When Ray was a dragon, he always insisted only on corn soup, so he could only make that. But now that he’d become human, the range of tastes he could feel might have broadened much more. So Naro decided to make slightly more varied dishes.
He boiled corn soup and made rye bread with homemade tangerine jam, and a salad with edible greens and dressing.
Naro wiped his forehead looking at the table filled fuller than usual. Making breakfast for two people took twice the effort. Even if it was hard, it wasn’t hard. Strangely, looking at that scene made his heart swell.
Naro raised his head and stared at the bed. Ray, as if not taking his eyes off Naro for even a single moment, was looking straight only at this place and even at this moment sitting obediently without moving.
As if waiting for Naro’s permission to fall.
“You can come now.”
Ray jumped up and walked with big strides. Even knowing he had no intention to threaten, he couldn’t help feeling a bit intimidated because he was very tall with a considerable physique. Ray didn’t go to his usual seat but came in front of Naro and suddenly bowed his head.
Naro let out a slight laugh at the sight of him presenting his head as if asking to be praised.
“Yeah. You did well. Thank you for waiting.”
Naro stroked Ray’s hair twice. He used to stroke him often when Ray was a dragon, and doing the same action now that he’d become human felt somehow strange.
“Do more. You used to touch me about five times before.”
“Y-you did? Okay.”
He didn’t know he’d been counting. Thinking he should keep that in mind from now on, Naro touched his head three more times and sat facing Ray to start eating.
While eating smoothly, Ray, who was eating soup, suddenly stopped his actions. Then with a puzzled expression, he suddenly looked over the table. There was even an illusion of question marks floating above his head.
“Ah, you’ve never eaten these before, right?”
Ray nodded his head. Naro briefly explained about the salad and bread, and while at it, showed a demonstration of spreading tangerine jam generously on bread with a jam knife and eating it.
“Ray became human. So I wanted you to try more various things.”
As Naro spoke while chewing, somehow Ray’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. He stared intently at Naro’s face, precisely at his mouth area.
“Ray?”
“Naro’s canine teeth are different from mine.”
“Hm? I suppose so.”
Even though the appearance became human, it couldn’t be the same as humans in all aspects. For instance, those unique pupils, and just as Ray said, his canine teeth were sharp and pointed like a beast’s.
“Canine teeth, cute.”
“Oh, really?”
Ray stared at the canine teeth with curious eyes, almost shooting lasers. Though he’d heard compliments about his face being cute or pretty quite often, this was the first time hearing his canine teeth were cute, so it was a bit funny yet fascinating.
After all, among humans, people don’t really say things like ‘your canine teeth are cute.’
“I want to suck on them.”
“…What?”
“Cute. Let me suck on them.”
Ray scraped his chair and stood up. What was this, could this also be one of the dragon’s characteristics? Wanting to suck on them? Did I understand the words correctly? Before that, he wanted to first ask what correlation existed between thinking something was cute and sucking on canine teeth. But before he could, Ray had already properly come right in front of Naro.
“Um, Ray, now isn’t the time to eat my canine teeth, but to eat breakfast.”
“I’ll eat Naro’s canine teeth first.”
Ray crouched down in front of Naro sitting on the chair and matched eye level. Reading the seriousness in the face gradually approaching, Naro truly fell into a panic and his vision spun round and round. Even if he tried to go somewhere else, Ray was blocking the way with his huge body in front.
As the face got closer and closer, Naro had no choice but to close his eyes.
“Naro, open your mouth.”
There was no way he could open it. Just when Naro turned his head trying to at least evade—
Knock knock—
The sound of someone knocking on the door from outside could be heard. As Naro instinctively flinched in surprise, Ray jumped up and stood as if guarding him.
“Naro, are you inside?”
A familiar voice could be heard. It was Garnet.
“Ahjussi?”
Naro got up from his seat, opened the curtain, and glanced outside. As expected, Garnet was standing there. Just as Naro unconsciously let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the door handle, Ray suddenly reached out his hand to stop him.
“What’s wrong?”
“You can’t go out. It could be a dangerous human.”
“Ah, it’s okay. That person is Garnet ahjussi, someone like the person in charge of this village, and he’s really good to me.”
