cursed 41: Cat of Fortune I: Runaway Cat

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Chapter 41: Cat of Fortune I: Runaway Cat

“Neko-chan is coming your way, it is!”

“Haa… haa… got it! Uwoah!”

The calico cat bounded from an impossibly high height, landing lightly on its feet in front of me, and then shot between my legs like greased lightning.

Like hell I’m going to catch that!

“[STOP RUNNING]!”

The cat flinched as it froze for a second, but,

“Yeowl!”

Parin!

With a sound like shattering glass, the cat shook itself free of the effects of my words and sped off.

“Haa… haa… haa… sorry, Suyin… I lost it…”

I managed to spit out my words into the radio transceiver, but wow am I exhausted.

My sides are hurting, too.

Hoooly crap, that thing runs so friggin’ fast… me aside, for Suyin to fail to keep up with it, isn’t it faster than a cheetah?!

From the same impossibly high height as the cat, Suyin bounded down from the roofs of the buildings like a kungfu master, landing lightly next to me.

“Ah… so close, it was.”

“Sorry… my kotodama didn’t work very well.”

“Nmaa, it’s a maneki neko who has amassed a large amount of fortune, so it cannot be helped~?”

“Even if you say that…”

If Honoka was here, this cat-and-mouse … er, human-and-cat chase would have been over already!

Well, it was my decision to let her go to her café waitress shift despite having this job.

It’s just a missing pet, and even if Owner-san said it was okay for her to miss once in a while, do I really need a six-tailed kitsune to catch a cat?

… Even though the answer now appears to be ‘yes,’ I still think my decision was correct.

It’s been quite a few months since Daiki-san and I moved to Tsunatou City, and a lot of things happened … well, anyway, it’s the beginning of fall, now.

What happened to summer?

It passed, so?

“It is strange, though. Although the Chinese fortune cats are fickle, the maneki neko tend to be quite loyal. I wonder why this one keeps running away?”

Suyin tapped her finger against her chin.

If you can’t tell, Suyin and I are getting along pretty well.

We keep getting thrown into jobs together through Happy Life Work.

Over the months, I found out Suyin Zhou is from Hongkong, knows Chinese martial arts, wears china dresses for her casual clothes, and is currently living above an old couple’s Szechuan Restaurant, running deliveries for them every once in a while.

Although she’s more comfortable doing jobs from Happy Life Work to pay for her rent, instead of running food deliveries.

Even though I know not all Chinese people are like this, Suyin Zhou is such a stereotype, I don’t even know what to think.

Her more stereotypical traits aside, Suyin is pretty easy to get along with.

A lively, athletic girl with a bright personality, she definitely captivates the guys without making enemies of the girls … now if only she’d be more careful about flashing her panties.

She’s a lot easier to get along with than Tsurumi Minemoto, but that’s only because Suyin is upfront with her words and personality.

It takes a little more effort to get to know Tsurumi-chan, is all.

I mostly do clerical work, or tag along with Boss Nagi and Kei-san when they’re doing their jobs, but when Suzu-chan assigns me a job, I’m usually doing it along with Suyin and Tsurumi-chan.

Most of my jobs are very similar to this one – which is finding a lost cat.

Except that this cat is a legitimate maneki neko, which has amassed a century’s worth of luck, and is now fleeing from its owner with all its might.

“… I think there’s something we’re missing. If the cat is so against returning to its owner after being with her for so long, there’s probably a reason, right? Even if you say cats are fickle, this sudden change is a little too intense.”

I finally catch my breath.

“Uuuumu… Yes, let us return. A-Tsu should probably be at the office now, too.”

Tsurumi also helps out at her family’s shrine, which is a prominent Hachiman shrine, despite the grounds being smaller than Tsunatou’s Inari shrine.

Although Tsurumi’s father is technically the Head Priest, Tsurumi’s older sister, Mayumi Minemoto, is the shrine’s true head.

It’s because Mayumi Minemoto is the one who has inherited the required Blessings of [Oracle], [Divination], [Clairvoyance], [Divine Possession], and [Divine Archery] required to inherit the shrine.

The Minemoto Father acts as the saniwa, her interpreter, when she becomes possessed.

By the way, I was a little concerned about that ‘possession’ bit, so when I asked Athena-sama about it, she laughed and said,

“It’s not a literal possession. It’s opening a pathway to the gods through the Fount.”

… I don’t really get it, but as long as she’s okay…

Anyway, it was through Mayumi-sama that I was able to find out about Blessings that might be suitable for me, when I went to visit the Hachiman Shrine like Inari-sama and Athena-sama told me to.

After she performed a ritual called, “Unleashing the Blessings,” I was given access to all the ‘special’ type Blessings.

