**Episode 021: Transformation!!**

“Meow…”
“Ahh… so soothing.”

I lay the kitten that had been sleeping in my arms on a cardboard box, covering it with a blanket. The sight of the kitten mewling softly while sleeping is too cute, making my heart flutter.

What is this adorable creature?

“Enough, go organize your stuff for a moment.”
“Ugh, fine.”

Resisting the urge to stay with the kitten, despite Satoshi giving me a disgusted look, I head to an extra room in the house.

Taking out supplies from my bag, I arrange them in the room by type. The bag is large enough to fill almost two rooms, but this renovated house is unnecessarily spacious, so it’s manageable.

“Phew, that should do it. Wait for me, little kitten!”

After finishing organizing the items, I immediately head to the kitten I picked up.

“Kuu… so cute…”

Hearing Shuji’s voice from the slightly opened door, I sneak a peek. There, I see a high school boy with a fierce look, but with softened eyes as he gazes at the kitten lying in the cardboard box.

He’s falling for it too. Shuji is smitten.

“What are you doing?”
“Shh. It’s a good time right now.”

I turn to the person who spoke, putting my index finger to my lips, gesturing for quiet.

“Let’s see… haha. Shuji-kun likes cute things, so I heard. He hasn’t shown that side in public lately, though.”
“That’s true.”

Peeking from above, I understand why I was watching. I reveal Shuji’s unexpected side.

Although he has become more rugged in appearance, his love for cute things hasn’t changed since he was a child.

“Well, I think it’s about time, Shuji-kun.”
“Ngh. You were here? And Rokudo too!?”

Satoshi opens the door to the room where Shuji is, where he’s blushing and holding his arms.

Sudden interruption makes Shuji flustered.

“Well, yeah.”
“I saw it. If you like cats that much, you should have just said so.”
“I-I don’t like them!!”

We approach Shuji with a teasing glance, and he protests while blushing.

Does he think we haven’t noticed that he likes cute things?

It was such a meaningless action.

“Who benefits from a tsundere high school boy?”
“Girls?”
“I don’t know.”
“Shut up!!”

Satoshi and I exchange glances, and Shuji retorts with annoyance.

“Nyaa?”

Perhaps because we were noisy, the kitten in the cardboard box starts moving, slowly opening its eyes.

We peer into the box.

“Nyaa!! Nyaa!!”

The kitten looks around, and when it stops at my face, it meows cheerfully, leaning against the side of the box, trying to climb but not having enough strength.

The adorable sight of the kitten, with its baby-like body and round eyes, struggling, makes my cheeks relax unconsciously.

“Is it trying to come closer to you?”
“Maybe because we saved it?”
“Could be.”

One possible reason is that we used magic to save this cat. It might have remembered the smell or my face faintly in its consciousness.

“Here, here.”
“Nyaa!! Nyaa!!”

When I pick it up and hold it, it rubs its head against my chest, meowing happily.

“This is too cute, I might die from moe.”
“It’s friendly.”
“I envy you…”

The cuteness of the kitten’s actions tightens my heart too much. Satoshi watches the kitten’s behavior curiously, while Shuji gazes at it intently.

“What should we name it?”
“Nyaa!!”

Since we picked it up, we intend to raise it. So, we want to give it a name. The kitten seems to understand the concept of a name and is now more affectionate than before.

“Looks like it wants you to name it?”
“Maybe because we saved it?”
“Could be.”

While I contemplate, if you guys have any good suggestions, we might go with those.

“Well, how about Mochi? It’s white.”
“Nyaa!!”

Satoshi’s suggestion doesn’t seem to please the kitten; it turns its head away.

“Ugh, no good.”
“Then, how about Jennifer? It means white wave in English.”

Satoshi groans disappointingly, and Shuji suggests a name with a dangerous enthusiasm.

“……”

In the desperation of Shuji’s suggestion, the three of us and the kitten stare at him without saying anything.

“Th-this is a joke, just a joke. Like, who cares about the name!!”

It seems that we couldn’t withstand the silent intimidation either, as Shuji, who came back to his senses, hurriedly makes excuses and pretends that the name he just thought of didn’t exist.

Nevertheless, what should we do…

A pure white fur, a well-defined face, and blue eyes. It evokes the image of angelic wings and those eyes. Angel.

But keeping it like that would be too much, so taking one character, Enju. However, if we change the last character, how about Enjyu? It sounds a bit better.

“If that’s the case, how about Enjyu? I thought of it by taking a hint from this little one’s colors, thinking it sounds somewhat angelic.”

“I think it’s fine if the little one likes it.”

“Y-yeah. The word ‘Enjyu’ has a good meaning in Japanese, like longevity or something. So, it’s not bad in that sense too, right?”

The feelings of the two seem not bad.

Still…

“How do you even know about that?”
“J-just happened.”

Shuji answers my question, sweating coldly and turning his face away. Definitely not just a coincidence.

In any case, Shuji may look intimidating, but he’s kind and does well in his studies. It’s not surprising even if he knows such things.

“What do you think of the name Enjyu?”

“Nyaa!!”

When I ask the kitten in my arms, it meows as if confirming the name.

“Confirmation of naming. Entering into a magical contract. However, due to the unregistered species, a species transformation will be executed. The transformed species is Angel Cat.”

The moment Enjyu accepts the name, a voice echoes in my mind, similar to the level-up announcement.

“Nyaaaiii!!”

Simultaneously, Enjyu’s body shines, rises into the air, and lets out a loud cry after floating.

“What!?”
“I-is it okay?”
“I don’t know. Right after naming it, there was an announcement in my head, and this happened.”

Satoshi is puzzled by the sudden situation, and Shuji asks me worriedly. However, as it’s also my first time experiencing this, all I can do is explain what just happened.

“What on earth is happening…”

We could only watch the scene unfold.

Enjyu’s pure white silhouette transforms, growing a bit larger, and from its body emerge something like a pair of wings, and a golden ring resembling an angel’s halo appears above its head.

And the moment the transformation is complete, the enveloping light disappears, revealing Enjyu’s form.

There, Enjyu, who was a white kitten, remains in the state of a kitten but has grown to about fifty centimeters in size, with a pair of pure white wings on its back, a golden ring shining like an angel’s halo above its head, and it’s floating in the air.

“Nii.”

Enjyu, who had closed its eyes, opens them, and as soon as it sees my face, it meows and floats toward me, rubbing against my face while still floating.

“What happened to you…”

We could only be dumbfounded by the transformation that occurred after naming Enjyu.