R’s Special Mission 4

“Come on! You have to finish it now, or you won’t be going to the summer festival tomorrow!”

“Waaah!”

...And so there I was, visiting Shirley’s house, just as Fam was crying over her math homework.

“Jeez! I told you to do your research project and book report on your own! Why did you leave all it until today?!”

“’Cause reading makes me sleepy!”

“That’s no excuse!”

“Hmph...”

Fam was sulking over being scolded. Shirley seemed to realize she had gone too far, and let out a weary sigh.

“You snuck out of morning study sessions so often, I bet you haven’t finished your English homework either, right? You really won’t be going to the summer festival at this rate.”

“B-But I want to go...”

“Then make sure you work hard.”

“I know!”

With the way Fam was glaring at the formulas on the page with tears in her eyes, it seemed progress would be slow.

“Do your best, Fam. I’ll help, too,” Rain offered, unable to sit by doing nothing.

“Thank you, Rain...”

“Rain, you can teach her if you want, but you can’t do it for her. Understand?”

“I know.”

“Then I’ll go search for materials for the science project. The types of projects you can do in a single day are limited, though...”

“Thank you too, Shirley.”

“Yes, yes. Now do your best to finish today so we can all go to the festival together tomorrow.”

“Yup! I’m going to watch the fireworks with Brother Rekka!”

“...!”

Fam’s offhanded remark caught the attention of both Rain and Shirley.

“Fam, when did you make such a promise with Rekka?” Rain asked.

“Huh? Um, the last time I went to his house, I think.”

“So, the time you skipped doing homework was all going to play at Rekka’s, right?” asked Shirley.

“Huh? Y-Yeah.”

“...”

Rain and Shirley suddenly had terrifying expressions on their faces.

“What shall we do, Rain? Do you want to watch TV together while eating ice cream? Are there any dramas you want to see?”

“Quite a few, actually.”

“Huh? Huuuh?!” Fam wailed at their sudden betrayal.

The reason for their change in attitude was pretty clear, but she didn’t seem to get it.

“Wh-Why?! You said you were going to help just a minute ago!”

“Hmm...”

Rain placed a hand against her cheek, and Shirley crossed her arms in contemplation. Their silence made even more tears well up in Fam’s eyes. Since the topic had somehow taken a turn towards Rekka, I decided now would be a good time to take a peek inside. I’d hit Rain, Fam, then Shirley.

That’s so unfair of Fam! I can’t believe she snuck out to play with Rekka again... Or am I just too slow on the draw? But mother said that a lady must be graceful in all things... Argh! Mother, what should I do?

Hmph! Why are they being so mean all of a sudden?! I mean, yeah, it’s my fault I didn’t do my homework, but... argh, I can’t watch fireworks with Rekka if I don’t finish! I don’t want that!

Hmm... Knowing Rekka and Fam, they were probably actually playing around, so it’s not really worth scolding her over... but I can’t say I agree with it. To be specific, I don’t agree with me not being there for it.

It was interesting seeing three different streams of thoughts back to back as I swapped targets. Especially with Rain and Shirley, it was fascinating to witness how the same jealousy could reach two different conclusions. And so the nervous silence in the room continued for a while, until Shirley eventually smiled at Fam.

“...Heehee, I’m just kidding. I’ll help you out, Fam, so don’t worry. Come on, Rain. You coach her on what she doesn’t understand.”

I guess I’ll put off the penalty for sneaking out until later, and just help out with her homework for now. Rekka would feel bad if Fam was the only one left out, anyway.

Hearing her compassionate words alongside her inner thoughts sure made her sound a lot more malicious... Like it was half kindness, half calculation. Of course, being calculating could also be a sign she was prepared to do what it takes to get Rekka’s heart, so I didn’t have a problem with that. All the better for my mission. And besides, the other half was still unmistakably kindness.

Now that I was done at Rain’s place, my last stop was to see Tetra and our most recent addition, Ai.

▽

The two of them just so happened to be in front of the entrance to the underground village. Come to think of it, the mole people and nekomata had formed an alliance the other day. It sounded like they were here today holding their first debrief meeting.

“...And so there were no reports of humans spotted near this entrance, meow.”

“I see. Thank you.” Tetra nodded at Ai’s report.

It seemed like they were acting as representatives on behalf of their respective species. It was thanks to Rekka that they’d been able to negotiate with each other, so this felt like the natural arrangement. After Tetra finished listening to Ai’s report, she gave her own.

“Just in case, I had some of the villagers working in the shopping district ask around, but there haven’t been any rumors of nekomata sightings anywhere.”

“Really, meow? That’s great, meow.”

Ai placed a hand against her chest and sighed in relief. The nekomata had come down from the mountain for a while, so their biggest concern now was about whether or not they’d been spotted.

“Oh, and also—” Tetra bent down to pick up a paper bag and offered it to Ai. “Here are the clothes you asked me to clean. There were a lot of them, so I had to ask Lea for help, but we used both detergent and fabric softener, so they should smell nice now.”