More accurately speaking, it’s not that I’ve been given ‘access’ to them, it’s more that my soul has been prepared to receive them, but…

Anyway, right now my Blessings are:

Social]Lv1
|Sub-Blessings>
||> [Cooperation]Lv1
||> [Tact]Lv1
||> [Observation]Lv1

[Calculation]Lv1
|Sub-Blessings>
||> [Estimation]Lv1
||> [Arithmetic]Lv1
||> [Logical Reasoning]Lv2

[Japanese Language]Lv1

[Throw]Lv1

[Domestic Chores]Lv3
|Sub-Blessings>
||>[Cooking]Lv6
||>[Cleaning]Lv1
||>[Organization]Lv1

[Sixth Sense]Lv8

[Mystic Eyes]Lv10

[Enchant]Lv7

[Kotodama]Lv4

[Sensitive to Danger]Lv8

*hidden:
[Abnormal Soul] Lv6
|Sub-Blessings>
||>[Overflowing Spirit]Lv8
||>[True Sight]Lv10
||>[Bestowal]Lv4
||>[Voice of Power]Lv3
—

By the way, it looks like I can’t just ‘pick and choose’ Blessings like I thought.

I have to actually work towards them.

That said, the Blessings that automatically unlocked after Mayumi-sama finished tossing water with holy salt in it at me made me cringe a little inside.

How much danger was I exposed to, that [Sensitive to Danger] was already at level 8!?

Also, even if that [Abnormal Soul] Blessing is hidden, having [Mystic Eyes] at max level invites some seriously unwanted attention, you know!?

A lot of my solo jobs so far have been seeing through cursed items people have brought to Happy Life Work to have them appraised.

… Sniffle. I-it’s not like I’m terrified of curses, okay?

No, I’m sorry, I’m really, really terrified of curses!

So, whyyyyyy?!

Ah mou, I’m being treated like an occult-detector…

Anyway, so far I’ve been using [Kotodama] a lot.

It’s probably because of that sub-blessing, [Voice of Power], but even Mayumi-sama was super surprised that I had the rare [Kotodama].

I’m not very good at using it, though … mostly because if I put in too much power into it, it becomes [Voice of Power] and that’s supposed to be seriously bad for me.

So, like with that cat, I tend to put too little power into it… ah, geez.

Even though I’ve been practicing for several months now, it’s still too difficult!

To begin with, I have to be super careful of what I say, since telling a cat to ‘Stop Running!’ is fine, but telling a cat to ‘Become a Rock!’ is impossible… unless I use [Voice of Power]. I can’t go against the nature of an object – that criteria is so vague!

I-it’s okay, I have Honoka as my main combat force, so it’s fine!

Heading back to the office, Suyin is walking along the tops of the walls and fences, regardless of the surface area that’s provided for her to walk along, so I avoid looking up as I ask,

“Who was the client again?”

“Umu. It is a lady who runs a curiosity shop, Sachiko Minami-san, it is. She is only lightly connected to This Side, and as for her direct involvement with the supernatural, she sells some minor charms for luck and good fortune made by artisans from This Side.”

“It kind of sounds like, without the maneki neko, she wouldn’t really be connected to This Side at all,”

I commented.

“It is possible. There are many people who are lightly connected by association that way.”

Suyin hummed a little as we went.

When we reached the office, Tsurumi-chan is sitting there doing her homework and Suzu-chan was filing papers.

Happy Life Work still has paper trails, because Suzu-chan is seriously bad with computers.

Or should it be that computers are seriously bad with Suzu-chan?

Either way, since she’s a ghost, Suzu-chan will cause electronics to malfunction.

Even though she’s been able to control her aura enough so that the lights, air conditioning, and electric kettle won’t go out when she’s around, computers are too advanced for her.

“A-Tsu, we’re back!”

“… Welcome… back.”

Tsurumi-chan smiles as Suyin hails her.

“Welcome back. Did you get the cat?”

Suzu-chan asks as she looks up.

“No. In the first place, why is the maneki neko running away? Were we told?”

I asked.

We high-schoolers were still in school when the client came with the job, so we weren’t able to meet with Sachiko Minami.

“Ummm… let me think. Minami-san only said that Umecchi ran away suddenly without warning. We didn’t talk much… well, it’s hard for me to interview her, so.”

Because you’re a ghost, after all.

Although Boss Nagi, Suyin, and I can see Suzu-chan well, she’s kind of just a blur for Kei-san and Tsurumi-chan.

And even Suyin has trouble hearing everything Suzu-chan is saying.

Most people can’t see or hear Suzu-chan at all.

Still, I’m amazed the clients don’t run away when they’re being interviewed by a floating whiteboard and dry erase pen.

“No, we should have probably started with an investigation first, instead of assuming we could catch the cat real fast.”

I sighed.

I had assumed we’d be fine, as long as Suyin was there, but seriously, that cat was too fast!

After getting Sachiko Minami-san’s curiosity shop’s location from Suzu-chan, I inputted it into my smartphone, then waved the two-way radio at Suzu-chan.

“Alright, we’re off. We’ll keep in contact with you if we need anything else.”

Because Suzu-chan can’t use a cellphone, na.

Even if she used the landline, it would just drop the call if it was connected to a cellphone.

But the two-way radio can pick up ghosts pretty well…

Part of me wants to clutch my head in dismay that I’ve become so well-versed in the biology of ghosts, but it is what it is.

Setting out with Suyin and Tsurumi, I, Kousei Ishikawa, a part-timer at Happy Life Work, have already begun to get used to the things on This Side of the Veil.

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<a/n: And we’re back>