The Strange Cat from Fuuto

"In that case, I'll go ask the kitchen what they're serving for lunch. Is there anything you'd like to eat?"

"Whatever, I'm not picky!"

"Fine!"

Serena left again, and the cat leisurely came to the bedside. There was a photo on the bedside table, showing a family of five, with an elderly man in the photo smiling broadly.

"Grandpa, where have you been?"

"Why won't you come back?"

.............

Fengdu, a certain residence.

Edge.

An old man and a young woman sat on the edge of the room. The old man was a man in his fifties, dressed in a red casual suit, while the young woman was a woman in her twenties, with a pair of slender legs as smooth as mutton fat revealed under her plain white long dress.

"Dad, why don't you plan to go back?"

Wakana rested her chin on her hand, watching the two little ones playing in the courtyard. The old man picked up a teacup and took a sip: "There's no point in going back. We might as well stay here."

"Aren't you planning to go see Miku?"

“We should have died, but we've returned to the world of the living. It's illogical, but Dad is happy to be with his family!”

"Miku is family too!"

"I know, but he also has his family. The little one in his family has grown up now. Sometimes you have to accept getting old!" The old man chuckled bitterly, but his expression was very open-minded.

"And this child..."

"The time hasn't come yet, there's no need to send her back. Besides, isn't it great to have another child in the family? Especially seeing this girl reminds me of you when you were little."

"Yup!"

Wakana smiled as she watched the two little ones playing in the courtyard. "I never expected that Miku would also form a family."

"I saw seemingly limitless potential in Miku back then, and now I have to say, my judgment was truly excellent!" The self-praising old man laughed heartily.

Inside the house, Saeko pursed her lips upon hearing laughter coming from beside her.

"Mom, you should tell Dad what he's doing. He's really treating this little girl like a treasure these days!"

Hearing this, the woman washing vegetables next to Saeko laughed and said, "What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

"no!"

Saeko shook her head: "I'm not going to be jealous of a little kid!"

"That's settled then. Besides, the whole family is together now, and it's good that things are like this. Simple meals and a peaceful life are better than anything else, aren't they?"

Shroud, who was no longer masked, poured out the dirty water from washing vegetables in the basin and glanced to the side.

"It's a pity the person who came isn't here, otherwise we would truly be family!"

"Don't worry, Mom. Although we don't know where the person is, he will definitely come home!"

"Ok!"

...............

The next day, early morning.

A black van with strange emblems drove into the gate of the Sonozaki family's house and drove along the wide driveway to the front of the main house.

"Whoosh..."

One of the car doors opened, and a burly man in a black leather jacket jumped out of the car. The man wearing a headscarf carried an iron bar on his shoulder.

"That's really extravagant!"

"Of course! Don't underestimate the Sonozaki family. After all, they were a well-known and prestigious family in Fuuto back in the day."

A slender man with lipstick on his lips and a sissy waist walked down the door, leaning against a strong man as he looked around the large house. Following closely behind them was a young man with an expressionless face.

The last to come down was a young woman with a cold, frosty expression. Her long hair was draped over her back, and she wore a leather jacket, just like the others, and leather hot pants.

"It doesn't look very good!"

The woman clicked her tongue, showing great disdain.

E got out of the passenger seat and walked over to the others.

"No matter what, the Sonozaki family might be our future employers, so behave yourselves!" Professor Maria, E's mother, scolded him first, then tidied up E's hair and appearance.

"This time the other party is asking for a very high price, we need to be careful!"

"Okay, Mom!"

Nodding, Brother E said to the others, "Cheer up, everyone, this is going to be a big deal!"

"Oh!"

Led by the head maid, the group headed towards the reception room. Along the way, a little guy riding a big cub ran past them, with Iggy leading the way.

"As expected of a wealthy family, even their cats are so special!"

When Izumi Kyōsui saw the little guy, she smiled and said something, but the head maid who led the way corrected her, "That's not a pet, that's my young master!"

"what?"

The others all gave him a "you're kidding me" look. The head maid under the shirt didn't explain much and led him directly to the door of the reception room.

"The master is waiting for you inside!"

After gesturing for them to leave, the head maid under her shirt walked straight away. Yuhara Rai, the only female member of Never, curled her lip and said, "What's so smug about her? She's still just someone's dog."

