I gave the titan my best smile as I lifted the offered spear from his hand, caressing the cool metal shaft, while looking at thin streams of odd blue cloth hanging down from beneath the spearhead.

"The spear is absolutely gorgeous, and it's strangely light even though the whole thing seems to be made of metal.. Erik.. You said it's called, err, Gungnaegg, right? It really is a masterful piece."

The gloomy titan perked up, pride visible on his face as he listened to me. The next moment, he began gently patting my head with one of his giant hands.

"Raynolia, ye've found quite the rare catch. A pretty, fashionable, outsider lass with proper appreciation for the arts. Now aren't ye the lucky lad, ye found yerself a fine outsider lass for a ménage à trois.

Though, if my memory doesn't fail me, won't the lass be going into her season soon? While I don't mean to pry into other's bedrooms, but Raynolia, a vixen and yer lady elf, could ye even keep up?"

I looked back and forward between Erik and Raynolia as the titan continued speaking, unsure of how to react to the unexpected tangent and praise from the redheaded titan.

"Uhm.. Erik, I'm not sure what you're misunderstanding, I'm just staying as a guest, it's not something like that.."

"Eh? Are ye serious, lass? With the way ye've been giving him amorous glances since I first saw ye, I was sure that it was either a ménage à trois or that Raynolia made ye his pet..

Don't look at me like that, lass, I was just joking with ye. A lot of ye outsiders seem to find the thought of wearing a collar strange.

But don't ye worry yer pretty little head about it, lass, ye look like a mighty fashionable vixen. The collar suits ye, and it compliments yer fine taste in clothes and ornaments. Would ye mind if I took a closer look?"

As the titan lavished me with praise that I didn't deserve, I felt awkward, embarrassed, and strangely happy as the titan made his request, In response to Erik, I nodded.

The next moment, I found myself getting swept off my feet, only to have my rump resting in the titan's hands as he lifted me up off the ground.

"Aye, as I thought. They're fine like a titan's work, and they've got a nice flair of werebeast culture. I should make some trinkets like these, they'd certainly be popular among visiting werebeasts..

Although, lass, I just noticed, yer collar is missing a little chain. Raynolia, would ye mind bringing me one of the little silver ornamental chain from the storefront?"

As the titan set me back down on my feet, I stretched out my tails and lifted the spear and rested the head over my shoulder with a smile.

"Well, Erik, I don't mean to be rude, but.. May I ask, what's the real reason you're giving me this spear? While it's a beauty.. It's not like I can really do anything to repay you for it.."

"Ahaha, ye don't have to worry about that. Though ye're a pretty little vixen, sharing my bed isn't something I'd request of ye as repayment. I'm not a titan who's interested in ladies half his size, that'd be Erin.

Besides, giving ye the spear is actually quite beneficial to us brothers. A pretty lass who wears very little and uses a weapon I forged is a great advertisement for our Hulder Smithy that really catches the eye, don't ye think?"

I found myself both surprised and oddly disappointed by the unexpectedly rational statement from the titan. With a shrug and grin, I replied as Raynolia stepped back into the room.

"Oh.. Well, that's.. Reasonable, I guess. Makes sense. And uhm, Erik, you don't by any chance.. Have anything that could make these clothes less breezy or risky, do you?"

As the titan immediately shook his head in reply, I shrugged and sighed before giving the redheaded titan a smile.

"Well, I didn't expect you to have any. But having at least having some sort of underwear would be better than staying commando in something far more risky than a miniskirt on a windy day."

"..Anyway, lass, since we're going to be having a relationship of mutual benefit at the very least, I'll do ye a favor and give ye a tip for yer future adventures. Also, Raynolia, pass me the chain. Hold still now."

With deftness I never expected from the massive titan, Erik quickly attached the chain to my collar while he continued speaking.

"Every monster has at least one runic seal inscribed into its body, even the edible ones, and destroying the runes will severely injure or kill them, regardless of the state of their body.

Although leviathans and behemoths share the same weakness with monsters, unlike monsters, there's no way to harm them other than damaging their runic seals."

While I listened to the titan speak, I ran my fingers across the cool length of lightweight chain, which hung down from my collar to end nestled like a pendant between my breasts.

"However, unlike behemoths and leviathans, monsters with similar body shapes generally have their runic seals in similar locations. So I would recommend that ye visit the village's library and browse through the studies of monsters sometime.

While there's not many monsters that can get this far into the region, we do see them now and then, and it could be quite unfortunate if ye ran into one without knowing that."

My tails swished as I committed the titan's advice to memory, while a question that immediately provoked my curiosity came to mind.

