1.2
The villa compound of Selvan and Fontaine consisted of ten houses. Two for the Selvans and seven for the Fontaines, enclosed within thirty-two square kilometers of irregular-shaped, fortified brick walls, with towers stationed at each of its five corners. At the center of it all was the main house, the red-themed mansion which, ironically, is the quietest area within the entire fortress. Well, no one could really fault the main house when its residents before Snow and Jinx came were just Aleister, his pretend nephew Camilius, and his brother-turned-nephew Anton.
And when he said "house", he meant for, like, HOUSE house. The one he'd known all his life in his original world could more or less be smaller than one of the horse stables here.
Furan Shi only had the basic map Raum had provided, but even then he couldn't explore the whole compound himself. Partly due to his stamina, but perhaps mostly because he couldn't appraise his de facto master's (Aleister) temperament. Pretty sure he'd be allowed, but then he can't be too lax.
When uniting the two families, Alodia Fontaine, the original head, had a problem, which she passed down to Aleister Selvan.
Hm.. Aleister had listed down several possible name combinations of Fontaine and Selvan, each one more embarrassing than the last. It never got out to the extended families and was burned at the fireplace once Camilius had read through it.
But that wasn't the problem. Alodia never cared about trivial matters.
Aside from the almost desolate main house, most of the residents of the villa compound had gathered at the open square in front of it. The facilities were empty, and those who were unable to come were prepared to receive some bloodied relatives in their homes.
Why? Today is Sunday.
The original matriarch had proclaimed every Sunday their pillow fight day as a simple way for them to bond despite their busy schedules, but under Aleister's rule, someone brought a knife out of rebellion. But Aleister, as twisted as he was awkward, liked the idea. Hence, Sunday pillow fights turned into Sunday knife battles from that day forward.
This also somewhat encouraged more participants from each house to come than when their primary weapons were still required to be pillows, perhaps now that the game isn't boring anymore when their lives are at stake. Jokes aside, this event allowed them to get more creative with how they surprise their opponents. Less Selvans in the compound, the better for them Fontaine brutes. The Selvans could say the same for them about the opposing clan.
Naturally, Snow remained inside the main house as per Aleister's order. This was the only time the snow leopard had seen the human look so stern. This privilege/curse wasn't extended to his baby brother Jinx, much to his chagrin.
Since Aleister was the protagonist, Furan Shi made a point not to consider the man on his Santa list. No matter how hot his mermaid lines were, Furan knew it was all reserved for Snow. On the same note, he can't touch Snow, either. Maybe he can, but the most he could do was a hug before the snow leopard would get dragged away by a green Aleister.
Thusly, furthering the misunderstanding between the master and his freebie pet.
"What's a Santa list..?"
Furan Shi skillfully ignored the system agent perched on his head and instead leaned more against the railing of the balcony. If Raum can choose not to answer some of his questions, then what says he himself can't do the same?
Two Selvan households brought forward seven representatives below in total, while each household from their counterpart either brought three or two.. Not a good look, but as Jinx isn't even affiliated to anything, maybe not even the main house, he could simply lay back and relax.
Or join the fight just for the fun of swinging a knife left and right without having to worry about a dumbbell teammate.
"Chance of system host Jinx(Furan Shi) getting killed in his first Sunday knife battle is 99.9%"
"Aww.."
Turns out he'd be that dumbbell teammate — dumb and heavy to carry.
His current higher terrain gives him an advantage. From the second highest balcony of the main house, he could scope out potential sugar daddies/mommies he can latch onto. He wanted the next best character after Aleister, and it's definitely not going to be Cornylius, that dumb corn snake.
To put forward a proper explanation, Camilius Fontaine is an impulsive kid. Young, virile, surprisingly a typical smarty-pants outside of the compound, but he's actually capricious trying to hide behind a blank, mysterious four-eyes facade. However unpredictable to others, Furan Shi could read Camilius' patterns very well as a mood-driven person himself. Camilius had barely settled for a nice, cool persona before he'd combust out of anger or frustration, and he'd repeat this process at irregular intervals. And as the python demihuman himself wasn't aware of his own random patterns, Furan Shi could easily rein them however he wanted to. They're definitely not a good match.
