Volume 1 - CH 2.2

After school, Kei and Haruki went to the staff room together. Since they had reset, it was their responsibility to meet with Tsushima and begin filing a report over their request. The Service Club required detailed reporting regardless, but special attention was needed in their case due to the relationship between saves and resets. Since Haruki couldn’t reset before creating another save, and a new save could not be made within 24 hours of a reset, Haruki’s ability could not be relied upon within certain time periods. Thus, time-specific and intimately detailed reports were required for the Bureau to keep a handle on things, but also to help Kei keep their capability for request completion in check.

Tsushima’s desk was, as always, messy. An assortment of textbooks, workbooks, binders, folders, printouts, envelopes, cups of cold coffee, and even a book on dealing with truant kids was strewn about his small workspace. Tsushima used what little space remained to put up his arm and rest his chin in his hand, listening to Kei’s report. Once Kei was finished, Tsushima responded with a brusque, “Great, I’ll just leave you to it.”

Tsushima handing off his responsibilities was nothing new, but this time he even graced them with an excuse as for why.

“My teaching work has kept me busy lately. If any problems pop up, just come back to me and I’ll do what I can.”

Indeed, the business of teachers was a difficult concept for students to grasp. Even when final exams had all been finished and graded, he was still overburdened to this extent. Searching for a cat would surely remain in a low priority spot for him. He may as well have added that if the problem wasn’t disastrous, he would prefer to be left alone.

Kei and Haruki left school, with their first stop being Sangatsudou in the shopping district. Individual cream puffs were $1.50 apiece, so Kei made sure the receipt was labeled as a purchase for the Service Club.

Putting them into a box filled with dry ice, they headed for the shrine. It was a bright, sunny day, and blue skies spread out as far as the eye could see. Kei knew that it was going to rain by the end of the night, however.

“How would you describe Nonō-san?”

Kei considered Haruki’s question for a moment. “She’s an extremely relaxed girl. I guess, if you were to compare her to a cat, she’d be less of an adorable kitten and more of a stylish queen. It’s kinda a bummer though, she doesn’t add ‘nyan’ to the end of her sentences.”

“Would you prefer that she did?”

“Prefer what?”

“Using cat speech.”

“Oh, for sure. It’s pretty cute,” he said jokingly.

“Wonderful weather we’re having today, nyan.”

She even said it with a straight face. He had to reign it in quickly, before something even more embarrassing could happen.

“Uh… um…”

“What’s the matter, nyan?”

“I’m sorry, I lied. I’m begging you, please talk normally.” He needed to be honest and efficient, or it might not go away. Who knew what kind of rumors could spread around if he didn’t nip this in the bud.

“Oh, really? Understood,” Haruki nodded placidly.

“You should hold yourself in higher regard.” Kei truly believed that, from the bottom of his heart.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that, but if it’s what you want, I’ll try to work on it.”

“I want you to do it for yourself, not for me.”

“You don’t make a lot of sense sometimes.”

Her situation was quite serious, but the last thing Kei wanted to do was rush her into a half-hearted change, so he decided to drop it for now. Besides, they had a cat to find.

They traveled around the back of the shrine, and climbed the stone steps. They encountered a calico cat who seemed to be taking a leisurely walk. Kei considered Nonō’s comment about cat time and its strange implications.

Nonō sat atop the steps with her eyes closed. It was as though time had stopped. She looked just as she did three days in the future, what felt to Kei like only a few hours ago. He had a second opportunity to meet her for the first time.

“Nonō-san.”

Upon raising his voice, the girl’s eyes soundlessly opened.

“And you are?” She spoke bluntly, looking directly at Kei. Her eyes held no feeling. Kei introduced himself and Haruki, followed by an explanation of what had happened three days in the future.

Nonō furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “So, you claim to know the future?”

“Yes, that’s about what it comes down to.”

Technically, they knew of a past that no longer existed, but the specifics weren’t all that important here. Going into detail about how resets worked would be a waste of time.

