After Loki left, Garfield surveyed the ruined rooftop and let out a slow sigh.
"As expected." He muttered. "A structure that takes months to build can be destroyed in a second."
"War can erase a modern city in an instant… yet rebuilding it takes years."
Kumatarō and Kumajirō burst into laughter, utterly unfazed.
"Master, what do you mean by that?"
"Yeah! Kumatarō and I don't understand at all."
Garfield glanced at them and nodded. "That's fine. If you don't understand, Izuna, take them back to sleep."
"Yes," Izuna replied crisply.
He waved them over and led the two away. Kumatarō and Kumajirō scratched their heads as they walked.
"Why do I feel like Master is a little crazy?"
"He always talks in such strange ways…"
Izuna's voice turned sharp. "Shut up. Don't talk nonsense."
"…Eh."
Garfield watched them disappear and sighed again.
A large team, yet so many people who don't think, he thought. If this keeps up, I'll be the one carrying everything in the future.
That wouldn't do.
He needed to train someone.
Shōkyū was intelligent, but her physique was too weak.
Midnight's thinking was… unconventional. Too many instincts remained from her time as a wild creature.
Pandora was out of the question.
Rin might be cultivable someday, but that would have to wait. And as for what happened when Obito and Kakashi chased them into that two-person world…
Garfield shook his head. Let's not think about that.
Izuna, then?
He was capable… but if he charged in again like that, his head would start aching just watching him.
Garfield thought long and hard, but no perfect candidate came to mind.
It seemed he would have to look outside the team. Then he remembered something Midnight had mentioned before.
She had a sister.
With a casual restoration spell, Garfield returned the rooftop to its original condition. Then he padded back inside and nudged Midnight, who was still asleep.
Her dark eyes barely opened as she stared at the fat orange cat pawing at her.
"What is it?" She mumbled. "You want to sleep together?"
"Hey." Garfield said quickly, "Don't make it sound so filthy. I just want to ask, your sister. Is she smart?"
Midnight yawned. "Much smarter than me."
"Oh?" Garfield's eyes lit up.
"Then there's hope. What's her name? Where is she from? I'll find her when I get the chance."
Midnight closed her eyes again. "Her name is Yoruichi Shihōin. Yoruichi Shihōin of the Shihōin clan."
She murmured lazily, "She's the cat I met while wandering the multiverse as a child. I was the one who taught her that trick.""
And with that, she fell back asleep.
Garfield stared at her in silence. Yoruichi Shihōin…
The Shihōin clan. A woman who could turn into a cat.
So that was it.
The legendary black cat goddess.
Midnight had wandered the multiverse as a child and met Yoruichi when both of them were young.
One lacked brains, the other lacked maturity, but their interests aligned, and they became sisters. Midnight had even taught her the art of transformation.
No wonder that ability was so strange, only becoming a black cat, and only when it wasn't dark.
"So, you're the source of that chaos," Garfield muttered.
At last, the puzzle of the cat-transformation mystery in the Soul Society made sense.
Midnight's steady snoring made it clear she had no intention of continuing the conversation.
Garfield glanced at her again.
She lay sprawled across the bed, well-proportioned body, powerful limbs, claws and fangs sharp enough to tear steel.
Garfield swallowed instinctively.
…No.
Absolutely not.
You are not an orange cat, he reminded himself. You are a devouring beast that does not consume worldly desires.
Turning away, Garfield forcefully suppressed his body's instincts.
Human reason outweighed animal impulse.
Everything for restraint.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream