The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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If I were going to meet another girl, I would have immediately kicked him in the knee, but thankfully, Dokan didn’t do that.

Instead, we arrived at a rather strange shop.

The letters on the sign were so poorly made and unique that they were hard to read, but somehow I managed to make it out.

“Casey’s pet… supplies… shop? A pet supplies shop? Why are we here?”

Why would a guy who doesn’t have any pets suddenly go to a pet supplies store? Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked him.

“I thought I might buy some food for the stray cats.”

…Han Dogon, you punk. Are you a cat daddy now? My face scrunched up at the thought of him giving food to stray cats.

In many ways, I was like a cat right now, but I didn’t particularly like them. Not in this life or the last.

In my previous life, it was due to allergies and the sounds of cats crying during their mating season. In this life, it was because I had raised one myself.

The way they weren’t as loyal as dogs and didn’t do tricks but still tried to challenge their owners was irritating.

They were obedient to my father, yet they always caused me trouble.

“I never imagined you had such interests… that’s not good. The wild should be left wild.”

But they weren’t family, so I couldn’t tell him to stop. If he wanted to do it, what could I do?

Instead, I just came up with some plausible reasons to say it wasn’t a good idea.

Feeding stray cats is, in a way, a destruction of the ecosystem. If the cats multiply, they’ll eat the birds, then the birds decrease, and the pests increase…

In reality, it was just that I didn’t want to see cats prancing around in front of me.

“Ah… I see. What if you were to adopt one?”

If he loved cats enough to transition from feeding to adopting… there was nothing I could do about it. If he was that determined, there was no stopping him.

“Your sense of responsibility is commendable, but are you allowed to have pets in the dorm?”

I wanted to check again just to imply he should reconsider. If he didn’t neuter it, it would make a ruckus every month.

“Yes. It says in the rules that as long as the litter is cleaned on time, it’s fine.”

However, it seemed my wishes weren’t that important to Dokan. He probably wanted to keep one for real and seemed to have checked the regulations.

There was nothing I could do about it.

“Well, then go ahead. I won’t say anything about adopting it, but make sure you don’t throw it away again.”

If you’re going to abandon it, do it far, far away.

“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”

So he wasn’t a cat daddy, but an actual cat lover.

I decided to give up on criticizing him about cats and focus on what I was meant to be doing, which was watching him to see if he would goof off or not.

Since there were mostly women around, I had to be cautious soon.

Most of them were older men or ladies, but…

You never know. After all, Dokan might have some strange sexual preferences. My friend who looked completely normal liked NTR, after all.

Or maybe it didn’t matter if they were old or young as long as they were women.

But as long as I was here, I didn’t think that would happen.

I thought it was a bit strange how big this pet supplies store was, but from the conversations I overheard, it seemed there were quite a few people raising huge beasts as pets.

Certainly, you wouldn’t need such big and sturdy cages for keeping dogs or cats.

While I was examining the peculiar items around, I also kept an eye on where Dokan was focused, and he was sincerely buying things necessary for cats.

Then I caught a whiff of a very captivating and sweet fragrance.

At that moment, I almost forgot what I was doing. It was like a fog rolling through my mind during mating season.

Where was it coming from?

…Ah, over there. The display I’d been circling around for a while. I wasn’t even curious about why I kept going around it.

I simply wanted to smell that scent more.

Just a little more.

“…Yes, I bought everything I intended to.”

Before I dove into the display, forgetting everything, I could snap back to reality thanks to Dokan’s voice.

“…Huh? Oh, you bought it all already? Then let’s go.”

That was close; I almost did something weird in a crowded place.

I didn’t want to know what it was. Just the thought of it made me feel like I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.

Thinking about Dokan. Right, Dokan.

Did he see any girls during that moment when I lost my composure? Considering he was only looking for cat-related items, I didn’t think so.

He didn’t seem to care about his surroundings at all, so he didn’t seem to have that kind of preference. I felt a strange relief as I was on my way back to the dorm.

I kept feeling familiar with him, and suddenly I realized what that familiarity was all about.

Dokan definitely resembled the captain of the guard.

The way he looked, his overall vibe, and his gentle personality were all similar.

