Ch.25Chapter 25. Black Under the Skirt

“Next is… Alice Tales?”

“Yes!”

“Go stand at the end of this line.”

“Yes, teacher!”

A crisp, clear voice.

Cuss tilted her head to the side.

A small blonde girl was striding toward her.

‘Another little human…’

By then, Cuss had already noticed.

This place gathered particularly young human specimens.

She was the tallest one here.

After spending every day with the overwhelmingly large Jinsoo, seeing these immature specimens made her heart pound.

‘I could knock them all down!’

Perhaps she could win against all the kids here.

Of course, that was only if the numbers were wrong.

While she had been somewhat forced to attend this school, Cuss was aware that avoiding conflict with humans was necessary to live without problems.

“Wow…”

“…”

Alice, who had reached the end of the line and stood behind Cuss, let out a small exclamation.

All the human children who approached Cuss initially reacted this way.

Was she really that unusual?

She thought she was doing a decent job of not showing her alien features externally.

“Sniff sniff…”

Was it her smell?

Cuss pulled up her sleeve to smell herself, thinking she should pay more attention to behaving in a more human-like manner.

“What’s your name?”

“…?”

Startled by Alice’s boldness as she leaned forward, Cuss involuntarily flinched and stepped back slightly.

That’s right.

Jinsoo had told her to make friends with many humans if possible.

Apparently it might help somehow later.

“I’m Cuss.”

“Cuss? That’s an unusual name. I’m Alice! Nice to meet you!”

“Umm…”

“You’re really tall. How old are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is your silver hair dyed?”

“Dyed…? I don’t know what that is, but it’s been this color since I opened my eyes.”

“So it’s natural! Wow! I’ve seen white hair before but never silver! Maybe…”

After exchanging a few words, this Alice girl was bombarding her with endless questions.

They were increasingly difficult to understand, making it awkward to answer.

At this rate…

“Huh? Cuss, you don’t know such simple words? Even a damn little human like me knows that. You must be an alien?”

This outcome was predictable.

In fact, Jinsoo had figured out her identity in a similar way.

She needed to avoid appearing not just stupid but lacking in basic common sense.

Fortunately, voices began coming from the front, so Cuss turned away from Alice and focused straight ahead.

“Now, the entrance ceremony will begin soon. Everyone, it might be a little difficult, but please remain standing in place for just a while…”

Too far.

Can’t hear well.

The person called a teacher at the front seemed to be saying something, but Cuss couldn’t focus at all.

She just wanted this to end quickly so she could go home and watch videos of funny waddling creatures.

“…?”

At that moment, Cuss felt a strange sensation around her buttocks.

It wasn’t from moving her numb legs.

It wasn’t the wind blowing.

It was the damn little human behind her lifting her skirt.

Cuss gritted her teeth and quickly turned around.

Whoosh!

It happened in an instant.

Cuss’s foot went between Alice’s legs, striking her right side and pushing.

As her legs spread, Alice lost her balance.

Seizing the opportunity, Cuss shoved Alice’s chest.

Crash!

“Kyaah!”

As Alice fell backward, Cuss fell on top of her.

However, concerned about hurting her, she remembered to brace herself with her arms just before making contact.

This way, to others it would look like they accidentally fell together.

Cuss was impressed with her own cunning.

But she had to hurry.

There was only a brief moment before people gathered around.

“Did you see?”

“Huh? See what?”

“You did see.”

“W-what are you talking about…”

“You saw.”

Pressed close, Cuss examined Alice’s face and stated with certainty.

That was the face of someone telling a lie.

‘It’s similar to the expression I make when I break a glass and lie to Jinsoo.’

Whenever I break something, I wonder how Jinsoo always knows it was me.

So emotions really do show so clearly on one’s face.

‘This is bad.’

It was an emergency.

Alice had just admitted to seeing her tentacle.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time her tentacle had been seen.

Previously, Jinsoo had said something to smooth things over, but she couldn’t remember what he’d said.

To avoid being suspected as an alien, she needed to come up with a strategy immediately.

“You’re going to forget everything you just saw.”

“H-how…”

“If you don’t forget, I’ll beat you up badly.”

“Eek!”

“Have you forgotten?”

“…”

Alice silently nodded her head vigorously.

“Really?”

“…”

When Alice nodded again, Cuss smiled with satisfaction and got up from on top of her.

Then she extended her hand to Alice.

With a puzzled expression, Alice took Cuss’s hand and stood up.

“You two! What happened?”

“We fell. Tripped.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“And Alice?”

“She’s fine too.”

“No, I was asking Alice…”

“I-I’m fine too!”

“Be careful.”

The old human who had rushed over glared at Cuss before leaving.

Does she hate me?

But that wasn’t important right now.

Cuss gently turned her head and made eye contact with Alice.

“Eek?!”

“…”

Alice shuddered and shook her head repeatedly.

It seemed the imprint of fear had been successfully instilled.

Since it was a method Jinsoo used on her, its effectiveness was practically guaranteed.

‘She won’t go around blabbing.’

Cuss was grinning, pleased that her intimidation had apparently worked.

