CH 14.1

Ruffle for Me

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

Downstairs, Bai Yao can’t help but notice the big rock in the middle of the restaurant.

It’s quite the obvious object in the entrance, grey and even with moss and lichen over it. It doesn’t even fit the restaurant’s aesthetic.

Earlier, there were curious customers who asked what the stone is doing there. Bai Yao couldn’t come up with any explanation, when a girl who looks like an undergraduate glanced at Bai Yao’s face before saying with a blush that it’s probably some kind of ritual hoping for luck in romance, placing it at the door to invite potential suitors to him.

Bai Yao was this close to throwing the stone right out the window then and there. Fucking romance?!

The idea circulated in his mind innumerable times throughout the night, but when he imagines how sad the little sea otter is going to look when he realises his stone is gone downstairs, he decided not to.

And as compensation for starving his poor little tummy, Bai Yao takes out a whole box of fresh sea urchins from the refrigerator, and starts cutting them open with a scissor on the countertop.

The sight of food immediately activates the little sea otter, who is spinning all around Bai Yao’s feet, worried he’d forget he’s there.

He tries to stand up taller, while making excited gurgles from his throat. His paws are extending flat upwards, patiently waiting for Bai Yao to give him one sea urchin.

Though Bai Yao does not take one out separately to put on his paw, but moves the whole box onto the floor, and tells him, “all yours, bon appétit.”

Bai Yao sees the little sea otter so excited he’s shaking. His eyes almost glow watching the whole box of sea urchins. He then rubs his face on Bai Yao’s kneecap for quite a while. If his tail is as long as a dog’s, it’d probably be spinning like a helicopter blade.

“Alright, start soon. Or I’ll eat it all for you,” Bai Yao pets the sea otter on the head, who then turns around and pulls the box with his mouth towards the big rock near the entrance, before taking one sea urchin out.

As they’re full of spikes, Bai Yao is worried he’d stab himself. He is about to ask if he needs help opening them, when he sees the sea otter sit next to his stone, and aims the spiky sea urchin with his short stubby paws, before throwing it right at the stone.

With eyes fixed on target and his head leaning back, he gives a few precise knocks on the sea urchin before it cracks. The sea otter then bites that little opening, and while it’s presumably uncomfortable, he pulls and cracks the entire sea urchin in half, revealing the juicy yellow meat within.

Bai Yao finally understands now.

He’s using the big rock as his eating bowl.

He moved it inside to help him eat more easily.

Well, looks like there’s no doubt he’s thinking of this as his new home now.

The sea otter really is a big consuming beast. Not even an entire box of sea urchins can satisfy his tummy. After finishing everything in record time, he is still looking longingly at Bai Yao’s hands, hoping he’d produce some more tasty stuff.

Bai Yao can already see his bankrupt future trying to feed the sea otter. While thinking about what food sea otters like that aren’t expensive and are in stock in the restaurant there are, the sea otter wobbles over, and gives him a boop and buries his nose there.

He thinks the sea otter might be asking him for more food, and is going to tell him he’ll give him more soon, but then, the head bumps forward a little in his hand, and his tongue licks a little. Ah, he’s thanking him.

After the thanks, the little sea otter turns around and is packing all the sea urchin shell back in the box with his fuzzy little paws, before lifting the lid up to close it.

And pat it closed.

His sequence of action really draws curiosity to his past for Bai Yao. On the one hand, the little sea otter seems to think and act no differently to a little animal; he swims exactly like a wild sea otter would. On the other hand, he’s also unmistakably human in his actions, and he also understands what Bai Yao is saying.

Even if he’s been living as a sea otter the entire time, he doesn’t seem to be native to the oceans his entire life. He knew what bathrooms and kitchens were. He even knows how to put the lid back on the polystyrene box.

This sentient sea otter is not exactly a sea otter, nor exactly human.

The little sea otter looks up at Bai Yao, sees that he’s deep in thought, and so lies down on the ground. He then starts grooming himself slowly and gradually, before yawning a little.

Bai Yao sees it, and also realises he’s a little tired as well. He walks back to the kitchen to solve the issue of his dinner.