114. Scent of Grass

114. Scent of Grass

“This… person? Who is it?”

“I, I don’t know either.”

I picked up the green-haired girl lying on the ground. Whether she was asleep or unconscious, the girl was breathing softly with her eyes closed, showing no signs of movement.

Unusually, the girl’s ears were relatively pointed and long compared to others, and I had never seen a person with such long ears. I hesitated to speak, just in case she wasn’t human, as it would be rude.

Whatever the girl’s identity, I asked Claire again.

“You really don’t know who she is?”

“Nope.”

“You don’t know what happened either?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm….”

I pondered, tapping my tail on the ground. My wolf instincts told me this was clearly a significant event.

A girl in a coma, a dark organization operating secretly in the academy, and the hidden secrets of the empire slowly surfacing…!

This is going to be fun.

At my age, playing these role-playing games seems childish, but people’s minds tend to go a bit haywire during exam periods. Even though the exams are over.

Let’s start with the ears.

I massaged the girl’s long ears. The soft, squishy texture, so different from ordinary ears, transmitted through my fingertips, and it was certainly quite an addictive sensation.

Squish, squish.

“Hwaeeng.”

“Hmm… there’s a reaction, though.”

I gently squeezed and massaged, then stroked from tip to tip. The sight of the ears swaying with the movement of my hands was amusing. The girl let out a moan, but showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

Then, shall I try blowing on them?

“Hooo~”

“Hwaeeng.”

“Hweee~”

“Hwaaeeng.”

The reaction is amusing. I stopped blowing and instead brought my face close to her ear and gently extended my tongue.

My tongue delving into the girl’s ear canal.

“Hgeuk.”

The soft, squishy texture I felt with my hands was vividly transmitted through my tongue. For some reason, the girl’s reaction seemed quite different from before, but I continued to move my tongue.

“Ngh, hht, haat.”

My tongue moved back and forth repeatedly inside the hole. It burrowed into the flesh, then came out again, digging in while coated with sticky bodily fluids.

The girl’s ear, covered in a mess of saliva.

“Haak, hek, hiit.”

In that state, I reached out and touched the opposite ear. I poked my tongue into it and tickled it with my fingers. Similar yet different sensations tormented the girl, and even in her unconscious state, she let out continuous moans.

I slowly lowered my hand….

“S-stop!”

At that moment, Claire stopped me. What’s wrong?

“What’s wrong?”

“You shouldn’t do that to other people!”

“What? But… you said this is common among girls-“

“If I say no, it’s no!”

I don’t know the reason, but Claire seemed very displeased that I was doing this to other children. Especially since Claire’s soft cheeks were puffed out.

“Then, is it also not okay to do that to Priscilla and you?”

“That… is fine.”

“Huh…?”

I can’t understand the criteria at all. This is okay, but that isn’t, for what reason?

While I was lost in thought, Claire approached me with strides and separated the girl and me. Strictly speaking, she was too small to be described as striding, but anyway.

‘Ur, Ur, do you know why Claire is acting like this?’

[Bread… Ice cream….]

… Hmm.

Ur seemed to be distracted by food. Even when I tapped her sword body, I didn’t get much of a reaction.

Ah, speaking of food, it reminded me….

“Before coming here, I did ‘that’ to another girl. Was that also not allowed?”

“No!”

Claire’s firm refusal. She seemed angry at me, yet she clung to my arm as if claiming it as her own, holding on tightly… What is that called?

… Jealousy?

“Ah.”

“Ngeut.”

Just as the word was about to come to mind, Claire grabbed my head and pulled it down, kissing my lips. After lowering my head and exchanging saliva several times, Claire let me go.

“Don’t do that to other people. Got it?”

“Then why….”

“Answer!”

“… Alright.”

In the end, Claire never told me the reason.

Hmm.

If I were to guess with my limited common sense, perhaps she wanted to monopolize the pleasant experience for herself.

For example, when you get a new pet, the existing pet gets jealous.

If that’s the case, then there’s nothing I can do. Isn’t it a common sense that the first one to get it, gets it? I should refrain from such things in the future.

