"Th-this cat... is your summoning beast?"
Mei Terumi looked at the black cat before her, which was grumbling resentfully in a magnetic voice. She gave Kou, standing beside her, a baffled look.
The cat was jet-black, its fur glossy. At that moment, it was glaring viciously at Kou in the distance with its golden, slit-pupil eyes.
"Uh, hahaha..."
Kou looked at the black cat before him, the corner of his mouth twitching. He turned to Mei Terumi with a helpless, near-tearful expression and said:
"Even I can barely accept it, but... it really is my summoning beast."
Mei Terumi saw the "I'm just as helpless" look on Kou's face, and a hint of sympathy suddenly appeared in her eyes.
Kou looked helplessly at the lazy black cat before him and muttered to himself:
"Sigh, this little guy was such a good kitty when he was young. So fluffy and soft, always rubbing up against people. How'd he turn into this mess after growing up?
Could it really be a problem with how I raised him? No way..."
He grumbled inwardly:
"It's definitely that cat bar Granny Cat runs. The cats there are all a bunch of little delinquents. Cook must've been led astray by them! It has to be!!!"
Kou found his "culprit" in his mind and felt much more at ease.
He then shook his head, temporarily setting aside his doubts about himself. Pointing at the black cat, which was still slapping the ground with its tail, he introduced it to Mei Terumi in a solemn tone:
"Let me introduce him first. This is my summoning beast, a legendary kitty of the Ninja Cat world—Cook."
Mei Terumi looked at the black cat before her and muttered to herself:
"Cook? What a strange name..."
"If you called this meow over just to introduce that ridiculously awful, cringeworthy name you gave me to the woman beside you..."
The black cat glared at Kou with its golden, slit-pupil eyes and said irritably:
"Then you can go die."
Its voice still had that remarkably deep, resonant tone, but there was no hiding the resentment in it:
"If you've got something to say, say it already. Get it over with so I can go back and... and... meet my little kitty girlfriend!!"
When it said "meet," its voice softened unconsciously. Its golden, slit-pupil eyes narrowed slightly, as if it were savoring some wonderful memory.
"Tch."
Kou looked at the black cat before him, a hint of disdain flashing through his dark eyes:
"Cook's been getting more and more ill-tempered lately.
"After this mission, I'll talk to Granny Cat and get her to uninstall QQ from this damn cat. Let's see how he gets his rocks off then!"
While grumbling to himself, Kou prepared to explain to the black cat why he had called him.
But just as he was about to speak, the black cat suddenly arched its back, its fur standing on end.
Its mouth fell open, revealing sharp little teeth, and it let out a piercing hiss:
"Hss!! Get away from me!!!"
Kou: Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
Mei Terumi: ヽ(.＞Д＜)o゜
"You damn cat! What the hell are you yelling about all of a sudden?!"
Kou vanished from the spot in an instant. The next moment, he appeared behind the black cat and grabbed it by the scruff, lifting it clean off the ground.
The black cat swung in the air, all four legs dangling limply like a towel being held up.
Its once-mighty bearing had vanished without a trace.
"Getting a little too full of yourself, aren't you?"
Kou said in an unfriendly tone:
"Looks like I'll have to give you a proper lesson on Granny Cat's behalf!"
"Let go of me, you stupid Uchiha!"
The black cat struggled as it protested in that sexy voice:
"Don't think I didn't see it! When you stood up just now, the corners of your mouth lifted by one millimeter, and the corner of your eye was pointed right at me!
"I know you too well. You're obviously up to no good, plotting something against me in your head!!"
Mei Terumi: (≖╻≖;)
Kou: ⊙_⊙
"...You know a little too damn much."
Kou looked at Cook in his hand with a baffled expression. A hint of murderous intent flashed through his dark eyes.
He tightened his grip, his fingers clenching until the skin on the cat's scruff made a faint crackling sound.
"Ah! That hurts like hell!! Easy! Uchiha Kou, you bastard!! Go easy on me!!"
The black cat's voice turned sharp and shrill. Its deep, resonant tone had become the sound of a screaming chicken.
"Hm? You can still make noise? Guess you're not dead yet—"
The corners of Kou's mouth lifted slightly, and a "cruel" smile appeared on his handsome face:
"Turn it up a notch!!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!! I'll never, ever give in!!!"
"Oho, you've got some backbone, you damn cat—"
Kou raised an eyebrow, his smile growing brighter:
"Looks like I'll have to bring out the big guns..."
"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!!!"
Mei Terumi: "..."
"Why is this getting weirder and weirder?!"
She watched the human and cat before her and silently screamed to herself. Her emerald-green eyes were full of exasperation.
She took a deep breath and reminded Kou irritably:
"Don't forget the mission. What exactly did you summon this cat for?"
"Oh, right!!"
Kou murmured, pretending to have just remembered:
"The mission does come first."
As he spoke, he released his grip on the cat's scruff.
"Plop!"
The cat fell freely.
The cat sank into the sand.
The cat was completely unharmed—probably.
"Uchiha Kou, you son of a—"
A dull, resonant voice filled with venom came from the mound of sand.
Hearing the cat's venomous voice, Kou broke into a genuinely delighted smile.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop messing around."
Sensing Mei Terumi's death glare beside him, Kou immediately turned serious and wiped the smile from his face.
He bent down, grabbed Cook out of the sand, and lifted him up to eye level.
Sand was still dripping from the black cat. Its golden, slit-pupil eyes stared at him with a dead-fish expression.
"Listen up, little buddy—"
Kou's voice grew low and serious, a hint of solemnity flashing in his dark eyes:
"I called you here because your big bro has an important mission for you.
"We need you to use that super sense of smell of yours, good enough to match Kakashi's Pakkun, to help us find..."
"This meow refuses!"
Before you continue