…I’m sorry to say this to the captain, but in terms of looks, Dokan was a little better.

However, the fact that the captain never showed such inconsiderate behaviors like Dokan did and that he had been around since I was born made me like him much more.

Not in a romantic sense, but just as a person. The same went for Dokan.

Even though my mother thought I liked Dokan as a woman for some reason, I just silently promised myself that I’d clear that misunderstanding someday.

Even though I was supposed to be watching him, I couldn’t follow him all the way to his room, so I decided to read the borrowed book until Dokan showed any special action.

To cool off from the anger I experienced that day, I went to the library to read a novel, got completely absorbed, and borrowed the entire series.

There were a lot of bizarre plot developments, like the protagonist literally going to the moon, but that made it even more enjoyable.

Just when I was about to lose myself in the story, someone knocked on my door.

“…Are you there?”

I heard Dokan’s voice from outside. Just as it was getting interesting, I was disappointed but put a bookmark and opened the door.

As soon as I did, a strong fragrance wafted in. It was levels above what I had smelled at that pet shop.

It was coming from a small leather pouch in Dokan’s hands. Just as I unconsciously reached out, I managed to snap back to my senses.

“I… I wanted to apologize for what happened two days ago. I prepared a little something.”

He seemed to be rambling on about something, but I couldn’t hear him.

“Come in.”

It was best to suppress the urge to drag him in. All my focus was on that leather pouch.

“Yes?”

“Come in.”

Right now.

Why did that moment of hesitation feel so long?

The instant Dokan stepped into my room, he closed the door behind him. I didn’t know for sure, but I probably didn’t look presentable.

“…Ho-yeon? Why did you close the door?”

I slowly approached Dokan. For some reason, he stepped back.

It didn’t really matter. Right now, I just wanted to bury my nose in that leather pouch. I couldn’t even think of anything better, like talking.

I just wanted to bury my nose in that leather pouch and take a deep inhale.

“Ho-yeon…? Ho-yeon?”

I reached out my hand to Dokan. He pressed himself against the wall as if trying to avoid my touch, but that was all the resistance he put up.

“Hand, give it to me.”

“Hand…?”

“Not that one.”

I meant the hand holding the leather pouch. Why was he giving me an empty hand?

As soon as he extended the pouch-holding hand, I grabbed it with both of mine. He flinched for a moment, but I didn’t care.

I buried my nose in the pouch he was holding. He seemed to call my name frantically, but I couldn’t hear him.

With every inhale, pleasure exploded in my mind like fireworks, and even with my eyes closed, fascinating colors I had never seen danced before my eyes.

“Suuhh… Haaah…”

I felt my legs slowly losing strength. Grabbing Dokan’s hand and letting go of all my strength, I hung onto him, but it was like begging.

I wanted to plead.

Please, just stay like this. I didn’t care what it was; just keep giving me this.

“…Yeonah! Ho-yeon! What’s wrong?! Are you okay?!”

Looking up at Dokan with unfocused eyes, I saw he had a worried expression on his face.

…Ah, he had called me several times, but I was too blissed out to respond.

After all, if your only friend suddenly buried their face in your hand and didn’t move, wouldn’t you worry?

Hmm… I didn’t know. I felt like my head was floating. I probably couldn’t stand right now.

“…Yeah. I’m fine. Just feeling a bit good…”

I tried to enunciate carefully, but I couldn’t even speak properly.

Hmm, maybe this was like alcohol. My speech was slurring, my balance was off, and I felt good, so maybe that was it.

Then was I drunk? I had never even touched alcohol in my life, yet here I was, getting tipsy somehow; it was kind of embarrassing.

I figured it was okay since it was in front of a friend. If it was Dokan, then I could trust him…

“…You feel good?”

“…Yeah.”

I responded to Dokan while rubbing my head against the leather pouch. The pouch was a bit small, so it might’ve looked like I was nuzzling against his hand.

“…Then can I think that you like it…?”

Do I like it?

“Yeah… more…”

If possible, I wanted to enjoy this every day.

Before sleeping, or when I couldn’t help but follow Dokan, I wanted something like this to ease my boredom.

I could just drown out any blues with waves of joy.

But for some reason, Dokan didn’t seem to look as happy as I was.