Chapter 47 : Gentleman Maru

Achoo!

Uh, huh.

“Achoo. Ugh…”

“Maru, are you okay?”

Bada, who had been hugging me tightly, licked my cheek with a worried expression.

Could it be a cat’s instinct?

By the way, this is strange.

Why am I suddenly coughing so much? Did I catch a cold?

But it’s not that cold, and my head doesn’t hurt to the point of being dizzy…

“I’m fine… Achoo!”

“Maru must have caught a cold. There’s a blanket over there, so let’s go there and rest for now.”

…Mmm…

Bada removed the arms and tail that had been hugging my body.

Just a little more, I wish they had held me a bit longer.

Hieek?!

That feeling of regret was short-lived, as the cold suddenly started making my body shiver.

…What’s going on? Why is it so cold all of a sudden?!

I was so cold that I instinctively reached out for the nearby warm source.

“Ma-Maruyah?!”

Phew, I’m feeling a little better now.

Because of the fur on its tail, Bada’s embrace was much warmer than I expected.

It was so cozy that I didn’t feel any cold at all, and I ended up rubbing my cheek against it without thinking.

I’m glad I didn’t get a runny nose though. If I had, Bada’s clothes would have been all dirty.

“Maru, just for a moment…”

“Ah, it’s so nice.”

Somehow, I lightly stroked Bada, who seemed to be in a bit of a fluster, with one hand, and then pulled its tail into my arms to enjoy the softness.

The sea flinched a little but then hugged me back.

It felt like things were getting warmer.

Come to think of it, they say when cats curl up to sleep, their internal temperature rises to an incredibly hot level.

They’re cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I’m kind of jealous.

The sea and I, who were hugging each other, were suddenly lifted into the air…

“Huh, huh?”

Suddenly, my body was lifted off the ground.

It was because the commander picked us up while we were in that embrace.

Thanks to that, the commander’s prickly beard kept brushing against my cheek. It felt so scratchy.

“Whoops. Alright, Maru has a cold, so sit here. I’ll make you some hot chocolate, so stay warm, okay?”

“Y-Yes…”

“I’ll have one too, please!”

“Sure, I’ll make one for the sea too.”

The commander gently placed me on the sofa and then covered me with a fluffy blanket that had cute cats and foxes on it.

Because Bada and I were hugging each other, as the blanket covered us, our gazes naturally met.

It felt like we were having a pajama party, though I’m an adult, not a kid.

Anyway, in the dimly lit surroundings under the blanket, Bada’s eyes stood out, shining brightly.

They were so bright, in fact, that they outshone my phone’s screen.

Bada’s eyes were a little soft like a cat’s, but surprisingly, the pupils were pretty ordinary.

You know, the cat characters always have vertical or red glowing pupils when they’re in the dark.

“Hehe.”

Bada, who had been embarrassed and blushing earlier, now smiled happily, continuing to hug me.

Bada, do you like it that much?

“Of course, it’s obvious!”

If we stay like this, I might catch your cold.

Ah, then Maru can take care of me.

“Right…”

It seems that this little cat has no intention of leaving, whether or not the cold passes.

I guess it’s still a kid.

Sigh. I, as an adult, should understand.

I smiled and nodded.

– Creak…

At some point, the commander, whose beard had grown a bit and was now showing off a prickly chin, entered the command room.

In one hand, he held a steaming cup of hot chocolate, and in the other, a paper bag filled with soft breads.

The commander’s gaze caught something wriggling.

“Hehe.”

“Hehe.”

The voices of two little kids giggling under the blanket.

The commander smiled softly as he watched them.

“Isn’t it cute? Kids are just so lovable in everything they do.”

“Ah! You scared me, Nunu. When did you get behind me?”

“Well… Since you were adding sweet honey to your hot chocolate and dancing to classical music, of course.”

“From the very beginning…”

Surprised, I almost spilled the hot chocolate, but I calmed down and exchanged glances with Nunu.

Then, slowly, the commander approached us, who were all curled up under the blanket.

And very quietly, he mouthed, “One, two, three.”

Whoosh!

In an instant, he pulled the blanket off us.

