Interlude – A New Shape to the Everyday
I love naps. …Eh, what am I suddenly on about? Sorry, my name is Nap Lover. And just as the name says, I love a nap, and I spend my days trying out all sorts of goods and situations in search of the perfect companion for one.
For what it’s worth, they also let me be the guild master. Lately I’d been running around doing proper guild-master work to clear a certain event, and that had finally settled down… or so I thought, briefly. Now there’s an uproar ever since Rinne-chan showed up——the friend our sub-master Perseus, the resident ojou-sama, brought along; probably someone she knows in real life——and it’s only day two for her, yet the guild member list says her level is over 50~… Anyway, set that aside for now. Because there’s something more important!
“Woof~!”
“Waa~ so cute~! Want a snack? Wa~ he’s glued to the snack~! His eyes are tracking it~!! So cute~~!!”
“I’ve got snacks too!”
“It was Donta-kun, right! Can I, touch him~?”
“Heh, woof!”
“He rolled over! Can I touch him, I can, right!”
The giant wolf that apparently belongs to our newcomer Rinne-chan, name of Donta! Naming him Donta because he’s slow and fat is a pitiful bit of naming, but he’s clever and gentle and a spoiled little thing and cute~, this one. The guild members dote on him, and he’s always getting petted like this, getting snacks, playing and being played with.
And this Donta-kun is a truly magnificent fluff, you know. Exquisitely warm and comfortable, doesn’t get angry if you climb on his back, and yesterday I hugged him and fell asleep without noticing, and Donta-kun seemed to fall asleep too, and we were out cold until evening. I very nearly broke the guild’s own rules and pressed Rinne-chan on how one goes about taming a wolf like Donta-kun. But I’m the guild master. I keep the rules we set for ourselves, properly. Still, I want a Donta-kun too~… He’s cute, and strong…
“Woof~~”
“My my~ he eats a lot, doesn’t he~. He’s big, so of course he eats a lot~”
“We’re not feeding him too much, are we?”
“Feeding a pet too much isn’t good for them, right?”
“He’ll be fine if he exercises!”
“But we can’t take him for walks, you know? If there was any trouble outside it’d be awful.”
“Ah, true…”
Right. Donta-kun isn’t just cute and the finest possible nap companion. He’s strong… He is strong, but naturally we can’t take him outside without Rinne-chan’s permission. Some player scheming something nasty might do something terrible to him. I’m holding a frankly incredible sum from Perseus-ojousama, entrusted with looking after him whenever Rinne-chan can’t come check on him, so the one-in-a-million accident simply cannot be allowed to happen. Which is why we can’t take him for walks… Meaning Donta-kun’s options are: nap with me, or be doted on and petted by everyone!
“Donta-kun, you’re so flu~ffy… It feels lovely~…”
“Woof~~”
“Cute and big and gentle and strong, and clever on top! He’s the best!”
“Woof~~”
“You’d think once he worked out he was the strongest he’d start throwing his weight around.”
“Woof~?”
“Huh? Donta-kun, have you gotten fat?”
“Wheee… wheee…”
Hm…? He just reacted, blatantly, to the word fat and nothing else, didn’t he…? N-No no, come on, a little bit of eating doesn’t cause a sudden growth spurt, surely… surely?
“Ah, Donta-kun, are you getting another snack~?”
“W-Woof”
“Didn’t you just get fed?”
“Woof…?”
“Donta-san was given a meal at noon! And he had something sweet for dessert after it too!”
“Aurelia-chan was eating with him~. The strawberry parfait Baldie-san made.”
“Yes! It was delicious, I would like to eat it again…”
“Ah, hold on? What time did he eat? I gave him a meal two hours ago.”
“Eh? I gave him food about three hours ago too, said it was a bit early, but…”
“Huh? I gave him one four hours ago going sorry it’s a late breakfast~?”
“Wheee… wheee…”
Could it be… Our guild members… Aren’t we feeding Donta-kun too much!? We’re feeding him too much, aren’t we!? Donta-kun is, beyond question… plumper…!? He’s gotten fat!?
“He snuffles and it’s cute~. But he might well be a tubby.”
“Right? He is a tubby. I feel like he was all sleek after the evolution.”
“He’s gotten kind of squishy. Squishy Don-chan.”
“W-Wooof~~… W-Woof~~…”
“Ah, he’s playing possum and pretending not to hear! Donta-kun definitely understands the word fat!”
“Nap Lover-san, isn’t it going to be bad if we don’t tell Rinne-chan we fed him too much and fattened him up…? I really don’t think this is our imagination.”
“Look, I hugged Donta-kun and napped yesterday. I’ll check whether he’s the same.”
No no, we don’t know yet. For now, to determine whether he’s the same as yesterday, let me hug the possum-playing Donta-kun and check. Here I come, Donta-kun. Are you ready? Because I’m not!
“————He’s fat. Definitively squishier than yesterday. I, a bedding meister, declare it.”
“So he is fat~! Cute even fat~!”
“N-No good, taking in someone’s pet and making it fat…!”
“W-Wooofff~~… Wooof~~…”
“Donta-san? If Big Sis finds out you’ve gained weight, it will be terrible, you know?”
“Woooof~~…!!”
“It’s your own fault for eating every single thing put in front of you!”
“Kyuun…”
“Eris-chan wants to be scolded too… I-I want to be told off…”
“Be grateful you’re only banned from approaching. Next rank up is stay out of sight.”
“Ugh…! N-Not that…!”
This is bad, he’s definitely gone squishy… He’s changed to a degree that makes you ask whether a body shape can change that much in a day or two… Well, there’s such a thing as muscular squishy, but there is definitely a non-muscular squishy hiding in there. A bedding meister of my caliber can tell: this is… the squish of fat.
“…………”
“Huh? Nap Lover-san…?”
“Nap Lover-sa~n? Eh, really? In that split second?”
“Woof…?”
Sorry, everyone. I can’t hold out against this squish. Apologies to Rinne-chan, but I want Donta-kun to stay exactly this shape. It is far too… comfortable…! I’ve tested a great many beddings up to now, and this is my first taste of such a blissful squish… The best…
————Later, this feeding-Donta-kun-too-much problem would go on to cause a certain incident. At this point nobody could yet predict it would come to that. Naturally, I couldn’t predict it either. There was no way to predict it in the first place. Because I was already departing into a dream. May this problem not go on swelling the way Donta-kun’s squish has, if I’m granted one wish. With that prayer in my heart, my consciousness departed.