"I'll be heading out then."
Shiori stood to leave.
"'I'll be heading out then'—my foot! How can you just walk out like that?" Kotori's voice snapped through the earpiece.
Shiori sighed. "There wasn't much else I could do. Yimi clearly doesn't like me—if I'd pushed any further and she'd reacted in front of Origami, that would have been worse..."
With Origami right there, she couldn't talk to Yimi alone. And with Origami right there, she couldn't say too much either.
Even as one of the main people dealing with Spirits, she still considered herself a normal human being first—she couldn't focus entirely on Spirits and ignore the feelings of an ordinary friend.
Shiori smacked herself on the forehead.
Wait—that had been completely wrong to begin with. She never should have brought up Yoshino. Origami hated Spirits—how had she made that mistake...
Even a clumsy, on-the-spot mention of Reine-sensei as some distant relative offering to take the cat would have made things more acceptable for both of them. But would that have made Yimi realize Reine-sensei was connected to her, and tanked her favorability there too?
Hindsight was useless now.
"You were put in a tough spot too. Ah, well—we'll just have to look for another opportunity." Kotori's voice in the earpiece was something close to consolation.
...
Did Shiori's hint mean she wanted a cat herself?
She'd go buy one to give her.
Origami looked down at the remaining unopened deliveries—mostly cat toys. Nearly identical in concept to baby toys, yet the price tags were completely different.
She tore open a transparent circular disc. Not the throw-and-fetch kind—the disc had a number of compartments in different shapes, all interconnected and adjustable, essentially a high-difficulty puzzle toy for pets.
Origami scooped some leftover kibble into the compartments, then rotated the whole puzzle several times in front of the cat, before setting it down in front of Yimi and waiting.
"Mrow?"
Yimi glanced at the disc.
Ignored it entirely. Got up, jumped onto the table, and used her teeth and paws to pry open the food can herself. Started eating directly from the tin.
"..."
Hard to say whether that counted as intelligent or not.
"Achoo!" Another sneeze from Origami.
Her nose was completely blocked. She was supposed to be the type who almost never got sick.
She dug an unfinished pack of cold medicine from the cabinet and washed it down with warm water.
The drowsiness hit immediately. Barely awake for any length of time, Origami lay back down and surrendered the rest of the morning to it.
From the living room came the steady sound of Yimi batting cat toys around—but even that wasn't enough to fight off the crushing exhaustion.
Half-asleep, she slipped into a bizarre dream. In it, Rolly—barely a day in her care—drove a bus and ran over two swallows. To hide the evidence before Origami came home from AST training, the cat stuffed the swallows into a plastic bottle and put them in the fridge. Origami came home, opened the fridge, and drank them.
Dreaming something this unhinged and psychologically scarring was a very clear symptom.
————————
With Origami retreated to her room, the little cat settled by the window and gazed quietly out at the sky, which still refused to clear.
Small-fry Shiori had been driven off. Yimi wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but it seemed the cat dealer had her all to herself now.
She nudged the bedroom door open with her head, leaped up onto the nightstand, and stared at the slowly cooling glass of water. Then, sneakily, she stretched out her tongue and began to drink.
Cats loved stealing sips from their person's glass.
"Mrow?"
Then she caught a scent. She hopped up onto the bed and tilted her head, studying Origami—whose breathing had grown heavier and warmer.
Cats and dogs had a way of sensing when something was wrong with a person.
Yimi gently licked the faintly fragrant sweat from Origami's face.
"Congratulations, Host—achievement unlocked: [That Flavor... the Flavor of Lies!] Reward: Portal Energy +5%"
"Reminder, Host: your energy has overflowed again. Should you encounter danger or find the main quest of this world too difficult, consuming 100% will initiate immediate transfer to the next world. As long as you make it out alive, you'll have another chance."
The cat still hadn't caught on to the System's hint.
"She's sick." Yimi's form flickered. A small girl in a pure white dress took the cat's place, leaning over the edge of the bed to study Origami.
"What do I do?"
"Compiling reference material for Host... Step one in caring for an ill person is to seek medical attention promptly—however, over sixty percent of humans experiencing symptoms such as a common cold will instead choose to tough it out to avoid the cost of a visit. Of the remaining forty percent, approximately half are under the age of fourteen; this group tends to dramatically exaggerate mild colds in exchange for a day or two off school..."
"Too complicated. Get to the point."
"Step one: please take the patient's temperature."
"Take her temperature?" Yimi looked puzzled.
"First, press your forehead against hers."
Yimi did so.
Warm. Very comfortable.
"Suspected fever symptoms detected. Please continue measurement with a thermometer."
"Thermometer?" Yimi had never heard the word.
"Typically found in a drawer or cabinet."
Yimi stood on tiptoe and opened the wardrobe, casting a quick glance inside. A bunny-girl outfit. A catgirl outfit. A school swimsuit. Bikinis... so many things she'd never seen before.
She stretched as far as she could and pulled down a cat-ear headband. Her mouth fell open.
So that's how it worked—when big cats grew up, they could take their ears off!
She grabbed her own ears and tugged. That one hurt.
"Host, there is no object matching 'thermometer' in here."
Yimi turned and opened a drawer instead, rummaging around haphazardly. Whatever was on top got thrown on the floor. She held up what she thought might be a thermometer. "Is this it?"
"Congratulations, Host—achievement unlocked: [Little Menace] Reward: Gacha draws +1."
"I'm a cat-child," Yimi corrected.
The System ignored this and answered the actual question: "Negative, Host—that is an ordinary pencil case. The thermometer is beside it. Please remove the cap, take it out, and place the narrow end under the patient's armpit for five minutes."
"Armpit?"
"Armpit."
"Oh..."
Yimi climbed onto the bed, sat astride Origami's waist, lifted the covers, and got the thermometer in position.
"Not through the clothing."
"Oh..."
She worked the collar aside, got it properly in place, then lay down on top of Origami. "How long is five minutes?"
The whole ordeal hadn't woken Origami at all.
"...Countdown initiated for Host. Please ensure the patient does not shift and dislodge the thermometer."
"Host may also attempt the alternative measurement location—i.e., the rec(censored)tum."
Yimi ignored that. She was comfortable where she was.
Five minutes later, at the System's chime, she retrieved the thermometer.
"38.9°C—classified as high fever. Prompt medical attention is strongly advised; delays may pose a life-threatening risk!"
"Medical attention? Life-threatening?" The kitten had no frame of reference for these things.
This big cat wasn't exactly acting in good faith—but she had given the little cat something good to eat.
Yimi lay down on Origami, forehead to forehead.
Light pulsed gently along her body.
Somewhere far away, in a distant desert, a resting camel shuddered.