CHAPTER 1 – PART V

Why?

Why is she smiling?!.

The beastgirl, almost lying across what, on closer inspection, proves to be a type of berry bush, is positively beaming at me. Although my stomach tries to take charge and have me reach out for fruit, my hand refuses to comply. It firmly remains planted, propping me up to fully take in the source of my personal eclipse.

Her eyes are red.

The dust of dried up rivers flaking from her cheeks.

There's a pleasantness to the cool in her shade, and I am relieved that she isn't freaked out to see me. Why is that? I suppose after the initial shock she realised we had a common enemy. I awkwardly shift all my weight onto one arm and wiggle out a little wave at her with my semi-free hand.

Her mask slips.

Fresh droplets burst around me.

This is the most painful thing I've ever seen.

My stomach knots, forcing the cramping from hunger down and out of mind, only to be rapidly replaced by a chemical explosion. The reaction almost causing me to vomit. That expression of joy, relief? Through her obvious pain and suffering... I don't deserve to see it.

It's almost too beautiful for words.

I must be getting a bit delirious from hunger, but I can't look away.

Her sorrowful smile, her joyous tears. This isn't something I should find captivating, and yet...

I only notice I'm slack jawed when my tongue creaks into motion, cracks erupting on its parched surface, and I struggle to swallow to alleviate the drought. Who'd have thought that would even be possible after all the water I've had today. My mouth slowly becomes functional again from smacking my lips over and over like a drunk waking up from a stooper.

A sniffle.

A wail...

Her tears become a deluge. The mix of emotions seemingly as volatile in the beastgirl as those within myself. Hold it in. You're not allowed to cry. We may be feeling the same tumultuous, overwhelming feelings, but I have to be strong for her. I have to calm her down (so the others don't come). I have to make sure she's okay (so we can escape). I have to be strong.

Looking away from the contorted face above me, I check the house. The door is mostly closed, but still ajar. Going back down the gap I snuck up will trap us, especially if she lets slip a cry. Especially if they're used to her running away. They knew where she was with me last time. I jump to my feet, nearly cracking the my head against the beastgirl's downturned chin, skimming her loose hair on the way up. Her scent filling my senses. My eyes close and I sway backward a little. It takes a moment to recover. Maybe I'm just dizzy from moving too quickly. Yeah, totally just a rush of blood to the head. Low blood sugar and all that.

I shake it off and slowly guide her around the shrub, over the anaemic fencing, and behind the neighbour's wall. The next house over isn't as big, but it's clearly costructed to a higher caliber. More stone, less wood. Considerably sturdier and in good repair to boot. There are no doors on the back of the building, only some broad windows at about shoulder height. No garden to speak of either. We stay low, getting about half way along before stopping to take stock of the situation.

The beastgirl clings to me like I'm buoyant debris in a squall.

My chest aches, heart pounding against the tension, compounding the pain. As soon as I stop and face her, she buries herself in my top. Dirtying rather than drying her features.

Okay... we're in cover. I can't hear much over her sobbing, but I don't think anyone is coming to check on us, at least not yet. Apprehensively, I stroke the beastgirl's hair. She doesn't flinch, but there's a definite pause, a moment of uncertainty when my hand first makes contact. That animal distrust, survival instinct, whatever you want to call it. You don't see it so much in domesticated pets though, it's more like when you're watching a wild animal that needs injuries treating. The first time a human has ever gotten hold of them. The person will be cooing and petting the animal and it just stares at them like they're the strangest thing in the universe. It's only once they've been cut free or bandaged up or whatever, that's when understanding creeps into their eyes, and relief...

What am I even on about?

She's not some animal. I mean, yeah, there's obvious animal elements to her, she's a beastgirl, what do you expect! But, she's a person too. It's the person side that's hurt and needs comfort right now. Stop being such an idiot.

FOCUS!!!

I continue stoking her hair. I'm too nervous to be overly familiar, so I don't hold her to my body as well. I think I would start shaking uncontrollably like a broken washing machine or my heart would explode or something if I hugged her. I also don't just flat palm pet her like you would a cat or dog either, or scritch the topof her head for that matter, in case she takes objection to it. I'm sure she can tell I have no idea what I'm doing, but I try to be as comforting as I can, lacing my fingers between her loose curls, slowly drawing them through the strands. It's sort of wiry. Thick and heavy, but there's a softness to it. The motion releases her scent again. My head swims.

