An Uncanny Monster

The room was silent, unmoving.

While he was waiting for something to happen, the silence was getting on Yoshi's nerves.
Trying to distract himself, he decided to turn his attention to what he would do when he encountered something.

Yoshi dreaded the possibility of being saved by one of those 「things」.
It was definitely possible, but it presented a whole bunch of problems.

First and most importantly, he was a human, most likely a target for them.
It would be insane to reveal his identity and render himself vulnerable.

But then, it would be impossible to keep quiet, because he was certain that he was going to be interrogated.
Having a brawl with some 「thing」, and getting beaten up to death in an alleyway was not something easy to explain.

Which presented the second biggest problem.
Yoshi still had no information on how this world worked.

But in the worst case scenario that his guise is busted, he would have to concoct a lie to get out of the situation.
That was, considering they would not rip him to shreds right after.

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A little while later, the door opened slowly.
The sudden noise startled Yoshi, and he quickly rose up, holding out the knife and the sword in a sloppy pose.
And as he had anticipated, it was a 「thing」 that entered.

"Oh, are you awake?"

Yoshi had learnt that those things were capable of speech, but still felt uneasy listen to it speak in a manner that he could comprehend.

It was similar to the 「thing」 that attacked him in the alley.
As in, it didn't have any legs.

-How does that even work?

He was extremely confused by the sheer chaos energy that the 「thing」 radiated.
But above all, terror caught hold of him.
Yoshi could never look at those 「things」 and not feel afraid.

Unlike the 「things」 he had seen on that night, he could actually keep his eyes on these ones, rather than averting them immediately.
But all he saw was its outline, the rest completely covered by black and white static.

That couldn't be its actual appearance, he thought. And he was right.
He was so scared to look the real 「thing」, his mind covered up the actual body with static instead.

He felt as if his stomach was twisting in pain.
The sensation of it being bitten off was still fresh in his head.
Grabbing it almost violently while making sure he didn't accidentally stab himself, he inched back with tears forming in his eyes.

"Please don't... Don't kill... me..."

His voice was trembling, pleading for mercy.
There was sweat dripping down his forehead like there was no tomorrow.
There wouldn't be, if he was to be killed here, though.

"No no no, calm down a little..."
"...? You... you won't kill me?"
"No, why would I do that?"

He couldn't believe his ears.
How could a 「thing」 not only speak, but also not think of killing on instinct?

In his panic, Yoshi had forgotten to think.
But his confusion started turning the gears of his head.
And then, he realized that he was disguised.

Since he could not see his disguise by his own eyes, he would forget that he was disguised if he wasn't careful enough.
But now, everything made sense.

In their eyes, he was one of 「them」 right now.
It had no reason to kill him.

Although, he hadn't expected this level of complexity to the lifeforms he called 「things」.
There might be much more going on behind, which he was not aware of.

"So, are you feeling better?"

That voice... it was gentle. It was one he had never heard before, but yet...
He felt like he had heard it before.

"..."

Unable to speak, Yoshi only nodded silently in response.

"I don't know what you are getting so worked up about, but can you drop the knife? And also the sword. It's not finished yet, so you wouldn't want to damage it."

The voice had no malice.
It seemed like the 「thing」 was just worried about Yoshi.
However, he was still hesitant about dropping his weapons.

After all, they were the only things he was relying on to protect himself.
So in response, Yoshi just shrunk further, holding on to the knife and sword tightly.

"Come on, I won't hurt you. So please put them down, and we can have a nice talk."
"No... If you want to have a talk, these stay in my hands."

Yoshi was serious.
He would not give them up at any cost. No matter what.
Not until he confirmed that there was no danger to his life.

"...Very well then. But then, you'll have to return them after we're done. I uh... kinda need the knife for cooking tonight. And I need to finish the sword as well by tomorrow."
"Depends."

Yoshi was really not being cooperative, but it seemed that the 「thing」 had a pretty calm demeanor regardless.

"So you may have a lot of questions, which I obviously wouldn't hesitate to answer, but you were in a pretty serious condition back there. Do you remember?"
"Mmhm."

Yoshi didn't confirm or deny that statement.

Interrupting in a rude manner, Yoshi tried to take control of the conversation.
He really didn't want to engage in a long conversation with something he could barely look at, so he decided to get some quick information before he could plan on escaping.

"Ah, that. It's been 3 days. Man, it was tough to get you up and running. I nearly thought you were a goner back then."
"...What?"