Meanwhile, Alice, who was trembling while staring at the back of Cuss’s head…

‘Was she that embarrassed about black panties?’

She couldn’t understand why she had been treated that way.

Something seemed to be caught under the skirt making it bulge, so she tried to discreetly fix it by lifting the skirt slightly.

Just slightly—not enough to show any underwear.

But even Alice was startled by the dark something she glimpsed between those pure white legs.

‘Ah! They were drawers!’

Alice figured out what it must have been.

If underwear was visible from just lifting the skirt that little bit, they must have been drawers.

So clearly Cuss wasn’t upset about the black color, but rather the shame of having her drawers seen.

Certainly, drawers give the impression of being children’s underwear…

‘I’ll keep it a secret forever!’

Her mother and father taught her that spreading a friend’s embarrassing secrets was unforgivable.

So she intended to take this secret to her grave.

Besides, if someone Cuss’s size beat her up, it would really hurt…

***

I’m screwed.

Seriously screwed.

How the hell did she get peeked at and expose her tentacle over an ice cream?

This is ridiculous.

Should I have made her wear pants instead of a skirt?

But then where would the tentacle be positioned?

Right side? Left side?

Or should it be rolled up and positioned at the buttocks?

“Sigh…”

That’s not what matters.

The issue is what to do now.

Cuss said she silenced the girl in her own way, but can I really trust that?

There’s no way her cute threat of “I’ll beat you up if you don’t keep it secret” would work.

If I’d known this would happen, I should have given her a small pocket knife.

Threats are always more effective when pressing a knife tip against someone’s cheek.

Or maybe not. If I’d given her a knife, it might be stuck in my neck by now.

“What the…”

When I came to my senses, Cuss wasn’t beside me.

Damn it.

This is why you need to hold kids’ hands tightly.

“Cuss! Cuss!”

I pushed the shopping cart, searching for Cuss.

I was starting to get annoyed.

Hopefully I’d find her quickly, but I worried she might have run into some weird people…

Just as I was about to give up and look for an employee to make a lost child announcement…

“Cuss?”

“Oh. Jinsoo.”

I found Cuss.

She was holding an armful of candies and snacks.

I almost gave her a knock on the head.

If only Juliane hadn’t been standing next to her.

“Mr. Jinsoo. We meet again? Haha…”

“…”

Juliane laughed awkwardly.

This meeting wasn’t coincidental.

The Justice Department monitoring my every move would have known I’d be grocery shopping at this time.

Above all, her acting skills were terrible.

I wondered how someone like Juliane got assigned to closely monitor me.

Was it because she’s pretty?

That would make sense.

“I received the dining coupon. Would you like to join…”

“Yes. Enjoy your meal.”

I smiled back and grabbed Cuss’s wrist, pulling her toward me.

Meanwhile, Cuss was dumping all the snacks she was holding into my shopping cart.

Come on.

You should be begging Juliane to buy them, not dumping them in here.

“No… I checked and it’s a restaurant with a really nice view. I think it would be great if we went together.”

“That restaurant is a franchise. They’re in most stations, so it would make a nice gift for your parents.”

I said this while taking out the snacks and handing them back to Cuss.

Then I patted Cuss’s back, signaling her to beg Juliane.

“Hmm?”

“Oh. Sorry.”

That wasn’t her back, it was her chest.

“Um, I’d like to try your cooking again, Jinsoo. So would it be okay if I visited next time?”

“No. It wouldn’t.”

She’s being unusually direct today.

Maybe she’s under pressure from above.

Why is she acting like this?

We were already at the checkout counter as we continued our conversation.

“I feel a bit hurt. I spent quite a bit getting the blood cleaned off my car seats…”

“You said you wouldn’t charge me for that.”

“I won’t charge you if we have a meal together. Just the two of us.”

Juliane smiled sweetly.

Ah, it’s hard to refuse when she puts it like that.

I placed items on the counter, trying to hide the slight trembling at the corner of my eye.

Meanwhile, I didn’t forget to push back the snacks Cuss had put down to make space.

“Fine. But this is the last time.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Yes. Let’s stop meeting after this.”

“Sigh…”

I said it firmly.

Honestly, Juliane is truly beautiful, but I’d rather not see a fruit I can’t eat dangling in front of me.

It’s also quite annoying having to keep Cuss from saying something inappropriate in front of Juliane.

I might seem like a jerk for cutting ties after receiving her help last time, but ending the relationship now would be better.

For both Juliane and me.

“Okay. Maybe when we meet and talk, you’ll change your mind?”

“That won’t happen. Let’s go, Cuss.”

After paying, I took Cuss’s hand and pulled her along.

Juliane looked slightly disappointed as she watched us with her eyes.

Actually, now that I look at her, maybe she is a good actress.

“That’ll be eighteen dollars.”

“What? I only bought one bottle of water.”

“You need to pay for the snacks too.”

“What snacks?”

Hearing this from behind us—

“Cuss. Let’s run.”

“Why?”

“It’ll be embarrassing if we get caught.”

Cuss and I quickly fled the scene.