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IBP 162
A vivid, brilliant light warmly embraced my body.
And finally...
‘My legs have strength again!’
My body, which had been doing nothing but stumbling, straightened up.
Then, I felt my physique changing, and my field of vision shot upward.
Not knowing what to do with my suddenly enlarged body, my eyes rolled around in confusion.
At that, Sister looked at me with a bewildered expression.
“Coco...!”
Only then did I snap back to my senses, opening my eyes wide as I looked at my front paws—no, my hands.
‘I got my memories back, and I’ve become human!’
I was even wearing the exact same clothes I had on when I left Sister at five years old!
Filling my heart with joy, I reached out my hand toward her.
“Sissy! I remember everything.”
Tears welled up in Sister's eyes, and she pulled me into a tight, firm hug.
Once, when I was still a puppy, Sister had hugged me tight and told me something.
That sometimes, a single hug is more powerful than a hundred words.
Only now could I understand the meaning of those words.
“Coco... thank you for coming back to me.”
A single warm touch was happier than a hundred conversations.
I smiled happily, snuggling deep into Sister's embrace.
“Coco kept her promise. Right?”
Just as happiness surged through my entire body.
The darkness that had enveloped Sister like a mist and the faint cluster of light lingering near me merged together.
Light and darkness mixed before our eyes.
The brilliant yellow light met the mist-like darkness and transformed into a soft, gentle glow.
Light rained down upon Sister's and my shoulders and feet, like falling shooting stars.
When the light and darkness blended and seeped into our bodies, I realized it.
Power was filling my body to the brim.
Instinctively, I gripped Sister's hand tightly.
At that moment, Theodore murmured in a trembling voice.
“Imprinting...”
The bird—no, Jjek-jjeki—whispered softly, as if responding to Theodore's words.
“It is a perfect imprinting between a divine beast and a human.”
As soon as I heard that, I squeezed Sister's hand tighter and beamed a bright smile.
“Hup...! I'm... I'm really becoming Sissy's divine beast now...”
“Coco will be with me for a long, long time now, right?”
Hearing the tender words Sister spoke as she scooped me up in her arms, it finally felt real.
‘Sister is right. Now I can be with her for a long, long time!’
A warm happiness, like a steamed sweet potato, filled my heart.
So, I tried to show her the smile she loves so much by baring my teeth wide, but...
‘I can't smile. This is weird.’
Instead of a bright smile, what came out was...
Tears that burst forth without warning.
“Coco, why are you crying? Hmm?”
“Hee... hee-ing.”
Sister's face turned pale as she saw the tears dripping from my eyes.
So, I barely managed to squeeze out a murmur.
“Coco is ab-solutely not cry-ing, n-no, not crying... Waaaaah...!”
Sissy, I don't know why I'm crying either.
But since I'd even become a divine beast, I felt embarrassed to be crying, so I buried my face deep into her embrace.
Then, as if reading my mind, Sister patted me.
“Yes, our baby is just relieved now. It's okay. Cry as much as you want. Okay?”
...Relieved.
Yes, this emotion is relief.
The relief that I can finally be with Sister for a long, long time...
While held in her arms, I murmured softly.
“Sissy, Sissy. From now on, Coco will make you ve-very, very happy...”
“...Sister is happy just having Coco. You're the one who should get ready to be happy from now on.”
Sister's eyes were surely already rimmed with red as she spoke.
I pressed my face into her chest and barely managed to hold back my sobs.
But it was right then.
The bird flapped its wings wildly and flew up.
“Alright, that's enough for now. There is something you must do! It is a very urgent, critical, and tremendous matter!”
“Eh? A tremendous matter?”
The moment those words were spoken, a memory as intense as a flash of lightning streaked through my mind.
Right, come to think of it, there was something I had to do!
* * *
“Aigoo, aigooo...”
The Emperor of Mouse—no, The Father of Emperor of Mice.
He was currently in Thunder's barn, where Thunder was absent.
As he faced his death, numerous mice had gathered.
“Father was truly a great man. I shall take the single lump of cheese, Father's legacy, as a family heirloom and eat it deliciously myself...”
That wicked son, coveting cheese while his father is dying!
‘To find this out only right before I die!’
