Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 292: Interlude - 11: The Iridescent Special
"There’s this eagle, that circles its head when you give it a treat," Asobi moved her head in a circle to mimic, "It’s so cute! You can also see the little pond from up there.
A flock of swanowls did a little show in the water and there’s also a green snake that’s huge! Massive! Colossal!" Asobi widened her arms more and more.
"But it’s really friendly," she giggled. "A little girl wanted to pet it, but was too scared, so I helped! She was scared and happy while petting it; and then once the snake hissed, she yelped! And she ran back to her mommy."
"Sounds eventful," Jotou flashed a smile.
"Hm..." Her ears flickered, "Are you tired?"
"...Yeah," she exhaled. "Eight hours and I’m exhausted. How did I ever make it running around Kria and the Last Stand...?" she held her forehead.
"Hehe, you had this little thing called adrenaline silly."
"Ad-er-an-aleen?"
Asobi squeakily giggled. The two had privacy in the staff breakroom where they had finished their lunches.
Jotou’s lips curled up and she took a deep breath, straightening her back. "How’re you doing on magic? Tired?" she hushed.
"Hm, not really. I don’t need to focus much on the spells Countess Keya taught me. Wish I had my wand though, my fingers feel all tingly without them," she wriggled her fingers.
She then wriggled her fingers towards Jotou’s face. "What’re you doing?" Jotou’s head recoiled.
"Look how they dance," Asobi beamed. "Like wormy-worms!"
Illusory top hats formed above each knuckle of her fingers before she moved her fingers like they were in a harmonized dance, flipping their illusory hats whilst her pinkies twirled tiny canes. "Ha! Cha! Hop to it! Do, do, doo~" Asobi hummed along.
Jotou smirked shaking her head till she felt a shock go down her hair, revealing her actual ears and blonde hair for a split-second before the illusion overlapped again. Her eyes ejected open, "Asobi-!"
"Gotcha!" Asobi lunged for Jotou’s neck and began poking and tickling.
Jotou shrivelled up and kicked her legs up in response, "Hey! HeHe! Stop that!"
"I knew it! You are ticklish!"
"I’M gonna KIck you by acc-ehe-dent, st-stop It!" Jotou flailed Asobi’s arms away.
Asobi came to a halt with much louder laughter. Jotou took a breather and huffed; shortly before giving a pout to the other.
"Aww... sorry," Asobi put her hands up.
"Hmph, you better be." ’Today’s been fun.’ She glanced to Asobi with an amused smile, but it faded away almost immediately, "Oh yeah, apparently there’s something shady going on."
"Shady? What is it?"
"The Iridescent Special... I don’t know what it means."
"Ooo... Is there a mystery afoot?" an illusory foot popped up beside her head, wearing a monocle and smoking a bubble pipe.
"Maybe; we should try to look into it—subtly. We don’t need to stir up-" Another shock went across Jotou’s form and she instantly glanced around.
"What’s wrong?"
"Ditch the foot!" Jotou hissed.
The illusion popped and Asobi scanned the area.
Jotou knitted her brows, swivelling her head around.
"What’s going on? Are you okay?" Asobi got closer and put her hands out.
"I’ve felt something like this before, it’s hard to say though; but something’s going on," Jotou whispered through gritted teeth.
Another spark went down her hair; it felt less like a warning and more like something was stabbing at her affinity and mind repeatedly.
Jotou’s head pivoted straight to the right, to some folding panels by the door. "Come out, right now," Jotou voiced out. "I know you’re there."
"Hm?" Asobi turned in the direction.
...
"Wow your senses are sharp," a figure came from behind the panels with her hands up. She had pearly white hair and two pinkish mouse-like ears atop. She was a little shorter than Jotou.
Her eyeshadow twinkled silver and her amber eyes kept staring to the two as she approached. In a similar waitress uniform, however this was fitting to her form and more skin exposing. "I didn’t mean any harm..." her sultry voice calmed.
"Why were you spying on us?" Jotou glared.
"Out of curiosity of course," her mouse-like tail swished as she stood before them with her hands on her hips. "Newbies always have better gossip."
"We don’t like being spied on..." Asobi uttered.
"I’m sure you don’t—nobody does."
"What did you hear?" Jotou kept her glare.
"Hm, is there no room for me to simply give hints?"
"Answer me or you’ll know why we don’t stick to one job for a long time."
"Fwoo, feisty... Calm yourselves, I’m in here for other reasons. Someone asked for an Iridescent Special, yeah?" her words bounced and flowed like a slow river.
