Kitty Killer Isn't That Cold

"Come on, repeat after me—"

Nana nodded and read the sentence aloud:

[May God grant supreme honor to my life and medical practice alone.]

With a single oath, the two bore witness... Then, after handing her an employee badge, Nana's new boss promptly dumped her in the crucial bridge control center and hurried away.

"...I'd already gotten the impression... but... is Kal'tsit really that busy? Is Rhodes Island really that busy?"

"...Uh, all I can say is that she probably has more to deal with than just Rhodes Island's affairs... Anyway, Nana—ah, Medic, since it's your first day on the job, want to grab a drink? The bar the boss promised us hasn't been built yet... but we can still go to the empty deck area for some non-alcoholic drinks."

Seeing Blaze about to drag the new colleague off to have fun, Ace leaned against the wall and pushed up his sunglasses with an amused smile.

"You'd better really mean non-alcoholic drinks... New recruits have training in addition to their internship. If the Medical Department and the new operator instructors prepare everything for tomorrow, only to find Medic late... I won't cover for you, Blaze. You haven't even finished all your own training yet."

"Uh... Got it, got it..."

Feeling the big cat, who seemed like a living heater, cling to her as if sulking, Nana did not deliberately avoid her enthusiasm this time... Just as she had promised Kal'tsit, she would carefully discern what Rhodes Island—and everyone within it—were really like.

"But I still need to look after a child... As for a welcome celebration... let's wait until the little one gets better."

"...Mm, you're right! So, are you planning to stay in the medical area from now on? With your Little Cat?"

"For the time being... Besides, Rhodes Island doesn't have dormitories yet..."

Puffing out her cheeks and swishing her tail, the large cat stretched in displeasure.

"I was thinking that there was finally another female operator I could live with... Some operators from other races used to room with me, but they all said they couldn't stand my body temperature. But Nana, you're a Feline too, and you're strong enough. I thought I'd finally have a roommate..."

"Let's talk about it after this Landship is fitted out... As for now, I don't want to sleep on the floor like you."

"...You say that as if you aren't sleeping on the floor in the ward... If you need anything, remember to call me. Honestly, it's gotten pretty late today. We can keep talking tomorrow~"

"Mm."

After waving goodbye to the overly friendly big cat and the steady, muscular man whose race she could not identify, Nana returned to the ward unsupervised.

After noticing that quite a few places reserved for surveillance cables were completely blank, Nana could only say that these people really dared to let a stranger like her wander around the most vital area of a Landship... It seemed they truly were not afraid she would cause trouble.

But ever since entering the Medical Department, Nana had once again felt as if someone were watching her...

During her past missions, she had often encountered those wary, appraising gazes... But the question was, who would keep observing her from the shadows without showing themselves?

Wasn't she already an operator of Rhodes Island? She even had a Rhodes Island employee badge...

"...Um... Can't I go stay in Mia's ward with her? If not, could you please come out and explain it clearly? Aren't we colleagues?"

Scratching her cheek, Nana stood in the empty late-night corridor, where only the emergency lights cast a faint glow... At first, she had assumed the person watching her was probably Kal'tsit, that perpetually hurried woman, but now it seemed perhaps not.

"...If there's nothing else, I'm going back into the room... I'm leaving now."

After waiting a while with no response, Nana swiped her badge and opened the door, ready to ignore those inexplicable gazes. Then, from somewhere very close by, came the distinctive sobbing of a young girl.

At first, Nana thought her own child was crying, but when she looked, Mia was floating obediently in the anti-gravity device, apparently sleeping deeply.

After carefully identifying the direction of the sound, Nana finally looked toward the ward next to her child's... Come to think of it, Kal'tsit had come out of this ward earlier, hadn't she?

Should she go in? Was she allowed to go in?

If the highest-ranking person in the Medical Department was personally handling the patient, then the situation had to be serious... But it did not seem right for Nana to simply leave, either... After all, a child was crying.

After hesitating for several seconds, Nana still swiped her employee badge at the neighboring ward. The door opened in response... and Nana saw a Cautus girl—one of the rabbit race—sitting on the hospital bed and crying.

She looked about the same age as Matilda.

There were no visible external injuries... But why did she also have a black Halo above her head? Its shape was rather avant-garde, slowly rotating in midair... It was awfully flashy...

As Nana studied the girl, the crying child pulled the blanket over half her face, and even her ears drooped a little.

Seeing the girl tense up, Nana hung the badge from her waist over her chest, mainly to show the newly printed photo on it.

The girl clearly recognized the Rhodes Island employee badge. She soon loosened her grip on the blanket slightly and gave the kitty killer a hesitant look.

Seeing that the girl's tear-filled eyes seemed to be asking a question all by themselves, Nana could only offer a professional smile.

"I... heard you from outside... Why are you crying? Does something hurt? Do you need me to notify Doctor Kal'tsit?"

As Nana walked over to the bedside, the Cautus girl first shrank back and let Nana touch her forehead to check her temperature. But when Nana received no response after asking several questions and prepared to leave, the brown-haired Cautus girl grabbed Nana's hem again.

