Chapter 47: Didn't anyone tell you?
This world is somewhat special, and this specialness lies not in its surface, but in its "inner workings" that are invisible to the naked eye.
Morofushi Sora'aki was carrying the little black cat that was trying to escape but he had managed to control its movements—this was the first time a cat had resisted him. Most of the time, the cat didn't understand what he meant by "neutering" and would obediently let him carry it to the hospital.
Japan has quite strict laws regarding stray cats, and in many cities, there are even regulations that impose fines for feeding stray cats.
Stray cats are taken to shelters, and if they are not adopted within a certain period, they are euthanized—all in order to limit the breeding of stray cats and dogs so as not to disturb the lives of nearby residents and the safety of the city.
After all, stray cats and dogs can carry viruses and have a terrifying reproductive capacity. A cat can have two or three litters a year. If no one manages them, these animals will keep getting pregnant, which will also affect the ecological environment.
However, these regulations can also be lenient. For example, stray cats living on campus can be treated as exceptions if they do not go out freely, are spayed/neutered, and are regularly cared for by students.
Similarly, if you have successfully sterilized or neutered the cat and informed the surrounding residents that the stray cat will not worsen the living environment—while continuing to feed it and sterilizing it—you can make it an exception.
Generally speaking, once stray cats have been spayed or neutered, relevant personnel will no longer capture them.
His older brother told him that feeding stray cats does represent kindness, but if that kindness causes trouble for those around them, then it's not entirely kindness.
Morofushi Sora'aki doesn't dislike these cats that inexplicably stick to him, so if he encounters one, in order to prevent the cat from being taken away by the shelter staff, he will take the cat to the hospital to be spayed or neutered in advance, so that it won't be a bad thing if passersby feed it.
This world still seemed largely the same as his. Morofushi Sora'aki took out his phone and checked the time; it was three years ahead of his world.
So, is it just another parallel world where nothing has changed much? Morofushi Sora'aki put his phone away, his hands controlling the struggling black cat trying to escape: "Don't move."
"If I don't move, you'll send me to the hospital, you bastard!!" The black cat stretched out its sharp claws, but before grabbing anyone, it looked at the still somewhat childish face of Morofushi Sora'aki—and that subtle sense of familiarity made it... it hesitated to make a move.
Seeing the black cat suddenly stop struggling, Morofushi Sora'aki tilted his head, assuming that his cat-friendly buff was only showing after a delay, and didn't pay much attention to it.
On his way to the pet hospital, Sora'aki passed by a park and noticed a couple confessing their love... no, proposing to each other.
Morofushi Sora'aki glanced at the kneeling man, then looked away boredly. Therefore, he didn't notice that the moment the man produced the ring, a pair of round, hamster-like ears suddenly appeared on the woman's head. The girl covered her face, looking quite excited: "Whoa... Ken-kun?"
"Ah, your ears are showing, Miko." Ken-kun reminded her gently but helplessly.
But Miko-san covered her face, completely unconcerned: "There's nothing I can do! It's all Ken-kun's fault for being so sudden... I wasn't prepared at all!"
Neither the couple who proposed nor the onlookers said anything about the hamster ears on Miko-san's head, clearly taking it for granted and offering their congratulations.
This world is special because each human being is not merely human in appearance—each person inherits, to varying degrees, the wondrous bloodline of their ancestors.
In short, in Morofushi Sora'aki's worldview, this is a bizarre world where everyone is a beast. Of course, this is only strange to Morofushi Sora'aki, an outsider; for the life forms in this world, it is perfectly normal.
As Morofushi Sora'aki continued on his way to the hospital, he happened to see several people who looked different from ordinary people.
Is it a spy?
He had this idea.
But to be honest, three years later, animal ears will be the trend?
Morofushi Sora'aki noticed that on the mall's television screen, a rather energetic-looking idol with cat ears and twin tails was jumping around, singing a pop song that Morofushi Sora'aki had never heard before.
But... something just felt off. Was it just his imagination? Morofushi Sora'aki was a little confused.
The system gave him a task—yes, this was also the reason why Morofushi Sora'aki immediately chose to contact the pet hospital.
The task at hand is to take the cat to the vet.
However, the black cat's calm demeanor along the way gave Morofushi Sora'aki the illusion that it was becoming a little more docile. After arriving at the hospital, just as they were about to hand the black cat over to the doctor, the moment Morofushi Sora'aki let go, the black cat darted away from their grasp with a whoosh!
Morofushi Sora'aki nodded politely to the doctor, then chased after the direction the black cat had darted off in.
