Genshuuchu Oojo is a volleyball club member standing a full eighteen centimeters taller than me.
She has a toned physique and striking features; not limited to volleyball, she displays exceptional athletic talent in PE class, and I’ve even heard rumors that girls have confessed their feelings to her.
It’s no surprise given those rumors—she’s truly a beautiful and cool female student.
And it’s not just her height; her chest is quite substantial too, but…
Right now, that’s less important than the fact that she wants to become our comrade.
I didn’t expect a third candidate to appear after Luminess-sensei and Soube had already joined us today.
What a dense day it’s been for Day Nine.
“When you say ‘helpful,’ what exactly do you mean?”
For now, I asked on behalf of everyone.
“W-well. My ‘Transmutation Ability’ lets me transform into any creature I’ve seen once. So depending on the situation, I can become all sorts of animals and…”
“Does ‘creature’ include anything? If you can turn into lions or elephants, that sounds amazing.”
“Y-yes. If it’s an animal found in a zoo or aquarium, I’ve seen them, so I’m fine with that. Besides, I can transform into monsters too.”
“Monsters as well… That means as the variety of monsters increases, your ability’s range will expand, right?”
Fukaho muttered, looking impressed.
“Aquarium? So you can turn into sea creatures? Dolphins and turtles and stuff?”
Shouko spoke before she could stop herself.
“Really? Yeah. I can do it, but…”
“Wooo!”
Shouko seemed genuinely moved.
Everyone has dreamed of flying through the sky like a bird or swimming in the sea like a fish at least once, so Muenaka might have felt a twinge of envy upon realizing that such things were possible for her.
”…So, what about phantom beasts?”
At the words “Dream World,” Muenaka paused for a beat before nodding.
“The summoned beast you saw earlier? Shouko’s, I mean? It seems she can transform into it.” “No way!
Meow-that’s amazing!”
Shizuki raised her voice in surprise.
“‘Seems’?”
Feeling a slight sense of unease, I watched Muenaka struggle to figure out how to explain this. After a few seconds, she finally tried.
“Well, if you visualize the creature you want to transform into in your mind, you can tell if it’s possible or not… For creatures you’ve known about but never actually seen, you just can’t become them…”
“I see. So because you’ve seen Fenrir and the Black Dragon before, your ability determined ‘transformation possible’ for those?”
“Something like that…”
However, Muenaka’s demeanor had been off since earlier.
She wouldn’t meet my eyes. Plus, her face had been red this whole time.
…Could it be that she was embarrassed about what happened when she was a cat?
That cat had been surprisingly fond of me, but all those adorable actions were actually Muenaka’s doing.
The exact reason was unclear, but thinking about her state of mind—having thought she’d gotten away with it, only to be caught in front of a human—made it understandable why I couldn’t look him directly in the eye.
Once I started thinking about it like that, I found myself getting a bit embarrassed too.
”…In that case, things are changing. Sure, Shouko has summoning abilities, but you can’t call up Fenrir-class beasts in large numbers, so being able to switch between various creatures like Myaa can would be very useful.”
Dream Realm had spoken with a somewhat stern tone earlier, but after hearing about the ability, he seemed to have become favorable toward Genshuu’s joining.
At this point, Shouko was in a state where she could barely summon a third phantom beast.
Even if she managed to learn how to summon the third one, adding another via Genshuu would be a plus for the party.
“Could Myaa-chan’s ability make other people transform?”
Shion asked.
“No. At least, I don’t think she can right now.”
“Myaa-chan, then what about partial transformation?”
Genshuu tilted their head at Chiiru’s question.
“Partial transformation? Like… turning just an arm into a different animal, like characters in manga or something?”
“That’s also possible. But what I wanted to ask was whether they could become a real cat-eared demi-human.”
Mibuyu projected her pressure while remaining expressionless, leaving Genchu visibly confused.
”…I… I think I can do it. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to reproduce it unless it was a creature whose nature I’ve seen before.” “Hmm.
Accepted.”
“Mibuyu, don’t decide things on your own.”
Also, why does the ability to grow realistic cat ears become the deciding factor?
I mean, as an otaku, I’d admit that a nekomimi subhuman is something I’d like to see at least once.
“I understand how useful your ability is, Genchu-san, but why do you want to join Sou-suke’s party?”
Fukhou seemed puzzled by this point.
Since she said this after seeing our base camp, it’s possible she was impressed by the high standard of living and thanked us for that… but originally, she had contacted us in the form of a cat.
If she had wanted to become a member from that moment on, there might be some other reason.
“I-It’s, I’m just…”
Genchu glanced at me briefly before immediately looking away.
“Mea likes you, Takano-kun.”
Genchu panicked in response to Yume-kyou’s exposure.
“Wait, wait a moment, Seri-na!”
…Come to think of it, Yume-kyou seemed content with the fact that the cat’s true form was Genchu.
“Huh? Really? I’ve never heard anything like that.”
“Neither had I.”
“Me neither. Actually, why do you know, Seri-na?”
It seemed that even in Shoyo’s group, no one knew about anything outside the Dream World.
…or rather, I don’t have a clue either.
“Even if we hide it here, it won’t help. When we were in our first year, there was a time when some guys had a really messed-up conversation within earshot of Myaa.
It turns out Kuono handled the situation discreetly and resolved it.” — Oh, I don’t remember that at all…
However, it is certain that Gensyu and I were in the same class during our first year.
“It’s not exactly like I had a crush on him, but… I just thought he was a nice guy…”
Gensyu said this while fidgeting, twisting his fingers together.
So, that’s why he was being friendly when they were in their cat forms.
”…Could it be that you-kun had been raising flags on Earth all along?”
Sena let out a voice tinged with slight surprise. Her tone remained flat as usual, but to me, her childhood friend, even the subtlest shifts in her emotion were discernible.
I wouldn’t have known this if we hadn’t ended up on an desert island, but it seems there were quite a few people who had held positive feelings toward me from back when I was still in Japan, such as Shoyo and Fukaho.
With Gensyu added to that list, I could understand why Sena was surprised. Honestly, I was surprised too.
“Mr. Kuono, you really are impressive,” Mr.
Luminous said, sounding pleased as well.
They seem impressed by the part where I helped a female student who was in trouble.
“Truly worthy of you, Master.”
Loa quickly adds her own praise.
“T-That, and… how do things look?”
Genshuu looks at me, as if trying to read my thoughts.
“Honestly, just being able to transform into a Phantasm like Mashiro or Mikuron is incredibly powerful magic in its own right. If Genshuu has accepted this party’s way of doing things and wants to join, then I’m fine with it… but what does everyone else think?”
No one voiced any objection.
“And so, it’s a pleasure to have you with us, Genshuu.”
“Ah, thank you…! I’ll do my best!”
Genshuu also agreed to the terms that she wouldn’t leave until everyone had gathered their ‘Return Rights,’ and that those who wished for it could wait until they learned how to inherit abilities and memories.
When Chiyu suddenly declared that “joining your harem is an absolute condition,” Genshuu’s face turned bright red, and she hung her head low, but I immediately told her not to worry about it, so she should be fine.
It would be a lie to say I have no interest in her as a man, but I have no intention of forcing anything on her.
Chiyu likely made that statement because she believed it would help the group unite better; surely she doesn’t stubbornly insist on creating a harem for its own sake.
And yet, saying all that, I already have three lovers, Fuka is scheduled to come to my room tonight, Lo has served me, and I even caught a glimpse of Shou’s naked body…
Anyway, that was how it came about; our tenth companion had joined us.
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