I stared at them, waiting for the punchline.
Nothing came.
"…What."
Catherine exhaled through her nose, rubbing her temple before gesturing toward Yuki. "Mashiro, the only reason we can understand each other is because we all speak human language." Her gaze flicked to the bound cat girl, who was still lazily swaying her tail, entirely unbothered by the conversation unfolding around her. "But her? Whatever she's saying, it's not in a language we can understand."
Yuzu nodded furiously in agreement. "Yuzu hear words, but no make sense! Like… nyanya, meowmeow, purrpurr—"
I deadpanned. "You're just making cat noises."
"Exactly!" Yuzu huffed, her cheeks puffing up further as if I'd just proved her point. "That all Yuzu hear! She sound normal to Mashiro?"
I hesitated, my ears flicking as I turned toward Yuki. She was watching the exchange with quiet amusement, her golden eyes half-lidded in that ever-lazy expression of hers. But she hadn't seemed confused by what I'd said earlier. She had responded normally—like she understood me, and I, in turn, had understood her.
"Well… yeah? She sounds completely normal to me."
The words left my mouth before I fully registered their weight.
Silence followed.
Catherine and Yuzu exchanged glances, something unspoken passing between them. Yuzu's ears twitched, her tail giving a slow, uncertain flick, while Catherine's expression darkened, her brows knitting together in deep thought. Neither of them spoke right away, but their reactions made my own fur bristle with unease.
Then, without a word, they both took a step back.
My body tensed. "…Why are you stepping away?" My eyes narrowed, scanning their faces for an explanation.
Catherine's lips pressed into a thin line, her red eyes flicking over me like she was reassessing something fundamental. Slowly, she folded her arms across her chest, her voice low and measured. "Mashiro. That's not normal."
"Very, very not normal," Yuzu echoed, ears flicking uneasily. Her grip on the small fox tightened, as if the creature could somehow protect her from whatever strange revelation she was having. "Mashiro… cat person now?"
I frowned, placing a hand on my hip. "I've always been a cat person."
Yuzu gasped dramatically, tail fluffing up like a startled kitten. "Mashiro was catto all along?!"
I resisted the overwhelming urge to groan. "That's not what being a cat person means!"
"Then what?" Catherine's red eyes were sharp as she studied me, her posture still wary. "Because if you're understanding her without even realizing it, that's something we need to figure out."
"Aaaa, is this really the time for you three to be arguing?"
The girl on the floor let out a long, lazy sigh, shifting slightly against the ropes that bound her. Her ears twitched, her tail flicking idly behind her as if the entire situation was more of an inconvenience than anything else.
The moment her voice reached their ears, Catherine and Yuzu froze. Then, as if yanked by an invisible force, their heads snapped toward her in perfect unison.
Their reactions were instant.
"You could speak human language this whole time?!" Catherine practically shouted, her usually composed demeanor cracking.
Yuzu's jaw dropped, her dark eyes widening in pure betrayal. She pointed an accusing finger at Yuki, her ears flattening. "Catto girl very notto reveal at first! Bery untrustworth!"
Yuki blinked at them, entirely unfazed by their outrage. She gave the ropes around her wrists a lazy, half-hearted wiggle, as if only now remembering they were there. "Mmm… just didn't feel like it."
Catherine groaned, dragging a hand down her face before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Unbelievable."
Yuzu huffed loudly, puffing out her cheeks. "Bery, bery rude! Trick Mashiro! Trick Yuzu! Trick everyone!"
I let out a sigh, rubbing my temple. "Yuzu, I don't think she was trying to trick anyone…"
Yuki tilted her head slightly, her golden eyes half-lidded with amusement. "I mean, kinda?"
Yuki let out another slow, drawn-out yawn, her expression as lazy as ever. But something was different. Her snowy white eyes, once dull with exhaustion, had begun to glow—a soft, eerie gold that pulsed faintly in the dim light. It wasn't just a reflection; it was as if something within her had awakened.
"I feel too… lazy to use it," she mumbled, her voice thick with drowsiness. "Human language is hard."
Her golden eyes flickered upward, staring past us, past the shrine, into the sky itself. There was a strange sharpness in her gaze now, a fleeting moment of clarity cutting through her usual haze.
"But I felt like… if I didn't, you three wouldn't notice it."