“Ooh! Thank you, meow!” Ai accepted the paper bag and sniffed it. “I was doing my own laundry for a while, meow... But I reached my limit, so you really saved my fur.”

“It’s nothing,” Tetra said with a grin... before suddenly leaning towards Ai with a serious expression. “By the way, Ai... I heard you knew Rekka from when he was young?”

“Meow?” Ai drew back a little, her ears feeling ticklish.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, meow.” Ai shook her head to show she didn’t mind.

While they chatted, I pointed the Mind-Melding Device at them and pressed the button. Their conversation was rather interesting, after all.

“Umm, so about Rekka...”

“Rekka, meow? He used to look after me when I was a little kitten, meow.”

“I-I’d really like to hear more about that time!”

“Why, meow?”

“I want to know what Rekka was like when he was young!”

I really want to hear more about when Ai was young!

Tetra. You’ve got it the wrong way around there. She seemed to realize her mistake after yelling it out loud, and tried to cover it up by flailing her hands. So she was interested in Rekka’s childhood, huh? Was it the mentality of wanting to know everything about the person she loved? Very cute of her indeed. Ai tilted her head as she pensively watched Tetra panic.

“Do you love Rekka, Tetra?”

She pitched her question at Tetra directly, though it was obviously a dead ball.

“Hwah?! Wh-Wh-What are you saying, Ai?!”

Sure enough, Tetra was unable to respond properly. Her eyes darted about nervously.

“Am I wrong, meow?”

“U-Um, uh... Y-You’re wrong.”

You’re not wrong, but...

Tetra replied hesitantly, but denied her own denial in her heart.

“Is that so, meow? I love Rekka!”

“?!”

Was Ai playing catch or dodgeball with her questions? She was really keeping Tetra on her toes. But this was a good chance to change my Mind-Melding target from Tetra to Ai.

“U-U-Umm, when you say you love Rekka, do you mean... love-love?”

“Huh? Of course, meow. Love is love, meow.”

“I-Is that so...?”

“When I visited Rekka’s room the other day, I told him I wanted to do something for him as thanks, meow.”

“You visited Rekka’s room?! Something as thanks?! Wh-What happened?!”

You shouldn’t get worked up like this, Tetra. It’s not good for your blood pressure.

“When I told him I’d do anything for him, he asked me to let him pet me all over my body, meow!”

“A-All over... your body...”

Tetra started to sway on her feet as though she was having a dizzy spell. When Ai was talking about Rekka petting her, she meant in cat form. But Tetra had no way of knowing that with the incomplete information she’d received. Hmm... Ai’s thoughts and words were in complete agreement with each other, so there was no point to the Mind-Melding Device with her. It would help if she’d think something that I could write down in my report—oh, speak of the devil.

I really was fully prepared to do anything though, meow. Does Rekka only see me as a cat? I’m old enough to have kittens now, meow. It might have ended with just petting this time, but next spring I’ll be in heat and unable to hold back, meow! I wonder what a half-human, half-nekomata kitten would look like...

Well, that far surpassed my expectations. I had assumed that heroines without their own stories would take their time developing their feelings like your average rom-com... Perhaps she doesn’t make love as complicated as humans do because she’s a cat? Falling in love is just that—falling in love. So now that she was in love, would everything else be straightforward? It was a tremendous catch to reel in at the very end, but it seemed my mission was now complete. Time to go home... Hmm?

“Transmission received.”

Oh? A message from the future at this time?

“Singularity Branch Point Observer R. What is the status of the special mission?”

“It’s going smoothly. No need for concern. But I believe I sent a progress report several days ago.”

There shouldn’t have been a problem... or so I thought.

“Your progress report was received. However, it was deemed to be insufficient.”

“Excuse me?”

“We seek a more detailed report.”

What were they thinking?

“More detailed, you say? But I have nothing more to report on at present, and summer vacation is almost over. Once school starts again, Rekka will be commuting and moving around constantly every day, making it difficult for me to leave his side unnoticed. Any further investigation is...”

“Then conduct the rest of the investigation during the remainder of summer vacation.”

H-Huh? There were only two days remaining of summer vacation. Fifty-three more hours, to be specific.

“With all due respect, re-investigating all the heroines in the time remaining would require leaving Rekka’s side for a whole two days. The risk of my absence being noticed is far too great, especially when my original task was to stay by his side at all times—”

“Your objection is overruled. Accept the order quietly.”

“...Understood.”

“Good luck.”

The transmission ended there, but I continued to glare at the hovering text window for a while longer. I had my suspicions about this special mission from the beginning, but... Now more unreasonable orders had been piled on top of it. I couldn’t refuse the orders of my superiors, so I had no choice, but...

“It’s annoying, so I’ll leave it for tomorrow.”

Tomorrow was the summer festival, anyway. Most of the heroines would be gathered there, making it the perfect chance for additional investigation.

So, I decided I should end my investigation here as originally planned and quickly head back to Rekka’s house. He was trying to finish the rest of his homework by himself before I left—I wonder if he’s done by now? I set aside my complaints about the higher-ups for the moment and turned my thoughts to Rekka instead as I started on my way home.