So fair warning, I will be including mixes of Anime and Web novel, as I haven't gotten to read the Lns. Sorry for the time gap between chapters, needed to get my headspace in order before doing much writing. Thank you for your understanding. Trigger warnings still apply for this chapter as it involves the aftermath of the last chapter.

I appeared to have just been born not long ago, not that I could see well yet, my vision still had a hazy dark film over it. I read somewhere that kittens took a few weeks usually to be able to see, but it was hard to tell what kind of cat I was.

The ground was quite hard and cold, but I seemed to spend most of my time lying on the fur of what was likely my mother. So far it wasn't too bad all things considered. I heard them loudly growling to each other occasionally, my parents. Was it just my size, or did they should really really large? I've heard a regular cat growl and hiss, but that was very quiet all things considered.

"Hello? Can you understand me?" I tried to call out, but only seeming to mewl pathetically, though that usually led to meal time, courtesy of mother of course.

Even though my sight was starting to get better over the unknowable number of days, there was still a lot of dark areas around. Were we in some sort of hole? Being a cat wasn't so bad so far, I had meals when I wanted, I got to sleep on a warm and soft bed, again courtesy of mother, and I was somehow feeling more loved than I had for the past twenty years since my human mother died.

I do wish I could talk to them, or see them a bit clearer. I couldn't tell how long I had been alive now. I tried to peer into the darkness at where I saw the large shape of father wander off to.

[Proficiency level has risen, Vision enhancement Lv1 acquired].

I froze for a moment as those words now echoed in my mind. That was Japanese, without a doubt.. what the FUCK is going on?! Thinking on those words that came out of nowhere I noticed I could see slightly better in the dark! The outlines of the walls became more visible as small amounts of glowing crystals jutted from the walls. Walls. So I AM in a cave!

I look around some more and notice the shape next to me shift. It stood up, towering above me, barely able to be seen still up close, all I could really notice was the yellow slitted eyes. Mother? I could somehow tell it was mother from the super familiar scent.

She seemed to be a giant.. panther? Mother, you are huge! I looked down at myself, or what I could see about myself. I had pretty big paws for my size.. Whoa, I have toe beans. That is fine I suppose..

But what is all this about skill?! What did I even do? I just tried to see something, and then I got yelled at by something. I felt myself get lifted by the scruff of my neck by mother and set on her back. She growled something at me I think, but I couldn't understand still. I wish I could communicate with them I could figure out what was going on!

[You currently have 78,400 skill points, would you like to purchase Telepathy for 300 skill points?]

Holy fuck that voice again! Goddammit! Second time it has scared the life out of me...What does it mean telepathy? Like.. speaking with the brain? That might get around not having a mouth shaped for human speech.. but do I care all that much about it? I doubt mom and pop are big on talking anyway.

I just settled into mother's sleek black fur, smelling her all around. Being around them was... comfortable, healing in a way. Even if we couldn't speak, I could still feel a bit of that love for their offspring that I sure as hell didn't get from my previous father.. It was a bit weird to think of two large cats as my parents, but that seems to be my reality... Unless this is all some sort of dream I'm having that my brain conjured up once my neck snapped like a slim jim... I had to shiver at That thought. It was slowly getting better, remembering how my life had ended...but it still made me cringe remembering that feeling.

Frankly, being away from humans seemed like a blessing, I could hear myself think again, I didn't have to worry about deadlines or anything like that, all my meals were taken care of also!

I just relaxed and enjoyed the ride of where ever mother was taking us, hoping these nice times could continue.

My vision was really starting to come into focus as I observed my surroundings. Even if it was a dark cave, the crystals still caused pretty effects on the walls.

We emerged into a large cave where I heard a cacophony ahead. Mother kept us back from the action, but I could see blurs moving through the dim crystal light! Father?! I caught a glimpse of father dashing around what I could only describe as a pointy deer...Its horns were all sorts of jagged angles and honestly looked rather majestic.

Father was clearly faster, dashing around its blind spots and tearing out chunks from it, eventually seeming to snag one of it's ankles, leading to it falling on it's side. From there I had to look away at the sudden gore...I felt like I was going to throw up...Though the smell wasn't that bad. I just buried my face in Mother's fur to drown out that nausea.

I felt mother walking towards the sound of the ripping and tearing that I know was that deer thing being torn to pieces by Father. Just the sounds were making it hard to breath!

I was eventually lifted again by the scruff of my neck and set near that still bleeding corpse! I winced seeing it up close! Even if.. part of it smelled alright, it was still a strong smell! I tried to carefully waddle with unsteady legs back to Mother, I'd rather have milk thank you very much...