Yoshi was in shock upon hearing that.
As far as he could feel, there was not the slightest trace of a wound on his back.
Was that really possible in 3 days?

Did he eat something funny, or was he just built different?
Probably the former.

But he didn't remember eating anything at all since his dinner at the camp.
And in response, his stomach let out a big grumble.
However, now was not the time.

"That cannot be true."
"Huh?

Yup. There was no way Yoshi was buying that crap.

"There's no way a wound like that would heal in 3 days, right? There should a limit to how much you can lie, right?"
"Ah no, it didn't take 3 days to heal. You see, a friend of mine, who is a doctor, was the one responsible for healing you."

Yoshi rolled his eyes suspiciously.

"And you're telling he healed me in 3 days?"
"Oh no, he healed you in 2 hours. You've just been resting from exhaustion."
"Like I'll believe that!"

What the hell was this 「thing」 on about?
Healing something like that in 2 hours?

"How can he even do that? There's nothing weird inside of me, is there?"
"I mean, he is a practitioner of 「Healing」 magic, so why not? He's been doing this for years now."

Wait a minute. Wait a goddamn minute.
「Healing」 magic?
He was healed by 「Healing」 magic?

He had completely forgotten about its existence by now.
It all made sense now.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know..."
"To think that you don't even know about 「Healing」 magic... How old are you?"
"17 years..."

An unexpected question, Yoshi did not have time to think and ended up answering honestly.
Not that he would reply with something else even if he did think it through.

"Hmmm... You're rather skinny for a 17 year old. And I feel like your knowledge seems a little... lacking, to say the least."

That was really harsh, but not something he could say anything back to.
Even so, he felt like he had to say something back, probably out of frustration, as he pouted.

"But I'm 17... And I knew about 「Healing」 magic a little. It just didn't come to mind."
"That just means you haven't fought a single battle in your life. Use of 「Healing」 magic is very common after a fight where the injuries aren't minor."

That was certainly true. Yoshi had in fact, never fought a battle in his life, as he didn't have to.
That fight in the alley, it was his first one. One in which he used multiple unfair methods, and still managed to lose.

"Yes, I didn't know that."
"That's practically common knowledge here though?"
"Speaking of which... where is 「here」?"

Yoshi asked it as if it was the most natural thing in the world to ask, which it was.
For him at least.

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He still didn't have a grasp of his location.
Being provided a perfect opportunity, he decided to nab it instantly before the conversation got swept in an undesirable direction.

"...? This is my house. Right in the middle of the shopping district, the heart of the capital."

That wasn't really much of a help considering Yoshi had no idea of the geography of this world.
What capital? What shopping district? He had absolutely no clue.

"Ummm... it would help if you could show it to me on a map..."

He said that to appear clueless, but his ulterior motive was to get an idea of the world map.
If he had that, maybe he could figure out a way to a safe place.
One where hopefully, he could find humans like himself.

"Well, I haven't heard of anyone not getting a rough idea of their location with that much information. You're a clueless one, aren't you? Did you hit your head hard or something?"
"Ummm... Maybe. I can't really remember."

He tried to play dumb, desperately hoping that the 「thing」 would buy his act.
Meanwhile, the 「thing」 rolled its eyes suspiciously at him, which unfortunately went unnoticed by the person in question because he was averting his eyes, and floated over to the desk.

There, it got a pencil and a piece of paper, and started scribbling onto it.

-They don't keep maps?

Yoshi didn't know what he was expecting from something he could not understand, but he seemed to surprised that they did not keep maps, yet knew what they were.

After a while when it was done drawing, it handed the map over to Yoshi.
Seemed like 「it」 wasn't the best at drawing maps, so the map itself was pretty minimalistic.

The world looked like some sort of cell that hadn't fully divided into three parts yet.
Or maybe calling it the shape of a typical venn diagram with three circles would be more accurate.

While Yoshi was trying to understand what he was looking at, the thing started explaining, as if it had expected him to be completely lost.

"This here is our kingdom, the 「Kingdom of the Demi-humans」."

Pointing towards one of the circles, it said that.
Similarly, it told him about the other circles being the 「Kingdom of the Beasts」 and the 「Kingdom of the Humans」.

"You are here, in the capital."

-So these 「things」 are demi-humans... meaning they're half human?

