Page 482
Page 482
[System: Field Trip - Wanting to Become Human]
[Field trip requirements: Fulfill the wish of the white cat Xiao Nai and discover Xiao Nai's true identity. Field trip status will disappear upon completion.]
[System Reward: □□□]
The mission description, which had been previously blacked out, was now fully revealed, but the more Banami looked at it, the more suspicious she felt.
He looked down at "Yaorenai," who was rubbing her head against his trouser leg, and reached out to ruffle her hair—when his fingertips touched her cat ears, he could feel the delicate downy fur trembling gently in his palm.
"Xiao Nai, what is your wish?" He tried to keep the question simple, afraid that the other person wouldn't understand.
"Wish...wish?" Xiao Nai looked up, her cat ears twitching in confusion, her eyes revealing a clear naiveté. "What...is that?"
Her language system is still at the stage of "single character + onomatopoeia", and slightly more complex vocabulary is like listening to gibberish.
"Idiot!" The white cat on the corner of the table suddenly jumped down, slapped Xiao Nai on the back of the head with its paw, and made a rapid "meow" sound in its throat. "Your wish is what you want to do most!"
Although all that sounded to Hanami's ears was meowing, she inexplicably knew what the other person was saying.
After Rana's "tips," Xiao Nai's eyes lit up instantly. Her cat tail swished excitedly, and she pounced into Banami's arms, rubbing her face against his chest: "Xiao Nai... wants to be with Master... meow meow..." As she spoke, she revealed her true form, and the second half of her sentence turned into a cat meow, but she expressed the meaning to the fullest.
As a result, Le Nai glared at her, and under the pressure of the "boss," Xiao Nai became somewhat timid and hesitant.
Banami ignored the two "cats" and became somewhat puzzled.
"What's wrong, Banami?" Riki asked from the side.
Banami showed the system information to Riki and then said, "If Xiaonai's wish was to be with me, then it has been fulfilled."
"Or rather, her wish is to become human and be with you," Li hope said with a hint of sarcasm, feeling somewhat annoyed. No, it's one thing for her to compete with a woman for a man, but now she has to compete with a cat for a man too. Who can she reason with?
Seeing that Xiao Nai was also somewhat depressed, wouldn't that be a contradiction?
Xiao Nai wanted to be with her in human form, which triggered the "Cai Feng" event, resulting in a soul swap with Yao Le Nai. After she became human, her wish was fulfilled, causing the "Cai Feng" state to disappear, and she would return to her cat form.
There must be something wrong somewhere; the system wouldn't present an unsolvable problem (probably).
Unless, of course, Xiao Nai's wish is something even she herself doesn't know...
“Since we can’t figure out her wish, let’s investigate her background first.” Banai made the decision. “Xiao Nai was found by Le Nai in the back alley of RiNG. Let’s go there and ask. Maybe we can find her former owner or find out her origins.”
He turned to Xiao Nai and asked, "Do you remember where you were born? Have you ever seen any other humans before?" Xiao Nai shook her head blankly, knowing nothing. Her memories only began from the day Yao Le Nai picked her up; everything before that was shrouded in mist.
"Let's go, let's go check out RiNG first." Banai took Xiaonai's hand and was about to walk towards the door when Lixi grabbed her arm. "You're just planning to take her out like this?" Lixi pointed at Xiaonai's head, her tone full of helplessness.
It was only then that Banai realized that Xiaonai's cat ears were still sticking up in her hair, and her tail was swishing happily behind her. If she appeared on the street like this, she would definitely be mistaken for a monster and cut into pieces.
After thinking for a moment, Banami smiled and said, "I have a plan. Let me go home for a bit."
Li hope was full of doubts and could only stay in the dormitory and watch over "one person and one cat".
Before long, the sound of playful fighting came from the dormitory. It seemed that Le Nai was a little resentful that the silly cat had taken over her body. She jumped on her back and used her as a mount. Xiao Nai cried out in pain, but dared not resist.
Lixi sat beside him, her initial shock turning into numbness, only occasionally shouting, "Don't tear down the dormitory."