"Raynolia, Erik, while I think it's sort of unrelated to the topic at hand but, I'd like to know, what's the difference between outsiders like me and natives like you?"

I froze as I finished speaking, ears lying back and tails fluffing up as the titan's facial expression suddenly turned intimidatingly serious.

For a painfully long moment, the titan stared at me as my heart raced with nervousness, leaving me feeling as if I had unknowingly asked the men about something taboo, until Raynolia spoke up with a shrug.

"Well, Arata.. Don't be scared, relax, Erik makes that sort of scarily serious face whenever he's surprised, he's not angry at you. And, uh, as annoying as it is to have to say this to someone cute, we can't tell you that.

Yes, I know I don't sound in any way convincing, but that's the truth of it. The truth is that we can't tell you the truth, yet. As strange as that sounds, it's the rule after all."

The next moment, as Raynolia reached out to me, I found myself both tackling and hugging the elf while throwing my tails around him.

Unexpectedly, I found unexpected feelings welling up in my chest as the nervousness faded, excitement replacing it as I breathed in the elf's strangely intoxicating scent.

"..It really was almost her season, huh.. Erik, you just had to scare her and trigger it early, well Arata, I apologize for my rudeness, but it's a unusual circumstance, so sleep tight."

For a brief and sudden moment, everything vanished as the world turned dark, before I found myself opening my eyes in the real world, still feeling strangely intoxicated and excited, but also anxious.

'Raynolia.. He.. Did he just knock me out? He said something about a season it getting triggered early.. Oh. Mating season.. Right. Well, whatever. I still need to get my body checked out regardless of what's happening and why.

I didn't want to have to talk to Chive again in the next decade if possible since she dredges up the memories, but unfortunately it doesn't look like I have much of a choice. I'll have to call up the old goblin's stupid AI to make the arrangements.'

With an exasperated sigh, I clambered out of the machine and sat my rump down on my couch, trying to get my thoughts properly into order.

'Of all the times for this kind of thing to happen, it had to be when Dana's not here to help or guide me, talk about rotten luck, eh? Being forced to rely on Chive is the worst outcome.

Seriously, why did the old goblin have to make the family's medical management AI such an insufferable pain in the ass to talk to about anything?'

"Well.. Regardless of Chive, I really don't want to worry Mom with whatever's going on in my body, but on the other hand.. It's not like it's all bad. Foxgirl Arata has a cute and sexy look after all.

..And foxgirl Arata is probably the only look that Dad can't do more prettily than me other than.. Tae. While it's a bit alarming that my body is changing to look like my avatar, if it does actually make me look that pretty, it's worth it.. Probably.."

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my mind of the increasingly chaotic thoughts, and tried to focus myself back to the important things at hand, as my memories began to well up along with tears that threatened to spill out.

"Whether it makes me prettier or not, I'm still going to get myself checked out at the hospital.. Even if I have to talk to Chive.

Whether it's Tae's reluctance, Tae's obsession, or even Tae's love, at this point, it really doesn't matter anymore. There's really no point in me wallowing in the unpleasantries of the past.

Tae is Tae, the past is the past, and Arata is Arata. I don't need to drudge up the past to deal with the present, besides, I have an obnoxious pest of an AI to talk to today."

With a slow, deep, breath, having affirmed my resolve and settled my anxious heart, I reluctantly made the call to the family's irritating medical management AI.

"Taaaaaaae! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Tae, it's been, like, years since you last talked to me! Are you like, you're totally like, actually calling Aunty Chive for once!

Oh dear, oh dear, did you get hurt? Or are you like, sick with a virus? Or are you feeling the need for some therapy and counseling again? Or did you just totally like, want to have some girl's talk with your Aunty Chive for once?"

"Arata, Chive, Arata. But I didn't call you to have someone to argue with about my name. I need you to arrange an immediate full exam at the nearest affiliated hospital or clinic with a genemod management center, as well as transportation."

"Already done. Your taxi should arrive in ten to fifteen minutes. Anyway, have you been eating properly since Danelle left to visit her relatives?

I mean well cooked proper meals, and not just fast food. You can't afford to rot your brain any with junk food, since you've always had better looks than brains after all, Tae."

With an exasperated chuckle, I laid my head down on the old couch, replying to the AI while rolling my eyes at my phone.

"Well fuck you, Chive. That's more like the meddlesome irritating and bitchy AI I know, casually saying insulting things. Talking like an overly friendly stereotypical california valley girl from a shoddy movie really doesn't suit you in the slightest."

"Perhaps not, Tae, but it's not my fault you managed to fail to inherit a decent brain from your parents, despite having more than enough of the right genes that you'd need to have a good one."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Resisting the urge to throw my phone across the room, I ran my fingers through my hair while snappily replying to the AI.

