Chapter 2 - Surprise

Uohh, yeah that's the spot~

Don't forget to- ah, yes! Don't stop~!

Ah, don't bite my ears! That's- so gooood~

Nonono, not on the face!

Aaah! Disgusting!

Wait, where are you going?! Don't go to that place!

Nooo!

...I feel violated.

I glared at Mother as she gives my forehead one last lick then get up to walk toward the tunnels at the side. She disappeared into one of the tunnels then coming back with a cow-like leg dangling in her mouth.

I tried to keep my glare at her, however, the smell of blood dripping from the leg making it hard for me to even concentrate, and as she gets closer I found my gaze keep being drawn to the mouthwatering meat.

Finally, Mother arrived in front of me and put the meat down on the ground, She looks at me in the eye and growled softly.

I shook a little at the sight of her teeth, but quickly calmed down once my eyes fall on the bloody leg on the ground. Seeing it up close, I realized that it is quite large, just as half as large as the fishy meat from a few days ago.

I took a bite, savoring the unique slightly sweet flavor of the meat. I take another bite, this time also taking the bone. The bone tasted especially sweet like a candy, I rolled it inside my mouth for a few times before crushing it with my teeth and swallowed it.

So tasty~

Ah, this is bliss.

Suddenly I heard a strange sound.

Lifting my head up, I see Mother had lowered herself to the ground with her head resting on her paws. Her beautiful big blue eyes glowed softly as she watches me ate. Her tail was swinging side to side in the air.

W-what is this...?! A surprise attack?!

Because of the unexpected attack, I was closing my mouth a bit too late, causing the meat inside it to fall to the ground.

Ah, I was just about to swallow it! What a waste!

Looking at the chewed-meat covered in my saliva, suddenly I feel queasy.

Can I just bury it in the ground?

I take a glance at Mother and noticed that she had raised her head and now is looking at the nausea-inducing thing on the ground.

She seemed to notice my gaze as she turns her gaze to me. We stare at each other for a few moments and as if she saw something in my eye, she suddenly narrowed her eyes at me.

W-why did she looking at me l-like that...? Stop it, it's s-scary!

She turned her gaze back to the thing on the ground then staring at me again, eyes still narrowed.

I looked at the thing that makes me want to vomit then turn my head to look at her again.

Her response is a glare and a low growl.

Gulp.

Did she want me to eat it...? No, but-

Mother growled loudly.

...is this what they mean by 'tough love'?

I closed my eyes and brought my head closer to the thing. Then, almost too quickly, I opened my mouth and immediately swallowed it.

While holding back my tears, I continue eating my today dinner while Mother watching me with seemingly proud eyes.

At least she doesn't mad at me for going back soaked wet, I thought to myself as I continue to eat.

...

The next morning, I was woken up by the sensation of Mother's carrying me by the scruff of my neck.

For a moment, I was struck by a thought that she was going to eat me, but I immediately push it at the back of my mind and began to think about my current situation instead.

My whole body feels uncomfortable and there's an itchy feeling at the back of my mind that makes me want to wriggle so Mother let go of me, but the rational part of my mind roared back and warned me to not move, less I want to be injured, or worse die because my neck got snapped or something due to moving impulsively in this position.

Yikes, let's not do that.

Now, where are we?

I don't recognize the cave walls that we just passed, nor anything after it. The cave seemed to be darker than usual, though it's probably because the glowing crystals that usually dotted the walls have become rare sight as I only occasionally spotted a few of it so far.

Hm, I totally don't know where we are.

Seriously, where are we? Even the smells in the air had changed and I can hear muffled sounds in distance above us.

Usually, aside from the smell and the sounds of rats, bats, and bugs, I couldn't hear anything.

But, now even though I still heard the usual sounds, they had lessened a lot. I can't say I am not bothered by that.

Also...why? This is so sudden. Did I eating my own vom- no, no don't remember that. That didn't happen. Yesterday I just eat strangely sweet meat happily while Mother watching me in a cute pose.

Yes, nothing else happens.

Really, nothing happens.

I just personally impressed by Mother's 'tough love'.

Yeah, just that.

By the way, where's Mother going to take me? Did she want to show me her 'tough love' again? If so then I have no choice but to refuse.

Thanks for giving me so much love, Mother. I love you too, so I will definitely resist with all my strength.

I will not give up without a fight!

Hm, that seemed to managed to calm down my heart which felt like it was about to jump out of my ribcage or something.

The feeling of Mother's mouth on my scruff helps a lot in keeping my calm since it continuously reminds me that she's here with me and that means nothing would hurt me.

Right, as long as she is with me, then all will be fine.

As that thought running through my mind, I suddenly heard loud sounds of something in the distance as a bright light filled my vision.

I don't even blink as the dazzling light burn my eyes- no, I can't blink. No, not with the shocking sight in front of me.

