Extra: Soap Bubbles

  Soap bubbles, Rokuko, and Meat.

  On that day, Rokuko, having purchased something interesting from a peddler, was looking for someone to show it off to.

  And she’d found Meat training in the backyard.

  “Hey, Meat, come here for a sec and check this out.”


  “What is it, Rokuko-sama?”


  Suddenly, Rokuko took out a long and slender bottle.

  She thought that it was something to drink, but it didn’t appear to be so.

  “It’s something strange I bought from a peddler, he said he purchased it from Spanner’s Store or something. It’s a toy you play with, soap bubbles!” [1]

  “Soap bubbles…?”


  “Yeah, so let’s play!”


  Rokuko put the tip of the cap into the liquid inside the small bottle and, taking it out, blew into the liquid that had adhered to the item.

  Upon doing so, a large bubble formed on its other side, shaking and undulating as it expanded—


  —until it popped.

  “Wow! The bubble was suuuper big right!?”


  “Yeah, its coloring was beautiful.”


  “But it’s pretty hard. There’s a trick to making it big like that. Meat, here, you give it a try.”


  Saying that, Rokuko passed the small bottle over to Meat.

  Meat imitated how Rokuko dipped the part of the cap into the bottle, pulled it back out and blew on it.

  With that, tiny soap bubbles formed and blew away.

  “Ahahaha, you blew way too hard! You have to blow more gently to make the really big ones!”


  “Mmuu, it’s hard. But aren’t the small ones beautiful too?”


  “Yeah, they’re just always beautiful.”


  The soap bubbles drifted about in the air. Meat tried poking them.

  … But they dodged her.

  “Muuu.”


  She tried poking two or three more times, but she couldn’t touch them for some reason.

  It was like they had wills of their own or something.

  She started to get worked up about it and pulled out her blade golem on reflex.

  Slicing at one after setting it as her mark, she cut it cleanly in two, its two halves rolling up simultaneously as it popped.

  Meat let out her breath, contented.

  “… There.”


  “Hohoh.”


  Seeing that, Rokuko held up the small tube and blew tiny bubbles over to Meat.

  “!”


  Ping, ping. Meat chased after the soap bubbles, slicing each of them.

  Chasing them out of instinct, she cut through them.

  “Ooh, you can do it, Meat! Look, there’s some behind you too!”


  “Teeeyah!”


  Meat kept chasing them, popping them all left and right.

  Virtually all of the bubbles popped, Meat let out another satisfied breath.

  … But Rokuko took the chance to blow more bubbles.

  “…!”


  “Take this! Can you win against my Bubble Army!?”


  Meat’s tail wagged back and forth.

  This had become something that wasn’t mere playing. Again, playing with soap bubbles had become something other than playing.

  Rokuko continued blowing the bubbles until the liquid ran out, with Meat continuing the pop each and every one in opposition.

  … As a result, Rokuko’s mouth was soaked with the soapy liquid, but that’s a story for another time.

  Footnotes:

  Spanner is part of the author’s pen name, Onikage Spanner