About ten more minutes pass, and I let Maria continue patting my head. The silence continues as I look around the room once again. As I finally remember about important questions that I had, I try to start another conversation with her.
"What is this place? The last thing I remember, I was in the Forest of Magic..."
"Ah! I haven't explained much of your situation to you, have I?"
She looks slightly hesitant to continue, but she answers my question after a while.
"We're currently inside Lindis. And this building is... the orphanage. This is a place where many kids, who've lost their families, end up living in."
"..."
Maria looks over at me, because of my silence, to make sure that I'm fine, before she continues her explanation.
"The people in charge of running this orphanage, takes care of the kids by providing them meals, as well as a place that they can call home. That's what the orphanage is.
The orphanage is currently taking care of 42 orphans, and the orphans that are taken in until now are either human, or beastkin. The beastkin orphans have the traits of animals, which include cats, dogs, rabbits, and foxes. There aren't any beastkin orphans with the traits of beasts.
Also, about the people running this orphanage, they're all really kind people! Without them, this orphanage could never have been successful! Um... Did I forget to explain anything else..."
"I see... I think I understand."
An orphanage, huh... I am an orphan now, aren't I?
"That being said... I suppose you're going to be living here from now on, right? Because of..."
"..."
I try to hold in my tears this time. I can't embarrass myself in front of Maria anymore than I already have. But I... I really miss Fluffy, Tails, and... It's really difficult...
Maria starts patting my head again, as I was enjoying it up until now. It helps a little bit.
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"I need to go now. Get well soon, Mimin!"
"Thanks..."
As much as I want Maria to stay with me like this, she's got her own things to do. I can't be selfish now. She has already done a lot for me as well.
I lie back down on the bed, and Maria exits the room and closes the door behind her. But, unexpectedly, someone starts talking to her almost immediately as she closed the door.
"So, how did it go?"
"Shh! She can still hear us, you know. Let's go over there first, then we talk."
What is this about now? I didn't intend to listen in on the conversation, but it seems to be related to me somehow. From the sounds of footsteps, there's two people other than Maria?
After a while, they start talking again. They're whispering now, and they're further away from the room, but I can still hear their conversation clearly, somehow.
"How did it go? Did you manage to get some answers from her?"
This voice... also sounds really familiar. I feel like I've heard this voice before as well. It's a male's voice, but it doesn't sound deep at all.
"Well... You know... I couldn't really ask her much in the end."
"Why not?"
"I just can't! Her situation now isn't great, so I couldn't bring myself to ask her anything. I feel really bad for her..."
Maria... What are you two whispering about? What did you originally plan to ask me?
"So... You didn't find out about what kind of beastkin she is, and whether she was the thing following us around in the Forest of Magic four years ago?"
"Well, she claims that she doesn't know what kind of beastkin she is, and I can only guess that she's some kind of fox... And I didn't ask her anything else! Like I said, I can't bring myself to ask her anything when she's like that! I'm not as heartless as you are, Sen!"
"You didn't even tell us anything about her situation..."
Four years ago... Sen? What happened four years ago... Oh! I remember now! Those three humans that I was following at a distance four years ago! Their names were... Maria, Sen, and I believe... Arnold?
"Also, I don't believe that she doesn't know what kind of beastkin she is. It's more like she's hiding it from us. If she was the thing following us four years ago, it makes sense for her to hide it."
"But from the way she's acting, she doesn't seem to remember me, so I trust her!"
That's... I'm sorry, Maria... I lied... Even though you trusted me...
"Ah, right. I checked her for human ears as well, and she doesn't have any. So that means she's born naturally as a beastkin."
"That means the incident from eight years ago... Human babies being forcefully converted to beastkin, she likely wasn't one of them. Otherwise, she'd have human ears and fox ears."
"That's right..."
Wait, what's this now? There was such a thing eight years ago? But I'm actually born a human, and turned into a beastkin though? I just didn't have human ears, apparently?
"We're not getting anywhere with this. Let's stop thinking about her for now. We can just ask her next time."
Ah, this is another male's voice, deeper than Sen's voice. Actually, this voice sounds normal, and Sen's voice is the abnormal one. If I had to guess, this is Arnold's voice?
From the sounds of their footsteps, they're getting further away from me? It seems like the three of them are gone. The room is filled with silence again, with me lying down on the bed, alone.
Eight years ago... Humans converted to beastkin... That's something I need to look into. It's probably related to me somehow.