Half an hour later, Banami returned carrying a pink bag and took out a light and airy lace maid outfit—a white skirt with ruffles and a black bow at the neckline. "Here, use this."
He handed the maid outfit to Xiao Nai.
"You actually... hid something like this?" Li hope's eyes instantly turned as if he were looking at trash, sizing up Banami from head to toe.
As it turned out, Banami had her reasons, saying, "Letting Nami wear a maid outfit is like her working at a maid cafe, so it's normal for her to wear cat ears and a cat tail."
No one will suspect anything if I go out like this.
All I can say is that this man is really good at coming up with bad ideas.
Instead of complaining about that, Li hope said, "You and Toyokawa Shoko are quite the ladies' man."
"This isn't mine!" Banai quickly waved her hand. "Xiaoxiang bought it specifically to seduce me. It has nothing to do with me!"
At that moment, in a classroom at Tsukimori Girls' Academy, Shoko was taking notes when she suddenly sneezed loudly for no apparent reason, almost causing snot to run out of her nose.
She rubbed her nose, frowned, and muttered to herself: Who's talking bad about me? Could it be because I caught a cold from wearing the maid outfit that Banami bought me that day? That jerk, always giving bad advice!
In the dormitory, Banami was explaining to Riki, "Think about it, the waitresses in maid cafes all wear cat ear decorations. If Xiaona wears this outfit out, people will only think she's a waitress who just got off work, and they will never suspect anything!"
After careful consideration, Li hope realized that this was actually the most reliable solution at present, so he could only nod in agreement.
Seeing that Banami was holding a maid outfit, she smiled at Xiaona and said, "Xiaona, do you want to wear this? You can go out with your master if you wear this."
Although Xiao Nai didn't understand what a maid outfit was or could distinguish between good and bad clothes, she was willing to do anything her master wanted. She tilted her head, her eyes sparkling: "I want...I want Master to help me put it on."
Lixi looked at the clumsy catgirl with disdain. Wait, why does she smell like tea?
“No, I’ll help her get dressed,” Li hope said immediately.
Xiao Nai immediately bristled, baring her teeth at Li hope and about to hiss. Li hope was prepared, turning to the white cat on the corner of the table and shouting, "Get Le Nai! Hold her down!"
Lenai's soul instantly understood, and she pounced like lightning, slapping Xiaonai on the head with a paw, "Stop making trouble, be good!"
She couldn't explain why she didn't want Hachimi to dress "her own body," but seeing Nami clinging to Hachimi made her feel particularly awkward, as if a little claw was scratching at her.
Xiao Nai was extremely aggrieved after being photographed, tears welling up in her eyes, but she dared not resist any longer. Li Xi nodded in satisfaction, pulled her into the bathroom, and didn't forget to turn back and glare at Ba Nai: "You're not allowed to peek!"
Banami really wanted to say that she had already seen it, but she was afraid of being beaten up, so she didn't dare to say it.
Chapter Fourteen: The Cat Throne
It's only a ten-minute walk from the dormitory to the live house "RiNG", but Banami walks with a heart full of fear - not because she's afraid of the distance, but because Xiao Nai next to her is just too eye-catching.
She was wearing a lace maid outfit, the white ruffled skirt swaying gently with her steps, revealing slender calves beneath, and black over-the-knee stockings encasing her shapely figure.
The black bow at her neckline was askew to one side, making her neck appear even whiter.
The most striking feature was her pair of cat ears, whose soft fur shimmered delicately in the sunlight and twitched gently with her emotions. Her tail swayed vividly behind her, and Banami was afraid that people would notice the incongruity.
Xiao Nai's heterochromatic eyes only reflected the figure of Yana. She would stop every few steps to rub against his arm, her soft cheek pressed against his sleeve, her voice sickeningly sweet: "Master... slow down..."
She wasn't quite used to human legs yet, and her walk was a little unsteady, but she insisted on holding Hanami's hand, her fingers tightly gripping the hem of his clothes, like a kitten afraid of being abandoned.