I was nudged right back towards that bleeding meat.. Okaa-san why?! You too Otou-san?! I'm being weaned already? Kittens should surely be nursed longer than this mother...My sense of time is rather skewed but I think I've only been born about one or two weeks? Maybe? It hasn't been long...

Both of them were staring at me so intensely... I.. don't want to disappoint them after Father worked so hard...I closed my eyes and leaned forward to clamp my jaws over a chunk of exposed red meat... It was so gross... But.. tasty?! I quickly chewed up the small bite I had grabbed and bite down for more! Maybe it was just new instincts and new taste buds but...What should have been gross for me before was rich and hearty! It wasn't as good as Mother's milk somehow, but it was more satisfying. I was eating more than I thought as I just tried to analyse this new situation.

Both parents joined me soon after in devouring that scary looking deer, a strange bonding experience.

[Proficiency level has risen. Biting Fang Lv2 acquired]

There was that voice again! It made me jump yet again...Biting fang? Well I am biting the meat.. do I just get things by doing things regularly? Is this some sort of game? I wish I got to play the games I bought, I might have more of a clue what is going on...

Once my stomach felt full to bursting I stopped eating.. I hadn't felt that full in a long time, at least in my human life. I felt myself lifted once again onto Mother's back, and just snuggled into that lush fur, this is a good life..

I would be lying if I said I didn't think the other shoe would drop soon, things don't usually stay good for someone like me...I figured it would be a good idea to get more control on my new body. I inhaled deeply, trying to figure out the many mixed scents that were around, separating them out from the overpowering smell of my parents... It was strangely easy to do. If the pattern around me seems to hold...

[Proficiency level has risen. Enhanced Smell Lv2]

It seemed I already had that skill? Not like I knew what skills I had... If I got to play those damn games! They would have been more interesting than calculating expense reports and data calculations...No! No getting sad about the past! It was literally a lifetime ago! I-I am away from all that...No more bills, or office work.. no more shitty boss and other sexist jerks...No more useless brother or unloving father...I hope Okada didn't take it too hard, I wish I could have known her more...

I shuddered as the memory of those moments resurfaced...I probably gave the poor woman trauma, I couldn't care less about Yamada, it is mostly his fault anyway...

I set about trying things to gain these 'skills', not much else to do.

"I know this is hard for you to talk about, but could you tell me if there is any reason why Hoshikawa-san would want to.. end her life?" The police woman asked as gently as she could as Okada sat in a chair in the police station, a shock blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. Her mind felt cold and mechanical, like she wasn't there.

"It doesn't feel real..." She couldn't help but mumble as she tried to process what the police woman was asking her, her mind telling her she needed to answer. A part of her mind began to nag her though. "I.. can...I might get fired though, but I suppose I have enough support they might not be able to...I wish I could have been there for Shizuku more...Our office treated her.. terribly. Recently she was blamed for her co-worker's failings and was fired. Our management made sure no one would hire her probably. I guess she found about that and...didn't see much reason to keep struggling.."

It took a few deep breathes for Okada to stop a few choking sobs. "S-she tried to.. apologize to me..Oh god..." The police woman rubbed her back a few times to comfort her. "I'll get you something to drink. We don't need to get through everything right now." She quietly said, trying to both stay at a professional distance, and wanting to comfort the devastated woman.

When Okada was left alone she drew back into herself once more. "Why didn't you call me Shizu...Damn that office! I wanted to know you more!" As much as she cursed and regretted the past, she knew that chance was gone forever now, just like Shizuku. What she knew she could do now was take down Shizuku's tormentors, even the company if she had to..It was the least she could do for her adorable senpai.

Two days later-

A simple large manilla envelope, addressed to Hoshikawa Maru arrived at Hoshikawa Electronics. "Got mail for the boss." An Intern said as he carried what seemed to be a package of documents up the high-rise building.

At the very top the Intern got off, taking a few deep breathes. It wasn't his first time up at the major player's offices, but it was nerve wracking each time.

He stepped up to the door labelled Hoshikawa Maru- CEO and knocked firmly as he had been taught. "Enter." An echoing and heavy voice called from within. Opening up the door and stepping up to a large mahogany desk that was probably worth more than the Intern's entire family line, he held out that sealed packet to the imposing mountain of a man behind it.

