The contract was sealed. Names were exchanged. Bold declarations made.
And now…?
Time to go home, eat dinner, and hit the hay.
After all, tomorrow marked the start of a new school term. Back to (sitting in) school (jail).
Still, the thought of getting to eat one of the class rep's homemade bento every day gave Kuroba Akira a tiny sliver of hope for an otherwise tedious academic life.
"Well, we should probably head back."
Shiginomiya nodded—and poured out another bottlecap's worth of milk for the cat.
"Sure, but it looks like Blacktail still wants more. Should we take her back and keep feeding her at home?"
"No need. Just leave the milk here. Blacktail's smart—she'll figure out a way to finish it on her own."
Shiginomiya blinked, puzzled.
"You're not bringing her home with us?"
"She's not my cat, you know. And I doubt she sees me as her owner either. She just mooches meals off me whenever she feels like it. Even if you tried to take her with you, she wouldn't follow. She doesn't let people touch her either."
"Meow meow meow!"
Blacktail immediately turned and yowled in protest, as if saying, Mooch?! How dare you! I'm simply accepting tribute from my human vassals!
Akira, of course, waved her off lazily.
"Yes, yes, we all know cats domesticated humans and now rule the world."
"…I see."
Shiginomiya accepted the logic, though she cast a hesitant glance at the milk bottle in her hand.
"I wanted to keep the empty bottle… as a memento."
Fair. After all, it was the milk she'd traded half her life for. Definitely souvenir-worthy.
But if they kept feeding Blacktail with the bottlecap, it'd take forever—and if they got home too late, they might miss dinner.
At that moment, Blacktail let out a soft meow and hopped onto the offering box, scratching at it like a scratching post.
Having lived with Blacktail for a while now, Akira had learned how to interpret her behavior. If a cat scratches at something that isn't good for scratching, it usually means she's asking a human—with their conveniently nimble fingers—to open something she can't.
"Looks like she wants us to open the offering box."
"Huh?"
Shiginomiya was surprised. She didn't expect a cat to convey such complex intent, so she just watched as Akira walked over and opened the lid.
Inside was… not a single coin. Just an empty bowl.
He'd been hoping maybe the luck he missed at the vending machine would show up here instead… But nope. No fortune today.
Still, he had met Anri Hitomi and Shiginomiya Shion today—and formed contracts with both. That alone was a huge win.
He picked up the bowl and inspected it. Surprisingly clean—no dust at all. The inner rim bore a magatama-shaped design, like something off an antique tea set.
Weird place for a bowl, he thought.
Which god was this forgotten shrine even dedicated to?
Actually, a better question—how was there an abandoned shrine around here?
Even the smallest shrines usually got maintained. This was Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo!
Chiyoda was one of the six central wards of Tokyo's 23, and despite being the least populated, it was the most important.
It was the heart of the nation.
The Imperial Palace. The National Diet Building. The Supreme Court. The Prime Minister's Office. They were all here.
Countless politicians, bureaucrats, and VIPs lived in this area.
Put another way—
This is like the inner ring of Beijing.
Which meant… the real estate in Chiyoda was some of the most expensive not just in Tokyo, but in all of Japan.
Even a plain apartment here would cost you an arm and a leg—¥5 million per square meter. The average unit price? Around ¥300 million. That's roughly 15 million RMB. Tokyo's version of Shanghai's Tomson Riviera.
That's why Akira always said Granny Kobayashi was a real rich lady. Her unassuming detached house? In Chiyoda? That was a traditional courtyard mansion by normal-people standards—a place a working stiff couldn't afford even after ten lifetimes.
Which only deepened Akira's admiration for the late Mr. Kobayashi—another transmigrator, according to Granny. She'd once said her husband insisted on buying property here when he was young, back before the prices exploded.
To think—he'd put down roots in the very center of Tokyo, like a true old-Tokyo native. The man was a legend.
If Akira could one day afford a house in Chiyoda, he'd consider his "lie-flat" goal officially complete.
Oh, and by the way—Akihabara? Also part of Chiyoda.
Though in this world, it hadn't yet become the full-fledged otaku paradise he remembered. People still thought of Akiba as an "electronics town."
Still, he'd visited a few times over the summer. Maid cafés, manga cafés, and game centers had definitely increased in number. Competition was fierce. Every corner had girls in miniskirt maid uniforms passing out flyers, and Toranoana's new doujin releases were breaking records.
Seemed like the entertainment industry was booming here.
Anyway.
The point was, for a shrine to be abandoned in a place like Chiyoda—where every square centimeter was worth its weight in gold—that was downright weird.
Then again, this was a parallel world. In a timeline where even a certain controversial war shrine had already been torn down and replaced with a park, maybe anything was possible…
"Meow!"
Blacktail's cry snapped Akira out of his thoughts. He set the bowl on the ground.
"This is what you wanted, right?"
"Meow~"
Blacktail let out a drawn-out purr of approval, then gently tapped the inside of the bowl with her paw.
Even Shiginomiya could tell what she meant this time—pour the milk here.
She tilted the bottle and poured some into the bowl, murmuring in amazement:
"You really are a smart kitty…"
"Well, she did lead me to you, after all. Anyway, now you can keep the bottle."
"Thank you again, Blacktail. You're the smartest, sweetest cat I've ever met."
"Meow~"
And then, something happened that left Akira dumbstruck.
When he saw Shiginomiya reaching out toward Blacktail, he almost stopped her—worried she'd get scratched like he had, over and over again.
But before her hand even got close…
Blacktail leaned in.
Nudged her little head against Shiginomiya's hand.
And purred.
Not just that—Blacktail flopped onto the ground, rolled over, and exposed her belly.
Akira blinked.
Wait a second—Blacktail's a female?!
The betrayal was immediate.
You little traitor… what the hell do you think you're doing?!
Where was your dignity as a cat?! Your aloofness?! Your feline pride?!
I've been feeding you for six months! And you've never let me touch you!
But this girl gives you one cap of milk and suddenly it's roll over and purr like a house pet?!
Just because she's a pretty girl, she gets to pet you and I don't?!
This injustice… I can't bear it.