My new friend...
A small animal I've never seen before even in my previous life.
It's looking at me curiously tilting its tiny head like it's trying to figure me out.
"It's cute..."
Slowly I reach out with my right hand trying not to startle it.
The little creature shifts its gaze from my face to my arm but I keep moving super slowly super carefully.
Touch
"Woahhh"
It's so soft what the hell this is way fluffier than any dog or cat I've ever touched. My fingers just sink into its fur like it's made of clouds.
What is this animal? Why is it so fluffy? Why have I never seen one in my previous life?
At first the little thing looks confused about what I'm doing, but the more I stroke it the more it relaxes. Its tiny tail starts swaying happily like it really enjoys the attention.
I don't know how long I keep petting this cute creature if not for Lady Ava suddenly hugging me from behind.
"Cath Palug! I can't believe you want to steal my disciple right in front of me!" Lady Ava yells, squeezing me tight and pulling me away so I'm not close to the little animal anymore.
"Fou?" Cath Palug looks confused that the petting stopped, then realizes Lady Ava is the reason.
"What are you doing, Lady Ava? Why did you stop me?" I pout at her, complaining.
"Rikka... don't tell me you just threw me aside for someone you just met?" she says dramatically.
"I didn't throw anyone aside. Anyway, you're the one who said this is my new friend."
"Well... that's true," Lady Ava mumbles, scratching her cheek, "but I didn't expect Cath Palug to let you touch him like that on your first meeting."
"Why is that? He seems pretty cute and adorable."
"Cute and adorable probably, but he's not just-" Smack!
"Aghhh!"
"Fou!"
Cath Palug suddenly leaps super high and kicks Lady Ava right in the face with its tiny paws.
Lady Ava staggers back holding her face.
"Ow ow ow that hurts you little furball!"
"Fou fou fouuu!"
Cath Palug puffs up like an angry cotton ball and charges straight at her.
"Get back here!" Lady Ava lunges.
Thud
They crash together and start rolling across the garden floor.
"Take this!"
"Kyuu!"
Boing boing boing
Lady Ava tries to grab him but Fou slips through her arms like smoke then jumps on her head and starts bouncing.
"Get off my hair!"
"Fou fou fouuu!"
She spins around trying to catch him. Fou leaps again and lands on her back.
Roll roll roll
They tumble over the grass. Lady Ava reaches out. Fou dodges. She face-plants into the flowers.
"Rikka help me catch this traitor!"
"Fouuu!" Fou sticks his tongue out at her then hides behind my legs.
Lady Ava flops onto her back panting with flower stuck in her hair.
"This is war Cath Palug. War."
"Fou!" He jumps on her stomach like a victory bounce.
Poof poof poof
I just stand there watching them fight like two kids over a toy while trying not to laugh too loud.
In the end I had to separate both of them before the situation got worse.
I scooped Cath Palug up first because he's lighter and easier to grab. "Stop it you two!"
"Heh you're lucky Rikka stopped me or I would've beaten you up!" Lady Ava said smirking even though she was the one in mess and losing to a tiny animal.
"Fou!"
"Stop it!"
After more than ten minutes of chasing and yelling they finally calmed down. Now we're back to normal. Me sitting on the chair, Lady Ava in front of me, Cath Palug on the table right in front of my face.
"Can we continue? What do you mean by my new friend?" I asked.
"Ehem" Lady Ava cleared her throat. "What I meant is you barely have any friends except the kids at the orphanage so Cath Palug can become your real friend."
She suddenly pointed at him.
'Barely any friends? I have Manaka though' I thought but yeah one friend is pretty sad when you say it out loud.
"Cath Palug has been with me for way too long and he's bored here so I'm letting him go outside with you" she added smiling.
"I have a feeling that's the only reason..." Especially after the way they fought earlier it definitely wasn't their first battle.
"Well I don't mind but is he fine with me? We just met though" I said remembering how it took months to get along with my friend's cat back in my old world.
"Fou"
"You don't mind? If you say so then I hope we get along" I smiled and started patting Cath Palug's fluffy fur again.
...wait a minute did you just talk?
"Fou?" He tilted his head looking confused because i suddenly stop patting him.
"What do you mean?? Wait all I hear is fou fou fou but somehow I understand you!?"
He's definitely talking straight into my brain.
"He's special you know Rikka at this point you should already be used to it" Lady Ava said laughing softly.
"...Well if you say so" she's not wrong reincarnating into an anime world is already weird in the first place so talking animals should be normal at this point.
"But what should I tell the others at the orphanage? He doesn't look like any animal I've ever seen" I said lifting Cath Palug closer to my face.
"Just tell them you found a baby fox that was roaming around"
"Baby fox?? Is that gonna work?" His fluff is insane and the color is pure white with purple eyes no way that's a normal fox.
And so the next morning
"Woahh he's so cute!!!"
"This baby fox is so cute!"
"Hey let me hold him too!"
The whole orphanage exploded into chaos the second everyone saw Cath Palug.
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And so time passed since Cath Palug started living with us at the orphanage, everyone instantly fell in love with him, his cuteness is basically a cheat code, he gets spoiled nonstop, snacks, hugs, endless head pats.
Since that day I never ran into Ryuunosuke again, even when walking back from meeting Manaka.
I added more protection around the orphanage and everyone just in case, no one is becoming his victim on my watch.
I wanted to report him to the police at first, but I have zero proof, and the guy is a pro at hiding his track as they still haven't caught him after 42 families being killed.
The news is full of missing people now, Aunty Nana and the others keep warning us to never go out at night, always stay in groups.
I trained harder on illusion magecraft, still can't fool Lady Ava even once, but at least there's progress.
Cath Palug helps me a lot, when training stresses me out I just bury my face in his fluff making everything feels better.
