New Encounters
Ah, what lovely weather.
The sun’s rays shine down from the heavens, and I bask in tranquility.
Three days have passed, and not a soul has come by. But I’m not the least bit concerned. Just relaxing in the sunlight is bliss.
Before, I might have had a nagging fear in the back of my mind over the thought of my points decreasing ever so slowly. But right now, my points are going up.
The reason has to do with the thing on my head. I added a new feature—a solar panel setup, like the kind on diagonal roofs. With this, I don’t have to do anything on sunny days to accumulate points.
See? I told you ranking up was the right choice! But there’s no one around. What am I making excuses for?
This solar panel was apparently part of an energy conservation and disaster countermeasure. Mine is fairly advanced, and if the weather is good, I get ten points an hour. If I save up points on sunny days, I can relax and go on living.
For these past three days, to gain a better understanding of my abilities, I first investigated the two-hour limit on my form changing. I learned that I can maintain the form I had when I was reborn for as long as I want. I was pretty sure of that already, but in addition, most exterior changes stuck, and changing any internal features didn’t have a time limit.
In other words, even if I devote half my body to the instant ramen function, it doesn’t fall under the time limit.
If nothing happens, all I have to do is wait out my time in peace. H-hmm. Once you solve one problem, you start to get greedy.
To put it bluntly, I’m bored. Maybe it’s because I got too used to my vending machine body, but I can’t really calm down unless I’m selling things to someone.
There really seems to be no human presence in the maze stratum. I wish I’d asked Hulemy a little more about it, but it’s too late for that. I have no way to ask her to begin with.
Lammis was knocked out. Is she all right? If the old lady who visits me a lot is around, I’m sure she can heal her, but there won’t be any aftereffects, right?
Sigh. Everything has been so noisy lately that it’s a little lonely not seeing anyone for an entire day. Giant walls stand in front of me and behind me, and I can see the sky, but that’s it.
I have nothing to do, so as I’m looking around as usual, I catch wind of something moving quietly.
Based on the aerial view I recorded with my surveillance camera, the path to my left should be the maze’s entrance. Maybe that means I can get my hopes up. It would be ideal if they came from the stratum above to save me, but I don’t mind if it’s other hunters.
I just hope they’re not mean people.
Something grows steadily larger, and eventually I can make the figures out.
Those are bipedal—small black bears…no, cats? Tanuki? I’m having a hard time identifying their features.
There are four. All are wearing the same leather jacket in bright green. They’re not wearing pants, but they’re wearing shoes? Their jackets aren’t buttoned in the front, so I can see their chests—they have white, crescent-shaped patterns on them. Small moon bears?
Maybe they’re the same species as Director Bear. Still, they’re fairly small.
Their faces and bodies are jet-black, but their noses are black, too, and their ears stand up, with pink inside. They have whiskers as well, but like a cat’s. Which means they’re not bears? Well, whatever they are, they’re pretty cute. As someone whose love for cats is second only to his love for vending machines, I’m itching to pet them.
B-but what is this cute little team? I’d like to give them a closer look while they’re buying something from me, but they don’t look like they have the time. They’re running for their lives, wearing backpacks.
They’re being chased from behind by three monsters with loose skin and pig faces wielding clubs over their heads. The bear cats run forward—they’re like a combination of bears and cats, right?
Their pursuers have bodies three times their size, and they’re certainly not lacking in the speed department. But one of the bear cats’ legs is wounded, and two are supporting that one as they run, meaning they can’t widen the gap at all.
The monsters with pig faces plastered on their heads are called hugehog fiends, as I recall. I’ve heard people in Clearflow Lake making fun of fat people by calling them hugehogs.
There’s still distance, but please, get in front of me somehow! If you do, I’ll help you out somehow.
“Vaaahhh!”
“Go awaaay!”
“Just leave me!”
“I won’t leave you behind, stupid!”
Despite their appearance, their cries are guttural, and when they open their big mouths, their faces are scary! I can see sharp fangs inside.
The wounded one must be the one with the drooping ears like a Scottish fold cat. By the sound of its voice, it’s female. A slightly taller, browner bear cat than the others is supporting her.
The one snarling as it runs is skinny. The one bringing up the rear is plumper.
They look similar, but they have a lot of visual differences. That aside, they should be able to get to me at this rate. About thirty feet separate them from the hugehogs.
The problem is, how do I save those bear cats? It’s time for me to reveal the fruits of the painfully long hours I spent thinking up ways to fight as a vending machine.
I change into a vending machine that has a compartment without a lid, then drop several cans of juice into the compartment. Then I change my paint color to match the wall, blending in with it.
At a quick glance, I’d look like part of the wall. They don’t have time to look carefully in this situation, after all.
The bear cats run straight by, and as the hugehogs cross my path a few moments later—juice-splash attack!
I use Force Field and eject the cans of juice outside it. They fly at considerable speed, with three of them striking two of the pig people. It doesn’t look like it did any damage at all, but the cans that missed are scattered around, making it hard to move, and now they’re looking at me.
Then I deactivate the camouflage and say “Get one free with a winner” several times in succession.