"Can you stop clinging to him all the time?" Li hope's teeth ached from watching from the side. She reached out to pull Xiao Nai, but Xiao Nai nimbly dodged her.
"Two legs...can't...walk..." Xiao Nai hid behind Banami, only showing half her face, "I need Master...to support me..."
Li hope felt somewhat helpless when she said that, as she felt like she had a rebellious daughter (who was only rebellious towards her).
She turned to look at the white cat following at her feet, wanting to pat its head to soothe it, but the white cat, as if it were covered in oil, lightly leaped away and even meowed at her.
Li Xi was completely helpless. It turned out that the two people beside her were both "daughters" in their rebellious phase.
Their appearance immediately made them the center of attention on the street.
Young people passing by slowed down; Xiao Nai was attracting so much attention that they kept turning their heads to look at her.
"Oh my god, which maid café's waitress is this? She's so cute!"
"Those cat ears are so realistic, you can even see the fur. Are they electric?"
"And her eyes, are they heterochromatic? That's so rare!"
"Ah, I'm so envious. Although I've heard maids in maid cafes call me 'master,' it's completely different from how this girl calls me."
"Damn it, I also want to hear a white-haired, heterochromatic-eyed cat-eared maid call me master."
The whispers of passersby surged in like a tide. On the surface, Banami pretended to be calm, but in her heart, she was practically wagging her tail in the air—this was the kind of treatment a transmigrated protagonist should receive!
"Hanami, are you feeling smug right now?" Riki's voice pierced through him like an icicle, shattering his reverie.
Banami turned her head and answered seriously, "Yes."
Li hope rolled her eyes at him angrily, turned her face away and ignored him, but quickened her pace, wishing she could get to RiNG as soon as possible and get away from the onlookers.
Finally arriving at the RiNG entrance, Banai stopped and turned to the two, saying, "Rinrinko-nee is very familiar with Ryuna-chan, so she'll definitely question Nai-chan about her appearance."
"Lixi, you and the others wait for me in the park next door. I'll go in and ask what's going on, I'll be right back."
Li Xi nodded gently, but Xiao Nai clung to Banai's arm, her eyes filled with reluctance: "Master... will you... come back soon?"
"Soon." Banami patted her head and turned to walk into RiNG.
There weren't many customers in the shop. Rinrinko was hunched over the counter doing the accounts when she saw Banami come in. She looked up and smiled, "Hey, Yuuki, what brings you here today?"
“Rinrinko-nee, I want to ask you something.” Banami sat down at the bar. “Do you know if anyone around here abandoned a white kitten with heterochromia? It was about five or six months old.”
Rinrinko frowned and thought carefully for a moment: "Abandoned cat? I don't remember. I know all the stray cats around here, but I've never seen a white cat like the one you're talking about."
Seeing this, Banai's heart sank, and she pressed on, "Are there security cameras in the back alley? I want to see if anyone went there that day."
“There’s no surveillance camera in the back alley, but there is one at the corner of the back entrance. It was installed to prevent thieves,” Rinrinko said, turning the computer screen toward Banami. “I’ll show you the surveillance footage from that day.”
So, at Banami's request, Rinrinko pulled up the surveillance footage from that day.
However, after watching the entire day's surveillance footage at high speed, I didn't find anyone carrying boxes or anything like that into the back alley.
Left with no other choice, Banami reviewed the surveillance footage from the previous and following days, but still found nothing.
He then thought that the person who abandoned the victim might have left through the back door, just like Yao Lenai, so he reviewed the surveillance footage from the front door for the past few days, but found nothing.
Banami frowned deeply. It seemed as if Xiaona had appeared out of thin air, and she felt increasingly strange.
"Thank you, Rinrin-nee." Banami sighed, his doubts deepening. He had just stepped out of RiNG when his phone rang. It was Riki, her voice filled with helplessness: "Banami, come quick! Something's happened at the park!"
Banami hurriedly ran towards the park and saw a group of cats gathered on the lawn in the distance—a big, fat black cat with a blind left eye was squatting in the middle, followed by six or seven stray cats of different breeds, all acting arrogantly.
