"Oh, I totally forgot about this," I muttered, touching my stomach. "I don't have much time."
"Vivi, can you skip to the important memories that can help me?"
"Initializing Host's request..."
"Error! The target is about to die, so their life is flashing before them, which the Host is currently witnessing."
"Aghh... Doesn't this life-flashing thing only happen in movies?" I shouted in frustration.
"You are incorrect. When a being is about to die, their brain doesn't know how to tackle this foreign variable, so it tries to find the solution in the memories, which makes the being feel as if their life is flashing before their eyes."
"Whoa... I wish I didn't know that," I gasped, reading the screen.
While I was busy conversing with Vivi, Gumiho asked, as she ran with the group, "Rumi, where are we going today?"
"Yuta has found a secret place," one of the kids said. "We are going there."
"What is a secret place?"
"I don't know," Rumi replied.
"It is a place that only I know about," the kid at the front boasted. "Our parents will never find us there."
"Yuta, is it safe there?" another little one asked. "What if humans find us there?"
"Tchh, you will never become a warrior if you continue to be a wimp, Riku," Yuta scolded, and then in a lower voice whispered, "And if anything goes wrong, we have that wildling with us."
"Whom are you calling wildling?" Gumiho snapped, kicking the back of Yuta's head.
Now on the ground, Yuta blurted before Gumiho could come for another one, "Look, we have reached the secret place."
He pointed at a waterfall beyond the forest.
"Wow! It's so beautiful," Rumi exclaimed, pulling Gumiho's hand as they ran towards the waterfall. "Ume, come quickly."
The kids began bathing in the stream below the waterfall while Gumiho sat beside it, dipping only her legs in the water.
"Ume, come bathe with us," Rumi shouted, waving her hand.
"Rumi, my mother told me girls should not bathe with boys," Gumiho said. "You should come out too."
"Don't come if you don't want to," Yuta snapped. "Why are you calling her out, too?"
"Hmph, I'm not talking to you."
"Forget what your mother said. We won't tell her, so just come," Rumi called again.
Gumiho gripped the back of her skirt tightly and said, "I already told you I won't."
"Just leave her be. Let's play by ourselves," Yuta said as they threw water on each other.
From Gumiho's expression, it was clear that she wanted to play too, but judging by the way she was gripping her skirt, she must have been holding back to hide her other tail.
After a moment, Gumiho suddenly got up and stared at the forest beyond the stream.
Her pink eyes glowed, her ears twitched, and then she shouted, "Hide quickly!"
"What? Why should we hide?" Yuta asked.
"Someone is coming."
"You-you cannot fool us," Riku said. "We aren't afraid."
Gumiho stared again into the forest, clicked her tongue, and jumped into the stream in desperation.
She held Rumi by the belly in one arm, Riku in the other, and grabbed Yuta by the hair, pulling them behind the waterfall.
"What the hell are you doing, Ume?" Yuta shouted, rubbing his head.
"Shut your mouth," Gumiho said in a low, commanding tone.
As they stood silently, between the noise of their heavy breathing and the water splashing, another sound broke out.
It was the voice of two people talking.
"I am tired of this fucking shit. When will this war end?"
"We would have already won this territory if it weren't for that fucking Aruma."
Riku whispered in a trembling voice, "They-they are humans."
"They just said Aruma. Were they talking about Uncle Aruma?" Yuta asked.
Gumiho put her hands over both of their mouths, signaling them to stay silent.
"Haha, but thanks to you, that crafty fox won't be a problem anymore."
"I can't take all the credit. If you hadn't distracted him, how could I have severed one of his arms?"
"Haha, he is as good as dead now."
"These-these scums hurt my father!" Gumiho instinctively shouted.
Yuta and Rumi quickly held Gumiho's mouth, but the arrow had already been shot.
"Hmm... There are rats hiding here," a voice came from outside.
"They-they found us," Riku muttered, his breathing becoming heavy. "They are going to kill us. It's your fault, Yuta. You brought us here."
"Don't speak so lo—"
As Yuta was about to speak, a sword pierced through his shoulder.
"Aghh!" he screamed as the sword pulled him from behind the waterfall.
At the same time, two hands burst inside, grabbing Rumi and Gumiho by the neck and pulling them out as well.
Two adult human knights, wearing rusty iron armor, stood outside.
"Hahaha, what do we have here?" one of them laughed while holding Gumiho and Rumi.
"Where did these little shits come from?" another said, hanging Yuta in the air by the sword.
"Let go of Yuta or—" Gumiho shouted.
"Or what?" The knight said, thrashing Yuta into the water.
The stream water turned crimson from Yuta's blood as he held him down there with the sword.
"How could these scumbags treat children like this?" I muttered, clenching my fist.
"I will kill you!" Gumiho shouted, waving her hand.
Dozens of petals emerged from her body and rushed toward the hand of the knight pressing down on Yuta.
The moment they touched his hand, he immediately let go of the sword and jumped backward.
The petals exploded with a loud bang, and pink smoke erupted.
The other knight, flustered, loosened his grip, freeing Gumiho and Rumi.
Gumiho immediately landed a kick on the knight's face while Rumi, with all her strength, tugged the sword out and pulled Yuta from the water.
"Run quickly!" Gumiho shouted, standing between her friends and the two knights.
As the smoke vanished, the knights were already on the ground beside the stream.
One held his bleeding nose, while the other held his torn arm.
"You will pay for this, you little bitch!" the knight with the broken arm shouted.
"I'm sorry, Mother," Gumiho said, removing a bracelet from her wrist. "I cannot keep your promise."
A wide cloth belt slipped from Gumiho's skirt, and with it, her other tail unfurled behind her, emerging like a beast awakened.