- Ichihime had been acting weird recently
- I just really care about Ichihime's wellbeing. Definitely not interested in any gossip!
Not knowing what happened to Ichihime, I wanted to ask those familiar with her first. I went to Wanjirou, but he immediately asked me to forget about it.
[Wanjirou]I suggest you not ask her anything.
[player]Why?
[Wanjirou]See this mark on my face? She gave it to me the last time I asked. Tsk, she hit me hard.
I carefully examined Wanjirou's face and found three visible scars under his short fur. Looked like they were left by some sharp blade.
Well, I better not ask her then. Girls at her age often have some secrets, I don't want Ichihime to think that I want to spy on her.
I had no choice but to give up investigating.
I never thought that over the next few days, Ichihime's situation didn't improve but got worse. I even saw a lot of dirt on her clothes once when she rushed into the room.
Given that she didn't want to explain to us, I decided to follow her secretly to find out what she had been doing.
I pretended to be chatting with Wanjirou in the garden of Mahjong Soul Shrine. When we saw Ichihime sneaking out, Wanjirou and I exchanged looks and followed her stealthily.
Central Park
Ichihime didn't go to anywhere remote. Instead, she came to the central park. It was a very busy place with lots of children playing every day.
However, she didn't play with the kids in the sandpit but watched them from the bush behind the bench instead.//nWe were too far away and could not see the look on her face.
A football suddenly flew over and hit Ichihime's head hard.
[Ichihime]Nyaa—
Frightened Ichihime jumped out of the bush and bumped into the boy who was trying to pick up the ball.
[Boy A]Woah—the monster has come again!
Hearing his screams, the boy's friends gathered over.
[Ichihime]I am not a monster!
[Girl A]Look at her ears and tail! Does she remind you of the man-eating cat monster?
[Boy B]Argh—so scary!
All the kids immediately ran away, screaming. A few bold ones even picked up stones from the ground and threw at Ichihime.
Wanjirou and I rushed over to help Ichihime leave the central park.
Mahjong Soul Shrine
After returning to Mahjong Soul Shrine, I felt that Ichihime's recent behaviors probably had something to do with what happened today, so I followed Ichihime to her room.
[player]Ichihime, do you know what the man-eater cat monster was all about?
[Ichihime]Recently, there was this strange website-nyaa... It said a man-eating cat monster appeared in the central park, and posted an image that looked really like Ichihime.
Ichihime opened a website on my phone as she spoke.
Looked really like...? That was just a photo of Ichihime herself!!!//nThe photo looked like a sneak shot taken in the central park. There were also some notes about the cat monster written in red. It was very suspicious.
[player]Did you go to the central park because of this rumor?
[Ichihime]Nyaa... Ichihime is a priestess. How can I just sit and watch the cat monster hurt innocent people? I was hiding in the park, trying to protect them, but I never thought...
[player]You never thought that they could mistaken you for the monster cat.
[Ichihime]Master...
I saw grievance and resentment from Ichihime's eyes.//nThis incident was definitely planned and I must investigate. But what should I do?
It's time to bring my great friends