"Unlimited Rulebook"

Ononoki Yotsugi said, as she unleashed whatever that move or more like that brute force attack was called, blowing away half of the monkey oddity that I, the Curse Cat and that little girl vampire were barely holding our own against.

In other words, that Corpse Doll exterminyated the oddity that the vampire and I were having so much trouble with, just like swatting a fly. Ah- I guess just saying that would've been simpler nyan?

Essentially, the two of us were saved from the brink of death by that emotionless little girl, but I still had a little trouble wrapping my head around it. Maybe it's because I'm just stupid.

No, that's nyot it.

The vampire looked just as out of it as me. I knyew that the two of them weren't on very good terms from the little bit of their conversation I heard (I guess I'm more sensitive to what goes on between people because I'm a cat), but regardless of that, it was written all over the vampire's face that she nyever thought she'd see the day when she'd be saved by that Corpse Doll.

In actuality.

She... didn't really save us.

"That’s right. I was just doing my job."

Ononoki Yotsugi said. That doll or whatever she was, it was always a mystery to me, said without batting an eye after driving off the monkey oddity, wearing a raincoat, that seemed to be able to control the rain.

I wasn't sure whether the nyame she told us upon arriving was her real nyame or nyot.

"I wasn't planning at all to save you Curse Cat, or you mysterious vampire."

"Who are you calling 'mysterious vampire'. You know who I am. Just the other day, me, you and that girl who's always lost, the three of us teamed up on my lord."

The Corpse Doll seemed completely unconcerned, simply turned her head to the side and said "Did we actually do that?"

"Well, like Oshino-oniichan always said, 'People can only save themselves'. Though I guess there aren't actually any 'people' here."

"..."

"..."

Right.

She could quote that aloha shirt-wearing man all she wanted, but right nyow there was only a Curse Cat oddity, a vampire oddity and a Corpse Doll oddity here. I guess also that monkey that ran off was also a oddity nyan.

"More importantly, like I just explained, mysterious vampire, we should head for that park as soon as possible, that lolicon's waiting for us."

If a lolicon was waiting there, I wouldn't want to go that kind of park nyo matter the reason, but I guess it was a code of some kind.

"Ha ha ha, well then sounds good.”

The vampire said with a quiet nyod, then quickly left. I could tell that there was something urgent going on, but how could she drag me out here then leave without even saying thanks, and on top of that leave me here alone with this emotionless girl nyaa.

"... and we may as well get rid of that monkey too."

That doesn't sound very safe nyan.

From what the vampire told me during our fight with the monkey, it was an oddity that killed oddities; a specialist of sorts. It could destroy a stray cat, or rather a stray oddity like me, on a whim if it felt like it.

Even if her goal wasn't to save us, that Corpse Doll had driven off the raincoat monkey before it crushed us to pieces, so there's nyo way she would save us from the frying pan just to throw us into to the fire.

Please don't nyan.

"Curse Cats aren't my area of expertise so I'll leave things where they are... good thing I wasn't here with onee-chan."

"..."

"Hmm? What's with the face? I said I'll let you go this time so hurry up and get out of here. You seem like you have you've got a lot to deal with anyway."

"..."

I mean.

I guess I should be pretty happy that she just let me go. I am a little angry being ignyored like that, but I really do have a lot to deal with nyow.

Nyeither of us have time to deal with each other.

But there was still one thing that I wanted to ask this rather professionyal oddity before leaving.

Maybe it'd be better to ask "Oshino-oniichan" or "onee-chan" but I ended up asking this familiar (a shikigami I think).

"... You don't really seem stressed out do you."

"Hmm?"

"It seems like you never get stressed out or lost or conflicted about anything. That must be nice. Do you just decide to do everything and nyever regret any of it?"

I got that kind of impression watching her blow away half of the monkey oddity. Nyot trying to save us, but with nyo hate towards the monkey oddity either.

It seemed like she was just doing it because she decided to.

With a professionyal sense and businyess ethics.

Just like a proud professionyal straightening their tie before a long day in the office.

Saying "It's just business".

I felt jealous of how she could cut off all of her emotions and just act.

Actually.

I guess it's nyot quite the same as being "jealous".

Actually it's completely different.

Like hell I'm feeling jealous.

I am those emotions, that stress.

I'm her innyocence.

Like a beautiful white kimonyo, her stress.

"Actually, I guess I've never regretted anything before."

The Corpse Doll replied right away.

But to me it just sounded like she was following the instruction manyual, reading out of a manyual of all the answers to the questions she imagined she'd be asked.

"In reality, it's probably the same whether I've regretted anything before or not. Emotions are just another tool to me. But I guess that's the same for humans too."

"... Hmm? What do you mean?"

"By feeling stress that they aren't really feeling or don't have to feel, humans play and the like, don't they? To me they're like tools of my trade and to humans they're like tools to play with, but in the end emotions are just tools."

"... What’s this. Are you saying that humans need stress in order to mature? Or that humans feel like they can keep going because of some random stress?"

"Both yes and no. People always say 'Other people's sadness is sweet like honey'. But really, a person's own sadness is also sweet like honey."

Just like how when honey is too thick you get heartburn.

The Corpse Doll continyued yet just like she was reading words off a page.

Being nyeither "other people" or "a person” herself, only just as a corpse.

"So," she reluctantly continyued.

"I feel sorry for your master from the bottom of my heart. She's had all fun we call 'stress' stolen from her by you. Though, you could call my sympathy more playing too."

"... Hmm."

That's a pro for you. She knyew exactly what I wanted to say. She saw through the question I was going to ask before I even really understood what it meant.

I guess so.

You could say that my master feels quite guilty about pushing all of her stress off onto me- an oddity that she created herself. But I don't think that my position is anything to be sad about at all.

We're nyot pitiful.

In fact “the people you should pity are”, I said as I looked up at the Corpse Doll.

But she had already disappeared.

Without a word of farewell, she had headed off to continyue her job.

It just showed with a sort of boredom, completely different from the way that aloha guy hated goodbyes, just how little stress I presented to her, even as a manifestation of stress itself.

She was an oddity that even a Curse Cat couldn't curse. I wasn't even a threat to her.

That Corpse Doll.

If humans are just supposed to play and being stressed out is playing, I guess it makes sense that nyot feeling any stress at all is the same as being dead.

Meaning that, you could say my master has come back to life nyow that she's begun to feel my presence.

The vampire to her "lord".

The Corpse Doll to her "onee-chan".

The Curse Cat to her "master".

The three oddities that had fought together for just a moment ended their brief moment- in which they passed by each other- and their brief misunderstanding, and each went their different ways each for their own "bosses".

The vampire for her bond.

The Corpse Doll for her work.

And then, what do I go for nyan?