Chapter 72: Cat Acceptance.
After cleaning up the soon-to-be base of Night Raid, We left to our respective homes as it was now at around 4:30 AM. We cannot just stay around and do work while the residents of the nearby buildings start coming out of their homes.
The house I chose for our base is a normal looking house in the corner of the residential area of Hosu City as this will be the least suspicious place to find Vigilantes. But there were problems. The residential area may acts as a umbrella which prevents the suspicion but it also hinders our mobility. We cannot come more frequently in the day or early hours of night. If we did, the people will report us.
So for this, I took inspiration from Shie Hassaikai Base and planned to make a secret tunnel and a secret base underground. It was a good idea which does not only removes the restriction of coming in and out of base but it also helps us to have a escape route if something bad happens.
And making the tunnel was no hard task with Overhaul. It may be time and stamina consuming, but somebody needs to do it, as I cannot just drive heavy trucks to do construction work of a secret tunnel without making others notice about the base.
..
I left for my house with the Jetpack and {AEZAKMI}. I took the cat with me as I cannot let it stay with Danjuro and La Brava, because if there is a problem like the cat turned out to be a threat, then the victims will be them. I was the one who freed it from Tartarus, so it is natural that I will take care of it until I find a good home for this cat.
During the flight, I was thinking about the Trigger Mission we accepted just a few hours ago. We had to go to America to perform this mission. America, a land where we have no influence, no backings but we still accepted the mission. I need to make enough preparations to balance the disadvantages we have.
Before the thoughts could end, I reached my house. I entered the house through the window of my bedroom. When I entered inside, I saw Fuyumi sleeping with Eri in her arms and Eri having Rilakkuma in her arms.
So I silently walked inside and stored the suit and weapons inside Inventory. Then I went to take a bath and I took the cat with me.
'Who knows when did this cat had a bath? And I cannot let this run amok inside my house with dirt on it. I am the only one who cleans this house, so I don't want my workload increased.'
The cat was surprisingly compliant and took the bath without any tantrum or shouting like other cats. I had a thought what if this was not a cat and was something else in a cat's disguise but I pushed away this thought as this cat was going with me now so there is no problem.
...
After that, I took out Fuyumi for a workout and training. I will teach her fighting techniques after this week.
The training went fine, we returned to home and I start preparing for breakfast.
...
Fuyumi was silent during the entire training session and looked at me weirdly. I thought nothing of it and did things like usually I do.
"Shido, What is a cat doing on your shoulder? It was there from the moment I woke up and it is still there. Whose cat is this and why it is on your shoulder?"
She finally asked the question she had in her mind for several hours.
I turned to look at her and then without answering her, I turned back and continued cooking.
...
After the breakfast was made, Now I had the job to wake up Eri and do her usual Morning Eri Protocol. I picked up Eri from the bed, threw Rilakkuma from her grasp, quickly went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and then washed her face. Now she is all-ready for the breakfast.
...
On the dining table; Eri, Fuyumi and I were eating our breakfast. Fuyumi and I were okay in eating breakfast but Eri was still sleepy. So,
"Eri, Mr. Tablet!!!"
I said these two words and now the little girl's entire attention was on her plate and this is a good thing.
We ate our breakfast peacefully and now I have an announcement to make.
"Fuyumi, Eri..."
They both turned their heads towards me when I called their name.
"You both know I went to Tartarus yesterday right?"
They both nodded their head in agreement.
"You see... from there I took this cat out." I picked the cat from the scruff of his neck and brought it in front of me. "This cat was being experim..." But before I could even complete the 'poor' cat's story, Fuyumi took the cat from my hands.
"Shido how can you pick a cat like that? You need to handle them with love and care." She petted the cat and scolded me like I was a kid who was handling the cat like an object.
"From when did you become an expert on cats?"
"I have a cat in my house. She is very docile and compliant because I take care of her with love." She said and petted the cat I brought. I argued and she argued back.
