Chapter 110: The Number One Zoo in the Nation
On a mountain in Oma City, there was an unprofitable zoo. During the day, the zoo operated as usual. Aside from a rather ill-tempered lion that scared everyone away, the other animals were all quite docile. But at 4:44 PM, when the zoo closed, its true nature was revealed.
That is... all of these animals could speak and take on a humanoid form.
"Kira-kun, is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me?" Yoshikage Kira was holding a seal. It looked no different from an ordinary seal, except for the bow tie around its neck, which, combined with its gray skin, gave it a rather gentlemanly feel.
"No, not at all, Mr. Igarashi." Kira shook his head and continued carrying the seal toward the pond.
The seal's name was Igarashi. After the miraculous smoke transformation earlier, the Director had Kira and Aoi bring out food for all the non-humans. Igarashi, having eaten his fill, had wanted to return to his pond, and the Director had assigned Kira to help him.
"Haha! You're still in shock, aren't you? Seeing animals in the morning and then seeing them turn human at night. Even the zookeeper was screaming in shock when she first arrived," the seal said with a cheerful laugh, being carried horizontally by Kira. "But you're quite calm. You accepted the reality of it very quickly."
"It's just like reading a book," Kira said. "Once you accept the initial premise, everything that follows is understandable. You can even start to see how the different plotlines connect."
Even though several minutes had passed, Kira was still processing what the Director had told him.
What he'd said wasn't complicated. To summarize: his Quirk allowed him to "humanize" animals. He himself had once been human, and the rabbit head was a side effect of his Quirk. That part was understandable. But he had kept repeating one thing: his Quirk had been given to him.
"I was only four or five at the time. I've long since forgotten the name and face of the person who gave me this Quirk. But I've always remembered one thing he told me—he said I had to use this Quirk to become famous, and then I could return to normal!"
"So, I traveled the world, gathering these animal partners I met along the way, and we opened a zoo together! The Twilight Zoo!"
Even though the Director had lived with a rabbit head since he was a child, he had never despaired or resented the person who had turned him into this. He didn't mind telling Kira this painful memory at all; he was like an innocent child, constantly showing off his hands, which had already lost their rabbit fur.
After placing Igarashi in the pond, Kira walked back. The animals were still celebrating in front of the statue. It was an absurd scene:
The lion was arm-wrestling the gorilla. The wolf-man and the bird-man were playing a game of chess. The elephant alone took up half the empty space...
"Kira-kun, you're back." Aoi Hana seemed unsurprised by the scene. She was holding a chicken leg, which she waved at Kira before using it to point to the east. "The Director is looking for you."
Kira looked around but couldn't see the conspicuous rabbit head in the darkness. He walked in the direction Aoi had pointed. A red cloth was tied loosely to a tree in the eastern sector. Vaguely, he could see a yellow, spotted animal running in his direction at a speed the naked eye couldn't follow.
Kira quickly realized it was the cheetah from this morning—the one who had gotten a face full of his own droppings. He was running on two legs, his speed far surpassing Usain Bolt's as he accelerated toward the red cloth!
Just as Kira thought he was about to cross the finish line, a white shadow shot past. The Rabbit Director wasn't running; he was flying low to the ground. In an instant, he lapped the sprinting cheetah and crossed the line first.
The Director stopped, skidding in a circle and kicking up a cloud of dust. He stood up, stretched, and flashed a brilliant smile. "Mr. Cheetah! You still can't beat me! You really need to lose some weight!"
Mr. Cheetah, panting, leaned over with his hands on his knees. Hearing this, he looked down at his own stomach. The protruding belly looked exactly like a five-month human pregnancy. If he were a pregnant female cheetah, this might be understandable, but he was a male!
The seal is just as round, he thought, but no one seems to mind. Why does a cheetah-man like me have to have a beer belly!? ...That's it. That sunbathing seal must die...
"Director, you were looking for me?" Kira asked, walking up to him.
The Director crossed his arms behind his head and, like a spinning top, twisted his body around to face him. "Kira! You asked me before why I invited you to our zoo, right?"
Kira nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"Because... it's interesting!"
"Interesting? Just for that...?" Kira said with a wry smile. "Don't you have all these interesting animal friends to 'torment'?"
"Torment? I like that word!" The Director's eyes lit up. "You really are interesting!"
I feel like we're not communicating on the same wavelength... As Kira's headache was starting, a wolf-man draped an arm over his shoulder. "Pretty confusing, right?" he said with a sympathetic laugh. "Let me explain."
"You heard the Director's introduction, right? About how he turns us into people. Every time he uses his Quirk to transform us, it drains a massive amount of his stamina. That's why he's always sleeping in during the day."
"Your name is Okami, right? Did you win that chess game just now?" Kira suddenly asked.
"Spare me. If I had won, I wouldn't be standing here explaining things to you, would I?" Okami glanced back at the rhinoceros, who was carefully picking up a chess piece with its sharp horn, and sighed. "For the Director, as long as something is 'interesting,' he doesn't care about anything else. But all of us who rely on his power know... his greatest hope is to become human again."
"You mean... by making this zoo famous? Do you really believe what that person who gave him the Quirk said?"
"The Director's hands have already returned to normal, so it's not a matter of 'believing.' Besides, we can't just rely on Snake Sis forever..."
"Snake Sis? Someone who works at a circus?"
"Huh?" Okami was taken aback. "A circus? What do you mean? We primarily rely on the income of Snake Sis—that is, the Pro Hero, Uwabami."
The Pro Hero, Uwabami! Kira was genuinely shocked this time. Even someone like him, who didn't watch much TV, knew that the hero Uwabami was extremely famous, constantly appearing in variety shows and commercials. He remembered that Momo Yaoyorozu had received an internship offer from her... He had never imagined that the glamorous hero was also one of these transformed animals.
"So you use her entertainment industry income to cover the zoo's deficit? No wonder a zoo that's completely unbalanced in its books can stay open..."
"That's why we feel so bad for Snake Sis. We've been able to live this comfortable life all this time because of her support, but our zoo doesn't generate any income at all..." Okami the wolf-man looked up at the Director, who had, at some point, climbed onto the elephant's head and was now fishing, and gave a sad laugh. "I hope... that you can help us become the number one zoo in the nation. And help the Director become human again."
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!