Twenty-one years had passed since I came to live this life as a woman.
By now, the length of this life had become almost no different from the years I’d spent in my previous life, when I’d lived as a man. Even so, private meetings with women still weren’t something I was very used to.
I’d gone to school, and I’d been out in society for nearly two years in my own way, but…
Really, really, truly, I almost never met women one-on-one in private.
A few days ago, I’d somehow ended up doing a little shopping with my team leader, but that had actually been for other reasons, so it would be a stretch to call it a private meeting. But today…
“Ah, Saran-nim. Good morning.”
“…Yeah.”
I was truly meeting a woman alone, in private.
Of course, calling it simply “private” gave me a lot to think about, but still.
In any case, I couldn’t say it wasn’t private interaction at all.
“The weather seems really nice for walking around today. The sunlight isn’t too hot, and the breeze is just right.”
“It is.”
“Do you get cold easily, Saran-nim? It didn’t feel that cold to me, but you came wearing a sweater that looks pretty thick.”
“I’m a snake beastkin, so if I get cold, I become too sluggish.”
“Ahh… I can see how that would be difficult. Whenever beastkin come to the Hero Welfare Bureau, they often have a lot of troubles like that.”
“Yeah.”
…Well, putting that aside, Saran was still rather blunt.
After our last meeting, we’d exchanged numbers, and as soon as Saturday came, I’d come out to meet her like this. But just like last time, it felt difficult to keep the conversation going for long.
Of course, this was probably just her personality, and she wasn’t doing it on purpose because she disliked me.
If that had been the case in the first place… she wouldn’t have come out like this at all.
“Shall we get going for now? I don’t have a car, so I think we’ll have to use public transportation… Would that be all right?”
In any case, greetings seemed like enough.
Thinking it would be better to leave the park soon, I smiled and spoke.
“I brought a car. I’ll give you a ride.”
“Oh… In that case, thank you. Then let’s head straight to the car.”
But contrary to what I’d expected, thanks to Saran having a car, we didn’t have to go through the inconvenience of taking public transportation.
To be honest, Saran spent so much time at home.
So I’d naturally assumed she wouldn’t have a car, but in the first place, there was no reason for someone who was a B-rank hero to worry over mere car maintenance costs. Owning a high-end sedan or something similar wouldn’t be a problem for her either…
“…Wow.”
So it was only natural that she’d give me a ride in a very, very famous car made by a company famous for its stock.
“Where should I go?”
“Ah, I’ll show you on my phone. I didn’t memorize the exact address.”
In any case, after we got in the car, Saran began driving to the place I’d mentioned, and because we weren’t taking public transportation, we arrived much faster than I expected.
Honestly, I’d thought it would take over thirty minutes, but we arrived in just a little over ten.
And the place we arrived at… was somewhere Saran would never normally visit.
“…What is this place?”
“Saran-nim, you usually spend your time at home just watching TV, right? If there’s anywhere you normally go, it’s probably only the convenience store. So I chose this.”
A shopping district. Downtown.
It was the sort of street you could roughly describe that way.
A place that Saran, who was truly the very definition of a homebody, would never wander around.
That was why I’d chosen it.
“Since we’ve come outside for once, wouldn’t it be nice to buy some clothes and do various things while spending time together?”
Extrovert, introvert.
People often categorize others with that kind of black-and-white logic, but… in the end, even introverted people don’t absolutely hate going outside.
They simply don’t go out for their own reasons.
“It might be a little tiring for you, but… just for today, I hope you’ll push yourself a little. Just a tiny bit.”
“…Yeah, okay.”
That was why Saran nodded and got out of the car with me.
The shopping district we arrived at with Saran today was a different kind of street from a department store.
Department stores usually had all sorts of brands packed into a single building, and they tended to be noisy, crowded, and bustling, making them mentally exhausting places.
But here, the streets were relatively wide, each decent-sized building housed a single brand… and overall, it was located in a wealthy neighborhood.
Because of that, the atmosphere itself was fairly quiet.
“It’s quite quiet. I think it’s much quieter than the department store where we met last time.”
“Right?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s look around slowly. If you see any clothes through the windows that look pretty, feel free to go check them out.”
Maybe that was why she liked it.
Saran began walking with an expression that seemed to say it wasn’t bad.
At the very least, her expression was a little better than when we’d first met at the department store last time.
Back then, she’d looked not just blunt, but almost cold.
“You have a really nice figure, Saran-nim. If you wore clothes like that, I think they’d suit you incredibly well. I’m sure they would.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Your height is just about average for a woman too, right? Sometimes when I buy clothes, I’m short, so it can be a little inconvenient.”
“…I suppose so.”
“So even when I want to wear something a little stylish, it always ends up looking cute and small, honestly… I can’t really help it.”
“…That’s true. Even the coat and hat you’re wearing now kind of feel like a child wearing adult clothes.”
“Hehe.”
While giving her appropriate compliments.
As we walked around in a relaxed atmosphere, Saran began speaking just a little more.
