Rasputin wants to eat

I cradled my head, Rasputin followed me behind, rustled when I suddenly woke up and almost stepped on him who slept on the floor. I think it got attached to me for some reason, I picked it up, intending to go to the Kitchen to get some warm beverages.

The hallway is dark and void of life, the silence never bothered me. There's the occasion of loud dog barking outside the alley. Belfast and Nao had escorted Negev to her room earlier, though I still wonder how she fit in naturally with the rest of the gang without fuss. Even Chika.

"Putty what do you want?"

I said to the little kitten, his footstep eagerly follows his curious eyes when I opened the refrigerator. Milk jugs, parmesan cheese, a few bundles of vegetables and iced meat were placed on the bottom. I chuckled when Rasputin tried to jump higher but his feeble legs didn't allow it.

I picked him up and held him higher, "See anything you like?"

"Mew!" It immediately latched onto the meat wrapped in plastic. "Light snack only." What do little kittens eat anyway, can they chew hard meat like that? I probably have to ground it into soft paste first to make it digestible.

Giving them cow's milk or any other variant is strictly a big no, and so does most of human beverage. The stereotype of Tom who likes to drink dairy milk is completely false, since it could give them some stomach and digestive related problems. I think I have to ask Belfast to buy a few supplies of KMR or cat milk tomorrow morning.

Huh, this is surprisingly relaxing even though it's another extra chore.

In the end, I just provided the little Rasputin some warm water. I minced a chunk of meat then fried it rarely to make it up. I guess this is enough, the poor kitten hasn't eaten anything since the party.

"Mew!" It mewled happily as it scarfed down the meat on the plate. Huhu, I'm sorry for neglecting you. Chika told me his breed is those of Siberian, I hope Japanese weather is treating him better. Oh well, she probably got him from some pet store somewhere. Rasputin looks well groomed and docile nearby human.

Seeing the cat carefully picked its meat, makes me somehow sleepy. The kitchen is only lit up by a single small lamp. I didn't bother to turn everything else. It's just a force of old habit. I made myself a hot serving of chocolate milk to end the day as I waited for Rasputin to finish his meal.

"You'll get up fat at this rate, eating in the middle of night." I poked Rasputin on its head. It mewled as saying, none of your business, with annoyed glance before continuing to eat. Cheeky brat.

I put the dirty plate along the cup to the sink, letting Belfast or Ai deal with it in the morning.

"Let's go, I'm sleepy." I said to the kitten, yawning and stretching my body. As expected, the hallway is as creepy as ever, though I have a little protective charm following behind me. Haha, ghosts can't do shit against the power of cuteness.

Still, at the far end of the darkened hall, I swear I saw a lone figure standing. I blinked, it's still there.

"Mew!!" Rasputin said as saying, I'm not dealing with this, and run off somewhere. Little traitor, just you watch, it's probably Belfast. Though the height is a bit off as the shadow is fairly taller than me.

I had drifted o'er seas without ending

Huh? What is that sound. Gibberish but I can hear it uttered like a whisper. The figure stepped closer to me. I saw no magical thread to discern the phenomena. It's either just a prank or I'm dealing something beyond my normal and magical senses.

Under sinister grey-clouded skies

As a magus I'm familiar myself with magical phenomenon, so spirit or wraith is not the outside of the realm of possibilities. No, it's just one of them, a drip in the wide ocean. Though I know this building is not that cursed or something, but I had a hunch that with so many dirty secrets kept in here, it generated enough miasma to create or lure some parasitic creatures.

That the many-fork'd lightning is rending,

Even with the moon shining from the side of the window, I can't still discern its true face.

That resound with hysterical cries;

What, was that? It tried to talk to me. Is it my delusion, it this just my imagination? The shadow blipped in and out of my eyes, fooling me and thinking it was just some hallucination.

Bullets are useless in this closed space and I'm not studying alchemy or transmutation to craft something that can pierce through magical means other than reinforcement and a few of my spatial spells.

With the moans of invisible daemons that rise out of the green waters.

I was about to pull my dagger mystic-code but something stopped me.

"A-Ai? What are you doing here?"

"Akagi-sama, that's supposed to be my question. To answer that, I'm going to the kitchen because I left something there."

Are they playing a trick on me, pulling the wool over my eyes? This can't be possible, what about that whispering. Something is not right.

"Is that really you Ai!?"

"Hyaa!"

I touched her shoulder, she meeped in surprise. Yeah, this is a real genuine Ai I had come to know. I quickly let go my hand from her.

"Where were you this whole time then?"

She blushed, fidgeting under the moonlight shone from the window, "How do I explain… well basically I don't want to expose my occupation as a maid… that's why I was in the kitchen the whole time…"

The only people from outside there were Chika, so she was hiding from her? "You know at this point, you're practically in the spotlight, even when we went to Sakhalin. Ai you realized, that right?"

"No one would bother with that, Akagi-sama! Most teenagers are shallow nowadays anyway… I'm sure it'll be safe… I think."

I simply palmed; she had the right point but I do still think that hiding it is pointless. As long as it doesn't impact her performance, then I won't have a say in it.

"Also, Akagi-sama, here's your present. I'm about to give you this tomorrow morning."

She handed me a fairly tiny box, fitted into my single palm. I opened it, and chuckled.

"A ring? Isn't this being too soon Ai?"

"I don't mean that, Akagi-sama." You're joking. I bought it from a peddler back in Sakhalin, the metal and carving are made with high craftsmanship skill from what I've seen. It's on discount so I ended up buying it with your gift on mind."

She didn't have any pocket money left if I recall at the time. I don't mind either, as they said, it's the feeling that matters.

"True." I eyed the piece of metal up on my hand. Discerning the green energy lazily wafting around it. It's just one ordinary piece of metal, nothing seems strange at first glance. There's an exquisite crafting, two wreaths of rose intertwined together on each side, and beneath it I can discern what it looks like as a large stem.

Both ended up on the fairly large green pristine jewel on the center which I'm certain would cost a fortune if sold separately. How the peddler sold this article with such a cheap price of about 2.000 Yen is beyond me.

Or maybe there's some intention I don't know about. I brought the ring back to its container and left it in storage by feign putting it in one of my pockets. We chat about for a few times until I left her on her lonesome in the kitchen.

The journey back wasn't as eerie as before. I feel a mild headache when staring at the ring for too long, especially when my focus shifted to the green wafting tendrils around it. The inventory only says it's an ordinary ring.

It's quite a curious piece of article, still I never dare to put it on myself. Curse is something I'm not well versed with.

In the end, I brought it back to the storage. I'm a magus, I won't be offended even if someone gave me poison, as long as it's curious enough to catch my attention. I doubt even Ai intentionally gave this to me, it's just coincidence.

Putty was scratching and mewling on front of the door, demanding to be let in. I picked the little traitor up and went to sleep.