"Alright, that's enough about Lai-chan."

Vice-Captain Quan Jingshui offered a few words of advice, and E-ge led the way, pushing open the door and entering. The moment he stepped inside, E-ge's eyes narrowed. It was because the only table in the reception room was covered in money—lots and lots of money!

Bundles of 10,000 yen bills were piled up into a small mountain and placed on the table.

"Oh, you've arrived?"

A flippant greeting rang out, and E-ge looked in the direction of the sound and saw a cat's head.

Although somewhat surprised, E-ge remained calm and asked, "What kind of request do you have?", maintaining his professional demeanor.

"My request is simple: I want you to guard a place!"

"how long?"

“A long time!” Miku began, then, realizing the ambiguity in his words, added, “Until someone defeats you!”

"That's it!"

E turned to look at Professor Maria, who was quickly calculating the salaries they needed in her notebook.

Seeing Professor Maria's actions, Miku said directly, "Alright, no need to calculate anymore. This money is your deposit. Every week, I will double it for you."

Is this okay?

Upon hearing Miku's words, Izumi Kyosui's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He truly hadn't expected Miku to be so generous; a rough calculation showed that there were nearly 100 million yen on the table.

"can!"

"Aren't you going to ask any more questions?" Miku looked at E-ge with a leisurely air. E-ge shook his head: "No need, we only need the mission and the reward, we don't care about anything else!"

"Excellent, as expected of a professional!"

After praising them, Miku told them the location they needed to guard.

Half an hour later, Never's men left the Sonozaki mansion carrying heavy boxes of money. They were going back to headquarters to make preparations before heading to the location given by Miku to keep watch.

After Never drove away, a bluebird also flew away from Sonozaki's house.

Miku stood by the window, watching Never leave the yard.

“That’s perfect now, and I don’t even have to lift a finger.” The cat, staring intently at the Never badge, grinned. “I hope you can keep guarding it.”

"However, that would be too boring. After all, the curtain can't rise until the veteran driver has grown up!"

Chapter 79: Belt-san, your move was really flashy!

"However, that would be too boring. After all, the curtain can't rise until the veteran driver has grown up!"

The cat, talking to itself, slowly backed away and disappeared in front of the window.

Choosing Never as the guardian of the connection between the real world and the mirror world was not actually Miku's spur-of-the-moment decision.

Rather, it was the result of his careful consideration.

Mirror monsters are, in essence, strange beings living in the mirror world. Even though they can freely travel between the mirror world and the real world to prey on humans, they cannot stay away from the mirror world for too long.

The area near the connection between the mirror world and the real world is permeated with the aura of the mirror world. This connection is less a gate connecting the two worlds and more a gap in the space where the mirror world and the real world meet.

Through this gap, creatures from the two worlds can travel back and forth, but humans without the corresponding Knight System cannot enter the Mirror World; once they do, they will be disintegrated.

However, the strange beings from the Mirror World are able to enter the real world. The area near the gap between the two centuries is filled with the aura of the Mirror World, allowing the antelope herd to stay in this world without any problems.

However, one cannot leave this area for too long.

This created a strange phenomenon similar to a bug in a game: the mirror monsters that had long resided in the mirror world remained in the real world.

Not only that, the Mirror Monsters also prey on humans, making their lair a dead zone in Wind City, where anyone who steps in will die!

However, Never, who becomes an immortal soldier after being injected with the Never potion, is not on the Mirror Monster's menu. Who, apart from scavengers with special tastes, would be interested in meat that has been dead for a long time?

The Mirror Monster wouldn't even glance at it.

Therefore, having Never guard that area is the best choice. As long as they don't step into the antelope herd's territory, the two can coexist peacefully. In addition, with Never's powerful combat strength and immortal body, they are the perfect gatekeepers for that breach.

And what did Miku give in return?

All Miku gave up was a pile of paper!

At his level, money is nothing more than a string of useless numbers and a pile of waste paper that's not even soft enough to wipe his ass.

If it weren't for supporting such a huge family fortune, Miku would probably have very little interest in money. In fact, Serena currently holds all of the Sonozaki family's funds and controls them.

"Keep up the good work, Never!"