Mimi Pearlbaton's Bite of Love and Passion

1

The moment she caught a glimpse of that person, lightning rumbled and thundered throughout Mimi’s entire body. “Woaaa.”

“Huh? What’re you starin’ at, ya little pipsqueak?”

Boom! While being struck by the lightning, Mimi forgot the impact within an instant and stared at her opponent—a golden-haired boy that had crinkled his nose. He had spiky gold hair, sharp emerald eyes, jagged teeth that had been forged by chewing on hard objects often, and somewhat of a wild-style, edgy outfit. Everything about him rumbled and thundered through her.

“I see, I see. You are quite good. Mimi has liked you quite a lot.”

“Huh?”

“Name! You are good to tell Mimi your name! Mimi is Mimi! Duper strongest Vice Capain!” Mimi pointed her hands towards the sky and energetically announced her name.

The boy was puzzled for a second after he heard her announce her name, but he immediately changed his expression into a competitive one. He proudly hit his chest and shut his mouth, making a loud sound with his fangs. “Hah! That’s really bold of you to declare yourself the strongest in front of my amazin’ self! It’s the thing called ‘Galaown’s declaration of war’!”

“Galaoun! I have no idea what that is! Is that your name?”

“Not at all! My amazin’ self is Garfiel Tinzel! Lady Emilia’s Shield and the Perfect Guardian! I’m the Gorgeous Tiger!”

“Oooh! That’s super duper amazing! Which one is your name?!”

“Garfiel Tinzel!”

“Garfiel!” Mimi repeated excitedly.

The boy’s—Garfiel’s—introduction came with energetic poses made by bending, stretching, and spreading his arms. Mimi responded by perking up her ears and jumping up dramatically. The staff in her hand slipped out and hit Joshua, the slender young man sitting next to her. Impaaminence.

“Ouch?!” the young man screamed, but Mimi paid him no mind.

“Garfiel… Mmm, Garfiel…”

“Don’t mumble my name again and again. Are ya stuck or…ouh!” Garfiel frowned at Mimi, who’d crossed her short arms and was groaning, then screamed and hastily looked behind him.

A pink-haired maid stood imposingly behind Garfiel. “How long are you going to keep our guest standing at the entrance? Hurry up and show them the way, Garf.”

“Well, ain’t it your job as a maid, Ram?”

“You don’t get it at all. A man who is good at things should naturally take over the work of a woman who can’t do anything… Wait, who are you calling a useless woman? Ram is going to smack you.”

“My amazin’ self hasn’t said anythin’!”

“Hmph.” The maid sneered at Garfiel after making an unreasonable demand.

Mimi’s eyes widened with surprise at the exchange of words occurring in front of her and then jumped, landing on the foot of the young man who had picked up the staff. “Not again!” he screamed tearily.

Mimi, not seeming to care, pointed her finger at Garfiel. “Garf! Garf seems better! Mimi will call ya that too! Garf it is!”

“Hey, only my family can call me… Ahh, she’s seriously throwing me off my game. The hell is she?” Garfiel roughly scratched his head, his expression a mixture of caution and confusion.

“She’s a guest,” Ram informed him. “A rather cuddly-looking one at that.”

Mimi nodded repeatedly as she watched the maid next to her hugging her elbows. “Garf,” she repeated the short yet pleasant sound under her breath. It felt good, as if she had rolled the lightning that had struck her in her chest into a ball and juggled with it. “This is probably the thing that Roshi was takling about! Rumble rumble boom’s passionne!”

This was Mimi Pearlbaton’s first impression of Garfiel Tinzel when she met him for the first time, and all of her feelings after that.

2

Mimi Pearlbaton was the eldest among the three siblings, which essentially made her the strengthiest by default. It probably was neither logical nor made any sense, but that was ok to Mimi. She was the elder sister to her two brothers Hetaro and Tivey, so she had an obligaetion.

In order to protect them, being the strenghiest was the best way, so she was the strenghiest. The eldest sister is strong and kewl—that was the reason and philosophy that made Mimi who she was. It was a conclusion the pink and blonde-haired maid would strongly agree with, and in fact, the reason why she had been living with full vigor until now was rooted in this.

The people who are supporting Mimi’s philosophy are ma’lady, Anastasia, and apart from Ricardo, who’s the capain, and everyone in the Iron Fang, Mimi will include Julius and Joshua in it too. Joshua might cry if Mimi forgets about him, so it can’t be hepled. And someone to not forget is Roshi, who taught Mimi a lot of things in the beginning. Roshi is a strange old man who saved the three of us when we were wandering around Kararagi’s slums and on the verge of death. He’s something of a savior to us.

“If it hadn’t been for Roshi back then, it would have not ended well for Mimi!”

It was when Tivey was about to get caught by the kidnappers and Mimi, who had obstructed it, got stabbed in the belly by Mimi’s opponent. Mimi got stabbed four times when she was two years old, so Mimi was only at the beginning stage of being the strenghtiest, so even Mimi’s life was in extreme danger.

