"Nyaa——"
"Aaa——"
When Su Yuzu rushed into the bedroom, what she saw was the pitiful sight of Zero, half of her body planted on the floor.
The little cat's pitiful meowing gradually became short and sharp, slowly turning into a chaotic, tearful "Aaaa."
The girl's legs were trembling involuntarily.
Su Yuzu hurriedly rushed forward and scooped Zero up into her arms.
After being held in Su Yuzu's arms, the girl's heart seemed to settle down in an instant.
But she was still crying out "Aaaa" in a way that made one's heart ache.
Listening closely, one could tell that the Aberrant girl's voice was the same as before—the lovable meow from earlier.
It was just that because it was too short and sharp, it turned into that chaotic "Aaaa" sound.
She wanted to carry Zero back to the bed.
However, she discovered that the Aberrant girl kept looking at her with misty eyes, her body twisting and curling uneasily as if trying to express something.
The girl hadn't been this active yesterday.
Su Yuzu gently stroked down the girl's slender back.
The result... just as she was about to touch the girl's waist, she suddenly realized the Aberrant girl in her arms arched her back as if experiencing a stress reaction.
The short, pitiful "Aaaa" sounds turned into something akin to a wail.
Su Yuzu stopped her movements.
Zero shrank back into Su Yuzu's arms.
Only her body trembled, her knees knocking together. The pitiful appearance of the girl biting her lip made Su Yuzu feel pity.
What was wrong... with Zero?
Did she miss her?
Su Yuzu felt that shouldn't be the case yet.
She looked at the girl in her arms, whose eyes were clearly unfocused, hollow, and lacking rest.
Moreover... because of the inconvenience of the heavy shackles on her body.
The girl probably had a hard time eating the crepes too; cream was still stuck to her cute nose tip and chin.
Did she want help wiping off the cream?
Connecting this with the little cat's previous posture.
It was likely true awe and timidity; she didn't even dare to let the cream on her face soil the bedding.
She could only maintain a kneeling posture, pressing her small head against the bedside table.
Just thinking about it seemed exhausting.
But... was the little cat's current appearance, looking as if she were about to cry, due to the cream?
It didn't seem so.
Su Yuzu's hand slowly moved down, once again touching the Aberrant girl's waist.
"Nyaaa!!!" The Aberrant girl bit her lower lip hard and shook her small head vigorously. Only... before she could really start shaking it, as if touching some wound, she shrank her neck and retracted back into Su Yuzu's arms.
She just called out hoarsely like a cat.
The girl's body had curled up to the extent that her knees were almost touching her chest.
She knew.
Making a request to the King was an act of great disrespect.
But... she was currently in the King's arms. If she soiled the King's hands and dress, she probably could just go die right then and there.
Mouth slightly parted, the Aberrant girl's dark gold eyes were so pitiful that tears seemed to shimmer within them.
Su Yuzu also wore a helpless expression.
She wasn't a Master of Cat Language; she had no idea what the little cat was saying.
It would be great if the [Operator System] could launch a human-cat interaction function.
Su Yuzu looked at the little cat's attribute panel in [Operator Development].
In the little cat's status bar... aside from that red heart symbolizing Favorability beating rapidly—as if some kind of 'Play' was in progress—there were no abnormalities at all.
Even the little cat's health status had recovered to green.
It seemed... teaching the little cat to speak had to be moved up the schedule.
She just didn't know if the little cat could actually learn to speak.
However, even that cat from Team Rocket could learn to speak, so having Zero learn shouldn't be a problem, right?
After all... communicating with Zero was no problem at all.
Wait!?
Su Yuzu suddenly thought of something.
She directly summoned the blue light screen of the room's Nano-machines, then entered injury mode, locking the operating system to the little cat's eye movements.
"Can Zero write?"
"Just use your eyes to trace the strokes." Su Yuzu whispered as gently as possible into the little cat's ear.
Only... when Su Yuzu whispered softly in the little cat's ear, her body clearly trembled even more violently.
The Aberrant's signature dark gold vertical pupils turned into a teary mess, looking like they were about to spout tears like a fountain at any moment.
"Aaaaa!!!"
"Aa~~" The Aberrant girl's eyes wavered. Su Yuzu watched the characters appearing one by one on the blue light screen, and her expression suddenly became strange.
She glanced at the time.
It was almost two in the afternoon.
Judging from Zero's behavior, did that mean... the little cat had been waiting... from last night... until now?
Waiting for her to return.
"Nyaa..."
"Aaaaa~~" A voice pitiful to the extreme, so faint that one could only see the little cat's mouth opening, requiring one to lean in close to hear that tiny sound.
Su Yuzu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The little cat's situation was different from Kujou Katora's.
Zero's Favorability wasn't high enough.
The shackles couldn't be like Kujou Katora's, where she could simply click 'Equip' or 'Unequip' in the Operator status.
Su Yuzu could only scoop Zero up and rush toward the washroom.
"Nyaaaaaaaa——"
[Ding—]
[Taming: Zero Favorability +1.]
[Obtained Favorability Increase Reward: Silent Girl's Writing Board]
[...]
A long time later, Su Yuzu looked at the little cat curled up in the blanket, looking at her pitifully and rubbing her cheek against the back of Su Yuzu's hand, appearing to beg for forgiveness.
Su Yuzu revealed an almost helpless expression.
How to put it... this whole matter was already strange enough.
She looked at the pitiful appearance of the Aberrant girl beside her, then looked at those [Common White Flower found everywhere], [Large Foxtail Grass], and some [Apple of Average Freshness] in the [Material Inventory]—Favorability Gifts that practically had "pitiful" written all over them.
Su Yuzu unlocked the [Ascetic's Fetters] that locked the girl's hands behind her back.
The result... Zero actually seemed to panic.
"Nyaa!!!" She meowed and started to struggle.
Acting as if she was terrified that the King unlocking her shackles was just to abandon her.
Tears truly spilled from her dark gold eyes this time.
In Zero's view, it must be because her performance just now had disappointed the King. Unable to endure even such a small matter, the King was angry, and that was why she was being abandoned.
Looking at Zero's appearance, Su Yuzu could only unlock half the clasp of the [Ascetic's Fetters], then lengthen the chain as much as possible, fastening the Aberrant girl's wrists in front of her.
This way... at least the girl wouldn't have difficulty even moving.
"In the future, for things like this..."
"Zero can just take care of it herself, understand?"
"No need to ask me for instructions."
"No need to wait for me to come back."
The Aberrant girl just continued to rub against the back of Su Yuzu's hand.
"Nyaaaa..." Su Yuzu even felt she was on the verge of understanding what Zero was saying.
'Do not abandon me.'
'I will be very good.'
"By the way..."
"This is a gift I brought for Zero."
Su Yuzu took out the paper box containing [daifuku] from the [Material Inventory].
Gulp— The Aberrant girl, who had only ever eaten apples in the Laboratory, looked at the exquisite desserts in the paper box, drool practically about to drip down.
But... she carefully took out the first one.
Holding it carefully with both hands, she arched her body toward Su Yuzu.
"Nyaaa!"
"Nyaa~~~~"
________________________________________
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