Pat-Pat

Veronica’s face, forcibly held still, was hot. That heat transferred from her soft cheek to my palm. From Veronica’s mouth, her face bright red and her pupils darting around, a tiny voice like an ant’s flowed out. I could feel the ears on top of her head twitching.

“L-Let go…”

…At that murmur, I realized I had been too rude.

Dealing with people who had strange senses of personal space recently… it seems I’ve become a bit strange myself.

“…My apologies, that was too rude. I apologize.”

“Oh, n-not really…”

“Hm?”

“Oh, no! Y-Yes! A-Even if you’re a woman now, you, you were originally a man, so… that… Ugh…”

Her words trailed off, making them hard to hear, but the meaning was conveyed. As I took my hand off Veronica’s face and stepped back, I lost my balance and plopped down backward. It was because of my tail.

“Ugh-hyat!?”

Falling didn’t cause much of an impact… but my butt stung strangely. Thanks to that, I ended up making an unseemly sound.

How embarrassing….

“A-Are you okay?”

“Uh… I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

When I lifted my head, I saw Veronica’s face, still red but filled with concern. I scratched my cheek in embarrassment and tried to get up… but my body somehow felt stiff.

In the meantime, Veronica got up before me. A shadow fell over my face. Looking up at Veronica… I felt strange. Along with a tightening sensation in my lower abdomen, my tail clung to my body.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

Veronica extended her hand to me. She must have meant for me to take it and get up.

But… without realizing it, I rested my chin on her pure white palm. It was a highly impulsive action.

“Uh-heh?”

Veronica let out a strange exclamation, as if flustered. I was flustered too. It seemed to be… the Beastification Potion’s fault. My tail had been moving on its own… and now my body was moving on its own too.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s the p-potion, my body is moving on its own….”

My face flushed with embarrassment. Veronica, who had been flustered for a moment, chuckled and started scratching my chin. That skilled touch, as if she had experience raising felines… felt good.

“Ugh… Mmm….”

While I was making foolish noises, intoxicated by that strange pleasure, my ears were being stroked after my chin. With soft touches, my ears on top of my head were stroked, and my chin was fondled this way and that… it was hard to keep my wits about me.

“S-Stop…”

Veronica, as if intending to brush me off this way, pretended not to hear me, stroking my head and sweeping her hand down my waist. My body, faithfully reacting to that, had already climbed onto the sofa and curled up next to Veronica.

…Is this why Beastfolk are sensitive to having their ears touched? How on earth does Claudia suppress these impulses…? That time I touched her ears… I might have to apologize.

At that moment, a lightning-like pleasure spread throughout my entire body. My mouth became wet from the indescribable pleasure that started from my tail. Every time Veronica tapped, tapped the base of my tail, I had to hold back unseemly moans from escaping.

“S-Stop, I said…”

As I managed to voice my words, Veronica stopped her hand. Faster than the thought that she had finally stopped, my tail thumped against the sofa, expressing its dissatisfaction. I heard Veronica’s laughter.

“Your body seems honest, though?”

“…You did it, didn’t you?”

“Huh?”

From that touch… I somehow understood what had happened to me. It was a premonition close to certainty. Because the patting, which should have been a completely new sensation… somehow didn’t feel unfamiliar.

“You took the medicine… and to me….”

Veronica’s stiff hand began to tap my tailbone again. So intensely that it felt… a little violent.

“Y-Yes, I d-did it! But!”

“Ugh…”

“Y-You were the one who first sucked on my fingers and clung to me!?”

“I-I couldn’t have done that…”

“You did!”

Veronica shouted in an aggrieved voice, continuing to tap my butt. My lower abdomen felt like it was clenching tightly.

“A-Arashu, so st-sto─”

The door opened, and energetic footsteps were heard. I didn’t need to ask who it was to know. Besides Veronica, only Cecil was in this house right now.

“Shaa-nim! I’ve eaten all the cookies!”

As expected, Cecil’s cheerful voice echoed through the room. Veronica replied to Cecil, keeping her hand patting.

“Assistant… no, you said Cecil, right?”

“Yes! Veronica-nim. By the way… isn’t Shaa-nim here?”

“Uh…”

It seemed I was hidden by the sofa and couldn’t be seen. I thought it was fortunate that my unseemly state wasn’t visible. Veronica, after a moment of thought, continued speaking while patting my butt.