Even an ace killer of ICA apparently had no resistance at all against clingy children.

"Th-that..."

"Mm? Is something really hurting? Even though I don't officially start work until tomorrow... adults don't leave children alone. If you need anything, just tell big sister."

Letting the girl hold her hand, Nana watched her emotions gradually settle as she lay back down. Nana thought again of someone next door who had fallen asleep the moment she lay in Nana's arms... Were all children more or less the same?

Seeing that this child could gradually drift off to sleep simply by holding her hand, Nana used her other hand to check the girl's vital signs again... Everything was perfectly normal. At least, aside from that flashy black Halo, she seemed perfectly normal... So even after the girl fell asleep again, Nana still could not figure out why she had been crying. It could not be bedwetting, could it?

She reached out and checked, but found no suspicious dampness. Nana truly could not find any reason that might have caused the crying... After thinking it over, it was probably some psychological issue or a real-life concern.

But that was not something Nana could solve in a short time... All the kitty killer could do now was softly hum the song Mrs. Cole had taught her and lull the child to sleep.

Before leaving, Nana tucked the girl in again and decided to tell Kal'tsit about this ward tomorrow...

That counted as part of a "medical worker's" job too, right?

After the room returned to silence, two figures quietly appeared in the ward... One man and one woman, both bearing symbols above their heads that were completely different from Halos.

They were horns—the symbols of sin. They were Sarkaz.

After the purple-haired female Sarkaz confirmed that Nana was next door, sitting by the anti-gravity device and breathing evenly, she made a safe gesture to her companion.

Then, a third Sarkaz appeared in the ward.

A pink-haired Sarkaz woman, whose waist bore the crystalline growths marking severe Oripathy, looked sorrowfully at the rabbit girl on the bed.

"...Forgive me... Amiya..."

PS: Publicly available information—

Although Rhodes Island had now contacted Contingency Contract and registered the company, the Rhodes Island Landship was still two or three years away from completion... As mentioned before, after Kal'tsit discovered the protagonist, this bizarre mixed-blood, she simply slapped a shell onto the chassis and rushed over to recruit her.

Also, at this point in time, the Sarkaz Civil War was nearing its end... Since Nana was a legitimate Rhodes Island employee and would not interfere in Babel's affairs, everyone can guess for themselves what the pink-haired Sarkaz meant when she spoke to Amiya.

PS2: Here is today's kitty picture.

The Mystery of the Second Medic: Everything Going Smoothly?

Rhodes Island's current environment was very rudimentary. Even the specially arranged ward was merely crammed full of various devices, and Nana somewhat regretted not bringing the folding lounge chair from home.

But the ward was very clean, and its bathing facilities were fully equipped. Before lying down against the high-tech hospital bed, Nana even went to the washroom to take a shower. The modular Landship hull was at least connected to electricity and water, making the conditions of this "business trip" much better than Nana had expected.

Incidentally, the travel conditions when Nana used to go on business trips with her agent... were basically comparable to the Great Expansion of Columbia.

As she lay down drowsily, the kitty killer wondered what her new life would be like, and how this new job would compare to being an agent stationed in a region... With those thoughts in mind, Nana carefully placed her potted plant on the small table beside the hospital bed and fell asleep.

With the arrival of a new day, the sound of the automatic door unlocking made the kitty killer's ears snap upright. Nana immediately drew her gun and aimed by reflex... Then, with her finger already on the trigger, she saw her current "superior," whose color matched her potted plant, staring at her with an expression as though she were looking at a corpse.

The two remained silent for several seconds. Only after hearing Mrs. Cole's soft laughter in her earpiece did Nana put away her gun.

"Sorry... Reflex."

"I can understand why you would behave this way while your body and mind are so tense. I do not expect you to immediately return to the state that person described, but at the very least... remember that you have work to do. After all, yesterday you swore to devote the rest of your life to protecting all this..."

"Huh? Um... If there's something you want me to do, could you tell me clearly? I'm really not used to this roundabout way of speaking."

Watching the cat before her frown slightly and begin smoothing out her faintly wrinkled clothes as if aggrieved, Kal'tsit's eyes genuinely lost focus for a brief moment.

The green-haired cat holding a medical chart seemed to mentally ascend, floating into union with the universe. Experience accumulated over ten thousand years clashed within her mind against technological records far beyond the average standard... Then Kal'tsit's gaze returned to normal.

"...The Medical Department's rounds... You're coming too..."

"Oh."

Tugging at the shirt that would not smooth out no matter how much she adjusted it, Nana could only be glad that the upper half of the Rhodes Island uniform was extremely well-covered... After fixing her bangs a couple more times, Nana put on a fresh pair of medical gloves.

"I'm ready."

"...Mm, then let's begin..."

"Mm... Begin what?"

"Your internship. Speaking of which, your medical license... wasn't bought for disguise purposes, was it?"

As she spoke, Kal'tsit walked to Matilda's bedside, copied down the instruments' readings, and examined the Little Cat herself... Watching the green-haired cat directly lift the child's blanket and conduct palpation that was perhaps a little too forceful, Nana raised her hand several times as if to stop her, but held herself back...

