Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 129.3 - The Chronicles Of Pebbles (Pt 2)

“Huh?” His mother was puzzled, but went silent so her son could continue.

Pebbles then spun a tale that was quite literally the story of his life.

****

Pebbles was an orphan, as he had no parents. His earliest memories were that of awakening inside a water-damaged cardboard box in an out-of-the-way alley. Thinking back on it, he had no idea how he survived back then, considering he had no mother to breastfeed him, but much like Long Di, his answer to that moment of realisation was… meh.

He had trouble surviving the streets as a street kitty. The other cats didn’t care if he starved and would steal whatever scraps he managed to get for himself. His street smarts developed, and he almost ended up in Juvie.

However, he was saved from that fate. One day, he was being chased by a cat catcher and was finally cornered. He had out-manoeuvred these cat catchers before, but apparently, his reputation preceded him and they came for him full force. He was about to be captured when a mysterious cat knocked out the person who was trying to catch him.

Pebbles was troubled by this act of goodwill as he had never experienced something like this before. He didn’t want to owe anybody and asked the cat what he wanted in return for saving his life.

This cat told him to address him only as his uncle and to follow him from that day on. No explanation was given about where he came from, who he was, or anything along those lines.

Pebbles always wanted to repay him, but that opportunity never came. About a week after that day, the true colours of that uncle came to light.

Every night, he came home drunk and high. Pebbles wasn’t sure what got him drunk, but he had a feeling his uncle was high on catnip. He could smell it on him.

Pebbles doesn’t remember exactly when the beatings started. Only that they took place and that they were the reasons why he had trouble sleeping at night.

This experience gave Pebbles a messed-up definition of love and care. After all, his uncle saved him, so he must care… right?

At the end of the day, whether he knew this answer didn’t matter. He wouldn’t leave this cat since he had yet to repay him.

The only time these dark clouds retreated a little was on a certain day. He saw a boy in the streets on a rainy day. He had neither an umbrella nor a raincoat like the other humans.

Blood ran down his body, and his face was devoid of hope. He sat on the ground in a corner of the streets, and no one paid him any heed.

Even as the rain pelted him, in his hands were a few sheets of paper that he was desperately trying to keep dry. Though his face was impassive, his eyes twinkled as he read what was on the page.

Pebbles never approached humans, but this was different somehow. Feeling a bit of curiosity, Pebbles approached the boy. When he got close enough, the latter stopped what he was doing and stared at him for a while, then asked a question, “Do you like isekai?”

The day he met Long Di was a day of days. They quickly became the best of friends and learned about each other’s interests.

Pebbles recounted several scenes in his life to his mother up until the point he died.

He then asked his mother at the end of his story. “Now this creature has a new lease on life and received a mother and father. He received no love as he did from his best friend, but massive expectations and a refusal of who he is at every turn. Should he love them? Can he love them?”

He heard a few growls and looked up to see tears pouring from his mother’s eyes.

“M-Mom!? Why are you cryi—”

“Long Tian Yan,” she called as softly as she ever did. “What do you know of a mother’s love?”

“I-I… don’t…” he mumbled into silence.

He used different names in his story and terms that he could use to help build her a picture so she could follow along, but her reaction made it appear as if she…

“I love you,” she said finally. She never said it before. The dragon race’s customs were a far cry from the humans, or even his last world.

With dragons, the concept of love has no root, and as such, it is not observed. Power, strength, will, courage and determination. These were the concepts observed by the dragons.

Pebbles understood this after years of living with them, but it was this love that Pebbles yearned for. He had lost his only friend for how many years now and his so-called family in both lives never gave him that love.

Yet, out of nowhere, his mother said something to him that shook him to his core.

He looked at her in bewilderment, “You lo—”

“Though love is not observed within our race, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, and I have it in spades for you, my child.”

Hearing this, he stared at her wide-eyed. Was it so simple to engender such a reaction from him? But he couldn’t help it. “Oh, what’s this?” he didn’t realise when he started crying and attempted to wipe his tears.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, his mother got up and extended her massive wings.

“W-Where are you going!?” he asked her in a rush, confused by the emotions that ran rampant within him.

“I have a visit to pay,” she said softly as she lowered her massive head to touch his. “I shall meet this Long Di of yours.”

He panicked when he heard this, “Mother ple—”

“I shall see if he is worthy of your love is all…” saying this, she leapt from the cliff’s edge and allowed her colossal wings to take flight. A whisper in the wind was all that greeted him as she left.

“Continue your training my son…”