“And you met me at some point in that future.”

“Our goal is to get you to believe that, yes.”

“Fine, then. The important thing is that you know my favorite snack.”

Kei handed over the paper bag from Sangatsudou. “If the current series of events continues, a cat will get into a traffic accident the day after tomorrow.”

Nonō accepted the bag, and grabbed a cream puff out of it. She wasted no time biting into it, getting cream stuck to her cheeks in the process. She stuck out her tongue to lick the remainder off her cheek. With the half-eaten cream puff still in hand, her expression shifted, becoming more serious.

“Since when did this Murase person take the cat in as her pet?” A familiar-sounding question.

“Six months ago,” Kei replied, adding, “You asked the same question on Saturday. Does it have a special significance?”

Nonō took another bite of her cream puff. Custard cream spilled from a crack in the pastry. She wolfed the rest of it down, and licked the cream from her finger. Finally, she answered Kei’s question.

“I happen to know the cat you’re talking about. But that cat is a stray, not owned by Murase or anyone else.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. As it happens, I haven’t seen him in a few days.”

Although Nonō explained that could mean he had been picked up very recently, that didn’t work in tandem with Murase, who had claimed to pick him up six months ago.

“What if you’re just confusing him with a similar-looking cat?”

“Fine, then, run me through all the details again,” Nonō offered.

“Gray fur, fairly young, blue eyes, and a crooked tail.”

Nonō slowly shook her head.

“Only one cat in Sakurada fits the bill, and he’s a nameless stray.”

Kei sighed. Things were as bad as he had imagined. Murase Youka had lied, probably more than once. Several things about the request had been bothering him from the start.

Take the photo Murase sent him; granted, it was gone now that they had reset. But it was a picture of her feeding the cat on the side of the road. Murase had likely taken the photo herself, but why would you feed your own cat on the side of the road?

“Things aren’t lining up here,” Haruki stated. Kei nodded in response, before following up with a request to Nonō.

“Could you find out where the stray cat is currently?”

“Yes, but it would take some time.”

“Can you try it for us?”

“If it’s the only way to save his life, then I have no choice.” With that, Nonō closed her eyes.

Just as Kei was realizing this left them stuck with nothing to do for a while, he felt several light pulls on his shoulder. Haruki was tugging on his shirt sleeve. Still holding his sleeve, she began walking away. Having no reason to resist, he followed behind.

Once they were some distance away, she spoke. “Are we going to continue fulfilling this request, Kei?” She was keeping her voice down so as not to disturb Nonō’s sleep.

Kei nodded. “We have no reason to stop.”

It was very likely that Murase had lied to them, and who knew how many times. But, if the cat had truly died in an accident, there was no excuse not to save him.

Haruki’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “But, don’t you find this all a bit strange?”

“Of course it’s strange. But at the very least, Murase-san had no reason to lie to us about wanting to save the cat. And it being a pet or a stray makes no difference in whether it deserves to be helped. At this point, it shouldn’t cause too much trouble just to save him anyway.”

Haruki seemed unconvinced. “But, if she was willing to lie to us during her request, there must be a reason behind it.”

“Such as?”

“I can’t claim to know. But she might be trying to use us in some way.”

“Probably. But what difference does it make? If using us is what it takes to bring someone happiness, then I’m all for it.”

“You really don’t have a problem with that?” Hesitation mixed into Haruki’s voice. It was rare for her to question Kei’s judgment. Looking closely, he saw her fiddling with her phone’s cat strap.

Kei shook his head in resignation. “Every possibility has the chance to turn into a problem.” With every opportunity to bring someone happiness came several opportunities to make someone unhappy, unfortunate though that reality was.

“What do you think Murase-san is trying to do?”

“Dunno. But there’s usually only one reason we’re given a request.”

“Which is?”

“To cause a reset. The cat’s accident could have been a timely front for her own personal desire to rewind time. Of course, if that was true, then she already got what she wanted.”

