Chapter 290: The Great Animals Ear Girl Date Strategy

"Ugh..."

When Shido struggled to open his eyes, the first things he saw were the morning sunlight... and a pair of full, ample breasts.

"E-Eh?! Reine-san!?"

Scrambling upright, Shido finally realized he was lying in an unfamiliar room, with no one else there besides Ratatoskr's chief analyst, Reine. And apparently, a moment ago, he had been sleeping on her lap.

"Good morning, Shin."

Seeing him sit up, Reine greeted him simply.

"Why are you here, Reine-san?"

"Do you not remember? What happened yesterday."

"Right... yesterday... ah!"

Shido forced his brain to recall what had happened. As far as he remembered, because they had crashed through the doors, Mikoto's exorcism ritual had been interrupted. Then, some strange light had burst out from the laboratory, and after that...

"Where is everyone!? Are they okay!?"

That was where his memory ended. He only remembered a sensation like getting hit in the head with a sledgehammer before blacking out. Realizing that, a crushing wave of anxiety for everyone's safety hit him.

"Calm down, Shin."

"What about Yakumo-senpai!? What about Tohka!? And Kotori... and—"

"Calm down."

"Ugh? Mmm... Mmm..."

Perhaps sensing that Shido was panicking, Reine suddenly pulled his head against her chest and held him there tightly. The overwhelmingly soft sensation made Shido temporarily forget all about the bizarre events of last night.

"Feeling calmer now?"

"Sorry... I made you worry."

Hearing Reine's voice, Shido nodded, his face turning bright red.

"As for everyone... rather than explaining it, it's probably better if you see it for yourself."

Reine stood up and led Shido out of the room.

(What in the world happened?)

Following behind Reine, Shido's heart only grew heavier. For her to have rushed here overnight, something incredibly troublesome must have happened.

For example...

In his mind, Shido pictured Mikoto being possessed and toyed with by evil spirits.

Or a possessed Tohka standing there with a kitchen knife, blood splattering across the room.

Or Kotori collapsed on the tatami mats, covered in wounds, her blood soaking into the floorboards.

(Everyone... please be safe!)

Shido prayed silently in his heart.

Before long, Reine led him to a large house.

"They're all inside, Shin."

Gulp...

Hearing that, Shido swallowed hard. It sounded really noisy inside, and beneath it all, he could faintly hear the cries of animals.

(The ones causing trouble are animal spirits.)

Remembering what the village headman had said, Shido felt his dread deepen.

(Ugh! Forget it!)

No matter how worried he was, standing frozen wouldn't help anything. With the do or die resolve of a man walking to the execution block, Shido forcefully slid the door open!

"Stop batting at my tail, Kotori!"

The first thing he saw was Mikoto, wearing her shrine maiden outfit, frantically trying to dodge Kotori. For some reason, Mikoto had sprouted a pair of silver fox ears on her head, and a massive, fluffy fox tail was swishing back and forth behind her.

"I can't help it! If I see something moving around, I just have to pounce on it, meow!"

And there was Kotori, now sporting little cat ears and a long, thin cat tail. Even though she complained about it, she was blushing furiously while launching rapid "cat punches" at Mikoto's tail.

"If you want to pounce on something moving, go pounce on Miku! She's got a fluffy tail too!"

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that after seeing what happened to Natsumi?!"

Hearing their conversation, Shido wordlessly turned his head, only to see—

"Kyaa! Natsumi-san is adorable even like this!"

With dog ears and a wagging dog tail of her own, Miku was pinning down a tiny girl and happily licking at the exposed skin where her clothes had come undone. (TL:Mikuuuuuuuuuuu)

"..."

As for Natsumi—who had somehow grown a squirrel tail—she had completely passed out. A tiny, milky white ghost was floating out of her mouth.

And that wasn't all. Looking closer...

"Damn you, Origami! How dare you steal my breakfast, woof!"

Tohka, now with dog ears and a tail, was barking aggressively at Origami.

"The weak are meat, and the strong eat. Such is the law of the jungle, meow."

Meanwhile Origami, who now had cat ears and a cat tail, was chewing on a perfectly grilled sausage while mumbling somewhat indistinctly.

The scene before him was basically an all out Cats vs. Dogs war.