Something did not make sense here.
The 「things」 were supposed to be beasts through and through.
Wouldn't being half-human make them... not a 「thing」?

Then, ...what was this uncomfortable feeling?
Why was he still unable to look at it?

-Well, it doesn't really matter.

The 「thing」 very clearly gave him his destination.
Now, all he had to do was escape as soon as he possibly could.

"Well, you look like you have got the information you need. So now, should I start asking some questions too?"
"Huh?"

The  「thing」 asked with a serious tone.
It seemed as if it had gone along with Yoshi's conversation only to get information out of him.

"So. What were you doing in the alleyway?"

-This is the one thing I wanted to avoid.

Now that it had been asked, Yoshi had no choice but to answer it.
But what would the correct answer here be?
He couldn't just up and admit that he had been reincarnated and just happened to fall into this kingdom.
That sort of thing should be kept secret.

He could pretend to be a street rat who just happened to get into a fight, but then that would present unknowns as well.
For example, how did he forget where he was?
But what if he were to play dumb? To pretend like he actually lost some of his memories?

Because he was completely clueless to where he was, he could just play it off as losing some of his memories.
He could mix in lies along with the truth and get out of this situation.

"Hmmm... I can't really remember. Why was I there again?"

Yoshi strained his expression to show that he was trying really hard to remember.

"Did you really lose your memories? You must have hit your head pretty hard after all."

-Yes, it's working!

"As if."
"What?"

He could hear it. The pressure in the voice.
This 「thing」 was not fooling around.

"I have been wondering for a while, and it is just too weird."
"W-what is?"
"First, I find a guy dying in an alleyway, being killed by a guard. I thought he was abusing his power to bully the poor, so I decided to save someone in need. Then, I hear rumors about a human spy breaking into the capital."

Sweat started forming at Yoshi's forehead, as he again averted his eyes, lightly clicking his tongue.
He strengthened his grip on the sword, getting ready for things to get dirty.

"And then, the guy who I saved has the audacity to lie to me claiming to lose his memories? Don't make me laugh."
"How would you know? I really don't remember anything! Not even my name!"
"I of course, had your condition checked by the doctor friend of mine, and he said that you're perfectly fine with no problems at all."

Yoshi didn't want this to be his end.
In pure desperation and fear, he shouted out without thinking.

"Wouldn't he be saying that in general?! How would he know anything about my memories!"
"As I said, I had you undergo a full check-up. Besides, your outrage speaks for itself."

Left speechless, Yoshi could do nothing but listen.

"You're... you're human, aren't you?"

-Gulp.

This was it. This was the end.
Yoshi had failed. He had been found out.

He took off his hood, and showed the real him to the 「thing」, as he shot it a pretty annoyed look, like an angry brat.

But inside, he was shivering in fear.
The fact that his heart was sitting on his tongue ready to jump out at any moment, run away and abandon him with a "Ok, goodbye!" was not helping at all.

"So what? You're going to kill me?"
"...! ...That's really not up to me, you see. That's up to the guards. All I have to do hand you over."
"Then-"
"However, the guards have given you a chance to explain."

-Wait what?

A chance to explain? Explain what?

"You'll tell the truth. In front of the guards. If the lie detector says it's the truth and you're innocent, we'll let you go, no questions asked... By the way, don't you know that it is illegal for humans to be in the capital?"
"No, I did not know that."

Wasn't this like, super bad in that case?

"You really are clueless, even if you haven't lost your memories. So, I shall allow you to defend yourself."
"And?"
"If the lie detector finds you case to be lying, you're basically toast. But. If if you're innocent by some stroke of luck, they'll let you go instead. Sound good?"

-Absolutely not.

He could not tell them the truth no matter what.
He had a feeling that it wouldn't end well for him.

But this was a chance.
He let out a long sigh and letting go of the weapons he had been so tightly gripping until now, raising his hands in surrender, as a sign that he did not want to be hostile.

"...Alright, I'll tell you the truth. This was supposed to be kept secret, but... now that's it come to my life, I can't really stay quiet, can I?"

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Author's Corner:

Wow, I have run out of drafts. Never thought I'd get this far.
Anyways, lots of dialogue. We love lots of dialogue.

I had to structure this chapter a lot so that their actions actually make sense.

This might be a bit of a tangent, but I was just thinking to myself, but  「Inferno of Passion」 is a pretty sick name for an attack, considering Yoshi came up with it at the spur of the moment.