“What’s that, oink?”
“A labyrinth trap, oink!”
Oh, they actually end their sentences by saying “oink.” How easy to understand. That means these monsters have enough intelligence to speak. Director Bear and the bear cats do, too, so maybe bipedal mammalian creatures have high intelligence.
“Do you remember a trap here, oink?”
While the hugehogs are focused on me, the bear cats gain quite a bit of distance. Now to activate my next trap. Pigs are omnivores, right? I’ve heard they’ll eat just about anything.
I change to the vegetable machine—which just got used earlier—and after releasing the glass display, I push all the veggies out of my Force Field.
“Oink! Food came out, oink, oink!”
“Food, food, oink!”
Without a second thought, they pick it up and start chomping down on them raw. They must have been pretty hungry.
Their backs are turned as they delightedly engorge themselves. They seem to have lost interest in the bear cats, and no sooner do they snatch up the greens in their frenzy than they throw them into their mouths.
Meanwhile, I change into a short vending machine from a children’s theme park and make my color scheme the same as the wall.
After observing them for a while, they finish eating everything. Seeming satisfied, they smack their bellies and stolidly stand up.
“I’m full, oink.”
“Hey, the box that made the vegetables is gone, oink.”
They look all about, and even when their eyes land on me, they find nothing, since my color is the same as the wall before them.
They’re confused, but with their bellies full they seem to have lost their sense of caution, so they go back along the path.
I managed to let the bear cats escape, but they went away, too. Crap. I wanted to observe them some more. I’m satisfied with saving them, though, so I guess that’s enough.
Those bear cats sure were cute. They were about child-size, too. But what were they doing out here? For monsters that live in the labyrinth, I didn’t detect any bloodlust or fear from them.
They seemed to be enemies of those hugehog fiends, too. They seem like one of the friendly races that live with humans, like Director Bear. They could speak, too, so they might have been good customers as well. What a shame.
Still, despite this being an alternate world, the beast people and monsters all seem like they’re based on Earth creatures. But what were those bear cats? I get the feeling I saw them once when I was little, but…what were they called?
It was a really cool-sounding name. I remember it drawing my attention when I was in middle school…
“Are we really going back…?”
“The monsters get stronger the deeper we go…”
“The trap might still be active…”
Oh, I hear the bear cats from before talking.
I’d been watching the direction in which the hugehogs disappeared this whole time, so I didn’t notice, but they’ve gotten close.
I turn my gaze to see the four bear cats, paying close attention to their surroundings as they walk.
Now, what should I do? I can pretend to be the wall, and they might not notice me. But first, I return to my usual vending machine color scheme. This one is about the right size for children to use, so for the bear cats’ height, this would be easier to access.
Ahhh, their arms and legs are so short and cute!
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Isn’t it the trap the hugehogs got caught in before?”
The flappy-eared, wounded one is staring intently at me from a distance. The plump bear cat seems to be waiting in the back, too. The other two seem quite interested. They creep toward me, then easily reach their front legs—er, hands—toward me and poke me.
They’re probably just trying to figure me out, the same as I’m doing for them. Just as curious as I’d expect, given their catlike appearances. They surround me and start to sniff me.
I am in heaven right now. I’d love to savor this moment of bliss, surrounded by bear cats, but I can’t do that, either. It’s such a darn shame.
“Welcome.”
“Vooohhh?!”
The bear cats all jump back at once to distance themselves. I told you, your cries and faces are scary! I’m sorry, it’s my fault for startling you.
“Vaaahhh!”
The dark-brown one seems strong-willed, and he opens his mouth wide to snarl at me.
The other two are backing slowly away. At this rate, they’ll run away from me. I’ll change my form, heat up some karaage, and drop it into my compartment. Thanks to my speed increase, they finish warming in a heartbeat.
“It lit up and grew!”
“B-be careful, everyone!”
“Shouldn’t we run away? Hey, shouldn’t we run away?”
The three in the back are even more scared.
The thinner one must be their leader—he’s the one urging caution. The chubby one seems the shyest, backing off behind the others.
Crap, they’re even cute when they’re scared!
“Wait, is that meat I smell?”
The dark-brown one’s nose perks up as he notices the scent.
You usually think of cats as liking fish, but they actually like chicken more. The cat I was raising in my home has a criminal record of swiping both raw and fried chicken. And even if they’re bears, they’ll like the meat.
They seem to be making sure that this isn’t a trap, but their curiosity and appetites lock them in place.
“Welcome. Insert coins.”
“Vaaahhh… Ah? Is this box selling things?”
Oh, the flap-eared one noticed!
“Don’t be fooled, Suco. It could be the kind that lures you in with items.”
The thin one seems the prudent type. Even though the fluffy one is wandering slowly toward me, drawn by the meat.
“Pell, don’t get close. Short, you keep your distance, too.”
“All right, Mikenne.”
Oh, they’ve revealed all the names of the bear cats. The thin one, their leader, is Mikenne, and the flap-eared female-sounding one is Suco. The chubby one is Pell, and the strong-willed dark-brown one is Short.
Somehow, I have to lure the bear cats into buying something.