"Kukuku, behold, Yuzuru! These wings of pitch black! This is the ultimate form of the Child of the Typhoon!"

For some reason, Kaguya's arms had transformed into black wings, making her look exactly like a harpy from mythology.

"Counterargument. Having arms like this is highly inconvenient."

Yuzuru, who had grown white wings, tried to pick up a cup with her feathered arms but completely failed.

"Here, if you lick the tip first, and then slowly nibble and suck on the carrot, the Boy will definitely be super happy."

"R-Really? Like this...?"

"Oh my, you're picking it up so fast. As expected of Yoshino-chan."

And finally, Nia—now sporting long rabbit ears and holding a carrot—was actively trying to corrupt Shido's beloved oasis of sanity. And there was Yoshino, also with rabbit ears, having her innocent mind steadily polluted by the dirty minded older sister. (TL:Niaaaaa)

"Wh-Wh-What exactly is going on here—!?"

Faced with this utterly absurd and chaotic scene, Shido let out a tragic scream.

"Ah, Shido!"

"So you're finally awake, Shido."

"Darling!"

"..."

"Shido, woof!"

"Shido, meow."

"Kukuku, have you come to admire my wings? Very well, gaze upon them to your heart's content."

"Greeting. Good morning, Shido."

"Oh, Boy, you're awake! So, how is it? Does seeing us like this make your heart skip a beat?"

"Shi... Shido-san... good morning..."

"My my, you're finally awake, Shido-kun."

The instant Shido raised his voice, the Spirits who noticed him swarmed him like a tidal wave.

"W-Wait a second..."

Being surrounded by so many fluffy, animal eared girls all at once made Shido feel incredibly dizzy.

"Ahem. Let me explain the situation first."

Realizing how flustered he was, Mikoto motioned for everyone to calm down, then explained what had happened yesterday.

"Because of that light from the laboratory, we all passed out. When we woke up, we had all turned into this. Kotori called Reine over in the middle of the night, but at the moment, they still haven't been able to analyze the cause."

Mikoto said, looking slightly troubled.

"You don't have any clues, Yakumo-senpai? And why am I the only one who's perfectly fine?"

Shido asked.

"As for clues... right now, it looks like we've been possessed by animal spirits, which is why we turned into this. As for you, Shido, I think it might be because your body contains the powers of so many Spirits, making you immune to possession."

Mikoto offered her current theory. But honestly, even she doubted her own conclusion. Cases of failed exorcisms leading to possession were common in Tsukuyomi's memories, but transforming into animal eared girls was something entirely different. That was exactly why she had asked Kotori to bring in Reine.

"I see. Is there any way to change everyone back?"

Shido looked toward Reine and asked.

"We need to analyze everyone's Spirit Wave patterns before we can make a judgment. At the moment, all of them are extremely chaotic, making analysis difficult."

Reine shook her head.

"So all we can do is wait? Is there anything I can do?"

Shido sighed. Looking at Mikoto in her fox eared state, he felt a bit guilty. If only he had managed to stop everyone back then, maybe things wouldn't have ended up like this.

"Well, it's not like there's nothing you can do..."

Mikoto tapped her chin with her finger, thinking. Her large silver tail swayed back and forth behind her, making Kotori unconsciously raise a little cat paw, wanting to grab it.

"Right. A major reason spirits linger in the human world is because they still have unfulfilled wishes."

"Unfulfilled wishes?"

Shido repeated.

"Exactly. Like wanting to see someone one last time, or wanting to do something they never got to do."

Mikoto explained.

"But the ones possessing everyone are animal spirits, right?"

Shido said, sounding troubled.

"Exactly. But because they're animals, their wishes should be much simpler, shouldn't they?"

Mikoto smiled brightly.

"So you mean..."

Shido felt like he was beginning to understand.

Compared to humans, animals were simple. If you gave them tasty food and spoiled them a bit, they would probably be happy, right?

"So then—please spend this time while Reine is running her analysis properly pampering us little animals to your heart's content."

Crawling over to him on all fours like a little fox, Mikoto raised one tiny paw and tilted her head adorably. (TL:Ugh the sight is emitting aura to kill me)

Perhaps it was because she was a fox now, but that cute motion carried an extra bit of seductive charm, and Shido felt his heart start pounding uncontrollably.

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