Leave a comment

It’s the continuance of side story 4. If you thought the first one was weird, it’s going to get really crazy.

Author’s note:
You may want to read this story from the perspective of how insect swarm societies work.

This is a story from a world different than Anazumu.

“Miss Squi-… Mika!”
“Alim!”

A squirrel of the bent tree and an ant were intimately embracing each other.

“Thank you for safely birthing our children!”
“You ants have so many children!”

Due to certain circumstances, the squirrel had married a group of ants and was now delivering their children one after the other. In this world, squirrels of the bent tree could give birth to ants. Vice versa, it was possible for an ant to give birth to a squirrel.

“Uhm, how many makes this?”
“Our group increased by roughly 20%.”
“If we include the squirrels, it would be 30%.”
“What!? Are you alright, Mika?”

The other ants crowded in concern around the squirrel who was lying on the bed in the embrace of a single ant. But she seemed in high spirits.

“I still have a lot of energy!”
“Is that so?”
“Please don’t force yourself, alright?”

The ants rubbed the squirrel’s head and belly. The squirrel smiled happily, but then suddenly had a thought she decided to bring up with the ants.

“Come to think of it, how are we with food?”
“Oh, no problems at all on that front. We have a magic storehouse with unlimited space where food won’t spoil… At our current pace, we should be fine for another ten years or so.”
“That sounds incredible!”
“It’s an ant skill!”

The ants made merry.

“Right… then let’s have many more children.”
“We’ll increase our family! Woo-hoo!”

The squirrel, who seemed a bit exhausted after all, took the hand of the ant at her side. She signaled that she would sleep for a bit.

“Everyone, Miss Squirrel is going to sleep!”
“Alright, then let’s keep quiet.”
“Shush!”
“In that case, everyone except for the ant who’s with her currently, disperse!”

As requested, the ants left the room where the squirrel was sleeping. In exchange, they went where their several dozens of kids were.

“Everyone! We’ve come to play!”
“Oh, Mama!”
“Mommy!”

When the adult ants entered the room where just few of them had been before, the young ants and squirrels there demanded they play with them.

“Mama, where’s Mother?”
“Your mother is currently super tired, so she’s resting.”
“Boo! Wanted to play with her!”
“But your mother has a hard job, so it can’t be helped!”
“Mrr… Can’t be helped, then.”

The ant children were dejected. One of the squirrel children hugged an ant child.

“Wh-What?”
“Heh-heh… I hug you.”
“Hm… then I hug you back!”

The ant child, who’d been hugged by the squirrel child, returned the embrace. The adult ants started to whisper as they saw that.

“They already have such a relationship at that age?”
“When were those two born again?”
“One at noon two days ago, and the other at 9 pm of the same day.”
“Huh, so they were born on the same day.”
“Right, now that you mention it, Mika had to work super hard on that day.”

The adult ants smiled in satisfaction as they looked at the young ants, who seemed no different from them in appearance other than age. They then each joined in groups of two or three and sang songs, drew pictures, had matches, acted as if they were celebrities, or started projects to support the next generation.

“Ugh! Our children are so cute, I could eat them up!”
“Right?”
“Huh, Mika and I are cute?”

At the child ant’s question, all the adults nodded. They didn’t realize that they were practically praising themselves, seeing their appearance was the same as their children.

“I-In that case, give me hug!”
“Ah, m-me too!”

The children with their insufficient size jumped up and down, demanding hugs from their parents.
The adult ants picked them up with joyful faces.

“Heh-heh-heh, hug!”
“Hug! More!”

Time passed joyfully. But then it happened.

“I-It’s terrible!”

A single ant, still completely naked, barged into the room. It was the one who stayed with the squirrel mother earlier.”

“Woah, what’s wrong!?”
“P-Put some clothes on, first! There are children present!”
“I don’t see the issue, there are no male ants or squirrels here.”

There were only female ants and squirrels of the bent tree, but for some reason, they could still reproduce¹. The still-naked ant hurriedly continued to tell them what happened.

“M-Miss Squ-… Mika stopped breathing!”
“””What~~!?”””

The ants rushed to the squirrel’s side.

“M-Mika!?”
“Are you alright!?”

One ant checked her pulse and breathing. She shook her head.

“This happened because she worked too hard lately…”
“Gah… if only we had taken better care of her…! Uhg… *sob*…”

The ants blamed themselves for this. Some of them cried, some collapsed in shock, some blanched mentally. The ant who performed the examination on the squirrel took out a bottle.

“In that case, we’ll need to use Amrita.”

Amrita was the very best medicine the ants could make. It would heal any living being, no matter what illnesses or wounds it had, even bringing them back from the dead.

“Phew… Next time, you need to make sure you don’t strain yourself so much!”
“If you do, you’ll go ‘poof’!”
“But first you should get enough sleep!”

__________
_____
_

“…Wha-!?”

Mika had experienced another strange dream.

“…Somehow, it feels as if I had one like this before. In any case, our children were so cute… heh-heh. Well, I better go back to sleep.”

She hugged Alim again and closed her eyes.

1. If they reproduce asexually, that would explain why they all look the same.

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.