「Are they playing around?」
On my way back from the clinic, I spotted Dori and Potato doing something in the field.
At first, I thought they were working, but they were acting a little too secretive for that.
『Scare them?』
Chips’ tail wagged excitedly, her eyes sparkling.
She might have been a lot more carefree than I originally thought.
Well, she did end up marrying Potato, after all.
「If I go over, they’ll notice me right away. So sneak up on them slowly.」
『Okay!』
Moving like a ninja, Chips crept closer and closer behind them.
「Sure bout this?」
『Naoki’s dumb, so he won’t notice!』
I couldn’t hear what they were talking about from here, but I was curious.
I watched as Chips approached, waiting for the moment she’d scare them.
Dori and Potato were still too focused on whatever they were doing to notice.
Chips took a deep breath and then tapped both of their shoulders.
『You’re wide open!』
「Wah!?」
『Huh!?』
They both jumped in place, visibly startled even from a distance.
Watching them react like that was kind of fun.
Though, now I was wondering what exactly Chips had said.
「What were you two doing out here?」
As I approached, Dori and Potato instinctively pressed close together.
They were clearly trying to hide something behind them.
「Nothing!」
『We were just playing in the field! Yeah, the bugs are really bad today—so much trouble, right? Hey, Chips, what are you even doing here?』
Every time I tried to peek behind them, they shifted to block my view.
And the way Potato kept rambling on only made it more suspicious.
He hadn’t looked me in the eye once since I got here.
『Cheating?』
『Huh!?』
Chips suddenly got up in Potato’s face.
『So? You’ve been cheating on me, haven’t you?』
『No, no! There’s a reason for this!』
For some reason, Potato was panicking.
He kept glancing at Dori, but she refused to meet his gaze.
She was determined to play dumb.
『Liar. Speak the truth.』
『I’m not cheating!』
Chips kept smacking Potato repeatedly, the dull thuds echoing across the field.
Watching Potato desperately apologize made me feel kind of sad.
This was a good reminder that cheating was bad.
Not that it mattered to me—I had no one to cheat on.
「Chips, maybe you should let up a little?」
『He’s cheating—』
『I’m not cheating!』
Potato looked to me for help, inching closer.
Normally, he didn’t approach me that much, but now he was hiding behind my legs like his life depended on it.
Though, considering that when he stood on his hind legs, his face was about level with my butt…
He wasn’t really hiding at all.
「Hey, you were biting me again, weren’t you!?」
That weird feeling I’d had for a while? Turned out it was Potato, biting my butt.
He was pretending to hide but was actually just chomping down on me.
『More magic power for me.』
「You’re getting magic power?」
Chips nodded at my words.
I twisted around to look at Potato, but he averted his eyes again.
Even as I tried to pry him off, he clamped down stubbornly.
Now that I thought about it, the spots where Chips had smacked him earlier didn’t look as bad anymore.
「Wait, are you taking magic power from me?」
『No idea.』
「Did you cheat?」
『No.』
The moment I mentioned cheating, he looked me straight in the eyes.
But as soon as I brought up magic power again, he looked away.
『Potato bites to get magic power.』
「What do you mean?」
「Pote heals slow.」
「So, he bites my butt to recover magic power?」
「Yeah!」
『Yeah!』
Dori and Chips spoke at the same time.
So, I was the only one who didn’t know.
Since I couldn’t transfer magic power normally, Potato must have figured out that biting me was the best way to absorb it.
Then why didn’t Dori and Chips do the same?
「What about you two?」
I turned my back to them, but they shook their heads.
Somehow, that stung a little.
Potato finally let go, but he was already eyeing my butt again.
「I eat vegetables.」
『Chips too!』
Maybe Dori and Chips restored their magic power by eating my magic-infused vegetables, while Potato—who only ate potato-based dishes—was constantly running low.
He never touched the tomatoes or cucumbers I put out.
Even when he did eat something other than potatoes, it was always meat.
Guess even monsters needed a balanced diet.
「Alright, from now on, we’re adding more vegetables to the menu!」
『Nooooooo!』
Potato bolted toward the house.
He was probably running straight to Grandma to beg her to intervene.
「By the way, what about the cheating thing?」
『Huh!?』
Chips, realizing he’d forgotten all about it, dashed off after Potato.
Our dogs were as chaotic as ever.
I’d also learned that I needed to ask the other explorers more about how magic power worked.
And if magic power was this important, maybe I should keep helping with Doctor’s experiments.
「Let’s head back too.」
「Yeah!」
I took Dori’s hand, and we walked home together.
Something nagged at the back of my mind, but if I couldn’t remember it, it probably wasn’t important.
『Yo, yo! They forgot about me again! Nuooooooo!』
Back in the field, something—or someone—had been abandoned alongside a Styrofoam box.
It wouldn’t be until winter that we’d finally notice.
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