Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 44

I was in a dark, cold deep slumber. I was asleep, awake, conscious, unconscious, ambiguous, unclear, random, senseless, drifting in and out of consciousness without even knowing the flow of time, and it seemed like an eternity had already passed...

　"......?"

　Along with the indescribable floating sensation, I perceived a sensation that my foggy consciousness was becoming clearer and clearer. Then, slowly but surely, I awakened from the depths of unconsciousness, as if I were floating... and...

　"HappyーBirthdayーtoーyou! HappyーBirthdayーtoーyou! HappyーBirthday, my little boy!"

　The first thing I recognized in that space was a green-haired monster sitting in front of me, clapping her hands and singing Happy Birthday with a smiling face. Or rather, it was a suspicious figure who called me "little boy" without my permission.

　...But I didn't understand what she was talking about by any chance.

　"......"

　Anyway, I let out a small sigh to calm down for now. I go back to my last memory. I recall my knowledge of the original story. Then I analyze the situation and make a decision.

　"HappyーBirthdayーtoーyou... Uggkyaa!?"

　...I decide the best thing do is to blind the monster in front of me.

　"It's terrible. I'm going to cry if you silently blind your mother while celebrating your birthday, you know... Mother is really going to cry!"

　Sob, sob~ laments the youkai mother. But I don't remember coming out from under your legs, do I?

　"I see, is this what you call a spiritual world, as seen in...?"

　I look around the white space and guess. I had seen such a space in a game before. I remember the main character wandering in such a place when he was unconscious.

　"So you're saying that I'm unconscious in the real world?"

　"Ding-dong! That's a good answer. I'll pat your head as a reward."

　"No, thanks. I mean, don't come this way."

　I reply calmly, pushing away the approaching monster. Even in the spirit world, there is no reason for me to carelessly approach a monster.

　"So, why am I here...?"

　I ask with a glance at youkai mother. Her appearance was quite different from what I had seen before.

　Her human-like face is the same. Her lush green hair is the same. Her rich, plump, curvaceous, attractive body is the same as her background as a former earth mother, but... the lower half of her body is human, not a mass of hideous flesh, and she is dressed in decent clothes, unlike the one, I saw before.