It’s true that the individual currently asleep is pretty.
I only saw them briefly, but their eyes were large and sparkled brightly, and the color was a beautiful light purple. Their snow-white hair had a glossy sheen flowing through it, all sleek and smooth, and their skin was fair and lovely.
They were thin, looking like bones wrapped in leather, but aesthetically, they were excellent. On top of that, the white and blue cloth wrapping had gold embroidery on it.
Right now, this human is lying on a pile of cloth given by this group of humans. We do have what our Miros used, but somehow I didn’t want to put them on that. I just didn’t like it. Because I want to use that only for myself.
But they seem to be sleeping too much. Shouldn’t they be waking up soon at this point? It’s not like they’re hibernating. No, even if that were the case, if they’re this thin, they should wake up at least once from hunger.
I looked at Havi, who was picking at food, and said.
“Havi, stop eating.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“I need to feed this one too. It’s been quite a while since they’ve eaten.”
At my words, Havi grumbled.
“Just give them some fruit or honey. They probably won’t eat much anyway.”
“No. Humans get stomachaches if they eat too many sweets. Especially in such a weakened state.”
“…I really don’t know how humans survived being so feeble.”
Even while pouting like that, they put down the food they’d been eating. Rather obediently, at that. Well, considering how much they’d already eaten. Havi smacked their lips and lazily got up from their spot.
“I’m going now.”
“Are you taking honey?”
“No. I stopped, so I’m full.”
The claim of being full must be true. Havi made a show of rubbing their own belly. I casually waved my hand.
“Alright then. Come visit later.”
Havi said they understood and left. I stared at it for a while before asking in a tossing manner.
“Hey, when are you going to wake up? Why won’t you wake up?”
It says nothing. This is strange. This one definitely has consciousness. Why are they playing dead?
I sent Havi away thinking they might be scared, but they still haven’t gotten up. Their eyes are still tightly shut. They don’t even toss and turn. I poked the cheek of the one playing dead.
“Wake up. Eat. Humans die if they don’t eat, right? Aren’t you hungry?”
Each time I poke, the area under their eyes trembles.
For some reason, they’re desperately playing dead.
Havi probably didn’t notice because they were focused on eating, but I was watching from right in front, so there was no way I wouldn’t know. Their breathing changed from the start. Even though I’m saying all this, they stubbornly continue playing dead.
Are they really going to keep playing dead like this?
“If you don’t get up soon, I’ll eat you up?”
As soon as I finished speaking, the one who’d been playing dead bolted upright. Their already pale skin turned even paler, looking almost blue. They looked at me with a trembling voice and said.
“A-are you really going to eat me?”
“No. It’s a joke. Humans taste bad. You especially look unappetizing.”
“I-is, is th-that so?”
“You’re so thin there’s nothing to eat anyway.”
It was a joke, but they actually got up. They’re terribly frightened. They must have thought I might really eat them. Or are they cold? They’re trembling too much for it to be just from fear. I covered them with a wool blanket and said.
“Are you cold?”
“…N-no.”
“Are you scared?”
Their eyes rolled around before their head nodded. This one seems much more timid than Miros. I patted them reassuringly.
“Don’t shake like that. I really won’t eat you. Humans aren’t just tasteless—they’re truly, seriously the worst. They taste so, so bad. It’s just bones and skin, and inside it’s only organs, so it’s just a bucket of water. There’s no meat either. Just look at your own body—where is there any flesh on you?”
“Th-then… if I normally looked tasty, would you eat me?”
“I’m telling you all humans taste bad. Even when humans get fat, it’s not that they fill with meat like other things, but just grease. Why would I eat that? Even the ones you call monsters don’t eat humans. That’s how bad you taste.”
It’s true. Unless they’re on the verge of starvation, no one touches humans. This one is suspicious too, despite being so timid. They’re trembling but still saying everything they want to say.
“I don’t really know about taste… but I’ve heard stories of people being eaten sometimes…”
“You’re really suspicious. Those kinds eat because they truly have nothing else. They’re on the verge of starvation so they eat humans out of necessity. If humans really tasted good, you’d already be extinct. Don’t you get it?”
I was getting a bit annoyed that I couldn’t get through to them.
“Think about it. Your teeth are blunt and your jaw is weak. You obviously have no strength and your skin is soft—it gets scratched just from grazing grass. You don’t have strong legs or sharp claws either. You get sick at the drop of a hat, and die if something even slightly stresses you out. You’re this weak but survived because you taste so bad that no one would eat you even if they had to die.”
There are occasional cases where those culled from the species eat humans because they’re so starved. It means they barely manage to eat them only when they’re at the point of having nothing else to die from.
But they still seem to find it hard to believe.
“R-really, you really won’t eat me, right?”
“I said I won’t. Do you want to be eaten?”
“…N-no. I don’t want that. It’s scary… so….”
After I tell them several times I won’t eat them, for some reason they suddenly burst into tears. What had been whimpering suddenly turned into wailing.
“Huuung… I’m, glad, I taste bad….”
Usually, species have some common traits, but each individual of these is too different from each other. Especially this one was showing an aspect different from any humans I’d seen before.
They’re timid, suspicious, and cry a lot. Miros cried a lot too, but this one just stops breathing and cries alone, so I don’t understand. At least with our Miros, I could at least guess why they were crying, but I really don’t know with this one.
