I was just hanging out midair as Ipa ran with his hand against my collar and the three of us bumped into some people.
"Hey! Watch it!" Ipa yelled out. He slowed down to look at the man who seemed lost.
"Sorry, are you alright?" The man asked us all.
"Yeah, we're fine. What's wrong with you? You look lost." I asked the man.
"Oh, well, I'm looking for the love of my life right now... I lost her somewhere in the city and I have no idea where she went. Without her, I'm looking pretty lost and pathetic, I don't know what I'll do without her." He said.
"It's only for a little bit. Don't worry, we'll help you find her." Ken said with a sparkle in his eyes. I was surprised Ken of all people spoke up.
"Amazing! If you guys are going to help me, my spirits are high and I'm ready!" The man's attitude completely shifted once we offered our help, which was weird enough, but the way he spoke had a certain musical rhythm to it.
"Let's try over this way! Maybe we'll have some luck!" The man said with a jingle again.
I noticed something was wrong... he pointed over by the bathhouse!
"No! I'll wait here, she might walk out of that strange building that I have no idea what it actually is and we don't want to miss her! What does she look like?" I asked the man.
"Well! Let me tell you. She looks like the most beautiful person in the world! She's got golden yellow eyes and red hair and a tail and ears!" He exclaimed.
"Oh... so a demi-human? Alright, she'll be pretty easy to pick out. I'll keep an eye out here, you guys can go on it." I told them.
The man put his iron grip onto Ipa's collar this time around and basically dragged him around. What an astonishing character...
I was looking around for a place to sit, past the brick houses and over by a bundle of boxes and strapped-together planks of wood sitting on a carriage. I could probably sit on the empty boxes.
As I walked over, I could see something shaking behind one of the boxes. It was a striped tail... could this be the love of his life?
I peeked behind the corner to see a scared girl playfully shield her eyes, but upon seeing who I actually was, she seemed relieved.
"Hey, are you the girl that guy is looking for?" I asked her. Her tail began wagging and I began to realize how actually awkward talking to a demi-human was.
The charm of being human is looking at our facial expressions to see what we think, however with this girl, I could see her mood and how excited she was from that damn tail. Or maybe I was just a dick and saw them as different people...
"You didn't lead him to me, did you?! We're playing hide and seek right now and I always win! Only twenty more minutes until I win again! You won't give away my position, will you?!" She asked me with a high pitch.
I see... so it was just a game of hide and go and seek... I was worried for nothing. Now that I looked at the girl, she seemed to be designed exactly like a red panda as well.
She was 90% humanoid, with her only features being the striped tail and fluffy ears, but her hair had a strange design in it that mimicked what a red panda's face looked like. Then, she had her yellow eyes. It was such an awkward sight, especially since it was my first encounter with a demi-human.
"Is that a style or were you born with that hair? Sorry, if that's rude. It's actually my first time meeting a demi-human." I told her.
"Oh, don't be sorry! I was born with this hair, so it's natural. Same with my tails and ears." She explained.
I saw from somewhere that a demi-human tail was its sensitive spot, so I wanted to avoid it to not make her uncomfortable. I wondered if there was anything I could learn from her...
"Hey, so are your abilities just like humans? Or do you have a special set?" I asked her.
"Hm? Oh, I guess this can be considered special." She said, raising her hand up without looking at me. Instead of the classic blue color of mana, I saw a yellow color instead.
"Is your mana yellow? What is that?" I continued to pester her.
"It's not mana. Demi-humans don't have mana, we have Soul. Since we're half-animal, mana doesn't work well with us, but Soul does." She explained.
I already knew a person named Soul, so this was confusing enough... I wondered if there was another name to it...
Soul... Power?!
"Hey, is it usually described as Soul Power?!" I accidentally rose my voice and she covered my mouth.
"Keep it down Mister! No, it's Soul Anthropomorphism. Shortened to Soul. It's because I resemble an animal that I can use it. What's Soul Power?" She asked me, but I didn't know myself either.
"Sorry I keep pestering you, but I'm learning more about this world because I'm pretty new to it. Do you have any special abilities or traits?" I asked her again. I could tell she was getting annoyed, so this would be my last question.
"I'm mobile and have good camouflage if that's what you're asking. Other than that, I can't use mana so spells are out of the question." She explained to me.
"Then what does Soul do?" I asked again. Well, turns out that I lied about that being my last question.
"It does whatever the animal I'm based on does. I'm based on a Red Panda, so I can climb pretty fast and stick to walls." She said.
Amazing... this whole experience was amazing!
"Thanks for answering my questions, and sorry if they were annoying, I'll let you hide here and I'll divert them away so they don't find you," I said to her. She smiled widely and thanked me.
"By the way, I didn't get your name. I'm Anima, it's nice to meet you." I told her. I forgot about my reputation again and went wide-eyed.
"Anima... awesome! I'm Hex, nice to meet you!" She said.
Thank God, she mustn't have heard of me yet.