"Old man~"
A somewhat unfamiliar voice, but for the old man, distinguishing it was not difficult.
After all, this aura unique to cat Kirara was simply too familiar.
The old man looked toward the door. At this moment, Kirara stood at the entrance, her two tails swishing back and forth, looking extremely excited.
One could only say that Kirara had learned "human virtue" very well—she had mastered the rule that one should not disturb others while they were working.
She would ask first at the door and not step inside.
"It's Kirara. Looks like you've transformed into a very pretty little girl."
The old man extended his hand, palm facing downward and curling slightly, signaling that Kirara could come in.
Only then did Kirara, unable to contain her excitement at being able to take human form, rush to the side of His Excellency the Shura Anyakonsen-shou to show off her appearance.
"Look, cute or not?"
Kirara looked extremely satisfied with her new form.
"Of course. Kirara's transformed appearance is very cute."
The old man also reached out to ruffle Kirara's head and, while he was at it, pinched her fluffy cat ears.
One could only say that the old man's guard and wariness toward his own raised cat were practically zero.
When she was a cat, he ruffled her ears whenever he felt like it. Now that she was a catgirl, he still ruffled them without hesitation.
"I... it's in..."
Kirara felt the old man's fingers lightly brush against the fluff inside her ears.
For a cat, the right technique could make her feel incredibly comfortable—even melt and lean limply against the person.
At the moment, Kirara was very relaxed, leaning against the old man and letting him do as he pleased.
But at this point, the old man fell into thought...
Before, her cat ears were small and could only be cleaned with a cotton swab. Now that her ears had grown bigger, using fingers still seemed a bit forced.
In the end, the old man chose to use Anemo with extremely precise control to gently clean out Kirara's cat ears.
"Your Majesty~"
Kirara immediately went limp. Her head flopped straight onto the old man's thigh, while her two tails slowly waved in lazy waves, looking utterly content...
The cat declared that even as a catgirl, she still needed to be ruffled.
But after the old man had his fill of playing with the catgirl's ears, he suddenly felt something was off...
After Kirara turned into a catgirl, it seemed the only place left worth ruffling was her ears.
And the old man wasn't exactly some monk who could give proper massages...
Maybe he should just have Kirara change back?
Looking at Kirara's blissful expression, the old man ultimately decided to forget it.
Kirara's excitement over her human form hadn't worn off yet—let her enjoy it for now.
So the old man continued ruffling Kirara's ears while starting to handle today's government affairs.
"By the way, Kirara, did you run into anything in Inazuma City today?"
Kirara suddenly tensed up at the question.
Oh no—today she had embarrassed herself so badly by getting lost! And two kids had even discovered the fact that she was lost!
For a moment, Kirara's pupils turned into the almond shape typical of cats.
The old man also sensed the cat's emotions and gently rubbed her head to soothe her.
"You didn't embarrass yourself, did you?"
The cat's soft body instantly became rigid.
Ah, looked like he guessed right.
"It's fine. Everyone embarrasses themselves sometimes. Who hasn't had a moment like that..."
The old man continued calmly rubbing Kirara's head. Once her body relaxed back into its original liquid-like state, he went back to looking over his government documents, pretending he didn't care at all.