'I-It spoke?' Sylvester was shocked as the cat talked warmly in a young male's voice. At the same time, he smelled a tingling sweet aroma of boiling caramel.
"Little human kitten, fear me not. I shall feed you and care for you like my own." The cat proceeded with another warm fluffy hug. His little sniffs tickled Sylvester around the neck.
"..."
"How can you speak?" Sylvester asked it directly since nobody else was around.
The cat backed away and sat down. "Me? What about you? How can you speak, little one? I remember seeing a human kitten seven centuries ago. It bit my tail and was so dumb."
'Although it's a friendly cat, I don't know if it belongs to someone. What if it tells its owner? Wait--'
"Seven hundred years ago? How old are you?"
The cat quickly chirped, "Very old. Umm... One thousand? How much is that? No, more! Ugh... I don't remember."
"Where do you live, and who feeds you?" He indirectly asked to learn about its owner, not taking its age talk seriously.
The furry cat stood on its hind legs and thumped its chest with its paw. "I catch the food myself. And right here I sleep, at the entrance. My caretaker said I should wait when she went to the healer. She feeds me tasty fish. She's the best!"
'Oh, it's going to tell its master.' Sylvester was troubled. He looked around himself to see what options he had. 'Should I kill it?'
He glanced at the cat's face. It appeared as if it was smiling, and its eyes showed excitement. Some guilt flickered in Sylvester's mind, but he knew what he must do.
"So, when will your caretaker return?"
It purred all of a sudden and sorrowfully looked down. "She hasn't returned, but I wait here every day. I know she will eventually come back."
"Days? How long has she been gone?"
"Five hundred years," the white cat replied confidently this time, as if proud of being able to keep track of such a long time.
"..."
Sylvester had no idea if this cat was being serious or was just misinterpreting the time. But this story reminded him of a dog from his past world. "Is your name Hachikō?"
It confusedly tilted its head. "No, she calls me Chonky."
Sylvester took a long sigh and relaxed his mind. Since he did not trust the cat's words and was worried about it revealing his secret, he could only think of one way. He crawled closer to it and put an arm around its back. "Chonky, come with me. I will get you tasty fish."
He decided to keep the cat close by. Since it was amicable, the chances of making this cat loyal to himself were high. He reckoned, 'I've done it with humans. How hard would it be to manipulate a cat mentally?'
"Really?" Chonky rejoiced and hugged him again. He certainly was a strange clingy cat.
"Yes, just follow me. But remember, you cannot speak or expect me to speak when anyone else is around. Okay?"
"Meow!" Chonky diligently nodded. Sounding like a normal cat for the first time.
After so long, Sylvester had a moment of heartfelt laughter. The cat who was adopting him ended up getting adopted by him. "You're too gullible, Chonky. But remind me to give you a new name later."
"Chonky not good?"
"Well, it's cute, but you're not fat at all. Chonky means plump and round."
Chonky stopped moving with him and stood on his hind legs to look at his belly. It was flat as always. Even his face was well-toned. Then, he sat down and looked at his back. "Chonky only fluffy, not fat. But I like this name."
Sylvester crawled close to it and patted Chonky's head. "We can keep that as a nickname. But your real name should seem strong and mighty."
Chonky's eyes shone as he nodded fervently. "Yes, yes... I am mighty. Come, sit on my back. I take you everywhere."
'Indeed, he's too gullible.' Sylvester thought and obliged by climbing onto Chonky's back.
He was self-aware that as a baby, he was a fatass. So he was surprised that Chonky could move around swiftly despite so much weight on his back.
He felt it was a psychological win as well because by giving Chonky a new name, he would be creating a permanent bond in the cat's head, hence leaving fewer chances of betrayal.
On top of that. 'I've got myself a nice soft ride.'
...
Xavia returned home in a hurry that afternoon to feed Sylvester. It was her own lunch break, but she decided not to waste time eating first.
"Aa! Max! What happened? Are you hurt?" Her heart exploded in panic when she saw Sylvester's body lying outside near the cradle. He was sleeping on his stomach, so it was hard to know if he was breathing.
She rushed fast and picked him up. "Max!"
"Hmm?" Sylvester opened his eyes slowly while rubbing them. He looked left and right and remembered he was dead, and this was life 2.0 for him.
"Elo." He quickly got into his professional role and tapped on Xavia's nose, appearing cute.
Xavia sent magic into his body and checked it. Sensing he was fine, she looked at the floor and found a cushion. Then, she noticed the utensils and food boxes littered on the kitchen floor. It didn't take her much time to understand what must have happened. "Oh, you, always scaring your mama. Come now, you must be hungry."
'Indeed, my excursion cost me a lot of energ... Wait!'
He remembered Chonky, the furry boy, and looked down. The cat was still there, sleeping like a log. But for some reason, he didn't see any reaction from Xavia. He needed to know if she was going to allow him to stay.
"Mama, woo." He pointed at the floor.
Xavia looked and knelt a little to pick something up. "You want the toy?"
"..."