While they were running for their lives while Hetaro was dealing with a stomach wound as bad as Mimi’s, an old man suddenly appeared in front of Mimi when her wound started to feel better.

“Blease zave, big brro and elder zuster…”

Mimi remembers Tivey crying and screaming with us on his back when we were in a dangerous situation. Even Mimi deeply reflected on that. It’s a failure of the elder sister to make her younger brother cry. That was the only time Tivey had ever cried like that. Whenever Mimi asks Tivey about that time, he responds with, “There wasn’t such a time, there wasn’t.” He is extremely forgetful.

Mimi is getting way off topic. Anyway, the old man who appeared was Roshi. He took us, who were worn out in many ways, to his shack, tended to our wounds, and provided food.

“Well, there isn’t any deep meaning behind it,” Roshi said. “It’s justa that I felt like I wanta live a life that the Sun would be proud of, so I couldn’t leave the three dirty cats abandoned on the street behind.”

Roshi, who had picked up Mimi and her siblings, laughed with his dirty clothes and his ugly face lacking a few teeth. After that, the three cat’s and Roshi’s life began. The three of them didn’t know anything, as they were just kittens. The three kitten siblings were taught the means to survive and they steudied and were taught this and that by Roshi, who was very knowledgeable.

The energetic and strenghtiest Mimi was taught how to fight. The kind and crybaby Hetaro was taught how to live cautiously. And the wise and high-strewng Tivey was taught a lot of knowledge. Roshi had always said that it would definitely help the three of them in the future.

There was something else he said often; Roshi often talked about three important things.

“Listen, Mimi. Don’t talk bad about people. And don’t be someone who breaks promises. Just one more thing: have one thing that you’re second to none in.”

“Hmm, hmm, hmm. Hmm! Why thouhg?”

“It’s obvious. A person who talks bad about others will end up being alone. It’s far wiser to not speak bad from the beginning. A person who breaks promises will also end up being alone. So, it’s obviously better to follow this advice. And the last one…”

“The last one is?”

“...You’ll see tons of good and bad things while you’re alive. You might only see the bad things in the people you are with, but it can’t be helped. But it isn’t like everything about that person is bad. Humans are just a cluster of flaws. So, be the best you can be at one thing, and that will…”

“And tat will?”

“Give you full points. My cute, dirty, cat daughter, you will be able to be a full point.”

After saying that, Roshi smiled, showing off his chipped teeth. His teeth were yellow, his face was full of wrinkles, and his balding head with patches of white hair seemed like it hadn’t been washed in a while and reeked, but Mimi liked that smiling face. And the word ‘full point’ made her heart flutter. She felt like a full point was something amazing. A woman who’ll become a full point, Mimi.

“So, what if it was a hundrd things instead?” Mimi asked.

“Hm?”

“If ine can be a full point then what would it be if there were a hundrd? Would Mimi be more amazning than Roshi?”

“—Aha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha! That sounds amazing! A hundred you say! A hundred things that you are second to none in! In that case, if one can give you a full point, then a hundred things will make you a hundred full points!”

“Oooh! A hundrd full points! That sounds really amazining! Mimi would be a giant ameng men!”

Roshi slapped his knee as Mimi laughed and hopped around. The walls of the shack broke and tilted since they were going wild, but the two didn’t care about that at the moment.

Roshi picked up Mimi and lifted her up to the point that she almost hit the ceiling and said, “Listen, my hundred full points daughter! You may have many things happening in your life from now on, but don’t forget my teachings, and keep up that high spirit of yours… Well, it’s not something that I need to tell you!”

“Yeah, you don’t need to tel me! De-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“Oh wait, you need to stop laughing like an idiot like that. Since you won’t be able to grasp hearts that way.”

“Grasp hearts? What’s that? Mimi is strong so everything can be grasped easily!”

“Whoa, this has nothing to do with strength. But it’s difficult to explain. And on top of that, I guess it’s parental love? It makes me feel deeply uneasy when I think about whether you’ll be able to grasp hearts or not. Bloody hell!”

“Bloody hell!” Mimi mimicked Roshi’s energetic voice and waited for him to continue.

Seeing her wait, Roshi scratched his nose, looking uncomfortable, and continued. “Whatever, the hell with it. Listen, Mimi, I won’t feel like explaining it no matter what. But you’ll know it anyway when the time comes. Oh, you know what lightning is, right?”

“The one that goes rumble rumble boom?”

“Yeah, that. A time will come when the lightning makes your chest go rumble rumble boom. That’s a sign, so hold on to it tight and don’t let it escape.”

“Tight… What should I not let go of?”

“Heh.” Roshi laughed at Mimi’s question. And after taking a pause, he smiled at her with his chipped teeth. “It’s obvious—the thing called fate.”

“Fait!!”

