Clan 'Alf' (1)

Clan 'Alf' (1)

The day of the trial had arrived.

In stark contrast to what I felt inside, the sky was perfectly cloudless. The door, brightly illuminated by the sun, was more terrifying than anything else at the moment.

Fear encroached. Crawling up from my toes, it squeezed my heart.

The sensation of having an ice sword pressed against my back assaulted me. It was the 'warning' my instincts were giving me.

If I passed through this door, I would die.

My feet moved backward of their own accord. I turned on my heel and tried to run.

I couldn't muster the courage to resist it.

I'm sorry, Takanashi-san...! I can't do this...!

I apologized from the bottom of my heart to Takanashi-san, the person I'd decided to fight alongside. Please forgive weak little me...!

"No, where do you think you're going, Yahiro-san?"

Takanashi-san grabbed me by the scruff of my neck as I tried to escape.

"Please forgive weak little me...!"

"No, I'm weaker than you."

"I can't...! There's no way I can win...!"

"We didn't come here to compete. Our purpose is to observe 'Rosso Vendetta' and interact with the other clan members at the welcome party, remember?"

That's right. Today, that terrifying 'welcome party' was being held.

I thought I'd already endured that trial back when it was just the Master and Riko-senpai, in that lukewarm little world. And yet now it was the full roster... Surely, this could only end in 'death.'

If I could turn myself into a decoration in the corner, I might have a chance of surviving. But would the Master and Riko-senpai really leave the people being welcomed alone?

They would surely report our location to the hunters like excellent hunting dogs.

"I'm going to die from the tension...!"

"You won't die. It's all right. Let's go."

Damn, you've grown stronger, Takanashi-san! Where did that naive girl go?

Was this the power of binge-watching every Heisei Kamen Ra●der series...?

As I resisted like a Pomeranian refusing to go for a walk, Takanashi-san let out a small sigh.

"Why are you so nervous? It's daytime, and the weather is clear. Even if 'Rosso Vendetta' goes on a rampage, it won't be a threat at this time of day."

"That's not it, Takanashi-san! I'm afraid of having to meet strangers and talk to them!"

"How have you managed to survive in society until now, Yahiro-san?"

"Cough."

A punch of pure logic is the worst. I can't argue back, so my heart bleeds internally.

I hadn't always been this afraid of other people. This wasn't nostalgia talking; it was a reasonably confident analysis of myself.

It began when the people who were supposed to be my friends in middle school gradually, but unmistakably, started distancing themselves from me.

The way they began looking at my face in fear over a single remark I'd once made as a joke was a sharper knife than the words themselves.

We grew more and more distant. They had said they would attend the same high school as me, but in the end, every one of them went to a different school.

We had been so close. How had things ended up like this?

Even so, although the experience had shocked me, I didn't think I had become distrustful of humanity.

I had only forgotten how to interact with other people.

"You seem to be thinking about something, but that is that and this is this. Getting to know one another through recreation within a unit leads to survival. Let's go, Yahiro-san."

"Help me... Help me..."

Takanashi-san dragged me along with a scraping shuffle.

If I forcibly broke free of her hold, I might hurt her. I had exhausted every option. All I could do now was entrust myself to the heavens.

The doorbell rang with a clatter.

Being dragged inside would attract far too much attention, so I stood beside her at that moment.

And then.

"Welcome home, my lady. Young master."

A maid welcomed us.

I had never been to one, but it was the sort of greeting commonly used at maid cafés. Even so, there was no hint of obsequiousness in it. It sounded natural, as though she said it every day.

For a moment, I almost imagined that I might have been addressed that way on a regular basis.

"...Huh?"

The woman who gave us an elegant bow was not Riko-senpai.

She stood straight-backed, moving with refined grace. A pair of dog ears grew from the gaps in her gray hair, where human ears should have been.

Her stately eyes evoked the surface of a winter lake, and her nose had a clean, straight bridge. Her thin lips were pressed into a straight line, but she didn't seem to be forcing them that way. Quite naturally, this woman wore 'an expression like a work of art.'

She was dressed in a classical—or rather, 'Victorian-style'—maid uniform.

A pure-white mob cap gathered her hair, while the long skirt prioritized functionality. Unlike the classical Japanese maid uniform, this outfit pursued the appearance of a genuine servant.

However, the apron had just enough frills to avoid being gaudy, and a somewhat oversized ribbon at the waist eliminated any dowdiness.

