Chapter 70 – Tail

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“First, can you show me how you make dolls?”

Miao’s request was similar to Hosanna’s. She wanted to see how I made dolls first and then suggest a suitable method.

But I pouted and muttered in a sulky voice.

“…I don’t know if I should show you. You’ll probably think it’s bad, Miao…”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I take back what I said about it being bad, okay? Just show me~”

“Don’t try to sneak in another pat while you’re at it.”

I might fall for it twice, but not three times. I grabbed the hand that was about to fall on my head and resisted.

“Hng…”

Of course, it was a meaningless resistance. The hand pressing down eventually landed on my head, and I was subjected to another intense head patting, uttering silly noises.

I couldn’t figure out what she was doing to make it feel so good. It was just head patting. As I was thinking that, Yuika suddenly slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

Startled by the sudden action, Miao and I stared at her with wide eyes as Yuika trembled and muttered.

“Me too…”

“Yuika…?”

“I want… to be patting too!”

What. Before I could even be surprised, Yuika quickly moved and sat next to me, patting my head like crazy.

Unlike when Miao did it, I didn’t become limp, but I still didn’t dislike being patted by Yuika, so I quietly accepted the pats.

After patting for a while, Yuika seemed satisfied and relaxed.

In return, my hair was completely messed up, but if Yuika was satisfied, so was I.

As I blew the hair covering my eyes out of the way, Miao said with a laugh.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Mari goes bald like this.”

“You touched her a lot too, Miao. How stingy…”

“Stingy? I’m just exercising my rightful privilege today, okay?”

More than that, stingy? I wondered why she was suddenly acting like that, but was she jealous that Miao was the only one patting me… Well, I didn’t feel bad, so it didn’t matter.

Although there was a brief commotion, the doll making proceeded properly. Of course, after repeatedly hearing Miao promise not to call it bad.

“It’s… done.”

[Wooden Doll]

[Completion D]

I wish it would at least give me a C in times like this. Feeling dejected, Miao carefully touched the doll and asked.

“Can I take a look?”

“Huh? Oh, sure.”

“Let’s see…”

Miao looked at the completed doll from side to side, then grabbed its arm and moved it. Since there was no joint at the elbow, it couldn’t bend or extend, but it could move sideways or up and down.

After confirming that, Miao nodded as if she had realized something and said.

“As expected, skills are amazing. It doesn’t make sense to show this kind of mobility after making it like that.”

“Are you indirectly saying it’s bad…?”

“Mari, you’re surprisingly petty…?”

I said it wasn’t sincere when I said it was bad, so please let it go~! Miao made a whining noise, but unfortunately, my grudge was deeper than the Mariana Trench.

I can tolerate being insulted, but I can’t tolerate my creations being insulted. As I was making a sulky face, Miao continued.

“The part I said didn’t make sense isn’t about the quality or anything like that, but about the way it was made. Mari, you know that the way you’re making it now isn’t the normal way to make dolls, right?”

“Yeees…”

I had used the analogy several times, but the way I made dolls was similar to playing with clay. Combining or cutting and attaching, that was all. And Miao, who had watched the process, said.

“Normally, when you make it like this, the arm should be fixed. There’s no ball joint or anything similar, you just attached it. But now, it moves like this… up and down, and even sideways. It’s only at right angles, but the fact that it can do that at all doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh… so you mean the ability to move like this is all thanks to the skill…?”

“That’s right. It’s absolutely impossible otherwise. Could you show me how you move the doll too?”

“Ah, yes.”

At Miao’s request, I reached out to Doll 505, which I had taken out earlier. The mana threads that stretched out spread into every corner of Doll 505, and as soon as I could completely control it, I immediately made it stand up.

Miao’s eyes sparkled at the sight of Doll 505 pushing itself up from the ground with its arms.

“Amazing. You can really control dolls?”

“This is just basic.”

It had already been well over a month since I started handling dolls properly. Besides, now I was controlling not one, but two dolls at the same time (although there was still a chance of failure), so perfectly controlling just one wasn’t difficult.

As I puffed out my chest and boasted, Miao chuckled and patted my head.

“Good job! Mari.”

“…Please don’t treat me like a child.”

“Hehe.”

I pouted at her response, which was to gloss over it with a laugh, and Miao asked.