"Ohhh..." Asobi looked her up and down, "Ana, Meko told me about these people; she’s a prosecute. They exchange kisses for money."
"Hey now, don’t get the wrong idea!"
"Then what idea should we have?" Jotou didn’t bat an eye. "What’s the Iridescent Special?"
"The Thundering Blade doesn’t really beat around the bush huh?"
Jotou knitted her brows and tilted her head, "...What’re you talking about?"
"Hm... Could’ve fooled me honestly," the mouse-girl replied.
"Fool you about what?" Asobi queried.
"I expect nothing less from the Amazing Asobi; quite the performance. Unfortunately, not working."
"Did you hit your head on something...?" Jotou stood up. "Should I be calling a hospital?"
"Good idea Ana. She must be seeing things," Asobi made illusions of little stars in front of the mouse-girl’s eyes with her hands behind her back.
The mouse-woman flinched and flapped her hand in the air, going through the illusions. "...Nice work," she smiled in respect. "If you two are gonna keep up the act, I’m just going to expose you."
...
...
Asobi and Jotou looked to each other... "How d’you guess?" Jotou side-eyed.
"Well, I’m the Iridescent Special; Iridina Alfar, at your service," she waved her fingers like a dancer. "I can help you taste a little of the past—or something new even; for a price of course."
"That doesn’t really answer much..." Asobi cocked her head.
"Haih... Have you ever had an amazing memory or a good dream? Something that you want to relive desperately? You see, I can help with that~
Or even make up any dream you desire. You can live out those memories or your fantasies all in your beautiful head, without a single harm to you or anyone else~" she pitched.
"You’re psychic," Jotou summarized.
"So you can make dreams, dreams?" Asobi cocked her head more.
"Ones that you’ll be in control of and will remember of course."
"I can already control my dreams... but I rarely remember them, so that’s a good selling point!"
"Cheap trick to figure out who we are—not impressed," Jotou crossed her arms.
"I read her mind and got all I need," Iridina pointed to Asobi.
"Oh. Sorry Jotou."
"It’s not your fault." Jotou sighed. "So, what now? You’re gonna sell us out? Or use that info for your own gain? Spit it out, cause we’re not interested in whatever and will just leave."
"Calm, calm, I’m not doing any of that," Iridina’s voice soothed. "You two are heroes. I am questioning why you’re here, but I’d imagine it’s a good reason."
Iridina glanced to Asobi, "Oh... for, fun?" Iridina furrowed her brows. "You two just came here spontaneously? Nothing covert or anything?"
"Stop reading her mind," Jotou glared.
"It’s creepy," Asobi squinted.
"Well, I seem to be having trouble reading yours," Iridina looked to Jotou.
Jotou felt another spark that glitched out her illusion for a millisecond. "It’s nothing personal, nobody can get into my head; not like I want you to either, so you better stop trying."
"I wonder why that is..." Iridina’s ears twitched. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I’m not going to sell you out, don’t worry. I’m a big fan of your work—all of you."
"A fan...?" Asobi’s eyes glittered.
"Mhm. I remember a circus that would come around here when I was little; I never got in, but I’d hear lots about the Amazing Asobi from my friends in school.
Then I read all about your spectacular in the gala last September. It’s honestly jarring to meet the great magician Asobi like this," she polished a smile.
"Woah..." she gleefully glanced to Jotou and then back to Iridina, "So you’ve never seen me in action!? Would you like a trick?"
"Hold on, you were in Cravolta City?" Jotou halted the magician about to perform.
Asobi paused, "Uhm... I wouldn’t know, I never left far from the tent and didn’t know where I was going. It must’ve been a long time ago, when I was much tinier."
"It was definitely more than a decade ago. But you look so young, you must’ve been a kid back then."
"My life’s been a circus since the start~! " Asobi tipped an illusory top hat.
"Don’t you have a client to get to?" Jotou’s tail swayed from side-to-side.
"I’ll get to it soon. Not every day you get to see the Thundering Blade in the flesh; albeit, behind the façade of a part-human. It’s bold and definitely keeps your cover. Why cat?" her nose shrivelled a smidgen.
Asobi hummed and shrugged, "Seemed like an easy part-human to make illusions for. Plus, it fits Jotou really well," she giggled.
"Very funny..." Jotou’s eyes glazed over.
"I see. Why did you two decide to come down from the palace to work here of all places? I know I’ve read your mind, but I still find it hard to believe you did it just because," Iridina shrugged.
"We did it just because. It was a spontaneous decision and we both thought it’d be fun to work at a pet café for a bit; nothing deeper than that," Jotou answered.