If it were just an ordinary stray cat, it would have run away and he wouldn't have cared much. But this stray cat was somewhat related to his mission.
Morofushi Sora'aki pursed his lips, completely ignoring the fact that the task was simply to take the cat to the hospital, and not to have it spayed or neutered.
Once Morofushi Sora'aki gets caught up in something, he does it resolutely and without hesitation—even ignoring everything around him for it.
Since the black cat happens to be the system's mission target, no matter where it runs away, Morofushi Sora'aki can always pinpoint its location.
"Finally caught you." After finally catching the black cat again, Morofushi Sora'aki realized belatedly that it was already dark, and the pet hospital must have already closed.
Morofushi Sora'aki stood there for a moment, then turned and headed towards the nearest hotel.
"A single room." Morofushi Sora'aki took out a large denomination banknote he had redeemed from the system from his pocket. Noticing the clerk's hesitant expression, he asked, "Are pets not allowed?"
"No, no..." The clerk hesitated, looking at the black cat he was carrying, and asked a strange question: "Is it just an ordinary pet cat?"
"Hmm." Morofushi Sora'aki nodded. If it wasn't an ordinary cat, what else could it be?
The clerk at the counter breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, I'll process it for you right away!"
However, when the clerk handed the room key to Morofushi Sora'aki, the woman specifically reminded him, "Please be sure not to let your pets damage the room."
Morofushi Sora'aki nodded, finding the reminder somewhat inexplicable.
Carrying the black cat, Morofushi Sora'aki used his room key to open a single room.
He placed the cat on the ground, locked the door, and glanced at the bathroom. In his efforts to catch this rather elusive cat, he had ended up covered in mud.
The black cat, with its blue-green eyes, watched as Morofushi Sora'aki walked into the bathroom, then glanced towards the doorway.
However, after hesitating for half a minute, the black curly-haired cat did not go to the bed. Instead, it jumped onto the cushioned single sofa, curled up, and squinted its eyes.
He's been running all day and is tired, so let's take a break for now.
Although he didn't know why this guy was so determined to capture him, well... just looking at that face, he couldn't be too wary.
After taking a shower, Morofushi Sora'aki walked out of the bathroom wearing his own white yukata from the hotel and drying his still-dripping hair with a towel.
The first thing Morofushi Sora'aki noticed when he appeared was the black cat lying on the sofa—the sofa was light gold in color, which made the normally well-hidden black cat very conspicuous.
It was at this moment that Morofushi Sora'aki belatedly remembered the black cat's dirty fur. Whether it was the smell of gunpowder he'd caught earlier, or the disheveled state of the cat after running through the bushes for so long, it made the cat look worse than a stray.
Cats also need stray cats.
Morofushi Sora'aki reached out and grabbed the black cat by the scruff of its neck once more. The black cat was awakened by this action, and half-asleep, it opened its eyes to find itself thrown into a sink filled with water!
The black cat's fur stood on end again, and after getting wet, it instinctively let out a short screech and fled from the sink in a disheveled state! Then it was pressed back down by Morofushi Sora'aki!
Because of the black cat's struggle, Morofushi Sora'aki's hair, which he had painstakingly dried, started dripping water again.
Moreover, his ear piercings were newly done and haven't healed yet. Under such circumstances, the earlobe area is a bit hot, which is most likely due to inflammation caused by contact with water.
Morofushi Sora'aki frowned slightly and used one hand to brush his bangs back. Because they were still half-wet, he could easily do this.
"Don't cause trouble." After saying this, Morofushi Sora'aki grabbed the black cat's paw again and tried to control the cat—but at that moment, an accident happened.
For once, Morofushi Sora'aki's eyes widened slightly, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Because right before his eyes, the disheveled black cat transformed into a disheveled man dressed in a black suit.
The young man, whose black curly hair was considerably taller than Morofushi Sora'aki, rested his hands behind his back on the sink, his brow furrowed. His black suit was darker from the water, and his white shirt clung tightly to his body. His hair was also half-wet and half-dry. The young man clicked his tongue and slightly tilted his head to indicate his wrists: "—Can you let go?"
Because Morofushi Sora'aki was holding the black cat's paw just now, after transforming into a human, it naturally became his wrist.
Without him saying a word, Morofushi Sora'aki took a few steps back. Rather than paying attention to other things, Morofushi Sora'aki stared at the black beast ears on the young man's head and the tail that was swaying unhappily because it was wet.
In that instant, Morofushi Sora'aki suddenly realized what the counter clerk's hesitant reaction meant.
"Are you playing some weird game?" Morofushi Sora'aki asked.
