Kid: "...?" Had he misheard? A cat had actually sighed? Was this really just a cat?
Thinking of how Black Cat with White Paws had casually sliced through an alloy chain with one swipe of its paw, then of the Black Panther that had carried Jiang Xia while leaping back and forth between buildings...
Kid fell briefly into thought.
...Had felines secretly evolved this far behind humanity's back?
Or had his earlier guess been right—that this was not an animal at all, but a yokai similar in nature to Mist Tengu?
Numerous theories flashed through Kid's mind, and he even wanted to take another careful look at the cat above him.
But clearly, this was not the time to dwell on such things—his carefully prepared escape equipment had been cut off by that cunning detective. He needed to find another way out, fast.
At that thought, Kid's eyelid twitched. He had a growing feeling that nothing was going right tonight... He had never been particularly superstitious. Whenever he heard people say that encountering a black cat meant bad luck, he had always scoffed.
But now...
Kid thought of the cat overhead, inexplicably like a supervisor watching over him, as well as the enormous black "cat" carrying Jiang Xia that he had run into earlier. All at once, he felt that perhaps the superstitions passed down by the ancients were not entirely without reason.
Of course, if he insisted on explaining it scientifically, he could say that he had spent too long battling wits with Inspector Nakamori, and suddenly switching to Saguru Hakuba had left him unable to adapt...
Kid recalled his string of mistakes tonight, along with the cat's disdainful expression, and pressed a hand to his temple.
—There were far too many things about this operation worth reflecting