Then, our figures were revealed, hugging each other like stuffed animals.

The sudden disappearance of the blanket made us both flustered, and the commander offered us the warm hot chocolate.

“…Ah.”

The sea and Maru, both without hesitation, sparkled their eyes and took the hot chocolate from the commander’s hand.

They carefully opened the cup, slowly took a sip, and after confirming that it wasn’t too hot, they both started drinking the hot chocolate with relief.

The sweetness, much stronger than expected, made their eyes widen in surprise, but soon they smiled, as if to say it wasn’t bad at all.

Watching their innocent smiles, the commander took out some bread from a paper bag and handed it to the children.

“Guys, I brought some bread too, so go ahead and eat.”

“Mm, okay!”

Even though the straw in their mouths made their words sound funny, the two, too focused on slurping their hot chocolate, didn’t care and started picking their bread.

Bada grabbed a red bean bun with her fluffy tail, while Maru chose a soft cream bun.

“Yum!”

With one hand, they slurped the hot chocolate, and with the other, they took big bites of the soft bread.

As Maru busily moved both hands, they thought that the combination of sweet hot chocolate and soft, fluffy bread was simply the best—no further explanation needed.

“Oh my, pfft. Maru, you… your nose… haha.”

“Huh?”

“Pfft, haha. Hahaha…”

In the middle of it all, the commander and Nunu, who had been watching with a pleased expression, suddenly burst into laughter at the same time.

It was because the cream from the bun had stuck to Maru’s nose like a mustache.

Maru, unaware of the cream on her face, tilted her head in confusion, making the already uncontrollable laughter even harder to stop.

“Huh? Ahaha! Maru, what is that on your face?!”

“Huh? What?”

Bada, curious about the sudden laughter, turned to look at Maru and, upon seeing the whipped cream mustache, couldn’t hold back a loud laugh.

At that moment, Maru finally sensed that something was off.

She took the phone the commander handed her, using it as a mirror, and upon seeing her reflection, her face turned red.

“W-what is this?!”

Maru’s hands were both occupied—one holding bread, the other gripping her drink.

Having no other choice, she tried to lick the cream off her nose with her tongue…

“Ugh… ahh…!”

Pfft.

…Her tongue was too short, making her pull a ridiculous, indescribably silly expression.

The commander, not missing the chance, pressed the shutter button on the camera.

At the same time, click!—the sound of the camera captured the moment.

But since the phone’s speaker was covered by her finger, Maru, too focused on licking the cream, didn’t hear it.

Nice.

With a silent cheer of success, the commander casually slipped the phone back into his pocket and approached Maru as if nothing had happened.

Like a perfect crime, he naturally wiped the cream off Maru’s mouth with a handkerchief from his pocket.

Rub, rub. Clean, clean.

“Ah! My cool mustache is gone!”

“Uh… w-was it cool?”

Come to think of it, I once admired those fancy mustaches of Western gentlemen.

I even thought about how cool I would look if I grew one someday.

Wearing a long rooooong top hat, holding a cane, and twirling it around—it would definitely be stylish.

…Wait a minute, isn’t that still possible, even now as a little kid?

I can use a fox-tail as a cane. And for the hat… I can just borrow the commander’s from the coat rack.

Not bad! I can even use this cream bun to make a mustache.

Alright!

“Bada, shine the phone’s light over here!”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just wait. I’ll show you ‘Gentleman Maru’!”

“Huh?”

Ignoring Bada’s confused expression (and her wagging tail that mirrored her confusion), I squeezed all the cream in the bun to one side.

Then… I took a big bite.

Munch, munch.

I could feel the cream sticking to my face. Perfect.

Now I just had to look at the camera and adjust the shape into a nice, puffy mustache…!

“Ah.”

…It was working, but when I looked at the camera, I froze on the spot.

The cream had stuck in a completely ridiculous way, not at all how I imagined.

Instead of a fancy mustache, I had massive blobs of cream lumped awkwardly on my nose.

This wasn’t an English gentleman… it was just an English clown.

“Pfft.”

In the end, with a hopeless expression, I was once again laughed at by all three of them.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go…