1.5

Furan Shi woke up with a tight cloth obscuring his vision. He felt he was seated upright, with ropes keeping him glued onto the chair. He was still a little dizzy from the strong dose of whatever they had on that handkerchief, and if he wasn't strapped to the wooden chair, he would've toppled over from how light and heavy his head felt at the same time.

The small movements of his head cued the only person there with him to finally speak up. "Finally awake, little one..?"

「 "Raum.. what happened..? No, nevermind… that would be too anticlimactic to keep asking you for spoilers.." 」

「 "... You're growing up. Anyways, they're extra characters, but you should've still been alert instead of thinking about foolish things. Especially now that the slice of life tag—" 」

Furan Shi decided to cut it short there and instead focused on gauging his current situation. He doesn't feel any particular pain around his body aside from how tight the ropes were hugging his wrists together behind the chair, as well as his ankles below.

So, as an abducted target, the first sensible question from him was, "why am I here..?"

Nah, that sounded too.. unconvincing.

Nonetheless, the familiar airy voice from earlier responded.

"Don't move too much. You'll only hurt yourself..!"

Ah. So that's it.

"If.. if you knew I'm Master Aleister's pet, you should know it was a mistake to kidnap me..!" he cried and tugged at the ropes around his wrists for dramatics. It earned a fond laugh from the other person.

"Relax," the voice said, and Jinx could feel the beats of the quiet footsteps on the floor nearing him. "I'm trying to save you here."

Hold it. "Not the kidnapper? Where are they?? No.. who are you???"

His blindfold was carefully pulled off him, the sudden lighting striking his eyes. As he blinked away the blur, he came face to face with the ever elegant Anton. Only this time, the frail man looked riddled with concern.

"Master Anton..?"

Raum had implied he wasn't in any harm while in the company of the abductors from earlier, but by extension, that also ruined his immersion that he had to resort to using his acting skills to seem scared like the small bunny he was. "Master Anton.. w-why am I here?"

He tried to tug at his restraints again. Anton gently grabbed Jinx's chin to tilt his head upwards.

"Calm down, Jiji," he cooed with an assuring smile, however stark its contrast was against the dim lighting of the room. "I'm here to save you now..~"

「 "...he orchestrated the whole thing, didn't he..?" 」

「 "Ah, host is truly growing up." 」

"Please.. untie me now, Master.." He murmured, pouting right after. His pouting skill should be a passive skill at this point.

His efforts to seem pitiful paid off. That is, to the benefit of his main abductor. Basically, his acting skills weren't too effective in the face of the real two-faced beast.

Maybe this is what his appraising skill had truly meant when it warned him about Anton. And just as he realized it, perhaps it was unwittingly shown on his face, Anton's angelic signature smile contorted into a wry smirk. This new version of him somehow fitted him better, like a wolf in sheep's clothing that was actually a snake hiding in a wolf's hide if that makes sense.

But anywho, an antagonist reveal in front of an insignificant character that is Jinx? What's wrong with this story?

"I don't wanna~" Anton playfully hummed. "At least, not yet."

Not only did he reveal his antagonist face, but also his hidden unnatural strength beneath the helpless runt facade he'd built upon for years when he casually picked up the bunnyboy that was still strapped to the chair with ease.

"I was going to invite you today to hang out with me, but who knew you were so committed to that one-dimensional snake pup."

Rolling his eyes, he went on his merry way, carrying Jinx out of the room that was revealed to be a storage room inside his laboratory. He placed the chair back down near his work table, where he sat behind and continued working.

And then it was quiet. So utterly quiet.

After a while, Anton cleared his throat and gave the bunnyboy a sideways glance. "Not gonna speak, little pie?"

Furan Shi immediately made a 'what the fuck' face like he was offended by the nickname. "What, you expected me to chat like I'm not tied tightly to a chair?"

"That's vaguely relevant, don't you think?" Anton shot back with a gentle laugh. He rolled his swivel chair closer to the bunnyboy to pinch the tip of his nose, all while scrunching up his own as if he couldn't get enough of his cuteness. "Plus, aren't bunny rabbits naturally chatty?"

Pause.

Huh?