From her gradually increasing words, and the way she sometimes spoke to me first while we walked around, suggesting we look at something, I thought she simply hadn’t had many opportunities to come outside.
Of course, even if she rested every day.
Maybe it was because there was nothing to guide her, nothing that forced her to come outside and do something.
“Wow, it suits you so well!”
“…Really?”
“Yes. You’re already pretty, and on top of that you have such a nice figure. Of course clothes would suit you. You’re very beautiful.”
“…I see.”
Her blunt tone still remained.
But seeing the corners of her mouth lift… made me a little happy too.
“How about clothes like these? You seem to prefer dressing warmly over clothes that show skin, Saran-nim. I think clothes with fur would be nice too.”
“Yeah, I’ll try them on.”
And so, the shopping with Saran continued.
At first, I’d been quite worried, but… she followed my lead far better than I’d expected, and time really passed smoothly.
After we finished shopping, we naturally moved on to a meal.
She always ate at home through delivery.
In today’s world, there were barely any foods you couldn’t have delivered, so the type of restaurant I chose was just an ordinary Western restaurant.
A truly ordinary place.
But the atmosphere was quite nice—a small restaurant like that.
“It has a warm atmosphere.”
“Mm… Does it? To me, it just feels pretty, so I’m not sure.”
“No. I just meant I like it.”
“Then I’m glad.”
During the meal that followed, Saran reacted quite positively as well.
Of course, the contents of the meal were… a little different from what I’d expected.
Maybe it was because the atmosphere itself was fairly quiet, and she was blunt, and by default she was a beauty with features that looked rather cold.
I’d definitely thought she would be a light eater.
I thought she’d simply eat one light dish, wipe her mouth, and sit quietly.
“……”
Before I knew it, three plates were stacked on her side.
One plate that had held pasta, and two plates that had held T-bone steaks.
They were absolutely not dishes she’d shared with me—Saran had simply finished them all by herself. Seeing that made me remember all over again that she was a snake beastkin.
There were even rumors that snakes had such ravenous appetites they would eat their own tails.
Of course, I didn’t know for sure whether that was true.
If anything, seeing her like that made Saran, who ate so much yet still had an amazing figure, feel even more impressive.
She was voluptuous, but there wasn’t a hint of excess fat on her; she had a great body.
“A cave?”
“Yes, it’s not a real cave. It’s called a wine cave… There are lots of wine-related exhibits set up inside, and at the end, there’s a wine bar that’s been decorated beautifully.”
In any case, after finishing our meal, we looked around a few places like parks, and before long, it was almost evening.
The place I’d chosen to end the day was a wine cave.
It was essentially a winery and wine bar located in a cave.
At first, I’d thought about visiting this place first, but drinking alcohol from the morning didn’t seem like a good idea.
And with Saran having brought her car, it was even more of a plan we shouldn’t follow.
No matter how much of a hero she was, she couldn’t drink and drive.
“Ah, is there any chance you shouldn’t drink alcohol… or anything like that?”
“Not at all.”
“Hoho, that’s a relief. If you couldn’t drink at all, today’s schedule would probably have ended here. I’m really glad.”
“I think so too.”
In any case, to bring the day to a close, we began walking into the wine cave together.
From the entrance of the cave, the unique scent of wine began to reach us.
Sweet, yet with a very slight bitterness.
Of course, cheap wines sometimes tasted more bitter than sweet.
But because this was truly a place that professionally produced and stored wine, the pleasant sweetness felt much stronger. Perhaps Saran liked that scent too.
She began walking while flicking her tongue out slightly.
That snake-like sight honestly felt kind of cute.
Watching a beauty who looked cold enough to be frightening walk around with her tongue poking out just a little was more entertaining than I’d expected.
“But are you going to drink wine?”
Saran, who had been looking at various exhibits, asked me that.
Since I’d said there was a wine bar at the end of the exhibition, she had probably asked because she was curious about that.
“Yes. That’s why we came to a place like this, isn’t it?”
“…That’s not what I meant. I’m asking if it’s okay for you to drink with me.”
“…Why?”
But it seemed what I was thinking and what Saran was thinking were a little different.
I really couldn’t understand why she was asking whether it was okay for me to drink with her.
Did she have bad drinking habits?
Or was she incredibly weak to alcohol and got drunk easily?
All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind.
“This is only the second time we’ve met. I’m asking if it’s okay for us to drink alcohol.”
“Oh, come on. We’re both women anyway. What’s the problem? And you’re not a bad person, Saran-nim. After spending the whole day walking around with you, I thought you were a really good person.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I thought you were very pretty and a very good person.”
“…I see.”
I didn’t know what useless worry she was having.
Even I, who had lived as a man for over twenty years, thought there was no big problem with drinking alone with a woman.
Yet to think those words would come from Saran, who had lived as a woman for twenty-six years.
Even if she was a frightening-looking beauty, it seemed she really did have some pretty cute sides to her.
In the first place, just looking at Saran right now, walking while constantly flicking her tongue, really made me think so.
By the way, that tongue really is fascinating.