“Umm… what are you doing?”

In front of me, I stacked up the Kat dress, gloves, slippers, and headband along with the bell choker.

Then, wearing only my underwear, I kneeled in front of the whole pile and put my hands together.

Come on Ignis.

What do you think this looks like?

I’m trying to make a tiny shrine to Kat so I can talk to him!

…

Or rather, yell at him!

There’s just too much I want to hear from him at this point!

Like…

Why am I absorbing curses of all things?

Or what about the other ‘chosen ones’?

The thing about him being an unknown ‘evil’ god?

And now, the most disturbing thing…

What IS this body that I’m living in right now?

Where did it come from?

When I died back on earth, Kat gave me this body which, at the time, seemed like a bit younger version myself.

I thought he just did some god magic to recreate my body or something.

A serious perverse stalker, who knows my body better than me, that’s what I thought.

But now that I heard about this other Nina of the past…

Clearly, something is wrong here!

Am I ‘stealing bodies’ like Mable pointed out?

Was her body put into stasis for twenty years just so I could live in it now?

Either way, this is really disturbing to think about!

Mind of the earth Nina, and body of this world’s Nina… who went missing twenty years ago.

What am I supposed to be?

A Frankenstein’s monster?

…

And what happens if I die?

Is the nine lives skill linked to ‘me’, or this body?

This is too much!

“… Nina?”

But I’m not getting an answer…

What do I do to contact that god of jerks?!

Since the people don’t even know about him, there are no churches or shrines!

Do I have to search for some ancient ruins to find one?

What the heck?!

“Hey Nina… just don’t think about it too much. I know it probably feels unnerving for you, but…”

But what?

Do you want me to stay ignorant?

To keep ‘having fun’?

How can I possibly do that?

I can’t…

I just can’t!

Kat told me there is no goal for me.

That I’m only supposed to have fun.

But that’s clearly not the case!

There must be a reason for all of this!

And I’m going to find out what it is!

Right!

I finally have a goal!

To find out what my real goal is…!

…

Wow.

That sounds dumb.

And I don’t even know where to start.

Ugh…

“Come on now! Cheer up! This isn’t like you!”

Is it not?

I think that frowning whenever you hug me is pretty normal for me, Mable.

On that note, please stop squeezing me already.

“Or, you know… wanna ask us for help? We can join you on your quest of self-discovery. More heads are always better, no?”

…

That would be nice…

But it’s not like I need your help…!

“Oi, you just thought you don’t need my help, didn’t you?”

Get out of my head!

“Hmm….”

W-what?

“Well anyway. There’s a cat outside the window, put some clothes on so we can let him in.”

Huh?

A cat?

Oh…

A cat.

…

“Meow…”

So it’s you, Kuro.

Where were you all this time?

“Meow.”

He produced a paper in front of him, probably pulling it out of his storage thingy.

The entirety of paper featured one sentence in large font.

‘I’M SORRY’

I was taken aback by this sudden apology.

I didn’t understand why he needed to apologize.

As I stared at it, completely baffled, he produced yet another paper.

This time, it was a very crappy drawing of… someone?

I tilted my head, trying to figure out what it is.

It reminded me of something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

And then it hit me.

It’s a character from an anime I used to watch in my previous life.

…

What?

Where did this come from?

Why are you… giving this to me?

Or rather, why do you know what I used to watch?

Another paper.

‘I had the real deal with me that time as well… but you chased me out before I could show you.’

My confusion only grew with that sentence.

What does he mean by ‘real deal’ and ‘that time’?

‘I’m sorry I stopped visiting you.’

Two seconds after reading this line.

The cogs in my head finally clicked into place.

“Y-you…”

Kent.

My brother.

He said he would bring me a poster from that convention, didn’t he?

But then we had a fight and he stopped visiting me…

I ended up dying before he could keep his promise.

I shut my gaping mouth and bent down to grab the cat before lifting it up to face me.

“You are Kent?!”

Are you serious?!

This little overpowered mafia boss cat under the effects of my blessing’s charm is my-

Why is-

When did…

What?!

“Meow…”

…

Well…

Okay, I admit…

You DID tell me your real name was Kent when I asked back then…

But I didn’t think you were…

…

“Meow…?”

…

Oi.

I just remembered something.

“M-meow?”

Now that I think about it…

Weren’t you in the public bath with us back then?

I bet you really enjoyed the sight, didn’t you?!

“M-m-”

What?

Why was I not mad at you before knowing who you are?

Oh please!

I was always mad at you!

I just chose to ignore it!

That’s right!

HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE AGAIN LIKE THIS YOU STUPID WOMANIZER!

…

Well, good thing Mable dragged the other two out of the room at some point.

I wouldn’t want them to see this disgraceful behavior of mine.

Right, right…

I don’t know much about the anatomy of cats, but it seems like they are sturdy enough to not have their tail torn off by being hammer thrown like in the Olympics.

Or rather, isn’t my strength boosted with these gloves?

How come you didn’t turn into a bloody puddle after all those punches?

Also, I’m impressed.

You are the first non-humanoid who survived my poison.

Good job living, my amazing brother.

I might just fall for you.

Just kidding.

Who would actually fall for someone like you?

…

Sigh…

Alright.

I think it’s time to calm down.

He already looks like I put him through a shredder.

If I keep going, he might really die.

I should let it be already.

“…”

He’s not even meowing anymore.

Yeah…

It’s time to stop.

I came up to the shivering cat and sat right next to it.

A few seconds of silence before I spoke up.

“So… how did you die…?”

Noticing my calm voice, he probably realized his punishment is over.

He stayed silent for a while before producing another paper with text on it.

‘Car accident’

A car accident…?

Huh…

I expected a truck would be your end…

What with your obsession with all these reincarnation novels.

Well, close enough, I guess.

‘My wife and son were with me’

W-wife and son?!

“At that age…?!”

Seriously, this womanizing piece of-

‘I was 33’

…

Say what?

‘I died ten years after you’

Ten years?!

How is that possible?!

Weren’t you in this world even sooner than me?!

That doesn’t add up at all!

…

I guess there’s one more thing I have to ask Kat.

They just keep piling up, don’t they?

…

“Did I have a funeral…?”

‘Yes’

“Were… mom and dad there?”

‘Yes’

They were, huh…?

I guess they needed to keep up appearances…

…

“By the way… what… was it?”

The cat didn’t seem to understand my question.

“That illness I had… what was it?”

What killed me?

What made us drift apart?

What caused our parents to abandon me?

…

I actually didn’t care for the answer too much.

But my spite spoke in my stead.

I needed a culprit to hate.

…

‘I don’t know’

‘Tney nevef figured ir out’

…

There’re typos in that last one.

Did you write it just now by dispensing ink at the right spots?

No, that’s not important.

What do you mean they never figured it out?

Did I have some sort of super rare one in a quadrillion disease?

…

No, of course not.

This is all way too suspicious…

And I’m willing to bet Kat knows about this as well…

Argh, come on now!