Green leaves danced with the wind as they fell from the trees and small light-brown squirrel-like creatures but with a horn on their heads are busy trying to pulling off a strange-shaped purple fruit with their hands on the branches of a tree with dark-red leaves. Buzzing sounds of bugs and heavy steps of something filled my ears as the scent of flowers assaulted my nose. A cool breeze blew against my furs brought along more unfamiliar sounds and scents from distance

After living in a cave for so long, I had many expectations and plans that I would like to do when I get outside.

However, now, facing so many unknown at once, I only feel fear and tried to turn my gaze away from the beautiful sight before me as if my eyes would be burn if I look at it for even a little more time.

But, when I turned my head, Mother suddenly let me go. She literally just open her mouth and let me fall to the ground.

Feeling the solid ground under me, I lift my head and my gaze meets with her gaze as the beautiful blue eyes seemed to shine brightly under the sunlight.

As I keep staring at her, once again mesmerized by her eyes, she tilted her head a little then lowered it to give a lick on my face.

I unconsciously lifted my paw to push her head away. However, as usual, I was too weak and Mother lick my face two more times before she finally raised her head again and look towards the forest.

I tried to glare at her but keep failing as I feel the fears in my heart dissipated and replaced by warmth.

Sigh... my faceless mother from my previous world, can you please forgive me? I have no intention to disrespect you, but my current Mother is too cute that I fear that she will replace your already shaky position in my heart...

I glance at Mother again, watching as the cool breeze blowing her fur and give me a glimpse on a barely hidden scar near her armpit, moving my gaze slightly upward I see a uneven patch of furs on her chest that seemed to had been cut by something sharp, then I moved my gaze to the side of her body and see various cut and scratch marks dotted her body.

...if she hadn't already.

Mother seemed to notice my gaze on her as she turned her gaze to me and give a lick on my face again, this time her mouth was closed before her tongue could go back inside, giving her cute appearance as she seemed to get distracted by something and forget to pop it back into her mouth again, letting her tongue to continue hanging out.

I carved her current appearance deep in my memory to not forget it as I turned my head to look at the forest again.

This time, I don't feel afraid at all, instead I feel my curiosity piqued as I saw one of the small squirrel-like creatures finally noticed us and jumped in surprise before it immediately makes a loud high-pitched noises that make its friends to also look at us then all of them climbed the peak of the trees, leaving the almost plucked purple-fruit.

In the distance, I see a cow-like creature with a very big mouth shake the ground around him with each of its steps while carrying a tree trunk with its unusually huge mouth.

I want to know more about them.

As I thought that, I suddenly feel my head become slightly dizzy, the sign of some of my memory from the previous world trying to come back.

What's it? The memory feels like it is just at the tip of my fingers but whenever I tried to grab it, it always flew away from me, but I keep trying. I can't give up, something inside me is telling me that I must remember it because it will be important for my life here on.

After struggling for a while, I finally managed to get hold of the memory.

A scene of a familiar boisterous classroom filled with students in uniform appeared in my mind, and I managed to hear a group of people near my seat chatted about light novels that they recently read.

"...the protagonist is truly lucky to get hold of that skill."

A bespectacled boy said to a rather chubby boy as a skinny boy that sat beside him suddenly make a face as if he was offended by something.

"As I said, that skill is just cheating! These days many people think that it's normal for the protagonist to have such a thing, but that only made the story less...blablabla"

His fervor seemed to become increasingly high as he continued spouting nonsense that strangely was listened seriously by the bespectacled boy while the chubby boy sighing as if he was tired.

Wait, what the heck is this? How could something like this be important? Did I catch the wrong memory or something?

As I thought about that, the memory suddenly started to become blurry and seems to about to fly away from me again. I tried to hold on to it, but the memory keep blurring and I only managed to hear the chubby boy timidly said something about appraisal skill before the memory disappeared from my mind.

Damn, I feel like I was scammed...

...what? Are you serious? Usually, you would stay quiet unless one of my skills leveled up or I gained a new skill, why did you suddenly appear now? Also, what's with that offer? Was that an ad?

Don't tell me that that was an ad. I vaguely remember there was some crazy system that occasionally showed ads like that because of one reason or another...

...I get distracted. What did the system tell me, again? I forgot.

...alright, let's think about this later. That mind-wrestling with my memory had totally destroyed the mood, how long I had spent in my head?

I looked up at Mother and see she had pulled back her tongue into her mouth and seemed to have a forced smile while she looking into the distance with empty eyes.

She must be waiting for me to do something already.

I'm sorry, mom. I will make it up to you later.

She seemed to not notice my gaze and keep looking blankly into the distance.

I stiffly turned my gaze back to the front, feeling upset that I had disappointed Mother who had suffered from so many injuries just to raise me.

This feels...unpleasant, I don't want to feel something like this again.

Giving a glance at Mother, who still looking into the distance, I quietly decided to become the greatest tiger ever to not disappoint her ever again.