TakuNeri Volume 1: TakuNeri: My Love is a Princess, I am Her Knight, #1

By Fei Nerine

Twenty-year-old Takumi Miyashiro is childhood friends with Nerisu Himenomiya, the princess of Dreilune. What she's hopelessly oblivious to, and he's hopelessly realised, is that he has an obsession with her. Armed with his shrine of Nerisu memorabilia and armour... Oh, didn't you know? She said she wanted a knight to protect her, so he swore to become the strongest knight who would ever live!

A romantic comedy about a shy cat boy and energetic half-alien princess begins!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fei Nerine
• Release date: Jan 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201816704

Book preview

Chapter 1

Beginning With The Princess

I sit in my bedroom, struggling to get to sleep. I began to recount what had happened in my past, notably due to how one person I knew changed my life – for the better? I didn’t know yet.

...But before I start, let me introduce myself. I’m Takumi Miyashiro, a twenty-year-old cat boy who is training to become a knight. I don’t really have many friends, because I find it hard to socialise with people who seem scary… Most people seem scary to me. Anyway...

It all started back when I was eight years old… Takumi, we’re here! My mother called out to me, her long, platinum blonde hair hitting her waist as she wore a blue sundress with white sandals. Her eyes were a deep blue, I inherited her hair colour and eye colour, just not her short height. Well, you wouldn’t know because this is a flashback! A-And, I’m like, only eight here so it’s not like the present day where I’m older— Ahh, whatever!!

Moving on, my parents and I arrived at a large building. Ribbons and posters of a family could be seen all over the area, inside and outside. The father had short, purple hair, and the mother had creamy white, flowing hair. Aside from that, I remember the building had a lot of seats inside. I had no idea why until afterward.

As my parents and I were waiting in line behind the multitude of guests, I heard murmuring about the royalty of this country. They were talking about the daughter of these two, saying she looked like a promising child based on how her parents spoke about her. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but I looked over at my mother who held my hand.

Mama, why are we here? I asked. We’re here to see the interview between our king and queen with their daughter. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so we couldn’t miss it! She held my hand tightly.

She’s around your age! I hear she’s a real cutie, haha. My father added. I shrugged my shoulders.

While it sounded cool to witness an interview with the governing royalty of the country we lived in, all I liked to do at that time was read and play video games by myself.

I… wasn’t very social, you could say. The line moved and we found our seats toward the middle, and my eyes widened when I saw a young girl sit on her mother’s lap. My cat ears began to twitch. With long, back-length purple hair and bright, sky blue eyes, she introduced herself with a big smile.

Hellos hellos! IIIII’m Nerisu Himenomiya, the princess of Dreilune! She introduced herself with a high-pitched, childish voice. She was cute, totally cute! I wasn’t in love with her, no way, but she charmed me. Luckily enough, the interview was focused on her. Lots of questions were asked concerning her hobbies and preferences.

She answered that she enjoyed drawing, the colour light green, reading, watching TV, cats, video games, cutie animals and good food. She seemed very social, as she talked about a group of friends she had, one of them being her bodyguard. Some people seemed repulsed by the way she talked, and she looked sad at times as she looked around at the people making bad faces whenever she spoke, but that made me want to see her be happy.

I wished I could talk to her right then.

The session ended an hour later, but I wanted more. I wanted to talk to this bright girl who was around my age but it seemed impossible at the time…

Mama, Papa, how do I talk to… Nerisu? I questioned my parents, while my mother began to pet my head which made me purr.

Hmm… There’s no way we can arrange a meeting with them, so you’ll have to write a letter addressed to her! You can do that, you’re a smart boy! My father responded, giving me a gentle pat on the back. He had short, black hair and was very muscular. I think my mother really likes him for his body, and I can’t blame her, but I’m not gay.

A letter? I can do that, I can do it! I wanna go home so I can write it! I started climbing onto my father’s back as he carried me while walking back to our car.

That’s my boy! If you get in her good graces, who knows what privileges we could get! He grinned; I didn’t like the sound of that, but I just really wanted to write a letter to Nerisu.

* * *

After getting in the small, yellow car and returning back to our medium-sized house in Axerique, a small town in Dreilune, I began to get out the pencil and paper in my bedroom that I used to practise my handwriting. My bedroom was small, but it did the job. We weren’t very rich, compared to Nerisu and her family, but I like to think my parents made the most of their finances. I had family group photos everywhere adorned by a light purple cat wallpaper. The only console I had was the Super Player, but it was lots of fun. My bed was small and befitting of my stature.

