The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
"Happy New Year!"
The year had turned, and a new one had begun.
Once again, we were able to welcome the new year together without any problems.
"Nyaaah... the kotatsu is the best..."
"This warmth is absolutely irresistible..."
"I want to live inside the kotatsu already..."
"You'll catch a cold if you sleep in a kotatsu. Ah, though... I feel like I wouldn't mind even if I did..."
Everyone had completely fallen under the kotatsu's spell and looked utterly melted.
I understood.
Once you got hooked on a kotatsu, there was no escaping it ever again.
It was a secret tool that possessed that kind of magical power.
"The mikan are delicious."
"Nina, shall I remove the white strings for you?"
"Nope, Nokia-san. Those actually have quite a bit of nutrition, y'know."
"Eh, really?"
"Yep. That's why you should eat them properly."
"Okay, I'll eat them."
A kotatsu and mikan.
That combination was unbeatable too.
"The mikan are wonderful, but personally, I rather like this dish called osechi."
"T-There are so many different dishes that I can't decide what to eat!"
"On!"
"Finia-san, which one do you like? Personally, I think I'd choose kurikinton."
"I-I like... um..."
Finia stared at the osechi dishes.
Then her eyes began spinning.
"T-There are too many choices... I can't pick just one..."
"Ofuu..."
"Fufu, that's a perfectly valid answer as well."
The osechi had been a little expensive, but buying it had definitely been the right choice.
Not only could we enjoy delicious food, but everyone could have fun together like this.
Maybe that was one of the charms of osechi cuisine.
"By the way, has everyone had their first dream of the year yet?"
"First dream?"
"The first dream you have in the new year. They say the contents of that dream determine your luck for the year. If I remember correctly... dreaming of a hawk, an eggplant, and a mountain is considered especially auspicious."
"I see. I didn't dream about any hawks, eggplants, or mountains, but I did have a first dream!"
As if saying listen, listen!, Kanade raised her hand with a huge smile.
"What kind of dream was it?"
"Hehehe, well..."
"It was a fish dream!"
"A fish?"
"A dream where I was surrounded by my favorite fish and took a bath full of fish."
"A... fish bath?"
"Yep! And then I got to eat fish until I was completely full. Drool..."
A fish bath was a little hard to imagine...
But it was definitely a very Kanade-like dream.
"I had a dream too. Sora and Luna were in it."
"Us?"
"What kind of dream was it?"
"...A very humiliating one."
"What kind of dream!?"
Tania wore a very bitter expression as she continued.
"I went back to the dragon village together with Sora and Luna. Ah, and don't ask me why we went together. It was a dream."
"Indeed. And then what happened?"
"Normally, whenever I return to the village, Mom comes running over immediately and fusses over me endlessly..."
"I can picture that scene very easily."
"...But in the dream, Mom didn't care about me at all. Instead, she absolutely doted on Sora and Luna."
"Doted on us?"
"That's right. Even more than she normally does with me. Her eyes literally turned into hearts while she pampered you two."
"..."
Apparently imagining the scene, Sora and Luna both made awkward faces.
Being pampered that much seemed a little uncomfortable even for them.
"Honestly, it's nice not having Mom's slightly annoying affection directed at me, but when it's aimed at Sora and Luna instead... somehow... it's humiliating. So what are you going to do about it?"
"We have absolutely nothing to do with it!"
"As punishment, I'm confiscating today's dessert."
"That's tyranny!?"
Although Tania was huffing angrily...
Put another way, she was jealous of Mirua-san for spoiling someone else.
Whether she realized that herself or not, Tania puffed out her cheeks.
"I... had a dream too."
"Oh? Nina had one too? I didn't dream at all. What was it about?"
"A dream... where I took a nap... together with Mama."
"Whaaa..."
Everyone instantly melted at Nina's happy expression.
"Even though it was a dream, I was taking a nap... and I felt like I could sleep forever."
"Fufu, Nina really likes napping."
"No... I like being with Mama."
"Haaah..."
Nina's pure smile pierced everyone's hearts once again.
Yeah, it couldn't be helped.
Even I had almost succumbed just now.
"Um... Iris, did you not have a dream?"
Listening to Nina's story was making my chest fill with warm feelings, so I shifted the topic to Iris.
As though she had been waiting for this, Iris smiled.
"Oh, of course I did."
"Really? What kind of dream?"
"A dream in which Rain-sama appeared."
"Me?"
