Final Chapter End

"Do you hate me like this?"

Before I could even process what those words meant, I shook my head furiously. Huey stood up from his chair and slowly walked over to my side.

"Then what is it?"

"Huh?"

I instinctively looked up at him. The moment our eyes met—his narrowed blue eyes locking with mine—Huey crouched down, leaning closer to peer into my face from below. Frozen under his gaze, I felt him gently take the hands I had been nervously clutching in my lap.

Ahhh—Huey is kneeling and holding my hand!!

That longing, almost sorrowful expression on his face is way too attractive—my nose is gonna bleed!

I couldn’t keep looking at him, so I quickly lowered my head.

Oh no! Even when I look down, I can still feel his gaze on me, looking up from below!

"Then do you hate me? Or... do you like me?"

"U-uh...!"

Huey’s blue eyes burned with heat.

"Mimosa, say it."

"A-ah…"

My head spun wildly, cold sweat forming as my throat went dry. My vision blurred from the tension, and yet Huey’s gaze cornered me, refusing to let me escape.

N-no good! I can’t run away anymore!

"S-s..."

To hell with it! I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"I like you, Huey! I like you so much!!"

"Mimosa!!"

"Wah—!"

He suddenly pulled the hand he was holding, yanking me to my feet and straight into a tight embrace. Wrapped in Huey’s warmth, my whole body turned boiling red like a steamed octopus as his excited voice rang in my ears.

"That means we’re mates now!"

He hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe.

Huey, you’re squeezing too hard! I-I can’t breathe!

"Haaah... I wanted to hold you like this in my human form... Mimosa, you’re so warm... so soft..."

Aaaahhh, stop commenting on everything!!

"I just want to stay like this forever..."

It hurts! Huey, seriously, too much strength!!

M-my organs are going to pop out! I give! I give!!

I wanted to tap out, but since he had my whole body in his arms, I couldn’t move at all.

Eeeek, is this his submission move powered by all that pent-up emotion!?

Desperate, I used my tail to tap on him as a signal.

"Ah—sorry."

Finally realizing I was on the verge of death, Huey loosened his grip a little. But even then, he still held me tightly, his arms wrapped completely around me.

...

I wriggled just enough inside his embrace to free my arms, ending up with them raised in a surrender-like pose.

"I’m not letting you go anymore," he said, tightening his arms around me again as if to make sure I didn’t run.

As if I’d even think of running at this point.

I spread my arms wide open.

"Ah..."

And then I wrapped them around Huey, hugging him back. I pressed my cheek against his chest.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump...

His heartbeat was racing so fast that it made me laugh—and somehow, it made me incredibly happy.

"...Huey."

I closed my eyes, leaned my weight against him, and softly called his name. Just doing that made my whole body feel ticklish.

You know, even if I didn’t “like” you back then, isn’t it possible that I still had some faint feeling for you all these ten years?

Because you don’t just get that good at survival training just from tagging along with me, right?

Maybe those feelings you never realized you had just kept growing quietly over time... until we met again ten years later, and they turned into love?

I think you’ve come to love all of me—both the me from back then and the me now.

I tightened my arms around him, pouring all those thoughts into that embrace. Our hearts were pounding so hard I couldn’t tell whose heartbeat was whose anymore.

"...Mimosa."

"!!"

He gently lifted my chin, making me look up in surprise. With his eyes glistening with emotion, Huey slowly leaned in closer.

I closed my eyes—

―――――

With my free arm, I pushed Huey’s face away.

"Sorry, but there’s no way I can handle that so suddenly!!"

"A-after we’ve come this far...?"

Huey slumped his shoulders in defeat.

I mean, sure, I do like Huey—but I still have the mindset of a guy! No matter how strong my feelings are, actually kissing another boy is still way too high of a hurdle!

"But Mimosa, you’ve already done something way more intense before..."

"T-that was... because I thought it was a dream! Aha, ha ha..."

Truth be told, I don’t remember that moment very clearly because I’d completely snapped back then... I almost said it out loud, but caught myself just in time.
If I told him that, who knows what would happen to Huey!

"P-please, let’s just take it slow..."

"I’ll make sure you have no way to escape..."

Huey muttered something unsettling under his breath.

Even though I still have that male sense of self, just being able to say that I like Huey out loud is already a huge step forward. So please, just let that be enough for now!

Trying to escape from his gloomy stare, I buried my face in his broad chest.

And so... awkward as I may be, I’ve finally become Huey’s mate.

『A Certain Old Tale Passed Down Among the Beastkin』

Once upon a time, there were two beasts who loved each other deeply.

Yet they were of different species, and so they could not be together.

With tears in their eyes, they spoke to one another:

"I love you. But I cannot abandon the pride of my own kind."

"I feel the same. I want to be with you, but I cannot forsake my family or my tribe to become one of yours."

"Then... shall we offer up our bodies—so different in form—to the gods, and be together as souls alone?"

Just as they resolved to surrender their flesh to the divine, a god who pitied them spoke:

"There is no need to abandon your bodies or your races."

The two beasts were enveloped in a warm, radiant light—
and when it faded, they had taken human form.

"When you are beasts, live proudly as members of your own kind.
And when you are human, love one another as equals."

Overjoyed, the two embraced.
From that day forward, when they lived as beasts, they carried their heritage with pride; when they loved as humans, they cherished each other as one.

And thus, it is said, the beastkin came to be.

Even now, we live as our ancestors once did—
holding pride in the race we were born into, and living with our mates in human form.

We are the beastkin—
a blessed race, allowed to love freely, beyond all bounds.

The End.