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IBP 180
“Ah... You mean the mouse, the horse, the turtle, the bird—the friends of the divine beast—and the rabbit, penguin, and leopard spirit beasts of the family, right?”
My eyes widened in surprise.
“H-how? How did you remember all my animal friends...?!”
“A biography of Lady Coco was published! All the friends who accompanied Lady Coco on her great journey were mentioned there.”
The maid pulled a picture book titled <The Great Divine Beast, Lady Coco's Grand Adventure!> from her pocket.
“H-huh...”
I love it when people like me, but...
‘This is overwhelming!’
Thinking it was a promise to spend time with my animal friends, the maid smiled and placed a puppy-shaped bag over my shoulder.
“Our Lady Coco looks so incredibly cute dressed like this!”
“Ung, ung!”
“Actually, you're cute no matter what you wear...”
The maid's eyes were practically sparkling with hearts.
Feeling proud from all the affection, I held out my hand to her.
“What time is it now?”
“It is... six o'clock!”
“Then I'll eat dinner with my family quickly and go meet Caligo!”
Since Caligo and I agreed to meet at seven-thirty to take a stroll and look around the festival!
* * *
At the dining table where everyone in the Ardos family had gathered, except for my sister.
Strangely, Dad and Ruth were doing nothing but sighing deeply.
“That thief from the Grand Duke Rivera's house, my sister...”
“A-ah, I get it!”
“Hmm?”
“Are Dad and Ruth in a bad mood because Coco and Caligo are going on a date?”
The moment those words left my mouth, Dad, who had been lifting a spoon to eat his soup, snapped his eyes open.
“I-I was talking about Chloe and Grand Duke Rivera...? Not my youngest daughter?”
Ruth also froze automatically.
“Wha-what? What, what are you talking about? Who is dating whom?”
“Coco and Caligo!”
Dad slammed his spoon onto the table in a fit of rage.
Ruth had the look of someone who had just lost everything in life.
“Ung, that's why Coco dressed up so wonderfully! Coco is the best, right! I'm going for a walk with Caligo!”
I jumped up and twirled around. The dress the maid had put on me flared out beautifully. I waited excitedly for praise, but Dad and Ruth continued to wear hollow expressions.
‘Hmph, nobody is praising me!’
While I was feeling a bit sulky, Ryan looked down at the floor and whispered cautiously to himself.
“S-she's really cute...!”
Ryan's expression looked a bit—no, a lot—solemn.
‘This is the scent of a human who wants to be friends with me!’
To want to be friends but be unable to approach; Ryan is still incredibly shy.
‘Then Coco should be the one to approach him!’
I gave a little giggle and nodded.
“Yep! Ryan, thank you!”
“You're... going out to play with Caligo in that?”
“Yep! I'm meeting Caligo on Main Street!”
Theodore grinned and poked Ruth in the ribs.
“Coco is more precocious than you, Ruth. You don't even have any dating experience yet.”
“Sigh...”
“Our baby, dating...”
Regardless of their devastated expressions, I finished an entire plate of sweet potato cake for dessert and stood up.
“Then, Coco will be going now!”
“Co-Coco. That thing in the bag...”
“This is a present Coco made for Caligo!”
How did Dad see the gift tucked inside the bag?
As soon as I finished speaking, Dad and Ruth exchanged a solemn look.
It was a wicked gaze, as if they were plotting something.
* * *
After finishing the meal.
Coco slung the puppy-shaped bag over her shoulder.
Wearing round-toed pink children's shoes and a pure white dress as wonderful as the fur of puppies, she dashed off toward Main Street.
‘I'll arrive before Caligo and wait for him bravely!’
...But!
The moment she arrived at the lamppost in the center of Main Street, Coco discovered a surprising fact.
“Caligo! You were here first?”
“Yes.”
“Did you wait long?”
“...I didn't wait.”
But when Coco lightly grabbed Caligo's arm, it was warm, as if it had been under the warm sunlight for a long time.
Coco blinked her eyes and thought.
‘Caligo must want to keep it a secret that he waited a long time!’
Caligo smiled softly, his eyes curving as usual.
“Then, shall we take a walk together?”
“Yep! A walk!”
Perhaps because she hadn't been human for long, whenever someone asked, “Shall we take a walk?”, her heart fluttered and she felt as excited as she did when she was a puppy.
And so, Coco and Caligo walked diligently. While strolling through Main Street, Coco saw many wondrous things.
Passing by the numerous shops along the main road, Coco stopped several times.
This was because the shopkeepers had displayed all sorts of items to tempt the people walking by or riding in carriages.