It was neither a classical maid uniform nor a strictly authentic Victorian style, but the woman's dignified bearing in it radiated an elegance worthy of the words 'this is a maid.'

And her breasts were large. Very large. Smaller than Takanashi-san's, but larger than Riko-senpai's...!

"Please come this way."

"Ah, yes."

Overwhelmed by this unexpected presence, we were ushered to our seats by the mysterious maid.

The familiar shop interior felt like an entirely different place.

When we sat down, she naturally pulled out our chairs, then pushed them in as our bottoms settled onto the seats. Moved with such perfect timing, the chairs seemed almost like living things.

"I'll bring you some tea now. Please wait a moment."

"Ah, thank you..."

After giving us an elegant bow, the maid went behind the counter. She made no sound as she walked, yet neither was her pace slow. Her skirt hem never fluttered, and before I knew it, she had moved somewhere else.

I spoke to Takanashi-san in a whisper.

"Uh, who is she...?"

"I don't know either. Perhaps she's a new employee."

"But she seems to be a beastkin ability user. Maybe she's a clan member...?"

"Then why is she waiting tables...?"

"Who knows...?"

Just as our conversation briefly fell silent, the mysterious maid returned.

"Thank you for waiting."

"Ah, no... Thank you."

A saucer and teacup were placed before us. A vivid crimson liquid sent up a faint wisp of steam, and the aroma of tea tickled my nostrils.

After placing colorful sweets between Takanashi-san and me, the maid bowed and walked away.

As expected, she made no sound. She stood outside our field of vision, yet close enough to come straight to us if we called her.

Even hearing her breathe was difficult. She seemed almost like an exquisitely crafted doll. Unless I consciously focused on the maid, I might not even realize she was there despite her presence.

A familiar voice reached our bewildered ears.

"Huh? Otaku-kun and Miyucchi? You're early!"

"Riko-senpai."

At last, we had encountered a familiar face, and I felt relieved. I had broken into a cold sweat, wondering whether we'd somehow wandered into a different establishment.

Dressed in a classical maid uniform, she looked at us with exasperation.

"Come on. You're the guests of honor, so I told you to arrive later."

"No. Ishiyama-san is the guest of honor this time, not us. Besides, we already had a welcome party, remember?"

So please leave me alone during this welcome party...!

Ignoring that wish completely, the self-proclaimed gal who was kind to otaku shook her head.

"No, it's debatable whether that counts as a welcome party. It was just me and Grandma."

"Please, just let this one go..."

"This isn't a price negotiation, you know? Give up and let yourselves be welcomed, Otaku-kun and Miyucchi! Let's get hyped with some boba! PON! PON!"

"I have no objection to the welcome party. I was merely thinking of helping prepare it. However, I was guided to my seat so naturally that I never had the chance..."

Takanashi-san's gaze shifted toward the maid standing by the wall, and Riko-senpai's shoulders slumped.

I carefully looked away from her breasts as they jiggled. Good grief, this place had a ridiculously high bust-to-population ratio...!

"Meiyan. Have you let the maid take over your soul again?"

"Meiyan? Taken over?"

Unable to understand what she meant, I watched as Riko-senpai clapped her hands.

"Wake up, Meiyan! Don't let your urge to serve consume you!"

"—Huh!?"

Perhaps reacting to the sound, the maid's eyes snapped wide open with a 'Gwah!'

"D-daaaaamn it!"

The elegant maid's persona vanished, and she spread her legs wide as she screamed.

What the hell was going on?!

"Damn it! Again! Had I become a maid again!? I hadn't served anyone for the past few days, and this is what happened...!"

"It's okay, it's okay, Meiyan. You haven't gone outside and offered random acts of service, so you're in the clear!"

"Wait, what are 'random acts of service'...?"

"Serving people you meet on the street out of nowhere, like a swordfighter carrying out a random street execution."

"I wasn't asking what the words meant."

I replied to Riko-senpai with the same deadpan expression.

While we were talking, the maid plopped her ample backside down onto one of the chairs lined up by the counter.

"Hey. Sorry about suddenly serving you."

"No, that's fine, but... what exactly happened?"

"It's the 'tragedy' brought about by my Race..."

The maid said something incomprehensible with a nihilistic smile.

Hmm, so this was the Riko-senpai tribe. There was no reason to be nervous.

"Hey, Otaku-kun. Did you just diss me? Or am I imagining things?"

