I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain

Yohan abruptly jumped up, his face almost as if he were about to faint.

“W-what is this…?” In an instant, he wrapped me up in a blanket.

“Aaahk!” It was only then that I grasped the situation and dived deep into the crispy blanket. Of course, I wasn’t wearing any clothes. As I roughly examined my body inside the blanket, I seemed to be a teenage girl about the same age as Yohan. My hair, which reached below my shoulders, was a very light brown.

“You, you…” Of course, Yohan still seemed to be in panic. After covering me in the blanket, his brain seemed to stop. Anyway, he had excellent manners.

After some time had passed, I cautiously peeked at his face from the blanket. Yohan’s face was flushed and stuck firmly to the wall. I couldn’t help but silently click my tongue as I looked at him.

‘Hey, I won’t eat you…’

Eventually, our eyes met. I looked at him while tightly holding the blanket wrapped around me. Becoming human, even for a short while, was truly a joyful thing, but it was quite sudden for me as well. I had never thought about such a situation before. We weren’t even at the stage of being close, so what should I say…

“Uh… um… well…” A feminine voice flowed out properly through my throat; there were no “Keeew~” sounds. It was a subtly pleasant, lively girl’s voice.

“Ni-nice to meet you?”

“You, you, you…” Yohan looked at me as if he had seen a ghost, blinking his eyes several times. His ears and neck were still as red as if they were on fire.

It seemed like Yohan didn’t know that a Shinsu could become human. I cautiously tried to explain the situation, stumbling over my words.

“Well, Shinsus can humanize.” But unfortunately, I couldn’t finish my sentence. 

“Keewn.” I had turned back into a squirrel again.

Furthermore, Yohan’s magic, which had been building up inside me, was completely gone. A sudden feeling of emptiness swept over my entire body. It seemed like I had completely exhausted the magic that I had been collecting for the past two days. I recalled what Tezen had said earlier.

 

“But if you become human before the 50th day, all the absorbed magic becomes null. So even if it seems like you might become human, you have to endure it. Got it?”

 

It seemed like everything Tezen had read in the book was true. Still, it was a satisfying result, even though it was a bit bewildering.

‘Amazing. I absorbed enough magic to undergo humanization in just two days.’

Since I didn’t know much about humanization, it was something I had to experience at least once. Even if I had to start from scratch again, it seemed like I could collect magic more effectively in the future. I already knew the solution to the unsettling feeling I had felt earlier—to be more proactive in accepting the magic power when it surged.

‘I just have to endure 50 consecutive days like this, and my dream will come true. As they say, people should always live with goals in mind.’

Satisfied, I reassured myself to do it again. Then, when I looked at Yohan with sparkling eyes to absorb his magic once more, he asked, “Hu-humanization… possible? What does that mean…?” 

He still had a puzzled expression on his face. Well, in the short time I had to explain, I had only managed to say that one word, so of course it was still quite confusing for him.

‘As I thought. He really doesn’t know much about divine creatures.’ I sighed softly with my hands on my hips. It was frustrating not being able to explain things one by one since we couldn’t communicate through words.

In the end, I decided to use gestures again. Had I known this would happen, I wouldn’t have wasted time earlier getting all flustered and would have poured out the explanation like fire. It was a missed opportunity, but now there was no other choice. After deciding to use body language, I first pounded on my chest.

“You?”

‘Okay.’ I nodded and then hurriedly ran across the room, pointing at a book.

“Book?”

‘Alright! Next.’ I pointed at the inscription on my chest.

“Hyrad?”

‘No, no.’ I shook my head vigorously, and Yohan thought for a moment before asking.

“…Tezen?”

‘Good.’ Then, I pretended to turn the pages of a book with my front paw.

“Study?” Yohan looked at me for a moment, then finally formed a sentence.

“You’ll bring a book about you from Tezen, so you want me to study?”

‘Exactly. You really are smart.’ I ran over and climbed onto his shoulder, patting his fine black hair. He was kind, intelligent, and pure, maybe because he hadn’t turned into a villain yet. I really liked him. Even his manners, like covering me with a blanket in an instant, made me like him even more when compared to Tezen.

‘Wow, but seriously, this kid has incredible magic power. I gathered enough in just two days to undergo humanization.’ While it was a joy for me, on the other hand, I felt sorry for Yohan. How much pain must he have endured with this much magic overflowing? It was also sad to think that this pure and kind boy in front of me would turn into a villain obsessed with a woman. A boy who was so kind and affectionate, yet so lonely…

Having endured that pain, he would probably turn into a villain and develop an unhealthy obsession with the heroine when he met her later. Good thing I met him while he was still innocent. 

‘If I can alleviate his suffering a bit, it might make it easier for the main characters to fall in love.’

As long as there isn’t a genuinely evil villain, everyone could be happy.

‘Yeah, the appropriate love and attention during adolescence can even reform any villain.’

So, calming Yohan’s magic was a good thing for everyone. I placed my front paw on his forehead again and began absorbing his power.

 

*      *      *

 

Due to his long-standing pain and loneliness, Yohan had grown into a boy who was far from kind. In fact, he was more like a scheming boy, eager to use anything to escape his current situation. But no matter what, he was still a naive sixteen-year-old boy who had never met a girl his age and had no experience in that regard. So, after the Shinsu left, Yohan lay on his bed, blankly blinking his eyes. Thanks to the Shinsu squirrel calming his magic, he felt more comfortable than ever before, but sleep eluded him.

“Keeeew.” As promised, the Shinsu squirrel had torn a few pages from Tezen’s book and brought them. Thinking about the squirrel’s effort in climbing all the way up to the top with the torn pages made him feel strange. 

Moreover… 

He had quickly covered her with a blanket before properly looking, but every time he vaguely remembered the appearance of the naked girl he had seen, his face burned. It seemed like the squirrel understood him, so he tried to garner sympathy by pretending to be pitiable, kind, and lonely, but today he couldn’t even speak properly. 

In truth, he found the squirrel cute. The squirrel’s earnest front paws reaching toward his forehead were a lifeline for him, but it was also adorable. When the tiny creature tried to communicate by waving its short arms, he felt a strong urge to hug it. Despite its small body, it had a confident and skilled personality that made him almost laugh. But amidst all this, its humanized form was… incredibly cute.

With light brown hair, round pink eyes, and the slightly puzzled expression on her face as she peeked out from under the blanket… 

He wondered when and how the humanization process would happen. 

…To see her again.

Finally, he sat up in bed and began reading the torn pages brought by the Shinsu. He had intended to read them tomorrow, as it was already too late in the night, but he felt that there was no way he could sleep like this.

The more he read, the redder his cheeks became. The fact that she underwent humanization in just two days meant that, according to the book..

“It means that after fifty days… real… you will become a real human?” He bit his nails for a moment after finishing the book. 

“So that means the squirrel also needs me to undergo humanization.” 

So, it was a mutual benefit. He didn’t need to pretend to be pitiable or garner sympathy; the squirrel would come to him willingly. 

“…Alright.” Yohan smiled softly while touching the acorn the squirrel had given him during their first encounter. He no longer needed to be anxious. 

However… 

“But why do I feel weird?” 

The gesture she had made, pointing to the inscription on her chest meaning ‘Tezen,’ kept bothering him. It was as if she were claiming to be Tezen’s possession… Well, it was true, but why did it irritate him so much…

Since they both got what they wanted, there was no reason to feel uncomfortable, whether she belonged to Tezen or not… 

Yohan spent that night tossing and turning, not understanding the source of the discomfort he felt for the first time in his life.