For example...
“Wow! A puppy collar!”
“Do you like puppy collars? Should I buy one for you, Coco?”
“No, no! Coco isn't a puppy anymore, I'm a person!”
As she stopped firmly with a stomp, Caligo chuckled softly.
“Right, you're a person.”
“Yep!”
“About the festival celebrating the rare divine beast. Is Coco okay with it?”
“Huh? What?”
“I thought you might be embarrassed.”
Where Caligo came to a halt, a large statue was being erected.
And there...
“Gasp, it's Coco! They're making a statue of Coco in puppy form!”
A puppy-shaped statue was being built, roughly a hundred times the size of the actual Coco.
Coco widened her eyes and stomped her feet.
“Woooah!”
“Do you know? There's one here, one there, and another one over there... it's full of Cocos.”
Indeed, everywhere Caligo pointed, traces of the ‘Puppy Divine Beast, Coco’ were visible.
On one side, there was a banner welcoming Coco; on another, they were drawing and selling caricatures of Coco; and far off in the distance...
“Heol...”
...They were selling olive skewers that looked like Coco's puppy nose.
‘People... are eating Coco's nose?’
Coco was a little shocked...
Caligo took her hand and skillfully diverted her attention elsewhere.
After passing through the main road, which had become festive thanks to the celebration, a secluded forest path appeared.
It was a street where expensive-looking restaurants were scattered here and there.
In the now quiet atmosphere.
Caligo, still holding Coco's hand tightly, spoke.
“I wish this moment would last a long time.”
“U-ung...”
“Just the two of us, so...”
Caligo glanced behind my back and let out a small sigh.
“...Actually, it hasn't been just the two of us for a while now.”
“U-ung?”
“Still, a time like this, where you and I can walk side by side, just the two of us.”
Coco gripped Caligo's hand tightly and smiled brightly.
“Yep! We'll probably be able to walk together often from now on! We're fiancés! But we might not be able to see each other every single day.”
“...Why? Was today... not that great?”
Caligo looked down at Coco, flustered.
Coco shook her head.
“When I see Caligo, Coco's heart goes pit-a-pat. So if I see you too often, my heart might go pit-a-pat so much that I could die!”
“You, you...”
“Ung?”
“...How can you say such things so... casually...”
Caligo's face turned bright red.
He looked almost like a tomato!
Coco looked closely at Caligo's face and giggled.
Then, she pulled out a necklace made of paper from her pretty puppy-shaped bag.
“Here, this is an engagement gift from Coco! Until now, only Caligo gave gifts.”
A paper necklace folded somewhat clumsily.
However, it was colored beautifully without a single gap.
“Can I really receive something so precious?”
“Of course, I only gave it to Caligo!”
Caligo bowed his head and thought.
Yes, Coco, you were my salvation when we first met, and you are now.
...Even when I become an adult, I shall wear this paper necklace.
Looking into Coco's sparkling eyes, Caligo silently put on the necklace.
“I'll wear this for the rest of my life. After the engagement ceremony, and the we-wedding, wedding ceremony.”
“Wedding ceremony?”
As Coco tilted her head, Caligo decided to admit that he had been a bit hasty.
But Coco replied with a beaming smile.
“Yep, yep, I like it!”
The moment he saw that, his heart thudded violently.
But it was right then.
Thump.
A dull sound echoed, as if someone had fallen to the ground.
Caligo and Coco's gazes turned backward simultaneously.
And what entered their sight was...
“F-Father! Wake up!”
...It was Duke Ardos, collapsed on the ground.
“Ugh, uuuugh...”
“Wait, is my father dead?”
...That was it.
That dull sound from earlier was the sound of Duke Ardos collapsing while clutching the back of his stiff neck.
And, surprisingly, the place where Duke Ardos had collapsed while clutching his neck was... right in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass window of the restaurant owned by Grand Duke Rivera.
* * *
“...There is one thing I want to ask.”
A few minutes before Coco's necklace confession, inside the restaurant.
Though not imagining a future like Coco and Caligo, the atmosphere was warm in its own way.
Grand Duke Rivera was looking at Chloe with his chin resting on his hand.
“To commemorate our first date, there is something I want to say, My Lady.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“Can I call you by your name?”
“That is...”
“I want to ask if I can call you Chloe. Stripping away all the useless titles like My Lady or fiancée.”
A look of absurdity crossed Chloe's prickly, cat-like expression. Then, Grand Duke Rivera muttered, glancing at her reaction.
“...Is that a no?”
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