After she finished writing.
She instinctively reached out and left a plum-blossom paw print on the paper.
Then she smiled and wiped her tearful eyes.
With her bag on her back.
She jumped down from the chair.
She gently turned the doorknob and, with her head lowered beneath the shroud of darkness, walked out through the Hospital gates, one step at a time.
Silence and darkness surrounded her, without a single human voice.
Even the streets, where she could usually see passersby, seemed especially deserted today.
Soon, I'll be a lonely cat again.
Actually, I wandered for a long time before. Before I met Mother and her family, Miao Miao was always wandering.
Maybe it's my fate.
Maybe Miao Miao is destined to be nothing more than a stray Cat-Eared Girl.
But...
Why does Miao Miao still feel so reluctant to leave, so heartbroken?
She lowered her head, her steps growing slower and slower.
She walked alone through the darkness, glistening droplets faintly visible as they fell to the ground in the breeze.
She did not know why she was crying either. Maybe... maybe the wind had just blown sand into her eyes.
She had already tried so hard not to think about it.
Yet she could not stop remembering what that doctor had told her yesterday.
"No matter what, you have to keep living. Don't let the hope your mother gave you go to waste. Even here in the Dark World, you'll surely find people willing to be kind to Miao Miao."
"Because this is the City of Night Beneath the Stars! And the Night Doctors willing to help you are spread throughout the entire Dark World!"
"If it hurts, just cry. No one here will hurt you again. If those people dare come here, Older Brother will kill