The black-haired youth's lips twitched, his blue-green eyes lowered slightly as he stared at the boy who was considerably shorter than him, his voice rising slightly at the end: "Are you serious?"
Well, I wasn't that serious.
"Who are you?" Morofushi Sora'aki tilted his head slightly, his hand on the doorknob, showing a hint of tension and defensiveness.
The young man noticed this, and a slight, enigmatic smile appeared on his lips: "Don't you already know that?"
He mischievously drew out his words slightly, his tone giving Morofushi Sora'aki a somewhat familiar feeling: "Jinpei-chan—I haven't heard that name from anyone in a long time. Who told you?"
Morofushi Sora'aki stared at the young man for a while, then took a step back unhappily, opened the bathroom door, broke the tense atmosphere, and said childishly, "I don't like you."
Matsuda Jinpei, who inexplicably received a he didn't like card: "...?"
The Matsuda Jinpei in Morofushi Sora'aki's memory—whichever one—was quite spirited.
But the one in front of him, despite having the same face as Matsuda Jinpei, had a temperament unlike any of the ones in Morofushi Sora'aki's memory.
Although he looks very handsome, those who are familiar with Matsuda Jinpei find that he has changed a lot.
Watching Morofushi Sora'aki leave on his own, Matsuda Jinpei tugged at the collar that was pressed against his body and raised his voice slightly: "Hey, do you have any extra clothes?"
"You're the one who got me wet." Matsuda Jinpei said teasingly. "Aren't you going to take responsibility?"
This statement was clearly a veiled reference to Morofushi Sora'aki's previous remarks.
Morofushi Sora'aki glanced at him. Although it was a single room, the hotel still provided two sets of yukatas—Morofushi Sora'aki didn't know why.
He tossed the extra set to Matsuda Jinpei, then sat on the sofa and began to rearrange it.
I took stock of the situation in this world.
He hadn't paid much attention before, but now it seems that this world is somewhat beyond the norm.
His phone had been modified by the system, so after arriving in this world, it would automatically connect to the relevant signals, and now he could naturally go online to search for information.
You won't know until you investigate...
Listening to the sound of the shower in the background, Morofushi Sora'aki scanned the information he had found on his phone.
In general, this world is not much different from the world of Morofushi Sora'aki. However, in reality, everyone possesses the ability to transform into a beast, and even the species are different.
Now we live in a civilized era, so everyone follows human laws and regulations, and the vast majority of people maintain their human appearance—or rather, a large portion of people don't even awaken their bloodline and are just ordinary humans.
Only when emotions fluctuate intensely is it possible to lose control of one's animalistic instincts.
If we must draw an analogy, it's like the ABO World, where the vast majority of humans are mediocre betas, while alphas and omegas are rare and exceptional. As for why Morofushi Sora'aki knows about these things, we can only say that he reads a wide variety of books.
Society has become accustomed to operating under such special circumstances.
Some people will use their talents to pursue a career, like the cat-eared twin-tailed idol he saw on TV.
Just like some people are born strong, it's a talent and ability, and not many people find it strange.
As for why there are still pet hospitals even though everyone is a beastman... it's like how Goofy and Pluto in Disney are both dogs, but Goofy is a humanoid dog who can not only talk but also fall in love, while Pluto is just Mickey's pet dog who can only bark—it's the same principle.
In short, after diligently absorbing the worldview of this world, Morofushi Sora'aki realized one thing: "This world is indeed a Fanfiction World, isn't it?"
Because if you look closely, you can find many loopholes, and yet the world can still function on its own despite these loopholes...
Morofushi Sora'aki commented, "This is just some third-rate fanfiction author who suddenly decided to create a beast-themed AU but didn't want to consider the background, so he just randomly put together a world view..."
"What worldview?" Matsuda Jinpei opened the bathroom door, scratching his head, and yawned. "By the way, what's your name?"
Before Morofushi Sora'aki could speak, Matsuda Jinpei said, "If you want me to keep calling you 'Hey' or 'that guy over there' from now on, it's fine if you don't say it."
Morofushi Sora'aki: "..."
As expected, his good friend Jinpei-chan is cuter; Matsuda Jinpei from other worlds is not cute at all.
Morofushi Sora'aki answered the question rather unhappily: "Morofushi Sora'aki".
"Morofushi..." Matsuda Jinpei glanced at him, "Are you an adult? Aren't your parents worried about you coming out so late?"
In this world, people also come of age at 20. No matter how you look at it, Morofushi Sora'aki doesn't seem like an adult. Matsuda Jinpei is asking a question he already knows the answer to.