Haruki nodded in agreement. Almost anybody could want to rewind time back three days, for any number of reasons. Of course, they would feel no obligation to share the true and personal reason they wanted it. Not that it mattered, as it was likely Kei would refuse. For example, if someone failed an exam and wanted to retake it. Not only would the Bureau shut down such a request, several others would get their result displaced by association. There were always other perspectives to consider.

“Or perhaps she didn’t want something to be reset,” Kei continued.

“But why ask for a reset that she didn’t want?”

“You have a 24-hour period that you can’t reset. Murase-san would have until noon tomorrow to pull off something important that she doesn’t want to be reset, while we’d be sitting ducks.” Of course, this assumed that she knew all facets of Haruki’s ability.

“That doesn’t sound good at all.”

Kei nodded gravely. If Murase was truly prepared for the reset, then she was in the perfect position to take advantage of the next day. After all, nobody would want to reset something that made them happy.

“Granted, all her planning would be pointless unless she has an ability that maintains her memory beyond a reset.”

There shouldn’t have been many abilities that could surpass a reset, but the number and variety of Sakurada’s abilities were not to be underestimated. Miracle workers were commonplace here.

“I’ll ask again, should we really fulfill this request?”

“Ah, it’s fine. We’re just talking possibilities right now, and either way, we’ve already reset, so there’s no point in crying over spilled milk. Besides, everything’s been reported to Tsushima-sensei.”

Kei could depend on Tsushima. Or, at least, the Bureau. Follow-up with them would be consistent and required. If any problems cropped up, the Bureau was more than capable of managing them. Their lack of current action probably meant that whatever Murase was planning wasn’t that big of a deal. Kei didn’t have any problem with her using them for her goals.

But Haruki still wouldn’t concede.

Nothing for it, Kei thought, as he continued to try and console her. “Look, I’ll be careful. But we can’t just toss this request out wholesale. It’s still very possible that this cat will die the day after tomorrow.”

“But I-” Just as Haruki began to counter, a voice floated in from behind her.

“Too bad.”

They looked towards the voice. Nonō had woken up. Kei looked back towards Haruki, but she shook her head. It seemed he wouldn’t get to hear the rest of that line.

Kei turned towards Nonō. “What’s too bad?”

“My apologies. It would appear he’s sleeping right now.”

Kei assumed that “he” was the cat. “And him being asleep is a problem?”

“When I use my power, my consciousness melds with the cat’s. Their experience becomes my own experience. As such, if the cat knows where they are, I will too.”

“Wow, that’s incredible.”

“Unfortunately, it’s unhelpful if the cat is sleeping. Nobody thinks about where they are while they’re asleep. At best, they’ll have some kind of weird dream I can experience with them.”

“I see.” So cats had dreams. Kei didn’t know that.

“If you give me more time, I’ll keep trying.”

“Please do. Can you let me know if you ever find out where he is?” Kei took a notebook from his schoolbag, and hastily scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper, handing it to Nonō. She immediately began inputting the number on her phone. Something about using a cell phone didn’t fit her image, and Kei almost chuckled watching her.

“I’ll contact you as soon as I find out.”

“Thank you so much. I’ll bring more cream puffs next time we drop by.”

“You don’t have to bring anything. I’m happy to help in saving a cat.” Even as she said that, Nonō took out two more cream puffs. Watching her eat them made Kei want one himself. If they were gonna count for club expenses anyway, he should have bought more for themselves.

“See ya,” Nonō waved. The setting sun dyed her white skin red. Kei looked up to behold a beautiful sunset, marred by gray rain clouds in the west. He recalled that it would start raining in two hours.

After telling her to get home before dark, Kei left with Haruki.

On their way home, Kei took Haruki on a slight detour through the shopping district. They walked past the entrance of the bread bakery where a cat would get hit in a traffic accident in two days. It looked every bit the part of a bakery, with no special distinctions. It was hard to imagine a cat would lose its life here.

The shop had already closed its shutter for the day. Written plainly on the white shutter were the hours in green, 6AM-6PM. 