… At least in front of Claire.

After hearing my confirmation, Claire pulled me to a nearby bench and sat on my lap, finally showing a satisfied expression.

Naturally, I stroked her hair with my hand. The soft blonde hair flowed down smoothly.

“Claire.”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, when I touched that girl earlier, I used my head a bit.”

“Hm?”

“She had a bump on her head.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“And from that bump, I smelled your scent.”

“Eung?”

As I always say, the scent-detecting ability of wolf beastmen is truly outstanding. It wasn’t difficult to distinguish between the girl’s hair scent and Claire’s scent.

Besides, Claire’s body scent, which has a calm and soft fragrance, is quite distinctive, and now that I’ve put my nose in her hair so close, it’s even more certain.

“You did it, didn’t you?”

“Wh-what!”

“You definitely hit that girl and knocked her out. Then you pretended not to see her, left her on the ground, and played innocent.”

The bump on the unconscious girl’s head, and Claire’s scent from it. This was irrefutable evidence. Claire, the culprit, shook her head vigorously and denied it, surprised by my perfect deduction.

“N-no! I didn’t!”

“Claire.”

To deny the crime even with such perfect evidence, isn’t she taking me for too much of a fool? I’m not so foolish as to believe my friend’s words at face value.

“Claire, you shouldn’t hit people carelessly.”

“I really didn’t….”

“Hmph.”

I scolded Claire. The nagging skills I’d honed while raising my younger siblings were about to shine.

“Claire, there’s no one you’re allowed to hit. Unless they’re sex offenders who touch your body, kiss you, or grope your chest, you shouldn’t use violence carelessly.”

“….”

“Understood?”

Claire’s lips closed. Although her expression was subtle, she was likely reflecting deeply.

“Yes, yes, good job, my Claire. Don’t do that again. Okay?”

I moved my tail and wrapped it around Claire’s body like a belt. A wolf beastman’s tail is pleasantly fluffy and warm, so this should be enough encouragement.

“I didn’t do it!”

“Yip?!”

However, Claire responded by biting my tail.

It stings.

It’s a sensitive area to begin with, and the sudden attack meant I wasn’t prepared. I jumped up, my tail fluffed out like a startled puppy. The academy looked magnificent from 50 meters up.

“I really didn’t do it. It’s a misunderstanding.”

“R-really?”

Returning to the bench and rubbing my throbbing tail, I asked again, and Claire replied.

“I was just sitting here. Then she just fell from the sky! So I went closer to examine her!”

“Really…?”

“Really!”

I couldn’t find any sign of lying from Claire, who was growling and angry. Instead, she seemed full of indignation, which made me flustered, as I had accused her of being the culprit.

“Uh… I’m sorry.”

“Is ‘sorry’ enough?”

“… Isn’t it?”

Claire’s expression softened when I gave her a kiss as an apology. But she still didn’t seem completely appeased.

What more should I do?

Kiss, hug, stroke… Even after doing all that, Claire’s anger didn’t completely subside. Of course, Claire seemed to enjoy it, but it felt like I hadn’t addressed the root of the problem.

Women’s hearts are truly difficult. Even after living as a woman for 20 years and learning common sense from my sister, I can’t even grasp how to appease Claire’s sulky mood.

“Claire, then….”

“Skadi~~~~~~!! You’re here!!”

Just as I was about to speak, Priscilla appeared. With her characteristic rolled-up twin buns, she ran towards me with short, quick steps.

I turned the conversation, ignoring Claire’s unsolvable problem.

“Hello, Priscilla. Did you do well on the exam?”

“Of course! How about you, Skadi?”

“I did well too.”

With this, I’m sure to get 100 points.

That’s what I said, but for some reason, both Priscilla and Claire stopped with their mouths agape.

It was only after several minutes that they moved. And even then, my confident answer was completely ignored.

Priscilla said.

“Speaking of which, Skadi, who is that person eating the bread so deliciously?”

“Hm? Who?”

“That person with green hair behind us!”

When I looked back, surprisingly, the girl who had been unconscious until a moment ago had woken up and was devouring the food.

My food.