Monstrous Distinction Part 11 Draft (Patreon)

Something unthinkable had just happened right in front of Fuutarou’s nose and that even though he really tried his best to avoid any and all situations where his curse might affect another quin. But there was nothing he could do now as he somehow tried to collect his thoughts while getting dragged away by Yotsuba by the hand.

“Hey! Yotsuba! Stop! You shouldn’t…” Fuutarou let out in a panic, even though he was 99% sure that it was already too late for her. Yet something deep within him just didn't want that to be true.

“This is so unlike you, Uesugi-san~ I have never seen you panik like this before, you know~” Yotsuba chimed, finally slowing down from her run down the street. She just smiled at him innocently and added. “I always thought there would be nothing that could get you riled up this much~”

“Listen, Yotsuba! Please let go of my hand. You don’t know what you are dealing with here…” Fuutarou let out, trying to look serious at Yotsuba’s face. Though his eyes went wide when Yotsuba’s expression briefly darkened, before snapping back to her usual cheerful attitude.

“You are right. I don’t. But I have a feeling that neither you nor Ichika fully understand this curse either.” Yotsuba said, quite seriously for her expression, before she suddenly yelped. “Eep~ Oh~ That felt strange… Hehe, i think it's starting~”

Yotsuba did a simple hop backwards, but without letting go of Fuutarou’s hand, then looked downwards at her feet in a mixture of excitement and amazement. It didn't take long for him to also look down at her feet and watch how Yotsuba’s body slowly started to shift.

At first there wasn’t much to see, but seconds later her shoes started to bend in weird ways, like her feet were getting rounder. Fur started to spread up her legs out of her socks as her legs started to inflate in thickness, though it looked more like the muscles inside them were rapidly growing. Seeing such an abnormal phenomenon was insanely perplexing for the realist Fuutarou, even if it technically already happened 2 other times before his nose.

“I feel like running!” Yotsuba chimed.

“You what?!?” Fuutarou let out in shock.

“Hold on tight!” Yotsuba shouted and turned around, not letting go of Fuutarou’s hand, before she just rockeded off, dragging Fuutarou behind her as she did. To be honest, Fuutarou had no chance of keeping up if she went all out, but Yotsuba did thankfully slow down a bit right after taking off, though what she said next didn't make him feel better in the slightest. “Jump on! I can carry you!”

“You're crazy!” Fuutarou shouted. With what little rational thinking he managed to conjure up he could relatively confidently say that even if Yotsuba was super sporty, fast and agile, there was no chance that she could carry a fully grown boy on her back. Not to mention how stupid that would look like.

“Trust me! My gut feeling tells me that I can easily do it! And that's a gut feeling backed by a witch and a curse, so it must be true~” Yotsuba grinned and slowed down even more for a sec, while kneeling down a bit. And when Fuutarou nearly ran into her, she took his second hand behind her back and almost threw him on her back, which in turn made Fuutarou hold onto Yotsuba's waist for dear life.

“Wow, you are light. Well, off we go~” The hyperactive girl laughed and started running again, this time even faster than she did before. And after a few steps, Fuutarou could hear sort of a ripping sounds getting louder and louder, until…

Ripppp!!! Clop, Clop, Clop, Clop~

It didn't take long for Fuutarou to realize that Yotsuba’s shoes had just snapped in half and were left on the track behind her, only to slowly fade away into dark mist. Fuutarou had to look back a second time to make sure he saw that right, but indeed, there was no trace left of Yotsuba’s shoes, but instead there was this clopping sound in the air, more specifically everytime the energetic quin took a step.

Though Yotsuba clearly didn’t pay attention to it or even looked like she cared. This was when Fuutarou realized that there was nothing he could do or say to stop her. Going even a step further it looked a lot like Yotsuba WANTED this outcome, which was simply something he needed to confirm before he prematurely jumped to conclusions. For way too long had Fuutarou let his emotions run wild, now it was time to approach this situation analytically again and find out what was going on.