Iridina stared for a bit, "Fair enough," she shook her head. "Must be nice to pick up a job for fun without worrying about employment."
Jotou’s eyes softened, "Sorry, I really didn’t mean for that to sound like a brag..."
"No, no," Iridina waved her hand. "Sorry. You’re heroes who’ve done your fair share in the front lines, I shouldn’t be saying that. So, where’re the others of your usual group? The Azure Firefly and uh..."
"Fumeko Namora. You must be a really big fan of us then," Jotou jeered.
"It was just a figure of speech," she laughed.
"They’re in the palace doing what they do. It’s just me and Jotou here."
Iridina examined them both with hands on her hips... "All the way from Kria. I guess Kria wouldn’t have a place like this... But you two really jumped into this job. Well, since you two are a little special, allow me to help a little~"
Iridina walked up to Jotou and gently took her collar. Jotou knitted her brows as Iridina pulled it much lower to reveal more skin. "Hey!" Jotou pulled it back up.
Iridina twisted her head, "If you want to earn more tips."
"I think I’ll be fine," Jotou glared.
"Mm... Suit yourself then," she jerked her brows. "What about you?" she glanced to Asobi.
"I’m good, thank you," Asobi’s ears pricked as she took a step back. Jotou stepped ahead of Asobi, blocking Iridina off with a glare.
"You’ve come here to work, right? If you haven’t realized by the type of staff and the uniforms, people come here for the atmosphere and an experience."
"That’s why the café has an exclusively part-human staff..."
"Some people just have a thing for part-humans; we’re not just work staff for the pets, we’re also included in the package."
Jotou raised a brow, "Isn’t it a bit demoralizing to be a part of the merchandise?"
"Hey it’s not like this is some part-human trafficking ring. Benefits are good, work environment’s uplifting and pay’s great. There was clearly a gap in the market and Daksh decided to fill it.
Sure, it’s taking a little advantage of people being part-human, but it doesn’t really bother me at all. It’s only demoralizing when there IS some bigoted dickhead of a customer.
Hasn’t happened to me even once but if it does, we have every right to shoo them off."
"If you can read minds, you can tell who needs to be shooed off, right?" Jotou queried.
"I can’t read minds per say. Without outright enchanting you into your subconscious, I can only read your surface thoughts—the things you think off in the moment, nothing more.
Heh... You’d be surprised of how many people come in here with dirty thoughts about the staff."
"I don’t wanna know..."
"Where is Mr Mahajan? He hired us and we’ve never seen him," Asobi poked her head over Jotou’s shoulder.
Iridina burst into laughter, "You think the café owner works actively at the café? Oh my, you’re so innocent. Daksh comes in here once a week or so and acts like he’s working. It gives the guests a friendlier environment when they see the owner breaking a sweat."
"You’re calling her innocent and yet you spill all the secrets right in front of us," Jotou leered.
"There’s not much to hide," she shined a smile. "As I said, you two are a bit special—not just normal coworkers."
"Then why was there the Iridescent Special? Isn’t it something shady?" Asobi came out from behind Jotou.
"Uh, well... Let’s just say I’m being honest so that you can hopefully not go telling the authorities about it... heh... It’s not harming anyone, I swear.
It’s just, you need licences for this kind of thing. And a lot of legal things, dealing with magic and ethics."
"Surely the Ordinate knows," Jotou replied.
"Huh? I’m not using up extreme amounts of mana for the Ordinate to track. I can go by under the radar just fine. Besides, Daksh already, takes care of any Ordinate issue..." her eyes went to the side.
"Paying the Ordinate off huh?"
Iridina made a little hum, "A secret for a secret, shall we end it at that? I promise I won’t read your mind Ms Asobi."
"Okay... But one more question. Are you part rat or mouse? Sorry, I don’t wanna be rude."
"Mouse, not rat," Iridina scowled.
"How many different types of part-humans do you think are out there Jotou?"
"A lot?"
"Ten, obviously," Iridina looked to them both. "Did you two fail basic history by any chance?"
"Not exactly..."
"I was in a circus."
"Well, there’s mouse, rat, cat, dog, rabbit, wolf, fox, moose, deer and monitor lizard. There were hundreds of other human hybrids attempted, but they ended in failure or the poor hybrids couldn’t reproduce effectively, leading them to extinction.
So, try your best not to confuse us. Especially while you’re here. In any case, I have a client to get to so I’ll be on my way." She departed with a swish of her tail out the door.
"That was close..."
"Should we get back to work?" Asobi asked.
"Yeah. Come and get me if you want to leave."
"Okay."
