"Where is this?"
Yutsuki looked around and found that she wasn't on the DEM headquarters floor, nor was she's in Fraxinus. Instead, she was in a gray, blurry space where she couldn't tell north from south or east from west.
Could it be that sothing went wrong and she went back into the "Neighboring World"? ...No, this feeling perfectly matches a certain place in her mory that she really didn't want to co back to... That shouldn't be it, right?
A feeling of unease rose in her heart, unable to be stopped. However, she couldn't feel her facial muscles making the matching expression she wanted.
"Haha, how could that be? I must have accidentally used too much Spirit power, and as a result, my face got paralyzed, right?! Mhm, that must be it. That makes so much sense! I must have accidentally fallen asleep and wandered into the Neighboring World in a daze. Hahahaha..."
Yutsuki kept trying to comfort herself, but a strong feeling that sothing was wrong still grew uncontrollably in her heart. She slowly looked down at her body—a lump of mochi.
"Nooooooooooooooooo!"
"Geez, I'm not so monster or wild beast. There's no need to scream in such terror!"
Then, Yutsuki saw a calico cat—who knows why it was here—open its mouth and speak human words using the voice she absolutely never wanted to hear again in her life.
Isn't this the voice of that bastard god who sent her to the Date A Live world!?
"Yo, we et again. Have you been doing well?"
The calico cat leisurely licked its paw, then reached out a paw toward Yutsuki in a very human-like greeting. Even though there were so many things she wanted to complain about, please forgive Yutsuki for feeling so sad right now that she couldn't even complain.
"What the... This ti, could it be that right after I fainted, the back of my head hit so sharp piece of rubble? Or did you use your crazy 'Great Shift of Heaven and Earth' (without a protective shield) to give an epic-sounding death like 'strangled and fallen in spatial turbulence'?"
(Uh...)
An awkward look appeared on the calico cat's face.
"And to be reincarnated as a cat this ti! Turning into a girl was already troubleso enough, but this ti I'm not even human! How am I supposed to live like this!" Even though she didn't have a physical body, Yutsuki still felt sad tears flowing uncontrollably. "I finally got my life settled down... Do you know how hard it's been for !"
(...Hey, hey! I know your acting skills are top-tier, but this kind of tone doesn't fit your character setting. Can you stop?) The calico cat held its head with its paw, clearly having a headache. Then, it sighed helplessly. (Besides, I'm not that grade-schooler god of death [Conan]. Don't look at like you think you're dead the mont you see , okay? Don't you have any other guesses?)
"Were you bored, suddenly rembered what you did, and ca to check on how I was doing with three parts responsibility and seven parts curiosity? And when this is over, you plan to let go back?"
(Yes, exactly! Don't you see things pretty clearly?)
"Between the forr and the latter, which one better fits the first impression normal people would get from this current situation? Can you pick up your dignity and answer that?"
(Oh, right. This is the main character design from my new brainstorm. Although I don't plan on starting this story for a bunch of reasons, I went ahead and made a biological model for it. How is it? Looks pretty good, right?)
"I don't understand what you're saying. But in many ways, I feel incredibly disrespectful towards this cat."
(Don't look down on this cat. In the setting, it lived past thirty in its past life and can use magic.)
"Hearing you say that, I just want to shed a few sad tears for this cat... Holy crap, you almost changed the subject, you bastard!"
(...Tch!)
You clicked your tongue just now, didn't you, calico cat! You definitely clicked your tongue!
(Well, actually, your guess just now was correct. I really do want to talk to you.)
"I'm sorry, you're a good person [You're a nice guy, but...]."
(Holy crap, are we really doing this?! I already used this reference in chapter sixteenbeep.)
A very strangely pale expression appeared on the calico cat's face. If soone took a picture and uploaded it online, the click rate would definitely skyrocket.
However, Yutsuki also let out a slight breath of relief.
Even though she still felt a cultural difference with his jokes, at least she confird that she hadn't died again.
Because unlike her past life, in that world, there were people she cared about.
"Then, since you ca to see , I believe you also know a bit about my recent situation. Has the incident... ended?"
(Mhm... Although it can't be considered a true end, congratulations on successfully surviving the first major plotline.)
...
(Yo, yo, don't be so down. You managed to survive such a terrible situation, wouldn't it be nice to smile?)
"How could I possibly be happy? Shido almost had his head cut off by Ellen, and Tohka fell into that state called 'Inverse' because of the massive shock. Conquering Miku, too. You could basically say everything happened while walking on a tightrope over a cliff. One wrong step, and everyone would have been done for."
(But you succeeded, didn't you? What's with this depressed tone like a loser?)
A slightly confused look appeared on the calico cat's face.
"It's because you said this is just the 'first' plotline. If a dungeon with this level of difficulty is just the warm-up, how am I supposed to be optimistic?"
