Chapter 46: The Furry Incident

Hours later,

Cashel’s peaceful sleep slowly began to deteriorate. At first, what began as an uncomfortable pressure turned into a hot mess of heat and weight, eventually disturbing the peaceful haze of his sleep.

He shifted in his sleep, trying to turn onto his side, but something soft blocked him. He frowned in his sleep and tried again.

Still nothing. His brows furrowed deeply.

He pushed against whatever was in his way, but the strange object only shifted slightly before settling back against him.

"Mmph..."

Cashel turned his face away and pulled the blanket higher.

For several seconds, everything was quiet.

Then something fluffy brushed against his nose, causing his face to twitch. He swatted at it in his sleep.

This house had nothing that could produce something this fluffy. He dismissed it as nothing... perhaps a dream?

The fur moved away for a moment and returned. This time, it deliberately dragged slowly across his chest before settling over his mouth.

Cashel’s breathing became muffled. "Mmmph..." He raised his hands to brush it away, but it didn’t move this time.

His hand slipped underneath it, attempting to lift the offensive mass of fur, but there was far more of it than his half-asleep mind could comprehend.

He struggled harder, and the thing only seemed to get heavier.

It was almost as though he was having sleep paralysis.

When he finally managed to pull the fur away, he adjusted his position and opened his eyes. The room was dark, but there was nothing out of place. He could feel Andeen sleeping peacefully beside him, Olga too, and Nina.

’Seriously, am I developing sleep paralysis?’ he asked himself, slowly shutting his eyes as his body was still tired and too exhausted to move. This was the first time he’d been truly comfortable, and he was actually resting without worrying too much.

An hour later, the fur returned, making him freeze. Then, suddenly, the large furry appendage wrapped firmly around his neck, face, and head.

His eyes snapped open. He immediately realized he was suffocating. Something soft, unbelievably heavy, and intensely furry was clamped over his nose, mouth, and throat.

Cashel’s eyes widened. "Mmph....gagh!" He struggled with the fur, unable to get a proper hold of it, as whenever he did, it would slip through his fingers and clamp tighter. He felt something heavy on his chest. "Shi... arg.... Aneend... Andeen!"

He managed to yell out before being covered again. Luckily, he felt movement around him. He couldn’t tell where the movement came from since he couldn’t see or sense anything properly.

Then there was a distinct sweet scent blocking his sense of smell as well, gradually making him weak. His sight was slowly becoming blurred.

The bedside lamp came on instantly, filling the room with warm light. Cashel caught a glimpse of the System screen appearing and vanishing before hearing a muffled gasp, but he was already losing strength.

The moment he felt the weight on his chest come off and the furry stuff loosen slightly, he sucked in a deep breath and immediately sat upright, folding over as he coughed and slapped a stray pink fur from his tongue.

"Hagh... haaa... haaa."

"Honey, what’s the matter?" Andeen’s frightened voice came from beside him, but he was still struggling to breathe.

Andeen carefully crawled closer, cupped his face, and raised his head. His face was soaked with sweat, with bits of pink fur in his hair. His eyes were red and wet, and his chest was rising and falling with each breath.

"Cashel...."

Olga’s face appeared behind hers, worried, but she still seemed sleepy.

"Should I get water? Is it something that needs healing?" she asked calmly, but there was a slight trembling in her voice.

"Yes, water...." Andeen said trialing off when Cashel pulled his face away from her and bent down again, still struggling to breathe.

"So... someone... there’s someone, monster?.. beast... shit, there’s something in the house." He stuttered, his voice hoarse, slowly dragging himself to the edge of the bed.

Andeen frowned. She grabbed his shirt, yanking him back to the bed, then cupped his face again and stared at him seriously.

"There’s no one in the house. What happened?"

Cashel opened his mouth, but the explanation sounded absurd even in his own head. Some furry thing had overpowered him in his sleep. Him. An obvious S-Rank awakener.

The thought was pathetic enough to make his pride sting, but that didn’t make the situation any less terrifying.

When he found the right words and had calmed down, he caught a glimpse of a huge mass of pink at the head of the bed nearby. He frowned deeply, his eyes going dark almost instantly.

He was moments away from summoning his gun when Nina’s head suddenly popped out from the top of the mass, making him stare in complete confusion.

She sat up, rubbed her eyes sleepily, and went back down, curling up into a tight ball, completely unbothered.

Except she wasn’t quite the same Nina who had gone to sleep beside him. Two fluffy, pink ears poked through her hair, twitching slightly whenever she breathed.

Cashel stared, then his gaze slowly travelled down her back. Sprouting from the base of Nina’s spine was a massive, impossibly fluffy pink tail. It was easily four feet long and thick enough to double as a winter blanket.

When the tail twitched, he flinched. It twitched again, lazily sweeping across the mattress. He slowly looked back at Nina’s ears. One of them flicked slightly before flattening against her hair.

His mouth opened, closed, then he turned to Andeen and Olga.

"She has... a tail?"

Andeen, who had gotten up at the loud call of her name to turn on the lights, only to find Cashel wrapped lovingly in Nina’s embrace, exhaled deeply before releasing him.

"Yes, she does. Is that what was bothering you?" she asked, and he didn’t answer. He only turned back to Nina. He cautiously reached out and touched one of her ears.

It twitched beneath his fingers, and his eyes widened.

"That’s real."

The ear flattened for a moment before perking back up.

"She was strangling me," he answered flatly, answering ndeen’s question, and both women sighed.

Before he could say anything, the System materialized in front of him, nearly rendering him blind from the intensity of the blue.

[BOUND TARGET ANALYSIS COMPLETE]

[Target: Nina Altar]

[Full Name: Nina Rai Avantgarderova]

[Hidden Trait Detected.]

[Origin: ██████████]

[Classification: Beast Bloodline]

[Status: Dormant → Manifesting]

[Physical Manifestation Detected.]

[Beast Traits: Ears and Tail Manifested]

[Notable Trait: High-Calorie Consumption]

[System Note: The target’s current appearance is consistent with a partially manifested beast bloodline.]

Cashel stared at the glowing screen, then he stared at Nina, then finally collapsed onto Andeen’s chest, somewhat relieved.

His mind had already gone through half a dozen possibilities. One of them was missing. Someone had broken into the house. Something had attacked them while he slept. While he’d failed to hear it coming, and then he’d die again, far too early and with many things undone and unaccomplished.

The scariest part asides that was one of them being in danger.

His shoulders finally relaxed.

Then the enormous pink tail slowly moved across the bed, as though searching for him, before wrapping around his waist. Nina crawled over and rested on his lap and continued sleeping.

Andeen patted his head slowly. Olga just rolled her eyes and got back into bed, then she placed her head on his thigh as well and scoffed. "So dramatic," she said, and yet, buried her face into his stomach.

"That must have been such a scare," Andeen said softly.

Cashel chuckled softly, wrapping his arms around her waist and shutting his eyes as the beating of her heart filled his ears. "You have no idea."