To summarize, Camilius is one petty bitch with an 8th grade syndrome. It's not an accurate description, actually. Furan just liked to call him those insults in his mind. He grinned, satisfied with himself, shoulders shaking as he tried to contain his laughter.
On the other side of the main house, we have Anton Selvan. Basically it's the holy trinity. Aleister the uncle, Anton the brother-turned-nephew, and Camilius the evil spirit. Anyways, if the dumb corn snake has a physique that can deflect bunny kicks, punches, and scratches, then his black wolf counterpart can absorb the same bunny kicks, punches, and scratches.
Anton Selvan was born a small wolf, and he would rather stay in the library in the main house than enjoy contributing to the domestic schemings outside of it. Not that he has a choice. He's more of a runt than Aleister had been, after all.
Their mother must've been casted out of the black wolf clan after birthing two weak ahh sons. Furan Shi could only shake his head out of pity.
Perhaps the only redeemable quality about him aside from his looks (that's a given in this compound) was his immunity to make enemies. Unlike his wolf kin, he could communicate with the Fontaines without them biting, strangling, poisoning, or stabbing him. Or maybe it was just that they, too, took pity after seeing his delicate forms. His beast form was a small, light blue wolf, maybe just a wee taller than dog demihumans in their beast form, and his human was a little too petite for a wolf man.
His voice wasn't any loud to compensate, either.
"They're all here so early."
Jinx almost jumped out of his skin and plummeted down from the balcony, if not thanks to his iron grip on the railings. The one who spoke just now with the light, almost airy voice appeared beside him, overlooking the gathering people below.
Seeing Anton in person is another thing from merely reading about him. Yes…
Snow could hold out on his own if pit against this man for sure.
The newcomer barely found his will to entertain the bunnyboy's intense gaze towards him, those reddish, cinnamon eyes squinted along with his creased brows and scrunched up button nose. Anton tepidly smiled at him. "Jinx, right?"
Compared to Snow, Anton at least holds some kind of elegant charm to his character, his back straight and his light blue hair cut short right around his eye level to evoke a fresh, yet meticulous, feel, even framing his big, well-groomed ears nicely without a strand of hair going astray. It's ironic for a wolf to look this collected, almost as if he could be adopted by the Fontaines and no one would notice, but then again, Anton wasn't your typical wolf.
Furan Shi finds a little comfort in the fact that at least Anton's downturned, grayish eyes can still reflect his small figure. Unlike this man's brother, whose eyes were as dark as the abyss, and Aleister didn't even seem to be aware of it himself..!
Anyways, if anything, Anton may look like the polar opposite of the perpetually naive-looking Snow. Sharp, melancholic, unnecessarily complex for an introverted character who has a fixed pattern of going to the library, his lab/office, and then his bedroom, and was extra comedy points in the story whenever he got involved. People would definitely have the urge to give him headpats if not for his elusive nature, but they'd be doing it gently.
「 Male black wolf demihuman. Err.. blue. Healthy, just a weak ahh wolf. Compensates with his smarts as a Selvan. Whole figure screams "Master, I've been good.. pleaseeeee pet me..?" which isn't really bad in itself, but character Jinx still won't be able to conquer this one. Wolf > bunny as per nature's rule. But maybe he can still partially absorb bunny kicks, punches, and scratches. Don't be fooled by his looks.. Uhh.. 22 years old, what else.. what else? 」
Even Furan's appraising skill was buffering as he tried to screen the other demihuman before him. At least Anton is a head taller than Jinx. But then again, he knew when to stop his skill before it could spit out more unnecessary stuff like it had with Snow. Furan Shi won't be needing this man's weak spots or diet and such anytime soon.
And, isn't it better to converse with him about the things he can just simply ask about? Like..
"What's happening down there..?" Jinx opened as he peered back at the demihumans gathering below, the question mostly to himself as he feigned an innocently intrigued expression fit for a bunnyboy, but then Furan Shi had been aiming to get a little chummy with cute wolf here.
He crossed his arms on the railings and bent down a bit to rest his arms there. Anton gave him an intrigued sideways glance of his own. Like Camilius, he didn't know what had gotten into his brother– err.. uncle.. to suddenly adopt two delicate creatures from the orphanage five hours away from this side of the country.