My fingertips graze the skin covering that first vertebrae at the base of her neck. The one that sticks out a bit when you bend your head forward, between the shoulders, marking the top of the back. My arm kinda spasmed, I guess, it just jerked towards me. I must have kept it too tense for too long, trying to maintain a respectful distance between us. The beastgirl jolts. There's a long pause, her breathing ceases, but, with a sigh – seemingly of relief, maybe a touch of elation – she leans into me more. Her forehead thumping against my sternum, reverberating in my ribcage.

What am I meant to do?!.

My head fills with a haze... a fog of pheromones. The unspent adrenaline from creeping around, of our shared trauma, of our reunion, unused and redirected to other base instincts.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!.

She's crying and I'm getting, what? Excited?!. The hell am doing...

I don't want to push her away. I want to make sure she's okay. I don't want to hurt her feelings or anything, to make her feel rejected, but I don't want to feel like some monster for getting excited by a beastgirl burying her face in my chest. It's just hormones. My damn lizard brain acting up. Gotta be tactful. Real gentlemanly like... none of that nice guy/m'lady stuff either. I take a deep breath and steel myself.

I stroke her hair slightly firmer than before, taking time to lean back a bit and try to get a look at her face. She looks up at me, her face red. I almost lose it right there and then.

NO!!!

Another deep breath in – I cannot break over a blush –and out. Look, she's not blushing. Her cheeks are flushed. She's red from sobbing for the past however many hours, while you chickened out and ran around town on a fool's errand. Okay? GOT IT?!. Good.

I take a step back, putting just a little distance between us, a comforting smile on my face. I don't know how authentic it looks, but I need to try and see if she's injured or anything.

The beastgirl stares at me, almost unblinkingly, never breaking eye contact. It's like she's searching for something. Trying to reach an understanding. There are a few light marks on her bare arms, defensive wounds from earlier. I step back again, seeing that she has several darker bruises on her shins, but nothing major. Her gaze catches up with my own, and she jumps back less than a step, waving her hands about to show that she's fine. She gives an odd little animalistic noise, like a chirp but not from a bird, more like that brrrt sound cats make sometimes. It has the tone of a self deprecating laugh, so I take it that I can stop worrying so much. I'm honestly relieved that body language, at least, reads similarly here.

Worked with the pigperson earlier too, pointing at the menu to usher them away and give me time to think.

Now all I have to do is communicate that I'm hungry. Do I just rub my stomach and mime eating something?

As if on cue another glug from my gut breaks the silence between us.

The beastgirl goes from looking fretful about my attentiveness, to the blankest expression imaginable, then doubles over howling with what passes for laugher. As embarrassing as it is, that sure was effective. She pulls herself together pretty quick, fresh tears in her eyes. Did she really find that so funny she cry laughed? Damn... and I thought I was being kinda smooth before. Or, y'know, as smooth as a several days unwashed, beaten up, sun baked, borderline homeless person that doesn't speak the language can be.

She rubs her vision clear, thankfully not relapsing into another fit of giggles, or finding it all so amusing she snorts, and finally notices how mucky she'd gotten from burrowing into my clothes. She lifts up her own top, wiping her face on the inside of the collar. My eyes flick to her exposed midriff. It's taut, belyinghow lean and toned she appears otherwise, making me wonder what kind of human animal hybrid she is. Her hipbones causing little curves on either side. It's also bruised on one side. I gulp involuntarily, my gaze snapping back up to meet hers as the curtain is lowered again. I try to remain unreadable. Bruising like that means internal bleeding or something, right? That really doesn't look good. I don't want to spoil the mood right now with undue concern, it could be a birthmark for all I know, it could just be surface level. My stomach really has impeccable timing, because it cramps again, accompanied by a wave of nausea.

