Chapter 79: Saving the World Through Resentment, the Budding of a Dark Plan...
Fear and anxiety have always been there; they have never left.
She felt like vomiting, wanted to scream, wanted to run away, wanted to kill herself or someone else, but as soon as her brother spoke, she stopped thinking about anything.
Maine.
He's calling me.
He's looking at me.
He's hugging me.
It's not about calling a cat, looking at a cat, or holding a cat.
I am just Mainkuhn, a monster, a bastard, a fugitive.
This is clearly a terrifying thing. I hate it when people look at my face and call my name, but why... why...
Tonight, I will actually feel happy from this.
Happiness is such that one can endure fear.
So happy that you can force yourself to stay.
How terrifying... I feel like crying... I'd better leave quickly...
"Please, please, lie down with me for a while."
Brother, please stop talking.
Because the moment you speak, I can't help but love you.
...
But the person I love so deeply will one day leave me...
Maine?
After completing her mission and flying home, Arecino found a cat on the roof of someone's house.
She abruptly stopped and, using the faint morning light, examined the half-demon.
"!"
Although Mainkuhn immediately pulled his scarf over his face, Arecino could still see the mottled tear stains on it.
“It’s not my imagination, Maine, you’ve been crying a bit too often lately.”
Arecino subtly inquired whether the other person needed help.
"There's a limit to being sentimental. You're not a child anymore; you shouldn't have so many tears."
“.
Mainkuen silently adjusted his scarf, letting it cover the lower half of his face instead of a mask.
If you knew Clementine might dissolve, you would have cried even louder than I did.
...Would it?
It's hard to say, but Peipei is very strong.
I was too weak.
So I really want Fulina to teach me how she manages to laugh every day.
"Alright."
Unsurprisingly, she was met with silence. Arecino knew she couldn't get the half-demon to talk, so she could only get down to business.
"It's just in time to meet you here. Come on, let's go to the House of Hearths."
[?do what? ]
"The medicine you asked me to make has finally yielded its first batch of finished products."
[Medicine, what medicine? Wait, could it be—]
"I commissioned an alchemist to fundamentally alter the properties of catnip. If all goes well, this medicine will stabilize your mind for a longer period, preventing you from trembling, crying, or even fainting from fear when interacting with people. However, the specific effects still need to be tested... Maine? What's with that expression? Like you've lost your parents?"
"..."
Damn it.
Damn it! Just one more night! Just one more night!
Mainkuhn was filled with remorse and wished he could slap himself.
Then I can pretend to be a normal person and give my brother a perfect and normal reunion!
I cried so miserably, and I was trembling like I was being electrocuted. My brother was worried about me. Ah—sigh!
Can time be turned back?
*
"Father, you're back—wow! And there's a big brother with cat ears too!"
Don't come any closer!
"Alright, alright, kids, your father and older brother have things to do."
After shooing the children away, Clementine looked with some concern at the half-demon in the corner, who was screaming silently in fright.
"Are you sure it's okay? Although many mental illnesses require medication, those are done under the guidance of a professional doctor."
"But Clayville, most human medications are harmful to Mainkun, and we have a hard time finding veterinarians who are skilled in psychotherapy."
"...That is indeed true."
"Don't worry, that alchemist is very responsible and knowledgeable. He patiently wrote down the principles and precautions for me, so I determined that the drug is extremely dangerous."
The medicine was a light green color, and as it was being poured into syringes one by one, Mainkuhn found it pleasing to the eye.
Arecino handed the medicine to the gloomy, droopy-eared boy:
"But I still don't recommend you get the injection. After all, true strength comes from inner strength, not from external aids..."
Mainkun snatched the medicine away! He exposed his wrist, the needle piercing the scar, and the medicine was finished.
"Nobody's going to take it from you!"
Arecino, though outwardly cold, inwardly furious, slapped him on the back of the head: "Injections should primarily target the upper arm and gluteal muscles. Take care of your body!"
Clementine stepped forward to protect the cat: "Don't hit it! Pepe! Little Mei is just a little impatient—"
"Fine, I haven't even had a chance to settle accounts with you yet, and you've already started protecting people in my hands."
With a twist of her wrist, Arecino coldly grabbed her ear.