While we were arguing, the spectator of this argument was not interested in the argument but was interested in the black cat. Eri came close to Fuyumi and looked at the cat with fascination mixed in with some wariness.
Fuyumi and I stopped arguing and looked at Eri who was looking at the cat. Fuyumi looked at me and then she turned to Eri.
"Would you like to hold it?"
"Can I?"
"..Yeah.. Hold him like this..." Fuyumi slowly transferred the cat to Eri's arms "..and.. look... it doesn't hurt you."
"Oooohhh..." Eri was looking at the black cat in her hand with pure fascination and no wariness this time. After some time, Eri raised her head to look at me.
"Papa... Can we keep it?" She tried to make a cute face but it is all futile. Something like that is not going to affect me. I am a parent who threatened his daughter to shoot a tablet. I am a cold-hearted parent.
"It's not like I have decided to give it away..."
"That means we can keep it." She had a delighted smile on her face.
"Let me finish first. I have not yet decided to give it away or not. But I am more inclined to give it away to another family or an animal orphanage."
"Why give it away when we can keep it..."
"Do you know, how many responsibilities are there to keep an animal. This cat is also a living being, that means, He needs someone to clean him, feed him and make sure he is free from disease. And I am not going to do that. If you want you can take the responsibilities and keep him."
"I will.. I will take the responsibilities and take care of him."
"You sure? I always have to wake you up and ready you for the breakfast. You cannot even take care of yourself then how are you saying you can take care of a cat. You promised me that you will act like a good girl 2 days ago right? then why are you still acting like a spoilt brat."
Tears starting forming in Eri's eyes as harsh words from me were landing on her ears. The girl lowered her head, put the cat on the ground and ran upstairs to her room.
Fuyumi who was watching all this, grasped my forearm and clutched it tightly.
"Why do you have to be so rude to her? You could've just said no to her instead of scolding her."
"Lets say she agreed now and forgot about the cat then what? Will she learn anything from this?
I want her to be a responsible and strong woman in the future who does not need any pity of others. If I just spoil her by fulfilling her every requests from now, then she will grow into a soft person who takes everything for granted as everything she asked for was given to her and I don't want that to happen to Eri.
It's not like I am trying to push my own wishes on to her and make her something I want her to become. I just want her to be not so soft that she will not be handle the world outside her home, outside my protection. I don't want her to be so scared of the world that she will refuse to face it." I said to Fuyumi who had her head looking down and listening to what I said.
"Isn't it too early to start that? She is just a kid, Shido."
"And she will be a kid for me for the rest of my life and her life, even if she grows up, marries and have her own kids, She will still be a kid for me. If I went with that mentality then I should just fulfill her every whim and wishes for the rest of my life.
And In my opinion the early she learns this, the better.
Do you think I take pleasure in intentionally saddening my 4-year-old daughter or I am tired of taking care of her alone, so I am reprimanding her?
I am just trying to make her feel the responsibilities when it comes to take care of another life, so she doesn't take this cat or anything for granted."
Fuyumi's head raised and she looked at me,
"Does that mean, you had..."
"Yes, I decided it the moment she asked to keep the cat. I had a thought of giving this cat to her when I rescued it. I thought this will be a good lesson for her to learn how to handle responsibilities." I then picked up the cat by the scruff of his neck and brought him to my face level.
{SJMAHPE} - Recruit Anyone [Cheat Activated]
I looked into the cat's eyes, "I don't know if you can understand me or not. but still I am going to say somethings it to you which are very important, so listen carefully. You are going to be my daughter's pet and I want you to cooperate wholeheartedly.
But let me warn you. If you do something which harmed her in anyway, then you should remember the state you were in while you were being experimented on. You should know that, If I can heal you, then I can make you like that again.
And have you wondered if I repeated the process of hurting and healing again and again, then what will happen? Or what if I skin you alive and make a scarf out of that... Yeah.. don't make me think more ideas like this and perform that on you or you will wish some dogs had come and eaten you, when you were born." I said all those words under cheat's effect. Even if the cat is not able to understand me, he will understand the threat behind my words.