“But is the durability okay? It looked pretty unstable when I saw you making it.”

“I’m reinforcing it with mana, so it’s okay. It can withstand most impacts.”

“Is that so? Then excuse me for a moment.”

Excuse you for what? As I was making a puzzled face, Miao stretched out her arm and supported it with her other hand.

In that state, she curled her middle finger and aimed at Doll 505, who was standing proudly – wait a minute.

“Miao-“

Tick. A light sound rang out, but the result was anything but light.

As I was gaping at Doll 505, which had been neatly cut off above the chest, Miao tilted her head and said.

“Hmm… it’s not as durable as I thought.”

“It’s not that the durability is weak, it’s that your strength is strong compared to the durability, isn’t it? More than that, why would you break Mari’s doll…”

“Huh? Oh, um. That’s right. Sorry, Mari. You looked so confident, so I only gave it a little bit of strength, but I didn’t know it would turn out like this… Mari?”

Miao was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it.

With trembling hands, I grabbed Doll 505, which had been neatly cut off. There was no sign of a gap in the exposed cross-section. But when I turned it upside down and shook it, something slipped out.

It was a hemispherical object. But I was the only one here who knew that it originally had a complete spherical shape.

“U-Uh…”

“Ma-Mari, are you okay?”

Miao, who belatedly sensed something was wrong, asked in a flustered voice, but instead of answering, I took a rough breath and got off my knees.

Then, I found the remaining hemisphere in the fragments of Doll 505 that had fallen on the floor and put the two together with trembling hands. It was cut so cleanly that there was no trace of the cut when I pressed them together.

The moment I tried to twitch the corners of my mouth at the sight of it looking like it was reattached, it split apart to the left and right with a crack.

I stared blankly at the sight before tears welled up.

“Uu, uu…”

How much did I spend to make this? Of course, it was all money that Hosanna had given me, but that’s why it was even more precious.

It was purely made by Hosanna’s favor. But now it was neatly cut off.

In a form that might not be recoverable.

“Waaaaah…!”

When I got to that point, I burst into tears. My head turned white and I just collapsed and sobbed.

I could feel Miao and Yuika, who were very flustered beside me, trying to comfort me, but once the tears burst out, they didn’t stop easily.

As I was shamelessly crying my eyes out, my body was suddenly lifted and hugged by someone. The patting on my back seemed to be trying to comfort me, but that action only made me cry more.

As I was holding the core that had been split in half and crying, I felt something soft covering my eyes. It was warm and had a strangely addictive smell, which made me stop crying a little.

“Hic, wh-what is this?”

When I groped around with my hands, I felt fur and warmth. As I swallowed my sobs and fiddled with it, Miao said in an awkward voice.

“It’s my tail. It’s fluffy and nice, right?”

“Tail…?”

“I don’t usually let anyone touch this, but I’m letting you touch it this time because it’s my fault. But don’t grab it too tight, or, kyaaa?!”

When I grabbed it tightly with both hands, I heard Miao jumping up and screaming.

But this time, I can’t stand it. No, I won’t stand it!

I squeezed it mercilessly, and Miao writhed and trembled.

I don’t know why she’s doing that, but it seemed like her tail was a weakness. Even though I’m holding it so tightly, my grip isn’t that strong, but she’s reacting like that.

…Can I bite it? Curiosity welled up as if I had never cried before.

If she’s reacting like this just by being grabbed with my hands, what kind of reaction would she show when I bite it?

I wouldn’t have treated someone else like this, but Miao had built up a lot of stack with me.

So this much should be okay. After making up my mind, I brought my tail to my mouth.

“Nom.”

“Kkeuhik?!”

When I bit down slightly, Miao let out a short scream and then collapsed.

I watched Miao fall pathetically with her butt raised, then raised my chin and shouted proudly.

‘I won!’

“Sniffle.”

Of course, all that came out of my mouth was a sniffle, unlike what I wanted.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading today!

Today… I was only 10 minutes late…!

Tomorrow… I’ll post right on schedule…!

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Things made by a girlfailure always ends up as failures.

Is that surprising? 

Oh well, at the end of the day, what you should be doing is be by her side and laugh at her till she cries!

Comfort her? That’s exactly what a girlfailure is trying to get you to do!

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