"Rikka where's Fou?" Nea suddenly barged into my room while I was writing in my diary.
They didn't like the name Cath Palug, so everyone just calls him Fou because that's all he ever says anyway.
"He's not with me, Yua probably has him right now".
"Yua?? Not fair she told me she doesn't know where he is she lied!" Nea pouted then dashed out, probably to hunt Yua down.
"Well have fun" I muttered seeing her running out of the room.
Seeing her running like that happily makes me smile, even though I'm technically older than them, I already think of everyone here as my family.
We have fun together, play together, feel sad together, eat together, so I really hope we can keep going like that until we're adults.
That's why I make sure I'm not gonna lose my family again, just like in my previous life, by protecting everyone from that killer, and with the Holy Grail War coming I need to prepare myself by strengthen this place more.
Even though I still don't know how to save Sakura, I'm not gonna give up, I will not let a little girl go through something like that.
After writing more, I decide it's time to stop so i close my diary.
But then I stop, because there's one thing I forgot so I flip back a few pages stop at one filled with huge text.
KILL HIM OR NOT?
This entire page somehow appeared in my diary one day, I don't know who wrote it, even asked everyone here if they opened my diary, but they didn't, I always hide it with magecraft, so it's impossible for them to lie.
The text appeared a few days after I met Ryuunosuke, so I assume "him" is that guy, but who wrote this?
I asked Lady Ava but she only said if I call her big sister she'll tell me, then I switched to Manaka but she seems not interested.
"Kill him or not... if it's talking about Ryuunosuke, do I want to kill him or not?" I mutter to myself, thinking again about what I want.
I stare at the page and my stomach knots like someone twisted it with a fist. My hand freezes above the paper, pen trembling.
Back in my old world I was just... normal. I woke up, went to school, ate instant ramen, laughed at dumb memes, never once saw a corpse, never even imagined blood on my hands. Killing? That was for movies, for news headlines I scrolled past. Not for me. Not real.
But this is real. Ryuunosuke's smile flashes in my head, that same soft worried face he wore when he helped me up, and I feel sick because I know what hides behind it.
Forty-two families. Forty-two. I picture the kids here, Nea chasing Fou, Yua sneaking extra cookies, Aunty Nana humming while she cooks, and my chest tightens so hard I can't breathe. If he ever steps through that gate...
The pen is ice in my fingers. My pulse drums in my ears. I force the tip down, scratching a shaky line under the giant letters.
If someone else ends him that's fine. I'd rather he's gone than ever become a threat to my family.
I write a tiny yes, barely bigger than a whisper. It's just ink but it burns like I signed my soul away.
I immediately slam the diary shut and shove it back into my secret stash, heart still racing.
"Well I hope whoever wrote that actually keeps their word" I mutter under my breath.
Then I shake it off and head outside because I want to play with Cath Palug too.
Today I skip training and just have fun with everyone. I want to invite Manaka but she hates crowds so tomorrow I'll bring her something special instead.
"Hey I want to play too!" I yell running toward the others and that's how I spend the rest of the day, laughing with my family.
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In the Sajyou household.
Manaka can be seen standing in her bedroom in front of the full mirror looking at her own reflections.
From the reflection she can see the clock on the wall and it's already showing 9 p.m. because she has nothing to do today since the only person she wants to see told her she can't come.
Her little sister's friends came today to play with Ayaka but she's not interested with them so she just went back to her room and has been staying here since.
Manaka stares at her reflection, eyes tracing her small frame and doll-like face. Her body will never grow, frozen at this age no matter how many years pass, and her expression stays blank as always.
But one thing stands out against her pure white skin: a thin slash across her neck from that day.
Rikka's knife grazed her, cutting a sliver of her life, so the wound refused to heal. Manaka can only stop the bleeding with her power.
She touches the scar, fingers brushing the rough uneven line and whispers to herself "Rikka..."
The name stirs something new inside her, a warmth she has never known, curiosity mixed with longing, a pull she can't name.
Her chest tightens, breath quickens, and suddenly the feelings flood in, too many, too fast. She wraps her arms around herself, hugging tight, overwhelmed by emotions she never felt before.
After the emotions crash through her Manaka lets go of the tight hug around herself and lifts her left hand to the mirror.
In the reflection her face has changed, soft red blush dusting her cheeks, eyes no longer blank but wide with something new and flickering.
She keeps her left palm pressed to the cool glass while her right hand slowly unties the ribbon of her one-piece dress. With one gentle tug the fabric slips down and pools at her feet, leaving her in simple underwear.
Small chest, narrow waist, she knows most people prefer big breasted woman and wider waist, so this body feels like a quiet disadvantage for her.
After a few quiet moments she releases the mirror and walks to her bed, sliding under the covers still flushed and trembling with feelings she can't yet name.
Manaka sleeps for a few hours before her eyes snap open in the dead of night.
She sits up and stares out the window.
"Rikka...?"
The feeling is the same as that day, sharp and urgent so she doesn't hesitate. She slips out of bed, pulls her dress back on, and climbs out the window.
Walking through the silent streets she casts a simple spell to stay invisible to normal eyes.
The feeling grows stronger with every step until she reaches a narrow empty alley that is pretty dark with only a few lamps around.
But she still steps inside without pause.
"Blood?" The scent hits her as she moves deeper into the street.
After walking a few moments Manaka spots a small silhouette in the dark and she knows instantly who it is even without enhancing her vision.
A little girl stands motionless staring down at something on the ground and a sharp knife in her hand drips red.
"Rikka"
On the pavement lies a mess surrounded by spreading blood, pieces too small and scattered for Manaka to recognize anything human.
Rikka turns her head at the voice and her left eye glows faintly with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
"Manaka..."