Chapter 25 :

Episode 6 : Hidden Quest (3)

After that short moment, I went to the hallway with Mirai. 

Furthermore, she transformed into her spider form and went in my coat's pocket. 

I didn't want to talk to her after she hugged me. Or maybe because I didn't want to trouble her. 

"Captain.. I miss you.." Mirai muttered as she slept.

I checked my pocket before gently patting her tiny head with my index finger to comfort her in her sleep. 

"Cap..tain." Mirai unexpectedly hugged my finger with all her legs. 

I grinned as I walked to the hallway. ‘I'm genuinely interested to know more about her captain.’

-Thump thump.. Thump thump..-

I paused when I heard a heartbeat. As to know who heartbeat it is, I held my chest to identify if it were my heartbeat..

It was me.. but why is my heart beating so fast? 

My free hand, which was my left hand, suddenly had the black katana in it. 

‘What?’ The katana slowly drifted off ahead of me while emitting a terrifying aura. 

‘Is it going to attack me again?’ I gritted my teeth.

"Follow me." A voice resounded in my head.

"Why should I?" I asked intimidatingly while pondering. ‘Odd.. Why am I not surprised by a talking sword..?’

"Do as I say or I'll kill you." 

"...okay." I sensed the killing intent within its aura so I had no choice but to agree with it.

The katana floated to somewhere and I followed it obediently.

Somehow I had a feeling, I shouldn't be involving Mirai in this situation. Therefore, when I came across my previous clothes on the floor, I took Mirai out of the pocket without waking her up and laid her down.

"Quickly." The katana spoke to me.

"Very well." I responded quietly not to awake Mirai. 

During the moment when I left her there, I looked back to think if it were a good decision.

If it gets dangerous, she might be able to support me. Though, I couldn't help it when I had this strange feeling.

Afterwards, the katana started drifting faster than before. As a result, I didn't have much time to think about my decision and chased after the katana.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked that katana while panting.

"A forbidden place." The katana answered calmly to my question, although it wasn't very informative.

I was trying to ask again however I stopped because of what I just stepped on.

"Oh no.." The ground rumbled immensely, causing the floor below me to break down, revealing a deep hole underneath me. 

I fell down but fortunately, I grabbed hold of the ground and began looking downward. "So deep.."

I looked up to get ready to climb back up.. On the contrary..

The katana knocked me down using its hilt on my forehead which forced me to lose balance and fell into the hole.

"I'm too unlucky! Ahh!"

———

After a long time, I opened my eyes to discover I was alright. 

More importantly, the ground was extremely comfortable as if I were on my bed.

"I don't want to get up." I sluggishly said.

..Then I heard a cat's loud purr, not only that, a giant black tail swaying around the place.

‘Don't tell me..’ I attempted to find the cat's head and when I did..

It was sleeping peacefully while hugging a large ball of yarn. I exhaled a sigh of relief after knowing it was napping.

Moreover, I instantly moved to get down at a slow pace. ‘I need to get off.’

I hopped on the ball of yarn and climbed down carefully. 

Nevertheless, the cat moved its paw that I didn't expect. Its paw was slowly getting closer to me, maybe because it wanted to hug the ball of yarn again..

I thought of something. ‘Tsk. I need to move..’ Undoubtedly, I would be crushed if the cat hugged me now.

Due to this, I found another way and leapt off the ball of yarn at the exact time to get onto the cat's tail that swayed next to me.

At that time, I hugged the tail tightly since I must not fall from this height. ‘Phew..Whoa!’ The tail kept swinging from left to right, making me feel nauseated and dizzy.

Eventually, the tail stopped and laid itself on the floor. Likewise, I jumped before the tail was on the ground.

Although I kinda staggered a lot. ‘My head is spinning.’ I smacked my head softly to regain my stability.

I wondered from curiosity. ‘Where am I? Wait, I should be asking, where is the katana?’

Tha katana spoke beside me which kinda startled me. "I'm right here." 

"Shh. I don't want you to wake up the cat."

"That's the point."

I wanted to close its mouth but I realized it was a katana. It didn't have a mouth and that was why I facepalmed. "Please just speak in a lower volume." 

"Prove yourself to me, master." 

I waved my right hand in denial. "Hold on. I'm not your master. Well technically, I used you as my weapon." 

"..." This time, the katana didn't reply back to me.

"Do you have a name? Because I feel like it's weird to call a katana ‘the katana’." 

The katana floating in the air circled around me. "You will earn the rights to know my name when you tame the cat." 

"How can I tame a giant cat when I don't even have a pet before?" 

The katana disappeared to only reappeared in my grip. "There is always a first try when you try something new." 

"You're overestimating me." I whispered to the katana. "Hey. Are you listening? Answer me..!" 

I sighed from this totally furious dilemma I was in. "Goddamnit.. what should I do now?" 

"Should I wait for it to wake up? Or should I wake it up?" I turned around to observe the giant cat creature. 

"No, I better not disturb it or else I might be cat food." I shivered a little bit after having to imagine that thought.

Since I had nothing better to do, I began looking from places to places for me to find an exit. 

On the other hand, I discovered nothing. Just literally nothing. The area I was in, only had walls, excluding the important thing for a room which was an entrance and an exit.

"It's unbelievable that I'm stuck with a behemoth." I rubbed my temple after understanding the situation I was in.

Out of a sudden, a yawn echoed through the vicinity. The cat was finally waking up from its catnap.