“Don’t cry so loud. It would be a waste if you died after I went through the trouble of bringing you here.”
“Hic, huung… hup, y-yes…. I’m, sorry.”
“And eat. You’re too thin to even use as firewood.”
At my words, the kid’s eyes shake.
“A-are you going to fatten me up to use as firewood?”
“…I can’t say anything to you. Just eat.”
What kind of thing is this? When I show my disbelief plainly, they glance at me while sniffling, then crawl over and start picking at the food. I sighed watching that.
They really are pretty. When they cried, tears beaded on their eyelashes and sparkled.
***
The new human individual is troublesome in many ways.
“They’re pretty, but….”
Since the kid has no legs, I have to take care of them, which is bothersome. Especially, there are many problems with survival activities.
It’s natural for living things to eat, so that’s not the problem, but for some reason they don’t ask for food and keep starving themselves. I’ve had the Dryads attend to them, but they seem too scared to even speak.
“What’s the problem?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Don’t cry. I’m not scolding you.”
I don’t understand. Including me, there’s nothing here that would be dangerous to this individual, and I haven’t particularly threatened them by yelling or hitting. They’re trembling on their own. I’m feeding and clothing them well. I haven’t even bothered them by making them perform tricks or anything.
Really. I haven’t done anything except admire them.
“Why are they so afraid?”
No matter how much I feed them and let them sleep well, they keep getting thinner. The already thin one is becoming more gaunt. Are they going to get sick at this rate? I pondered what to do with this one.
“They require too much attention.”
“N-no! I, I… I don’t require much attention! Please spare me!”
“Hm? All of a sudden?”
Whenever I say something, they beg to be spared. I’ve never once tried to kill them.
I wiped the tears of the crying human and asked.
“What did I do? I never threatened you.”
“B-because if I’m bothersome, you’ll kill me…!”
“You’re pretty. I won’t kill you. Isn’t it annoying now that I keep saying the same thing? Can’t you stop?”
When I grumble, they swallow their sobs with whimpers.
They just keep crying. Honestly, it’s annoying.
Their crying face is pretty too, but I want to see them smile. That would be much prettier, but the kid cries all the time, so it’s difficult. I don’t know what to do. It’s noisy too.
“Would it get better if I made them legs?”
Then, would they cry less? I don’t know why they’re crying in the first place, but would it get better if I attached legs? It seems like they might cry less if their range of activity expands. I’d be more comfortable too.
“Legs?”
They cry quickly and stop quickly. I wonder if this is a much younger individual than I thought. Why did they stop crying this time? I didn’t particularly do anything. I really can’t figure them out. It’s not just that they’re sensitive—their moods change too drastically.
If they weren’t pretty, I would have thrown them out already.
“You know how to walk, right? I don’t know how to teach humans to walk.”
“Yes! Y-yes! I, I know how! I know how to walk!”
They didn’t just stop crying. The tears disappeared as if they’d never cried. They rushed up to me and clung on like a cicada to a dead tree.
“R-really, my legs… will you really make my legs grow back?”
Looking at the cross-section, anyone can see it was cut. If they’d never had them originally, the bones would be strangely twisted or impossibly thin. Or there would be traces of incomplete development. But this individual’s leg stumps have clear stitching marks. It means there are signs of flesh being sewn together.
Wait, hold on? Now that I’m talking about it, something’s strange?
“Huh? You were originally able to walk around?”
At my words, they glanced at me cautiously and nodded.
“If you were going to be so desperate about it, why did you cut them off?”
At my words, they hung their head and became sullen.
“So that… I wouldn’t run away.”
“Why would you run away?”
“B-because… it’s scary…?”
“You can’t run away? Where were you running away from and to in the first place?”
The more we talk, the stranger and more incomprehensible it becomes. Why would there be a need to cut off such a young individual’s legs? And cut them off while handing them over to me, at that? I really don’t understand.
No, that’s not it. I doubt it would be that, but I should confirm. I asked again.
“Your kin were going to give you to me, so they cut them off in case you wouldn’t come to me?”
There’s no answer. They don’t nod either. But they shed even more tears. Even though they’re a human who doesn’t even know how to control their tears, the meaning is clearly conveyed.
“I didn’t even need one, so why would they give me one and cut off such a young hatchling’s legs?”
This is absurd. I thought it was strange that the legs were cut off, but it was truly an unimaginable reason.
Havi did say before. That humans are originally like that, so just let it go. That I shouldn’t try to understand. I think that’s somewhat right. But still, I could at least do something resembling understanding before, you know?
I really don’t get this. Seriously.
“Are you going to run away?”
“N-no! I won’t! I won’t run away!”
“Why?”
Why won’t they leave? If they don’t like it, wouldn’t it be better to go back home? But this one says they won’t go. They desperately cling, saying they won’t run away. It’s obvious that the ones who cut off an innocent hatchling’s legs and threw them at me are strange, but I don’t understand this one either, clinging and saying they won’t run away even if I restore their body.
I tilted my head in confusion, but they can’t answer. Whether they won’t or can’t. When I ask something, they should speak, but they just keep their mouth shut, which is just frustrating.
“You can just go home.”
“I can… go?”
“Honestly, I’d prefer if you didn’t. Because you’re pretty.”
“Then… I won’t go.”
I admit it. They’re not as good as Miros, but this one is pretty too.