Sure, the Selvan brothers were close, to the point where they can read each other just by taking a glance, but it doesn't guarantee they can read each other's minds that were still at different wavelengths. Especially now with Aleister busy as the head of both the legal and illegal worlds of their businesses, and Anton assisting with the flushing of related controversies down the drain for the public to forget, on top of his training to take over one of their main businesses on the legal side.
Camilius was too young and erratic to hold a position, but eh — he's not any relevant to this conversation now, is he?
Finally, somewhat satisfied with what he's seeing, Anton mustered up a brief reply, "we stab each other during Sundays," followed by what sounded like a contented sigh, his own arms folding across his chest.
That's it..? Anton isn't a talker, either? Furan internally pouted, but as Jinx he only stared at the runt wolf, feigning astonishment and disbelief. Now, Furan Shi wasn't an actor, had never been a theater kid (because his high school didn't have extracurricular luxuries like that one), but he was at least aware of his facial muscles, his posture, and everything else for a nuanced acting.
"Host's acting skills really could be honed in the bathroom like that, huh?" Raum spoke after a long time of its silence on Jinx's head. "Or was it the times when you talked to yourself so dramatically, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions?"
Oh, those memories had been fun to watch for Raum. 85% potential is no joke, no matter how depraved this child's development had been. Furan's acting skill was at level 4, and it may or may not be assisted with Furan's mimicking skill whenever he felt like copying the short skits he consumed.
And of course, Anton was swayed as a character in the story. He cooed inside, but he had the decency to not show it and respect the small rabbit.
His hand, however, clenched into a fist in the pocket of his morning robe to stop himself from petting Jinx when the boy unconsciously pouted. The other fortunately was occupied by a mug of black coffee, and the railing was round so Anton didn't have any more excuse to just go ahead and pat down a hand on Jinx's head.
「 Passive skill [Natural Charm lvl5] in effect. 」
「 Debuff [Superstitions] does not apply to NPC Anton Selvan 」
「 Passive skill [Natural Charm lvl7] in effect. 」
「 Eh, should [Pouting lvl6] be a passive instead..? 」
Maybe it won't hurt to talk to this rabbit more. "The only rule here is to stab, not chop or shoot or whatever.."
Oh, nevermind. He was just as bad at talking as how he'd pictured himself in his head. He felt a little dispirited, but continued nonetheless after seeing how he easily got the bunnyboy's attention. Maybe he was actually just being polite, who knows?
"So… only kitchen knives are allowed during this particular timespan at the square below." He gave another one of his thin smiles at Jinx, partially because he didn't have the energy to socialize anymore.
"Do people die in this activity..?" Jinx continued the topic, anyway, pretending to be ignorant of Anton's despondency.
"I wish."
"Huh..?"
That was a good answer Furan Shi appreciates, actually. He even "furtively" distanced himself by some inches to add to the comedy, but who knew it only made Anton feel more… rejected? Although his ears didn't droop down, his eyes were enough to tell a whole story.
As if the runt wolf himself also has the [Cuteness Overload!!] skillset, and he's leveled up [Teary Eyes] to the max..!
Jinx, out of his own guilt and shame, scooted closer again with his lop bunny ears drooping even more, if that was still physically possible.
Bad joke, bad joke..!
Anton felt a little better with that small gesture of his apology and finally removed his hand from his pocket to instead place it riiiight there…
He didn't even realize he was petting the bunnyboy. Furan Shi, on the other hand, didn't really mind. When he nuzzled his head more into the man's hand, Anton felt more encouraged to continue, going so far that soon his hand slid lower, arm hooked around Jinx's small waist to pull him closer to his side.
The oversized analog clock perched on the wall of the main house, high above their heads, struck eight. Even without the head of the clans supervising, the people below seemed civil enough to play clean as they began their knife wars.
Ah, the 'slice of life' experience.
Sure enough, they were creative with their techniques, some using teamwork to try ganging up on one, but they never used any underhanded tactics. Furan Shi was a bit confused. "I thought the two clans hated each other to the point of wishing the other party dead..?" He quietly blurted out, which was readily picked up by Anton's wolf ear amidst the yellings and the clashing of knives.