My handwriting wasn’t the best, it was simplistic but easy to read, although I wasn’t satisfied with how my parents had prettier penmanship than myself. I hoped Nerisu would be able to decipher what I was about to write. I decided to make it a short letter because I didn’t want to overwhelm her with a lot of questions:

Hello, Nerisu,

My name is Takumi Miyashiro, I am eight years old. I saw you at the interview centre in Axerique, and I wanted to get to know you better. It’s nice to meet you! Also, you’re umm, really pretty… What is your favourite video game? Mine is Ace Fighters because I like shooting down things! When you said you really liked cats, it made me really happy because I have cat ears and a tail. I want to hang out with you, but I don’t think my parents will drive me to Nairilune. Can we send letters to each other instead?

Sincerely, Takumi.

When I finished the letter, I gave it to my parents and they put it in an envelope then mailed it to the royal castle that day. Because Caladria, the planet we live on, is highly advanced, she received the letter that day.

Takumi, we have a letter for you! It’s from Nerisu! My father alerted me. I jolted up from my book and ran to the lounge room table, where a letter with pretty handwriting addressed to me was laying there. I opened it immediately, taking a look at what she wrote to me.

Hellos Takumi!

It’s nice to meet you too! Thank you for calling me pretty, I know I’m the prettiest, ehehe~! My favourite video game is Caladria RPG because I really enjoy controlling my own units in battle! Oh wow!! I’ve always wanted to meet someone who looks like a cutie cat, I want to meet you right now!! I’m going to be really busy doing princess-y things these next few months, but we can keep sending letters to each other! I hope we become best friends!

Sincerely, Nerisu.

My nose scrunched up when she called herself the prettiest, but I assumed she would grow out of it. We sent multiple letters to each other ever since, until our first meeting in person. Her parents drove her to Axerique when she told them about how she had made a friend who lives there. Upon first sight, I gave her a big hug, grinning widely as I witnessed her beauty up close. She was so cute…

H-Hi, Nerisu! I greeted her after. Hellos, Takumi! It’s so great to finally meet you!! She responded in kind, petting my head which elicited purring from me… Her hand was so gentle and soft, I didn’t want her to stop… But I found it surprising and wish we could’ve waited until we were alone…

Purr, purr… She removed her hand after a minute of non-stop petting, and I blushed heavily as I looked at her. It’s great to meet you too! Umm, I wish you could have waited until we were alone before you pet me though… I find it embarrassing to purr in front of people… I covered my face up with my hands. Oh! Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to embarrass you!! She frowned, which made me feel bad, so I shook my head.

I-It’s fine! I’m just really happy to see you… I admitted, nuzzling her cheek lightly. She went a little red and then smiled back at me. Ehehe, me too! Let’s go play games! We went to my room to play some video games, a variety of genres but mainly co-op ones since she didn’t like fighting over competition. So cute…

Hey, Nerisu… Is there anything you want in the future? Your birthday is coming up on July 7th, right? I asked while slashing down enemies in Caladria Fighter. Hmm… I’m glad that I have a bodyguard and all, but I want a knight! I want some cute guy to protect me and hopefully, we can fall in love!! She had a bright blush on her cheeks when she said this to me.

Th-Then… I didn’t know what this would entail at the time, but I did know what knights were like. They were fighters who protected others, I think? I’ll be your knight! I proudly announced. Nerisu stared at me for a minute, her eyes shot wide as she stared into my deep red face.

Y-You really mean it!? Wow, Takumi! You’re the best!! She hugged me tightly as we paused the game for a moment, and I returned the favour. When I move away from my parents, they say I’m allowed to let someone I care about live with me! Promise me you’ll care for me by then? She held out her pinky, which made me realise she wanted to do a pinky promise.

After staring at her finger for a while, I shook it with mine and caressed her cheek gently. I promise, Nerisu Himenomiya! I will protect you from bad guys all over Caladria when I’m older!

TakuNeri chapter 1 full illust

Chapter 2

I’m Living With The Princess!?

Okay, so… I eventually fell asleep as I recounted my past with Nerisu, around the time where I moved from Dreilune back to Tamarin where I was originally born. I really missed her, so we started texting each other since we were around eleven by then. We were thankfully allowed to use the internet since at that point in time, letters would’ve taken ages to wait for…

She mentioned her childhood friends, namely Mizuki Mizuno, a level five water user. She seemed very attached to her because they were bodyguard and princess respectively, which made me rather jealous whenever she talked about her. Around that age, was when I realised my hardcore crush on her, which was fuelled by all the Nerisu memorabilia I bought ever since she visited Axerique three years ago… I just wanted to be loved by her, but I didn’t want to confess. I wanted to wait for her to express permission for me to do anything like that so I didn’t scare her off.

There were a bunch of other names I recall her talking about: Takahiro Takamori, Yuu Takamine, Yukino Suzushiro, Iori Ishizuka, Nanaka Matsurida, Shou Otori, and Tsubasa Otori. The last two were twins, and she seemed especially close to Shou as well… But aside from him, I had to basically compete with a bunch of other guys!