With a final swing of my sword, the last cockroach crumpled midair before disintegrating into tiny specks of light.

[+45 EXP]

[+20 Weapon EXP]

I exhaled, my shoulders relaxing as the tension in the air finally lifted. It was over. As I landed back onto the roof, a faint shimmer caught my eye. The remnants of the cockroaches had left behind glowing fragments—Luminous Gems.

[+4 Luminous Gem]

[+4 Luminous Gem]

I blinked as I collected them, the soft glow of the gems illuminating my hands. Each cockroach had dropped a sizable enough gem to count as four, bringing the total haul to twelve. Adding that to the thirty gems I had already gathered… forty two Luminous Gems. Still not enough. I needed a hundred to roll my first gacha with these gems.

I groaned, my ears flattening in disappointment. “Ugh…”

Beside me, the snowy nine-tailed fox tilted her head, her bright eyes filled with quiet concern. She let out a soft whimper, brushing against my leg as if to ask what was wrong.

I glanced down at her, my frustration melting away just a little. With a small smile, I reached out and gently stroked her soft fur. “It’s nothing,” I murmured. “Let’s get back to the others.”

----------------------------------------

"Wao! Mashiro's back in her signature pink and black dress!" Yuzu exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise and amusement.

I blinked and glanced down at myself, feeling a sudden twinge of self-consciousness. My Shrine miko outfit, the white and red one I had been wearing earlier, had transformed back into the familiar pink and black dress that I was so used to. The fabric clung to my form like a second skin, the edges of the frills dancing slightly in the soft breeze.

I shifted uncomfortably, my fingers playing with the hem of the dress as I glanced over at Yuzu, wondering if she noticed how much of a shift this was for me. Standing next to me, Catherine's gaze softened into something between confusion and worry. Her crimson eyes flickered from me to the small, fluffy figure perched atop my head. The fox, with its pristine white fur and nine fluffy tails, seemed completely at ease, looking around with a curious glint in its eyes.

"Is something wrong?" I asked Catherine, tilting my head in a question, the gentle sway of my hair mirroring my uncertainty. As I did, the fox above me mimicked my movements, tilting its head in sync with me, its snow-white eyes locked onto mine with a knowing look.

"It seems very attached to you," Catherine noted, her voice carrying a hint of concern. "Do you know this fox?"

I lifted my eyes to meet the fox's gaze, the silken white fur gleaming in the sunlight. Her tails swayed gently, brushing against my cheek, as her sharp, snow-white eyes met mine with a knowing calm. I couldn’t help but feel a strange connection with her, almost like she was familiar to me, like I had known her for a long time.

Before I could respond, I noticed Yuki nearby, still yawning as if the world around her had no sense of urgency. She was bound in her school uniform, but her eyes, those golden, glowing eyes, shifted back into an almost ethereal snow-white hue.

"More or less," I finally answered, a faint smile tugging at my lips as I lifted my hands and gently patted the fox’s head. The white fur was soft, almost too soft to be real. "Isn't that right, Ai?"

The fox's tails flicked in excitement as it let out a soft, adorable yip. Her voice was like a playful breeze, clear and lighthearted. I couldn’t help but smile at the sound. I wasn’t sure at first, but the more I looked at the fox, the more it started to feel... familiar. And then it hit me, like a ton of bricks. Of course!

In the game, Yuki was obsessed with cats. I mean, the girl practically worshiped them. She had a whole shrine to cats at her house, and there was this one cat, Ai, I think? that she absolutely adored. And here I was, with a fox sitting on my head, with snow-white fur and eyes just like hers. I mean, come on, this had to be Ai, right?

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"So... Can anyone untie me now?" Yuki asked, her voice dripping with sleep as she stretched and yawned, completely unbothered by her current situation.

I was about to walk over to her, summoning my sword to cut the ropes, when Catherine suddenly stepped in front of me, her staff raised like a barrier. Her crimson eyes gleamed with suspicion as she fixed her gaze on Yuki, who was still lying down, her cat ears twitching lazily.

"Why should we trust you?" Catherine asked, her tone sharp and cautious.

