Ch'en held a blade in one hand and gripped the cat by the scruff with the other. Since this was Yae Sakura's assignment, she lifted Stan and examined it carefully twice, yet still couldn't see anything unusual about it.
After all, it was a task entrusted to her by a shrine maiden. By all rights, this cat should have been different from the rest.
Perhaps she was overthinking it?
No, that was impossible.
Ch'en shook her head, dismissing the notion, and gave Stan a few more looks. In this situation, the kitten seemed especially docile, openly baring its belly to Ch'en. Perhaps it was an illusion, but she felt that this cat seemed to be smiling.
Could cats smile?
Even if it could, wasn't it rather dim-witted to keep smiling in a situation like this?
This cat...
Ch'en lowered her head in thought.
It didn't seem very smart.
That was what Ch'en thought, though she didn't say it aloud.
Stan was already cursing internally, cursing this master and disciple pair from head to toe, yet it had no choice but to put on an obedient act. If it learned what Ch'en was thinking, it probably wouldn't even be able to keep pretending.
What did that mean?
It got scolded for smiling too?
Stan would definitely have cursed until it was meowing incoherently, though ordinary people wouldn't have understood it anyway.
"Whatever. I finally caught it."
Ch'en muttered to herself, "Even with a tracker, it took this long to catch it. I need to hurry. I can't keep Teacher waiting."
A tracking device?
Stan finally couldn't hold back and began meowing furiously in outrage.
No wonder!
There had been no mention of a reward if the cat won. So it had been fighting a battle it was destined to lose!
All