I Became a Tentacle Monster Blooming in the Academy Garden 89

## Chapter 89 – Widow Spider’s Memory (4)

If asked if there had ever been a meeting in her life that was so unwelcome, Leah would probably have thought this.

Even the one who had buttered up her parents to put her in the lab was less hateful than this guy.

“H-hello…?”

The appearance of a small, cute boy-shaped ‘male’ who had appeared before them at some point had been causing turmoil in their lives.

Unlike Leah, who had become wary of the first male she had encountered since escaping the lab grounds and after things had turned out this way.

Good-natured Yunmei greeted the boy happily, as she always did.

If only she had done as Yunmei had done at that time.

Could things have turned out a little differently?

“I’m Fey. What’s your name…?”

“I’m Yunmei, and this is Leah!! Nice to meet you!!
There’s only us here…!! We’ve got a new friend?”

As it turned out, after the male Arachne boy, Fey, joined them, the warm and heartwarming atmosphere of the past gradually began to disappear.

Instead, a boisterous atmosphere, filled with laughter, jokes, and mutual amusement, began to flow between the three of them.

Unlike Leah, who preferred it when it was just her and Yunmei, Yunmei seemed to be overjoyed to have a new friend.

So Leah, who always bickered but still took care of Yunmei, couldn’t bring herself to disappoint Yunmei, who was so happy to have a new friend, and had no choice but to tolerate Fey’s presence.

But from what moment was it?

That she began to sense the subtle undercurrent between Yunmei and Fey.

Leaving Yunmei, who said she didn’t feel like hunting today, Leah went out of her way to barely secure a small prey, and felt a slight tremor at the terrible premonition that was already coming from the front of the hideout.

This feeling of her whole body’s hair standing on end.

This filthy feeling, as if she was being robbed of something precious.

As she suppressed all sorts of negative feelings and entered the hideout, she saw her friend and the boy embracing each other and leaning on each other as they slept.

Leah roughly dropped the prey she had hunted in the warehouse next door and left the hideout, never to return there again.

Her friend, who no longer looked only at her.

But she also knew that the boy who was the reason for it, Fey, was not a bad kid at all.

She also knew that Fey, a kind boy who seemed to have been born to be a pair with Yunmei, would cherish Yunmei.

That’s why Leah chose to simply disappear rather than suppress emotions that were too difficult to bear.

And that choice seemed to be working out perfectly.

At least for a year.

She made a new home near her favorite hunting grounds and lived there, occasionally watching Yunmei and Fey from afar.

Yunmei, who had been looking depressed for a while, and Fey, who was doing his best to comfort her.

But time, or rather love, seemed to solve many things, and Yunmei gradually began to smile again, and soon began to share deeper emotional exchanges with Fey.

And at some point, as if they had opened their eyes to each other’s feelings, they occasionally showed the kind of behavior that a couple might show.

“Fey… Feyyy…!! I love you… *sob*…!!”

“Yu… Yunmei…!! Yunmei…!!”

Even though Leah’s indifferent but surprised eyes were slightly shadowed as she watched them, it was okay.

Because her only friend was gradually becoming happier.

Because they were finding a greater meaning in life than herself, and even though it wasn’t her by their side, they were becoming happier.

But the problem began in a way that she couldn’t even imagine at the time.

Yunmei gradually spent less and less time outside the hideout, and at some point, she didn’t show her face outside the hideout at all, and Fey’s incomprehensible behavior of going in and out of the hideout day after day with a face as if he was being chased by something.

As a result, Leah, who had been agonizing over it for three full days, finally made a decision and was able to set foot in the nest she had left with her own feet for the first time in a year.

“Leah… Leah…?”

“Yunmei…”

“Now I can… feel it with my web too… I’ve been practicing…
It’s not Fey’s feeling… so it’s Leah, right…?”

Yunmei, who was so gaunt as if she had malnutrition, struggled to move her emaciated body and slowly got up, holding her swollen belly, and walked towards Leah.

Seeing Yunmei’s unnatural appearance, as if she were seeing children with malnutrition and only swollen bellies, Leah felt a momentary dizziness strike her head.

“Ah… I think… I’m pregnant.”

“Is that so… It might take a lifetime to think of baby names?”

“I’m going to put those worries off until later…
Because there’s nothing I can do…
I saved some meat for you…!!
Take it when you leave…!!”

“You eat it. Didn’t you say you’re pregnant?
I don’t think you’ll have time to worry about me.
Haa… you’re trying to go down a difficult path…”

At Yunmei’s voice, which was weak and drooping but still throwing jokes, Leah’s eyes welled up with tears in an instant, and she turned around and put down a few pieces of meat that she had brought just in case.

“I’ll come see you sometimes…”

“Okay… it’s been a while, Leah…
If this isn’t a dream… show me your face often…
Because I really… missed you… okay…?”

Leah ran out of the hideout as if fleeing at Yunmei’s heartfelt last words.

Unable to wipe away the tears that were already flowing from her eyes because she was thinking so much, she just moved her steps blankly.

Yunmei’s appearance, which looked so painful, and yet the appearance of trying to smile with difficulty as if not trying to show how hard it was, was coming to her mind again as if it were right in front of her.

“Leah… Leah…!! I was worried because you suddenly disappeared!!
What happened? Did you have a good time?
Yunmei was very worried too, you know?”

In the midst of all this, Leah slowly raised her head at Fey’s shout, whom she had unfortunately run into at this very moment.

“It’s good to see you!! Yunmei has been waiting for you so much!
She’ll definitely be happy to see you…!! Go in quickly…”

“I already met her…”

“Uh… uh…?”

Leah glared at Fey with tearful eyes, who was momentarily flustered at Leah’s words, as if he realized that she had seen Yunmei.

“Why are you making Yunmei…
Why are you making Yunmei suffer…?”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t think it would be this hard…
I… I really couldn’t imagine it… I’m sorry…
From the moment she conceived… from then on… definitely…
She got so skinny so quickly that it was scary…”

“It’s your fault…!! It’s your fault…!!
If you hadn’t shown up…
If only we had stayed in those days when only me and Yunmei lived together…!!”

“Leah…”

“Take responsibility no matter what…!!
Take responsibility… no matter what…!!
Yunmei… *sob*… Yunmei…”

Eventually, Fey, who couldn’t answer, lowered his head powerlessly with a blank expression, and Leah, who couldn’t continue speaking either, ran forward as her feet led her.

This was just providence.

But their situation surrounding that providence was just too bad.

So it was clear that this was not Fey’s fault.

And yet, she had blamed Fey, who seemed to be in as much pain as Yunmei.

It would have been better if he had resented her for saying such mean things.

Even in the midst of that, Fey’s appearance of lowering his head as if he were a guilty person who had nothing to say was making her, who had only been a bystander, feel even more pathetic.

Leah spent three days regretting and agonizing over what to do and how to face Fey’s and Yunmei’s faces.

But she was finally able to conclude that if she, who had been a bystander, didn’t start something, she wouldn’t be able to do anything anymore, and that there might not be a next time.

Having barely made up her mind, Leah’s steps, carrying all the prey she had caught and sorted out in the meantime, albeit lacking, and heading towards the home of everyone in those nostalgic days, were filled with a ray of hope.

If she and Fey hunted together, and reduced the amount they could eat as much as possible, and gave it all to Yunmei.

Then they would be able to get through the immediate crisis somehow.

“It was my fault for leaving you behind, Yunmei…
I’m sorry… I’m going to ask for forgiveness even now…
So this time… let’s overcome it together…”