exaltking’s wish…
『Yatogami, please, save the kitten from the tree.』
…has been heard, loud and clear.
❝ Stupid cat.❞
A glare of annoyance, that was not uncommon on the god’s usual arsenal of looks, was directed to one of the branches of a particularly tall tree—a cat, of distinct orange fur and quite bright sky-blue eyes, clawed to the wood in evident fright; it might have been clever enough to reach the top in a pair of swift leaps, but had deemed incompetent to find a way back down to the bottom--as ridiculous as it seemed for an animal of natural skill.
And of course, who else better to accomplish the task of recovering the trapped cat than the ever callous and coldblooded God of Calamity?
❝ You can always reject silly requests like these, you know.❞
His look turned now, down to the girl sitting on the ground a few meters away from him—watching amused while he was ideating strategies to get the cat and huffed protests to it.
His face scrunched. ❝ No. It would be unbecoming of a god like me not doing a simple wish of this kind.❞ In reality, he’d felt relieved of getting a lighthearted one like this—one that didn’t involve killing someone or ravaging on an entire household—so he was more than willing to gain this easy five yen, as absurd as the demand seemed to be.
He glanced back up to the feline. ❝ It doesn’t look hard anyway, I’ll get this one done in a blink.❞
❝ If you say so.❞ Her mocking smile merely grew. Ah, was this man really going to do silly requests to avoid his own nature? She wondered silently.
A grunt left his lips, and so he charged to the tree; with carefully calculated moves (as if he was a feline himself, ironically), he climbed over the trunk and up to the top. Reaching the level of the cat had been a piece of cake—he had escalated trees before, after all—but now, the trick had seemed to actually get his hands on it; the branch looked quite thin for him to move on it.
A careful test tap to the branch made it sway lightly, but it had scared the cat anyway—made it leap farther away from him, much to his chagrin. He winced. Now what?
…Ah, screw it. He was a god, what was gravity and weight for a spiritual being anyway?
One hand held front, his thighs secured him in place on the wooden extend. He slid with the utmost delicacy, attention kept on every sound the branch made. When close enough to the feline, his fingers released their hold and reached front for it—
But it had seemed to backfire, for the cat was scared again. But instead of taking steps far from him again, it jolted to him. Claws dug to the skin of his face.
❝ Argh--!! Let go!❞
In the mid of his fight with the animal, he had unconsciously released his careful grab on the branch—he lost his balance, and in the blink of an eye his body wasn’t holding onto wood anymore. He fell, quite fast down and leaving no point of reaction—and when his back hit hard ground, he could swear he heard the breaking of bones.
His bones, for the cat had landed neatly on his chest and almost immediately fled from scene. Unlike him, whose body lay limp on the ground. A groan, perhaps of pain or of utter frustration, left him afterwards.
The stray, though, was too occupied in giggling at her master’s unfortunate occurrence.
❝ Hiiiroooo…….❞ He whined, already feeling his right leg unable to move. ❝ I need a hand over ‘eeere--❞
But she didn’t move, instead tilting her head with an amused smile still adorning her lips. ❝ We could have cut the branch and caught the cat in the fall.❞
❝ You would have cut the cat along the branch, though.❞
❝ Not if you asked me not to.❞
He gritted his teeth. ❝ Then why didn’t you--❞
❝ Because seeing you climb it and fall later seemed more amusing.❞ She finally stood from her place, and stepped up next to him—leaning and grabbing the five yen coin that fell from his grasp. ❝ Would you look at it? Seems to not be your thing “saving”, after all.❞
