The two left the office side by side and headed to the dressing room connected to the bedroom. Formo sat on Serdin’s shoulder and chose the clothes he would wear. As Formo was pointing with his wing at clothes that were easy to put on by himself, a cravat caught his eye. After briefly gauging Serdin’s reaction, Formo soon turned his gaze away from the cravat and pretended not to have seen it.
Since he was going to dress himself, was there any need to choose something difficult to tie without Serdin’s help? It wasn’t even worth considering. Formo gave Serdin a look to gather the clothes he had chosen.
“Pipi.”
Contrary to his expectation that Serdin would immediately gather the clothes, Serdin stood there like a stone and looked at Formo.
“How can you forget this?”
What Serdin brought while saying that was the cravat Formo had deliberately ignored. Formo’s pupils wavered from side to side when he spotted the cravat in Serdin’s hand. If he took that with him, he would have to receive Serdin’s help. Formo, who had been planning to dress himself, urgently flapped his wings and cried out.
“Cheep, cheep!”
[Th-that’s not necessary!]
Despite Formo’s desperate cry, Serdin paid no mind and took the cravat and left the dressing room. He glanced at Formo sitting on his shoulder with his small beak hanging wide open and stepped into the bedroom.
“Cheep!”
[I said it’s not necessary!]
As soon as the bedroom door closed, Formo’s angry shout poured out like lightning. Formo could bet five plates of cream soup that Serdin had packed the cravat to interfere with his plan to dress alone. With glaring eyes, Formo flew from Serdin’s shoulder to the bed headboard.
He looked Serdin’s outfit up and down and clicked his beak.
“Cheep! Cheep?”
[You don’t even dress fully yourself! Why are you only doing this to me?]
He had thought it was unfair for a while. So he had questioned it several times, but Serdin neither showed any particular reaction nor corrected his attire. Each time, only Formo would grumble and complain with irritation.
“You want to change clothes quickly?”
Serdin asked back brazenly. As if he hadn’t understood anything Formo was asserting. His appearance of spouting nonsense only at times like this was nothing short of annoying. Formo put his wing to his forehead and sighed.
‘That wretched jaguar is at it again.’
Though anger surged up, he had to endure it. Though he wanted to rush over and peck him painfully right away, he had to calm down. Since he had decided to tour the capital teeming with predators, he couldn’t waste his energy on something like this already. Formo, who had soothed himself, came down onto the bed sheet and closed his eyes. Then he began his transformation into human form while thinking of his appearance as a human rather than a long-tailed tit.
The sight of the small long-tailed tit transforming into a slightly less small human appearance was always an enjoyable scene to watch. Serdin quietly observed as Formo’s small, snow-white head changed into white hair, his large round eyes became even larger, and his plump body became long and thin, then muttered softly.
“Should I have him eat more frequently?”
As soon as Serdin’s muttering subsided, Formo rushed under the blanket in a hurry. It was behavior befitting a long-tailed tit who was extremely embarrassed to show his naked body to Serdin. This time too, Formo stuck only his face out and urged him to bring clothes quickly.
“Give me my clothes!”
The sight of him making demands confidently while blinking his large eyes was quite cute. Serdin glanced down at the clothes in his hand and raised the corners of his mouth. He wanted to tease him a little by holding the clothes hostage.
“Why do you need clothes?”
“Because I have to wear them!”
Formo shouted, narrowing his brows as if asking why he was asking such an obvious thing. However, when Serdin shrugged and showed no signs of moving from his spot despite his outcry, Formo stamped his feet under the blanket.
“I said give me the clothes?”
“Pipi, come and get them yourself.”
“Wh-what?”
Formo’s eyes widened. His long, snow-white eyelashes trembled. At Formo’s appearance of being bewildered enough to be dumbfounded, Serdin burst into laughter.
“Come and get them, Pipi.”
“……Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Pipi, don’t tell me you’re embarrassed?”
“I-isn’t that obvious?”
Formo blinked rapidly, feeling very troubled to be having a verbal argument about such a topic. His expression was changing from moment to moment. After losing his words for a while and only rolling his eyes, Formo glared and demanded.
“Stop teasing and give me the clothes quickly. You said we’d go sightseeing.”
