I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 4

John jumped up, looking like he was about to faint. “W-What is this…” He quickly wrapped me in a blanket. “Ah!”

Only then did I grasp the situation and burrowed deep into the rustling blanket. Of course, it was because I wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Looking roughly at my body inside the blanket, I seemed to be a teenage girl around John’s age.

My hair, which stretched down past my shoulders, was a very light brown.

“Y-You…”

Of course, John still seemed to be in a panic.

It was as if his brain had stopped after hiding me in the blanket. Anyway, his manners were excellent.

After some time, I carefully peeked my face out from the blanket.

John was stuck to the wall with his face flushed red.

Looking at him, I couldn’t help but click my tongue inwardly.

‘I’m not going to eat you…’

Anyway, our eyes finally met.

Hugging the blanket tightly in my hands, I looked up at him.

Even if it was just for a moment, I was really happy to be human, but it was quite sudden for me as well.

I had never even thought about this situation before.

I’m not even at the stage where we’re close, so what should I say…

“Uh… um… first of all…”

A proper voice, not a ‘kyuung’ sound, flowed out of my throat.

It was a subtly pleasant, clear, and spirited girl’s voice.

“N-Nice to meet you?”

“Y-You, you are…”

John was just blinking at me as if he had seen a ghost. His earlobes and the back of his neck were still burning red.

It seemed he didn’t know that a divine beast could transform into a human.

I fidgeted and carefully started to speak to somehow explain the situation.

“Well, divine beasts can transform into humans…”

But, frustratingly, I couldn’t finish my sentence. “Kyuung.”

I had turned back into a squirrel.

Moreover, John’s magic power, which had been well-managed within me, had completely disappeared. A feeling of emptiness suddenly swept through my whole body.

It seemed I had used up all the magic power he had gathered over the past two days this time.

I recalled what Tezen had said earlier.

“But if you transform into a human before 50 days, all the magic power you’ve absorbed will be nullified. So you have to endure even if you feel like you’re going to transform into a human. Got it?”

As expected, the contents of the book that Tezen had been diligently reading seemed to be all true.

Still, well… it was embarrassing, but it was a satisfactory result anyway.

‘Amazing. I absorbed enough magic power in just two days to do a momentary human transformation.’

Since I didn’t know much about human transformation, it was something I had to experience once.

Even though I went back to 0, I felt like I would be able to gather magic power well in the future.

I already knew the solution: when I felt that throbbing feeling again, I just needed to accept the magic power more actively.

‘If I just keep doing this for 50 days in a row, my dream will come true. After all, people should live with a goal.’

I chuckled contentedly and renewed my resolve.

And it was when I looked at John with sparkling eyes to calm down his magic power again.

“H-Human transformation… is possible? What does that mean…”

John still had a look on his face like something was broken.

Well, in that short amount of time, all I could explain was that one word, so it was understandable that he was still confused.

‘He really doesn’t know much about divine beasts.’

I put my hands on my hips and sighed slightly. It was frustrating because I couldn’t explain everything one by one since we couldn’t communicate.

In the end, I decided to work hard and use gestures again.

If I had known this would happen, I would have spouted something out like a machine gun earlier, but I wasted time because I was too flustered. I was so disappointed, but now there was no choice.

After deciding on body language, I first patted my chest.

“You?”

Okay. I nodded and ran quickly across the room to point at the book.

“Book?”

Okay, then I pointed to the Hylad emblem engraved on my chest.

“Hylad?”

No, no.

I shook my head vigorously, and John thought for a moment before asking.

“Tezen?”

Good. And I pretended to flip through the pages of the book with my front paws.

“Study?”

John looked at me quietly and finally formed a sentence.

“You want me to get a book about you from Tezen so you can study?”

That’s right. He’s smart after all.

I ran to him, climbed onto his shoulder, and stroked his fine black hair.

Kind, smart, and pure. Maybe it’s because he’s a villain before he’s turned dark, but I liked him very much.

Even his manners of quickly covering me with a blanket were so much better than Tezen’s, and I liked him even more.

‘Wow, but his magic power is really amazing. To be able to gather enough to transform into a human in just two days.’

It was a happy thing for me, but on the other hand, I also felt sorry for John.

How painful must it have been while this much magic power was overflowing and rampaging.

It was even sad that the pure and kind boy in front of me would become a villain obsessed with one woman and running wild.

Such a kind and affectionate child who gets lonely easily….

Having gone through all that pain, he’ll turn dark and become obsessed with the female lead when he meets her later.

I was glad to have met him while he was still pure.

‘If I can slow down the pain a little, the love between the male and female leads will be easier to achieve.’

If there’s no villain with a ruined personality, everyone will be happy.

‘Yes. Love and attention appropriate for adolescence can rehabilitate even a villain.’

So, me calming John down was a good thing for everyone.

I put my front paw on his forehead again and started absorbing magic power.

John had already grown into a boy far from being kind due to long-term pain and loneliness.

Rather, he was closer to being a scheming boy who was desperate to use anything to escape this situation.

But even so, he was still a naive sixteen-year-old boy who had never met a girl his age and had no immunity to that area at all.

So, after the squirrel divine beast left, John was lying on the bed, blankly blinking his eyes.

He was more comfortable than ever because the squirrel divine beast had calmed down a lot of his magic power, but he couldn’t fall asleep. “Kyuuuung.”

The squirrel divine beast brought back a few pages torn from a book in Tezen’s room as promised.

Thinking about the squirrel’s effort to climb the tower with the torn pages in its mouth made his heart feel strange.

Besides….

He quickly covered it with a blanket before he could see it properly, but his face flushed every time he thought of the naked body of the girl he had glimpsed.

It seemed to understand what he was saying, so he tried to look pitiful, kind, and lonely to somehow gain sympathy, but he couldn’t even say a proper word today.

Actually, he thought the squirrel form was cute too.

The front paw that the squirrel seriously held out to his forehead was his salvation, but it was a bit adorable.

It was so small and insignificant, and when it was trying to communicate while waving its short arms, he even wanted to hug it.

Even though it had a small body, its personality was very confident and spirited, which made him laugh even more, but….

The humanized form was… too cute.

Light brown hair, round pink eyes, and the embarrassed expression on the face peeking out from the blanket.

When and how does humanization happen? …Will I be able to see it again?

He eventually jumped up from the bed and started reading the torn pages that the squirrel divine beast had brought.

It was too late at night, so he was going to read it tomorrow, but he didn’t think he could fall asleep like this.

And the more he read, the redder his ears became.

According to this book, being able to humanize in just two days means….

“If 50 days pass, it means it will b-become a real… real human?”

He bit his nails for a moment after reading the book.

“Then this squirrel needs me for humanization.”

So, a win-win situation.

The squirrel will come to him without him having to look pitiful or gain sympathy.

“…Good.”

John smiled bitterly while fiddling with the acorn that the squirrel had given him during their first meeting. There was no need to be anxious anymore.

However….

“But why do I feel bad?”

The gesture of pointing to the emblem engraved on his chest and expressing ‘Tezen’ kept bothering him.

It was as if he was Tezen’s possession… no, that’s right, but why is he so annoyed….

They just need to get what they want from each other, so there’s no reason to feel bad about being Tezen’s possession or anything….

That night, John tossed and turned for a long time, not knowing the identity of the unpleasant feeling he was experiencing for the first time.