The legs sticking out from the shorts still had fur, though they seemed shaped a bit differently than he remembered.
Without thinking, he bent his legs and sat down on the bed. It felt strange—he'd never sat like this before.
He wrapped his tail around his stomach and was relieved to see it was still the same fluffy white tail as his mother's.
He patted his face with his hand. It didn't feel like the face he remembered. It was different. Not his. But he could still feel his ears twitching on top of his head, so clearly, not everything had changed.
What is happening to me? What's going on?!
Totally confused, Bao Bei sat frozen on the bed. That's when the door to the room opened.
A small face peeked in—then stepped inside.
It was… a human child!
Bao Bei's tail puffed up on instinct, standing on end. He pressed his hands into the sheets and let out a low growl, trying his best to look threatening.
"Whoa! He's tiny!"
"He's so white like a snow!"
"He's also look so cute!"
"His fur looks fluffy too."
"However, looks, he had other colors too like he's been patched together!"
The children pointed at him and laughed, shouting, "patched together!"
They didn't throw stones or try to grab him, though. That was a relief. Realizing that, Bao Bei calmed down just a little—and then he noticed something new.
All the children had ears on top of their heads. And not just one kind—there were all sorts of different shapes. One of the kids even had a tail.
Wait a second… Do humans have ears and tails like that?
"Of course they do! You're just a dumb little guy who doesn't know anything!" said Judy with his long rabbit ears while puffing out his chest proudly.
Judy, who would be turning one year old soon, was about seventy centimeters tall. Bao Bei didn't even look like he was fifty centimeters. Judy had always been the smallest in the group, so now that there was someone even smaller, he couldn't hide how happy it made him to act superior.
They both wore the same gray knee-length smocks with short pants. Judy's legs were covered in soft, mouse-colored fur. His face and hands had a pale grayish tone, and his eyes were black.
Compared to Bao Bei—who was still only in a smock and underwear— Judy looked much more like a big brother. He spoke in slightly broken words but full of pride.
"I'm rabbit-ears. Mandy's got cat-ears. And you've got dog-ears."
"Are we humans?" Bao Bei asked.
"No way! We're Beastmen!"
"Beast… men?"
"Beastmen means people who are part animal and part human," explained Finnick, the apprentice priest, as he set down a bowl of vegetable soup in front of Bao Bei, who was tilting his head in confusion.
Finnick had brown fox ears. He was twenty-three years old, and a curled brown tail stuck out from his long black priest's robe. His short, curly brown hair framed a face with warm, light brown skin. Though he stood at 175 centimeters—not particularly tall for a Beastmen—to Bao Bei, he looked like a towering tree.