Private Finished The Art of Improvement

“Yes, eighteen...” Carmin repeated back. He was more or less used to having this conversation now.

When it was revealed that Sumi was in a similar situation, Carmin gave a surprised “Oh.” He’d had a kid trick him with something like that before, but the way Sumi put it was very believable. If someone was going to lie about that they probably would’ve said more than 3 years.

As Sumi started drawing again, Carmin tilted his head trying to figure out what it was. It didn’t take long for Carmin to recognize that it was meant to be him. The drawing alone was enough to get him blushing. “I don’t look like that.” He grabbed his head afterwards, as if to check that it wasn’t actually that big.

Even when hearing that it was just an art style, Carmin was still rather uncomfortable with it. It was less about the way the drawing looked and more so his actual appearance that bothered him. He still wasn’t used to the way he looked, even after so many years.

“Oh... Okay then.”

He knew that it was weird for him to be so bothered though. So he let Sumi finish his drawing and just sat still somewhat avoiding looking at it while making the occasional glance.

When Sumi started modifying the drawing, Carmin became confused, paying closer attention and trying to figure out what he was doing. Before long, it suddenly came together. When Sumi questioned if he used to be human, Carmin's face became dead serious. He didn't speak up, instead waiting for Sumi's explanation of how he knew that.

"I-" Carmin's eyes darted to the side, looking for some excuse or a way to cover it up. "That's not uhm..." He grabbed one arm with the other and bit his lip then looked back at Sumi. "No, I've always been like this..." No excuses came to him so he just denied it, though the hesitation made it pretty easy to tell he was lying.

Carmin crossed his arms, feeling somewhat guilty as Sumi saw through him with what felt like no effort. He didn't really comment on it, instead taking interest in Sumi's story.

"What's Norai?" That wasn't the only question Carmin had. "And why did you come here from Japan?" He still didn't totally get why people would want to live on the island. If his situation allowed it, he probably would have stayed in the narrow reality and pretended to be human. Unfortunately, that option wasn't in the books.

Carmin listened up rather intently, even if his eyes were looking down and to the side while Sumi explained himself. He wasn't completely sure what Sumi meant by true nature, but assumed he meant the ears and tail.

The bit about telling people the truth caused Carmin's eyes to shift back to Sumi. There was a mix of guilt and understanding in him as those words seemed to resonate. He knew all too well what it was like to have loose ends back in the narrow reality. He never got a say in those, but now with Sumi the choice was his and yet he was lying.

"I know it's..." Carmin wasn't entirely sure what he was even trying to say. "Sometimes you have to lie. If you're doing it to protect yourself then it's okay." Carmin took a moment to rethink that. It made sense, but at the same time he couldn't think of what exactly he was protecting himself from.