Anton noted how Jinx was looking at him like he was the dumb one. Maybe he was, in this context. "They're not.. chatty..?"

Jinx only blinked again with his deadpan. That confirmed it anyways.

"Master, why don't you untie me first and then maybe we can talk, hm?" Jinx offered, but by bringing that up, Anton's tail perked up along with his dog ears.

Wolf ears. Wolf.

"No can do, little pie. You're here for a reason rather than just for company, you see."

As Anton inched closer again, Furan Shi could only push his back flat against the backrest of the chair he was tied to and raise his head — almost throwing it back just to show rejection. Of course, the socially inept wolf runt never got his signal.

"As you may know," Anton began, maybe deliberately ignoring the defeated sigh that escaped from the bunnyboy's lips, "rabbits are naturally dumb, as most of the smaller prey are."

「 "Raum..?" 」

「 "Yes, host?" 」

「 "Is this the consequence of going OOC..?" 」

「 "..technically, yes, host." 」

Anton stood up from his seat and leisurely walked towards a bookshelf at the side, from which he pulled out a book. It wasn't dusty as one might expect of a book that was obviously never used. His office, actually, was immaculately spotless.

He excitedly shuffled back to Jinx like a penguin that found a good pebble, only it was a thick textbook in his hands.

Calculus for Dummihumans

Furan's eyes squinted. "What's… that for..?"

Obviously, the man wouldn't hit him with it. But as a bunnyboy, he can't just push that possibility off the table. Anton only chuckled seeing the apprehensive look on the cutie pie's face as he sat the book down onto the table before them.

He opened it to a random page.

"Can you answer this for me?" he asked, brimming with intrigue and slight excitement. But poor Furan Shi, perhaos the runt wolf had forgotten he was still all tied up. He begrudgingly shook himself and gave the other another deadpanned look.

"Can't."

"Oh- pfft sorry.."

Anton easily untied the rope with a tug on one end. It was actually tied like a fucking ribbon! Well, his hands may be free, but unfortunately Anton didn't seem to want to untie his ankles yet. And the ropes there weren't tied like a ribbon this time.

Dang it.

Only when Furan Shi could feel blood flowing through the veins in his wrists did he pick up the provided pen and begin scrabbling his answers right on the textbook. The runt wolf, meanwhile, watched on in fascination.

Differential Calculus was a cakewalk to Anton given his genius, but it was a very strange thing indeed to have a bunny rabbit, which race wasn't big on anything too intellectual, do something Camilius couldn't do in an hour.

The bunny rabbit soon laid down his pen and looked back up to hold the scrutinizing gaze of the runt wolf. No, rather than scrutinizing, it seemed as though Anton was looking at something so delectable he could gobble him up after studying him..!

「 "You said you're not good in math..?" 」

「 "... that's a different math." 」

Raum wasn't able to cheek back, however, as Anton pushed another set in the textbooks towards Jinx.

Ah, this will be a long day.

Furan Shi quietly started. His wrist was fluid as it controlled the pen, circling and drifting across the pages as he filled in more than thought. He barely looked up to remember some terms, and quickly went back to the page.

The sooner he gets this done, the better.

Anton Selvan was second to his older brother, who mostly excelled in logic and mathematics. However, he'd never seen him do any mathematical problems personally. Aleister had always whined and babbled about things teenage boys whine about in his presence like the big baby he is.

Maybe watching Jinx's hand move could be close enough to watching Aleister himself, or he may just as well be underestimating his brother. After all, Jinx is still a bunny rabbit.

After an hour, Jinx was exhausted of his brain juices, and Anton was only partially satisfied with his observation. Jinx got a nice head pat as a reward, a warm hug, a kiss on each cheek, and some pocket money, too.

"For your personal use, baby bunny," Anton had said as he casually pushed towards him a stack of bills. And then he found himself standing outside of the runt wolf's office.

And it was then that he heard a certain python's voice yelling at him from afar. That voice was quickly advancing towards him, and yet he stood still with the stack in hand, dazed and mostly exhausted after all that.

It was only when Camilius was at an arm's length did Furan Shi turn to him. Camilius suddenly circled his arms around him and pulled him into a tight bear hug.

