Chapter 131 - Waking In A Village Of Beautiful Vixens

It was just an average, run-of-the-mill school day.

Everyone in class 2-B was getting ready for the start of a new week, catching up on all the juicy weekend gossip. Among them being the notable class delinquent, Hotaru Ishida, standing with one leg propped on the chair of his desk.

Speaking loudly, so that all could hear, he was proudly regaling his friends with his most recent sexual exploits:

"Yup, it's all true! 'Cuz that's when I touched her boob, and she slapped me across the face!"—he turned his face, showing off the deep purple bruising on one side—"see that? Evidence!"

His friends oooed and awwed, when a girl suddenly approached his table.

"Telling boldfaced lies about having sex with 20 year old prostitutes in the love hotel, again, are you?" she questioned him with her typical harsh, judgmental tone.

"Piss off, Noriko," Hotaru scoffed. "Isn't there somewhere you should be sitting, alone, with no friends?"

She huffed, crossing her arms and turning away. "Hm! That's no way to speak to your student council representative." She grinned, casting him a malevolent glare. "I'll have to demerit you, on top of the demerit I'm already giving you for causing a public disturbance."

"Go ahead! I'll talk to a nosy bitch like YOU however I please."

"Excuse me? What'd you call me!?"

Hotaru's friends were snickering at the pair's famous bickering.

"Why don't you two start dating?"

"What?!" Hotaru laughed, slowly sinking into his seat, folding his arms behind the back of his head. "ME, getting with Noriko-san? That's revolting!"

Noriko frowned, squinting in silent rage.

"That's one demerit for each of you" —growling furiously, she slammed her palms down into the desk—"for being a bunch of stupid...virgin...loser...nerds!"

Hotaru shot out of his chair. "You're one to talk!"

"At least I don't lie about it!"

Hotaru's friends exchanged knowing glances.

"Hard to believe they used to be close."

"Is it a case of the hedgehog's dilemma, or the inverse of 'opposites attract?'"

…

Hotaru's POV:

I'm lying on something...warm. Soft. Quilts and blankets.

I hear the clatter of dishes and clicking utensils, accompanied by swishing water. What sounds like someone washing dishes, peacefully humming; breaking out into verses now and then:

"Whenever there's prey, you snatch 'em up quick~"

Mm…

Something smells good.

Whatever it is I'm smelling—hot and sweet; a bread dessert baking in an oven—and the source of that humming, they're both coming from beyond the door that had been left slightly ajar, communicating with an adjacent hallway.

I open my eyes and am met by an unfamiliar ceiling of brown thatch, and walls made from tied-together logs.

'How did I make it to this place?'

Feeling like a dumb Isekai protagonist, I take a moment to retrace my steps leading up to this: The last thing I remember being that weird wisp thing saying something cryptic to me. And then, next thing I know, I'm waking up in a strange bed.

...it's a bit suspicious, if you ask me.

Oh, and wasn't I glitching in the character creation screen? Which means...

Shaking, I hold my palms up to my face.

N-no…! These aren't the hands of a manly man like me at all!

Suddenly, I don't feel so good. Because I don't need to even look into the mirror that's just there, LOOMING at the foot of the bed, to know what's happened—I already know exactly what the fuck is going on; that all of what I remember ISN'T just my imagination.

So then...it's true; I really have been…

Transported to Another World, in the Body of My Ultimate Crush.

Shit…

My life has become a crappy LN! 

One of the "natives" must've come across me lying unconscious somewhere, and brought me back to their place: to this cozy, square bedroom; an open window letting in fresh air and warm sunlight, through a set of loosely fluttering cloth curtains.

Sliding out from under the covers slowly, I creep toward the window to peek outside.

I think 'rustic' is the word to describe it: A village made up of straw-roofed log houses; a few modest-looking folk milling about in a square, dressed in shabby commoner's robes, their hairs styled like it's an old black-and-white samurai movie—with rough, spiky topknots worn by the men. And a wider variety of tidier, more elegant styles by the women.

But even weirder still…

All of the women I saw loitering around the square had matching beast-like ears and tails!