Kei and Haruki ambled along, making idle conversation. Seizing the opportunity, Haruki slipped in a line.

“Would you like to get some supper before going home?”

Until then, Kei hadn’t recognized his hunger, but he shook his head regardless. “It’s fine, I’ve got leftovers at my place.”

Kei lived alone in a studio apartment, so Haruki made a habit of offering to have dinner with him. But Kei didn’t want to deviate from the pre-reset timeline. Besides, Haruki had her parents waiting for her with home-cooked meals, so it wouldn’t be good for her to eat out too much. As such, Kei created a rule to only accept her offers twice a month. Once in the first half of the month, and once in the second half. Every other time, he declined without fail.

“Alright, then.”

Sticking to his left, Haruki gave a curt nod. She had doubtless caught on to Kei’s self-made rule. And yet, she continued to invite him every other time. Perhaps there was a deeper meaning or message she was trying to allude to. But Kei once again chose not to read into it too much.

The sound of flutes and drums floated around them from an unknown source. Other sounds combined, marking the preparation of the oncoming summer festival.

“By the way, we promised to attend the summer festival together.” It had been after receiving Murase’s request, but before resetting.

“Did we really?”

Haruki’s eyebrows crinkled slightly, like they would when she was in a bad mood. But for a girl who rarely emoted, any change in expression was incredibly endearing.

“The festival is scheduled for Saturday night. I’m sure we’ll have completed Murase-san’s request by then.”

“Why did you wait so long to inform me? You should have said so immediately after we reset.”

“Sorry. Must have slipped my mind.”

“It seems I will have to get my yukata prepared.”

“Alright, that’ll really make it feel like summer. You talking about the purple one?” She had worn that one last year. An image of her popped into his mind. Her yukata was purple with a goldfish pattern, and she was holding a candy apple.

“I was considering purchasing a new one. Would you prefer last year’s?”

“I would prefer that you wear what you want. I don’t care either way.”

“Then, should I find one in a goth loli style, with plenty of frills?”

Did yukata even come in that style? Kei almost played it off as a joke, before remembering that Haruki was prone to doing all sorts of unpredictable things.

“I think sticking with a Japanese style would be best.”

“What color?”

“Something like the color of the sky right now.” The sun was dipping into the mountains, but it was still light out. The sky was like a stripe of blue paint slowly melting away.

Kei finally found a payphone, and came to a halt. Haruki stopped beside him, gazing into the sky.

“It looks a lot like last year’s yukata.”

“You’re right. Why not use last year’s? You looked really nice in it.” Wearing a yukata was already a rare occasion, so Kei didn’t see the need to buy a new one every year.

Kei picked up the receiver and inserted a coin. After he punched in the usual number, a familiar message began playing.

“But you would say that no matter what I wore.”

“Really? Isn’t that just ‘cause you look great in everything?”

He hung up. The coin ejected. He made another call.

“I find that rather hard to believe.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“Why do you think?”

“I can’t even imagine. I thought our relationship was made of stronger stuff than that.” Kei tried for a little overkill. Haruki was almost staring a hole through him.

“Do men have no interest in clothes?”

“There’s no way that’s true. I mean, just look at Tomoki, he spends so much money on shoes.”

“But you don’t do anything like that.”

“Well, uninterested isn’t the right word. I’d be willing to shell out a little extra if I found something I liked.” But in the end, Kei would always eventually find something he liked while perusing cheaper clothes. He thought himself lucky, but others might say he just had no standards.

“But, I’m right in that you have no interest in women’s clothing, aren’t I?”

“Not exactly. I like miniskirts, especially red-checkered ones.”

“That’s not true. You wouldn’t like it if I wore one.”

“Did I ever say that?”

“You have. Several times.”

Haruki had a somewhat… unconventional approach to clothes. She even wore a boy’s uniform in middle school. The conversation was just supposed to be about what Kei liked, but if she took him exactly at his word, as she typically did, that would cause problems.