They're sword fighting now, apparently.
"I think it has something to do with how brutal the knife battle was a month ago," Anton supplied a little more happily, content with and revitalized by holding the bunnyboy close like this. "Camilius had blocked an attack that was meant for a younger cousin of his, which almost penetrated a vital organ.."
"Aleister had been angry, so then both snakes and wolves had tucked their tails between their legs and regulated themselves."
Then shouldn't they just discontinue this tradition??? Or… or ban it altogether???
Jinx's eyes could very well be dilating as wide as saucers at this point. Anton, reading what his concern was all about just by looking at his cute face, chuckled gently.
"At this point, I think it just became our way of expressing affection to the other clan.." he continued, a fond smile slowly forming on his own face. He even found the courage to quip, seeing the bunny's cute expressions of bewilderment.
"Maybe, the deeper the penetration, the more that person was loved~?"
At this point, Furan Shi had relaxed completely in the runt wolf's arm despite the topic, that he'd been leaning into Anton for a while now. He also dismissed the tip of the man's bushy tail that was lightly grazing against the back of his leg behind them as it swished joyfully.
The calmness of the balcony, contrasting the absurd chaos below, made Furan Shi essentially forget something.
「 Passive skill [Harbinger of Nuanced Inconveniences lvl4] still in effect. 」
It didn't make Anton's coffee cold, no. It did something worse that it could be otherwise classified as a big problem rather than a small one.
Furan Shi found himself forcefully detached from the warmth of the runt wolf when a certain python demihuman inserted himself inbetween them, even being daunting enough as to snake his arms around the two, one around Anton's waist and with Jinx's height, around his shoulders. Like he's easily the dominant character and he's letting these two runts know about it.
A scummy move for a scummy child that easily towered over them both, and from the way Anton didn't even flinch, somehow tells Furan Shi the poor wolf was already used to Camilius' spontaneous appearances around the house.
Because where else could Cornylius be outside of his school if not pestering the people around him in the main house?
"What are you two doing up here, not joining in the fray~?" he asked, almost mockingly. Raum only reacted when the python took the liberty of squeezing Jinx's round, bushy tail once.
Twice for assurance haha.
「 New! Mission: Join the fray. Experience the Selvan/Fontaine compound life! 」
Jinx's ear twitched at the notification. 「 "Aren't you being a little too petty now Raum?" 」
The bird sighed, flying off the boy's head to land on the railing before him. "As much as I wanted to be petty, I'm just translating the world's will to you. Mostly."
Raum had wanted to add "-and get away from that [dumb corn snake]" to the first sentence of the new mission, but by doing so would only make it as though Raum wasn't doing its job properly as a system agent between its host and the current world.
Furan Shi was pacified by the explanation, at the very least. However, it didn't stop him from turning to Cornylius and smiling wryly at his dumb face.
"Do you want to duel there?"
Yes, that's for casually harrassing his tail.
Camilius playfully scoffed and ruffled his hair. "I don't hit weak people, sorry."
Furan's ears twitched further, his face turning a little uglier as he took the man's statement as an insult. Anton knew this was his cue to intervene, untangling himself from the python's arm, but before he could put a word in, Jinx got to Camilius first.
"Aren't you just fraid you'd get stabbed again? And here I thought Fontaines were special."
And the python did not like that. The corner of his lips twitched.
He suddenly spun the bunny around and lifted him up, hauling him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Active potatoes.
Furan Shi found himself protesting against this man once more, screaming at him to put him down, with his legs flailing and his bunny punches landing right on the rather unperturbed man's back. Anton watched on, not knowing whether to laugh or be worried, as the two disappeared back inside, presumably headed to the staircase to join the knife battle downstairs.
Raum followed along, flying next to the speedwalking Camilius and watching helplessly as the black rabbit in his arms gave up after a while of his futile wiggling.
"Don't worry, bunny," the python roared in delight as he added more haste to his pace, "I won't hurt you much..~!"
His mother said not to hit weaker creatures. His mother said not to prey on rabbits. Sorry mama, but this one's a real menace. Camilius didn't know bunnies could get this arrogant just because they get a little special treatment from a powerful backer.
