THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 20: Know your place (2)

—

Back to the Hotel,

Kimi waited on the bed, her eyes locked at the endless horizon outside the window.

It has been a day since Neji had gone out… more than 24 hours…

She hasn't slept a second since last night, so her eyelids were heavy. Her whole body was cold out of nervousness, starting from her forehead.

Every night, Neji is supposed to call Gara before sleep, but yesterday since he didn't, Gara called instead. Kimi couldn't help but pick up the call, because if she didn't, Gara would have surely sent people to come here and check.

Luckily, she somehow made it seem like the internet was bad, and Neji had already fallen asleep. She somehow managed to lie it out.

The only problem was, this excuse won’t work a second time. So she prayed that Neji would return before tonight. She had no clue where he went and where he was right now, she hoped nothing bad had happened to him.

She was already guilty enough. If anything happened to him, she wouldn't be able to contain her guilt.

Abruptly, her ears twitched. The sound of constant blasts entered her ears. She turned her head to the window as the figure of a small dazzling silver-haired boy entered her vision.

BoOom-!

In an instant, the figure blasted through the window, reached and kicked the wall on the opposite side of the room, and landed on the ground swiftly.

He barely dusted his chest with a slightly surprised Kimi on the bed. It was rare for 10-year-olds to have such control over their quirks.

Ignoring it, Kimi observed his body instead as questions popped up in her head. He wasn't wearing the same clothes he was wearing before. He also seemed slightly taller, though barely noticeable.

But what relieved her was the fact that he looked neat, not even a scratch on his body. So he wasn't attacked by anyone.

'That's good.'

Meanwhile, seeing her stare, her eyes running by his body, Neji clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Why are you looking at my body like that? Planning to ràpe me again?"

Kimi lowered her head listening to him. She didn't say anything and just stayed silent, waiting for another snarky remark.

"Bring me food." Surprisingly, he didn't add anything else. "I am hungry."

-

–

—

'She needs to suffer for at least a few months. I need to make her realise her position in the meanwhile.'

Neji stared at her back while Kimi walked out of the room with her slouched back.

'Only when that happens, would I give her a chance to redeem herself.'

He did say if she had a good enough reason, he would forgive her. But he wouldn't let her explain herself anytime soon. She needs to at least suffer some sort of consequences. Tolerating some snarky remarks along with a slightly harsher tone should be pretty tame.

Though what he liked was that she didn't try to 'explain' things to him by herself. This proved she had at least some form of guilt inside her.

Moving on, other than Kimi, there was another single problem.

Neji sat down on the soft bed with his eyes locked on the morning sky outside the window.

The trip to Mount Fuji was supposed to last for 10 days. 4 days have already passed. "Since there is a 30 days cooldown for each dungeon, wasting 6 days staying here would be pointless."

He planned to move out tomorrow night. He needs a day off since he has yet to visit the famous Mt. Fuji Hot Spring. Since he is already here, why miss it?

It was then he noticed the SmartWatch that his Mom had given him ringing out loud beside the bed.

The SmartWatch was made by Aiko's Company. It was one of the best of its kind, if not the best.

Neji knew it must have some kind of tracker inside it, so he didn't wear it when going out and instead he wore a regular watch he bought from this town instead.

He went closer and picked up the watch. Clicking the pick-up button, immediately a hologram of Gara appeared in front of him.

["My baby!"] The face of the blue-haired woman with red eyes appeared in front of him. ["Are you alright? Did you sleep at night? Mommy was so worried not being able to see you last night!"]

"Yo, mom." Neji slowly shook his head while a smile emerged on his face.

«—(★)—»

Next day, early night

Kimi was surprised to hear that Neji wanted to move out from Mount Fuji. He said, since he doesn't have much time on his hands, he should see as many places as he can.

Of course, Gara agreed. Kimi didn't believe there was any request from Neji that Gara wouldn't agree to.

So currently, she was driving the Mercedes again. It was late at night, and light calming music was playing on the radio.

The road the car was driving in was, like the first time, empty. In fact, it was the same road with forest trees towering over them from either side of the highway.

Kimi looked at the front mirror to look at Neji who was sitting in the backseat.

He seemed to be playing games on his phone. Kimi was quite awkward with him. He didn't talk much with her after that incident had happened.