(Young lady, this is where you're wrong. As the saying goes, 'When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it first frustrates his spirit...')
"I already morized Laozi and ncius so well back when I was dealing with high school and college entrance exams in my past life that I could recite them backwards. It's not the turn of a cat to give a lesson! And who are you calling a young lady?!!"
(You've already been completely conquered, why do you still care about this~?)
"Ugh! I want to argue back but I have nothing to say... My heart hurts so much orz."
Taking a heavy blow, Yutsuki painfully got down on her hands and knees in a pose of despair. However, the guy possessing the calico cat clearly didn't care about this. After scratching its own cheek with a paw, its cat eyes stared at Yutsuki.
(Well, being afraid of the upcoming difficulties is just an excuse, right? I can tell that what you truly care about in your heart isn't this.)
Looking at the calico cat with so surprise, she then let out a helpless breath and spoke slowly.
"I was thinking... was I really any help?"
(What do you an?)
"It's very simple logic. This is the plot of a novel, right? Although I don't know the details of what happens, if I rember correctly, this world is supposed to be a happy one. Then I believe that this part of the plot... the ending must also be happy, right?"
As a transmigrator who crossed over into an ani, you could say the greatest weapon you bring to the ani world is your knowledge of the plot.
However, for Ryougi Yutsuki, everything happening in this world was starting completely from zero. Naturally, she had these doubts.
Was her existence really necessary? Did she actually do sothing unnecessary, like adding legs to a snake? If she hadn't been there, would the incident have developed better? Or rather, if she didn't exist, would this incident have even happened at all? Was she actually just making things worse?
However, this was absolutely not sothing she could pour her heart out to Shido, Tohka, and the others about. So Yutsuki had always kept this anxiety suppressed deep in her heart. Like a blind person, clearly knowing where she was, yet having to feel her way forward in the dark.
(...Are you an idiot?)
A speechless expression appeared on the calico cat's face. Then, it floated unsteadily in front of Yutsuki and slapped her right across the face with its tail.
"What are you doing, you bastard!" An angry expression appeared on Yutsuki's face.
"I felt sothing was wrong... and it turns out to be such a boring problem. It would've been much more interesting if you were confused about whether your gender identity had twisted because you actually fell for a guy." The calico cat shook its head. After casually saying so things that almost made Yutsuki's hair stand on end, it said with a look of disappointnt like wishing iron would turn into steel (although it looked a bit weird on a cat): "Did you go to that world to save everyone? Are you staying there to change the plot?"
Yutsuki was shaken by these words. She looked stunned for a mont, then, as if she suddenly understood, a smile appeared on her face. "How could that be? You know, the only reason I got thrown into that damn Date A Live world is because of you, you bastard. As for saving everyone, I'm not so hypocrite. And as for being an idiot... having Shido alone is enough."
What she wanted was simply a place where she belonged, a place that accepted her. And what she needed to do, naturally, was to protect this place where she belonged.
(What's wrong with being a little selfish? Who cares if you don't know the plot? Just living for yourself—that reason alone shows how boring your overthinking is.)
To be looked down on by a cat. If Yutsuki had a face right now, it would definitely be a look of utter speechlessness.
"Wait... Did you casually dodge my very first question?"
(Uh, from my personal standpoint, it's hard to answer that question. Plus, soone really did complain about the content of this volu...) The calico cat, while saying things Yutsuki couldn't understand, showed a bitter, human-like expression. Finally, it said very firmly, (But don't worry, your actions definitely can't be called a bad influence compared to the original plot.)
It would be more convincing if you didn't look away while saying that.
(Ahem... Let's end the topic here. I believe you definitely don't want to stay in this gap between worlds for another second either. I'll send you back to the Date A Live world right now.) After a dry cough, the calico cat spoke to Yutsuki with a serious cat face.
"Wait... Before that, I have a score I want to settle with you."
For so reason, the potato shaped Yutsuki was now radiating deep, dark aura from her back.
(Eh?)
"Because of so weird figure, I lost my life..."
(About that... calm down...)
"I was thrown into a world I completely didn't understand, to suffer and get exhausted..."
(Um, although I'm very sorry, I definitely had no bad intentions...)
"And as a result, even my gender was changed."
(Why do you care about that too! Aren't you enjoying it quite a bit?!)
The mont the calico cat said this, the darkness behind Ryougi Yutsuki directly evolved into a black hole.
"Die!!!!!!!"
(What! This resentnt. It actually broke through dinsions! Wait, calm down, acting on impulse is the devil. If there's anything you want, we can talk... blegh-ow...)
In this unknown dinsion known as the gap between worlds, in the final mont Yutsuki's consciousness was clear, what she heard was soone's cat-like scream that sounded like air leaking out of a tire.
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