Yuno lay sprawled across the table. He had once faced a life-or-death crisis; if he had not happened to meet that girl, he would already be dead.
But now, Yuno despairingly realized that he had never truly escaped death's shadow.
What made him even more desperate was that no one would come to save him this time.
"You're Yuno, right? Let me introduce myself. I'm Keroberos, a Guardian Beast created by the great Magus Clow Reed..."
The plushie Kero sitting beside Yuno clearly failed to notice his gloom. Instead, he enthusiastically introduced himself.
As a "perk" of joining the Far East Magic Research Society, Fang Zheng allowed Sakura, Nanoha, and the others to bring their Guardian Beasts—or mascots, if one preferred—to school and keep them in the clubroom. The arrangement was warmly welcomed by the two girls. After all, they were both worried that their companions might cause trouble or have some kind of accident at home. Nanoha might have been somewhat reassured about Yuno, but Sakura had absolutely no faith in Kero's restraint.
That gluttonous, playful, sleepy fellow could sell himself out at any moment.
"My name is Yuno..."
Faced with this chatterbox of a companion, Yuno sounded utterly listless. Partly because he was exhausted from being bombarded by chatter for so long, and partly because of his... fear of death.
Because on the windowsill not far in front of him, a white cat sat staring at him without blinking.
So Yuno promptly caved.
What frightened Yuno even more was that, for some reason, he had lost the ability to transform into a human. If he could become human, he might not have feared this cat. But now, aside from praying that ferrets were not on the cat's menu, he had no other options.
In truth, Yuno had no