While in awe at this realization, I watched, breathlessly, as so many white-tipped tails tauntingly swished and swirled through the air, above so many species and sizes of asses; in colors of fur ranging from bright orange and bloody red, chocolate brown, flaxen blonde and onyx black. Ears that expressively twitched and bristled, folded, perked up and flattened with charming fluidity, to reflect their bearer's shifting emotions—as clear and as plain as a second facial expression.

It was then I became overcome with something. An incredible urge to TOUCH and to feel: To caress, and to gently stroke my fingers along. To playfully yank, and pull. 

I realized, then…that I wanted—no, CRAVED—a fox girl GF, with every fiber of my being.

There is only one problem…

It would be way too awkward, if I'm in a body that looks like my biggest school crush!

I finally have a look in the mirror and my God is Noriko-san pretty when her face isn't screwed up in unfathomable anger, even though I'm dressed in the same dull, potato sack looking outfit as those fox girl villagers I saw. But at the same time, my God is this a huge problem in so many freakin' ways. Like:

How am I supposed to act while I'm in this body?

What if a boy starts hitting on me? Ew!

What if I run into the real Noriko or someone else from school? Would I be forced to come and clean, and confess my true feelings?

Knock knock knock knock knock.

Damn it! Someone's at the door, but maybe I can pretend to still be asl—

"Are you awake in there?" A nice lady's voice asked.

"U-uhh...NO! But thank you!"

Gah! What the fuck is wrong with me?!

The door opened, and in walked a beautiful peach-skinned red-furred fox girl, carrying a tray with a slice of cake and steaming earthenware mug, which gave off a bitter, powerful aroma of black coffee.

She gave me a warm smile. "You're up and about already, I see."

"I…" could barely speak. Because, as it were, my attention was fixated elsewhere apart from her words; specifically, onto her huge pair of breasts that wiggled and jiggled, unrestrained, with a fully exposed cleavage showing through her extremely low-cut variation of the standard commoner's robe I had been seeing.

Was this just normal for country-born (fox) girls to be walking around, looking like? As a city boy, I wouldn't know. Not that I disapproved...

"Are you hungry?" she asked. "You still look a little groggy."

"Uhh...a little bit, yeah."

She turned, set the tray of food onto a dresser at the side of the bed, then faced me again with a beaming smile.

"My name's Mina. What's yours?"

"My name is Hota—ACK! I mean, Noriko. It's Noriko."

I laughed, scratching the back of my head, trying to hide how anxious I was feeling; at the same time that I was discretely peeking down at her legs through one eye, licking my lips at the sight of her thighs—left bare and exposed, by how snugly the thin fabric of her clothes fit against her shapely adult curves.

"Hmm," she tilted her head to the side, appraising me quizzically, tail slowly swishing in her contemplative state. "You're another one of those Otherworlders, ain't ya?"

I blink. "Out...worlders"—gasp—"do you mean my classmates!?" I said, leaning toward her, unable to downplay the level of urgency in my voice. "Have you met some of them? Did you find them and bring them to this village, just like with me? Are they still in this village right now?"

I realize I'm being impolite, but this could potentially be serious!

Like, what if this world operates similar to a lot of Isekai worlds: in that, if a player dies in the game, then they'll also die in real life!

Noriko (and those other guys I guess) could be in big, big trouble!

They'll NEED my gaming expertise to survive!

"Slow down! Slow down!" she calmly urges, waving her hands for me to stop. "We'll get to the bottom of all that stuff later, okay?" She gave a lovely sigh, which on its own was enough to bring some small measure of peace to my troubled mind. 

She bid me to eat and drink, so I did, while she sat beside me on the bed with her long tail swatting against my back, rhythmically flicking back and forth like a metronome between me and the bed.

"You're still weak," she said, smiling, as she took a fork up from the tray. "Let me feed you."

"It's fine, if you'd rather not."

Shaking her head, giggling, she plucked off a piece of cake on the fork and brought it to my lips. "Here it comes!"

Blushing, I opened my mouth wide and she placed it inside. Then closed and started to chew, becoming lost in the delicious flavor. It was a fruit of some kind, but I wasn't sure of which—except that it was really good!

Had I actually died and gone to Heaven?