"You stup— master…" Camilius rasped, out of air from all the running that Jinx could feel his heavy breathing on the crown of his head. "I've been looking for you..!"

Well, this is awkward. Furan Shi couldn't quite figure out where to place his hands, so he pocketed the bills before settling for a small, tepid hug.

Camilius leaned away just a tad bit after inhaling some of the refreshing scent from the bunnyboy, staring down at him. From the look of his face, his eyes half-lidded, Furan Shi could at least sum up that the young man had been running around even though he just woke up from the drug that he unwittingly took with the tea. Well... obviously so-

"H-how's.. Aunt Julianna..?" he asked after letting Camilius catch his breath while trying to hold his own in. The latter softly glared back.

"You didn't answer my question," Camilius scolded. "Where have you been-?"

"He was with me this whole time," another voice answered for him.

They both turned to the door at the side to find Anton Selvan standing there with his arms crossed, leaning at the door frame. "If anything, Jinx here should be the one scolding you as his pet, no?" A corner of his lips tugged upwards in a small smirk.

Oh, dear.

"What have you been doing, Camilius? Didn't you know Jinx was kidnapped?"

Camilius couldn't respond properly to the taunt, knowing full well his pride as a Fontaine was at stake. Usually, Anton was friendly to everybody because he's the only trusted pharmacist of some kind within the compound. But somehow he can find the time to mess with Camilius all the time to get back at Camilius asserting his height.

And now is one of those times, and somehow it didn't feel quite as pleasant as before. Maybe it's because Jinx was also attentively awaiting his reply?

Camilius could only suck it up and crouch down. Furan Shi was confused at first, until the young man suddenly hugged his waist, the serpentine tail wagging and thumping against the hard floor beneath them.

The most unexpected part was Camilius slowly tilting his chin up. No, it was his eyes with pupils enlarged to show his own kicked puppy look. Aww.

「 "Raum… are you sure NPCs can't get OOC..?" 」

「 "¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯" 」

How could Furan Shi have the heart to not coddle this manchild?

He reached down to tentatively place a hand on his head, and after not feeling anything weird in the atmosphere as a warning for OOC, he began to gently ruffle Camilius' white hair. The latter's tail shamelessly wiggled more in response. And this time, Camilius was the one to give the amused Anton a triumphant smirk.

Cute and all, but what is up with the badly drawn mustache and monocle combination?

——————————

"Raum."

They were back at the Fontaine territory. Aunt Julianna had gone into another room in the mansion to plan  her revenge against whoever drugged her. Given Anton's reputation, she never suspected him. Sure, it was Anton who sold them the drugs, but that didn't mean he was the one to directly drug them, yes?

Camilius was with Jinx in the library, but right then Furan Shi was in another section, excusing himself into the non-fiction section to look for books to read. The python, having no interest in some boring books, let him go. There were security guards placed all over, anyways, after that drugging incident.

"I can't help but feel like I'm missing something..."

Raum was, again, perched atop his head, between the roots of his lop ears. "Is it about the slice of life? If you ask me, watching you live in too much peace does bore me a bit."

Furan Shi absentmindedly poked the bird's underbelly for that. "Not that, silly."

With a sigh, he pulled out a random book off the shelf and slunk towards the nearest reading nook. He plopped right inbetween throw pillows and made himself comfortable before opening the random book at a random page.

"Raum, can I see my skills again?"

As he commanded, the letters on the random page he opened scurried chaotically, disarranging themselves before rearranging into Furan's skill list.

「 Special Skills: 」

•Cuteness Overload!

     -Pouting [lvl 6]: Yeah.. the purse of the lips. Cute pout that makes everyone around you want to do things to those soft lips!

     -Blushing [lvl 4]: Deceives targets by making you look helpless and weak, or maybe even erotic, with your flushed face.

     -Natural Charm [Passive lvl 7]: Inevitably draws maternal instincts/perverse reactions from surrounding characters at a 21% intensity. May distract onlookers at a 14% chance.

     -Teary Eyes [lvl 2]: Produces tears that brim in the eyes and threaten to fall, but never do. Enticing sight that makes everyone want to bully you more!

     -UwU I'm Scawwy~ [lvl 1]: A very adorable glare that makes people want to tease you more!

