“Calm down, Em,” I said. “This isn’t okay. I’m putting my foot down.”
As I tried to break free of his embrace, Embert stared at me raptly. Despite his blank expression, his grip didn’t loosen.
This is going from bad to worse. Could someone save me for real?!
At that moment, something fell from above and landed squarely on Embert’s head. The perpetrator turned out to be Squishy, who engulfed Embert down to the shoulders.
Do my eyes deceive me, or does it look like Squishy’s head is growing out of Embert’s body?
I burst out laughing at this scene worthy of a viral video. Thanks to that, however, Embert regained a modicum of composure.
“That was a close one,” he said while peeling Squishy off his face. “I almost got carried away there.”
I jolted. “Wait, you still haven’t explained what’s happening to me.”
Embert took my hand and placed it on top of my head. My fingers pressed against something furry.
“Whoa!” I said, fiddling with the fluffy object. “What’s this?”
Embert took my other hand and placed it on my head. My fingers pressed against another fluffy object.
“What’s going on?” I mumbled. “These almost feel like animal ears…” I stiffened with surprise. There had to be some other explanation, right? Yet the more I fiddled with the fuzzy objects, the more I had to face reality.
I have animal ears growing from my head?!
“How adorable,” Embert murmured.
I had no way of knowing when he might lose his mind again.
“A-Anyway, is there anything I can see my reflection in?” I asked.
I needed to confirm what I looked like for myself. My eyes darted around in search of a mirror, but of course, I had no such luck. Then, to my great relief, Squishy stretched himself into a flat surface.
“That’s amazing!” I cried. “Is there anything you can’t do, Squishy?” I peered into the slime, now resembling a reflective water surface. Unsurprisingly, I found triangular fennec ears sprouting from my head. “This can’t be happening,” I groaned.
As I stared at my reflection dumbfoundedly, Embert dropped an even bigger bombshell on me. “You have more than ears to worry about,” he said.
Hesitantly, I looked behind me. My dress had hiked up slightly when trying to break free of Embert’s embrace earlier. There, I discovered a fluffy tail growing from my lower back, swaying to and fro.
“Wh-Wh-What the hell is this?!” I shouted.
My horrified exclamation echoed throughout the entire courtyard.
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🦊 🦊 🦊
“THAT nearly gave me a heart attack,” I mumbled with a sigh.
My animal ears and tail had disappeared after a short while. Upon returning to my room, I discussed the matter with Custode.
“It seems to be some sort of after-effect,” he explained. “Perhaps the transformation magic and your inherent magic had exceptional compatibility.” The dragon then curled into a ball, seeming not the slightest bit concerned. Without lifting his head, he continued apathetically, “Well, it’s not that big of a deal, right?”
Irritated, I flipped Custode over. “Take my problems seriously, jackass.”
The dragon’s tiny legs flailed in the air for a few seconds. The comical sight brought a smile of satisfaction to my lips.
Afterward, I petted Squishy and prayed that my fennec ears would never pop up again.
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☆☆ Embert’s Point of View☆☆
ONCE Ally’s fennec ears had disappeared, I escorted her back to her room. Then, I returned to my room, loosened my collar, and sank into the sofa.
“Talk about a close call,” I muttered to myself in the empty room.
I heaved a deep sigh. If Squishy hadn’t appeared, I would have lost control of myself. The slime thwarting my animal instincts relieved me. At the same time, intense excitement overcame me again when I remembered Ally’s appearance.
“It’s not fair,” I muttered to myself. “How am I supposed to restrain myself when you look so adorable?”
The memory of Ally covering her face with both hands, fennec ears sprouting from her head, nearly caused me to faint in agony.
“And she had a tail as well.”
My mind boiled with excitement at the mere thought of her fluffy tail swaying back and forth. As I suppressed a cry of frustrated delight, a knock came at my door.
“Have you finished work for today?” Janus asked upon seeing my collar. “Oh, do you have a fever, perhaps? Your face looks red.”
Janus had seen straight through my feigned composure.
I sat up and straightened my collar. “No, I’m fine.”
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down. Nevertheless, the image of Ally with fennec ears appeared in my mind’s eye. It had been burned into my memory, after all.
“Goddess, save me!” I cried out uncharacteristically, heat rushing from my neck to my face.
“What’s wrong, Your Highness?” Janus asked.
I couldn’t let him know what I was thinking. Yet the harder I tried to suppress my thoughts, the more vivid Ally’s twitching fennec ears appeared in my mind.
Janus let out a soft sigh. “Why don’t we call it a day then?” he asked with a chuckle. “You’re clearly preoccupied with something other than work. It’s related to Ally, I presume?”
Yes, he’d seen straight through me. Regardless, I graciously accepted his suggestion. With that, Janus left the room. Once alone, I began muttering to myself again.
“As I recall, Ally mumbled something like kemonomimi when I escorted her back to her room.”
Could that have been the word for animal ears in her previous world?
“Kemonomimi,” I said. “It has a nice ring to it. Kemonomimi, kemonomimi.”
I repeated the word numerous times to commit it to memory.
Wow, how perverted can you get? I wondered, shaking my head to clear my mind.
“Still,” I muttered. “I wonder if those ears feel the same as when she was a fox.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about Ally’s kemonomimi, no matter how much I struggled.
At any rate, she didn’t notice the ears until she touched them. Are they not attached to nerves? They seem to have feeling based on their movement. Perhaps she’ll let me caress them a little the next time they pop up. That would be wonderful.
Despite being somewhat disgusted with myself, I couldn’t wait to see those adorable ears again.