In this case it's Aleister, who was more or less busy with a snow leopard on his lap and gruelling paperwork in his hands.
By the time he got into the kitchen to grab their supply of knives, Jinx's mind was already spinning. His world was spinning. Camilius had jostled him too much on the way he temporarily got afraid he'd be as dumb, too, after this.
And by the time he was a few meters away from the square, he felt the bunnyboy got lighter on his shoulder. Too light that Jinx's clothes fell freely to the ground, and next a small black rabbit was nestled in Camilius' arm.
Goddammit.
"Jinx, you little jerk..!" he all but cursed under his breath, gritting his razor sharp teeth as he glared at the bunny he had to nurse now, apparently.
The bunny, despite his light-headedness, found the strength to return the glare.
Camilius didn't have anything else to vent his frustration out to now. Tucking the bunny in his arms, he yelled his war cry and dashed right into the blurry mess of clashing steel blades and bloody people.
Raum flew high above everyone else to get a more VIP view than the amused Anton back at the balcony. Camilius was rabid, hissing and swinging two knives with one hand, maneuvering flexibly around people with the help of his long, thick tail.
At first the other white snakes were thrown off by how Camilius was blindly slashing at them, but soon cackled and reciprocated, and soon the field was more of a blur of allies and foes. A slash-and-stab all you want buffet, regardless of one's surname.
Well, on the bright side, Anton would have a lot of patients later for his inventions.
The villa compound was originally an abandoned ruins of some castle in this faraway grassland. The nearest demihuman settlement was two hours away, yet another heritage city, chock full of old, unappreciated buildings and cable wirings in the sky. It's a perfect place for underground operations, so the ruined castle was renovated and inhabited by the then growing White Snake clan some decades ago.
Lodgings for servants were transformed into mansions and multiplied for the extended families to live in, facilities were renovated to accommodate more modern technologies — recreational ones were mostly changed into more practical ones, leaving only the gardens, the greenhouse behind the main house, the pools and the hedge maze intact. Most importantly, they added laboratories and warehouses for their businesses. This was actually when they checkmated the government, when they started taking in the intellectuals the latter exploited and ultimately tried to take out, one Black Wolf at a time.
The rest was a rough history of misunderstandings.
Now, one of the laboratories was owned and operated by Anton alone, and perhaps this was where Furan's skill had warned him for. The very runt of the family was right next to Aleister's genius. If he was well-versed with numbers and relations, Anton was more fascinated with life sciences, especially settling down in the biomedical field.
His works were never patented (shucks) and never approved by the regulatory agencies related to his field. Not his fault his family is in hiding, yeah? Or at least that's how his excuses go.
Anyways, said laboratory has a clinic connected to it. After the knife battle earlier, said clinic was filled with patients and the smell of strong antiseptics. Among all the bleeding wolf and snake demihumans, a black rabbit was curled up in a ball, laid on a red throw pillow right beside the spot on the bed where Camilius sat. Anton was once again treating him, the familiar sight of him nagging and moving with swift precision displayed so unabashedly, as though he was another person with one too many arms that seamlessly worked together in a blur.
Jinx was unsurprisingly the only individual unscathed after the activity. Camilius had protected the bunny at all cost despite his earlier frustrations, making sure only he could receive the knives thrown their way if he couldn't deflect or avoid them on time.
Well, doing otherwise would be unbecoming of a Fontaine. He mindlessly brought a defenseless pet into a bloody battlefield, so it was just his responsibility to shield it with his life.
Beside the rabbit was a black bird, either gloating at or pitying the hissing python, whichever could piss him off more if he could see it.
「 "I can't believe god is real," 」Furan told his system agent through their mind link. 「 "I really did get that 0.1% of survival, huh?" 」
"That doesn't count," Raum carefully argued. "Character [dumb corn snake] intervened and upped your chances of survival."
「 "Way to ruin the mood. But really, I felt like I could do his maneuvers, too." 」
This time, Raum didn't deflate his ego too much. "You absolutely can, to a lesser degree. You have your [Empathy] skill, after all."
Anton, who was bandaging up Camilius' side for the third time this year, subconsciously reached out to pet the bunbun before busying himself again with his patient.
