Chapter 112 Six Cats

"The day before yesterday, I heard from everyone that you would show up in the next two days, and it turned out to be true."

Date looked at Furuya curiously: "So you are doubting the manager now?"

The blond young man who was being watched picked up the glass and shook it. The orange-yellow beer inside shook, and the white foam climbed up the wall of the glass and fell down due to gravity.

Fūya's eyes were somewhat vacant: "Is... that right?"

"?"

Ida's face was full of question marks: "What do you mean?"

"The snacks that the store manager promised to buy for Xiao Jinping arrived this morning." Hagiwara on the other side smiled exaggeratedly and squeezed his eyes at Date while speaking, "As a result, Xiao Furiya happened to see it... Well, you know what happened, squad leader."

The stern-looking police officer suddenly realized what was going on and bumped his friend's shoulder in a teasing manner, "Is the store manager eating 'snacks' in front of you again?"

After being lightly bumped, Kouya came back to his senses and keenly caught the word "again" in this sentence.

Fūya complained: "I'm really starting to feel that this behavior is meaningless..."

It seems that even Ida has seen the store manager arrogantly eating cat snacks. Don’t you guys complain about it?

"Well, judging from our usual interactions, the store manager is indeed a good kid." Ida spread her hands, "So it's not that we can't tolerate some of his strange behavior. Besides, there's nothing to pay special attention to about that kind of thing. Maybe it's just the store manager's little habit."

How can a human eat cat snacks as a habit... No, the one who should be complaining is that 'good kid'.

As Jōgō thought about what he had seen in the afternoon, he was speechless.

What kind of good child would fight with a cat, snatch snacks from a cat, and even "kidnap" a pretty kitten passing by!

Ida laughed heartily: "Oh! This expression is very good."

"Since I saw you tonight, you've been worried." Ida, whose mind is not in line with his appearance, patted Furiya's back, "At least let yourself relax for a while now, okay?"

"Sorry." Furuya put down his wine glass and rubbed his brows, "I was thinking about Hiro's problem."

"Speaking of which, my identity was leaked." Reminded by this, Zhufu, who was sitting on the other side of the wall next to the other hand of the valley, paused and said in a low voice, "So after I escaped, I didn't rush to contact the higher-ups..."

The other three looked at each other in bewilderment. Matsuda dug out the scenes related to the ambush from his memory: "Didn't you say before that you didn't want to drag us into this?"

"Well, the less you know about the organization, the better." Zhu Fu said apologetically.

Hagiwara and his friends had no objection to this. They also knew that if they got involved casually, they would probably ruin their friends' actions. After all, they knew very little about the organization and did not have much in common.

If it was simply dangerous, they didn't really care. However, if it would put their undercover operations in danger, the three of them would not do it.

"The undercover has been caught, but in order to prevent the organization from knowing that Hiro is not dead, I can't pass on Hiro's news for the time being." Furuya tapped his fingertips on the table, thinking, "So, the manager's place is indeed a good temporary hiding place."

It was also because of the previous test that Rum was alert. Otherwise, if he had just casually mentioned the cat cafe to Rum, he would have been able to come to a conclusion on whether the store manager's identity was trustworthy, and he wouldn't have needed to stay and observe on his own...

Wait a moment.

"I remember that the store was looking for someone who is good at cooking, but the manager rejected all of them because they were not to his liking." Hagiwara stroked his chin and talked about this. "The recruitment advertisement was posted at the door. Xiao Furiya should have seen it, too?"

No, the prototype was used when Furuya entered the store, but the recruitment advertisement was posted at human height, so even if Furuya looked up, he couldn't see what was written on it.

In other words, he could have applied for a job as a clerk in human form, instead of signing a human-cat contract with the store manager that had no legal effect and staying as a cat employee!

"That's good. The manager probably won't be on guard against cats, so I'll be able to observe more information." Fūya, who was determined not to let his friends know that he had made an oolong, said seriously, "And if it's in human form, the organization's attention might be attracted. By then, even if they know the relationship between the manager and the organization, you will be exposed as well."

"That's true." Ida raised his eyebrows and nodded in approval.

Only Zhu Fu realized something. He covered his lips to hold back his laughter, poked Yu Xunran with his elbow, and whispered, "You didn't see it, did you?"

After being exposed, Fūya covered his face with guilt: I knew I couldn't hide it from Hiro.

"Let's stop here today. It looks like it's going to rain soon." Hagiwara stretched and lazily suggested, "The squad leader has to take the train back, so be careful on the road--"

This is an izakaya located in Beika-cho 5-chome. The five people came here once by chance a long time ago, and later made this place their 'old place'. For example, in the nights of the past two months, they would always sneak out and transform back into human form to gather here and chat.

Although their cognition is more cat-like, they also need to maintain the proficiency of the human body, otherwise they can resume normal work later. Hagiwara Matsuda and Morobushi can't imagine the scene where they accidentally shouted meow to their colleagues.

Because the location of this store is quite lively, many office workers who are off work will come here to drink and have supper at night. They will not be too conspicuous when they gather together. As long as they cover up the outside a little, they can talk without worry in the noisy environment.