I do my best not to double up or let it creep into my face, but I slowly and awkwardly put an arm across my waist to hold the pain in. The beastgirl notices instantly, gives me a knowing grin, her fangs almost glinting in the sun, and she darts off into her house.

I'm left standing, hunched beneath the windows behind the neighbours', like an empty milk bottle waiting for pick up. The back door clatters, a renewed swell of shouting erupts from the house, and I start to get real antsy about my plan. This was meant to be recon and resupply. I don't want her kiting the enemy over here. I can't believe I'm missing the raid for this... god damn noobie.

I sink down the wall, my legs weak but not quite buckling.

"How're the guys doing?"

They'll definitely have noticed I'm missing by this point, but it's not like they can contact my parents or anything. When I get back, I'm sure this'll be an amusing story for them, for about 5 minutes, then it'll just be a joke that'll get brought up every once in a while. It's not like they'll believe me. They'll say things like: Remember that time you thought you got isekai'd? Missed a whole event! That's why I don't go outside, could get lost in the woods like you did that one time... hicc-

I bang the back of my head against the bricks to block out the geyser attempting to burst forth. A few trickles leak out, a few strained whimpers, but I push it all down. It sticks in my throat, the bitterest pill to swallow. Loneliness, uncertainty, abject misery... It's not a matter of when I get back, it's a matter of if.

IF I GET BACK!!!

There's so much I don't know, can't do anything about yet. I need to find out if there's magic here, then I need to master it, and work out how to get home. Hopefully I'll just bump into some Arch-Wizard and they can explode my ass through dimensions, right back to Earth.

Like the beastgirl, I wipe my face with the inside of my top. I'm really gonna have to find more clothes and wash these when I get back to the house. I'm grateful there's flint and steel back there for making fires, but I need to find some soap. There was absolutely nothing else except musty spare bedding and old tea leaves. Neither of those is gonna help with cleaning.

I suppose I can make a cloak at least out of some sheets? Get my Adventurer™ outfit sorted.

Just as I regain my composure, glad for once that my brain flits through topics faster than I can keep up, accelerating my recovery, the beastgirl comes flying round the corner. She doesn't stop either, just launches over my sprawled legs, and keeps on going. I take the hint and scrabble to my feet. Roaring from the garden nipping at our heels, but thankfully no further. We skirt around the next house, down the hill, and wind our way into a small field of wild grass, heavily overgrown.

Her smirk is infectious.

Giddy with pride, almost smug, like she's pulled off the biggest heist in history, arms full of her bundled up loot. Okay... maybe she'd make a decent thief or rouge class, after all. She leads the way, pushing aside tall stalks until we're squarely in the middle of the scrubland. We set to patting down a flat area to sit in, lay out my jacket to rest on and unpack the food, then dig into our spoils. It's a veritable feast as far as a rushed picnic of leftovers goes. Some scraps of meat, broken corners of cheese, almost an entire loaf of bread, and a couple of apples.

We wolf it all down.

My stomach thanking and complaing in equal measure. Grateful for the food, but aching from having so much forced into it, so fast, after so long without.

I don't care.

I have never needed anything more in my entire life.

The beastgirl stopping every now and then to take in the sight of me messily gorging myself, hoovering up every last crumb that tries to escape onto my dirty clothes. A smile springing to her lips each time before she tears back into her own meal.

This actually feels nice.

Natural even.

I don't know what it is, but the beastgirl is easy company. Like we go way back.

I guess we've already shared a few hardships: the escapes, assaults, and now our burglary... fast friends and all that. It was the right call coming back for her.

The sun isn't quite dipping yet, but it's certainly nearing mid to late afternoon. The sky becoming a blazing red over the hilltops and treeline surrounding the valley. It's a picturesques cene.

I'm thankful to be sharing it with someone.

I feel a smile of my own creasing my cheeks, and instantly choke on a particularly dry bit of crust I'd been workingon for a while, like a cow chewing cud. Bet cows never choke though. Real smooth alright. What I wouldn't give for a drink right now though... first time I've thought that since my liquid lunch.

As I cough profusely, the beastgirl snickers, while pounding me on the back repeatedly.

Yup, this really was the right call.

QUEST COMPLETE – COMPANION UNLOCKED