The Father of Emperor of Mice wanted to fly into a rage. However, he lacked the strength in his body and could barely wag his tail.
After a brief moment of his eyes reddening at the fact that his children were a total crop failure.
The mouse sighed as he saw his grandson running toward him.
“Grandpaaa...”
Under the gaze of about ten mice, The Father of Emperor of Mice sighed.
“Yes, I have lived a long life. My only regret is that I cannot meet the friend I missed so much. If you all happen to meet my friend, that fellow Coco, tell him I missed him dearly.”
“Coco?”
“Yes, a puppy with fluffy, snow-white fur... Sometimes, he transforms into a human with silver hair and purple eyes. He was truly cute. His eyes sparkled, and his youth was radiant...”
The mouse's nostalgic recollection was broken by the puzzled voice of his grandson.
“Huk, could it be that human who just opened the barn door and walked in, Grandpa?”
Perhaps he was exercising a child's imagination.
The Father of Emperor of Mice stroked his grandson with a trembling hand and said.
“You rascal. What do you see...”
It was then.
He looked forward with a bewildered expression.
In his sight appeared a child who looked to be about ten years old, with silver hair and purple eyes.
“Eh?”
“Heogogeogok, Mouse! You were here! Why are you crying? I've come to help!”
“...?”
“I, Coco, am here! Mouse!”
Jjek-jjeki shouted while fluttering wildly on Coco's shoulder.
“Save him! Save him!”
...Perhaps because he was on his deathbed, it felt chaotic.
As he vaguely waved his hand, Coco spoke energetically.
“Yep, I'll save you!”
The mouse smiled weakly. He was satisfied just to have seen Coco before he died.
“Even for a divine beast, you can't extend a life, can you? Just take this.”
Something he had never given, no matter how much his descendants coveted it.
He handed over a piece of cheese with delicious mold on it.
At that, Coco shook her head vigorously.
“No, you eat this cheese.”
“...My day of death has already come. Thus, my digestive ability has declined. You silly little puppy.”
Coco gripped The Father of Emperor of Mice's hand tightly and said.
“I'm going to make you healthy again, so eat it after you're all better!”
After that single shout, like a scream.
Coco sent a sparkling gaze toward the mouse.
Then, a snow-white cluster of light slowly spread from the mouse's tail.
“Ku, cough!”
The mouse let out a fit of frantic coughing and spat blood from his mouth.
Even after several minutes, the coughing showed no sign of stopping.
Finally, unable to endure it any longer, the impatient fifth son of The Father of Emperor of Mice, a black mouse, began to criticize.
“You! What is happening! Are you trying to kill our f-father...!”
“I'm fixing him!”
Despite Coco's words, the black mouse wore a look of distrust. He even went as far as to dangle from Coco's hand.
“Liar. Look at my father's state! He looks like he's dying, and now...”
“Ku, cough! Keu, keuuuuk. Is this fellow Coco killing me...! Dying at the hands of a friend isn't so bad, but...!”
...His mouth was full of black blood, and all the fur on his body had been plucked out, leaving him a naked mouse.
It looked as if he were on the verge of death, but the Emperor of Mouse did not let go of the hand gripping him, as if he trusted Coco.
However, the many mice who loved him were different.
They swarmed around Coco and squeaked wildly.
“You, human! Do not do wicked things to our grandfather!”
The grandson mouse even whimpered and tried to bite Coco's hand.
But Coco remained unmoved.
As if it didn't hurt at all, she simply shrugged her shoulders and continued to shower light upon The Father of Emperor of Mice's body.
“Even tooth attacks don't work! Hu, huuu... What a ruthless human...”
“Father, to suffer such a sad fate in your final years...”
Since neither criticism nor tooth attacks worked, the mice eventually burst into loud sobbing.
But Coco, with beads of sweat on her forehead, silently continued to emit light, as if this were the only answer.
After several minutes of silence had passed.
The light emanating from Coco's hand suddenly vanished.
And then...
“U-ugh!”
“Finally, we get to hold Father's funeral.”
Just as the black mouse tightly shut his eyes, which were brimming with tears.
...At an incredibly fast speed, the fur on the mouse's belly began to regenerate!
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