The five people walked towards the door chatting and laughing, and when they were about to separate, there was a burst of muffled thunder in the sky, and a few seconds later, heavy rain fell.

"You really have a crow's mouth, Hagi." Matsuda teased his childhood friend.

"It was just that I saw the weather forecast on the store manager's phone when I was taking a break with him this afternoon." Hagiwara said helplessly, "Who knew it would be such a coincidence...ah, wait a minute."

After the half-long-haired young man wearing a mask finished speaking, he actually put his coat over his head and rushed into the rain. It seemed that his target was the convenience store across the street.

After a while, when Hagiwara came back, he was holding five umbrellas and a new towel in his arms.

"We can also go across the street and buy an umbrella together... What's the purpose of this?" Fūya took the one given to him, and then curiously asked what the towel was for, because Hagiwara had no intention of wiping the rain off his face, but was rubbing and shaking the dry towel he had just taken out.

Hagiwara God mysteriously raised his index finger to his lips, then smiled and said, "It's a secret."

As Fūya was wondering curiously, Hagiwara seemed to have seen something. He asked Matsuda to help hold the umbrella, and he and Morofushi trotted over and squatted at the entrance of a small alley next to the izakaya, staring intently at a certain place.

"Two months ago when we came here, we encountered a kitten fighting with other stray cats. It looked to be only about one year old." Yi Dahang, who was leaning on an umbrella, explained on behalf of the three people. "Later when we went to help them apply medicine, we found that the kitten's body was full of marks from falling. In fact, there were no substantial injuries. We then found that the other stray cats didn't even touch it at the time, but were scared away by it."

"Is this a new stray cat in this area?" Fūya asked in confusion.

“Probably not.”

Ida recalled a little, "It was a very good-looking Bombay. It didn't look like it would be abandoned by its owner, but it didn't have a collar. I don't know the details. I'll have to ask Hagiwara."

"That guy wanted to take Bombay back home, but every time Bombay finished eating, he would just run away," Ida said with a sullen laugh. "It seemed like he just saw us as a target for free food."

Fūya: "...No wonder Hagiwara went out with a bag of dried fish in his arms. I thought he was going to give it to himself as a snack, but it turns out he was using it to trick the cat."

Ida was silent and hesitated to speak.

"It's not that serious, is it? Hagiwara is an adult cat after all... no, an adult."

"Is that cat special?" Furuya and Date also held up their umbrellas and walked over there. He asked as they walked, "Hagiwara doesn't seem like the kind of person who would just pick up a stray cat and bring it back."

This is not to say that they turn a blind eye to stray cats. It is mainly because some of them are cats themselves and have overflowing territorial awareness. Accepting each other as companions does not mean that they can accept ordinary peers without human minds without hesitation. Therefore, it is impossible for them to take the initiative to raise special cats. At most, they can feed stray cats secretly at designated locations.

Ida hesitated for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. You should check it out for yourself."

Fūya walked forward with confusion, passed Matsuda, and saw the black cat, who was being held by Hagiwara to wipe off the rain on his body, while he was concentrating on chewing the dried fish in Moroki's hand.

The black cat's ears twitched, and then it raised its head and looked in his direction. Fūya was stunned, and instantly understood what Ida meant.

Normal Bombay cats should have golden or copper eyes. Even in the kitten stage, it is unlikely to have such a pair of red eyes.

In Furuya's memory, when their type becomes the original, the color of their eyes does not change, so there is the purple-eyed Maine cat (Hagiwara), etc., plus Hagiwara and the others' attitude...

Does this mean that they think this is most likely one of their companions, just a cub that has not yet learned how to become a human?

This would explain the worries of Hagiwara and the others. They were probably worried that the cub might accidentally turn into a human and if it were discovered, it would likely be captured and taken to a research institute, after all, it would be wandering alone.

Fūya's expression also became a little more serious.

In terms of size, they look like teenage cats, but their situation is special and their age is often confusing. It cannot be calculated according to the comparison between cats and humans. Therefore, a cat that looks adult may actually be a child when it becomes a human, and a kitten that looks young may have been an adult for a long time.

The black cat wrapped in the towel suddenly stopped chewing the dried fish and sneezed.

"Do you have a cold? Oh no, the pet hospital should be closed at this time?" Hagiwara said worriedly, "Why don't you come back with us? I'll ask the manager to take you to see a doctor tomorrow..."

It was just a sneeze.

Fūya thought he saw these words on Kuroneko's face.

As if the black cat was displeased by what was said, it nimbly slipped out from under the towel in Hagiwara's hand with the dried fish in its mouth, and in a few jumps it climbed onto the high wall covered by the eaves, looking down at the group of humans below.

Chi Jiang Na Yue still found it quite funny in her heart.

You are a bunch of useless cats. You eat my things and use my things during the day, and then at night you want to take me home and raise me for yourself.

For the sake of the dried fish, he nodded to Hagiwara modestly, turned around and disappeared into the rain again.

Five Chome... crossed it out, and the only thing left is Three Chome, which he hasn't been to yet. It's better to go early and come back early. Zero and the others will probably go home early tonight, so it's better for him not to meet them at this time.

As he was thinking, the cat who was running attentively in the rain suddenly sneezed again.

...Could it be that I really have a cold?