"W-War...? And offer...?"
D-Did I hear that right? Did he just say things like 'I've come to get you to war' or things like that?
No... No way.
No. No. No. Surely, I was hearing things. No way that was what the kitty said. Hahaha!
"I-If you want to offer me an airbike warranty, I-I'm so sorry but I don't have any bike..."
"..."
"..."
"Oh, for f*ck's sake--!"
"Argh--?!" Boy, was I stupid. Seconds after I had decided to pretend I didn't hear anything about the 'W' word, this beast didn't even hesitate to slam my back against the behind wall, and I assure you that that sh*t hurt so damn much, my eyes watered as I pray to Father Almighty 'Please don't let my spine break.'
"And here I thought I should be gentle with you...! Get your sh*t together, and look at this e-quest. NOW." Then the suffering continued when the kitty boy started to growl at my face like a real animal, his sharp-looking teeth so close to my cheek, suddenly I had this thought that Howie was so goddamn lucky getting himself knocked out. God, I wish my sleepy ass could follow him to the dreamland. I'd rather die not knowing what this kitty's gonna do to me... Should I pretend to be shocked to death? Do predators lose their interest in prey when it's not moving? Some do, right?
So I decided that I should pretend to be in shock. My eyeballs didn't even move around when the kitty boy lifted his other hand covered by a fingerless glove up and then started to perform some sort of weird finger dance, as if he was typing on an invisible keyboard.
Well, when a red and black holographic screen showed up on his palm as a result, still I couldn't help but had my eyes wide open in amazement. What kind of technology was that? A tiny holographic computer in a glove? A holowatch but a glove? There was no such thing sold on the market, was it?
While I was trying to hide the trace of amazement in my eyes since I still needed to pretend that I was in shock, the kitty boy decided to shove his palm and that screen thing at my face, uttering something with a sudden low-pitched voice like "Read it."
'Your Majesty, King of Beasts, I couldn't. It was too close to my face...' I mumbled such words in my mind, but in reality, I just kept my mouth shut as I didn't want my skull crushed by his big lion paw. I shall try to lean backward as hard as I could instead of asking him 'Please, move away for an inch, sir.'
The moment I finally got a hold of what was shown on that screen, the thing that struck me the most was not even the timid face of that shrimpy me, but... an emblem on the header.
The emblem with a shield in the middle, a sword being placed on the shield to the left, and a mage staff being placed on the shield to the right, below the shield, the sword, and the staff was the word Order of the Hunters. Such an emblem was drawn in gold.
It would be a blatant lie if I said that never in my life had I ever seen that emblem before. It was projected onto every screen in the world a year after The Invasion. It was THAT Order of the Hunters... The supranational organization that was founded by the demi-gods with a single purpose: to eradicate all demons.
The Hunters or said demi-gods could be defined simply as 'humans who were chosen by gods to be bestowed their divine superpowers and fight against the demons'. They were viewed as something higher than mere mortals but at the same time still breathing in mortal flesh. So they stayed above the laws of man and could only be regulated under their own laws. They feared no Peacekeeper, no criminal organization, no demon, no one. In fact, I think even the mafia would sh*t their pants if they got unlucky enough to find themselves pissing the Hunters off.
This kitty boy was clearly one of those Hunters.
"I-I see. You're a Hunter, young master, sir. I-I must apologize for assuming you have come to talk to me about my non-existing car's extended warranty."
"..."
I didn't even know what I was thinking, saying things like that to his demi-god face. Seconds later I got my ass dragged along the floor, then thrown onto his fiery red airbike's passenger seat. His rough hands then spread my legs a bit so that I could sit on his bike properly, making me almost jump.
"First thing first, don't f*cking call me 'sir'. Call me 'Leo', or 'Master Leo' if you want."
As he said those words with a growl, his face kept getting closer and closer to my face. I heard myself reply "Yes, Leo! I'm sorry, Leo!" in desperation until he seemed to be satisfied, hence he let out a snarky smile... and then handcuffed both my hands with some kind of solid light bracelets that look like they came straight out of a fantasy-sci-fi movie.
"Good boy~"
Still, getting handcuffed didn't make me choke so hard like getting called a good boy... by a boy who couldn't possibly be older than 18 years old.
"A-Aren't you younger than me...?!"
"What? Why? Got a problem?"
"NO, SI-- No, LEO!"
"Good... Well, I'm 8 years younger than you."
"But an adult who always falls asleep during his shift shouldn't feel so entitled to be treated like an older person, don't you think?"
"...?" At that moment, I didn't even know at which part should I get shocked first. The part that he knew my age? The part that he knew I always fall asleep in the workplace? The part that he was practically a stranger to me yet he seemed to know those things well before coming to meet me? Or... him patting my head gently.
"...???"
"...Somehow I feel like you're trying to delay my quest."
And... I had a feeling that there was this look of longing in his eyes in the split second he turned his head away. It made me restless and nervous a bit, to tell the truth.
Why? I don't know.
How could I possibly know--?
"Let's f*cking go!"
"A-- Wait! Howie?!" But such feelings wouldn't last long. Suddenly, this kitty boy just started the engine and also started revving, causing Howie's name to pop up in my mind before my ass got dragged out of this place to somewhere maybe far far away. To war, the kitty said. War. No matter what could be the reason for the Hunters dragging me to war, war is still war!
Who knows if I would get to come back to this place again?
"Howie, please, open your eyes..." Also, he got knocked out and had been unconscious all this time, remember? I needed to make sure he would be ok until someone come and rescue him! So I would yell my lungs out trying to wake him up!
"Argh! MY EARS! B*tch, he's still alive...! Can't you hear his pulse? Don't be so dramatic!" Huh--?
"W-What did you just say?!" Then I also had to yell back at this kitty boy because I couldn't hear shite being under all this roaring engine noise!
"Grrr...! CAN'T YOU HEAR HIS PULSE?! HE'S CLEARLY F*CKING ALIVE!"
"Oh! I see! Thanks for telling me!" And that was no sarcasm. I thanked this kitty boy with all my heart since I, myself, wouldn't be able to hear anything else at this moment. Well, no ordinary human could!
Ah-- By the way...
"You CAN hear his pulse?! From HERE?!"
"Of the f*cking course?! WHAT do you think I am?!"
"A-A big cat?!"
"...Wait 'til we arrive at the destination. I'm gonna make you f*cker regret being born"
So I had learned that the mortal flesh of a Hunter was by no means the same as ours. Or it was just Leo's superpower being super senses. Or... I don't know.
Let me just fall asleep on this kitty's back and forget all that had happened, hoping I would wake up in my own room the next morning. Because there was no way all of this would be real.
That water bed helped me sleep well indeed.