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

  [+45 EXP][+20 on EXP]

  I exhaled, my shoulders rexing as the tension in the air finally lifted. It was over. As I nded bato 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 t 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 huo roll my first gacha with these gems.

  I groaned, my ears fttening in disappoi. “Ugh…”

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

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

  ? ? ?

  "Wao! Mashiro's ba her signature pink and bck dress!" Yuzu excimed, her eyes wide with surprise and amusement.

  I blinked and gnced down at myself, feeling a sudden twinge of self-sciousness. My Shrine miko outfit, the white and red one I had been wearing earlier, had transformed bato the familiar pink and bck dress that I was so used to. The fabric g to my form like a sed skin, the edges of the frills dang slightly in the soft breeze.

  I shifted unfortably, my fingers pying with the hem of the dress as I gnced over at Yuzu, w if she noticed how much of a shift this was for me. Standio me, Catherine's gaze softened into somethiween fusion 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 pletely at ease, looking around with a curious glint in its eyes.

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

  "It seems very attached to you," Catheried, her voice carrying a hint of . "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 mih a knowing calm. I couldn’t help but feel a strange e 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 ency. She was bound in her school uniform, but her eyes, those golden, glowing eyes, shifted bato an almost ethereal snow-white hue.

  "More or less," I finally answered, a faint smile tugging at my lips as I lifted my hands aly 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 iement as it let out a soft, adorable yip. Her voice was like a pyful 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 shrio cats at her house, and there was this o, 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, e on, this had to be Ai, right?

  "So... aie me now?" Yuki asked, her voice dripping with sleep as she stretched and yawned, pletely 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 suspi as she fixed her gaze on Yuki, who was still lying down, her cat ears twitg zily.

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

  Yuki, pletely oblivious to the tension, tried to raise a hand as if she were reag 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 pyful despite the ropes.

  Yuzu, who had been watg this whole exge 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 gred at Yuki.

  I immediately rushed over to try and calm Yuzu down, but my wot 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 uanding the gravity of the situation. "Weird... this usually works," she said with a pout, as if she was disappointed her usual charm wasn’t w 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 poioward 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 senteh an almost gleeful corre.

  "Yeah, that." Catherine shot Yuzu an exasperated gnce 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 pletely unbothered. She tilted her head to the side, her cat ears flig zily as she yawned—pletely rexed, 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 nontly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  There was a long, stunned silence. I could practically feel the fusion 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 oied 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 zily shrugged. "I just thought it'd be fun, nya~" she said with a mischievous grin.

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

  "And besides..." Yuki tinued, her voice soft spoken, but there was a subtle shift in the air, something dark ahat made me freeze in pce. She locked eyes with me, her usual zy, sleepy expression still hanging around her like a veil, but beh it, something else was there.

  Her snow-white hair swayed gently, almost unnaturally smooth, her cat ears twitg with a strange, deliberate grace. She fshed a smile, an i enough grin, or so it seemed at first gnce. 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 mih a depth I hadn’t seen before. It was like a switch flipped inside her, and in a heartbeat, they transformed. The cold, gcial hue of her gaze melted into something rich, molten gold, deep, almost hypnotic. It was uling, like watg 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 thied, like the air was no longer just air but something dense, full of unspoken promises and a 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 atuated the straherworldly aura she had. Restrained, yet entirely in trol. It was as if she was both trapped and utterly free at the same time.

  "I know you will e to untie me," Yuki said, her voice low but fident, 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 zy, catgirl. There ower in her words, a sense of iability that made me wonder what the hell I’d gotten myself into.

  I felt like I was the oied up now.