“Alright Yotsuba. Why did you touch me? Did you know what would happen?” Fuutarou asked in a serious tone, though his eyes were somewhat closed. He still wasn't comfortable being carried around by a girl that was like 20 centimeters shorter than him, but right now, he just had to put up with it.

“Ahahah~ Ha? Ichika and Itsuki filled me in yesterday. They looked so… down. I wanted to help.” Yotsuba admitted, suddenly leaning forward and speeding up even more down the street. “They explained the curse again and then started to talk about their feelings. I wanted to help, but I was just unsure how.”

“So you touched me to help?” Fuutarou asked, trying to make sense of Yotsuba’s logic. Though he did get the feeling like it was easier to think now, as when Yotsuba leaned forward, it was almost like… he could sit on her back? Nah, that couldn’t be…

“Nope, silly. If I have learned one thing, then that is that when there is something magical, just don’t avoid it~” She laughed, making Fuutarou squint even harder. He was about to shout ‘what’, when Yotsuba explained further. “Itsuki was really scared of you, because one touch and ‘Bam!’, magic would take over. She tries to stay close to you to get through school and at the same time just don’t be clumsy and touch you.”

Then Yotsuba finally slowed down a bit and laughed softly. ”Ichika on the other hand feels guilty every time such an accident happens, since she thinks it's her fault. And I can’t really help her with that.”

As Yotsuba finally arrived at a walking pace Fuutarou opened his eyes to see her pridefully put her hands on her hips and announced. “So I thought about it all night and came up with a brilliant idea. If I am too clumsy to ‘not touch you’ and Ichika feels bad if an accident happens, then I just need to make sure no accident happens. So I just took your hand on purpose.”

Fuutarou blinked, trying to make sure that he heard her correctly. He put one of his hands on his chin and started to digest what Yotsuba had just said. He wondered out loud. “So in other words: Rather than fearing the inevitable mistake, you just wanted it to be over in a way where Ichika wouldn't feel bad?”

“Yup. If someone asked, this was 100% my mistake and no one else's. You and Nino tried to stop me, but I was so stupid and still did it. So it was my mistake and my mistake alone.” Yotsuba announced proudly, turning her head around to flash Fuutarou her trademark smile. And Fuutarou just had to internally admit defeat and chuckle.

“Alright, we can tell it to the others like that. But another question: How am I sitting on your back even though you are walking upright?” Fuutarou asked, suddenly being very afraid of looking down to check on that by himself.

“Huh? Uhm… I… I don’t understand the question?” Yotsuba tilted her head, looking visibly confused. After one deep breath, Fuutarou asked. “Do you mind letting me down for a second?”

And as Yotsuba came to a stop and Fuutarou climbed down the obviously strangely shaped seat, he took a step back and looked at the new form of the quin in front of him, though he did shake a bit as he took in the sight.

The energetic quin now sported four hooved legs and a back that extended far further backwards than the back of any human. Additionally, her entire lower body was now fully covered in brown fur and even from her behind, that was so far back that she probably couldn't even reach it with her hands anymore, a horse-like tail in the same color as her hair had sprouted.

And finally Yotsuba’s horse-legs not only looked way more toned and stronger than her human equivalent ever did, but also she as a whole looked like she had gained almost a meter in height, now easily looking down at Fuutarou who would be considered tall under almost every human measurements. No wonder she could so effortlessly carry him around.

Yotsuba was a centaur now.

“Ugh… it’s gonna take a while to get used to you having four legs, that's for sure. But I am confident that we can do it.” Fuutarou laughed, then looked at Yotsuba, determination in his eyes.

“Huh? What is there to get used to? Are my legs weird?” Yotsuba panicingly looked down at her four legs, stomping around a bit as she tried to figure something out desperately.

“...you turned into a centaur. That's what happened to your legs.” Fuutarou answered, deadpanned, though Yotsuba’s response grew even more panickingly. “Oh my goodness! You’re right! I am a centaur! When did that happen? Uesugi-san! Help meeeeeeeee~”

Oh boy. Good to know that Yotsuba was still good old Yotsuba deep inside…

—

Yotsuba hastily dragged off Fuutarou last time. Did she have a plan in mind or was it just her airheadedness acting up?