This girl!
Mobius had long known that Elysia liked cute girls. The pig-cat never bothered to hide it. She dropped by the lab to cause trouble all the time and even kidnapped little Griseo now and then.
But still.
She never expected the Fire Moth girls would no longer satisfy the pink pig-cat. She had actually extended her claws to underage girls studying outside.
This must be what people meant by lacking something and trying to compensate for it.
Never went to school, so she developed an interest in schoolgirls. That kind of thing was not uncommon.
Mobius quietly turned on the recorder in her coat pocket, already forming a plan to get a handle on the pink pig-cat.
Elysia, you do not want everyone in Fire Moth to find out about this, do you? If you do not, then stop messing with my lab.
For Fire Moth, this probably would not even be news. They would just go, "Ah, that's Elysia," and move on. But Elysia herself cared a lot about her reputation.
At the very least, Mobius could guarantee seventy-two hours of peace in her lab. Thinking that, she smiled in triumph.
"Hey! Inori-chan! Why are you throwing another music party while I'm not around? That's too much! You never take me with you! And weren't you sick? Can your body handle it?"
The stunned pink pig-cat entered full scolding mode. "And you too, Mobius! Stop looking at me like I'm some bad woman. The real bad woman is obviously this cat!"
Dr. Snake: (⊙▽⊙)
She did not understand the words, but her female intuition picked up something unusual. Was the pink pig-cat jealous? How rare. This was a first.
"It's just friends visiting me in the hospital. And one of them you've met before. Misumi Uika, the one who bought you buns yesterday. Why do you always jump straight to music parties?"
A helpless voice came from the cat relic.
"Because it's the truth! Every time I call, you're surrounded by cute girls. Sneaking off to be all flirtatious when the Pink Fairy isn't around."
She turned her face away in a huff.
"Fine, missing the music parties is one thing! But I told you I'd take you shopping in Mu's commercial district, and instead you secretly turned yourself into a dead kitty! You're so mean, Inori-chan!"
"Other than the music party, I can't really argue. That part is true," Inori replied calmly. "But my dear Elysia, you've already turned back into a human, right? If you're human, stop throwing cat tantrums. Dr. Mobius is listening. This is embarrassing, idiot."
Pink pig-cat: (⊙_⊙)
Oh no.
Between the two music party incidents and a whole day of wanting to cuddle Inori-cat but only getting a one-seventh-scale version, too much frustration had built up. She meant to complain after turning into a cat again, but Inori's voice triggered it early.
What was this? The Pink Fairy was supposed to be elegant and dignified. How did she suddenly become unreasonable? Inori-chan's cat magic was way too powerful!
Naturally, Elysia blamed Kiyono Inori.
In truth, it was the authority of Fairy Magic: Fairy Tale Lore. The power that turned lived stories into fairy magic was taking effect without the Pink Fairy realizing it.
With more experiences, fairy magic born from the story of becoming Elysia Cat might eventually come into being.
Dr. Snake: (⊙_⊙)
The gossip-loving doctor realized she could no longer tell what was going on.
She thought this was just a simple cute-girl emotional dispute. Instead, it was cats turning into people and people turning into cats. Even if Honkai energy could do anything, this kind of back-and-forth transformation was forbidden experimentation, right?
But still.
Elysia. Experiments.
Mobius prided herself on imagination, but even she found it hard to put those two words together.
After more than forty hours without sleep, her mind was foggy, but she was a genius. She still caught the key point.
"Elysia. That cat was a human?"
Mobius's eyes lit up, literally shining despite the heavy dark circles.
"What school does she attend now? Is she interested in joining the top gene science lab, Mobius Laboratory, for a nine-to-five job with full benefits and flexible leave?"
If the cat was originally human, then judging by the intuition and learning ability shown in experiments, Mobius could already see the endpoint. Ascension. Apotheosis.
"What are you talking about? Inori-chan, don't fall for it! Mobius is lying. Her lab has no holidays at all! If you're coming, you might as well travel the world with me instead."
"Elysia, shut up! You don't understand anything. Do you know what her ability means to this world?"
"Meow meow meow?" Elysia defaulted to efficient meowing. Mobius could not understand it anyway.
"All right, stop arguing."
Kiyono Inori finally spoke up.
"No matter what you say, it won't work on my end. Because of the relic experiment that day, the Cat Transformation Staff is still on cooldown. We have to wait until it recovers."
"Won't work?"
Mobius latched onto the keyword and formed a bold idea. A girl who could turn into a cat and wield power capable of crushing a Herrscher was not ordinary by any stretch.
Aliens? Interstellar civilizations?
She thought of it instinctively. There were no signs of alien life now, but ruins of past life had been found.
"I… ah, don't worry. I'm fine."
Inori wanted to explain, but she had lingered too long in the hallway. Mana and Uika got worried and dragged her back to play video games.
"My dear Elysia, leave the explaining to you." That was all Inori left behind, barely audible.
Dr. Snake looked at the pink pig-cat. She was purring like a real cat.
"Hey! Those two women dragged Inori back into the room. They must be about to…"
Elysia's face reddened.
"Behave yourself!"
"Tch, how boring, Mobius. This is when you're supposed to complain together with me. Fine, fine. Since you're so curious, I'll graciously tell you. Be grateful to the Fairy, okay?"
Elysia instantly switched expressions, smiling playfully as she counted on her fingers and recounted everything that had happened.
From turning into a cat, to Inori's great cooking, to sneaking phone time, to calling across worlds.
She told it all, with a hint of bragging.
Something this interesting deserved to be shown off, especially since Mobius was trustworthy.
Mobius: (O_o)
After Elysia finished, the brilliant Mobius wore the same dumbfounded expression the pink pig-cat used when pretending to be stupid.
What do you mean?
You're saying that when you sleep, you go to another world as a cat, and when you wake up, you return as Elysia. And in that other world, your owner can turn into a cat and cross into our world?
Honkai energy can do anything.
Honkai energy can explain anything.
That was the common belief among scientists. In theory, crossing worlds was possible with enough Honkai energy and perfect application.
But according to Elysia, that other world had no Honkai energy at all. The crossing required none either. You just had to sleep.
That was beyond what Honkai energy could do or explain.
Still, Mobius did not care about the collapse of Honkai theory. She was an extreme frontier scholar anyway. Right now, she cared about only one thing.
"Can I become a cat?"
It was the only request Mobius ever made in her life.
Elysia had spent her time as a cat playing around. Mobius, on the other hand, saw a new possibility.
Time.
Time was the most precious thing.
If she could become a cat, she could work like crazy in human form, then sleep and keep working as a cat.
Healthy, regular schedule. Twenty-four hours of experiments in twenty-four hours. Plus, a genius intuition-type girl assisting her while in cat form.
For a doctor who had been awake for forty hours, this was heaven.
"Please! Elysia! Let your owner turn me into a cat too! Letting an idiot have this is such a waste! Please! I'm begging you!"
Dr. Snake spoke from the bottom of her heart.
Pink pig-cat: (⊙_⊙)
What was this? Had the wicked Dr. Mobius finally realized her mistake of neglecting Elysia and locking her outside the lab, and now lowered herself to beg?
As if!
What did she mean by letting an idiot have it would be a waste? Was this even a good thing? And did she really think Elysia was stupid?
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.