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Half an hour later.
Goko Ruri hurried over.
"Blake, has Elf replied yet?"
After nearly half a month of working on the game together, the two had grown much closer. Ruri no longer called him "Mr. Blake." Now she simply used his name directly.
"Not yet." Blake shook his head, his expression grim. "All the messages are still unread, and her phone still won't connect."
It was already close to eight at night. Elf wasn't home, her phone was unreachable, and none of the messages had been seen. There was a very high chance she'd run into some kind of accident. After all, even idiots knew to go home before it got dark.
"Don't panic, Blake." Ruri took a soft breath. "I'll hire the cats and dogs immediately."
"I'll leave it to you, Miss Ruri." Mahiru Shiina opened her backpack. "I already prepared cat treats, canned food, and dog food."
While waiting for Kuroneko to arrive, Blake and Mahiru hadn't stayed idle either. The two first went to the convenience store to buy supplies for "hiring" stray animals, then visited Elf's house and collected some of her clothes so dogs could track her scent.
"Let's head to the shopping district," Blake suggested. "There are a lot of stray cats around there at night."
"Okay."
"Let's go."
…
The three quickly got moving.
Not long after, they found a stray orange cat rummaging through garbage in an alley behind the shopping street.
"Meow~"
Ruri slowly approached and began negotiating in cat language.
With the power of the Witch of Beasts, striking a deal was naturally easy.
After happily devouring an entire cat treat, the orange cat immediately jumped onto a wall and started calling for reinforcements. Before long, seven or eight stray cats had gathered nearby.
Then, guided by the cats, the group found a stray dog in another dark alley. Ruri used her ability again and successfully hired the dog with food as payment.
And just like that—
The cat-and-dog army was officially assembled.
"Take a good look. This is Elf's photo." Ruri pulled out her phone, opened a group picture from Mount Takao, and enlarged the image for the animal squad. "Make sure you remember her. If you find her, report back to me immediately."
"Meow~"
"Woof woof!"
The animal team responded enthusiastically. Compared to certain humans who took payment without doing any work, cats and dogs were much simpler creatures.
Feed them, and they'd genuinely help.
But a new problem quickly appeared.
Miss Angel took out one of the fairy's personal clothing items and handed it to the dogs so they could track the scent. The problem was, the moment the dogs sniffed it, they just started spinning in circles on the spot, their furry faces full of confusion.
"They're saying they can't catch her scent in the air." Goko Ruri lightly furrowed her brows.
Mahiru Shiina pressed her soft lips together and quietly thought it over.
"My guess is that the fairy's invisibility has a very high priority effect. It doesn't just turn her and her clothes invisible, it probably hides her scent too."
"That's most likely it." Blake nodded in agreement. "The fairy can't keep invisibility active forever. We already tested it before. The limit is twelve hours."
"To avoid accidents or emergencies, she probably won't stay invisible nonstop. She'll occasionally cancel it to recover magic power."
"And the moment she drops invisibility, her scent should reappear."
"If there's no trace of her nearby, then we just widen the search area. As long as we find even a little scent left behind, we can track her down."
Miss Angel added gently from the side,
"Mr. Blake's right. The fairy usually goes out on foot when gathering material, so she probably hasn't gone too far."
Goko Ruri raised her eyes slightly and suggested in a quiet voice,
"How about we split up?"
"Hm?"
"What Blake said makes sense, but we still don't know which direction the fairy went." Ruri crossed her arms under her chest. "If we split up and each person takes a cat-and-dog special ops team, the search will be more efficient… I can brief them beforehand. Even if you can't communicate with them, it's fine. If they start spinning in circles in front of you, that means they've picked up the fairy's scent."
Blake hesitated for two seconds before exhaling softly and agreeing.
"Splitting up does sound like the better option… but I'll handle one direction alone. Mahiru and Ruri, you two stay together."
"Eh?"
His tone left no room for argument.
"It's already late. If you two go around separately, you might run into drunk creeps or something. I'll feel safer if you stay together. Otherwise we'll fail to find the fairy and somehow lose both of you too."
Ruri muttered under her breath,
"The night is my territory. There's no way I'd get lost."
"Then Miss Ruri and I will team up." Miss Angel gave a small nod, her voice warm and gentle. "Mr. Blake should be extra careful too since you're alone."
Ruri folded her arms.
"We'll check in by phone every ten minutes. Don't forget, Blake."
"I won't." He looked at the two girls. "Your phones both charged?"
Miss Angel smiled softly.
"Plenty of battery left."
"My phone's fine too," Ruri replied.
"Alright then." Blake nodded decisively. "Let's move."
Black Cat and Miss Angel teamed up together while Blake headed out alone. Each side picked a direction and led their cat-and-dog special ops squads off to search for the missing fairy.
Time quietly slipped by.
An hour passed in the blink of an eye.
The three of them stayed in contact every ten minutes, but unfortunately, they still found nothing.
As the night deepened, fewer pedestrians remained on the streets, and the worry in their hearts only grew heavier.
"Where the hell could the fairy be…"
After searching nonstop, Blake's throat was dry and aching. He stopped beside a roadside vending machine and bought an ice-cold peach juice, but even after downing half the bottle, the anxiety inside him refused to fade.
"Woof woof!"
Just then, one of the stray dogs scouting ahead suddenly came running back.
Blake couldn't understand dog language, so he looked over in confusion, only to see the dog panting with its tongue hanging out while spinning in circles in front of him.
"Spinning in circles…" Blake's eyes instantly lit up. "You picked up the fairy's scent?"
"Woof!"
The hardworking dog continued spinning.
Well, communication barriers aside, hope was still hope.
Blake pulled himself together and tilted back the rest of the peach juice in one gulp.
"Lead the way."
A few minutes later, Blake arrived in front of a convenience store. The other stray dogs started barking too, clearly reacting to something.
He went inside and questioned the clerk. Sure enough, they had seen the fairy earlier. Apparently she had stopped by to buy something.
Now that he finally had confirmation, Blake hurried back out and continued following the cat-and-dog special ops team.
But the longer he walked, the stranger his expression became.
Eventually, he stopped in front of a building so familiar that he couldn't help lowering his head to stare at the animals.
"You sure you didn't lead me the wrong way?"
The building in front of him was none other than the high school they attended every day.
"....."