She wanted to apologise, maybe even explain why she jumped at him. But she feared it would just sound like an excuse and he would get angry and disappointed.

'No, he probably won't be angry.' She mused.

Neji was strangely calm for a rape victim. She knew he was more disappointed than angry at her. And truthfully, knowing someone is disappointed in her stung more than knowing someone is angry at her. More so, when the source of disappointment is a mere child. Even more so, when the reason for the disappointment is completely justified.

Other than wanting to become a hero, Kimi's only dream was to fall in love with a handsome man and lose her first time to him. But… while she did lose her virginity to a (future) handsome man, there was no love involved. That fact saddened her.

Of course, it wouldn't have been a problem if the other party wasn't a child. She might have been able to fall in love if the other party was a bit older. She can't possibly fall in love with a child, right?

"Sigh," she heaved a breath.

She realised how hypocritical it sounded. She also said she wasn't a paedophile, but where did that end up?

The problem wasn't his age. The problem was her relationship with him. He was like a little brother to her who she had raised from age two. How can she feel romantically attracted to him?

Yes, she did have sex with him, but that was a spite-of-moment situation.

Considering all that, it was highly unlikely that she would ever get to live her dream. But even then, even if she got to fall in love with this kid, would he ever–!

—Suddenly,

Kimi blinked. She has been lost in her thoughts so she didn't notice the road.

Her eyes had caught the glimpse of something as she pressed the brake hard.

Creech~

The break was sudden so in the back seat, Neji's phone flew from his hand and hit Kimi in the head. While he was barely staying in the seat.

"Ouch-" Kimi groaned with a barely audible sound.

Meanwhile,

"Oy!" An angry yell came from behind her. "Watch where you're going! How did you get your hero licence if you can't even drive?!"

"S- sorry," Kimi muttered while her eyes moved from the front mirror to the road. In the road in front of her, there was something. "But… there was a black cat on the road."

"Huh, a black cat?" Hearing her, Neji composed himself.

He stood up in the seat and peeked outside. There was clearly something in the dark road. "Really."

Kimi looked behind at Neji with an uncertain look on her face. "Are you hurt, young m- master?"

"No, I am fine. Open the door for me."

With a timid nod, Kimi pushed a button that undid the lock on the doors. Neji then pushed the door open and walked out, Kimi did the same.

Kimi and Neji then walked closer to the cat that was curled up on the ground while its body was shaking heavily.

"It's really a cat, huh." Neji looked at Kimi. "How did you notice it in the darkness? It really blends well with the surroundings."

Kimi flinched. "Ah, well. I can kind of sense cats…? If they are close by, I can sense them easily."

Neji stared at her eyes without any particular emotion. His dominant blue eyes caused her timid but similar blue eyes to shake and look away.

"Meh, okay." With an unimpressed look, that he made only to make Kimi feel bad, he turned his head and looked at the cat instead.

In truth, he was quite impressed by Kimi's power. Quirks aren't always just one-pony tricks. They sometimes have a lot of interesting stuff just like this one. Maybe she would even be able to talk to cats after her awakening? An interesting query.

Moving on, Neji observed the cat. The cat with jet-black fur and closed eyes looked as if it was the personification of night itself.

Neji frowned. "It's trembling."

"It's cold," Kimi replied.

"I can see that."

-

–

—

'<Observe>!' With a chant in my mind, a page formed in my retina.

[Status—

Nameless Wild Cat

Race: Bombay Cat

Age: 10 days

Tier: 1

State: Sick, Cold, Starving, Close to Death.]

The newly levelled up Observe skill showed more than just the name and tier. It was quite handy.

'It says, the cat's dying,' I noted and turned to Kimi.

The cat-girl had thin lips as she observed the black cat with her own blue cat-like eyes. She drove her hands closer to it and patted its back.

After a second, she looked at me with her eyes hesitating, a little wet. "Um… y- young master. Can we take her with us? Otherwise, she would die…"

"..." I went silent. Under my gaze, her eyes seemed to wet more. Good, at least she fears me even a little.

"You want to adopt it- her?" I corrected myself.

"O- oh, n- not really. I- I just want to save it, then leave it in a hospital, m- maybe." Kimi stuttered, her eyes looking at me pleadingly.

Under her gaze, I chuckled softly.

So she likes cats? Figured.

