Hotel Between Worlds

In the chaotic night, amidst the ruins of the abandoned temple, a girl with silver hair and a fox tail crouched among the shattered bricks and debris, stuffing rotting vegetable leaves. fished out from a trash bag into her mouth. On the other side, hidden behind a crumbling wall, stood Darian, who had already died three times, staring in utter disbelief at the scene before him.

They quietly faced each other across the dark, a wordless standoff in the night. As a first meeting (not counting that headbutt earlier), this was probably something Darian would never forget for the rest of his life.

Then, he saw the fox-tailed girl slowly widen her eyes. A mixture of shock and joy. perhaps even disbelief began to fill her golden-red pupils. She finally stood up, still clutching a handful of wilted leaves, and suddenly seemed to snap back to her senses. She pointed at Darian and, choking on her own words, blurted, "Human!? Ah, a human! You're human?! Who… who are you? Where did you come from…"

Darian had already rehearsed a proper opening line, complete with a self-introduction and how he'd ask this girl for information. He even planned to show he was generous enough not to hold a grudge over the earlier "headbutting incident." But as soon as she spoke, he froze. Everything he'd prepared vanished from his mind. Her reaction was completely unexpected.

What did she mean by "You're human"? Was the fact that he was human really that shocking to her? Had she never seen a human before or at least, not for a long time? And more importantly…

Darian wasn't sure if it was just a misunderstanding, but he had the strong sense that the girl was seeing him for the first time. Yet clearly, she had seen him earlier, when he was fighting that monster. Of course, the way they met then was… unconventional. After all, she'd headbutted him, and the impact must've altered his appearance quite a bit compared to now. But at the very least, his face should've remained recognizable…

Even if she hadn't carefully examined the scene after the crash, she should at least remember the "corpse" beneath her headbutt. But now, she looked at him as though he were a total stranger.

"We… met earlier," Darian finally blurted after a couple seconds of awkward silence. "Just a while ago, in the clearing outside. You said you were here to save me… remember?"

The foxgirl tilted her head slightly, clearly confused, as if she had no idea what he was talking about. But before long, her attention shifted elsewhere. She pointed at a bag of kitchen trash on the ground, her eyes gleaming faintly in the night. "Is this… yours?"

Her speech had an odd, stilted rhythm, like someone who hadn't spoken to another person in a long time each word seeming to require conscious thought and effort.

Darian responded with a strange tone, "Uh, yeah…"

"Can I… eat it?" she asked quickly, still slightly stumbling over her words. She clenched the leaves in her hand tighter, as though struggling with all her willpower to resist shoving them directly into her mouth. Her lips moved, chewing what she'd already eaten then she glanced at Darian again and blurted, "I'm hungry. I want to eat. I'm sorry…"

Her hands trembled slightly, her tone urgent, yet she kept forcing herself to hold back. It felt like she was suppressing not just her hunger but something even more dangerous. something on the verge of slipping out of control.

Darian blinked, and for a second, he thought he saw faint shadows swirling behind her, drifting in from the darkness like hunters lying in wait, ready to strike when their prey let its guard down.

But the shadows quickly faded.

Darian stepped out from behind the wall. He had already sensed something strange about this girl (though, honestly, that chaotic mass of tails was strange enough on its own), but he still cautiously approached. "You can't eat that stuff. That's all…"

He trailed off because he had never known what it felt like to be this hungry.

The girl was already crouching again, as if she couldn't wait any longer and was about to pick the scattered food off the ground.

"Wait! I think I have something edible!" Darian suddenly called out. It was like he'd just remembered something. He spoke as he hurriedly searched his pockets.

Eventually, he pulled out two small packaged buns and a palm-sized piece of chocolate, his intended midnight snack.

Because of his job, he often stayed up late.

The foxgirl eyed his movements with a mix of wariness and confusion. Darian stepped in front of her and demonstrated how to tear open the wrapper. As the plastic peeled, the aroma of fresh bread wafted into the air. Her eyes immediately lit up, and in the blink of an eye, she grabbed Darian's hand bun and all—and shoved it toward her mouth.

Darian barely reacted in time. The girl was not only fast but surprisingly strong. He had to use all his strength to yank his arm back, narrowly avoiding having his fingers bitten off. Still, one of her sharp canine teeth had grazed his index finger, leaving a small cut that quickly began to bleed.

"Jeez, how long have you been starving…" he muttered under his breath.