「 "Why is it even called Empathy if it's just mimicking?" 」
"I am but a humble system agent assigned to translate, quantify and emphasize my host's traits. How would I know why it was called Empathy? If anything, I'd rather have it translated into Greed or Envy, so at least host Furan Shi could have four and a half out of seven of the deadly sins in your world."
「 "Four and a half..?" 」
"Your [Arrogance], so-called [Empathy] that's better termed as [Envy], and then your innate insatiable urges plus your unparalleled laziness. That makes four, but you also have half of wrath. You aren't aware of how volatile you can be. You're just lucky you're a bunny right now so you're still harmless."
Is… is Raum sassing him out now, too? (No). Like the sentient system agents he'd read in those transmigration novels??? Oh no. Oh noooo..!
Truth be told, Raum was just trying to relate. It knows Furan likes those edgy stuff, but it failed to consider Furan's crybaby sensitive feelings.
「 "Am I that bad already..?" 」
「 New skill unlocked! Using skill [Teary Eyes lvl1] 」
「 Skill leveled up! [Teary Eyes lvl1] leveled up to [Teary Eyes lvl2]! 」
"Ah.."
Anton's now empty hand coincidentally reached out once more to pet the bunny. "Hang in there little bunny, I'll take care of you next..~" He truly has become a different person in his territory.
Raum just sighed out a small breath of relief with its bird body.
Most of the patients there weren't really badly injured and only got away with a few bruises and abrasions from having been pushed around, the worst being some lacerations, but luckily no one got stabbed as badly as Camilius the knife magnet. With that said, the clinic was soon emptied out, leaving the three important characters for the story.
Four. Raum was the fourth.
All that's left was to pack up and kick the python out, maybe let the bunny stick around more for innocent reasons, but the party wasn't over yet.
Aleister stormed in with a frantic snow leopard demihuman tailing behind. In the original story, this was supposed to be another comedic scene. But with Jinx here, it was only a comedy seemingly tailored for Raum.
The human started scolding the injured corn snake for again being more impulsive than the rest of them. He wasn't happy that Jinx had been exposed to danger when he was basically entrusted to Camilius, the supposedly next best guardian after Aleister. Raum was having a blast.
In the end, Camilius received his third house arrest of the year. Although only the members of the main house can visit him, it didn't bother him in the slightest. He didn't have any real friends to begin with. Still, the curfew was a pain in the ass. The internet was cut off, too, and the most dreadful thing of all..
His diet was controlled again! No chips! No soda! No unnecessary sweets!
All of these were being reported later that day by Raum to Furan Shi, who was chilling in the nest of pillows and blankets he made on the large bed in their bedroom. Snow was there too, lounging with the bunnyboy. Perhaps Aleister had felt bad, so he didn't call for Snow for the night and allowed him to stay back in his shared room with Jinx.
Dinner was even wheeled on a cart to their room so they wouldn't have to walk to the dining area, complete with a bouquet of apology flowers for the bunny. Beef bourguignon (the fancier version of a beef stew) for the snow leopard, stir-fried vegetables for the bunny, the 'crunchy on the outside chewy on the inside' potato chips, some bread Furan couldn't really identify, and broccoli juice. He could only drool in secret at the beef.
Furan Shi, when he inhabited Jinx's body, had adapted his senses. Great hearing, weird eyesight, and a very sensitive tongue. He was given a taste of the sauce of the stew, where he concluded vegetables are still the best. He had a few potato chips, but he'd rather snack on the apology flowers.
So as he did, Jinx scooted closer to the older demihuman. Snow only thought of it as the bunny seeking comfort, until he opened his lips to speak.
"How's the new life? How do you like Master Aleister so far? Handsome? Hot?? Big???" His eyes were beaming, as though he hadn't been shaken and jostled around in the square that morning in the python's hold.
There was even a time that he was thrown in the air when multiple knives couldn't be avoided. He was caught on time, but that was a terrifying experience to the bunnyboy as much as it felt thrilling.
「 "...not sure if your inquiries were OOC…" 」 -Raum
「 "Did it disrupt your work?" 」
「 "It was so fluid it slipped right through.." 」
「 "Thought so." 」
Snow placed his half-emptied glass of water down, seriously regarding his young peer's question. Somehow, his brain automatically ignored the follow up questions, of whether Aleister was big, or hot, or whatever..
