Reuniting with Lasoya

Miss Mia Goode, the owner of the little orange cat, was not home. Shade stood outside the gate, ringing the bell for quite a while, but no one came out to answer.

However, the sound disturbed the neighbor next door. She was an old woman who walked with a stoop and wore glasses, her gray hair neatly combed and gathered together. She was respectably dressed, with silver jewelry on her wrist.

"Who are you looking for?"

Her accent was thick as she asked from beside the fence separating her garden from Miss Goode's.

"Miss Mia Goode. She hired us to find her cat."

Shade gave the cat in his arms another little shake. The orange cat let out a lazy meow, turned over, and pressed its head against Shade's chest. This cat really liked Shade.

And although the half-year-old orange cat was not heavy, Shade had carried it all the way here and was beginning to find it unbearable.

"Oh, it's this naughty little thing."

The old woman clearly knew Little Mia. Then she said something that nearly made Shade collapse.

"Mia moved away last week."

"Hm?"

Fortunately, she had more to say.

"Are you Hamilton Detective, the one she hired to find her cat? You're much younger than Mia described. Don't worry, she left a letter for you."

With that, she turned and went back into her house to fetch the letter. When she returned, she added:

"There are some banknotes in the letter. Check the wax seal before opening it. Don't come saying someone tampered with the money."

The letter had been left by Miss Mia Goode for Detective Sparrow Hamilton. It mentioned that, due to family matters, Miss Goode had moved to a large country estate on the East Coast of the Dellaireon Kingdom to live with her parents, and had therefore sold the property here.

But Miss Goode had not forgotten her cat or the detective who had accepted the commission. Without knowing whether the detective had found the cat, she left the letter with her neighbor. If the detective found the cat, he could receive it:

I cannot forget my Little Mia, but it truly is time to leave Tobesk City. Detective Hamilton, if you see this letter, please take in Little Mia for the time being and send a letter to the address below. I will come to your office to take her back within six months at the latest. At that time, I will pay you additional compensation.

P.S. In addition to the original detective's fee, there are five extra pounds in banknotes enclosed for the expense of temporarily looking after Mia. Please do not be too harsh on my little troublemaker.

The orange cat called "Little Mia" wriggled in Shade's arms. It looked as though it wanted to sleep, utterly unaware that its owner had left.

"Why?"

"I'm allergic to cats. Mia couldn't find anyone else to help look after her cat, and she never expected you to actually find Little Mia."

The old woman spoke as she mistook the young detective before her for the original Sparrow Hamilton, whom she had never met.

"Then I..."

"You should adopt Little Mia for now. When Mia comes for her, she won't skimp on your payment. Look, she even gave the cat her own name."

"Didn't you say you hadn't—"

"Mia dictated the contents of this letter before she left. Hmph, we were neighbors for so long. Couldn't she give me that much trust?"

"All right, I'll mail the letter right away. Goodbye, ma'am."

Shade rather suspected that this old woman could read minds.

"Goodbye, Detective. Remember, this cat can't drink cow's milk, but it can drink goat milk."

The old woman's voice came from behind him, and so Shade gained another expense.

Detective Sparrow Hamilton and Miss Mia Goode had known each other for a long time, and this was not their first commission together. That was why Miss Goode had placed such great trust in the detective.

That trust gave Shade the additional task of looking after a cat, while also increasing his savings by more than seven pounds in one stroke. Miss Goode was truly generous.

Combined with the money left over from pawning the walking stick, Shade seemed likely to scrape together ten pounds very soon. And if he was even luckier—if Miss Goode received the letter and rushed back within a week—he might even be able to pay off all of this month's debts at once.

In his good mood, his steps felt much lighter as he carried the cat back toward Saint Derain Square. On the way, he happened to pass the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company, which he had visited not long ago, so he went inside to ask and learned that they also delivered goat milk.

The clerk who dealt with Shade even saw through his plan to feed goat milk to the kitten and proceeded to introduce him to more cat-care tips. But the man's enthusiasm did not make Shade relent on the price of the goat milk. Fortunately, No. 6, Saint Derain Square, located in the city center, lay along the daily route of the hardworking milkmen from the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company.

There was no need to open a separate route or make a special detour just to deliver to Shade, so the cost of goat milk was actually a little lower than he had expected.

Shade regarded the orange cat, "Little Mia," as his lucky cat. As he left the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company, he was even thinking of indulging a little at lunch and eating something better.

Just as he passed the old dog lying by the entrance, the woman's voice, which had not spoken at all so far today, finally sounded in his mind:

Observe her ring.

He immediately looked around. Almost a second later, he spotted Mr. Lawrence's mistress, Lasoya, emerging from the alley opposite the milk company and turning toward the silverware shop where the battle had taken place the day before yesterday.

She was still wearing that white Pebble Ring.

Was she a man turned into a woman, or a woman turned into a man?

Shade wondered, but had no intention of following her. He valued his life. Since he had decided to abandon this commission, he would not change his mind out of curiosity.

If he possessed power like Doctor Schneider's or the female writer Miss Dorothy Louisa's, then of course he would not give up. But people had to face reality. He accepted that he was still weak.

In a cheerful mood, he leisurely crossed the street with the cat in his arms and entered the candy shop opposite. Pretending to be curious, he asked about the price of the small cakes in the glass display case. Once he confirmed from the corner of his eye that Lasoya had gone far away, he immediately left the shop and entered the alley from which Lasoya had appeared.

The alley was not deep. Like most alleys in this Steam City, it was filthy and filled with foul smells. A few quick steps brought him to its end, where several discarded pipes had been piled up. Their surfaces were even covered in a disgusting layer of green moss.

Only after circling around the pipes did he see the wall behind them. It was a dead end.

The alley should originally have led through to another block from its other end, but the shop at that exit had expanded its own land occupation without permission and forcibly sealed off the alley with its rear wall.

"The space between those pipes and the wall is an excellent blind spot. Lasoya emerged from an alley with no exit just now. Could she have completed another 'transformation' here by kissing the ring?"

Shade thought, quite satisfied with his caution and his swift action. He did not dare follow her, but investigating what she had just done was not a problem.