Chapter 42: The Enigmatic Arrival

Slowly, he ascended into the air, stretching both arms toward the sky. Dark clouds gathered, and suddenly his entire body was engulfed by a black sphere. Within it, a completely bare, pale skin emerged as if he had shed his clothing.

“Aaah! Snowball!!”

Lara Schmord, who was near the black sphere, dropped her gaze. Not only her but also Diches and Lady Elina I, standing a little behind, did the same.

Covering their eyes with their palms in agony, they eventually hurled themselves off the cliffside together.

***

Everything was pitch black. An echo drifting from somewhere far away allowed Lara to regain her scattered senses for a moment.

She struggled to open her eyes; her eyelids felt as heavy as lead. After several attempts, her eyelashes trembled, letting in the faint glow of a sunset.

‘Where on earth is this…?’

Before Lara could steady her muddled thoughts, a sharp voice cut through the silence.

“Hey, Ore-sama, can you see me…!”

―“Hey, do you see me…!” (Subtitles)

Through her blurry vision, the outline of a solitary figure gradually sharpened. The first thought that struck her was that it was enormous.

A mane of reddish-brown hair, as sweet as chocolate, draped over his face. With a head as large as a rock, a blunt, oversized nose with nostrils wide enough to admit two fingers, it was clear that he was not human. Soon, his worry-lined, dark eyes came into focus.

Lara blinked repeatedly until she realized that she was being held by the hairy, non-human figure. Startled, as she tried to sit up, he retracted with a mischievous grin that showed two rugged teeth.

Only then could Lara scrutinize him from head to toe.

‘…A chimpanzee? Yet he’s properly dressed.’

To her surprise, his clothing was of a style completely foreign to her world.

His neatly arranged double-layered robe crossed at the neck in a V-shape and was secured with a cord instead of buttons. His wide, creased trousers were a deep black, and his Y-shaped sandals, molded to his toes, looked as stiff as if carved from wood.

While Lara couldn’t hide her astonishment, the man standing opposite scanned her attire with a quiet appraisal.

Even though her soaked dress sported several overlapping layers, it had a celestial quality about it—almost as if she were a maiden descended from the heavens… After a pause, the man finally spoke.

“Omae wa asoko sora de ochitta.”

―“You fell from the heavens up there.”

His fingertip pointed toward the sky. Following his gesture, Lara lifted her head only to freeze—the sky was a strange, eerie shade of purple. She was certain she must have fallen into a river, yet this was not the world she remembered.

It was the era of the Cherry Blossom Beauties—a miraculous beginning to an otherworldly love story.

“Ore no namae wa Kakesugi Touji da. Omae no namae wa?”

―“My name is Kakesugi Touji. And what is yours?”

“…You mean my name? I’m Lara Schmord.”

Though the language was entirely unfamiliar, Lara understood his words.

“Lara Smoluz? What a strange name you have.”

―“Lara Smoluz? That is indeed a peculiar name.”

The reddish-brown, hairy chimpanzee flashed a grin at the drenched, mouse-like woman before lifting her up. Lara let out a startled squeal, but he paid no heed as he headed toward the inner chamber.

The courtyard of a majestic palace, blooming with white apricot flowers, exuded an exotic Eastern beauty that was entirely new to Lara.

Before she knew it, Lara surrendered herself as if settling onto a cozy fur-lined sofa. According to him, she had descended from the sky in a drenched state, landing right on his head. He even seemed convinced that she was the fabled maiden who appeared once every thousand years.

After passing through a grand tunnel, Kakesugi Touji paused for a moment. In front of a grid-patterned door, a tall chimpanzee wielding a long spear loitered. Sensing his presence, the chimpanzee slowly turned to look over his shoulder.

The red-haired chimpanzee, his fur bristling spikily, draped an ornate haori embellished with a golden seal over his body. Lara, suspecting he might be a guard, deduced from his haughty expression and raised eyebrow that he was no ordinary man.

“Heh—what a cute little cat.”

―“Heh—what a cute cat you have there.”

“This is Kotaro Hiroshihi. His temperament isn’t all that bad.”

―“This one is Kotaro Hiroshihi. He’s not particularly mean.”

“Huh? Me—Dato?!”

―“Huh? What did you say?!”

Kotaro Hiroshihi, whose ruddy fur deepened to a vibrant scarlet with agitation, didn’t appear especially kind, but he wasn’t a bad chimp either. Just as Lara let her guard down, the blunt tip of his middle finger began pressing repeatedly against her cheek.

