The calm finally drained from Koneko's face, replaced by pure incredulity. I've been petting her for this long, and now you tell me the cat I'm holding is the sister who's been missing for years?
"Meow?"
Seeing everyone's gaze fixed on her, the black cat tilted her head and let out a soft cry.
It has to be a joke, right?
Akeno and Koneko waited for the cat to transform, but when it only let out a meow, they both felt a secret surge of relief.
Rhode first laid Lavinia down on the sofa, then walked over, grabbed the black cat by the scruff of the neck, and tossed her toward an open space nearby.
"Go! I choose you!"
She was usually so sharp; why was she playing dumb now that he'd explicitly called her out?
Caught in that unceremonious toss, the black cat finally shifted back into her human form before hitting the ground. As the girl in the black kimono manifested before them, Akeno's eyes narrowed in surprise. Koneko, however, was trembling from head to toe, her eyes wide with shock as she recognized the girl's face.
Once the transformation was complete, Kuroka didn't greet her sister immediately. Instead, she glared huffily at Rhode. "You jerk! Why did you just pick me up and throw me without a word, meow?! I hate it when people grab me by the neck, meow!"
Watching this, the Fallen Angel trio couldn't help but think: Has anyone aside from Rhode actually had the guts to grab you by the neck until now?
Seeing that Rhode was completely ignoring her, Kuroka turned to avoid further embarrassment and waved cheerfully at the stunned Koneko.
"Hello, Shirone! It's your big sister~"
"Sister Kuroka..."
As if responding to the first words of a long-awaited reunion, Koneko barely managed to squeeze those few syllables out.
"Actually, when I saw Shirone last time, I wanted to come out and talk to you, meow. But a certain hateful human wouldn't let me transform, meow!"
Rhode didn't mind her verbal sniping; he simply made a mental note in his "account book" to be a very dedicated "cat lover" again once this was over.
"The reason I didn't let her show herself before was to avoid a misunderstanding. But since you've come to me for help, it's a good time for a sisterly reunion. Kuroka is an expert in Senjutsu; she can guide Koneko to adapt to her bloodline much faster."
Akeno looked hesitant. "But if word gets out that a wanted criminal of the Underworld is here, I'm afraid..."
"Just a misunderstanding. It'll be cleared up sooner or later," Rhode said dismissively.
"Shirone, did you miss me after all these years? I missed you so, so much, meow!" Kuroka could no longer contain her excitement and moved to pull Koneko into a deep sisterly embrace.
However, before she could take more than a few steps, Koneko backed away, extending a hand to block her. Her face was twisted with a hint of resentment.
"Don't come over here! I am not your sister!"
Koneko's words made Kuroka freeze on the spot, stuck between advancing and retreating.
"What's wrong, Shirone, meow? I'm your real, one-and-only sister, meow! I'm not some weirdo in disguise, meow!" To prove her point, Kuroka even pulled at her own cheeks.
Koneko wasn't buying it. "I have no sister. My sister died the day she abandoned me!"
Koneko's current emotions were similar to Akeno's. She would accept the power of the bloodline within her, but she would not accept the sister who had left her behind without a second thought.
"Back then, you clearly threw me away and didn't care! Do you have any idea what horrible things the people around me said to me after that?! And now, you just appear out of nowhere without a word and expect to be close to me... My sister is long gone!"
"That... I... I didn't mean to, meow! It was an emergency! I wanted to take Shirone with me, meow, but there wasn't enough time, and pursuers were constantly chasing me, so I had to run, meow! It's not that I didn't want to take you, meow!"
Kuroka was so anxious she started scratching her head. She cared deeply about her only living relative in the world.
"So, you still chose to abandon me back then," Koneko said, her tone resolute.
"I... I, Shirone, I don't know how to explain it, meow! Master, help me, meow! Say something, meow!"
Kuroka was currently acting like a frantic monkey. Seeing that Koneko refused to listen to her explanation, she could only turn to Rhode for help.
"I'm sorry about what happened to you in the past, Koneko. But it's as Kuroka says—she didn't abandon you on purpose."
Rhode then stepped in as the spokesperson for the linguistically challenged Kuroka, explaining the truth behind why she had killed her High-class Devil master and become a Stray Devil.
A branch of the Naberius family was conducting research on Artificial Transcendents. While the research itself wasn't a crime, the process was utterly inhumane. Kuroka had been used as a test subject multiple times, but when the Naberius family decided they wanted to perform human experiments on Koneko, it crossed Kuroka's ultimate line. She went into "Spinotsaurus mode" and killed her original master.
"It's a bit ironic. The research they conducted enhanced Kuroka's strength, which she then used to kill them. One could call it karma."
"As for why she left you behind, it's because Kuroka wanted to shoulder all the blame herself. If she had taken you, you would have become a Stray Devil too—homeless, hunted, and chased by every Devil in existence."
"Am I right, Kuroka?"
"Yes, yes, yes! That's it! That's exactly what I was thinking, meow!" No matter how slow Kuroka usually was, she caught on quickly this time, nodding frantically in agreement with Rhode.
While her intent had indeed been to protect Koneko, leaving her sister behind was undeniably her mistake. Moreover, Shirone was living a decent life in Kuoh Town now; compared to Kuroka, she was much better suited to being a "house cat." That had been one of her reasons for leaving her sister behind.
Koneko hesitated, her expression wavering.
"Koneko, what do you think?" Akeno asked softly.
Koneko's past was pitiful, but at least her sister was willing to come back for her. In contrast, Akeno's own father had never appeared once after everything that happened, offering not even a single explanation.
Koneko lowered her head, her fists clenched tight. "Because of my sister, I had a very difficult time."
"I hate her. I loathe her. But... if this is the truth, I... I plan to believe her just once. At least until the next time she lies to me."
Before Koneko could even finish her sentence, Kuroka rushed forward and pulled her little sister into a tight hug.
"Shirone! I knew you would forgive me, meow! I won't lie to you again! I'll never leave you again, meow!"
In her emotional state, Kuroka's ears and tail popped out, and she kept rubbing her cheek against Shirone's.
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