He had recently been paying closer attention to the conversations she started with him. He honestly believed that in this scenario, she would unhesitatingly wear whatever he said he preferred. And that worried him, to say the least.

“Then we shall put it to the test. I’ll buy a red-checkered miniskirt.”

“Please don’t. I only like to see them by chance, like when a random girl passes me by on the street or something.” In all honesty, Kei’s favorite outfit to see a girl in was jeans and a T-shirt. He found simple yet functional outfits extremely cute. He would have liked to see Nonō Seika wear jeans and a T-shirt.

Haruki was about to respond, but he held up his hand to stop her. “I got him.” It was pretty quick this time, he hadn’t even approached the tenth call. After his usual “Asai here,” the woman’s robotic tone began to talk back to him. The Operator had finally arrived.

“Heya, Kei. What can I do you for?”

“I purchased some information from you prior to a reset. The cost was three sets of T-shirts and bed sheets.”

“Hm, I see. Thanks for letting me know.”

Kei found it odd that The Operator would specify the items in the first place. After all, the money was directly removed from Kei’s bank account, so he would never even know if that was what had been purchased.

“Just for the record, what kind of information did I sell to you?”

“We’re looking for a cat, and you pointed us towards a Nonō Seika.”

“I see. But why go to these lengths to contact me?”

“Because it’s wrong to leave a bill unsettled. Besides, I have something else to ask you. Do you know Murase Youka?”

Haruki was right in pointing out that there were many aspects of this request worth questioning. If Kei were a hardboiled detective, he might’ve struggled with the ethical implications of revealing his client’s secrets, but this was just a job for a high school club, so he wasn’t too conflicted. He could live without the information, but it was worth the effort of a single phone call.

“Information on Murase Youka is strictly classified, regardless of your connection to her,” The Operator answered.

Kei didn’t expect to hear that. The Operator was indeed connected to the Bureau, and they held tightly to their intel on abilities and situations, some more than others. But why would The Operator go out of his way to mention it was classified, instead of just claiming ignorance? It almost felt like he was being baited.

“So, you do know about her, then?”

“More or less. But I can’t say what I can’t say.”

“Under whose authority was her information classified?”

“That’s also classified, naturally.”

That made sense. At the very least, it was still worth knowing that she had become a topic of secrecy. Kei thought a little harder, and a specific word came to mind.

“Well then, do you know what the MacGuffin is?” His proof of their connection was tenuous at best, but it surely was no coincidence that both of these topics were put under wraps at around the same time.

“I can’t talk about that, either.”

“Since when? And because of who?”

“I can’t answer that.”

Fine then, one more question. “Were both the MacGuffin and Murase Youka made confidential by the same person?”

“That’s a secret, just like anything else having to do with those two things.” The voice on the other end of the phone chuckled merrily in its robotically feminine tone. “But I wouldn’t worry. Things seem to be going spectacularly in your favor.”

In his favor? How? This whole situation had to be about more than looking for some cat.

“What do you mean, things are going in my favor?”

“You suspect a connection between Murase Youka and the MacGuffin. Originally, they were supposed to be two separate concepts.”

But they had to be connected somehow. Kei could practically see the thin line that brought them together.

“Is it even okay for you to say that? Wouldn’t that count as classified info?”

“Perhaps I’m testing the limits, but I should be fine. You don’t have any definitive proof. Besides, I don’t know anything about the MacGuffin anyway.”

The MacGuffin. A tool whose only purpose was to tie the protagonist into the story. That word had become quite the talking point lately.

“See ya. I’ll be waiting for your next call.”

With those quiet words, The Operator ended the call. Kei hung up the receiver.

“How did it go?” asked Haruki.

“There’s always more people to suspect,” Kei answered, shaking his head. Once the cycle of distrust started, it never stopped. He would’ve much preferred to be searching for a lost cat.

It was already past 7:30 by the time Kei got home. He ate a light meal and washed the dishes. At that point, it started raining. It was a simple rain shower, no wind, no chaos, just the light sound of drops hitting the ground. Kei lay down on his bed and listened to the rain.

