Chapter 4: The Cat and Rin - Cordelia's not-so-great day!

Meanwhile , at the same time when Umi, Maki, Nico, and Honoka were finding Kotori...

(Camera placed on top-half of Eri and Nozomi; full body shot for Rin and Hanayo.)

Eri's body slumped on a long sofa situated on the long hallway at the Adventurers Guild's second floor, giving a long and exhausted sigh as she wiped off the sweat from her forehead.

"Meeeewww..." Rin mewed as she licked her ' right paw' - or right hand - and ruffled her short, orange hair.

"Well...Rin's a cat now...at least for a few days..." Eri looked in amusement.

"Nyaaahhh..." Rin crawled towards Hanayo; the former rubbed her cheeks on the latter's legs, purring softly.

Hanayo softly patted her best friend on her head, sighing and blushing in content.

"C;mon now, Eri-chii...it might not be that bad. I mean, Rin likes to be cat-like most of the time; ain't that a wish come true for her?" Nozomi chuckled softly.

"Now that you said it...yeah, but I still got a bad feeling about this." Eri shrugged.

"Why?" Nozomi wondered.

"Well, for starters, cats love to scratch stuffs, especially curtains." Eri replied.

"Yes?" Nozomi nodded.

(Camera zooms out, revealing Eri and her current skirt.)

"And that's why she nearly tore off my damn skirt just a few minutes ago!" Eri raised her skirt, only to have the tattered bits flowed with the gentle breeze that wafted from the windows.

"But that means she likes you!" Nozomi chuckled.

"Run this by me again?" Eri rolled her eyes. "Especially when we have to chase Rin as she ran around the Adventurers Guild's second storey; scratching on every wallpaper, curtains, and wooden cupboards that she can find!"

Nozomi saw the hallway and chuckled sheepishly; it was indeed in tatters, with the tattered remains of her 'victims' all over the place.

"C'mon now...those curtains are admittedly old and the cleaners in here said that they were replacing those soon days ago. Relax!" Nozomi replied.

Eri let loose a deep sigh as she shook her head, stretched her arms, and yawned.

"Yeah, right...Having us chasing Rin all through the second floor is just...uhhhh...tiring..." Eri sighed as she slept on one of the wide armchairs across the walkway.

"True..." Nozomi yawned softly as she softly close her eyes and lay her head beside Eri while sitting on the floor. "Won't be a few hours till Chris and Alito-sempai are back, so...zzzzz..."

Hanayo yawned too; chasing after Rin did indeed drained her a lot. After all, the brunette was not an athletic girl by any means.

"Meeew?"

Rin looked around, softly mewed, and nudged Hanayo's left hand to no response.

"Nyaaa? Nyaaa..." Rin's cat-like eyes drooped as she her body squirmed bit by bit, loosening Hanayo's soft grip on Rin's back with each squirm.

"Nyaaaaro?" Rin tilted her head, gazing over at the staffs running about, giving commands, and helping out with the adventurers' administration matters.

"Nya!" Rin leapt over the ledge, landed upon the first floor with ease, and stretched her back on all fours; much to the shock and surprise that the adventurers gave.

"What is that?"

"Some adventurer leaping off a ledge like a cat? How can she do that?"

"She's so cute!"

"How can she leap off without getting injured?"

"She's acting like a cat, or is she one? So confused..."

Rin looked around and tilted her head. "Nyaaah?"

"Oww...okay, okay, what's going on there? What's the commotion about?"

Cordelia, who had recovered several minutes earlier, rubbed her sore back as she cleared off the small crowd and set her eyes upon Rin.

"Okay, okay! Whatever just happened please let in some air for Rin please? It's getting really squeezy!" Cordelia shot out.

The beautiful glint from Cordelia's emerald necklace caught Rin's sharp, instinctive eyes. The latter gave a long, hard, but affectionate gaze at Cordelia's necklace.

"Um...Rin? What are you doing? Why are you eyeing at my necklace?" Cordelia's eyes widened.

"Fuaaaahh..." Rin's eyes glinted with interest; opening her mouth in anticipation as she slowly crawled over to Cordelia, waiting to pounce at a given opportunity.

It did not take Cordelia long enough to figure out that Rin was not gazing at her, but her necklace that Rorona gave her as a birthday present!

"H...Hey! That necklace is mine; it's Rorona's gift!" Cordelia waved her right hand to keep Rin off, but to no avail.

"Nyyyaaaaahhhh...Meeeeooow!" Rin continued to make some fake pounces, faking Cordelia out in the process as she flinched and fell on her butt.

"Ow...not again..." Cordelia winced; her eyes widened just as she saw Rin shivering in glee while making her way towards the former.

"Look...we can talk this over with! Rin? Earth to Rin? Can you hear...KYYAAAAHHH!"

"NYAAAAAAHHH!"

Rin, unable to resist the allure from Cordelia's necklace, made a strong pounce upon a frightened Cordelia.

The fight woke Hanayo, Eri, and Nozomi up as they rubbed their eyes and yawned.

"Why the scream...? Eh? Where's Rin?" Eri shot out.

*CRASH!*

Hanayo, Eri, and Nozomi's eyes became squiggly with surprise and amusement when they saw a cloud of dust coming their way with Rin and Cordelia pouncing atop each other to gain an advantage.

"THEY ARE MINE!"

"NYAAAAAROOO! NYAAAAAHHH!"

"NEVER!"

"MIIINNNEEE!"

"NNONONONONO!"

"Rin wants! NYAAAAAHHH!"

"Cordelia says no! You hear! KYAAAAHH! STOP SCRATCHING MY BRAIDS YOU FELINE!"

Nozomi broke out laughing; "Now this...this is a catfight!"

*BA-TUM-TISH!*

Eri and Hanayo looked at Nozomi with disinterested eyes.

"What?" Nozomi wondered and shrugged.

Both Cordelia and Rin stood on opposing sides; their breathing became deep ragged; their eyes glowed with frustration and anger as the ground shook with erupting blue auras.

"Cory? Rin? Now's not the time to..." Eri made her way to the 'battlefield' to initiate a tiebreaker but...

"NO!"

"NYAAAAAOOO!"

"GUUUUHH! O...O...Okaayyy...owww...my ears..." Eri winced as she covered her ears.

Just as the fight seemed to go nowhere, Rin suddenly stopped fighting as a wafting aroma raised her head in interest.

"Nyaaaa? Meeeeoooww!"

Her eyes perked and glowed with excitement, as she took off in the aroma's direction.

"That smell...isn't it ramen? Who would cook it?" Eri wondered.

"Woah...woah! Hang in there, there is no point in being a glutton. Hahaha..." a familiar, gentle, lady-like voice caught the Cordelia, Eri, Nozomi, and Hanayo's attention.

"Chris!" Hanayo shot out in relief.

The crowd died down as the girls approached Chris and Alito, just as Rin was scoffing down the takeaway Ramen voraciously.

"About time, Chris and Alito! I nearly got myself into a dirty catfight there!" Cordelia chided.

"Well...better to be late than never..." Alito chuckled.

"We figured that you all might be too busy to go out for lunch, so we bought some takeaway food for you all after we're done with the presentation. What happened, though?" Chris wondered. Chris and Alito were also same-sex married female couple.

"Umm...let's just say...Rorona done goof..." Hanayo sighed.