Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata ~Senjou wo Kakeru Kaifuku Youin~ Chapter 52 Part1

Our house is located in a small and secluded part of Luquis.

I'm an older sister who has a younger brother. We didn't need to worry about drawing the humans' attention around here. That's just the sort of place it is. We also have another person in our house…. Of course, that person is also a beast kin.

In the beginning, I thought we would be accepted.. since there were a lot of different people here.

Luquis is a place where people gathered from all over the continent, after all. It wouldn't be strange for a few of these people to be more open-minded towards beast kin. Grasping onto that faint hope, we left the hidden village we were born in and arrived at Luquis's gates in order to study magic.

My family back at home often told me I had talent in magic and that I should go study it… I also wanted to make some friends outside the village.

However, it didn't take me very long to realize how much of an idiot I was for holding onto that faint hope.

Luquis prohibited the persecution of non-humans on the surface. Due to a public policy like that, I didn't think anything could go wrong but——— I was completely avoided and a.s.saulted by a sense of isolation.

Distrust.

Contempt.

Fear.

It was an environment that forbids another from forming friends.h.i.+ps with others.

The heavy pressure of isolation.

This wasn't somewhere for a beast girl like me to prove my own value as a magic user. I had no social relations.h.i.+ps or influence here… I was just me.

Aah. Really, I thought that Luquis was where the elite gathered to further improve their skills… But I do understand their thought process. To the humans, they don't consider beast kin as 'people'.

There were humans who followed the majority and grouped with other humans. There were also humans who were apathetic towards us.

Rather than being friends with someone from a different race, it was natural to be with people from the same race.

Don't get involved with the humans.

There's no way we'd get along.

Don't trust anyone.

My mind grew weaker due to their isolation.

Without getting involved with anyone, I just studied magic. If I just set my own expectation low, I didn't need to hope for anything.

———Aah, doing it this way makes it a lot easier… I'm glad———

Since when did I start to think like this?

I reached the point where I would hide my ears when walking in the corridors and divided all my attention to how I could improve my own magic….

'There's no meaning in coming here if I don't improve.'

'I didn't come here for the sake of getting along with others.'

—I continued this line of thought and persuaded myself that I still had my younger brother. It was enough. I wasn't lonely.

As I repeatedly had these thoughts many, many, many times… It was around this time that I met another beast girl in Luquis.

Unlike us, she wasn't from a village. She was a strange girl from the country who had strong hatred towards humans and the ability to see the future. Her name was Amako. In order to save her mother, she traveled far, far away from the country to search for a healing magic user.

It's a magic exclusive to humans. I thought it was impossible to get the humans to cooperate with something like that though. In reality, it seemed that healing users here faced rejection too.

"Kiriha, I won't give up."

But that girl didn't give up. She had no choice but to keep moving forward despite the danger. She wanted to save her mother.

Despite the fact that it was probably not easy for her to come this far… And that it was probably dangerous for her everywhere… I tried to stop her from going for the last time but I wasn't able to.

I wonder if I could be like Amako and put that much effort into something.

Would I be able to trust humans?

Humans who got along with beast kin. They probably didn't exist, right?

I should have known the answer to that long ago but I couldn't say it.

I'm sure I was still hoping for something.

I was still thinking—

One day——— A human who could get along with beast kin would arrive———

"….Morning, huh…"

The bell's chimes from outside woke me up from my sleep. The bell would usually ring around this time.

A nostalgic dream… I felt like I had one. I don't remember what dream I just had but I knew it was an unpleasant one.

I got up from my bed and started combing my tail.

Once I was satisfied with grooming my tail, I got off from my bed. I swiftly changed my clothes and exited my room to prepare breakfast.

I would normally just make something simple but… Things were slightly different today.

"Huh? What's wrong Satsuki? You're up so early today."

Satsuki was a beast girl who had come along with me and Kyou from the same hidden village one year ago. She was currently peeking outside the entrance of the door that I broke yesterday.

When Satsuki noticed me, she put her index finger on her lips and silently whispered a "Shh".

….What was going on? Just what was she looking at? Should I take a peek too?

While being filled to the brim with interest, I walked behind Satsuki and peeked out as well.

"Amako, you're way too light! This can't be called training at all!!"

"…..But that's not my fault, Usato."

What was this human doing..? He was up so early doing push-ups… Amako was also innocently riding on his back.

"It's amazing, Kiriha. Since that person went out, he's been doing that all this time. And like you know, it's like he's not tired at all. I really don't know what's going! I can't believe he's human!"

Since he woke up, he's been doing that all this time? If he hasn't been taking any breaks, then I really can't believe he's a normal human.

…Although directly receiving my punch that could split a boulder wasn't normal to begin with.

Was this the type of training he did to achieve that much power? But I really couldn't imagine how this type of training could do that.

But rather than that….

"Satsuki… You've been observing Usato all this time…?"

"Yeah!"

….Right now, the problem was Satsuki who was giving such a bright smile and looking at this scene with great interest.

This girl was usually quiet but once something catches her interest, it's like her personality changes and she starts jotting things down in her notebook. From the person herself, she apparently calls it "The Mysterious Things and Happenings Notebook".

In other words, Satsuki considers Usato to be a deep and mysterious existence.

Usually, she's a really… really, really good and obedient girl. But since things have come to this… I could only leave her alone and let her do what she wants. She was silent the whole time when Usato and Amako came here yesterday but she probably didn't have a chance to talk. She was definitely overwhelmed with interest…

"Well, keep it at a moderate level, okay…?"

"I knowww."

Leaving Satsuki who remained at the front entrance, I headed towards the kitchen.

I should prepare breakfast first. Usually I would finish this up real quick but Usato and Amako were here today. I'll make a proper breakfast. As I was getting the ingredients from all over the kitchen, I remembered Usato's words from yesterday when he tried my cooking.

"…..Delicious, huh."

I wasn't fl.u.s.tered over his praise by calling my cooking 'delicious' given his personality but it was true that I was surprised.

At that time, when Kyou asked if I trusted Usato, I was honestly still not completely sure if I could. That was why I sat as close to Usato as I could in case anything happened and.. got him to try cooking made by a beast kin. After all, humans would normally never try any cooking by us nor would they call it delicious.

"I'm really just all talk…"

Even though his hand was healed with healing magic, I did inflict a cruel injury onto Usato by cutting up his hand. He forgave me for that but somewhere in my heart I still didn't trust him. I couldn't help but mock myself.

"……Right, breakfast."

Satsuki's cla.s.ses were quite early so I should hurry. I should also wake Kyou up soon too since he had to walk Satsuki to school.

If I continued making breakfast at such a leisure pace, I wouldn't have time to make breakfast for those two. That won't do. Today, I decided to go all out and make a proper breakfast. I had to do it right…!