     -Look at Me! [lvl 1]: like the name states, grabs people's attention no matter what they're doing. Can cause accidents so..

Honestly, his Cuteness Overload skillset seemed almost like a helpless pick me behavior. Almost.

At least his cuteness is weaponized. In Furan's opinion, that had been his shield in his original life. Because he was this cute boy, girls would coo at him, give him chocolates in valentines, crowd around him to serve as his protective circle..

It had also been his downfall, ultimately dying in a pervert's hands.

Anyways.

•Creature Encyclopedia

     -Arrogance [Passive lvl 5] - Arrogant mofo???

"Hey- why is my arrogance at level five already???" Furan Shi pouted. Annoyed, he flipped the page to another random page. "I don't wanna see it anymore..!"

Well, it didn't feel like the thing he was looking for was in his skills, anyways.

"The last two was just [Empathy] and [Sanctuary], right?"

"Right, yes. The mimicking skill and the taming skill."

Pursing his lips still, Furan Shi slid down and raised his legs into the reading nook. Now he's a sad pasta.

"As for my mania skills…"

[The Monster] was a very useful skill. But to activate it, his character's body must lose its virginity for some reason before he can numb it. Ah, right. It's referencing how he died. Cruel, but so right in his book.

He'd used the [Fight or FIGHT] once with Camilius, but it did nothing much than make him panic more. Maybe he could level it up after this story.

"Raum," he called out again, and when he heard the corvid hum in response, he continued. "Do you think I'm just jeopardizing this story..?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Look," he holds up a finger, "I removed the slice of life tag," another finger, "I caused Snow to push himself to be a bara snow leopard," another finger, "plus the story's not progressing as fast as I thought."

"Or maybe it is progressing," countered Raum, the ever unhelpfully helpful companion, "just to a different tangent."

As if that could make Furan Shi feel better. He clicked his tongue in thought as he adjusted himself in the nook so he was sitting upright again with his knees held up against his chest.

"Should I just seduce Camilius to unlock [The Monster]?"

Raum flew down to perch on his knees, its beady eyes looking up at him dumbly. "Nothing wrong with two teens in the mood for it. But what would you do after unlocking that skill?"

"Join the mafia?" Furan Shi supplied with a rather mirthless tone. "I could be an asset to them, no?"

"Ah, but the skill only numbs your body parts, not necessarily making you immune to injuries."

Right.

"Raummm…" he whined instead after running out of ideas. "I'm too lazy to collect data for youuuu… hhhhh…"

He pouted at the bird, leaning in. "How do I restart, bird???"

"I could suffocate your soul out of that body-"

"Too flimsy..!"

"But dying is the only option? Well, not unless you're Mother."

"You keep mentioning that turd..!"

Raum glanced at the progress bar of 「 [Mother's Eye] development at the side, now at 14%, before returning to the complaining Furan Shi.

"That turd you speak of is a highly respected individual." Raum defended, puffing out its feathery chest in pride, half offended.

"Oh, like some holy shit, then?"

"You-"

"Is there no other way to restart this story??"

This time, Raum sighed for the nth time that day. Its small figure visibly drooped, perhaps exhausted even though it wasn't truly exhausted. "Listen. The problem is that you're still treating this world as a mere story. You should keep in mind that this is still a reality that's just parallel to yours. Whatever happens here is real. We only dub the events in it as a story to categorize it."

Seeing Furan Shi merely staring down at it made the system agent continue.

"These NPCs we speak of are real people with real feelings. Even though they have animal characteristics, they have their own logic to support it."

Furan Shi didn't know how to respond to that. While it was true that everything around him was his new reality, it was still hard to treat it as such, not after seeing his own skills could be quantified and then categorized, especially when he gets the notification that he's using a skill even though he does it so naturally.

It's just so hard when everything before him was quantified, and even harder when he has a reset button or a next world button after his death. Maybe, its his death that made his original world feel so real.

"Hey Raum," he finally opened his mouth to speak, although done so with great hesitance. "Was my life.. just a story to another host..?"

"No." Furan Shi didn't know what to feel at Raum's answer. Mostly positive, but somewhat confused. "As a host, your story is exclusively yours. Any copies of it was yours to do as you please."