Xiao Nai huddled on the bench, her face pale, her cat ears drooping. Li hope stood beside her, watching with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
"What happened?" Banami ran over and asked.
“I brought them to the lawn to sunbathe, and then this group of cats rushed over, as if they were looking for ‘Lenai’.” Lixi pointed to the white cat perched on Xiaonai’s shoulder. “They looked like they had no good intentions.”
When Banami looked at the white cat, she suddenly realized—could this group of cats be the stray cats that were previously ruled by Kaname?
He tentatively asked the white cat, "Are these your subordinates?"
The white cat gave a soft "meow," its tail held straight up—that's right, in the past, all the cats had to listen to her.
"They've betrayed us and found a new leader?" Banami suddenly realized.
As soon as she finished speaking, the big, fat black cat hissed at Xiao Nai, letting out a deep growl from its throat. The stray cats behind it also meowed in agreement.
Although Banami couldn't understand cat meows, she could sense the provocation from their postures—the black cats' meaning was clear: you two-legged little girl, your era is over, this park is now my territory!
“The boss is right!” a calico cat meowed, slapping the ground with its paw. “We’ve had enough of being ruled by two-legged beasts!”
"I don't need to steal dried fish for her anymore!" an orange cat exclaimed excitedly, its belly almost dragging on the ground.
Xiao Nai shrank into Banai's arms in fright: "Master...they...are so fierce..." She was just a five or six-month-old female kitten, and had never seen anything like this before.
Seeing Xiao Nai's appearance, the stray cats meowed even more arrogantly. Just then, the white cat suddenly hissed at Xiao Nai in a sharp voice: "What are you afraid of? You're so useless!"
Xiao Nai meowed sadly, "But they... are so powerful..."
The white cat jumped off Xiao Nai's shoulder, arched her back, and bristled at the big black cat, her blue and gold pupils filled with ferocity. Although her body had shrunk, her aura remained undiminished—she hadn't relied on her size to rule these cats before.
"I can bully her, but you can't."
The big black cat clearly didn't take the little white cat seriously, meowing contemptuously as it lunged forward. But the white cat was faster, leaping like lightning and slamming its paw into the black cat's face.
"Meow?! (Even my dad has never hit me like this!)" The big black cat was stunned. Just as it was about to retaliate, the white cat's claws landed on its head one after another, so fast that it was impossible to see them.
Although it was Yoro Nai's first time using a cat's body, she instinctively mastered the fighting techniques of a cat. Her movements were agile and fierce, and she specifically targeted the black cat's weaknesses, making it meow.
The stray cats behind them were dumbfounded, but none of them dared to step forward to help out of fear.
As Lenai hit them, she hissed at them, her eyes full of threat—who would dare to betray her? The stray cats instantly cowered, lowering their heads and avoiding her gaze.
In no time, the big black cat was beaten into submission, lying on the ground whimpering and wagging its tail at the white cat, begging for mercy. The white cat jumped onto the bench with satisfaction and squatted next to Xiao Nai, while the stray cats behind it lined up and meowed respectfully at the bench, as if they were worshipping their king.
This bizarre scene attracted a lot of onlookers. Li hope held her forehead, completely numb.
Banami found it amusing and walked over with a smile.
When the white cat saw him, it immediately jumped onto his shoulder, rubbed its head against his cheek, and meowed.
"Are you asking me to sit here?" Banami asked.
The white cat nodded gently, and Banai sat down next to Xiaonai.
Hmm, if Rakuna is the queen of the stray cats, then Banami is the... uh, prince of these stray cats?
Xiao Nai looked at the white cat surrounded by stray cats, then at Banami, and whispered, "Thank you... thank you..."
"Useless fellow, don't even mention that you're with me." The white cat arrogantly turned its head away, but didn't dodge Xiao Nai's outstretched hand.
"Rakuna-chan really looks like Nami's older sister," Banami said with a smile.
The white cat blinked her heterochromatic eyes. A sister? She had never really experienced what it was like to have siblings.
novelraw