged dragon and it was decided to retrieve its body as well.
Since you could extract some rare materials from it, it would be wasteful to leave it there to rot.
"…….Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because, you know……I"m curious."
10 minutes is a long time. Still, the ability should wear off pretty soon.
"It would"ve been much better if I brought my hat."
"Won"t you let me pet you at least once?"
"No."
That"s when Roll"s cat ears bounced a little.
She was like a small animal.
Roll normally keeps her cat ears low, it seems, but when she looks at me, her ears stand up, focused.
"……That really is adorable, you know?
I guess that since you"re a cat, you"re quite curious too."
"It can"t be helped. There are cases when enhancement type animal abilities come together with instincts and traits.
But well, it"s already time-out."
When Roll said that, her cat ears and tail drew back inside her body.
It appears that 10 minutes have already pa.s.sed.
"Nooo……..! The tail! The cat ears!"
I stretched my arm towards Roll but she repelled it.
Now that Roll"s ability wore off completely, I too began to gradually regain my composure.
"Ah, I"m tired.
That"s why I don"t really want to use the Stray Cat too often.
It"s tiring and it s.e.xually excites you, Shion."
"……..It didn"t s.e.xually excite me!
It"s just that, you looked more adorable than I expected. That"s foul play, you know? You were almost too adorable."
"Will you…..stop calling me adorable now? It kind of annoys me……."
"Don"t tell me you feel embarra.s.sed."
"I"m not."
"You do feel a little embarra.s.sed. Admit it."
"……………Well, it does make me happy when I"m told to be adorable."
To be honest, even without her cat ears Roll was rather cute.
The kindness and girliness she shows sometimes make my heart throb.
It"s just a matter of time until I fall in love with her.
"Shion, hurry up and show me your cool side too."
After receiving this counter blow, I kept silent.
It will take some time for me to be able to stand next to Roll.
However, I can feel that we are opening our hearts to each other little by little.
A short time later the city finally came in sight.
At the end of the highway, the evening sun illuminated the city.
We entered the city and drove to the same restaurant"s parking lot we used earlier today, where Roll stopped the car. She left the driver"s seat and got off the truck.
Piled up on the truck"s roof rack, the buried dragon and the edged dragon were covered up with a cloth.
If we parked the truck here, someone from the organization would come and collect it.
That"s why, our mission finished at this point.
"There"s some time left."
She looked at her watch and said.
The watch was pointing a little bit past 5.
"You"re right."
"Are you sure you"re all right with the tests?"
"Well yeah. I did study long enough."
"Hmm.
Then, what about having some fun together?
After we eat something over there."
Roll pointed at a restaurant and suggested, wearing a mischievous smile.
I was planning to study after I got back home, but I couldn"t bring myself to refuse her.
"All right."
"Let"s go then."
We didn"t expect to meet the persons we did when we entered the restaurant.
Tsurugi, Ohashi and Rin were there.
Recently, the other members of Tsurugi"s harem can"t seem to keep up with Ohashi and Rin"s fierce attacks, so the liveliness surrounding him grew dim, compared to before.
Well, I didn"t really care about that anyway. But we did stumble across these three"s study meeting.
When Roll noticed them inside, she looked quite unhappy about it.
It"s not like she hated Tsurugi and the others. What she found annoying was the fact that she had to act again.
Besides, if they were to find out that Roll and I went to a restaurant together in the town"s outskirts, things would probably get troublesome.
Still, the question is why did they choose this remote place for a study meeting!?
Well, anyway, we were planning to leave the restaurant before they became aware of our presence.
However, before we could do that, Tsurugi and the others noticed us.
We couldn"t leave the restaurant anymore.
And so.
We took the seats right next to Tsurugi"s group and Roll started to splendidly answer the barrage of questions.
That"s how the reason for me and her being here turned out to be a "date".
"Kamiya-kun, you are not to be underestimated."
"I"m shocked……I didn"t believe that Kazato was a man of action."
"Kazato, as I thought, you did fall in love.
Congrats."
It seems that these three easily accepted the idea that Roll and I were going out.
This will probably get troublesome at school.
Miss Roll already boasts a lot of popularity inside our school.
I wanted to insist on the fact that we were not going out, but Roll said to them before I could say anything.
"Urm…….Will you please keep the fact that we"re going out secret for now?"
Since Roll said this, it was decided for us to go with the dating setup at school. This way, there would be no obstacles to us being together.
Even though she said to keep it a secret, rumors will still spread.
But this will certainly make things easier for us working together.
I might have to endure the other male students" looks of envy and light hara.s.sment from now on.
"Of course. We won"t tell anyone.
Since we"re in your way, we should probably leave now."
When Tsurugi said this, Ohashi and Rin stood up.
It seems that they"re considerate of us.
We tried to stop them, but well, our real intention was for them to leave us alone already.
The three of them saw right through us, so they paid their check and left the restaurant.
"My plan went astray."
A short time after Tsurugi"s group left the restaurant, Roll said.
"How comes?"
"I wanted our getting together to proceed a little slower.
It appears that we"re already going out now."
She"s talking about school.
It seems that Roll had various plans.
"Is there a problem with that?"
"I wanted to proceed with caution and discretion. But well, it"s all right anyway."
"Hmmm.
For now, let"s just order something."
I opened the menu and said to her.
"I already know what I want.
Omuraisu 1 and melon soda. What about you, Kazato?"
"Hm? Kazato?"
"This is a private meeting after all. But well, you can only call me Roll either way."
I see. There"s no need to use code names during our private meetings.
At any rate, she wants to order omuraisu and melon soda. She"s normally cooking food that is good for the body so this choice is unbelievable.
"Then I"ll also have an omuraisu and melon soda."
"Why are you ordering the same thing?"
"In our private lives we"re a couple, aren"t we?"
"You"re right. Still, you need nutritious food so I"ll order for you.
This is more girlfriend-like anyway, right?"
___________
After we finished our food, we ended up chatting for a short while, then we left the restaurant.
It was already past 7.
At Roll"s suggestion, we entered the nearby department store for a light shopping session, then we returned to the secret base.
It was past 10 now.
Roll bought a lot of clothes so both my hands were now full of shopping bags.
"This will look good on you."
She said, and ended up choosing some clothes for me too.
No matter how much money Roll had, I still couldn"t let her pay for me since it would"ve hurt my dignity as a man.
Thanks to the reward I received for the mission I did with Kuroinu-san and Hakunetsu-san, I already had a surplus of money. I was troubled about how I should use it but now was just the right chance for it.
Still, at the end of the month I"ll received a huge load of money; 450000 yen.
My money sense is getting confused.
"Good night then."
"Good night."
I escorted Roll back to her room and left her luggage there, then informed her of my leave.
I decided to leave the clothes Roll chose for me in her room.
"Ah, wait a second."
I was on my way down the corridor when Roll detained me.
I looked over my shoulder and saw her standing in front of her door.
"What?"
"Come back for a second."
She told me and I walked towards her. Roll started to quickly measure my back and arms with a tailoring meter.
"…….What are you doing?"
"I must place an order for your tuxedo. You wear it during infiltration missions or suppression missions since it"s easy to move in it."
"Ehh? There"s such a thing too…"
A tuxedo, huh? It"s kind of embarra.s.sing.
After a while, Roll finished her measuring and said.
"Good, I"m done. Good night then. Be sure to study, all right?"
"Yeah yeah……"
I gave her an inarticulate answer, and so, our day together finished.
Translation: Nana
Other stuff: Mockii
A delicious and rather simple j.a.panese dish. Search on google if interested. ↩