"Then… is this world... only a copy of the original?"

Raum only eyed him so nonchalantly, a blank stare that somehow sent chills down his spine.

"Do you want it to be?" Raum's asked back. It didn't make him feel any better.

The system world was truly too complex for his understanding, given that he's just a new host. Maybe the more experienced host would still struggle with understanding it all. Even system agents have a hard time translating it all for their host's comprehension level.

Given all that, Furan Shi came to a conclusion. He had to do this before his mood reached a lower tide.

"Since you basically wired my data to get more OOC from the original Jinx, I can do whatever I want, right?"

Raum couldn't help but feel like Furan Shi was planning something risky. Nonetheless, the development of [Mother's Eye] was rapidly progressing with its host's current train of thoughts. So, as a sensible system agent, it didn't stop Furan Shi.

"Of course," it answered. "If anything happens, I can just pull you out and you'll be fine."

At least that much was true.

"Then I'll go ahead and find that corn snake."

Raum froze, but he was already being sat aside as Furan Shi got up to rush away.

"Host.. w-wait..!"

Its host was already running around in the library, looking for Cornylius, turning corners and combing through every aisle there.

"Camilius?" He called out. He heard a reply from the opposite end, and as he ran there, he found Camilius was seated in another reading nook, crossed-legged, and in hand a storybook about a little prince. "There you are."

「 Passive skill [Natural Charm lvl5] in effect. 」

「 Fixed condition applied: canceled all debuffs of host Jinx(Furan Shi) during mood=high tide. 」

Camilius was regarding him casually, seeing the bunny all cute and puffy like this. He set aside his storybook and opened his arms as if on instinct, and right then Furan Shi knew to jump into it.

He snuggled himself on the young man's lap, hugging him back. He tilted his head up cutely to stare back, their noses mere inches apart from each other.

「 Using skill [Look at Me lvl1] 」

「 Using skill [Blushing lvl4] 」

"What were you reading?" He whispered coyly. Camilius only chuckled and ran his free hand through his ruffled black hair.

"Want to read with me?"

「 "Host, what are you scheming here?" 」

「 "Oh, just rushing his affection meter for character [Jinx] hehe" 」

「 "Whh..?" 」

「 "You wouldn't get it~" 」

And thus Raum's headache. It was forced to watch Furan Shi act all cuddly with his pet python, nuzzling his head under Camilius' chin and even hugging his thick serpentine tail.

Camilius, on the other hand, was acting as though it was all natural. Or, he was secretly enjoying all this sudden attention the cute bunnyboy was giving him. And, it's a bonus to show that Anton he was closer to the bunnyboy!

He was holding up the book in front of Jinx, who was seated right on his lap. His chest was pressed against the bunnyboy's back, his chin right on top of the other's head. It was fine when Jinx hugged his tail, as they had established on the fourth rule.

Jinx was hugging it at first no problem. But as they got deeper into the storybook, Jinx unconsciously pushed the tip inbetween his soft lips. Camilius jolted at the sensation, but somehow didn't exactly stop the bunnyboy from nibbling at such a sensitive spot.

He transferred the open book to one hand to use his other to grip at the bunnyboy's waist. Furan Shi may or may not be enticing him on purpose. "Bun— master.."

He could only grit his teeth when his master looked back at him over his shoulder, grinning with the tip of his tail inbetween his teeth. "Payback for scaring me so much these past few weeks."

"Y-you're still hung up on that? I said I was sorry..!"

"Nuh uh."

Furan Shi stubbornly nibbled on without much regard for the poor python. "Not until our one-month deal is over, you still have to pay for your sins..!"

「 "Host, what are you doing???" 」

「 "A casual approach? I mean, since when was sex about love?" 」

「 "Clearly, your mood has driven you to act this impulsively. I can give you a mood stabilizer for free." 」

「 "Can't hear you over this heat." 」

Maybe Raum was indeed feeling exasperated as a "parental" figure to this immature host. When they first met, Furan Shi had been such a shy kid who kept on doubting himself and his own abilities to the point that he'd unconsciously pick himself apart. Who knew Furan Shi's switch could get this far?

Truly, Raum had underestimated his mood-based personality.