"Of course not. I respect you, senpaaai."

"Then all is well!"

"That was incredibly half-hearted. Besides, aren't you two the same age?"

The maid took a lollipop from her breast pocket, put it between her lips like a cigarette, and continued.

"I'm Inubōzaki Meito. I may look like this, but I'm a man."

"What!?"

I reflexively looked back and forth between Inubōzaki-san's face and chest.

Impossible! There was no way! Those magnificent breasts were fake? That couldn't be true!

Magic Eyes grant high visual acuity separate from Unique Abilities. They told me that those magnificent breasts were unquestionably genuine.

Then what was going on...?

"Physically, I'm a woman, though."

"...Oh, sorry. I understand now."

I regretted directing such a rude gaze at Inubōzaki-san.

However, Inubōzaki-san furrowed his brow and shook his head.

"It's not for the reason you're thinking. My sex changed when my Race changed on the 'Day of Regression.'"

"What? That can happen?"

He was saying that he had changed from male to female at the same time his ability manifested.

I'd never heard of such a case. To begin with, the soul and sex were deeply connected. Changing only one of them was extremely rare.

I instinctively arrived at that conclusion using the magical knowledge in my head, but something being 'rare' also meant it was one of the phenomena that could occur.

The odds were astronomical, but apparently the person in front of me was one such case.

"My Race isn't an ordinary beastkin. I'm a 'Kikimora.'"

"That's a fairy from foreign folklore, right?"

"Yeah. That's right."

A kikimora was a type of fairy said to inhabit homes. If the householders were hardworking, it helped with the housework; if they were lazy, it brought them misfortune.

It was said to have an appearance resembling a dog or a bird, but...

I looked at Inubōzaki-san's dispirited dog ears.

"My Race changed, and I became a woman. That was shocking enough, but my tastes and hobbies changed too."

"Could that be what you meant earlier...?"

"Exactly. Random acts of service... My urge to serve ran wild."

Inubōzaki-san raised his index finger as he explained, his expression extremely serious.

But the subject matter made it impossible to take him completely seriously. Seriously, what exactly was a 'service urge'?

Come to think of it, someone had previously been unable to attend the welcome party because their 'service urge was running wild.' Had that person been Inubōzaki-san?

"This urge is terrifying... I used to work in sales. I went around to old people's homes selling medicine and the like."

"Drugs?"

"No! Legal ones! Why did you suddenly make it sound so scary!?"

Takanashi-san tilted her head, and Inubōzaki-san's eyes flew wide open.

Sorry. She's still a little sheltered.

"Anyway... I kept working for a while even after my Race changed. Sometimes I'd realize I was making tea for my coworkers, or find that I'd started acting like a secretary."

Inubōzaki-san bit down on his lollipop.

"But one day, an incident occurred...!"

"An incident...?"

"I—did all the cooking and laundry at an old woman's house I was visiting...!"

"...Oh."

"I didn't even realize it! I only came to my senses when my boss contacted me! She lived alone. Her garbage had piled up, and her diet was terrible, so my service urge ran wild!"

My consciousness disappeared, and my body moved on its own.

That was a truly terrifying prospect. I forced my thoughts back into serious mode.

"I had no choice but to quit. If I abandoned my job to play maid, I was useless! But if I did secretarial work, I'd turn completely into a maid!"

Staring at his own hands as they trembled slightly, Inubōzaki-san continued.

"Even if I went to Hello Work, the best I could expect was for them to recommend that I become an adventurer because I'm an ability user. So I figured becoming one on my own would be faster. I have no choice but to live while venting my service urge in moderation..."

"So that's what happened..."

I had no idea what to say to Inubōzaki-san as he gave a self-deprecating laugh.

What an utterly dishonorable title I'd just bestowed on him by making him part of the Riko-senpai tribe. Guilt churned in my chest.

I had done something unforgivable as a human being.

"Hey, Otaku-kun. Why did you look at me for a second and then shake your head? Tell me why, huh?"

I ought to put it into words and apologize properly.

Thinking that, I began to stand.

"Because of this body, I can't enjoy horse racing, keirin, boat racing, pachinko, fooling around with women or men, randomly starting flame wars online, or pointlessly stealing time from elderly people with little time left! I can't even startle or tease kids in the park anymore!"

"You were eight times more of a hopeless human being than I'd imagined."

I quietly sat back down in my chair.