I then turned towards the cat. Jet-black fur. Kind of saturating with my hair, cool huh?

Alright, I'm gonna adopt it.

"Get away," I ordered as Kimi hurriedly took away her hand from the cat.

I crouched down, picked up the cat, exchanged glances with the slightly surprised but happy Kimi and walked inside the car.

After that, I took out a blanket from my inventory before Kimi could see and wrapped it around the cat.

"First comes first, let's save you, kitten."

«—{★}—»

I could have used the remaining health potion, but honestly? I didn't want to waste it on a creature I currently have 0 connection with.

So, we changed our destination and instead went to an animal hospital close by.

It was already night, so patients were less and we easily got an appointment with the doctor.

The cat was really dying, but luckily the doctor had a quirk related to healing that supposedly worked only on animals. The doctor thanked me for covering it on a blanket beforehand or it might have died on the road.

After some more checkups, the doctor gave out some medications. They vaccinated her and cleaned her properly. Kimi fed the cat her cat food, cat food that she always keeps as snacks…

Moving on to the present, we were picking up collars for the cat in a shop nearby as I had an idea.

"Hey, Kimi." I dragged her attention as she turned to me while wrapping a collar around the black cat. "Get yourself a collar too, it should be proof of who you belong to."

I was being a bastard just to anger her. Though I want to see if she has the guts to refuse me.

-

–

—

While she was tying the collar around the black cat, her body froze listening to the words of the child she has been raising from the age of 2.

"Y- young master…?"

She looked at him pleadingly. She didn't want others to see her crying like this. Luckily they were alone in a corner of the shop.

"I- I can't do that… p- people will have weird ideas." She stilled her face. "Please, d- don't do this…"

Neji blinked at her while a smile crept upon his face. 'Now you're making me want it more.'

"You're questioning me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Ah, so all that 'I will do anything-' was a fucking lie?"

Neji shrugged and raised his hand wearing the Smartwatch close to his face. A hologram dial-pad appeared in front of him while his fingers moved.

"W-wait!" Kimi grabbed his hand and stared at his eyes with tears trailing down her cheeks. "Why are you like this…?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "Would you wear it or not?"

After a short silence, she took a deep breath. "I will… I will. Just don't call your parents."

Neji chuckled as his hands picked up a white neck collar and tied it on Kimi's neck swiftly.

"Now you look perfect–" He paused midway. "Wait, no, not perfect. I need to make it clear who you belong to, too. Or knowing your mindset, you might run off and start sucking another dude anytime."

He smirked at her, causing her to instinctively curl her fist up.

«—[★]—»

That was fineeee.

What's she gonna do? Nothing.

Was Neji going a bit overboard? No, not at all. At least not according to himself.

Moving on, Neji, Kimi and the unnamed cat were back in the car going to Imperial Tokyo. He had a few guesses what type of dungeon there would be, so he was hyped.

Maybe he would be able to meet the historical Samurai undead there? Would be interesting.

Though currently, he wasn't worried about that. Currently, a bigger problem has occupied his mind.

"What should I name you, little kitten?"

The unnamed black cat was on his lap while he tickled it under its chin.

"Miaw~"

The cat moved its skull relaxingly under the touch.

"Hm, you like it?"

"Miaw!"

"Hah, look who's a good cat, unlike a certain someone." Neji brought the cat close to his face and rubbed his cheeks with it. "How about I call you Kurai?"

"Kurai, Kurai, Kurai… hm, sounds good." Neji mused to himself while tickling the cat in its stomach.

"Um…" Meanwhile, Kimi who was driving the car muttered. "Kurai is a male name."

"Can you shut up, please? She likes the name, look." Neji raised the cat, Kurai, up facing the mirror as it giggled like a normal cat. "That's all that matters."

Kimi sighed and shook her head. Moving on, her eyes fell to the white-collar on her neck. It didn't look that bad… except for the, "Belongs to Neji", written on it. She needs to be careful to hide when Gara would Video-call every night.

'Have mercy, Kami.' She prayed while the black Mercedes soon vanished in the darkness of the night.

**

**

**

Author's Note: Kurai, huh 🤔. Sounds familiar. Shoutout to WolfStar14!

Edit: Well, Kurai wasn't supposed to be that relevant… but then the next chapter happened.

Also… many people didn't understand which bottle cap I was talking about 😔.