Chapter 33 - Intermission

The catgirl whereabouts

3rd Person POV

A group of people, or rather, young people could be seen deep into a forest where there were no traces of civilization.

A Calico cat had arrived to observe them, and it hid among the vegetation to not get found out.

One among the rest stood up, and not because the figure was younger or because she had cat ears, no, it was not because of that. The rest of the group consisted of girls of similar ages and they all had cat ears on top of them. However, what stood up about that one girl was-

"Pitiful-nya." The girl muttered in a regretful voice.

"Anego... even if you say that..." One of the girls in front of her said.

Directing a sharp glare in her direction, the catgirl who spoke first, and had black hair, raised her tone of voice

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU-NYA!? A TRUE CAT GIRL ENDS HER PHRASES WITH 'NYA'!" The black-haired girl shouted. "YOU GUYS CANNOT CALL YOURSELF ONE IF YOU DON'T DO SO-NYA. WE WILL START THE ROUTINE AGAIN-NYA. EVERYONE, STAND IN FRONT OF YOUR LOGS AND TAKE A STANCE-NYA, ON MY SIGNAL, YOU ALL WILL PUNCH IT WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH-NYA... AND THE MOST IMPORTANT-NYA, IT IS TO YELL 'NYA' WITH EVERY HIT. UNDERSTOOD-NYA?"

Words that regular people would find hard to fathom or believe poured from the black-haired girl, but the group of girls only bitterly sighed and did as they were told. Whether it was because they had no other choice or they were trying to accomplish something by doing it was up to debate, however, they all took perfect stances and the black-haired girl nodded in approval.

"Seei! Nya!" Haa! Nya!" "Tou! Nya!"

Everyone shouted distinctly but they still added 'nya'. It made the black-haired girl smile.

"Good-nya. Now, their training is paying-nya." The black-haired nostalgically muttered.

Watching everything from the bushes, the black and white Calico cat could not stand it any longer and jumped out, using a nearby tree as a foothold, the cat jumped even higher and planted her paws on the black-haired girl's head.

"Ouch-nya!" The girl whɨnėd in pain.

"I left you alone for two days, only two days and this happens? Kuroka, what are you even doing?" The cat reprimanded in a bitter tone.

"Magari-sensei-nya, I am against violence-nya!" Kuroka tearfully rubbed her head.

*Sigh*

With an exasperated sigh the Calico cat, Magari, put one paw on her head and tried to regain her patience.

"Would you kindly explain to me what is that?" Magari inquired as she used her tails to point a group of catgirls hitting logs and yelling 'nya'.

"It is all so they can become splendid cat girls-nya." Kuroka smugly said.

Her expression was one of a child who was waiting to be praised, but Magari only felt like repeating what she did a moment ago, perhaps using about three times more strength this time.

"*Sigh* Your talent is unique, you were able to beat all these girls in battle and you practically made them your subordinates with the way they talk to you, but why is it that they have to say-nya?" Magari asked in a tired tone.

"Obvious-nya. The true potential of a catgirl can only be unleashed when she says 'nya'. Shirone-nya only says it when no one is looking-nya, and Nora-nya, he is too strong without doing it, but one I will make it so he does it-nya!" Kuroka spoke with a determined expression.

Magari's gaze sharpened for a moment.

"Say there, I recall that you mentioned that Shirone was your little sister, she was Fujimai's daughter, but... what about this Nora? You used 'He', and from your words, it is easy to tell that you want him to say 'nya' too." Magari commented as she got closer to Kuroka. "Is he a Nekomata?"

"Nyahaha, not only that, no Sir-nya. Like my imouto and I, he is a Nekoushou-nya!" Kuroka exclaimed proudly in a loud tone.

Instantly, the sound of the girls hitting the logs disappeared.

Widening her eyes in realization, Kuroka covered her mouth with both hands, but it was too late.

Sweating coldly, Kuroka found herself stared at a large number of gazes.

"How sneaky-nya, hey, it came out naturally-nya."

"She had something like that-nya."

"She already got a mate-nya, and he is even a Nekoushou-nya."

"Anego is amazing-nya."

Kuroka could not praise them for their progress on the path of catgirls because they were muttering things that made her have a bad feeling.

"Kuroka, it saddens me that you hid such a secret from your teacher." Magari muttered sadly. "Even when I explained how dire is the situation for our race. A male of our race is not something you can keep quiet about, the last one appeared about hundreds of years ago and he was equally shared. Thanks to him, our numbers grew quite a bit and we could avoid our extinction. However, you planned to keep him all to yourself, how selfish."

"I thought we were sisters-nya."

"Sisters shared everything-nya."

"Is he cute-nya?"

"Call him over-nya!"

Kuroka vehemently shook her head.

"No-nya. He is mine-nya!" Kuroka exclaimed.

Using her natural agility, Magari climbed Kuroka and sat on top of her head.

"Kuroka, let me ask you. If you claim that, do you know what is at risk? Our whole race could end, what are you going to do about it?" Magari asked.

The catgirls around Kuroka did not say anything this time, but they kept staring at her.