It was far too early to fall asleep, however. Kei grabbed his phone, searched through the contacts, and called Tsushima-san. He was immediately connected to an answering machine. Kei stated his name and the kanji it was written with, then asked his question. Do you know a girl named Murase Youka?

Hanging up, he shoved his phone under his pillow and let out a sigh. He was so lost. Was it even worth digging deeper into Murase? He had nothing to go off of except her email address. He considered messaging her, but stopped. If she had been affected by the reset, he would just be some random stranger. And if she hadn’t been affected by the reset, that would only be proof that she was taking advantage of Haruki’s ability. Either way, he wouldn’t be able to learn anything from her. Most importantly, it wasn’t worth the risk of changing her behavior from the original timeline. This had nothing to do with the request.

Kei closed his eyes, and waves of the various memories in his head washed over him.

Every ability in Sakurada had some sort of limitation. Whether the number of uses, conditionals, or something else entirely. Kei’s ability was no exception to this rule. In his case, the limitation was that he couldn’t manually control what it worked on. No matter what it was he experienced, he could never forget it.

He couldn’t claim that it was easy to deal with the never-ending tide of past memories that were constantly rushing through his head. It made him want to scream more often than not. But there was a small, quiet part of him constantly holding back the impulse, even now. After all, he didn’t want a memory of him sitting alone in his room screaming to get caught in the current.

He had wondered on several occasions why he had this particular ability. It was said that Sakurada’s abilities were individually tied to their user’s character, and that someone’s true nature and deepest desires were made tangible through their granted power. If that were true, what desire was meant to be fulfilled by never forgetting anything? What did Kei want, and what was he being given?

He never could find an easy answer to that question. At the end of the day, abilities were very mysterious. Their school curriculum didn’t even account for them. Perhaps it was just one of those things Kei would have to accept, like the creation of the universe. Whether he understood the details or not, reality was undeniable. The only people with the luxury to question abilities were paid Bureau officials and children, who asked questions about everything regardless.

Kei had no particular love for his own ability, but he wouldn’t say he hated it, either. If he was offered the chance to lose his ability, he would most definitely decline. His ability had become deeply ingrained into his sense of who he was.

That was how Sakurada’s abilities worked. That was what came with the power to wish things into reality. The fact that it came with suffering didn’t take away its value.

And so, Kei relived his memories, taking great pains to be objective in viewing them. Although it was nearly impossible not to have an attachment to his past self, he always tried to strike a balance between calling out his own positives and negatives.

Suddenly, his phone began ringing in his hand. He reeled in his consciousness, and returned to the present. The memories didn’t fade, but purposefully focusing on the reality in front of him helped to center him.

He expected the caller to be either Tsushima Shintarou or Nonō Seika, and it turned out to be the latter. Kei sat up and put his phone to his ear, but before he could even speak, Nonō’s panicked voice filled his ears.

“He’s been abducted.” Quite the abrupt development.

“I assume ‘he’ is the cat. What’s this about being abducted?”

“Yes, someone kidnapped him. A stranger picked him up earlier today.”

Kei tried saying “This sounds bad,” but couldn’t quite get it out. Wasn’t it just as likely that someone had picked him up to adopt him? At the same time, humans and cats probably didn’t experience things the same way. If Nonō was panicking, that probably meant the cat was panicking.

“Alright, one thing at a time. Where is he?” His location was top priority. That alone could get them pretty far.

But Nonō’s voice retained its dreary tone. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know. If the cat doesn’t understand something, then I can’t, either.”

That seemed consistent with the explanation she had given earlier. She could apparently share consciousness with a cat, and although Kei didn’t know exactly what “sharing” meant, The Operator had alluded that it was similar to his own ability. Kei supposed one way of looking at his ability was that he was “sharing” the consciousness of his past self in the form of memories.