What sort of role had I been given?
I was curious, but knowing Iris, it was probably something strange...
"In the dream, Rain-sama and I were master and servant."
"Mas... what?"
"The dream-version of Rain-sama was very cruel and constantly treated me terribly. Ah, but even so, it felt wonderful. It truly was a dream-like experience... fufu. I always thought I was the type to take the initiative, but perhaps I have talent for being on the receiving end as well."
"A pervert!?"
Even with her blissful expression, everyone looked completely horrified.
No, sorry.
Honestly, I couldn't keep up either.
"R-Right! Rifa, you didn't have a first dream!?"
Trying desperately to change the subject, I turned to Rifa.
Rifa made a troubled face.
Surely even she hadn't had some outrageous dream...?
"Hmm... how should I explain it?"
"You don't have to force yourself if it's difficult."
"It's okay. I'm not a pervert like Iris."
"Do I really deserve to be called that!?"
Iris protested, but everyone nodded in agreement.
I felt a little sorry for her, but there was no way to defend her.
"Then what kind of dream was it?"
"Well... it's hard to put into words. I woke up in the morning and was taking a walk when a rabbit suddenly jumped out."
"Oh?"
A cute dream.
"That rabbit could talk, and it came to recruit me. It said it would take me to the Land of Dreams and wanted me to save it."
"Sounds pretty fairy-tale-like."
"To reach the Land of Dreams, the rabbit and I decided to build a log raft to cross the sea. We used only the finest materials. We entered a dungeon, defeated a terrifying pancake, and somehow obtained a bamboo boat."
"Wait..."
"Then we tried to combine the bamboo boats together, but that's when it was revealed that the rabbit was actually a maitake mushroom. Cornered, I fled to an underground lake."
"Uh..."
"Then a shiitake mushroom from the future turned into a zombie and came at me going 'aaah, uuuh,' but I summoned my new familiar, a long-horned rhinoceros beetle..."
"...No, that's enough."
What Rifa described was undeniably a dream...
But like many dreams, it was completely incoherent and utterly chaotic.
Sometimes people had dreams like that, but listening to them made my head hurt.
"I-I had a dream too!"
"On!"
Next, Finia and Sakura volunteered at the same time.
With those two, we'd probably hear something wholesome.
"U-Um, I'll go first... I dreamed exactly what Rain-san said: a hawk, an eggplant, and a mountain!"
"Oh, that's impressive."
"F-First, I was cooking an eggplant dish, but then I accidentally flipped the frying pan over, and everything became a disaster..."
Even though it had only happened in a dream, it must have felt terrible because Finia already looked like she was about to cry.
"Then when I went outside, a hawk attacked me... Uuu... it probably thought I was prey. That's about all I'm worth..."
"Um... what about the mountain?"
"I was climbing one, but I lost my footing and slid down about a thousand meters... Uuu... are you sure this is supposed to be good luck?"
"...I'm sorry."
For some reason, I found myself apologizing.
At the very least, an eggplant, a hawk, and a mountain had all appeared.
I sincerely hoped many good things would happen to Finia this year.
"On!"
As if the star performer had arrived, Sakura stepped forward.
Then—
"On on on! Ofuu, kuuun... Hah, hah, hah. Bofun! Kyuun... On on! Awoooon!"
...
Yeah.
I had absolutely no idea what she was saying.
Judging by how energetic she looked, she'd probably had a wonderful dream.
But understanding the details was impossible.
"Still, huh... everyone really had all sorts of dreams."
"Hey, hey, Rain, didn't you have a dream?"
"Oh, now I'm curious too."
"I did, but it's not really worth talking about."
"That only makes me more curious!"
"Since Sora and the others shared theirs, Rain has to share his too."
"I want... to hear it."
"Naturally, I appeared in it, didn't I?"
"I'm interested too."
"I-I'd be happy if you told us... Ah, sorry! Someone like me shouldn't be so presumptuous!"
"On!"
"Fufu, it seems you can no longer escape."
"Haha..."
At Nokia-san's words, all I could do was laugh awkwardly.
Well, it wasn't that I had decided not to tell anyone.
It was just such a simple dream that I wasn't sure it was worth talking about.
"The dream I had was..."
Just like right now...
A dream where everyone spent time together, smiling and laughing.
And so, in my heart, I made a wish.
May this year be a good one.
And may I continue to be together with everyone.
"Once again... Happy New Year, everyone."
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