Chapter 24 - Little Tanuki (2/2)

“Alright, alright! I was just curious about your sex, really. I’m sorry, okay? I won’t do that again.” Ye Chen relented, smiling apologetically. He did find it strange that he was apologizing to a mere animal though.

Watching the tanuki burrowing itself into his bedsheet, Ye Chen could only smile helplessly. “Well, it’s getting kind of late, so I really need to head to the canteen for my dinner. You can take a rest here. I’ll come back to see you again later.”

The tanuki gave no visible response.

Ye Chen stood up and walked out of his room.

As soon as his back vanished from sight, Little Tanuki lifted its head and stared at the same door the young man had left from, its black pearl-like eyes reflecting the lights in his room. Then quite abruptly, its snow-white fur face was dyed in hot pink once more which made the beast look quite feminine and attractive.

Upon reaching the canteen, among greetings from his clan brothers, Ye Chen noticed that many of the residents had only sat down for a few bites before they quickly left. Puzzled, Ye Chen turned to Ye Meng, who was sitting at his side and asked, “Ye Meng, what’s up with them?”

“Everyone’s gotten riled up after what happened in the hall, Brother Ye Chen. We’re all training as much as possible now,” Ye Meng answered, himself just as hurried in his meal. “Alright. I’ve finished my meal. I’ll see you on the training grounds, Brother Ye Chen.”

With that, the boy hurried out of the canteen just as everyone else did.

Ye Chen’s mind reeled from the reveal. Humiliation is indeed a very powerful motivation. Yet, if the younger generation of the Ye clan knew just how much was at stake and thus endeavored to become stronger so that they can protect their home, perhaps the House of Ye could one day face the Yun fearlessly after all.

As Ye Chen was eating quietly on his own, he found his thoughts wandering to the tanuki in his room. He could not really guess the origin of Little Tanuki, nor the reason why it had acted so much like a human, or even which Celestial Chi Stage the mystical beast had attained by now. As he engaged in his fanciful internal musings, a sense of dread suddenly sprouted in his head, ‘What if the little critter has left now?’

‘But its legs were wounded quite badly! It wouldn’t be able to flee very far. If it went out of Ye Castle’s grounds in spite of it and went into Lianyun Mountains, it could only become some other mystical beasts’ dinner in that state!’

‘That young tanuki might not even know that this might happen to it! I mean, I kind of pissed it off pretty badly just now. I guess it’s probably dying for me to leave the room just so it could run away as soon as possible…’

At that thought, Ye Chen found that his appetite waned. He ate his meal quickly, bolted up and headed straight in the direction of his room.

Surprisingly, the training grounds were filled with people as he went on his way, despite the sky turning into complete darkness as the night rolled in. It was quite an unprecedented sight.

However, Ye Chen was not very motivated to train. He just dashed into his quarters and ran into his room and immediately hurled himself at the bed in search of the little white furball.

There was nothing under the sheet anymore. Little Tanuki had really left him.

Somehow, that discovery stung him. He looked around again and searched his room meticulously but he could not find it.

He had no idea where that little creature would run to, nor was he capable of looking for it in the massive and ever-precarious Lianyun Mountains. He sighed dejectedly.

That was when his attention fell onto his desk. There was a piece of paper with some scribbles on it.

Ye Chen studied the paper and burst into chuckles. Little Tanuki had actually dipped its paws in ink and left some prints and stains on the paper. Quite interestingly, they looked as if they were following some sort of linguistic pattern instead of being random strings of prints and strokes. Could this be the writing system of the Tanukis?

“I didn’t know that you could write, Little Tanuki.” Ye Chen pictured the creature grabbing a piece of paper, dying its paw black with ink before authoring its letter attentively. He burst into soft giggles at how adorable the scene was in his head.

However, he still had no idea if the Tanuki was ever going to return.