"It's weird that we're not doing anything, and yet we're being fattened up.." he confessed in a low, unsure voice, then faced the bunnyboy with a weaker smile. "But, do you… feel happy?"
Jinx smiled back and placed a hand on Snow's. "It was fun so far.."
"Even if you almost died?" Snow's brows furrowed naturally in his recurring worry for the young rabbit, but Jinx again only smiled, even chuckled to dismiss his thoughts.
"But I'm unscathed, am I not? Camilius was a very cool guy (ughck-)!! Plus, big brother Snow is here.. s-so I'm very happy..!"
Jinx cheered, his lop ears perking up the best they could, only for them to look like airplane wings for a moment before they plopped back down.
「 Using skill [Blushing lvl 4] 」
「 New skill unlocked! Using skill [Look at me! lvl1] 」
「 Passive skill [Natural Charm lvl5] in effect. 」
「 Debuff [Superstitions] does not apply to NPC Snow 」
「 Passive skill [Natural Charm lvl7] in effect. 」
Snow's heart took a critical hit from Furan Shi..!!
「 "I wish I could have these skills permanently.. wuwuwu.." 」
"But… you do have them unlocked permanently..?" Raum responded, confused.
「 "Ehhh but didn't you say I have to pay for the unique skills after this world?!" 」
"Well yes… but you already have the [Cuteness Overload!] skillset.. I don't see why you still have to pay for the skills under an unlocked set.."
Furan's brain somehow translated that in the end as him beig naturally cute, whether he was Furan Shi or Jinx. What a way to further up his already giddy mood..!
"But brother.." Jinx then focused back on the protagonist, leaning closer. His cinnamon eyes, beady and adorably dumb as they may seem, now held a glint of a deeper sincerity just for Snow. He grabbed Snow's hands and squeezed them gently, and from the bottom of his heart, he continued.
"I hope you are happy yourself. I.. I know how hard you've worked in the orphanage to keep us fed and looked after.. and.." his gaze lowered, a way to control his bunny emotions. "You even saved me and took me with you here.."
"So… please don't worry about me anymore and focus on yourself!" He lifted up his chin again, nevermind the teary eyes, and grinned wider. "Besides, we have people taking care of us now..!"
"We'll work hard to be better people from now on and live life to the fullest!!"
Snow looked on proudly, his thumb instinctively seeking to wipe the stray beef sauce off Jinx's bottom lip.
In the orphanage where they came from, Jinx was always the the last kid to eat, the last kid to be cleaned up, and the last kid to look for that sometimes they never even realized the bunnyboy had gone missing. He readily shared what little ration of food he got, and always took the brunt of the anger of their caretakers. He inevitably made it his personality to be bratty so the caretakers knew just who to blame when mishaps happen.
Now, Snow can only be proud that Jinx didn't seem to carry any hatred at all from what unfairness he'd been subjected to, and felt even more determined to stay strong in front of the younger boy. If Jinx can think this maturely, then Snow must, too!
At that moment, an important thought occured to the snow leopard.
The two characters Jinx and Snow still don't know they were adopted by a mafia clan at this point along the storyline. Jinx wasn't even supposed to be here, and yet here he was. Furan's little choice to insert his character into the plot surely rippled through the storyline they were supposed to follow. Fortunately, it wasn't an abrupt change that Raum couldn't follow. It felt the world produce its soft tremors that faded as quickly as they came.
Anyways, for now, their optimism seemed boundless, unsullied and innocent however beaten up and challenged Snow felt it had been. Despite Snow's initial reservations, seeing Jinx cheer him up like this made him feel emotional himself, and as he let go of his reluctance, he nodded enthusiastically and went in for a tight hug.
「 "Ah… hugs are still the best, Raum." 」 For Raum, Furan's conclusion has a different meaning. It knew just how much the kid was touch-starved in his original world, how he'd burdened himself with words he never wanted to hear from anyone else, and yet lived abundantly and unrestrained inside his own head.
Maybe… a 'slice of life' story frame really was the best choice to begin this kid's transmigration journey in, if only to ease him into this complicated system.
「 [Mother's Eye] development progress: 2.3% 」