Rias had once imagined that the Blond Killer must be some burly thug with a brutish face.
Yet now… look at the golden-haired girl sitting before her—she was like a slender, beautiful elf.
Unimaginable. If Zeroy hadn't admitted it herself, Rias never could have believed that the savage she had pictured was this girl.
And not only her outward appearance, but even her personality was utterly different.
What was with this lively, cheerful, friendly demeanor?
No airs, no intimidating presence of the strong—easy to talk to, easy to get along with.
It was hard to imagine this same person committing such grotesque, brutal acts—not just killing enemies, but mutilating them, leaving their heads impaled in gruesome displays.
Yet to call her an ordinary, normal girl would also be wrong.
Dealing with criminals who deserved death, even killing them, was not inherently an issue.
After all, when faced with an enemy intent on killing you, what else is there to do except kill them first? Sit down and chat over dinner plans?
In any case, Zeroy was clearly much more extreme in handling such things.
Most people, even against enemies or criminals, even when they wanted to torture them to death, still saw them as people—as living beings.
Zeroy, however, regarded them as dead things. To her, they had no rights at all, and there was no need for hesitation in how she treated them.
A bit extreme.
Still, Rias felt this wasn't so bad.
In a world full of mythic forces and ancient monsters, all sorts of people existed.
Idiots who wanted to destroy the world were hardly uncommon.
Zeroy simply gave off a somewhat unsettling air.
Those idiots bent on destruction were undoubtedly enemies. Zeroy was clearly an ally—yet her extremism and obsession made her not entirely reliable as such.
Friend or foe, both sides.
...
A stray cat followed her home—
After leaving Rias's place and returning to the hotel, Zeroy decided not to go hunting tonight.
Not out of caution, but because she wanted to consolidate the progress she had made in recent days. That required settling down and meditating.
Put more plainly, she needed to sit and think: Would this move work better? Could that be optimized?
She had just sat on the bed when she heard a cat's cry outside her window on the upper floor.
And the sound… was strangely enticing, soft and sultry.
Instinctively, one might think of mating season. Yet real cats' mating cries were unpleasant, not alluring.
This was more like a person in heat imitating a cat's cry—or a catgirl in heat…
"Why did you follow me?"
Zeroy opened the window to see a black cat crouching on the balcony.
"..."
The black cat rose, walking gracefully toward her, then leapt inside to her feet, meowing as it rubbed against her ankles.
Its tail tip curled slightly, as though trying to hook onto something.
"Alright, enough with the act."
Zeroy bent down and picked the cat up by the armpits.
"Now tell me what this is about."
With a shimmer of light, the black cat transformed into a shapely, voluptuous girl.
It was Kuroka. She wasn't in heat—her earlier cries had simply been playful.
Her kimono had slipped open, revealing a deep cleavage. Held up by her armpits, the movement revealed even more pale skin.
Although the posture was awkward, especially since she wasn't smaller than Zeroy.
Naturally, Zeroy let her down. Yet Kuroka immediately leaned back into her arms.
Not hugging her, but nestling against her chest, acting coquettish and fawning.
"Lady Zeroy, I have no home now, no place to return to. At night I can only wander the streets in the cold wind… how pitiful, meow."
"So… would the kindhearted you consider adopting a little pet, meow?"
"Seeking shelter, huh?"
Zeroy murmured, thinking it over.
"Why not stay with Shirone? She'd be happy if you were with her, wouldn't she?"
"I'd like to, but… it won't work, meow."
Kuroka shook her head regretfully.
"That little Gremory princess may welcome Shirone and treat her sincerely, and I'm grateful. However… she's too weak, meow."
"In this world where strength is everything, without power you can protect nothing. To keep what's important, even just to survive, you need sufficient strength—or… find a powerful person or faction willing to shelter you."
"And that princess's strength—she might not even protect herself."
"Yes, she has a powerful family, even a Demon Lord for a brother. Yet she herself is still bound by that family. And her Demon Lord brother won't always grant her every wish… great figures have many burdens."
"A strong family doesn't make the individual strong. That's a fatal flaw, meow."
"So, Lady Zeroy, will you take me in, meow?"
Kuroka looked up with tearful eyes, pitiful and weak.
"Hmm…"
Zeroy began to consider.
Should she take in a pet?
She did like catgirls. Even without their human form, the lack of a normal cat's drawbacks alone made such a companion tempting.
However, Kuroka wasn't just a pet. She had her own will.
Taking her in meant accounting for the trouble she might bring, and the influence Zeroy herself might have on her.
As Zeroy pondered, the door suddenly opened.
"Zeroy, tomorrow I need to—"
Patchouli's voice cut off abruptly.
She stood expressionless, looking at the two in the room.
Zeroy—and Kuroka leaning against her, seemingly about to offer a kiss.
"Uh… Patchi, what about tomorrow?"
Zeroy tensed instinctively for a moment, then relaxed. After all, she and Patchouli weren't at that stage yet; they were just close friends.
So she didn't even push Kuroka away.
...
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