“She… went out for a bit.”

“Shaa-nim, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that so? Shaa-nim told Cecil that she wouldn’t be going out for a while…”

To suppress the unseemly moans escaping, I bit down on whatever was within reach. Then something soft entered my mouth. It was Veronica’s thigh.

“Ugh…”

“Veronica-nim? Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing. By the way, what does Cecil usually do at this time?”

“Cecil helps Shaa-nim make potions!”

It was a voice filled with pride. Veronica’s patting seemed to speed up a little.

“I see…”

The pleasure spreading throughout my body made it feel as if all my nerves were concentrated in my tail. I could feel my thighs tensing.

“Then… could you go back and do what you were doing? When Shaa returns… I’ll tell her you were here.”

“Understood!”

I heard Cecil sniffing. Veronica’s voice became flustered. Even her patting hand stopped.

“W-What’s wrong…?”

“There was a sweet scent… but I think Cecil was mistaken.”

“…”

“Then Cecil will go back now!”

“O-Okay…”

The sound of the door closing was heard. While Veronica stopped patting, my body, which had been consumed by pleasure, woke up. I quickly got up and clung to the armrest of the sofa.

A slightly… subtle silence flowed between Veronica and me. It was I who broke that silence.

“…So, you… did it, right?”

Veronica, her face flushed with a devastated expression, replied in a mosquito-like voice.

“…Yeah.”

“Did you… finish inside?”

“I-I’m sorry. If I have to t-take responsibility, I’ll… try to do something….”

“Responsibility, huh….”

Actually, if one drinks a Contraception Potion… it’s safe to say nothing happened. Because I don’t have any memory of being… violated. But for some reason, Veronica acted as if she didn’t know about its existence.

…To say nothing happened is a bit… well… But if my body returns to normal, then it’s like nothing happened… right?

“Putting that aside for now, you said you came because of the growing potion, right? Why that?”

“…I was curious how to make it. A-And, while I was at it, to see a classmate’s face after a long time….”

Veronica said, gathering her red hair and twisting it.

A manufacturing method, huh… It seems Master, who took Cecil’s essence, processed it and… spread it. What on earth is she thinking? I rested my chin on my hand and fell into thought.

Not long after, Veronica’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Asha…?”

“Oh, sorry, I was just thinking for a moment.”

“…About what?”

“What I should do next… thoughts like that?”

Veronica trembled, as if anxious.

…To the point where I wondered if this was the same person who was patting my butt just a moment ago. If she was going to be like this, why did she pat it…? Still… I felt a little pity for her appearance.

After a moment of thought… I opened my mouth.

“Are you busy?”

“Huh…?”

“How long can you stay here?”

“Uh… as long as I want?”

“Is that really okay?”

Veronica nodded vigorously. Her red hair swayed this way and that. I unconsciously followed it with my eyes, then cleared my throat.

This is called a Beastification Potion, but it feels more like just turning into a beast with ears and a tail, doesn’t it? I’ll need to find out if the mixture is wrong, or if Beastfolk just live by enduring these impulses…

Or maybe the potion just works too well on me.

…But it’ll be fine now. Because our Workshop will have a new… member for a while. I’m also looking forward to being able to resume the experiments for the Breast-enlargement Potion, which had been delayed.

“Veronica.”

“Mmm…”

“Then, for a while… could you stay at the Workshop and help me out?”

“Huh?”

I said to Veronica, as if nonchalantly.

“I’ll take care of your food and lodging─”

“Let’s do it!”

“…I haven’t finished talking yet.”

Veronica looked at me with an “oops” expression, then cleared her throat and replied.

“…Because I trust you. You’re not some bad guy who makes unreasonable demands, are you?”

“…”

Then she pointed a pure white finger at me and shouted.

“I-It’s not like I particularly want to work with you at the Workshop! It’s purely to watch over you and see if you get pregnant, and to take, take responsibility!!!”

“Right, right.”

Watching Veronica say that, I was reminded of our Academy days and laughed.

“W-Why are you laughing!?”

“Oh, just… thinking about old times.”

“…”

For some reason, I headed to the Workshop where Cecil would be waiting, with Veronica glaring daggers at me.

…By the way, when is this going to disappear?