I then took the cat upstairs and opened the room's door slightly. In there, Eri was crying while burying her head in the pillow. I felt a pain in my heart watching this but I steeled my heart and let her cry. This was necessary for now or she will cry in the future when she couldn't face the outside world.
I pushed the cat inside the room.
"Go and Console her or something." I whispered to the cat and closed the door.
{SJMAHPE} - Recruit Anyone [Cheat Deactivated]
.....
Fuyumi and I were still talking about the topic on my way of raising Eri after I pushed the cat inside the room.
"I know you are doing this for a better future for your daughter but it is just too much for a kid." Fuyumi said her opinion as she, herself has been a victim of mental abuse (Neglect) from her father.
"Don't take my Eri to be normal kid. She survived being an experimental subject without her mind being broken. Even most of the adults would have lost their mind or break down, if they were subjected to the treatment which Eri had to go through. Eri is already strong and I don't want her to become dull, lazy and soft in my care.
It's not like I am going to be super strict on her and deny her every request. But these harsh but true words will be occasional, and enough to sharpen her and not let her become dull. When she is old to leave her nest and go out, she will be able to go on hand-in-hand with the world without any help from others."
"You know. You sounded like my dad now." Fuyumi snickered while comparing me with Endeavor.
"Maybe I am like your dad. Then, If Eri brought her boyfriend in the future, to meet me and get my approval, I will ignore him and will not give my approval. And when he asks for a fight to get my approval, then I will beat the shit out of him and then give him my approval."
We shared a small laugh but Fuyumi was still concerned about Eri. She does not want Eri to go through even 1% of childhood what she had to go through in her childhood. But she also believes in me that I am doing all this for Eri.
While she was thinking, Sound of small steps came from the stairs. Fuyumi and I turned to look and she saw Eri running towards me.
She came near me and gestured me to lower my head. I complied and brought my head to her level. She quickly gave a peck on my cheek and ran away upstairs.
But before closing the door of the room, she turned around,
"Thank You Papa!! I will be a good girl and be responsible for taking care of him....
And yes Sakamoto-san said thank you for rescuing him." She then closed the door.
'Sakamoto-san? She is so happy that she even named the cat in 15 minutes. But shouldn't the name be inspired from her favorite cartoons like Tom or Butch.... Well kids' mind process in ways that the adults are unable to understand.' I thought.
"Did you saw what happened? In one moment she was crying and now she is all happy. Kids have a simple mind. Teach them good lessons and that will help them for their entire life; Teach them a bad one; and you ruined their entire life. Look.... she just promised me to be a good girl from now." I said proudly to Fuyumi.
"But didn't you said to her that she promised the same thing 2 days earlier?" Fuyumi asked with her eyebrows raised.
"What more do you expect from a 4 year-old kid Fuyumi?" I said to her with a smile on my face. To this she just rolled her eyes.
__________________________________
[In Eri's Room]
"Sakamoto-san. Thank you for telling me how much Papa thinks about me and my future. This time I will definitely be a good girl and live up to his expectations." Eri said and pumped her fist, showing determination in her eyes.
"Yeah.. Yeah.. Whatever you do kid.. just don't tell that monster that I can talk.. or I don't know how will he react?" A young adult male voice came from Eri's bed. And when you look at the bed, you will find a scared black cat lying on the comfortable mattress.
"Yes.. Sakamoto-san. This will be secret between us. You just act like a normal cat and everything will be fine. Papa won't find about you. Don't worry, He won't hurt you. Papa is a good man, he never kills good people. He kills only bad people." Eri reassured the scared cat.
'And if do something to you, I will be a 'bad people' in his eyes. And I don't think he will even hesitate to do what he said.'
The Cat or Sakamoto-san sighed and looked forward to his life in this house with a Mother and Daughter who care about him and the Demon King Father who threatens to skin him alive and make a scarf out of his precious fur.
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