Serdin was about to demand a kiss in exchange for bringing the clothes but hesitated. Because Formo had lifted his upper body up as much as possible while lying prone, his white, smooth skin was revealed. Specifically, around his chest area. Serdin sighed as he tried to hold back his gaze heading in that direction. It seemed it would be better to stop teasing Formo here.
“Alright, Pipi.”
After answering that, Serdin strode over to Formo. Formo, who was covered in the blanket, reached out his hand to receive the clothes. Serdin, who had neatly piled the clothes on top of the small hand, said.
“Pipi, don’t hesitate to use me for things like buttoning or tying cravats.”
“I can button things myself now, you know.”
Formo, who answered while sticking out his lips, clutched the clothes tightly and wrapped himself completely in the blanket. Serdin, who burst into laughter at that foolish appearance, gave quiet advice.
“If you dress inside the blanket, all the clothes will get wrinkled.”
“……”
“Unless you want to go to the dressing room naked to choose new clothes……”
Before Serdin could even finish speaking, Formo’s face popped out from inside the blanket. He looked up at Serdin standing in front of him with a dissatisfied expression and grumbled.
“Instead of that, can’t you just go out while I’m getting dressed?”
“No.”
“……Why?”
“What if something happens to Pipi while I’m away?”
Serdin shamelessly continued.
“This is your palace, so nothing could happen in that short time……”
“Who knows.”
Serdin, who responded ambiguously, bent down and grabbed Formo’s face with his hand. The soft cheek flesh was squeezed in Serdin’s grasp. After kneading both cheeks for a moment, he asked.
“Will Pipi come out, or should I pull you out?”
“……”
“Actually, if it were Pipi, you’d probably prefer me to pull you out directly, but I’m asking just in case. What do you want to do, Pipi?”
“Y-you!”
With his face flushed red and his lips trembling, Formo soon came out on his own, breathing heavily with irritation. Formo, who escaped from the white blanket, stood with his feet on the floor. He wanted to at least put on his underwear inside the blanket, but he couldn’t because Serdin was acting as if he would pull him out immediately.
Formo put on his underwear with his back turned to Serdin. Though he was wriggling around trying to put it on quickly somehow, perhaps because his mind was rushed, he kept fumbling uselessly. Moreover, since he couldn’t manage any speed, gruff words like “Damn it” reflexively popped out.
Meanwhile, Serdin admired Formo’s white, plump bottom. Every time Formo struggled to properly put on his clothes, his round bottom wiggled from side to side, which was very cute.
“Pipi, not yet?”
When he asked casually, he could see Formo’s bottom flinch. Serdin swallowed his laughter and waited for Formo to put on his underwear. After a long struggle, Formo, who succeeded in putting on his underwear, reached for the blouse placed on the bed. Then, as if Serdin would snatch it away, he quickly slipped his arms in and was about to focus on buttoning when something was strange.
“Wh-what is this?”
The blouse he brought this time had strings instead of buttons. A blouse that tightened with strings. It was still an area he couldn’t do on his own yet. In the end, Formo had to grind his lips and ask Serdin for help.
* * *
After dressing with Serdin’s help, Formo followed him outside the palace. A large and splendid carriage was waiting for them outside. And the cheetah beastman who had shown excellent driving skills before was standing next to the carriage to greet them.
“Good day.”
The polite cheetah beastman briefly introduced himself.
“We meet again. I am Williot. I will serve you swiftly and safely for today.”
Serdin roughly nodded to Williot and put Formo in the carriage. When Serdin got in after him, Williot carefully closed the door and headed to the driver’s seat. Soon, with words that they would depart, the wheels began to roll. The splendidly decorated carriage left Sotes Palace and headed toward the gates of the imperial castle.
Formo looked down at his thighs and fidgeted with his fingers before asking.
“But what if the carriage is too splendid and all the predators stare at us……?”
“Ah, Pipi.”
Meeting Formo’s innocent eyes, Serdin covered his mouth with his hand. The corners of his mouth kept twitching, which was troublesome. To think that this long-tailed tit who acted pretentiously in front of him would transform into someone gentle and dependent once he left his own territory would be this cute and pleasant. Serdin, who controlled the movement of his mouth corners, lowered his hand and answered.
“I’m here, Pipi.”
Though those words didn’t sound particularly reliable, Formo decided to nod for now.