"You laughed heartily when you told the kids the story of how I was woken up by nightmares when I was a child."
"Huh? What? You were there?" Clementine screamed and backed away as she was grabbed.
“I’m trying to connect with the children! You have no idea how many of them are afraid of your cold face!”
“I am the father, and the father is a symbol of authority. You are doing something meaningless.”
"A loving father can also be authoritative!"
No matter how composed they were, they were still just teenage girls. Peruvieri and Clementine quickly started arguing back and forth, but they didn't forget to glance at their timid brothers out of the corner of their eyes.
"..."
Nothing had changed. The boy remained silent as always, his gaze, along with the lynx fur on the tips of his ears, drooping low. He wouldn't look at anyone or make eye contact, like a exhausted, worn-out horse that couldn't lift its head.
The medicine didn't work?
"Little Maine?"
Clementine cautiously asked, "How are you feeling now?"
"..." Arecino also wanted to know.
"!"
Like spring thunder awakening sleeping insects, the servant clearly saw the pair of cat ears tremble slightly upon hearing this, and then, slowly, slowly, stand upright.
"Oh..." The executive was pleased.
"Wow—" Clive exclaimed beside her, then immediately covered her mouth, as if afraid of scaring those ears into trembling again;
"I thought he was going to be a lop-eared cat for the rest of his life..."
"..."
Mainkuen raised his head, flicked the lynx hair on the tip of his ear, and shook the long pheasant feathers on his helmet like a peerless warrior wielding a halberd.
"Mainkuhn?"
Unlike the futile calls of the past, Arecino clearly saw her brother turn his neck in response, looking at her with a bright and fearless expression.
"Pepe."
He said.
"!"
The morning light was weak, and the cat's eyes were warm and spindle-shaped.
The half-demon glanced at the black-and-white-haired servant, then turned to look at her sisters who were holding their breath.
“…Little Maine?” Can you communicate now?
"Cravlie".
"!"
After one of them called out, Mainkuen stood there, ears perked up, and looked at her sisters with an open and honest gaze for a while.
"Good morning."
"!!!!!"
Before they could reply, or recover from their surprise, the cat suddenly and self-importantly raised its wrist and licked the blood from the needle prick with its thin tongue:
"Upon closer inspection, I realized that you are such beautiful humans... Strange, how come I never noticed before?"
*
Mainkuhn felt that the drug was making him feel a little strange.
She wasn't nervous anymore. When Clementine tentatively placed her hand on her shoulder, she didn't want to pull away. Everything seemed fine, except...
"Little Maine! Say one more word, just one more word!"
Even if you insist, I don't think I have anything to say...
After listening intently and looking around for a while, Mainkuen finally focused his gaze on the seat beneath Arecino.
The grain on it is beautiful, is it monster hide? The armrest smells wonderful, is it sycamore wood?
It looks so perfect that it makes you want to do something with it.
What are we doing?
The boy couldn't help but take a step closer to Peipei, and then another.
"Tell me about your body, Maine."
Arecino sat in her chair, her X-shaped eyes scrutinizing the half-demon. She had a strange feeling that things were going too smoothly.
"Are you feeling unwell anywhere...? Wait, what are you doing!?"
Cha-cha-cha-cha—!
Suddenly, Mainkun stretched out his claws and frantically tore at the back of the chair, alternating between up and down. Cotton and fabric flew everywhere, and wood chips and leather were mixed together. Arecino decisively got up and turned around, only to see that the chair, which had been perfectly fine just moments before, had been half destroyed by the half-demon!
"Little Maine!?"
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Feel sorry."
With the chair gone, Mainkun barely stopped scratching, then quickly perked up his ears, his golden eyes chasing the cotton fluff dancing in the sunlight.
“I feel… I have to do this.”
"Why did you have to destroy my chair?"
Arecino simply couldn't understand: "If you wanted me to fall, you didn't have to be so indirect."
“My target isn’t you…it’s really just the chair…”
As he spoke, he suddenly squatted down and gently twisted his waist.
"Little Mei? What are you doing?...Wow!"
One, two, three—jump! Mainkuhn leaped into the air, stretched out his arms, and clashed his claws together in mid-air—smack!
Mainkun landed steadily back on the ground, showing Clementine the cotton wool he had been holding:
"That feels good."