“Then I’ll go out together too.”
For some reason, Ray’s expression wasn’t good. Could he be worried because of the recent pharmacy incident? That was appreciated, but the village still didn’t know of Ray’s existence. Residents of such a small village were close enough to know who lived where and how many spoons each house had.
So the village side couldn’t help but find it quite strange that a robust man appeared suddenly without any word. Of course, he planned to make up an appropriate reason to explain and formally introduce him, but he still hadn’t thought of a proper reason.
“It’s okay. He’s really not a dangerous person.”
“…”
“Ray, really.”
“I’ll be watching from the window.”
As Ray stepped back with a slightly gloomy voice, Naro’s expression also brightened. And leaving words that he’d just talk and come back, he went outside. As expected, Garnet welcomed him with his usual face.
“You were in the middle of eating breakfast. Sorry for calling you suddenly.”
“No. But what’s the matter?”
“Actually, I heard about what happened at your pharmacy. I was late in hearing the news because I went to another village for work. It was that bastard Anton’s doing after all, right?”
Naro nodded his head weakly.
“I think so.”
“Why don’t you report it to the guards? I’ll help you.”
“I was going to, but actually there’s no evidence. I don’t think much would change even if I reported it, and for now I just want to focus on restoring the shop.”
Garnet let out a heavy sigh as if he felt sorry for Naro.
“Ahjussi, have you seen Anton since then by any chance?”
Naro, who was certain that Anton had ruined the pharmacy, went out to find him. But he didn’t know the address where he lived in the first place, and at best he’d only encountered him when he came to this village, so it was unexpectedly difficult to meet him. Though he wasn’t thinking of reporting, he at least wanted to hear the reason for messing up the pharmacy and an apology.
“About that. I just heard this morning from the neighboring village too, but Anton was seriously injured and is currently in a coma.”
“What?”
Naro’s eyes widened.
“You know there’s a small forest between Rodelus village and Hines village, right? A resident of Hines village discovered Anton collapsed there, and his condition was quite miserable. They immediately took him to a doctor, but he lost too much blood so it seems uncertain whether he’ll wake up.”
“That’s…”
Since he didn’t come to the village after ruining the pharmacy, he’d thought it was because he felt guilty, but it wasn’t that—he couldn’t come because he was injured?
“About that, there’s more to talk about…”
Garnet was about to speak when he suddenly looked at Naro’s hair and tilted his head.
“Hm? There’s something here? Like black fur…”
It was that moment when Garnet naturally reached his hand toward Naro’s hair.
Bang—!
A tremendous explosion sound was heard from behind. Both Garnet and Naro were startled and turned their heads.
“…R-Ray.”
Ray, displaying a fierce aura, walked steadily through the house door that had been shattered to pieces. Then he smacked away his hand reaching toward Naro and pulled Naro into his arms.
“Don’t touch him carelessly.”
For a moment, silence hung. Only the sound of wooden pieces precariously hanging on the broken door falling with a thud echoed among the three people.
“N-Naro? Who is this young man?”
“Ah, well!”
Garnet looked between Naro and Ray alternately and awkwardly raised the corners of his mouth. Seeing Garnet’s expression dyed with confusion, Naro pushed Ray’s chest and immediately escaped from his arms. Ray’s expression looking at the emptied embrace was still full of dissatisfaction.
“Um, so, well…”
Naro quickly turned his head. From right after learning Ray had become human, he’d vaguely thought that the time to reveal Ray’s existence to the villagers would come someday. Of course, Naro wanted that too. Though it was a small village, because everyone had good hearts and took good care of him, Naro could easily adapt even in a world from a different dimension.
Thanks to warm hands from Garnet and numerous residents, he was able to have a precious home and pharmacy. So he hoped Ray would be the same. Though the species was different, he hoped he’d become familiar with the affection humans gave. He believed without doubt that the village residents would surely accept Ray just as they had done for Naro.
But to do that, he had to explain who Ray was and why he was here. He couldn’t honestly confess that Ray, who had been a dragon, suddenly became human, right? He’d just been putting it off because he still hadn’t found an appropriate excuse, but for things to explode like this.
