The next morning was much like the day before.
Soft sunlight seeped in through the curtains, and a quiet stillness had settled over the room.
Maybe because yesterday had been such a long day, I seemed to have slept a little more deeply than usual.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Elysia’s face.
She was still asleep.
Her golden hair spilled over the pillow, and her long eyelashes rested quietly against her cheeks.
It was different from the neat, tense face she showed at the academy. Her sleeping face was far softer.
Lying belly-down on the blanket, I gazed at her.
‘Still such a pretty face.’
The thought came to me very naturally.
For a moment, what had happened in the bathroom yesterday flashed through my mind, but I immediately pushed the memory away.
‘Forget it. That was an accident.’
It absolutely hadn’t been intentional.
Really.
I lightly rubbed my face with my forepaws and got up.
My fur was still fluffy, and perhaps thanks to Elysia carefully drying me yesterday, my body felt light too.
That was when it happened.
I felt as if something had brushed against me, extremely faintly.
“……?”
I pricked up my ears.
At first, I thought it was my imagination.
But it wasn’t.
Deep inside me, I could feel something as fine as a thread.
It was similar to the moment the lights had mingled inside the crystal orb during yesterday’s familiar resonance class.
Only this was much quieter, much fainter.
A single silver-pink thread seemed to stretch out from within my chest,
connecting to Elysia.
‘What is this?’
I narrowed my eyes.
Resonance.
That word came to mind.
Yesterday, the professor had said it.
When resonance increased, emotions or intentions could be transmitted between each other.
If it were a higher familiar or spirit, even conversation would be possible.
Of course, we weren’t at 100 yet.
The resonance measured yesterday was 86.
High, yes, but not complete synchronization.
And yet this sensation right now was definitely strange.
‘Don’t tell me we became even more connected while we were sleeping.’
I had a bad feeling.
A very bad feeling.
I carefully tried to suppress that sensation.
Like yesterday, I tried to calm my spiritual power and thin out the flow connected to Elysia.
But at that moment, Elysia moved.
“Mmm…….”
Her eyelashes trembled faintly.
I froze on the spot.
Elysia slowly opened her eyes.
Her blue eyes wavered hazily with sleep, then soon turned toward me.
“Haku……?”
I tilted my head slightly, pretending nothing had happened.
Good morning.
Elysia looked at me with a face still not fully awake, then smiled softly, just like yesterday.
“Did you sleep well?”
I answered inwardly.
‘Yeah. I slept well.’
Naturally, what came out of my mouth was something else.
“Kiing.”
But then.
Elysia froze.
She really stopped right where she was.
She didn’t blink, and she didn’t move her hand.
Seeing that reaction, I froze too.
‘……Why.’
A brief silence settled over the room.
Elysia slowly sat up.
Even so, her gaze never left me.
“Haku.”
Her voice was a little cautious.
“Just now…….”
I lowered my ears slightly.
‘Just now?’
“You…….”
Elysia couldn’t finish her sentence.
Instead, she placed a hand over her chest.
As if confirming that something had resonated from within.
Instinctively, I looked away.
‘No way.’
Surely not.
Surely she hadn’t heard it.
I said nothing.
Of course, saying nothing was from a human perspective.
In a fox’s body, I was simply staying quiet.
Elysia stared intently at me.
“Just now, you said you slept well…….”
My fur nearly stood on end.
‘She heard it.’
I was doomed.
I couldn’t tell if she had heard it clearly or only sensed it.
But Elysia had definitely perceived something.
My inner thoughts.
Or the meaning contained in those inner thoughts.
Riding along the thread of resonance, it had reached her for just a brief moment.
I tilted my head, doing my best to look calm.
“Kiing?”
I don’t know what you mean.
I’m an ordinary little fox.
I only cried just now, that’s all.
Elysia stared blankly at my reaction for a moment, then opened her mouth again.
“No…… was it my imagination?”
‘Yes. It was your imagination.’
I answered firmly in my mind.
At that moment, Elysia’s eyes widened again.
“…….”
I stopped too.
‘Ah.’
It seemed she’d heard that thought too.
Confusion spread across Elysia’s face.
The same was true for me.
I slowly lowered my body.
Then I lay flat on the blanket.
‘Don’t think.’
From now on, I won’t think about anything.
I am a rock.
I am a furry rock.
I am a thoughtless little fox.
“Haku.”
Elysia called cautiously.
I only rolled my eyes to look at her.
Her face was full of confusion.
But she didn’t look frightened or displeased.
If anything, she looked like she couldn’t believe it.
“Could it be…… you can hear what I’m saying?”
‘I can hear you, yeah.’
It’s a human language, after all.
But I couldn’t answer that.
I cried softly.
“Kiing.”
Elysia looked at me for a moment.
Then, very slowly, she asked.
“Are you…… thinking something right now too?”
‘I’m not thinking anything.’
Elysia froze again.
I screamed internally.
‘No.’
Elysia stared at me with wide eyes.
“Just now…… you said you weren’t thinking anything…….”
I wanted to cover my face with my forepaws.
It was over.
Completely over.
I had thought my quiet life was already ruined from the first day at the academy,
but on the morning of the second day, my inner thoughts were outright leaking.
‘Is this a side effect of resonance at 86?’
