The arrow tore free from the bowstring, rage driving its momentum straight at Rafi. In that breath, a small hand flashed between Ling and Rafi, clamping the arrow’s tail like a sparrow snatching a gnat. The shaft twitched in a token struggle, like a fish on a short line. Thin lines of blood threaded across the gripping fingers, scarlet beads blooming like pomegranate seeds. Pain made that hand tremble, yet it held the nock and refused to let go.
Ling watched the intruder cut into her judgment, like a blade splitting silk. Her face showed no anger, but the air grew heavy, pressure sinking like deep water. She let the unique aura of a great Yokai roll out like stormclouds to cow the girl.
The three froze in a taut stalemate, like statues under frost. At last, Ling sighed, a wind through bamboo, and let go of her control over the bow and arrow. In an instant, bow and shaft broke into drifting fragments, scattering like ash on a breeze. It wasn’t that she couldn’t break the intruder’s grip; with a touch more force, she could’ve torn the girl’s arm off like a dry twig. She simply admired the grit that clung through pain, like a pine on a cliff, so she called off the attack as a nod of praise.
The intruder also breathed out, then collapsed, legs gone to water like a jellyfish on sand. That last move had wrung out most of her strength, like water from a towel. Ling broke the silence first, a pebble dropped into still water.
“Then… who are you? Why are you here? And why stop me?”
The intruder didn’t answer directly, her words stuck like thorns. She forced her limp body upright, joints creaking like a wind-bent reed. Ling thought she’d attack again and popped out her favorite little mana orb like a marble of lightning, ready. The next heartbeat, the intruder dropped to her knees like a felled sapling.
“Please spare Sister Rafi, milady! If Sister Rafi did something wrong to you, you can vent it on Nina instead!”
What the hell?
Ling blinked at the bizarre turn, bewilderment flitting like moths around a lantern. Was she being painted as some tantrum-throwing villain by this intruder? No matter how you looked, she was just a loli, a kitten with big eyes.
Annoyance pricked first, a thorn under the skin. It was Rafi’s fault to begin with; Ling was only paying back in kind, balancing the scales. How did she end up cast as the bad guy, painted in soot? Worse, a bad guy in the eyes of a girl who called herself Nina. That wouldn’t do. Lolis are the world’s little treasures; being hated by a treasure is a calamity. Ahem… Mostly, she just hated being labeled the villain, a brand burned onto her. Nina disliking her because of Rafi was maybe, what, 0.1% of it. Truly only 0.1%.
“Hey… I was just messing around. I never planned to kill your Sister Rafi.”
Ling tried to soothe her, hoping to win back Nina’s favor, like stroking a skittish foal. She shot Rafi a glare, urging her to play along. It didn’t help, the words falling like rain on stone. Nina wasn’t easy to fool like other little girls; her mind was a little fox. She caught Ling’s sleeve, eyes swimming with tears like dew on a leaf, and looked up.
“Please, milady, show mercy and forgive Sister Rafi. Even if Nina has to offer her body, that’s fine!”
How did this turn into me becoming the throwaway villain who gets ground into the dirt by the protagonist?
“No, Nina… listen. I really didn’t do anything to your Sister Rafi.” “And stop saying you’ll offer your body.” “For you, for me, for a decent society—especially for kids—that’s not okay.” “Paladins would come down on us for that, like hammers from the sky.”
Nina wiped her tears with a small hand, then leveled her still-reddened golden eyes at Ling like twin suns behind mist.
“Then… can you promise not to kill Sister Rafi?”
Seeing Nina finally stop crying, Ling nodded fast, as if delay alone might bring the clouds back. With that promise, Nina’s sad little face bloomed into a smile, bright as spring crocus. Her tiny cowlick wagged happily, and the two ears beside it started to twitch on their own…
Wait… beast ears?!
“You’re Beastfolk?!”
Only now did Ling snap to it, shouting in surprise like a bell suddenly rung. Nina must have hidden them well, and Ling hadn’t looked closely, so she’d missed those bouncing cat ears.
Back when Ling first learned this world had Beastfolk, she’d gone hunting for cat-eared girls like a fox on a trail. But the records were bleak: most Beastfolk barely looked human—bull-headed brutes with fur like fields, or little bipedal wildcats. None matched the cute, ear-perched girls in her mind’s picture book. The discovery hit her hard; she shut herself away for a whole day, sulking under a blanket like a clouded moon.
But! The past doesn’t matter. Right now, isn’t the purest cat-eared maiden standing right before her?
Nina flinched at Ling’s shout, realized her identity was exposed, and clapped her hands over her ears like shutters slamming. She crouched on the floor, huddled like a vampire ducking the first sunbeam.
“S-s-s-s-sorry!!! Letting milady see this filthy form—Nina has offended your eyes. Nina deserves death. Please punish only Nina; don’t punish Sister Rafi with me!”
Behind Nina, Rafi’s face tightened with worry the moment the ears showed. Ling looked at Nina, crouched and bracing for the axe, tears ready like rain. Odd, but she decided to comfort the little loli anyway, her heart softening like warm wax. Wasn’t there a tried-and-true method?
Of course there is. The headpat—undisputed number one, king of comforts!
She reached out a small hand toward Nina’s little head, ready to deploy her not-so-practiced Lv.1 Headpat, light as a feather. In her mind, Nina’s cheeks would flush like peach petals, and Ling might even sneak a touch of those soft ears.
But to Rafi, the whole scene looked like Ling was about to hurt Nina, like a wolf raising a paw…