But the girl seemed completely deaf to his words. She was devouring the food with wild abandon, stuffing her mouth as though trying to shove it straight into her stomach. Her cheeks puffed out, and with every chew, her eyes bulged wide. Darian was seriously worried she'd choke to death at any second. Somehow, she managed to swallow everything, then immediately locked eyes on the second bun.

"Slow down! Breathe first. If you keep eating like that, you're going to choke," Darian said, stepping in front of her again. He looked her in the eye and spoke firmly. "Got it? Do you understand?"

"I… understand," the foxgirl nodded vigorously, still gulping down saliva.

Only then did Darian hand over the second bun. He watched as she awkwardly tore at the packaging. not very skillfully, but with astonishing strength. In an instant, the wrapper was shredded, and she tore the bun in half and shoved it into her mouth. But halfway through, she seemed to remember Darian's warning or perhaps realized how precious this food was and hurriedly slowed down, breaking the bun into tiny pieces and placing them into her mouth with great restraint.

At the same time, her gaze kept flicking toward Darian's hand, landing on that last small piece of chocolate.

"This is chocolate…" Darian said offhandedly and was about to hand it over, but halfway through raising his hand, he hesitated, and his expression turned slightly odd.

He quickly mulled it over for several seconds before calling out in his mind, "Elara."

The voice of the doll in the painting instantly exploded in his head. "Darian! What happened just now? Why did you suddenly go quiet again? And no matter how I called, you didn't...."

"Things are complicated on my end. I'll explain later. Right now, I need to ask you something…"

"You… fine, ask," Elara replied, her tone sounding annoyed, but ultimately she gave in with a sigh of patience.

"Dogs can't eat chocolate, right?" Darian asked, trying to suppress the strange feeling in his chest. He stole a glance at the foxgirl across from him, who was watching with eager anticipation, and tried to make his tone sound serious.

"…Yeah," Elara replied, a bit baffled. "It's toxic for dogs. But why are you suddenly asking that? You're trapped in the Otherworld and still have the time to worry about"

Darian ignored her grumbling. "What about foxes?"

"Probably not either… I think?" Elara sounded uncertain. "They're both canids, after all. Look, a lot of human food is toxic to non-human species. Let me put it this way, your human diet? Forget animals, even for someone like me, a 'non-human species,' it's insane. You guys basically eat poison with alkali chasers, wash it down with acid, swallow biochemical agents every meal, and gorge on rot like it's candy…"

Darian cut off her ranting again. "What about foxes that have gained sentience?"

Elara was momentarily speechless. "…What?"

It turned out even the most chatty chatterbox could be shut down by an unexpectedly deranged topic shift.

"I mean foxes that have turned humanoid. Like fox spirits, you know? Fox demons?" Darian spoke rapidly in his head, glancing at the foxgirl who was now nearly finished with the small bun and clearly about to lunge for the chocolate in his hand. "Would you still count a fox spirit as a fox? Are they more human, or still more fox? And if they're still more fox, does that make them canids?"

"…What exactly is happening over there?!" Elara sounded utterly bewildered.

"There's a starving fox over here. White fur, red eyes, nine tails… or maybe six or seven, they're so matted I lost count. And all I've got left is one piece of chocolate."

Elara was silent for a second, then responded with impressive adaptability, "If she's got nine tails, she can definitely handle it. If she doesn't even have the cultivation level to deal with one piece of chocolate, then what's the point of growing all those tails? Decoration? Or is she planning to use them as propellers while swimming? Hey wait, what's really going on over there? Weren't you in some so-called deserted Otherworld? How did a…"

Darian found the first part of her answer surprisingly reasonable and didn't bother replying to the rest of her rambling. He simply handed the chocolate to the girl in front of him, though he still remembered to add a warning: "You can have it, but try eating just a little at first. I'm not sure if it's safe for your body."

"Tha… thank you!" the foxgirl quickly took the chocolate, and after fumbling with the wrapper, cautiously bit into it.

A look of amazement crossed her face, and she slowly closed her eyes, as if she were savoring an overwhelming wave of happiness.

"That's all there is, don't ask for more," Darian said with a shake of his head, spreading his hands. "Not sure if it's enough to fill you up… uh, also, I don't know what to call you."

"Thank you," the foxgirl said again, this time more solemnly. Now that she was no longer starving, she looked Darian in the eyes, then pointed to herself and said with great seriousness, "Huli."

"Huh?" Darian didn't catch it right away.

"Huli," she repeated, pointing at herself again. Then she slowly smiled. "I have a name!"

(End of Chapter)

Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon

https://patreon.com/Glimmer09