"Sir, this was addressed directly to you. I was told I should bring it right up because of the sender." He said as confidently as he could. Maru grasped that packet and looked at the info "Shizuku...Thank you, you can leave.. Actually, please find my son, this might be relevant to him, I need to speak with him either way." He said without looking up at the intern who's name he couldn't remember off the top of his head.

Once the man was gone off to grab his son, Maru opened up the packet. There seemed to be a sealed letter inside, as well as a few printed off papers that read like.. a last will and testament? It wasn't notarized, and appeared done up hastily. "Shizuku...don't you dare..." His heart skipped a beat as his mind raced towards the reasons she might have mailed a Will to him directly, especially with neither of them contacting the other in over three years. He kept tabs on her as much as his pride would allow it, but she had made it clear last they spoke she didn't want anything to do with her family.

"Father? Is there an issue?" Maru's son let himself into his office, something that normally Maru might chew him out about, there was still protocol that family ties should not interfere with being professional. If his son cared about that much, his father not doing so would have been his first clue something was off.

"Kaien. Has Shizuku-chan called you at all?" He asked carefully, still reading through the will, it was rather short and she didn't seem to have much if any assets. He held up the sealed letter with dread...

"No.. why? Is that from her? She asking for money or something?" He asked with a scoff. He still felt bitter about her jealousy at him being picked for their Father's company, even if a part of him felt like she deserved it more.

"I don't think so. She sent a will, penned just a few days ago. I'm...concerned about her." Maru said and opened the letter. He began to read the hand written note, his daughter's distinctively neat hand writing easily recognizable. His stomach dropped as he read, his face paling, the letter shaking in his hands.

"Father? Father! What is wrong?" His son grabbed the letter from his father's loose grip and began to read what made his normally stoic father freeze up.

"To Hoshikawa Maru, my father, and Hoshikawa Kaien, my brother.

This letter is a bit hard for me to write, and I'm not entirely sure what to say by writing this. Maybe I just wanted to bury the hatchet, say I'm sorry for how things ended up between the three of us, and forgive you both in turn. Like you told me father, the world is a hard place, and I did indeed learn just how rough it was during these three years.

Things just didn't turn out right I guess, maybe It was just my bad luck showing itself again with ending up in a soul sucking company that didn't give a damn about a 'little girl' pushing in on a man's workplace. There is no more future for me, so I will be ending my life, it is long overdue and is likely the best decision I will have ever made in my life. I know you aren't a believer in the after-life, I'm really not either, but if I get to see mother again I'll give her your regards. Goodbye Otou-san, Onii-chan. - Hoshikawa Shizuku."

The letter dropped from Kaien's hands as he pulled out his phone, pulling up the news for the area Shizuku's letter came from. Being only a few days ago there was already several stories and even an announcement of an investigation into a company related to the death of a young office worker. Soon he stood as still and chilled as his father as he saw his sister's picture in the article, naming her and talking about the work conditions that might have led to her tragic fate.

As if on cue, Maru's desk phone began to ring, his private line that only has calls redirected to it from his secretary in his other room. "Sir, the police are on the phone and asking about you, they say it is urgent." Came from the intercom next to the phone.

With trembling hands he lifted the phone to his ear. "Hoshikawa Maru speaking." He felt a chill in his body.

"This is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. I am detective Yomi. You said you are Hoshikawa Maru?" The woman on the other end asked carefully, he could tell what ever she wanted to say was not good news. He gave a grunt of affirmation.

"Is your daughter's name Shizuku?" She asked and sounded like she wished he wasn't.

"Yes...Did something happen to my daughter?" He asked as if he could ignore what he read, his daughter's suicide note and will. Maybe someone stopped her?

"I'm.. sorry to tell you, but..your daughter was recently found deceased in her apartment. We believe it to be suicide. If you would be able to come down, we need you to confirm and claim the body. I'm sorry for your loss sir..." He could hear the genuine sadness on the other end of the phone, but his mind was not registering it correctly.

"Y-yes.. I'll.. be down today..." He let the phone fall back on the receiver and leaned back on his thick backed chair. "Shizuku..." He didn't even register the tears falling down his face, or notice his Son's reaction, who had sat down in another chair looking just as out of it as he was, sad yet furious tears streaming down.

"DAMN IT!" Kaien suddenly screamed, grabbing a nearby paperweight and chucking it into the glass case on the opposite side of the room.

"Is everything alright?!" Asked the secretary as she burst into the room. She could only take in the sight of both her bosses looking utterly lost, and Ironhide Maru actually quietly crying.

"We will.. be taking the rest of the day off. Cancel my meetings for the week, family emergency..." Maru quietly informed his secretary. It was the start of a long night.