"They don't know I've come out." Morofushi Sora'aki looked up at Matsuda Jinpei: "In today's society, very few people are willing to become pure [beasts]. Why did you become a cat?"
"...Do you think I want this?" Matsuda Jinpei maintained his distance, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom, but did not give a reason.
Morofushi Sora'aki stared at Matsuda Jinpei's direction for a while.
In order to attend high school with his friends, he had completed many missions over the course of a year. During these missions, Morofushi Sora'aki rarely interacted with people from other worlds.
There are only two exceptions: one is the Good Friends World, and the other is the world we live in now.
The existence of the Good Friends World is because the system is fulfilling his family's wish that he have good friends. This is something that Morofushi Sora'aki himself guessed.
As Sora'aki once commented, the system is like an incomplete, half-finished wish-granting machine; it can grant wishes, but it cannot do so directly, and Sora'aki himself still needs to make judgments and take action.
What wishes did he make before going to sleep?
Morofushi Sora'aki quickly recalled his earlier lines: "[Rather than a Plot Maintenance System, you're more like a Plot Destruction System.]"
Before going to sleep, Morofushi Sora'aki became curious about the task he had been working on.
So, is this time, the purpose of telling him the reason why these tasks exist?
In other words, this man in front of him would tell him the answer indirectly? Morofushi Sora'aki gripped his phone, which he had just finished looking up information on, and then handed it over.
Matsuda Jinpei gave him a strange look: "Hmm?"
"You don't use your phone to contact your family and friends?" Morofushi Sora'aki asked.
"Oh, no need." Matsuda Jinpei crossed his arms, his eyes slightly lowered. "There's nothing to contact for the time being."
Morofushi Sora'aki recalled that his good friend Matsuda did not like to contact his family, but that did not mean he would not tell them the situation if something happened.
"Hagiwara Kenji." Sora'aki looked up at the man in front of him who looked remarkably like his friend: "Aren't you going to contact him?"
However, when Morofushi Sora'aki uttered the name, Matsuda Jinpei, who had been quite calm, changed his expression for the first time.
Those bluish-green eyes snapped open, their previously languid and indifferent expression transforming into a sharp edge that seemed capable of wounding others and even oneself: "Who told you that name?"
Morofushi Sora'aki tilted his head: "Aren't you and Hagiwara Kenji friends?"
"...Of course, we are indeed friends." Matsuda Jinpei slowly walked towards Morofushi Sora'aki, looking down at the young man who had suddenly appeared before him.
In his memory, he should have been waiting for death on the Ferris wheel a second ago, but when he came to his senses, he transformed into a beast and appeared on a busy street.
After that, he met the boy in front of him who looked very similar to his peers from the past.
However, Morofushi Hiromitsu never mentioned having a younger brother, only saying that he had an older brother—
Of course, given Morofushi Hiromitsu's family situation, some kind of accident isn't impossible. He might be a relative's child, not to mention that people who look alike do exist in the world.
Anyway, he doesn't really care about these things.
Even though he had become a cat that could not be restored for the time being, Matsuda Jinpei did not care that much. He was too tired at the time and even accepted his own death, and was detached from everything that happened in reality.
Just like when Matsuda Jinpei was on the Ferris wheel, he could sacrifice himself for the public good without hesitation.
However... the previous special circumstances had increased Matsuda Jinpei's will to survive quite a bit. At least as a human being, he didn't want to be sent to a pet hospital at all...!
But that was all the will to survive he had. Morofushi Sora'aki's identity and appearance were clearly problematic, giving him a sense of incongruity, but as a police officer, Matsuda Jinpei had no intention of pressing him further.
He simply assumed their meeting was a coincidence, and if the boy in front of him hadn't said those words, Matsuda Jinpei would never have considered pursuing the matter further.
Matsuda Jinpei bent down slightly, a drop of water gathered on a strand of curly hair and dripped onto Morofushi Sora'aki's face. The curly-haired youth said in a deep voice, "Hagiwara Kenji is indeed my friend."
"But didn't anyone tell you?" Matsuda Jinpei stared at the pair of eyes, getting closer to look, and could see that the details of those cat eyes were slightly different from those of the same period.
Compared to Morofushi Hiromitsu, Morofushi Sora'aki's eyes were rounder, carrying a youthful naiveté, and their color was also lighter.
Matsuda Jinpei didn't even know where he got the mind to observe these things; his heart was already controlled by another emotion. He lowered his eyes and spoke to Morofushi Sora'aki.
He didn't even give the other party a chance to escape: "--Hagiwara Kenji passed away four years ago."