"I-I w-will... I WILL BECOME HIS MATE-NYA, I WILL HAVE SO MANY KITTENS THAT YOU'LL WISH WE STOPPED-NYA!" Kuroka yelled.

"Pffft."

"Hahahahaha."

"Listen to her-nya, she said something so bold but she has no idea what that means-nya."

"Anego, if we teach you what mating is about, could you introduce us to him-nya?"

The catgirls burst into laughs and they joked about Kuroka's naivety.

"Fufu, you are really funny, you have no idea what you said, right?" Magari asked as she tried to stop laughing as well.

Since everyone acted like they knew more than her, Kuroka pouted.

"I did not say anything wrong-nya! If he is my mate, he will always be with me-nya! Kaa-sama always told me that-nya!" Kuroka sulkily said.

Covering their faces with their hands, the catgirls felt a wave of embarrassment.

"As expected of Anego-nya, she beat us all in combat, but her real might is in her girl power-nya!"

"Too strong-nya!"

"I am dying to meet that Nora-nya!"

"If he made her fall that hard, he must be quite the catch-nya. I was half-joking before, but perhaps I should get serious-nya?"

Speaking mostly nonsense, the group of catgirls was having fun hearing Kuroka talk. They had spoken about Kuroka beating them in combat but they did not seem to have any hard feelings, in fact, the girls got along well.

"Now, now. Girls, before Kuroka gets angry and starts attacking you, you should go back to train, I will talk to this child, alright?" Magari gently chided the group of catgirls. "Don't get angry, they are not being serious, or maybe not that much. While they might try to 'attack' him, Nekomatas' instincts are what push them to do it and not because they are bad girls. Many youkais who still maintain their animal traits strong are most likely to exhibit similar behavior."

Explaining in a kind tone, Magari wanted to appease Kuroka before she ran rampant. However, she had remained silent.

"I felt a double alert about Nora a while ago-nya, one was a pretty strong foe getting in his (my) way, and the other felt like it would annoy him (me), but it was not about his safety-nya." Kuroka whispered. "My instincts as a cat (girl) are warning me to be careful-nya, but I don't know why I imagined that red-eyed girl from before-nya."

Scratching her head, Kuroka seemed oblivious to what Magari spoke.

"I must remember to ask (interrogate) Nora-nya later." Kuroka muttered in a serious tone. "Nya, Nya? Shirone-nya needs me-nya! My Onee-chan radar is tingling-nya!"

"I won't retort about the things you said, but I originally came here to inform you that our people saw a white-haired girl with a similar description as your sister arriving at Tokyo yesterday." Magari spoke. "I am not sure how accurate that 'radar' of yours works, but there were indeed some battles occurring around the city. If you feel like confirming if that girl was your sister, and if she is safe, take those girls with you and go. Even if they lost to you, that does not mean that they are weak. They usually laze around all day so they let their skills rust, but with you around they are motivated to even train."

Silent for a moment, Kuroka carefully put Magari down and bowed.

"I am thankful-nya. I will repay this favor-nya." Kuroka respectfully muttered with her head down.

"How polite of you, I didn't know you were taught manners by Fujimai." Magari praised.

Shaking her head, Kuroka lowered her head even more before standing straight again.

"Nora-nya taught me, he always takes care of me and my needs-nya." Kuroka muttered with a bright smile.

"Fufu, he must be a nice boy, by the way, speaking of repaying the favor, how about you let those girls meet them and..." Magari tried to slyly touch the topic again but Kuroka had started to walk away. "Wait, I was joking, don't sulk about it. Also, don't forget about taking with you that kitsune girl, Shizuku has been training nonstop so a small rest is not bad for her."

Turning her head back, Kuroka furrowed her eyebrows.

"Who-nya?" Kuroka innocently asked.

"The girl whom you came here with, remember? You said that she came as your bodyguard, but you dumped her with that group of ninjas enthusiast and she had been learning under their guidance." Magari explained.

Feeling a bit of pity for the blonde-haired girl who bitterly trained every day, Magari wondered if Kuroka was joking, she wouldn't-

"Ah, eh, sure-nya, Shizuku-san." Kuroka avoided looking her in the eyes. "Her, yes, I will call her too-nya."

Running at an incredible speed, Kuroka seemed to be avoiding the topic.

"*Sigh* That girl." Magari shook her head. "You girls heard me, right? Go with that child, and don't forget to take Shizuku with you as well."

Not bothering to reply, the catgirls swiftly followed after Kuroka.

Left alone, Magari looked at the sky before sighing again.

"Those girls, they are finally taking their training seriously. They just needed someone who pushed them to it. It is a shame that the two brats who accepted to join the peerage of that Phenex young man left before shortly after getting a beating by Kuroka, if they had stayed, they could've grown stronger." Magari lamented.

Walking aimlessly around the forest, Magari decided to do so until she found a nice napping spot.

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Author's Notes

This is a short chapter, an intermission.

I remember that the Canon has these sometimes so I thought about writing one, I am new at this so go easy on any critics.

It was an idea I had about what would be Kuroka doing as she studied with Magari, and well, here it is.

Share you honest thoughts about it.

Have a nice day.