Ten minutes later.
In front of a dried-up drainage ditch, several stray cats were squatting or lying down, seemingly holding a gathering. Seeing Sora and Kuroneko approach, these stray cats all stood up, meowing and coming forward to claim credit.
"Where is the orange cat?"
Sora looked around but didn't see the orange cat.
"They said it's down in the drainage ditch..."
Ruri listened closely and quickly obtained intel from the other cats.
Hearing this, Sora crouched down halfway and looked down into the drainage ditch. Sure enough, he saw a dirty, fat orange cat with a bitter, frowning expression.
There's no need to say much about what happened next.
With Kuroneko acting as translator, they quickly coaxed the orange cat out of the drainage ditch.
"To think it's this fat, looks like we didn't get the wrong target..."
Sora took his phone out of his pocket, snapped a few photos with a click click, and sent a message to the owner.
Less than a minute later, the phone rapidly started ringing.
"My Fatty!"
The woman's voice on the other end was frantic.
"Where are you? I'll be right there!"
"The cat is safe, please don't worry. We will stay right here waiting for you to arrive..."
Sora quickly provided the address.
"To think we completed it so easily, I thought it would be a lot of hard work." Kuroneko's eyes sparkled as she looked over. She had clearly heard the phone call just now. "Sora-kun, let's open the cat food and treats first to fulfill the contract we signed earlier, okay?"
Just now in the park, Kuroneko had promised that as long as they found the lost chubby orange cat, there would be more canned food as a reward. Now, of course, she had to keep her word.
"Leave it to me."
Sora nodded slightly and began opening the cans.
Cat treats and canned food weren't expensive. Compared to the 100,000 yen they were about to acquire, it was nothing at all.
For a moment, the stray cats all came forward and began eating and drinking. The atmosphere was quite harmonious.
Over ten minutes later.
A small white sedan stopped in front of them. The car door opened, and an office lady quickly stepped out. She excitedly picked up the chubby orange cat, which was currently licking its paws.
"Fatty!"
"Meow~"
After holding Fatty in her arms and talking to it for a while, the woman finally looked at Sora and Kuroneko. After expressing her sincere gratitude, she didn't go back on her word. Instead, she took out her wallet and straightforwardly handed over twenty Fukuzawa Yukichi bills.
"This is the agreed-upon reward. Words cannot express how grateful I am that you two were able to find Fatty."
"S-So much money..."
Ruri widened her beautiful eyes, and they literally turned into the shape of yen symbols.
For a high school student, a single Fukuzawa Yukichi bill was already a huge sum, let alone twenty of them. It was simply a massive fortune.
You have to know, in the manga Initial D, Natsuki Mogi only earned 100,000 yen per session of Papa-katsu.
Sora's expression, on the other hand, was quite calm. He accepted the bills with both hands and conversed politely with the office lady.
After a few polite exchanges, the woman bowed once more in gratitude, then got back into the car with Fatty and left.
"Ruri-san..." Sora held up the stack of bills in his hand. "Do you still want to split it fifty-fifty now?"
"Of course we're splitting it fifty-fifty!"
Kuroneko's eyes sparkled brightly, her tone lacking the slightest hesitation.
Fairness is the foundation of forming a party. If things are unfair, the party definitely won't last long.
Completing the commission so easily proved that her idea of making money was completely viable. Therefore, of course she was going to form a party with Sora-kun for life!
"Then we'll split it."
Sora counted out ten bills and handed them to Kuroneko, who was already itching with anticipation.
"This was a thrilling, epic rescue. If we hadn't saved the contracted beast from the demon's maw, it surely would have starved to death, wouldn't it?"
"So we can accept this bounty with complete peace of mind..."
Ruri's eyes sparkled brightly as she happily accepted the bills.
Mom's hand cream, Dad's shaver, Hinata's manga books, and Tamaki's snacks... I can buy them all!
"Ehehe~"
Thinking of how happy everyone would be when they received their gifts tonight, Ruri couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Don't forget one more thing," Sora reminded her. "Do you feel any uncomfortable anomalies in your body?"
"Eh?"
Ruri blinked. She hurriedly reined in her smile, held her breath, focused her mind, and carefully sensed her body.
"I-I think there's a little bit..."
Ruri's small face quietly blushed. Too embarrassed to say 'butt', she could only whisper shyly.
"My back is a bit itchy... It seems the devil's tentacles are about to grow out again."
Sora casually replied.
"Ruri-san's tail is clearly very cute, alright."
"...Idiot Sora!" The ahoge on top of Ruri's head twitched lightly. Her pretty face quickly flushed red down to her ears, and her voice was filled with embarrassment and anger. "A mere mortal, w-who gave you permission to praise me?"
Sora gave her a speechless look. "Then I won't praise you anymore."
"Hmph." Ruri turned her small face away, crossing her arms over her chest. "Only occasionally praising me is barely acceptable..."
"There's a cold drink shop up ahead. Let's go sit down, rest, and then purify your magic power, okay?" Sora quickly got down to business. "I'll help you purify your magic while we have some drinks."
"...I'll lead the way. There's a cold drink shop just up ahead."
Following behind Kuroneko, Sora soon arrived at a cold drink shop on the corner.
The sun had gradually begun to set. The shop was quite quiet, with few customers.
Sora ordered a cola, while Kuroneko ordered a cream apple soda. Then, the two walked to an empty corner and sat down.
After taking a small sip of her drink, Ruri couldn't help but lift her small face and look at Sora sitting opposite her. Her pretty face blushed slightly, and she tried to use a nonchalant tone to whisper.
"Sora-kun... you can start now."
"Then I'll begin the purification."
Hearing this, Sora put his phone away, stood up, walked over to sit beside Kuroneko, and then extended his right hand under the table.
"Phew..."
Ruri took a deep breath, lifted her small hand, and, suppressing her shyness, placed it into Sora's palm.
Skin touched skin.
Scalding heat traveled from the palm straight to the bottom of her heart.
(A boy's hands are so hot...)
The girl's heartbeat quietly began to accelerate.
(D-Damn it... my heart is beating faster again...)
Ruri hurriedly took a sip of her drink, trying to suppress the nervousness and shyness in her heart.
(Hold steady!)
(Don't mind it!)
(It's just holding hands. The Witch of the Night will never let her mind be shaken by such a trivial matter!)
Unfortunately, self-comforting didn't have much effect.
Although this wasn't the first time the two of them had held hands, yesterday, Kuroneko's heart was filled with panic and helplessness. Now, it was solely the feeling of shyness permeating her mind.
(Speaking of which, Sora-kun is actually very good-looking... he must be very popular at school, right?)
Noticing Kuroneko's secret, observant gaze, Sora turned his head to look.
"What is it?"
"N-Nothing..."
Ruri hurriedly lowered her head in embarrassment and took a large gulp of her drink with a glug. Then she took a deep breath, attempting to use conversation to shift her attention.
"Today's operation was super smooth. After I go back tonight, I'll search the internet to filter destiny's flyers. If there are suitable bounties, let's continue our operation this weekend, alright?"
When talking about bounties, Kuroneko's eyes sparkled brightly, clearly full of expectations for tomorrow.
Making money!
After getting our first pot of gold, naturally, we have to work even harder to make money!
"No problem." Sora took a sip of his drink and agreed. "I'll leave the screening of bounty posters to Ruri-san. However, it's best if the distance isn't too far."
"Leave it to me." Ruri's eyes shone brightly. "I will find the most suitable bounty posters... and then form a party with Sora-kun for life!"
At the same time.
Outside the window, a passing girl quietly raised her phone and snapped a photo.
"Anna... you got NTR'd!"