Because these really were normal routine checks.

"...Everything is normal. Remember, she should wake up by twelve-thirty at the latest."

Hearing Kal'tsit state that so decisively, Nana nervously recorded her words with Security Bureau equipment and asked anxiously.

"If she doesn't wake up by noon, will something happen?"

"...Nothing. She'll just miss lunch."

Ignoring Nana's ears, which suddenly drooped, Kal'tsit continued.

"On one hand, it is not good for postoperative patients to eat cold food. On the other, we need to observe her bowel movements and conduct tests... Remember that collecting samples is also your responsibility. Although your certificate says you specialize in battlefield trauma and emergency treatment for external injuries, Rhodes Island has more ordinary patients. You need to get used to treating us as a regular medical institution while working here..."

"...I thought you recruited me specifically so I could continue working as a killer or agent..."

"But you cannot do that now. Your eye has not healed yet..."

Seeing Kal'tsit pat the hospital bed and gesture to her, Nana sat down. Then the green-haired cat began removing the bandages from Nana's left eye.

"We found you so quickly not because we wanted you to do something for us, but because we were more worried about what you might have done while knowing nothing... So even if you do not want to be a doctor, that is fine. As long as you remain safe, as long as you do not become our 'enemy'... you may choose your own life."

Watching the green-haired Feline before her hold a flashlight in her mouth, use one hand to eliminate inflammation with a medical Arts unit, and rest the other against Nana's face... Nana did not reject her this time, but the kitty killer's face was full of confusion.

"...My own life? You know everything I can do... What kind of life can someone like me live?"

"Many kinds. First, because Rhodes Island is an Oripathy treatment institution, very few ordinary medical students submit applications to us. Although the Medical Department has invested considerably in advertising since its establishment, our staffing has remained in an awkward state, with only Infected doctors... That is why I brought you into the Medical Department immediately. And if you do not wish to work on the island... you would also be qualified as a field medic."

"Something like my agent, who was specifically responsible for a particular region?"

"...No. Rhodes Island does have such 'external assignment' positions... But I told you that you are important, so even if you go on field assignments, you will still belong to headquarters and live on the Landship... All right, there is some inflammation. Take some oral anti-inflammatory medicine afterward... Lift your hair. I'll replace the dressing and bandages."

Perhaps knowing that Nana was not used to people standing behind her, Kal'tsit chose to stand in front of her while treating the kitty killer's wound.

As for what Kal'tsit had said earlier, Nana asked her ultimate question.

"So... this 'life that belongs to me'... what exactly is it? What... am I supposed to do?"

Seeing the black-haired girl's lost expression, Kal'tsit sighed.

"...If you truly do not know, then why not try everything?"

"Try everything?"

Watching Kal'tsit turn and leave, Nana touched Matilda's cheek, wrote her message for the day, and then picked up her shoulder bag to follow her new supervisor.

Walking through the corridors of Rhodes Island, Nana found that once they left the Medical Department, every corridor on this hastily assembled Landship looked exactly the same.

Just as Nana wondered why the Medical Department's rounds were not being conducted in the Medical Department, Kal'tsit paused to think, then began introducing Rhodes Island to Nana from the beginning.

"Right now... Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical Company is a startup. More precisely, we only registered this company this year. Rhodes Island, our registered location, has only just registered its mobile communication identifier on the Intercity Network of various nations. Even its fitting-out has not been completed."

"That much, I can... see very clearly."

Following Kal'tsit, Nana stepped around construction panels piled in the corridor. The two entered an elevator barely enclosed by railings, and amid the vibrations that came with the roar of its machinery grinding across the earth, Kal'tsit led Nana to the third floor.

"The fourth floor is the core of the Medical Department. Most of the expensive equipment is located there, as are the intensive care wards and administrative offices... The third floor is intended for ordinary departments, inpatient wards, and a rehabilitation garden... Rhodes Island's operator dormitories, employee cafeteria, and other public facilities will also be here... Of course, for now, all of that is merely 'planned.'"

In other words, the third floor was actually completely empty, just as Nana had seen.

Nana did not dare say, Then if it hasn't been built yet, why mention it? She was afraid that if she said it, she would be unable to handle the awkward silence if the other woman simply fell quiet... She could hardly ask the head of the Medical Department to take her on a tour of the wheelhouse.

While Miss Killer's thoughts wandered off, Kal'tsit's topic somehow suddenly returned.

"So, Rhodes Island currently has nothing. In that sense, you can almost find any position here that you can think of..."

"But I just want to stay with Little Cat."

Nana had thought those words would displease her, but unexpectedly, Kal'tsit agreed quite readily.

"Then for now, you will serve as a Medical Department intern operator responsible for monitoring Matilda Bruce... Record her biological vital signs every four hours. The data you need to copy is all in the medical chart, and comparing the instruments to the format I used today should not be difficult for you."

"I also wrote down meal arrangements and the types of samples that need to be submitted for testing in the memo section..."

Looking at the densely written medical chart that had suddenly appeared in her arms, Nana froze for a moment, then asked: