Kinzo’s POV
   Before the Nekomata could jump at Kinzo, Rei steps in and stops her by reaching out her palm. The Nekomata’s face landed spectacularly on it.

   “Mmhmphuru!”

   And she even made a funny sound.

   “You shall not harm my master while I stand.” Rei tells the youkai coldly.

   The Nekomata jumps back and glares at her.

   “Who are you, human female?” she demands. “How dare you interrupt my quality time with my myaster!”

   “For your record, I am his maid.”

   The Nekomata gasps in horror.

   “How could you, myaster? Are you cheating on me?” she demands from Keizo angrily.

   “Actually, you and I barely know each other. We just met, for crying out loud.” Keizo points out.

   “The duration doesn’t matter, nya! You two-timing cheater!”

   “If you insist on being hostile with my master, you shall be tasting my blade.” Rei tells the Nekomata as she brings out Balaraw.

   “Your myaster? He’s mine, nya!”

   …Well, this is going nowhere. Maybe he should start by easing up the tension.

   “Stop this right instance, girls. You’re bothering the neighbours.” he tells the two of them. “Rei-chan, put Balaraw away. And um…”

   “My name is Shisui. Kuroi Shisui.” the Nekomata introduces herself.

   “Right. Shisui, I have a lot of things to say to you. But for now, calm down, okay?”

   They obeyed his orders obediently. For once, Kinzo is glad of his power. Things might have gone really ugly otherwise.

   He takes off his jacket and hands it to Shisui. He made sure to look away before he did that so that he doesn’t accidentally sees her naked body.

   “Put this on.” he orders.

   She takes it and wears it on her body. Still, her more, ahem, dangerous body parts are mostly exposed.

   “Rei-chan, help her to zip it up.” he tells Rei.

   “Understood, master.”

   A few seconds later, he hears the sound of a zipper being pulled.

   “It is done.” Rei reports.

   Kinzo could finally look at Shisui. Yup. Much better. Still, what to do now?

   “I’m hungry, myaster~!” Shisui complains all of a sudden.

   Step one: feeding the newly acquired cat-eared, um, maid?

   “Let’s head to my place first.” Kinzo decides.

   He just hopes that they don’t bump into someone, or more specifically, police. This would be really hard to explain.

   Once they’re at Kinzo’s apartment, Shisui runs around the place excitedly.

   “So this is myaster’s home! It’s so huge, nya!” she says with her eyes sparkling.

   “Actually, this one is considered small on today’s standard.” Kinzo informs.

   “It doesn’t matter, it’s huge enough for me! More importantly, I want food, nya!”

   “Can you cook something for us, Rei-chan? For three people, please.” Kinzo requests Rei.

   “Right away, master.”

   “Oh, before I forget. Is there anything that you don’t like or can’t eat, Shisui?”

   Shisui shakes her head. “No, I’m not that picky, nya.”

   “In that case, you can start cooking, Rei-chan.”

   Rei curtsies at him before she heads over to the kitchen.

   While Kinzo is waiting for the food to be cooked, he sits in front of the dining table. Shisui was content with looking around the place until there’s nothing more to see. And then she comes over and bothers Kinzo.

   “Hey hey, myaster~.”

   “Yes, Shisui?”

   “Where am I supposed to sleep, nya?”

   That’s a really good question. It would be bad if she lives here, and she definitely can’t live with Rei…

   “Well, I’ll try to think of something.”

   “Why are you talking like you’re not letting me stay here, nya?”

   “That’s because I’m not. It would be bad in more than one way if I did, you know?”

   She looks at him with teary eyes. She’s also clinging to him really tightly.

   “Please, myaster! I want to stay right beside you, nya!” she pleads.

   “But…”

   “Please~!”

   “...Fine, you can stay here with me.” he relents.

   The cat youkai breaks into a smile at once.

   “Yay! I love you, myaster!” she says as she hugs him.

   “Whoa, no hugging please. I-”

   KLANG! KLANG! KLANG! KLANG KLANG!

   It could be his imagination, but Rei seems to be making a lot more noise than is strictly necessary over at the kitchen.

   “I’m not trying to be mean or anything, by can you please get off?” Kinzo requests Shisui as nicely as possible.

   She let goes of him extremely reluctantly.

   “There’s a good girl.” he compliments.

   And the noises at the kitchen seem to have subsided a lot.

   Hold on. Is Rei being…jealous? Kinzo shakes his head. No, that can’t be. Rei is pretty much a soulless puppet while she’s under the influence of his power. There’s no way she could have emotions. Even if she did, hell will freezes over before she would be jealous of Shisui.

   The food is soon done. It’s nothing extravagant, just the usual rice, miso soup and liver and onions. Even so, Shisui’s eyes are sparkling.

   “Wow, they looks so delicious, nya!” she says excitedly.

   “They’re indeed delicious. I can definitely guarantee that. Rei-chan is really good at cooking.” Kinzo assures her.

   “Really? Now I can’t wait to eat them!”

   “Hold it.” Rei stops her. “You have to do an ittadakimasu first.”

   “That’s right, Shisui. Even if you’re hungry, you can’t forget basic manners.” Kinzo agrees.

   “Fine fine, I’ll do it.”

   The three of them clap their hands together.

   “Ittadakimasu!” they chant together.

   …Wait a second. Did Rei just-

   “Hey hey, myaster. Say ahh~!”

   “Huh?”

   Kinzo looks over. Shisui is holding a piece of liver with her chopsticks and is putting it near his face. Kinzo is sort of surprised that she can even use chopsticks.

   “Um, what are you doing?” he couldn’t help but ask.

   “I’m feeding you, of course. Now open wide, nya~!”

   Kinzo wants to decline, but can’t. Shisui is a real pain, but she’s still a pretty girl. And getting fed by a pretty girl is every man’s dream. He opens his mouth-

   CRACK!

   Kinzo looks towards Rei while his mouth is still half-opened. She has just broke her plastic chopsticks into two. Rei herself looks towards the chopsticks.

   “You have my deepest apologies, master.” she apologizes. “I shall reimburse you a new pair as soon as I get the chance.”

   “No no. There’s no need for that. Rather than that, you should get a new pair so that you could finish your meal.”

   “Yes, master.”

   She gets up and gets herself another pair of chopsticks as told. The scene she caused gave Kinzo a little fright, but Shisui isn’t fazed at all.

   “Now then, where were we?” she asks like nothing has happened.

   Kinzo notices Rei’s seemingly impossible intense stare.

   “Um, I was about to decline your feeding. I can eat the food myself, thank you.”

   Kinzo looks at Rei. Her stony expression is completely gone now.

   Shisui, on the other hand, pouts at that.

   “You’re no fun, myaster…” she grumbles.

   Sure, Shisui is unhappy and Kinzo missed his chance to be fed by someone who possess a somewhat free-will. Still, Rei isn’t in a bad mood anymore, and that’s much more important.

   The dinner session ended without any more incident, and Rei does the usual wash-up. While she’s doing that, Kinzo thinks about how to deal with Shisui.

   He did promise her that she’s allowed to stay with him, but that can’t continue for long. As he told her, no pets were allowed inside this apartment building. He couldn’t imagine the rage of his landlord if it was ever exposed that he’s keeping something much worse.

   Hmm, he guess that it’s time for him to move. He’s so happy that he’s receiving a much higher pay now.

   Wow, that was easier than he thought.

   “Say, myaster?” Shisui begins all of a sudden.

   “Yes?”

   “Who do you like more? Me or that Rei-chan of yours?”

   Kinzo inhales sharply. No. Oh no. No no no no no. Did she just ask one of the question that guys in general would never wanted to be asked? She just did, didn’t she?

   Kinzo sneaks a glance towards Rei. Her back is faced towards him, but he could see that she has stopped doing the dishes. Looks like she’s listening in as well.

   “For starters, I’m a cat girl. Don’t gro, I mean men like you love cat girls, right?” Shisui promotes herself.

   “Were you about to call me gross?”

   “You’re just imagining it, nya. Secondly, I’m definitely stronger than her.’

   Rei turns around and glares at Shisui.

   “Would you like to test out that theory?” she asks quietly.

   Shisui’s nails suddenly becomes much longer.

   “Bring it on!” she cries.

   “Both of you, stop fighting right this instant!” Kinzo stops them immediately.

   The two of them glare at each other for quite some time before finally looking away. Oh, boy. This is going to be difficult from now on.

   “Well, its true that I can fight. So I’ll protect myaster if the situation arises.” Shisui continues.

   Kinzo smiles at her encouragingly. “I’ll be counting on you, then.”

   “You can count on me, nya!”

   She leans over and looks at Kinzo expectantly. His hand reaches out to her head and strokes it gently. She purrs with a really satisfied look on her face.

   “I have finished with washing the plates, master.” Rei reports once she was done with the dishes.

   “Great work and thank you as usual. You can go back now, Rei-chan.” Kinzo tells her.

   Shisui looks at Rei, then Kinzo.

   “What do you mean that she can go back, myaster? Isn’t she living together with you?” she asks him.

   “What? Of course not! Rei-chan has her own life and family, you know. One way suited for her than the one with me.”

   Shisui looks thoroughly confused at that.

   “Then why are you making her stay by your side?”

   That got Kinzo tongue-tied.

   “I’m not trying to be mean or anything, nya. Still, you shouldn’t force someone to be with you. At least I’m willing to be here out of my own volition.” she continues.

   She’s definitely not. Kinzo is very sure of that.

   Still, what she said makes sense. Silver Wolf did say that an ability user might target Rei in the future, but now that he thinks about it, the part-time maid is far from defenceless. She’s very good with a sword, and she’s getting fighting lessons from Silver Wolf himself. She doesn’t need to be protected by Kinzo, of all people.

   “Um, Rei-chan-”

   “No, master.”

   “...I beg your pardon?”

   Rei walks towards Kinzo with a scary look. Kinzo feels the hair on the back of his neck standing up from the icy stare.

   “I will never leave your side over the flimsy reason that it is for my own good.” she tells him.

   “But, Rei-chan-”

   “My answer is final, master.”

   …Okay. He definitely needs to tell Silver Wolf about this. He takes out his phone and calls him.

   “Hello?”

   “Um, I’m really sorry for bothering you at this late hour…”

   “Just cut the crap and get straight to the point.”

   “Ah, yes. Um-”

   “Why are you talking on your own all of a sudden, myaster? Weren’t you about to have a talk with Rei?” Shisui asks impatiently.

   “...What was that?” Silver Wolf asks.

   “That’s one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about.”

   Since Shisui is getting restless, and the topic Kinzo wants to discuss shouldn’t be mentioned in front of Rei, Kinzo excused himself and heads to the balcony.

   “Don’t start anything while I’m gone.” he tells the girls before locking the door.

   “Understood, master.”

   “Sure, myaster. I promise to be a good cat.”

   Now that preventive measure have been made, Kinzo tells Silver Wolf about Shisui.

   “...So you got yourself another maid.” he concludes after Kinzo was done.

   “Well, she’s not exactly a maid…”

   “You know what I mean. A girl who calls you master and thing. More importantly, you activated your ability again. Without knowing how. Again.”

   “Yes, I did.” Kinzo agrees dejectedly.

   “I don’t care how long it takes. Find out the condition in order for you to activate it.” Silver Wolf orders.

   “Um, even if you say that-”

   “Just do it.”

   All of a sudden, he sounds very authoritative.

   “Listen here. There’s a demon that I’m in love with.” he tells Kinzo coldly. “If the two of you ever meet and you accidentally or purposely made her fall in love with you, I will straight up murder you.”

   The warning sent a chill down Kinzo’s spine. He also realizes that he has slight breathing difficulty. Even though they’re not face-to-face, Silver wolf’s words alone are enough to freak Kinzo out. He’s that scary. Kinzo isn’t even going to ask him to elaborate about the mentioned demon.

   Kinzo gulps nervously. “I’ll try. I mean, I’ll definitely find out.”

   “Good. Now then, what exactly did you wanted to talk to me about?”

   And his voice is back to normal in the blink of an eye. Thankfully.

   “So, this new “maid” that I got is a cat youkai-”

   “Uh-huh.”

   “Will I get into trouble if I decided to make her stay by my side?”

   “Nah. It’s going to be fine as long as you can keep her under control. If you’re still worried, I’ll talk to Sergeant Wakaba and one of the onmyojis for you.”

   “It’ll mean a lot if you do. Thank you very much.”

   “Anything else? You mentioned that this is one of the things that you wanted to talk about.”

   “Yes. Well, it would seem that Rei-chan has started to obtain freewill.”

   “...That’s it?”

   “Isn’t it a serious problem? She can refuse orders now!”

   “What exactly did you make her do?”

   “The thing is, I wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t hang out with me anymore. She realized it and refused quite firmly.”

   “Didn’t I tell you about the danger of leaving her alone?”

   “But, she can fight even without being supplied with my mana! Also, I still think that she should live her live to the fullest instead of being controlled like a puppet.” Kinzo argues.

   “Apparently, she disagrees with the last part.”

   “But, why?”

   “...You’re seriously asking me that?”

   “What do you mean?”

   “Heads or tails?”

   “I beg your pardon?”

   “I’m going to toss a coin. If you called it right, I’ll tell you why Rei-san refused to leave you. Otherwise, you’re on your own.”

   “Um, heads please.”

   Kinzo hears the sound of a coin being flipped, and then the sound of something landing on a hard surface.

   “Sorry, bud, it’s tails.” SIlver Wolf reports. “You’ll have to solve the great mystery by yourself.”

   Kinzo is really curious now, but he knows better to press for an answer from Silver Wolf.

   “That aside, I still think she should stop associating herself with me.”

   “And you’re fine with it?”

   Kinzo hesitates.

   “No, I’m not.”

   “At least you’re honest with yourself. Listen, if you’re worried for her safety, be there for her whenever she’s in danger. If you think she’s way beyond your league, ignore the stupid thought and all those who thinks that. Being greedy isn’t always a bad thing, you know. Besides, she wants to stay at your side too.”

   “I, well…”

   “Honestly, you can stay firm and force her to leave you. Just yell at her or something.”

   “There’s no way I can yell at Rei-chan!”

   “You’re being a real pain right now, you know that?”

   Kinzo hangs his head. “I know, and I’m really sorry for that.”

   “Just make a decision already. Ultimately, it’s yours and yours to make. Don’t expect others to make it for you.”

   Kinzo hesitates again.

   “Please give me more time. I really need to think this through.” he pleads lamely.

   “You know, it’s better to just get it over with than dragging it on.”

   “I, um, I want to solve that great mystery that you mentioned before I make my decision.”

   “Sure, sure. Just don’t take too long. Now then, anything else?”

   “No, that’s all from me.”

   “In that case, try to do something about that PTSD of yours. There’s no way your training can resume if you don’t do something about it.”

   “..I’ll try my best.”

   Once he hangs up, Kinzo feels slightly better. It’s really nice to discuss his trouble with someone like Silver Wolf who doesn’t mince his words. Still, as he has said, Kinzo is the one who needs to make the decision of cutting off Rei from all this.

   Kinzo sighs. This is not something he can decide in a single night. Boy, he hates himself so much for being so indecisive. He puts away his phone and enters his room again. And he sees Rei and Suisui cuddling with each other, with Rei stroking Shisui’s chin.

   “Oh, that really hits the spot…” Shsui purrs.

   “I am glad that you love it.” Rei says while smiling gently.

   What on earth happened while he was gone? Still, it’s nice to see them getting along.

   “Seriously, how are you this good at it?” Shisui couldn’t help but ask.

   “I used to own a cat. She would love it whenever I stroked her chin like this.”

   Shisui’s eyes widen.

   ““Used to”? Does that mean that she’s…?”

   “Yes. She has passed away three years ago.”

   “I’m sorry to hear that.”

   “Thank you. Well, I am sure that she is in a better place now.”

   Shisui darts her eyes left and right. Kinzo is pretty sure that she’s thinking of something comforting to say.

   “Maybe she’s living on as a Nekomata.” was all she could come up with.

   “Perhaps.”

   It was then the two of them noticed Kinzo.

   “Come and have your chin stroke by Rei too, myaster!” Shisui invites.

   “Um, no thanks.” Kinzo declines.

   This time, he’s definitely not mistaken that Rei showed a disappointed expression. He feels bad, but he thinks that he doesn’t deserve to be treated gently after what he did to her.

   “It’s getting late now. You should head home before you end up worrying your parents.” he tells her.

   She gets up from where she was sitting and bows at him.

   “In that case, I shall take my leave.” she says.

   Shisui waves her hand at her.

   “See you tomorrow, Rei! Stroke my chin again the next time we meet, okay?”

   Rei smiles pleasantly. “It would be my pleasure.”

   And off she goes, back to the life she’s supposed to belong. For now. Kinzo can never apologize enough for selfishly dragging her away from it. Not that he’s brave enough to tell her that.

   “Well, let’s sleep.” Kinzo tells Shisui once they’re alone.

   Her eyes sparkle at once.

   “Does that mean that we get to sleep together, nya?” she asks excitedly.

   “Um, no. You sleep on the bed, while I sleep on the couch.”

   Her mood went down in an instant.

   “Aww, you’re no fun myaster…” she grumbles.

   “Just stay at your bed until morning, okay? You definitely can’t come to the sofa.” he orders.

   “Okay…”

   Even though he gave her that order, he was still excited on the fact that there’s a girl, a cat-eared girl no less, sleeping in the same room as him. As a result, he could barely get a good sleep.