Clementine: "..."
Clementine: "??????"
Wait a minute! Wait a minute! What kind of medicine is this?
Why is my Maine suddenly not around?!
"Pepe."
Under Clementine's stunned gaze, Mainkuhn quickly ignored her again, turning his expressionless gaze back to Arecino:
"May I lick your hair?"
"?"
"I think I should be the boss, right? Oh, of course, though you can't refuse to fawn over me if you want."
"..."
roll!
Although she really wanted to abandon all pretense of decorum and unleash a torrent of abuse before kicking her brother away, Arecino, being an executive officer, could endure what most people couldn't. She forced back the twitching in the corner of her eye and handed Mainkuen a comb.
"Use this or forget it."
"……All right."
With a somewhat dissatisfied expression, the half-demon carefully lifted a strand of white hair from the back of her head with her fingernail and meticulously combed it little by little.
"Can't I really use my tongue...? The barbs are much more useful than this..."
"no."
"I've heard that when humans comb their hair, they deliberately pluck out the gray hairs from their black hair. Pepe, I don't know whether I should pluck out your black hairs or your gray hairs."
"Please don't pull them out, thank you."
Arecino watched her brother, who was clearly acting strangely, with apprehension, while exchanging glances with Clementine.
Clementine panicked and lost her composure:
What's going on, Peipei?! I'm so scared! He's not afraid of people anymore, but... he's like a fake person!
Don't panic, let me think...
Arecino desperately analyzed the current situation in relation to the principles of the drug, rationally speculating:
This was likely a burst of instinct from Mainkun after he relaxed too much under the influence of the drug.
Clementine often couldn't remember that Maine wasn't a purebred: Huh? What? What instinct? You mean his other half's bloodline?
Arecino: Yes, instinct. For example, scratching is a normal activity for cats. We haven't seen it because Maine usually hides its claws anxiously. Now that the anxiety is gone, it naturally makes no attempt to hide them...
Clementine: ...If it's such an instinct, it's best to suppress it! What furniture can withstand his claws?! What to do? Ordering a steel cat scratching post now is definitely too late—the Fireplace House can't be destroyed today!
Calm down, Clay.
Arecino subtly shifted her attention back to observe Maine, who was clearly very happy, shaking her head as she carefully combed her hair:
"~"
…Just in case, I gave him a very small dose of the medicine today.
Judging by the time, the effects of the drug will wear off soon... Wait, this position is still too intimate for him in his normal state... Oh no, I have a bad feeling.
"..."
Sure enough, almost the next second, Arecino felt her fingernails, which were running through her hair, freeze pitifully.
"Maine, you can continue. You see, you haven't hurt me."
Arecino tried to ease the tension by reaching for the glass on the table:
"If you're tired, you can drink some water and rest."
But it didn't work.
Thump!
A loud thud, like a heavy object falling to the ground, came quickly behind her.
"Mainkuhn!"
The abrupt shift between extreme relaxation and extreme terror left the shock unabated. The inexperienced Mainkuhn couldn't understand how he dared to place a dangerous weapon on his sister's head, and nearly died of fright on the spot.
You want her dead?!
If you exert too much force, a human's head will explode, have you forgotten that?!
"Mainkuhn! Mainkuhn!"
In a fear that threatened to engulf the world, he saw the glass in Arecino's hand tip over, the liquid splashing onto the ground and turning black with dust.
...No, the floor of the fireplace house is very clean, so where did the dust come from?
"Pepe, look at your feet!"
Under the astonished gaze of humans, the black water, which had absorbed a massive amount of negative emotions, grew, expanded, and took shape like a living thing.
Finally, following the half-demon's wishes, he used his murky tentacles to lift him up from the ground and have him sit against the wall.
"Ha ha…"
Arecino looked warily at the mass of black water: "...The Eye of the Water God? No, it's not."
Of course not.
Even though he was still shaken, Mainkun could clearly feel his demonic power resonating with the black water, as if it were about to devour it.
The water of Teyvat carries human emotions... I see. I am only controlling the negative emotions in the water, indirectly controlling the water.
"..."
How is this different from direct water control?
A crazy, desperate, audacious, and unparalleled plan to save the world suddenly appeared in the half-demon's mind.
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