“And what about this one?”

―“And what about this child?”

“Hirotta.”

―“She was picked up.”

“From where?”

―“From where?”

“That’s something you don’t need to know.”

―“That’s for you not to know.”

Kakesugi Touji drew a clear line, advising against excessive curiosity. At that, Kotaro Hiroshihi grumbled dismissively and stepped back.

Touji opened a sliding door and gently laid Lara down on a tatami mat. He then called for a maid and ordered her to prepare bathwater and a change of clothes before stepping out.

Outside, Kotaro Hiroshihi lingered, pestering the maid. Though rather lecherous, he was someone you could trust.

When Touji approached him, Hiroshihi reluctantly released the maid and turned his attention toward Touji. With impeccable composure, Touji observed him in silence before glancing back at the door.

“Hiroshihi, take charge of this woman.”

―“Hiroshihi, please look after this woman.”

“Where are you headed?”

―“Where are you going?”

“…I must fetch my sister.”

―“…I need to fetch my younger sister.”

“Planning to wage war?”

―“Are you planning on starting a war?”

Grasping Touji’s shoulder as he turned to leave, Hiroshihi wore an unusually heavy expression—though he knew all too well that nothing could stop Touji.

The kidnapping of the kingdom’s most beautiful pink-furred princess, Kakesugi Tsuumi, had already set the court abuzz. Touji, the lord of the castle and her guardian, burned with determination to reclaim his only sister—even if it meant going to war.

Hiroshihi watched Touji’s retreating figure before turning back toward the door. As soon as he opened it, a pristine, almost hairless white back came into view.

Half-dressed, Lara, startled, clutched her scant undergarments with both arms.

Observing Lara’s heightened defensiveness, Hiroshihi chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry about guarding yourself; that body of yours attracts no attention.”

―“Don’t bother being cautious—nobody even cares about that body.”

In a land where a rich, glossy coat of thick hair was revered as the hallmark of beauty, the woman before him looked like an anomaly. As cute as a newborn chimp, it was hard to believe she was fully human.

“Isn’t it amazing? You really have no hair—or are you even human?”

―“It’s amazing. Seriously, you’re hairless. Are you sure you’re human?”

“I am human, though…”

He was about to retort that she was the chimp, but Lara quickly bit her tongue. To an outsider, debates over who was truly alien were pointless; one had to see from the other’s perspective.

“More importantly—”

―“More importantly—”

Kotaro Hiroshihi, previously hunched over, straightened his upper body. Then, defying his chimp-like nature, he strode over on two feet and grasped Lara’s chin firmly.

Lara peered into the cavernous depths of her own nostrils and instinctively recoiled. In response, Hiroshihi slightly bowed his head, letting out an intrigued hum as a cascade of red hair drifted from his forehead onto his furrowed nasal bridge.

“…I think I now understand why Touji took you in.”

―“…I now know why Touji took you in.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean…?”

“Nothing at all. More importantly, how about I help you wash off? Why not take off your clothes?”

―“Nothing. More importantly, let me help you wash off. Why not change out of these clothes?”

“Wha-what are you saying? You chimpanzee!”

Lara instinctively swung her arms and scolded him. Perhaps finding her reaction amusing, Hiroshihi burst into a broad laugh, his throat clearly visible.

“How amusing. I’ve never met a woman like you before.”

―“Fascinating. You’re unlike any woman I’ve met before.”

“…!”

“Become mine.”

―“Become my woman.”

When Hiroshihi wrapped his arms tightly around Lara’s waist, the distance between them closed dramatically. Flustered, Lara froze for a moment before shouting, “Let go of me!” and furiously waving a cushion to drive him away.

Just as his fur-covered arms were delivering a forceful blow, noisy footsteps echoed from outside. Kneeling on top of a door covered with crisp white paper, the anxious silhouette of a chimpanzee emerged.

“Hiroshihi-sama! A general from the enemy nation has arrived.”

―“Hiroshihi, sir! A general from the enemy nation has arrived.”

“Where is he?”

―“Where is he?”

“Outside!”

―“He’s outside!”

With an unusually fired-up expression, Hiroshihi flared his nostrils, grabbed his long spear, and dashed out. Lara silently prayed that it might be a poacher instead.

Then, outside, her eyes met those of a chimpanzee seated in a relaxed posture. The blue-furred primate had a single long lock of hair draped over his left eye.

With his distinctive hairstyle, when Lara’s gaze met his, he slowly raised his head.