Discovery of the Will (2)

Discovery of the Will (2)

Is this what it feels like to sink into an endless abyss?

The moment Rumi saw Deren’s will, she felt her entire mind and body falling into a deep pit, and she couldn’t help but freeze.

‘… Deren is going to die?’

When faced with something completely unexpected… or perhaps something she didn’t want to think about.

As she stood there blankly, feeling a shock that made her head feel like it was about to explode.

Suddenly, the cat in front of her looked at her as if she was pathetic and started to ‘speak in human language’ again.

[So be good to Deren! Don’t do anything weird!]

The moment she heard those words, her already tangled thoughts became even more confused, and as her nose and eyes became strangely hot and tears started to form.

The black cat, looking at her, sat down on the floor and then began to continue speaking as if lecturing.

[It’s not too late yet. Why don’t you try being good to Deren now? Then maybe Deren won’t die!]

I couldn’t understand the connection between doing well and not dying.

For now, since there was nothing else I could do, and because that’s what I had intended to do anyway, I nodded.

The black cat, satisfied, began to make other requests.

[And! Give me a snack! I told you something good, so I want a snack!]

To be honest, in the midst of discovering something like this, I had no energy to spare for cat treats.

My mind was complicated, and I felt like I needed to force myself to move to endure the sadness, so I nodded.

“I-I’ll bring you some.”

[Yes! A single portion that’s like two portions… No, make it two portions! No, three portions!]

I just nodded at those words and tried to hurry out, but.

I saw someone approaching, humming a tune.

“Deren, Deren.”

Judging by the voice, it seemed to be Delia.

As I watched Delia approaching while humming, I thought about telling her about finding the will, but.

‘… No. It’s better not to say anything about this yet.’

The moment I told her this, Delia might also break down like I did.

Thinking it would be better to bear this pain alone, I hid the letter in my chest.

‘She did say some harsh things to me… but she was trying to help.’

Considering this, I decided to protect Delia from this as well, holding back my tears.

Delia, seeing my expression, stopped humming and slowly approached.

“Did something happen…? No, something did happen, didn’t it?”

It seems she misunderstood, thinking I was sniffling because of what happened before.

I thought about clearing up this misunderstanding, but I felt that if I did, I might end up telling the whole truth honestly.

So I just shook my head a few times and quickly changed the subject.

“Delia. I have something to say.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Delia looked at me, blinking her eyes as if she didn’t understand the situation.

Looking at her, I gave her a small hint.

“Be really, really good to Deren… Be really good to Deren.”

I felt like I might give myself away if I explained in detail.

Trying to convey only my current feelings while excluding as much information as possible, my answer ended up sounding somewhat foolish.

As I was considering whether to rephrase it, Delia spoke with an expression of complete incomprehension.

“Um… I’m not sure how to respond to that. I’m already doing that.”

“You need to be even better to him than you are now. You might regret it otherwise.”

Hearing this, Delia smiled awkwardly and began to speak slowly.

“Well… you know what? Don’t misunderstand, okay? To be honest, that’s something I should be saying to you rather than you to me. I’m honestly doing my best to be good to him as much as I can, whereas you…”

Delia trailed off, briefly averting her gaze, then just smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.

“Anyway, is it okay if I go now? I have something I need to do.”

“Yes, sure.”

With those final words, Delia began to walk down the corridor, seemingly eager to escape this uncomfortable situation.

Watching her retreating figure, I continued to sniffle as I started heading towards the kitchen.

* * * * *

I was writing formulas and modified expressions in the air to finish my research on spatial expansion magic.

Suddenly, Delia rushed into my lab and spoke to me in a flustered voice.

“Deren, did you do something to Rumi?”

Hearing that, I shook my head and expressed that I didn’t do anything.

Delia frowned, showing disbelief, and said to me.

“Then why is Rumi acting like that?”

“Acting like what? What do you mean?”

“Her complexion has turned black and white… No, to put it bluntly, she looks like someone who’s about to commit suicide.”

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at those words.

She had seemed determined about something this morning, so I wondered how she could have changed so much in such a short time.

‘Did something happen?’

She wouldn’t show such a reaction otherwise.

Thinking it would be best to check, I stopped my research and said to Delia.

“Where did you last see Rumi?”

Delia pointed behind her and said.

“I just ran into her in front of your room earlier.”

“My room?”

With those words, a thought flashed through my mind.

I wondered if Rumi might have seen the suicide note I had hidden in my room.

As that thought crossed my mind, I grabbed my coat and said to Delia.

“I’ll be out for a moment.”

“Huh? But I just got here?”

Delia seemed quite upset about being left behind, pouting her lips and making a show of her discontent.

Looking at Delia’s reaction, I had no choice but to offer a condition.

“I’ll grant you one wish later, whether it’s a date or something else. Just wait for today.”

At those words, Delia’s eyes sparkled, and she spoke to me in a somewhat hurried voice.

“Anything? Did you say anything for sure?”

The moment I heard her excited voice, I realized I had made a mistake.

‘Rather than worrying about this now.’

Thinking it would be better to quickly go to Rumi, I just nodded vaguely and rushed out.

‘She said she saw her in front of my room, right?’

Then she’s probably around there.

I decided to go to my room first and started moving forward.

In the hallway, I noticed Luna licking her front paws, waiting for me.

Seeing this, I thought it was fortunate and quickly asked Luna a question.

“Luna, do you know where Rumi is?”

At this question, Luna stared at me blankly for a moment, then smiled brightly and said.

[Master, it’s better not to look for Rumi right now!]

“What?”

[I’ve set the stage… So it’s better to leave her alone!]

I deliberately made a puzzled expression at those words and gestured for an explanation.

Seeing this, Luna looked at me and slowly continued speaking.

[The boss cat said so. When things keep getting worse no matter how hard you try, it’s good to make them worry! He said it makes it easier for them to come around! So I told them about the will you wrote before to make them worry!]

At that tone, as if saying “I did well, didn’t I?”, a headache suddenly came over me and a sigh escaped involuntarily.

I looked at Luna, who was smiling triumphantly in front of me.

I gave her a light tap on the head as a sign to reflect on her actions and said.

“There will be no snacks for a while, just so you know.”

As the snack ban was issued along with the pain.

Luna, unable to believe this fact, looked at me tearfully and said.

[Whyyy…? Luna just thought it would be good if the master mated a lot… Did Luna do something wrong? Luna said it for the master’s sake… Why are you hitting Luna?]

Unlike a real cat that exists in reality.

Whether it’s because she’s an artificial cat or not, tears are flowing out enormously, like in cartoons, soaking the nearby carpet.

I looked at Luna like that, pondered for a moment, and decided to withdraw the ‘snack ban’.

“… Since you did it for my sake, I’ll withdraw the snack ban. But make sure you reflect on your actions.”

At the mention of withdrawing the snack ban, Luna looked at me sniffling.

Then she clung to my shoes and started to crumple up.

As I watched my shoes getting wet in an instant, I smiled awkwardly.

In the distance, I saw Rumi running towards us with snacks.

‘Then I guess it would be good to talk about the will first.’

As I was about to move forward, thinking I had no idea how to approach this.

Luna continued speaking to me while sobbing.

[We shouldn’t meet now… We should wait to meet, the boss cat said it’s better…]

Thinking I should hear the reason, I lifted Luna, who was clinging to my shoes, and asked.

“Why do we have to wait?”

[Because… the female becomes more desperate and clings more strongly to the owner… When she clings like that, she won’t leave no matter what happens. He said it’s better to wait just a little…]

At those words, I chuckled while looking at Luna.

Telling her that wasn’t right, I slowly walked forward and called out to Rumi.