Three days later, at night.
In the underground laboratory, Yui stared blankly at the little white mouse in front of her.
What was going on?
Over the past few days, this little white mouse had nearly driven her up the wall.
She remembered that the little thing was only supposed to live for two days!
It had been almost three days now. Why hadn't its lifespan run out yet?
And her original self hadn't even come to check on things, leaving her clone here alone to run experiments.
She reached into the cage and picked up the lively little white mouse.
The mouse seemed smarter and more energetic than before.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak-"
The little white mouse seemed unhappy with the hand holding her by the scruff.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak... let me go." A raspy voice accompanied the mouse's squeaking.
Yui: "???"
"What on earth..."
Startled, Yui hurriedly dropped the little white mouse back into the cage.
Had she misheard that?
Mice couldn't talk, could they?
"Hey, hey, hey..." Yui picked up a long wooden stick from nearby and cautiously poked her.
"Stop bothering me..."
Suddenly, another voice came from the little white mouse's mouth.
"Huh?"
Yui hadn't expected the mouse to actually be able to talk.
"Tch... of course I can talk," the little white mouse said flatly.
"If I remember correctly, you're a lab mouse I bred specifically for my experiments!"
"Wouldn't I know whether you could talk?"
"But this really is pretty strange," Yui said. "Can you tell me how you learned to talk?"
The little white mouse fell silent for a while before answering.
"I don't know what happened either. After you knocked me out, a set of memories suddenly appeared in my head."
"Then I could think, and that's how I learned to talk, too."
"Memories?" Yui was puzzled. Had her electric shocks awakened the mouse's inherited memories?
"Can you tell me what's in those memories?"
The little white mouse nodded at her question, moved her lips, and spoke.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak-"
Yui's expression darkened at the sound.
The little white mouse seemed to realize that she had made a strange noise, too.
"I don't think I can say what's in them."
The little white mouse sounded helpless.
"Never mind, never mind. If you can't say it, I won't force you."
Still, Yui couldn't help wondering whether this little white mouse really was some kind of Elder Monster.
She even had inherited memories.
Why not take her in? The Summoning Technique suddenly came to mind.
Maybe she could coax the mouse into becoming her summon.
With that thought, she simply said, "Since I helped you awaken your memories, I've done you a favor."
"You don't have anywhere to go anyway. Would you like to accept me as your master?"
"What do you think?"
The little white mouse's ears pricked up, as though she had heard something unbelievable.
"Y-you... what did you say?"
Those words seemed to have startled the little white mouse. Her tiny body shrank back, and she buried her head in her fluffy tail.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
"Huh?" Yui wondered why the mouse was reacting like this.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong?" she asked.
But the little white mouse seemed not to have heard her.
She still didn't move.
When the mouse failed to respond, Yui lost interest in talking to her.
She turned away and got back to her own work.
A talking white mouse? Pretty interesting. And she'd bred her herself.
Of all the lab mice here, this one had undergone the most experiments.
She was also the one that had survived.
Why was that?
In the wire cage behind her, the little white mouse grew anxious as she watched Yui ignore her.
What was wrong with this woman? She'd already agreed to accept her as her master.
After racking her brains, she finally realized that she hadn't spoken in human language just now.
Sigh. Looks like she'd have to say it again.
"Hey, what are you doing?" the little white mouse asked cautiously.
Yui ignored the voice and kept writing something down with the pen in her hand.
Since the mouse had already proven that she posed no threat, Yui decided to leave her alone.
She would focus on her own work and leave the rest of this mess to her original self.
After all, she was only a clone. There was only so much work she could do.
"Please pay attention to me!" Seeing that Yui remained unmoved, the little white mouse grew anxious.
"I... I..." the little white mouse stammered. "Y-you... you're my master from now on."
"Please don't ignore me, okay?"
Yui: ???
She turned around in shock.
"You actually agreed?" Yui asked in astonishment. "We've known each other for less than an hour!"
The little white mouse nodded.
"You awakened my memories. That's as good as giving me a second life."
"Accepting you as my master is only right, both out of gratitude and fairness."
"Oh, Master, could you let me out first? I need to form a contract with you."
Hearing that they would be forming a contract, Yui immediately scooped the little white mouse out of the cage.
After all, who wouldn't want a summon?
As soon as she was out of the cage, the little white mouse moved to sink her teeth into Yui's finger.
"Hey, hey, hey..." The mouse's movement startled Yui.
"What are you doing?" Yui immediately stopped her. "Do you want my blood?"
The little white mouse nodded.
"Then you should've said so!" Yui complained. "I'm a clone. Where would I get blood?"
As she spoke, Yui took a test tube filled with bright red blood from the freezer nearby.
"Just one drop," the little white mouse said.
Following the mouse's instructions, Yui gave her a drop of her original self's blood.
The moment the little white mouse swallowed the blood, her body blazed with golden light.
After a while, the glow gradually faded.
"It's done, Master..."
Taking a good look at the little white mouse, Yui decided she was actually quite cute.
Her tail was fluffy, too, unlike those filthy sewer rats.
If she had been the kind of white mouse with a hairless tail, Yui would never have accepted her.
"Master..."
The little white mouse was about to say something.
Suddenly, she felt something soft press against her head.
"So cute-"
"Smack-"
For some reason, Yui had acted on a sudden impulse and planted a kiss on her.
The little white mouse's entire face instantly turned scarlet.
"Haha... I'll stop teasing you."
Truthfully, Yui felt a little embarrassed, too.
To escape Yui's gaze, the little white mouse darted onto her shoulder.
Yui turned her thoughts away from the mouse.
She wondered why her original self still hadn't come after so long.
That wasn't right. Normally, she came to the laboratory once a day.
But...
A possibility suddenly occurred to her.
Besides, according to what she could sense, her original self's location hadn't changed in three days. She had stayed at home the whole time.
No, something she hadn't anticipated must have happened.
She had to go and take a look.
She turned to glance at the clock.
It was already one in the morning.
Perfect. She could investigate under cover of darkness.
"Come on, little white mouse. You're coming out with me."
With that, she scooped the restless little white mouse off her shoulder with one hand.
"Where are we going?" the little white mouse asked softly. "And my name isn't Little White Mouse."
"Ahem, right. I should give you a name." Yui pondered for a moment.
Hearing that she would be given a name, the little white mouse's eyes lit up, and she stared intently at Yui.
"How about... Little White?"
"..." At that name, the little white mouse was instantly overcome with exasperation.
"How is that any different...?" she complained.
"Uh..." Yui also felt that the name wasn't quite right.
"Never mind. I'll name you after we see my original self."
Before you continue