SMASH or PASS

Outside Elysion, it was already evening.

"I’ll give you a ride, Noel~"

"I’ll walk home. I want to take Fenra for a walk."

"Oh, really?" Karen didn’t press the matter further. Instead, she glanced back once before getting into her carriage. "You look pale. Did the perfume at the venue affect you?"

"...Yeah."

"Hmm~"

Her red eyes observed me for three seconds. They were sizing eyes. A face that had found something, then failed to find something else, and put it all in a box of pending consideration.

"Don’t forget to visit me. I’m a woman who remembers."

The carriage doors closed. Lina, sitting in the driver’s seat, gave a small bow towards me.

Something wet came down from the sky, a single water drop.

"It’s raining."

...Lina’s tongue was right.

◇◇◇

The rain was light on the way home.

Fenra was walking beside me.

To be honest, I don’t really remember walking. My legs were moving on their own. My mind was somewhere else the whole time.

A silvery sky.

A tower of steel and glass.

A dragon rider yawns.

A man buying fruit.

And then there were the three of them on the terrace.

"Something is watching us!"

[You have obtained the Blessing of the Silver Dream]

[Your resistance to Causality Manipulation has increased]

I opened the display again, while walking.

The wording hasn’t changed. Blessing. Causality Manipulation. Resistance value.

...I can’t understand it.

My mental ledger doesn’t have an entry for "blessings." There’s no column for "Causality Manipulation." It can’t be counted like SP. It can’t be converted into gold coins. There isn’t even a criterion for determining whether it’s dangerous or beneficial.

Something incomprehensible entered me.

That’s the scariest thing possible.

Next to me, Fenra pressed her nose against my hand.

"Hmm? ahh~"

I stroked her head. As I stroked, my gaze was fixed on the rain-soaked cobblestones three meters ahead.

I didn’t notice her ears flopping down.

◇◇◇

I arrived at the apartment.

I draped my wet jacket over the chair and sat on the edge of the bed.

’...Holy shit. What was that?’

Think Noel. Organize your thoughts.

’Was that a hallucination? Or did I actually ’see’ something?’

If it was a hallucination, what was the cause? The perfume in the venue? The sculpture in the dragonkin’s cage? That glowing restraint device?

"Hey... Noel..."

’No, if it was a hallucination, the system wouldn’t send a blessing. The system only reacts to real transactions. So, it happened. It really did.’

"...Noel?"

’So what did I gain? ’Resistance to Causality Manipulation.’ Causality Manipulation. Manipulating causality. Something exists in this world that tinkers with cause and effect, and I’m resisting it... from whom? Why me?’

’Those three sisters. Cosmic Sea. Star Whale. Third Dawn. All the words are too grand. That’s the vocabulary of gods. Those gods were also talking about strawberries. That the strawberries are early in this era. What’s this "era"? Is it a unit of measurement?’

"...."

’There was a man there, just like any other. There was a tower. If that was outside the wall. Then this world has technology like Earth—’

"Noel, I said!"

’Wait, let’s analyze it in order. One by one. First, let’s verify the effect of the blessing—’

"Listen to meeeee!!"

The bed exploded.

To be precise, something silvery-white suddenly filled my field of vision, and the next moment, I had a wolfkin on my lap. With a heavy thud. Deliberately heavy.

Fenra was right in front of me.

Five centimeters from the tip of her nose. Her amber eyes were wet as she stared at me.

Her ears were completely flattened, her tail wasn’t moving, and her lower lip was trembling.

"...Fenra?"

"Finally!"

Her voice was hoarse.

"Finally, you’re looking at me."

...And then I realized two facts at the same time.

First fact. Fenra is speaking. For the past month, you could count her words on one hand. Her tail and ears were her language, and her voice was only for emergencies.

Second fact. Apparently, we are currently in a state of emergency.

"I’ve been calling you this whole time."

Fenra remained motionless on my lap. She had shifted her entire weight onto me, positioning herself so I couldn’t escape.

"Since we left the venue, I’ve been calling you all this time. While we were walking. Even after we entered the room. I called you six times. I was counting."

"...Sorry. I was lost in my thoughts."

"I know."

Her ears drooped further. To the point where they couldn’t physically droop any further.

"It doesn’t smell."

"...what?"

"Noel doesn’t smell strange. Noel is not injured. Noel is not poisoned. Noel doesn’t smell like a woman either—not today. And yet..."

Her nose pressed against the back of my neck. Sniff, sniff, over and over. Like restarting an instrument.

"And yet, Noel is nowhere to be found."

...

Is that how it’s expressed in her language?

The smell is normal. No external injuries. And yet, he’s empty inside. All her instruments were showing "no abnormalities," yet the owner in front of her was empty. A malfunction of unknown cause.

That must be scary.

"I tried so hard grooming myself this morning."

Her voice grew softer and softer.

"I made myself really fluffy, but you didn’t look at me. Not even once. At the venue, you were talking to some woman I didn’t know the whole time, and on the way home, you petted me, but you weren’t actually petting me. It was just your hand."

It was just your hand.

...She saw right through that kind of thing.

"Is what’s inside your head more interesting than me?"

"Fenra, that’s..."

"I’m just a dog anyway."

There it is.

That’s Karen’s word. The one she said to me at the door this morning. A little dog. At the time, Fenra seemed to brush it off with a judgmental look on her face, but it had definitely stuck with her, and she’d taken it home with her.

"I’m just a gift, after all."

Her voice dropped a notch.

"A gift Helena-sama gave you. ...If you don’t need me anymore, will you return me?"

...

...Hey.

Is she really going that far?

"I’m not crying," she said, preempting something I haven’t said. The corners of her eyes were already at their limit. "I’m not crying, but if I were crying, you’d have to scold me properly. At least give me a spank on the bottom. That’s what it means to really see me..."

Her logic is ridiculous.

Ridiculous, but she only has one request.

Look.

I’m here. Look.

◇◇◇

I set aside the silvery sky in my mind for the moment.

The blessing, the causality, the three sisters—I put it all together in a box addressed to "Tomorrow’s Me" and closed the lid.

Then I looked at the wolfkin in front of me.

I watched her carefully.

She was so fluffy. Indeed, her fur this morning looked more carefully groomed than usual. The fur behind her ears was perfectly even. Even the tip of her tail was shiny.

"...You’re right. You’re really fluffy today."

Fenra’s ears twitched.

"N-Now you’re saying that?"

"Sorry."

Her ears twitched again.

"I saw something strange today. I can’t explain it. I don’t even understand it myself. So my mind has been preoccupied with it."

"Something strange?"

"Yeah. Something that didn’t smell."

Her nose twitched. "didn’t " seemed to be the ultimate creepiness in her world. For the first time, her amber eyes showed a look other than sadness—the look of worry.

"...Are you okay?"

"I don’t know. But I’m okay now. I’m here."

"You’re here?"

"I’m here."

Fenra stared intently at my face. Trying to search for the scent of lies.

It seems she couldn’t find it.

Her tail tapped the floor once.

...Good. That means we’re seated at the negotiating table.

But she still didn’t get down from my lap. She crossed her arms. With wet eyes, she put on the best judging face she could muster.

"Then, compensation."

"Compensation, you say?"

"Three loaves of bread."

"Two."

"Three! And, pet me with both hands, not one! And tonight, I’ll sleep on top of you, not next to you!"

"On top... on top of me? That’s heavy—"

Her amber eyes narrowed sharply.

"—Not heavy. Not heavy at all. It’s like a feather."

"Very good."

Fenra nodded with satisfaction. After nodding, she added as if she had just remembered something.

"Also, if someone calls me a little dog, get angry."

"...Yeah. If she says it again, I’ll get angry."

"Mm."

◇◇◇

The enforcement of the compensation was immediate.

I stroked Fenra with both hands. Behind her ears. Under her chin. Around her neck. Her tail restarted, flapping rapidly, and halfway through, it began to rhythmically strike my side. It was the violence of happiness.

"And this is an additional compensation."

"Hm?"

I stroked her tail upward from the base.

"Hyauu!?"

Fenra jumped thirty centimeters. Literally. Right on my lap.

"N-no, not the tail! It startles me!"

"It’s your own fault for letting your guard down while you’re angry."

"I was still angry—I was angry! Ugh! Noel, you idiot!"

Her face was bright red as she started punching my chest. Her punches were less powerful than a kitten’s. Then, tired of punching, she buried her face in my chest.

Only her ears were twitching.

It seemed her anger reserves had run out.

◇◇◇

Night.

In accordance with Article 3 of the compensation clause, Fenra was curled up on top of me. The weight and warmth of one whole wolfkin was on my stomach.

"Noel."

"Hm?"

"Will you be there tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Mm."

Thirty seconds later, I heard her breathing softly in her sleep. Her body movements froze. Only her tail occasionally twitched in her dream.

I looked up at the ceiling.

I slightly opened the lid of the box inside my mind.

A silvery sky. A dragon between towers. A man buying fruit without being seen by anyone.

And the three sisters drink tea.

The weight on my stomach shifted as I slept.

"...Causality Manipulation, huh?"

Cause and effect.

The cause of today’s events remains unknown. But the result, at least, is sleeping soundly on my stomach.

Well, that’s fine for tonight.

I closed my eyes.

But I feel that I forgot about something important...

Meh. Probably nothing important.