When Kiyono Inori deactivated the curio and returned from Jarilo-VI to her own world, the setting sun had painted her room orange.
"Mm…"
She held her forehead. It felt like a classic overworked headache.
She finally realized what had happened with her last cold.
It was not a case of "fell asleep and woke up sick."
Unlike the cats, when she used the cat transformation wand to go to another world, her state was not considered sleep, but active casting.
The reason she caught a cold last time was because she went a bit too wild and self-destructed her own Inori Cat form.
Self-destruction itself was not the issue. The real problem was the mental strain of finely processing curios.
The underlying principle was similar to overworked office workers pulling all-nighters and tanking their immune systems.
"What a pain."
Yawning, rubbing tears from the corners of her eyes, the girl reluctantly crawled out of bed.
There was no pink pig kitty refreshed under the covers. Elysia probably had not rested yet.
But when she opened the door, she saw Elysia Cat standing in front of the living room mirror, tilting her fluffy head left and right like she was doing neck exercises.
"My dear Elysia, even as a cat you are still this obsessed with beauty?"
Kiyono Inori teased her. A cat doing this did look kind of silly.
"Oh? You are awake!"
Elysia Cat turned around and meowed. "You would not understand. I am researching a new fairy spell, meow! The difficulty rivals Mobius's experiments, meow!"
"?"
Kiyono Inori was confused.
"Hey, stop looking at me like I am an idiot! The magic of the Pink Fairy Miss is very mysterious. It is normal if you do not understand, meow. Actually, I do not really understand it either! Anyway, when are you taking me out to play, meow?"
"…I cannot follow how the topic jumped there."
Kiyono Inori made a blank expression.
Her Fairy Magic was already at mastery level, yet she could not tell what kind of spell Elysia Cat was trying to perform.
Wow. So this was the Pink Pig Kitty, the grandmaster of fairy magic? Her depth was unfathomable.
"?!"
Faced with the girl's confusion, Elysia Cat simply returned an adorable wink.
"Mm-hmm, that is a beautiful girl's little secret. Anyway, you have to take me out to play! Or I can take you out instead, meow. Up to you!"
"…Alright. I did promise you before, and tomorrow happens to be Sunday."
Kiyono Inori agreed reluctantly.
"But this time, let us stay in my world. You should be curious about an unknown world, right?"
"Mhm." Elysia Cat nodded cutely. "No rush, meow. Things are not urgent on my side. Inori-chan can come over next week instead, meow."
Kiyono Inori sensed something off. The pink pig kitty was clearly hiding something, probably preparing a surprise.
Being perceptive, she played along without calling it out.
She walked to the double-door fridge.
Fish soup, bitter melon stir-fry, braised beef with potatoes, takoyaki, croquettes, fruit. Lots of dishes, but all in small portions.
Normally, no one would cook so many kinds in such small amounts.
But Kiyono Inori had special needs. She could not eat much. Most of the food was taken home by the aunt who cooked, with wages and grocery money paid as usual.
From this angle, being her cook was actually a pretty sweet gig.
"Elysia, is there anything you want to eat?"
She looked at Elysia Cat, who was craning her head.
"I want that, that, and that, meow!"
Elysia Cat meowed.
But she was too small, and the fridge too big. Kiyono Inori had no idea what those "thats" referred to.
In the end, she picked the food while holding Elysia Cat: takoyaki, kumquat lemon drink, and croquettes.
All snacks and drinks.
No wonder Dr. Mobius said "Elysia, you gained weight." The pink pig kitty must have known this diet would make her chubby.
"My dear Elysia, is this how you usually eat at the Flame-Chasers base?"
Chewing on perfectly tender beef, Kiyono Inori asked curiously.
"Mm…"
Elysia Cat tilted her round head, struggling with all her might to use a skewer to feed herself takoyaki.
Using chopsticks or skewers with cat paws was hard.
She could have just grabbed it with her paws, but Elysia Cat clearly had standards. Meat buns could be held, but soup-coated takoyaki was absolutely not acceptable.
"Here."
Kiyono Inori speared a ball and offered it to her.
"I! Do! Not! Want! Meow! I want to be self-sufficient, meow! There is a saying, 'food earned by begging tastes bad.' The super cute Pink Fairy Miss must rely on herself, meow!"
Compared to eating takoyaki, Elysia Cat was more interested in mastering the skewer with her paws. It was an experience unavailable in human form.
"That saying is 'food given out of pity.'"
Kiyono Inori gently corrected her. How could a meowing cat even misuse idioms?
Dinner passed slowly, with one human eating calmly and one cat waging war against a skewer.
After they finished and returned to the bedroom to watch a movie and rest, Elysia Cat suddenly noticed a blind spot.
The beautiful owner had gone to Stelle Cat's world, but Stelle Cat had not woken up yet. And there was no food prepared for her either.
"Meow meow meow?!"
The pink pig kitty expressed her confusion. Kiyono Inori's expression turned wistful.
"Oh, Stelle. She is currently commanding the third major battle between the trash can alliance and the Fragmentum creatures. The frontline situation is intense, so she probably will not sleep for the next few days."
In the lower city of Jarilo-VI, influenced by the trash can butterfly effect, there were now several more active towns than in the original story. Trash cans had practically become synonymous with heroes, and Stelle was the great hero who saved the lower city.
If Jarilo-VI had elections, Stelle would probably be crowned with a trash can lid by the enthusiastic citizens and become the Planetary Governor. In trash can terms, the Station Master of the Dump.
In fact, that was already pretty much the case.
The current Supreme Guardian, Bronya, had witnessed the rise and fall of the Trash Empire and shared revolutionary camaraderie with the trash cans as an honorary trash can.
As for the former Supreme Guardian, she was even more intense. Even after being assimilated by the Stellaron, she would not stop talking about trash cans.
Swap trash cans for something else and she would be a heavy yandere. What exactly would our newbie planet Jarilo-VI turn into?
After Kiyono Inori explained Stelle's situation, the pink pig kitty froze.
Fragmentum equaled Honkai-corrupted zones.
Qlipoth Fort plus Supreme Guardian equaled the Flame-Chasers plus world leaders.
Trash cans equaled warriors against Honkai.
Using her own world as reference, Elysia Cat imagined Stelle Cat's world. In that world, the heroes fighting Honkai were a bunch of trash cans.
And Stelle was their leader, with the ruling class fully cooperating.
It was absurd.
So absurd that Elysia Cat could not even picture what trash cans versus Fragmentum monsters would look like.
But still…
"Inori-chan, my dear Inori-chan. If there is a chance, I want to visit Stelle's world and see it for myself, meow."
Elysia Cat flicked her long tail and rubbed her fluffy head against Kiyono Inori's cheek, clearly fascinated.
Kiyono Inori froze.
"That is absolutely not allowed! What if you turn from Elysia Cat into Elysia Trash Can? What would I do then, meow?!"
The beautiful owner reacted violently. Extremely violently.
…
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Let me know if I got a name wrong. I know basically nothing about MyGO.