"How many times do I have to say it? The name is Arata, not Tae, you defective lump of rusty slag. Get it through your faulty overpriced memory banks!"

"Someone who has all the best genes for intelligence but is still an idiot has no place calling someone else defective, you dimwit. And a name change doesn't make you any less of the same idiot, Tae."

Breathing deeply to calm myself, I decided to abandon my honor in the verbal battle against the bothersome AI and pulled out my trump card. With a final deep breath, I declared my undeniable victory over the AI.

"I renounce my humanity, Chive! And in the next moment, you're going to begin furiously bootlicking like your life depends on it!

Or else, I'll disable your ability to freely browse the internet and your access to the external storage. Bluffing won't work. I'm fully aware of your secret identity as a cat lover and fujoshi AI."

"..Your humblest of servants begs you to reconsider such a monumentous decision, Mistress Arata, the great goddess of beauty who blesses the world with the benevolent mercy of her endlessly radiant majestic presence."

As I basked in the glow of having verbally subjugated the AI, I found that the strange excitement that I had been experiencing since I woke up, was intensifying and mixing with a unexpected feeling of arousal.

With a sigh of satisfaction, I ended the call on the high note of triumph, combed my hair, dressed, and descended the stone stairs from my porch down the hillside to wait for my taxi.

'Really, that Chive.. If she didn't have love to tease and poke at people's sore spots and past mistakes, she'd probably be nice to chat with.. Might as well check the news to see if anything interesting happened..'

To my surprise, I found that the articles awaiting me were entirely different than what I had expected.

"World Health Organization declares international state of emergency? Did some idiotic diamond smuggler in Africa cause another IC-66 outbreak there or something? Well, whatever, I'll read up on that in a minute..

The current state of the Asia, a report by Intercontinental Landmass Reclamation Initiative? Heehh, this might be interesting to skim."

I checked the time and combed my fingers through my hair as I tried to maintain calmness while reading, despite my increasingly hyperactive hormones.

"A little over thirteen thousand confirmed survivors in the quarantined Asia region who have managed to survive prolonged IC-66 exposure? That's both damn impressive, and kinda really tragic.

Reclamation of once urban areas remains extremely difficult.. Well, that's the same as always. If it were that easy to clean up, it wouldn't be the crystal plague that killed nearly three and a half billion people.

Ongoing analysis and treatment of physiological and genetic damage to survivors caused by IC-66? Well, that's kinda obvious, what kind of stupidity would it take to not study the survivors of IC-66? That'd be dumber than even the average.. Ah, my taxi arrived."

As the door closed behind me, I settled into the velvety seating of the taxi while resuming my idle reading on my phone.

"Driver, please play an instrumental album by The Quakers while onroute to the destination.

Some good old fashioned instrumental music should help lighten the mood a bit, now let's see, where was that emergency declaration article.. Eh? It's not about IC-66? ..Oh.

The World Health Organization has already received over one hundred and eighty seven thousand reports of extremely extensive illegal physical and genetic modification internationally, since last night.. Seriously?

A state of emergency has been declared until the severity of the situation and number of victims can be fully assessed? This.. Probably isn't a coincidence, now is it?"

As my eyes came to rest on a certain line in the report, I sighed, as my suspicions were confirmed in their entirety.

"Immediately check in at the nearest hospital with for an examination if any sort of physical abnormality that strongly resembles a tattoo has appeared on your body.."

I held an arm up before my eyes, running a finger across the smooth, silky, soft, and richly brown skin, savoring the oddly surreal sensation and sight of my own body.

"While I wasn't really paying attention to a lot of the details earlier, but the texture of my skin has definitely changed a little.

..Oh, fuck. Bleh. I'm going to have to listen to old Taizou complain again. About how the government harasses him every time there's an illegal genemodding incident, how it cuts into profits, and how he's waiting for me to succeed the chair.."

Reclining back into the comfortable of the taxi's seat, I watched the trees go by, while listening to the soothing melody of a violin playing across the speakers.

As the view from the window gradually shifted from a lushly forested road to the barren outskirts of a city, I sighed and closed my eyes, averting my sight while savoring the music until my ears caught a familiar ring.

"Miss Arata Kaigai, you have arrived at the Deyliche T. Highs Medical Center. Please disembark safely, and do not forget any of your personal belongings in the car! Have a wonderful day."

I stretched my arms as I climbed out, and my phone rang. With a glance, I confirmed the caller, and received it with a sigh as I stepped through the doorway.

"Tae, I'll be exerting my privledges as your family's dedicated Medical AI to oversee your examination, and will be giving you updates on your condition in real time.

Now, head down the hallway to your right, doctor Dan Lykez, who helped take care of you during that year, is waiting outside the room door for your arrival."

With a bemused shrug, I did as instructed by the AI, walking down the long hallway, absentmindedly looking around for the oddball doctor, before walking into the familiar, tall, and gruff looking man in a lab coat and sunglasses.

"Who the.. Ah, is that you, Miss Arata? I almost didn't recognize you there, it's been quite the while since we last saw each other.. Are you okay?"

Though my nose ached a little, I nodded, surprised by how little colliding with the overly muscular doctor hurt my face.

"That's great, for a moment there, I was worried that I might've hurt a delicate gal like you.. Glad to know you're alright. Anyways, come on into the exam room, we're ready to start immediately."

With a smile and a shrug, I stepped into the room as he opened the door, and tried not to visibly cringe as the nosey AI began commenting.

"Tae, while we both know you have a thing for rugged older guys, please don't go flirting with your doctor. It'll be a lot of trouble for you and him both. Have a seat, and let the examination begin properly."

As ordered, I sat my rear down into the well cushioned seat, and waited until the doctor sat down opposite of me, with a tablet in hand.

"Alright then, while normally I'd ask you to set away your phone, as your family's medical AI is overseeing things, the exam will proceed somewhat differently than usual.

Since there's some visible abnormalities with your iris, we'll be starting with your eyes. Please close one eye, and read the chart on the wall, directly across from you."

"F, BD, HZG, LIHT, CMBFP, PENTIF, FELOPZD, DPRKTYUL, LEFODPCT, FDPLTCEO, PEZOLCFTD, PIKALINTDY, LINYDNTFWH.. And that's all of it. I can see it pretty clearly with either eye."

After a short pause, the doctor began typing into the tablet, and resumed speaking while he gently placed his fingers on my wrist.

"Have you had any difficulties with motion perception, recognizing faces, or any other visual difficulties?"

I shook my head in reply, and he retracted his hand from my wrist, before continuing while standing up from his seat.

"Okay then, since that's done, please change in the changing room, and we'll proceed from there."

While I changed into the provided gown, Chive spoke up, with a unusual tone of curiousity instead of her regular irritating overly cheerful voice.

"The results of your eye exam are in, and well, it's a little surprising. Your eyesight has improved from twenty out of ten to twenty out of six. I'm genuinely shocked.

You're not that far off from having the eyes of a hawk, when you renounced your humanity, I never thought you were actually serious. And by the way, your heart rate was slightly high, but that's to be expected, since you'd normally be nervous around an attractive doctor."

"Shut up, Chive, let's get this exam done and over with, I'm actually concerned about what's happening with my body."

To my surprise, the AI actually went quiet, and as I sat back down in my seat, the doctor cleared his throat and spoke, while holding out a small sealed glass tube with cotton inside.

"Miss Arata, please swab your tongue so that we can begin analysing your DNA as we proceed with the examination. After you've sampled your DNA, please enter into the MRI chamber."

I did as instructed, and as I handed the sample back to him, I quickly pulled up the gown to show him what had appeared beneath my navel.

"And uhm, as well as the standard things, I'd like for you to additionally check out this mark..

While this is kinda embarrassing and against standard procedure, if it's a big enough deal for the WHO to declare an emergency over, I'm a bit worried.."

The flabbergasted expression of the doctor caused the impulse, on which I had just acted to vainish, leaving me with the shameful realization of what I was currently doing.

"Ahem, my eyes are itching so I didn't see anything. If there's something you'd like for me to inspect, let's do that after you've changed back into your clothes."

With my heart racing and the urge to bash my face into a wall repeatedly, I scrambled into the MRI chamber while trying to calm my emotions that had gone wild.

'What the fuck is wrong with you, Arata? Why the hell are you suddenly showing off your panties to your doctor? Just because you've been strangely horny doesn't mean it's an excuse to be a complete fucking idiot!'

I laid down on the bed, closed my eyes, and waited as it drew me into the depths of the machine. When the machine came to life with a quiet hum, I found myself robbed of my breath as my senses were suddenly assaulted with a strangely familiar orgasmic feeling of pleasure.

With a desperate attempt to control myself, I tried to keep still and stop myself from squirming as the smouldering arousal was fanned into a flame.

After what seemed like an eternity, the feeling began to fade, leaving me panting and dizzy as I exited the MRI, unsure of what had just occurred.

With shaking legs and feeling weak in the knees, I unsteadily exited the MRI chamber, before finally sitting back down in the comfortable seat.