Slowly, she raised a bound arm as best as she could, her fingers weakly pointing toward the sky. Instinctively, I followed her gaze. That's when I saw it.
Right above the shrine, the air shimmered, twisting unnaturally as if the very fabric of reality was being unraveled. A swirling distortion crackled in the sky, like a rippling mirage—no, a portal. Its edges pulsed with a faint, sickly light, distorting the space around it.
And then, something emerged. With an unnatural, rapid fluttering, three creatures burst forth from the portal, their glossy black bodies reflecting the shrine's flickering. Their bodies were too big, each one about the size of a baseball. Wings buzzed in an eerie, metallic hum as their long, spindly legs twitched in the air.
Cockroaches.
Massive, flying cockroaches.
A shudder crawled down my spine as I instinctively activated my Identification skill, hoping to make sense of what I was seeing. A familiar screen flashed before my eyes.
<< Gokibura (Lv. 3) >>
Health Points: 264/264 [100%]
Attack: 8
Category: NONO
Description: EW! Kill it! Kill it now! I hate cockroaches!
Catherine's ears twitched as she read the category name aloud. "NONO…?" Her voice was filled with suspicion, but also a hint of disbelief.
I, however, was still stuck on something else. "Wait. Did my Identification skill just yell at me?" I muttered, rereading the absurd description blinking in front of me.
But there was no time to dwell on that. The three cockroaches—no, Gokibura—buzzed toward us, their iridescent wings reflecting the eerie glow of the shrine. Their legs twitched unnaturally, their antennae shifting as if sensing our presence.
I shuddered. "Why are they so big?"
Yuki, still tied up, sighed. "Mmm… that's the real question, huh?" She yawned, unfazed by the approaching creatures. "Giant roaches. Maybe divine punishment. Maybe bad luck." Her glowing golden eyes flickered toward me. "Maybe… Mashiro curse?"
I shot her a glare. "Why would it be my fault?!"
Yuzu, meanwhile, was already pulling me behind her. Her tail fluffed up as she tightened her grip on the fox in her arms. "Mashiro stay back! Gokibura too disgusting! Yuzu hate!"
Catherine gripped her staff, her expression grim. "Low level or not, anything that comes out of a portal above a shrine is bad news." She flicked once before she took a defensive stance. "Let's squash them before they do something weird."
The roaches let out an eerie clicking noise as they dove toward us.
Yuki simply smiled, eyes gleaming gold.
"Mmm. Good luck."
Catherine reacted first, her instincts kicking in as she pointed her staff at the descending cockroaches. With a sharp flick of her wrist, a glowing ember swirled at the tip, expanding into a blazing fireball. She launched it toward the closest cockroach, the spell soaring through the air like a comet.
But just as it neared its target—
Fwoosh!
The fireball flickered and vanished into nothingness, dissolving mid-air as if it had been swallowed by an unseen force.
"What—?!" Catherine gasped, her tail bristling as she immediately shifted into a defensive stance. Her sharp red eyes darted around, scanning for any anomalies. "It just… disappeared?!"
Yuzu, sensing the shift in tension, didn't hesitate. Without a word, she gently placed the small white fox into my arms, her expression unusually serious. A faint shimmer of light surrounded her as she reached into the air, gripping the familiar hilt of her katana as it materialized in her grasp. The moment her fingers curled around it, she moved.
In an instant, Yuzu blurred forward, closing the distance between her and the cockroaches in a heartbeat. Her blade gleamed under the shrine's eerie glow, cutting through the air with an audible whoosh.
One clean strike. Then another. And another.
Her movements were swift, precise, effortless. In just seconds, all three cockroaches had been struck, their bodies split apart in mid-air. Or so I thought.
"Yuzu, watch out!" I yelled, clutching the fox tightly to my chest.
Yuzu's ears twitched at my warning. She attempted to leap back, but it was too late— The cockroaches didn't fall.
Instead, their bodies shimmered, the clean cuts she had inflicted vanishing in an instant. Like an illusion breaking apart and reforming, the creatures twisted back into shape, completely unharmed.
Yuzu's eyes widened in shock as she landed a few steps back. "Nnai?! No damage?!"
Her grip on her katana tightened as she quickly reassessed the situation. The cockroaches, seemingly unaffected by her attacks, hovered ominously, their wings buzzing louder, as if mocking us.