Yuki, completely oblivious to the tension, tried to raise a hand as if she were reaching out like a cat begging for attention. However, her limbs were still tightly bound, and she struggled with the movement. “Um... Nya~?” she meowed adorably, her voice soft and playful despite the ropes.

Yuzu, who had been watching this whole exchange with growing frustration, suddenly snapped. "Bery notto cute! Catto notto be trusted! She bery tried to notto let Yuzu help cutie Mashiro!" she yelled, her eyes now dark and narrow as she glared at Yuki.

I immediately rushed over to try and calm Yuzu down, but my words got all tangled up. I had no idea what to say. "Yuzu, calm down... I mean... Yuki... she's not that bad, right?" I stammered, struggling to find the right words.

Yuki, unfazed, just blinked and shrugged, clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation. "Weird... this usually works," she said with a pout, as if she was disappointed her usual charm wasn’t working to get her untied.

As if her patience was running thin, Catherine sighed dramatically, adjusting her witch hat with a flick of her hand. She pointed toward Yuki, her eyes narrowed in frustration. "At least tell us, why are you tied up like that? And why are you here at this—"

"Inari Shrine," Yuzu cut in, finishing Catherine's sentence with an almost gleeful correction.

"Yeah, that." Catherine shot Yuzu an exasperated glance before turning back to Yuki. "And what was all that NONO stuff you were talking about earlier? What does that even mean?"

Yuki, as usual, was completely unbothered. She tilted her head to the side, her cat ears flicking lazily as she yawned—completely relaxed, as though she was lying on a warm, fluffy bed instead of being tied up in front of a group of suspicious people.

"I… tied myself here," Yuki answered nonchalantly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

There was a long, stunned silence. I could practically feel the confusion radiating off both Catherine and Yuzu. Their faces were frozen in shock, their eyes wide. I could hardly believe it myself, and I wasn’t even the one tied up.

Catherine blinked, clearly at a loss for words. "You... tied yourself?"

Yuzu, equally dumbstruck, could only manage a strangled, "B-but... why?" She looked from Yuki to the ropes, then back to Yuki, trying to make sense of the absurdity of it all.

Yuki yawned again and lazily shrugged. "I just thought it'd be fun, nya~" she said with a mischievous grin.

It took all my willpower not to burst out laughing at how utterly ridiculous this was. Only Yuki could manage to make tying herself up look like some kind of... well, game.

"And besides..." Yuki continued, her voice soft spoken, but there was a subtle shift in the air, something dark and deep that made me freeze in place. She locked eyes with me, her usual lazy, sleepy expression still hanging around her like a veil, but beneath it, something else was there.

Her snow-white hair swayed gently, almost unnaturally smooth, her cat ears twitching with a strange, deliberate grace. She flashed a smile, an innocent enough grin, or so it seemed at first glance. But then I saw it. It wasn’t just any smile. It was the kind of grin that sent a shiver crawling up my spine, predatory, almost knowing.

Those pristine, icy, snow-white eyes stared into mine with a depth I hadn’t seen before. It was like a switch flipped inside her, and in a heartbeat, they transformed. The cold, glacial hue of her gaze melted into something rich, molten gold, deep, almost hypnotic. It was unsettling, like watching the shift of a storm in slow motion, a dangerous calm before something much bigger.

I couldn't look away. I felt a chill creep down my spine, as if the very atmosphere around her had thickened, like the air was no longer just air but something dense, full of unspoken promises and ancient power.

The ropes that bound her seemed almost... irrelevant now. They tangled around her school uniform, but they didn’t appear to be limiting her in any way. In fact, they only accentuated the strange, otherworldly aura she had. Restrained, yet entirely in control. It was as if she was both trapped and utterly free at the same time.

"I know you will come to untie me," Yuki said, her voice low but confident, her golden eyes never leaving mine.

And in that moment, I had no doubt that she did. Whatever Yuki was, she wasn’t just some lazy, catgirl. There was power in her words, a sense of inevitability that made me wonder what the hell I’d gotten myself into.

I felt like I was the one tied up now.