3

And so, the rumble rumble boom has happened now, and this is Mimi’s fait. Mimi hasn’t asked about it in detail, so Mimi doesn’t know much about it, but if the person who has made the rumble rumble boom happen is Mimi’s fait, then Mimi’s fait is Garfiel.

“Stare, stare.” While shaking her legs on the sofa in the drawing room, Mimi gazed at Garfiel sitting on the other side.

Mimi has been carefully looking at him for a while now, but her first impression hasn’t changed. It hasn’t changed, but Mimi’s face and heart are burning intensely and passionnattely. Fait is something to be feared. Mimi thought that Mimi was just going to be Joshua’s guared today, but Joshua went down the priority ladder.

“Nom.”

“Mi-Mimi? I want you to stop chewing on my sleeve…”

“Ooh! Oh, your clothes are kinda damp, Joshua, what happened?”

“You chewed on it! What on earth is up with you?! You’ve been acting weird for a while now!”

Joshua, who’s next to Mimi, is playing around and swinging his drool- soaked sleeves. ‘A kid who isn’t calm in someone else’s house isn’t a good kid.’ That’s what ma’lady had told Mimi. Mimi let out a deep sigh. “Joshua, don’t be too noisy, alright? We didn’t come here to play,” she said, urging him to take the situation into account.

With Mimi giving a proper lecture, Joshua slumped his shoulders and began reflecting. “Argh… I have a lot of things to say, but to make things short, you are right about this…!”

The silver-haired girl in front of them—Emilia—laughed when she saw how the two of them were acting. “A-ha, you two are reaaally close, aren’t you? It felt funny watching you two.”

“I’m… I’m embarrassed to show you such a thing as a messenger…” Joshua said with a reddened face.

The greenish person sitting next to Emilia lowered his brows at that. “No, don’t worry about it. It might not be the right thing to say, but I feel closer to you this way…”

Joshua replied to that response with a “No, no,” and the other person responded with “No, no, no.” Mimi blinked her eyes wondering what they were doing and heightened her alertness.

Joshua is thin and weak, so Mimi has to protect him as a guared. Julius has properly requested Mimi to do that. Mimi accepted Julius’s request saying it can’t be helpd. Just like how Mimi is the eldest sister, Julius is also an elder brother, so he carries a lot of burdens too. So, Mimi is going to concentrate on being a guared and—

“Yo, pipsqueak. Do you have some business with my amazin’ self?”

“Woahaaa!”

Mimi thought of concentrating on being a guared, but she got called out by the reason why she couldn’t concentrate at all, which startled her and caused her to jump up and land on Joshua’s lap. Joshua was startled by the sudden turn of events and exclaimed, “Ueee!” but Mimi had no time to spare any attention to that. Hang in there, Joshua.

Instead, Mimi didn’t let her eyes off Garfiel, who had his eyes wide open in surprise. “W-W-What’s wron’ with you?”

“—? Why did Mimi just jump? Everything is a mysterie!”

“Ain’t it about you? Nobody is gonna know if you don’t,” Garfiel said, smiling lethargically.

Mimi understood that as his ferocious and wild smile and became more and more restless. And there…

“Excuse me. I had Petra go get Barusu just now. He will eventually… Oh my.”

“Hiyaaah!” Mimi shouted. The pink-haired maid had opened the door at just the right time, so Mimi slipped past her side and jumped into the hallway. At that time, Joshua, whose abdomen had been used as footing, cried, “Ugh!” but she left him behind like a gust of wind and retreated swiftly.

“Ayaya, ayaya, rumble rumble boom!!” Mimi couldn’t stay in that place and had no option but to run with all her might, carried by her impulse.

“What was all that about?” Ram asked everyone present in the room while looking at Mimi’s back, who had suddenly ran out.

“Beats me.” Garfiel responded to her question, scratching his head. “My amazin’ self has no idea either. And wouldn’t it be dangerous to leave her like that?! Who knows what that little pipsqueak will do inside the mansion.”

Ram scowled with her well-defined brows at Garfiel’s words. Then she glared at him and closed the door softly behind her back.

“Hey, Ram? The hell are you thin…gaa ouh?!” When Garfiel challenged her decision, the maid flicked his forehead and sighed in exasperation.

“Shut up, Garf. She isn’t going to do anything bad even if we leave her be…it’s simply that it was getting hard for her to be here.”

Garfiel, Emilia, and Joshua, who was rubbing his abdomen in pain, looked confused at Ram’s words; only Otto had a bitter smile, expressing that he knew what was happening, but Ram thought that it also was an annoying response.

“Ah well…leaving aside Lady Emilia, you men are so inconsiderate.”

“—? Why was I given special treatment?”

Emilia tilted her head, and Ram didn’t respond. She just recalled the side profile of the small kitten-human girl as she slipped by her and ran to the other side of the closed door. I’ll keep the fact that her face was as red as an appa to myself, Ram thought. That was her own way of showing mercy as a fellow maiden in love.

END