I was flabbergasted at that moment since by eye the total weight of sweets if not equal to the total weight of the cat girls, was somewhere close!
So the question—WHERE DID IT ALL FIT?!
The shock from trying to comprehend whether this pair had Flerken ancestors broke through the effect produced by "Stoicin"!
And if Shirone was scared and embarrassed that they were caught red-handed, Kuroka on the contrary smiled brazenly and declared that supposedly I said myself I'm assigned to feed and water them, so there, live up to it!
And brazenly started chugging juice from the pitcher.
I nodded at this then, left, killed a whole day, but by evening there was a litter box the size of one brazen cat girl in the corner of the room!
Kuroka freaked out at the sight of the litter box in the morning, blushed, called me a little pervert!
Then didn't let Shirone climb into the mini sandbox to make sand castles, knocked me on the head, threatened to bury me in that very litter box, then sat down to destroy the replenished sweet supplies.
I made several more attempts, now also mentioning the figure that with such a diet would soon become the perfect shape—the shape of a ball, but the effect if any wasn't quite what I was counting on.
That behavior from her alerted me then—it was too much like friendly behavior!
I thought the litter box provocation would be perceived negatively, since it's the Japanese whose brains are screwed up, and they get off on watching the defecation process—anyway, I was even ready to be labeled a pervert.
Though I was hinting more at animal origins and their status as pets with me, which definitely shouldn't have pleased them.
Not enough to twist my head off of course, but enough that at the first opportunity they'd flee to Rias's retinue.
By the way, it was precisely from fear that Kuroka might kill me and run away, thereby returning everything to canon's rails, that I didn't go overboard.
And I didn't even look toward Shirone regarding offensive jokes.
The calculation was that seeing I wasn't liked by her older sister, she'd also feel dislike toward me and at the first opportunity would bolt from me as far as possible.
But watching attempts to needle and poke Kuroka, and ignoring Shirone, who settled nearby and practically played staring contests with me... like I really started suspecting she's also on "Stoicin", since how can someone sit for three hours staring at one spot... I started seeing so-called "friendly ribbing".
Though having taken my strategic place for getting information and received a portion of freshest gossip and rumors, I calmed down!
Or rather, put a checkmark in the "Positive Trends" column.
It turned out Zeoticus had a talk and gave instructions to the cat girls before "gifting" them to me.
Kuroka got indulgence from him for physical force and insults directed at me, but obviously within reasonable "friendly" limits... meaning punch in the shoulder, push lightly, maybe even give a slap on the back of the head... and without witnesses so as not to diminish my honor and dignity.
My jabs at her and the epic with organizing the litter box were perceived by Zeoticus as positive trends in bringing me out of the state I'm in.
What I saw as positive was that for Kuroka and Shirone, all this is work—meaning I'm work for them!
Which means they quietly hate me!
After all, only a complete nutjob will love work!
No, there are nuances here, and I'm not talking about your own business that you pour your soul into, I'm talking about that work you have to do so there's somewhere to live and something to eat!
And the cat girls have exactly this case, moreover their opinion on whether they want to work or not didn't particularly interest the employer.
So I even made corrections to the plan and will now add emotionality to my behavior so that by the time Rias has a set of Evil Pieces, Zeoticus with clear conscience will give the cat girls to her!
Though I think at minimum Rias will take Shirone the same day she gets her set of Evil Pieces.
After all, the little neko caught the eye of Rias and Sona and they cooed over her and dragged her off to play dolls... judging by WHAT state Shirone returned in, she was in the role of the doll they dressed in different outfits.
After that, my relations with Rias deteriorated even more, since Shirone was doing her job, sitting by my side when I read books or did calculations.
Generally I got into artifact crafting and chimerology, which combined excellently with alchemy.
Shirone... this feline-breed Cerberus, when breakfast, lunch or dinner time came, would drag me by the scruff from books and calculations!
Why?
I whipped up a super potion—"Gluttolin"!
Even managed to bring it to convenient pill form that could be dissolved or a bar that could also be quickly eaten.
One portion of "Gluttolin" gave the body all necessary calories, fats, carbs, minerals, magical and life energy for a day!
Though when I was fighting off Shirone, whom I asked if she didn't have Cerberus among her ancestors and getting the answer—no, advised her to check her family tree more carefully, and proved to her that I don't need to eat, I already ate "Gluttolin 2.0.1" and now don't need to eat for a day at all, and don't want to, they didn't take my word for it!
Had to give a portion of my miracle remedy to Shirone and Kuroka so they'd be convinced of my alchemical genius!
I even thought it's worth telling Zeoticus, let him patent it and even sell this wonderful remedy, after all, he provided everything for its creation, so it would be fair!
But then...
"Bleeeeh!" Both cat girls did use the litter box, almost for its intended purpose.
"WHAT NASTINESS! POISON!" yelled Kuroka after rinsing her mouth.
Shirone nodded in agreement with her words, continuing to rinse her mouth.
"HOW CAN YOU EVEN EAT THIS?!"
"Hm..." I bit off from the Gluttolin bar, which made both cat girls shudder. "...well, it's not so bad..."
"IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO EAT!"
"Possible, I'm eating it!" I objected weightily since it was insulting for my efforts even through "Stoicin's" effect. "Though maybe the taste needs a bit more work... will you be tasters?"
"NO!" both useless and even harmful cat girls yelled in sync.
And yeah, harmful, since from that day the Cerberus masquerading as nekomata also monitored to make sure I didn't consume Gluttolin!
And I'm already close to creating "Gluttolin 3.0.1" which will have no taste!
After all, I managed to remove the smell in "Gluttolin 1.0.1"!
Though I still think they're overly picky about the taste, got addicted to sweets and now they're fussy!
And generally, they're wrong nekomata!
They should love fish, not cakes!