Elysia sat on the bed and couldn’t say anything for a while.
I was the same.
Maybe it would have been easier if I could explain it in words.
But I was still in the body of a little fox.
All that came out of my mouth was “kiing,” while my inner thoughts were clumsily leaking out instead.
It was the worst.
After a while, Elysia carefully reached out her hand.
I didn’t avoid it.
Her fingertips touched the top of my head.
A warm sensation came through.
At the same time, an extremely faint emotion flowed in.
Surprise.
Bewilderment.
And.
Joy.
‘You’re happy?’
I thought without meaning to.
Elysia drew in a small breath.
“Yes.”
She spoke in a very small voice.
“I’m a little…… happy.”
I blinked.
Elysia carefully stroked my head with her fingertips.
“Because now I can understand even a little of what you’re thinking.”
“…….”
“Yesterday, I was anxious the whole time because I didn’t know whether you were all right.
Even when you cried or wagged your tail, I couldn’t be sure if I was understanding you properly.”
Her voice was quiet.
“But just now…… it really felt like you answered me.”
I was at a loss for words.
To be precise, my inner thoughts came to a halt.
As if taking that silence in her own way, Elysia smiled very gently.
“Of course, if you don’t like it, I won’t try to listen by force.”
I looked at her.
‘Is that possible?’
Elysia blinked for a moment.
“Probably…… I’ll try.”
‘So you can hear me.’
“Only a little.”
Elysia withdrew her hand.
“I can’t hear everything. It’s not like I hear it as an exact voice either.
It’s just…… a feeling where the meaning rises in my heart.”
‘The meaning rises.’
If it was only that much, then we still weren’t completely connected.
It was different from the conversation at resonance 100 that the professor had talked about.
For now, it was only fragmentary intentions and short thoughts.
And even that seemed to flow over only when I thought strongly about something.
‘Is that a relief, at least?’
Elysia waited for my response.
I hesitated for a moment.
I could completely pretend not to know anything here.
But it was already far too late.
Elysia was sharp, and our resonance was high.
If I kept trying only to hide it, it would probably make her more suspicious instead.
Still, I couldn’t reveal everything.
I was Haku.
But I also had memories from before that, memories of dying in my previous life and crossing over to this world.
And the name of this body’s original owner that I was starting to remember little by little.
Wolyeong.
And the soul fragment I had first seen after coming to this world.
I had no idea what exactly it was,
but every time I thought about or recalled that soul, the words tenth tail kept coming to mind.
A tenth tail? What is this, Narut0 or something...
In any case, there were too many things tangled together to talk about now.
So.
‘Just a little.’
Elysia blinked.
“Just a little?”
I slowly nodded.
“Kiing.”
Just a little for now.
Anything beyond that was still impossible.
Elysia looked at me for a while, then nodded seriously.
“All right.”
Her answer was unexpectedly quick and firm.
“I won’t ask about anything you don’t want to talk about.”
I stared at her.
Elysia smiled faintly.
“Instead, just let me know whether you’re okay.”
I was silent for a moment.
Then, very carefully, I thought.
‘I’m okay.’
This time, deliberately, very softly.
Elysia’s eyes trembled.
She lightly clutched the blanket with both hands.
“……Yeah.”
Her voice shook a little.
“I’m glad.”
At that moment, Elysia’s emotions flowed along the thread of resonance.
Relief.
A warm, gentle feeling.
I closed my eyes for a moment against that emotion.
It wasn’t bad.
It was dangerous, yes.
There was a chance my identity would be exposed, and now I had the nuisance of having to be careful with my inner thoughts.
But.
At the very least, the fact that Elysia could understand even a little of what I said
meant she didn’t have to feel anxious like she had yesterday.
That wasn’t bad.
‘This is seriously troublesome, though.’
Elysia looked at me.
I hurriedly stopped thinking.
But it was too late.
The corners of Elysia’s mouth lifted ever so slightly.
“Troublesome?”
I froze.
“Kiing.”
No.
Absolutely not.
This time, Elysia laughed softly.
It was a slightly more relaxed laugh than yesterday’s.
“Sorry. I tried not to listen, but I heard it.”
‘This is a big problem.’
I buried my chin in the blanket.
From now on, I had to be careful even with my thoughts.
Especially in front of Elysia.
Things like she’s pretty.
Or yesterday’s bath.
Or the fact that I’m a man.
I absolutely must not think about those things.
Absolutely.
Elysia tilted her head.
“Why did you suddenly stiffen like that?”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
It’s nothing.
Really, it’s nothing.
Elysia looked puzzled, but she didn’t ask further.
She got out of bed and opened the curtains.
Morning sunlight filled the room.
“We have to go to the academy today too.”
I let out a small sigh.
‘I hope today passes quietly.’
Elysia looked back.
“I think so too.”
I looked at her.
Elysia looked at me too.
A brief silence.
And then I realized.
Starting today, I really had to be careful.
I had become a little fox whose thoughts leaked out.
“Kiing…….”
With a face that looked like she was holding back laughter, Elysia said,
“Let’s get ready, Haku.”
I weakly lifted myself up from the blanket.
The morning of the second day.
Before my academy life had even properly begun, it had gotten tangled up all over again.