“It’s going to be okay. If we keep pushing forward, we’ll find him eventually.” Kei tried to inject as little emotion as possible into his tone. It made him sound so much like Haruki that he couldn’t help but inwardly smile. “Do you know anything at all? It doesn’t matter how insignificant it seems, anything could help. Did he see the person’s face, or the time, or any details in his current environment?”

“He was taken today, around 3 in the afternoon. From what I could tell, he was picked up in Ōgichou park-”

It happened today?

The timing was worrisome. It was so soon after they had reset.

“Is the cat being kept indoors?”

“Yeah, it seems so.”

“Did he see whoever lives there?”

“No, actually. It was kind of strange…” Nonō paused, likely trying to put her memories into words. “I could sense someone. Then the door opened, and he ran under the bed as someone walked in.”

“And then?”

“I got curious, and wanted to see the person’s face, so the cat poked his head out from under the bed to take a look.”

Kei was beginning to piece together how Nonō’s ability worked. If she truly meant that their consciousness was shared, then it wasn’t just a one-sided reception of the cat’s senses. They both partook in a mutual understanding of each other’s thoughts. That was how the calico cat had been able to guide Kei and Haruki to her back when they first met.

“What happened after that?” If the cat had stuck its head out from under the bed, then wouldn’t he naturally have seen whoever was in the room?

“Whoever it was, they were probably on top of the bed. His head was stroked from behind, but then all of a sudden, my ability broke off.”

“Couldn’t that have been a coincidence?”

“I’m not sure. My ability does tend to be unstable, and can be interrupted by things like me waking up. But today was different, like we were forcefully separated.”

“I see.” Things were starting to add up. Just like Haruki had brought up earlier, this entire request may have been for the purpose of taking advantage of a reset. If true, that would mean that the mastermind had an ability that could ignore a reset. Add on this circumstance, and things were leaning heavily towards someone with the ability to nullify other abilities.

The only question that remained would be, who was the mastermind? Perhaps they had a direct connection to Murase, but that didn’t have to be the case. Plus, there was the possibility that they only had good intentions. But if there was even the slightest risk of abuse, Kei couldn’t afford to leave it be.

“What did the room look like?”

“It was pretty normal. There was a bed, television, and a desk for studying. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but it looked like a student’s room.”

“Did you notice anything else of interest?”

“There was a picture frame on top of the desk. It had a young man on it, probably in his early twenties.”

“Was there anyone else in the picture?”

“No.”

Would a guy be very likely to keep a lone picture of another guy in his room? Even if it was a friend or a brother’s picture, that wasn’t very typical. Did that mean that a girl lived in that room?

Kei stopped himself. He was trying to rush to a conclusion so that he could force a connection to Murase, and that wouldn’t get him anywhere. There wasn’t enough evidence yet.

Kei switched gears. “So, the cat’s still alive, at least?”

“Most likely. I once shared consciousness with a cat that was dying. It didn’t feel like what happened earlier, from what I remember.”

“Then we have something to be grateful for.” Kei intentionally smiled as he spoke. She may not have been able to see his face, but expressions still had an effect on tone of voice. “He’s a cute cat. I’m sure someone was just trying to adopt him, or take care of him for a while. He’s probably having a really yummy dinner right about now.”

“It doesn’t matter what that criminal was trying to do. He was taken away against his will. He’s still very frightened right now.”

Well, his feelings certainly couldn’t be denied. “I understand. Don’t worry, we’ll find whoever did this. Do you know of any other cats being abducted lately?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll look into it.”

“Alright then, keep it up for now. He’s still safe right now, so it’s unlikely that whoever has him wants to hurt him.”

Nonō was silent for a while, before quietly responding, “Right. I’ll keep in touch.” With that, the call ended.

Kei lay back down on his bed. Why would the cat be kidnapped? If the goal was to force a reset, they already had what they wanted. What good would a cat be in the middle of all this?

Despite all his questions, Kei couldn’t find any answers. He looked out the window, and the rhythmic falling of the rain pervaded his mind once more.

At least the cat was indoors, where it could take shelter from the rain.