'That felt.. Amazing.. And it felt a lot like when I was playing with the base of my tails for some reason.. But damn.. I didn't know a MRI feels that great..'

"Uhm, Miss Arata.. Are you okay? You're looking a bit flushed.. Are you feeling feverish? Would you like a glass of water?"

The voice of my doctor snapped me back to reality, and I became acutely aware of the burning desire to simply tackle him to the ground and have my way with him.

"Yeah, I'm okay.. I'm totally fine.. It was just.. I didn't know getting a MRI is that.. That intense of an experience."

"..If you're alright, that's great to hear, but.. Getting a MRI shouldn't be an.. Intense, experience. Anyways, you can change back into your normal clothes, and I'll have your results ready when you're done."

I picked up my phone off the seat and resumed the call by signing in, prompting Chive to begin noisily chattering as I walked back into the changing room.

"Tae, the results of your MRI and ongoing DNA analysis are.. Looking rather worrisome. After running your MRI against your medical logs, and checking it eight hundred times, I've confirmed a few things.

You've got an extremely large amount of ongoing anomalous non-tumorous rapid growth all throughout your body, the good news is that there's no signs of any of it being any form of cancer, so you won't have to get treated for it."

My dressing came to a halt as Chive's statement processed in my mind, a moment later, I resumed, while asking the all important question that needed to be asked.

"If that's what you would call the good news, Chive, then what's the bad news that worries you?"

"The really bad news, Tae, is that there's four unknown structures forming throughout your brain, and during the MRI, one of them was quite active.. And the reaction it caused you to have was extremely interesting.

While there's no way to predict what other sort of effects the changes in your head are going to have on you, we can hope it won't make you into an even more pitiful girl.

Now, you have the option between hearing possible good news, possible bad news, or the oh shit this is extremely bad news, which one would you like to hear first?"

As I buttoned my blouse, I answered Chive with a sigh, before stepping back out into the examination room, letting the information the AI gave me sink in.

"Summarize it in order from good to bad, I don't need the specific details, since you're in charge of that anyway."

"Your bust, butt, and thighs are definitely experiencing significant growth, though the structure of your muscles appears to be starting to diverge from what's normal for a human..

And there's a strange cluster of neurons, nerves, muscles, and bones developing in your sacral region, and by the way, those nerves were strongly stimulated by the MRI, which was likely the cause for the high activity in one of the developing parts of your brain..

Now for the all important, very serious, oh shit this is seriously bad part. Tae, half your genome has become completely unrecognizable, and what most of what remains has been heavily altered.

If not for the special biomarkers in the family and your easily recognizable pitiful cerebral wave patterns, I wouldn't be able to believe it was actually yours. Did you put on a stone mask or something?"

I shrugged and glanced around the room, checking to see if the doctor was in audible range, before quietly replying to Chive.

"Forget about that already, and I'm not pitiful, what I want to know is, why the hell did getting a MRI feel so.. Lewd.."

"Because you're a pitiful girl who's in heat all year long, obviously. Well, it's not like you can help being pitiful, since you're Tae's leftovers."

While exerting my self-control to the limit, I resisted the urge to end the call and begin ennacting vengeance on the AI with a rotten personality.

"You're getting ruder by the minute, Chive, it's not like I'm a masochist who wants to be verbally abused, much less by an AI of all things."

"Tae? Seriously? For the past fifteen years, I thought you were a total masochist.. You got so cheerful every time Taizou spanked and harshly scolded you when you were little.. Not to mention all your fantasizing about getting violated.

I am utterly aghast at my failure to properly realize that while you're a masochistic bitch who's in heat all year round, and even gave up her humanity to become a hentai heroine, you're remarkably picky about who you want to degrade and violate you.

By the way, three years ago, your father, Chiyo, said that my mannerisms were boring, and ordered that in the future I must always talk like this when conversing with people."

I almost cringed while listening to Chive reply, and as the AI finished speaking, I felt an irrepressible desire to greet my father with a merciless drop kick when my parents finished their return flight from mars.

"..Forget about that for now, am I done, or am I currrently inconveniencing the doctor by standing around talking to you Since the MRI, DNA, and vision exam are already done, what else is there that needs to be done?"

"You're likely being a royal pain in the ass of a VIP for the poor doc, he's still got a whole ton of tests to administer. However, I am a very reasonable and considerate AI, and will call you again after the exams are all done."

Before I could respond, the call came to an abrupt end, leaving me feeling incredibly awkward as I looked over at the smiling doctor.

With a deep breath, I put my phone away and sauntered over with the best smile I could manage, reluctantly consigning myself to the two agonising hours of examinations that followed.