Central City Trilogy: Wishes - chapter 1 A distinctive scent - 1.3
For readers who aren't as familiar with the original work: At the end of the original story, after the underground black market for meat was destroyed, the word "meat" was officially banned from use (an absolutely brilliant policy, right?). As a result, the term carnivore (meat-eating animal) could no longer be used either. Instead, people adopted ancient terms: Life animals and Nature animals, referring to those who consume life and those who consume nature, respectively.
Ahem, apologies—I have absolutely no resistance to the deer-and-wolf pairing. Please indulge me on this one.
As previously mentioned, although this is a slow-burn, long-form novel, but...
Finally, I entered an area where the crowd had thinned. I took out my phone, dialed a familiar number, and waited for a response. “Yes, I’ve arrived. I’m about to take the metro now.” The voice on the other end replied to my greeting and asked if they should come to pick me up since I was notoriously bad with directions.
“No need. I remember how to find you. Alright, I’ll head straight over. I can find you by your scent alone; your presence is so overwhelming and impossible to ignore. Haha, see you soon!” I hung up the phone and entered the metro carriage. It was rush hour on the Green Line, and although fewer passengers were traveling away from the station, it was still quite crowded.
“...Passengers, please move further inside the carriage and allow space for others to exit...” The announcement played as I tried to squeeze myself into a spot. However, the beasts near the doors showed no intention of moving.
“Hm...” As the train departed, I glanced out the window at the passengers left on the platform, their faces full of frustration as they stared at the packed carriage. A pang of guilt hit me.
If I didn’t ask those beasts by the door to step inside and make room, how was I any different from them? I mulled this over while rubbing my nose, which was still sore from being smacked by the swinging backpack of a brown bear making a dramatic turn. For canines, the rostral part of the nose is particularly sensitive.
“No, no, I’m getting off at the next stop. Don’t be fooled by this old buffalo—I’m still strong and healthy!” A buffalo in the neighboring carriage politely declined a young leopard’s offer to give up his seat. The latter awkwardly sat back down.
A few years ago, the issue of seating etiquette between life animals and natural animals sparked a heated debate in Central City. I was grateful I wasn’t in the city at the time and didn’t have to witness that bizarre urban legend firsthand. Lost in thought, I barely noticed that the metro had reached my stop.
“Is it... Exit 2?” I muttered to myself, trying to boost my confidence. Volunteering to find my way might have been an overestimation of my navigational abilities.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to catch a specific scent. Thousands of trails and countless life stories unfolded in my mind, but I focused on the one I knew best... No, this was impossible.
I chuckled at my own naivety. As civilization advances, the innate traits gifted by instinct will gradually lose their purpose. Just as the invention of the telephone rendered wolves’ howls for long-distance communication obsolete, the overwhelming chaos of modern cities would eventually reduce our keen sense of smell to nothing more than a party trick.
Shaking off the thought, I climbed the stairs toward Exit 2, scanning for a detailed map of the surrounding area.
I rang the doorbell and waited for the resident to answer. Honestly, the Crown Prince Dormitory at Galdona University? How much more pretentious could it get?
“Yo, it’s been over a year since we last met, hasn’t it? You really haven’t changed at all,” Hoshikaze remarked as he opened the door, giving me a once-over. “Come in. Standing stiffly at the door like that is just weird.”
I nodded and followed him inside. It wasn’t stiffness—could he really not tell that just being this close to him, the scent of his every movement was enough to make my whole body tremble?
If I’m the wolf often praised for being strikingly handsome, then Hoshikaze is the stag envied and admired by all for his unparalleled charm.
His perfectly symmetrical antlers looked like the rebirth of tender shoots emerging from ashes and charred branches after a fiery inferno—a dance of destruction and renewal.
“Just leave your stuff over there. I’ve cleaned the room,” Hoshikaze said, glancing at me again. His gaze, deep enough to drown in, made my heart tighten once more.
Damn it, what am I doing? This is just a reunion after a year. Stop being so dramatic.
The dark stripes beneath Hoshikaze’s eyes accentuated their size, and every time he looked at me, I felt incredibly small.
The room was as spacious as I had imagined, equipped with everything one could need, and even a touch luxurious—it was practically a studio apartment.
I set down my backpack and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, but the faint scent of red deer lingering in the room wasn’t helping.
Only a faint scent? Hoshikaze must have cleaned the room thoroughly for my visit, using a lot of deodorizer. A lot.
I shot him a questioning look. Even with his usual tidiness, he wouldn’t go so far as to erase his scent completely—was there a special reason?
“What’s with that look? Are you prying into my private life?” Hoshikaze tilted his head slightly, as if amused, leaning against a nearby cabinet with a faintly reproachful smile.
“No, no, not at all. It’s just been a while, and I’m feeling a bit flustered.” What was I saying? So much for staying calm. Cutting off my train of thought, I shook my head and pulled a small knife from my waistband, placing it on the table and sliding it toward him.
“Haha, you didn’t seriously carry that the whole way, did you?” Hoshikaze laughed even more at the sight of the knife but didn’t reach for it.
“You told me to come straight to you after arriving in Central City, so I brought it. I figured you must need it urgently if you said that,” I replied, scratching my ear in an attempt to ease the heat creeping up my face.
“That’s so you. Though customs probably wouldn’t bother searching life animals for dangerous weapons, carrying that is just asking for trouble. Besides, we might not even need it today.” Hoshikaze stood up and walked toward me.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t congratulated you yet. You were also nominated for the Cherryton Beastar, weren’t you?” He came so close I instinctively stepped back, feeling the cold touch of the wall against my back.
“I’ll catch up to you someday. I’ll stand on the same level, shoulder to shoulder with you.” These words were my absolute, unshakable truth. I gazed into his eyes as I spoke, and in their depths, my reflection brimmed with confidence and pride.
“Hmph, another life animal Beastar in power? I’m sure the Council’s natural animals will have a lot to say about that. Standing shoulder to shoulder with me, huh? Don’t tell me you’re following some beast’s path.” Hoshikaze leaned so close that his face was nearly touching my nose.
But when he suddenly mentioned that “some beast,” the fire burning inside me shifted to a different kind.
“What a terrifying look. I almost forgot you have such a life-animal-like side to you,” Hoshikaze teased, pulling back slightly as if amused by my anger. “Alright, I’ll stop messing with you. Standing at the same height as me? If you can do it, go ahead and catch up. But for now...”
He turned off the light, and the room plunged into darkness.
Although it was a full moon tonight, the thick clouds allowed only a sliver of moonlight to filter through, making Hoshikaze’s eyes glimmer like two faint lights in the shadows.
In the seconds of silence that followed, he simply stood there, gazing at me immersed in the dark.