"Kitty!" He voiced one word. To keep the persona of a child, he had limited himself to only five words for now.
"Oh, we don't have a cat toy, sweetie. I will make you a stuffed one later, okay?" She said and plopped the nipple into his mouth.
He, too, was hungry and closed his eyes. But in his mind, he wondered.
'Why did she not see Chonky? He's a big cat...what's going on?'
Half an hour later, Xavia put him back into the cradle and tucked him under the blanket. She kissed his forehead and left for her classes once again. She knew she could not stop him from getting out, so she placed various pillows around the cradle.
But as soon as she left, Sylvester threw his small squishy teddy at the white cat. "Hey, wake up! Chonky!"
"F-Fish? Fish? Fish!" The cat woke up with a jolt of excitement.
"..."
"No, there are no fish. Come up here, I have some questions for you."
Chonky quickly jumped into the cradle and sat down like a gentleman. He also sniffed Sylvester. "Milk?"
"Yes, my mother was here. Tell me why she couldn't see you? You were right there."
The cat started to groom himself by licking and replied, "Nobody can see Chonky."
"Huh, what do you mean nobody can see you? Elaborate."
"I don't know why you see me. You're the first since my last caretaker, so I took you in. But I'll be good and wait for her at the entrance."
"Can't people touch you?" he asked further.
Chonky quickly responded, "They can. Once that bad lady stepped on my tail and hurt me. I got angry and scratched her back. She screamed 'ghost' and ran away. But I'm no ghost, I'm Chonky. Stupid lady."
It dawned on Sylvester then that whatever Chonky had told him before might be true. His last caretaker left him five hundred years ago, and he was more than a thousand years old. His innocence betrayed his age, but it was understandable if he lived most of his life without being in touch with anyone else.
He felt bad for the cat because it may have waited 500 years in isolation for his caretaker, who was probably dead somewhere and didn't know.
But then, a new question occurred. Chonky was certainly not a cat, then what the hell was he? A magical creature?
"What are you?" Sylvester asked.
Chonky stopped licking and puffed out his chest. "I am a mighty cat, Chonky. Oh-oh... look, I can also do this!"
The furred fellow opened his jaws wide and sucked the air. A dark and endless depth seemed to appear in his mouth, increasing the suction.
Woosh!—Sylvester's pillows got sucked away and effortlessly vanished into Chonky's little mouth.
"See! Hehe, I can eat anything... I once ate a horse carriage too." He proudly proclaimed.
"..."
It was a day of mad revelations for Sylvester. From an invisible talking cat to this, the time taken was too little for his human brain to bear. He felt like he was dreaming while on drugs.
His jaw dangled in shock as he quickly crawled to Chonky and used his hands to open the jaws. "Where did it go? How did you do that?"
Chonky patted his hands away and moved back a little. "It's simple. I just need to vomit it out now."
"Uwaaa...!"
"Uuuughaaa...!"
'I-Is he seriously going to vomit?'
"Uwaaaa...!" At last, the pillows returned to the cradle. They looked a bit crumpled but were in perfect condition. However, Chonky did not stop and proceeded to vomit some sort of sticky liquid.
When he was done, he licked his whiskers clean and sat proudly. "See, it's so simple."
"Can you store anything in there? Let's say a sword or potions?" Sylvester asked as he realised the living gift that was sitting in front of his eyes. A walking, invisible closet. It could be such a boon in this world, he thought.
Chonky nodded. "Yes, I can keep everything. My caretaker also used me all the time. So you can use me too..." He licked his mouth and looked towards the kitchen.
"For a fish."
Sylvester cheered in his mind. 'That's dirt cheap. Just a fish? Even a mountain of fish is nothing for this. This is amazing… Whichever god I prayed to for this life, I thank you for this gift. Chonky may just be the one to help me in this plight and assist in all my upcoming fights.'
Seeing Chonky as a goldmine, Sylvester pulled him closer and made this cat sleep beside him. He couldn't believe he was thinking of killing him not long ago. Also, for some reason, Chonky now seemed cuter than before.
"Come here, be my pillow," he invited. "Ah, one more thing. I have thought of a name for you."
"Really?!" Chonky's eyes gleamed as he laid down beside Sylvester.
The name came to Sylvester's mind as he watched him perform the portable closet magic. He felt the name befit the fluffy boy. "You are not an ordinary cat, Chonky. You appear cute and harmless, but then you don't appear to others at all. You can perform feats that defeat nature's laws. You are like an illusion... so I name you after a word for that.
"Chonky, you'll be called 'Miraj' from now on."
Chonky stopped all motions for a few seconds as if he was processing it. And soon, he started to purr and meowed a few times.
"Miraj? Hmm... Miraj—I LOVE IT!"
[A/N: I tweaked the spelling for Mirage a bit because later, there will be a desert arc. It will be very confusing when MC will talk about real mirages then.]
[A/N: Check the para comment to see a more detailed map of the east side of the continent where the story arc takes place.]
450 Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
YOU STONE! I WRITE MORE!
