Event Story – Cyber Animal Panic! ch.13

[kozvme]

 

(... I managed to run away.
Tsk... My arm is bleeding...)

Serval?: Meow~

Ren: Don't look at me like that. I'm fine.
Wh, you don't have to l- lick me...
Were you... worried about me?

Serval?: Meow~

Ren: ..... I see.
I'm sorry for making you experience something unpleasant today. I've been looking all over for you when you suddenly disappeared, you know.

(Maybe I should have given it a name...
I didn't because I decided to find the owner and return it to where it originally belonged to once the invisibility issue was solved, but...
If it doesn't get any better...
If the matter with its invisibility is solved, but the place it was before is a dangerous one...
At that time, I...)



Time for breakfast. Come out.

Serval: Meow~

Ren: You can turn invisible even when you're sleeping now, huh...

(The time it stays invisible is gradually getting longer...
I haven't heard from him since then, but I should make the first move and bring it to Victor.
... If I go too, I'm sure it'll also feel at ease and be able to put up with it for a bit.)



... Victor.

Victor: Hello there, Ren. Who would have thought you'd come to my laboratory... Has something happened to the cat?

Ren: Yeah, I feel like the invisibility has advanced again...
I'd appreciate if you checked it up. I'm sure it won't struggle if I pet it.

Victor: Understood. Then, please place it on this table.
Hmm...
... The external wounds have almost healed. There does not seem to be a problem with its nutritional condition either.
It appears healthier than when I saw it last time...
Just as I thought, the reason it becomes invisible cannot be comprehended by simply looking at it. It needs a full examination.

Ren: ......

Victor: Worry not as I am sure I am able to take action without problems in its current state of health.

Ren: H- Hey, what's that syringe for... I haven't consented to it yet...!

Victor: Calm down, Ren.
If this cat has really anything to do with Eclipse, I do not know what kind of treatment it was given.
The risk of it being brainwashed is also a possibility, so you have to bear in mind that even heroes might be targeted by the pathogens it is infected with.

Ren: Ngh...

Victor: Why exactly are you hesitating? If we do not investigate right here right now, you have to take into consideration that it might cause HELIOS severe damageー

Ren: Brainwashing, pathogens, those things make no sense! The one I can't trust is not the cat... it's you.

Victor: ... I see?
Putting myself aside for now... Do you not trust the cat because it has its heart in you?

Ren: ...!

Victor: In spite of yourself, it seems that when it comes to this cat you lose your sense of composure.
What do you intend to do by keeping avoidance of the examination? Do you plan to look after it forever?
So what are your intentions? I do not think you will be able to accomplish anything as long as this cat is around.

Ren: Kh.........!

Victor: Are you going to abandon, to give up everything you have spent a lot of time on up until now for a mere cat?

Ren: ... Such a thing...
I... I was just...

(It's true that the cat is holding me back. But that doesn't mean I should leave it alone...
To me...)

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