Wait… a black shadow?
That color always reminded Luo Yunzhi of her own little black cat.
But Little White should be at home. There was absolutely no way she could be here.
Still, she reined in her wandering thoughts and focused intently on the black shadow moving constantly at the edge of the sports field, almost completely hidden beneath the trees.
The thick black-rimmed glasses were getting in the way.
She took them off.
“It really does look like…”
Luo Yunzhi murmured.
The distance was too great for her to see clearly, but it was obviously a living creature.
Judging from the size, it was probably a cat. However, there were many black cats in the world. She couldn’t conclude it was her Little White just from that.
Although Little White was very smart, she shouldn’t be able to open doors, let alone make her way all the way to school.
The young girl’s brows furrowed slightly as an inexplicable sense of unease rose in her heart.
“I need to go check.”
She made up her mind.
If the cat wasn’t Little White, then there was no problem. But if it really was her, letting the black cat wander around the school might put her in danger.
Luo Yunzhi stood up immediately.
“Teacher, I need to use the bathroom.”
***
Luo Yunzhi’s school wasn’t very large. It didn’t rank particularly high in the city, so both the faculty and the buildings were quite ordinary.
Bai Ziyu had no interest in appreciating any of it. She was simply wandering around.
Since the girl hadn’t said anything specific, there was no clear starting point for her investigation.
It was almost noon now.
The sun overhead had grown even brighter, its rays beating down on the ground until it felt hot under her paws.
The black cat found a shady spot under a tree.
She decided to rest for a while.
“Meow.”
This is school life, huh.
“Meow.”
It feels so nostalgic.
Bai Ziyu yawned lazily, her gaze drifting toward the students having P.E. class on the field.
The entire cat looked utterly bored.
Since it was an all-girls school, some of the bolder students wore rather revealing clothes.
A few were playing in short skirts. Weren’t they afraid of accidentally flashing everyone?
The black cat felt somewhat disinterested.
She was a female cat now, after all.
There was nothing she could do about it.
After sighing over the beauty of youth, Bai Ziyu curled up under the tree.
Since the area was regularly cleaned, it wasn’t dirty at all.
Occasional breezes blew past, causing the leaves overhead to rustle with a soft whoosh whoosh whoosh, mixed with the laughter of the girls on the field.
It was quite hypnotic.
“Meow.”
Time for a nap.
The black cat closed her eyes contentedly, her breathing evening out as she prepared to fall asleep.
But before she could, the sound of footsteps approached.
The footsteps grew closer until someone stopped right beside her.
In her drowsy state, Bai Ziyu caught a familiar scent.
It was a sweet citrus fragrance.
In her memory, only that one girl had that scent.
She instantly woke up, lifting her little head to look at the person in front of her.
“Meow?”
“Little White, it really is you.”
“……”
Bai Ziyu felt a bit embarrassed.
Class hadn’t ended yet, and she had been caught sneaking out by her temporary owner.
But she hadn’t run out to play—she had come to help the girl solve her troubles.
She felt somewhat innocent, but as a cat, she couldn’t explain any of that.
“How did you get out?”
Luo Yunzhi picked the black cat up from the ground and held her in her arms, using her fingertips to brush off the tiny green leaves stuck in the cat’s fur.
The young girl seemed a little angry.
Even her tone carried a hint of resentment.
She turned the little cat’s face toward her and looked at her seriously.
“You can’t just run around like that.”
“Meow meow.”
“How did you open the door?”
“Meow.”
“Say something.”
“???”
A question mark appeared above Bai Ziyu’s head. If she actually spoke, Luo Yunzhi would probably get scared and drop her.
The black cat was speechless and didn’t want to listen anymore.
She simply used her little paw to cover the girl’s mouth, preventing any more nonsense from coming out.
Luckily, Luo Yunzhi only wanted to lecture her a bit, hoping the black cat would listen.
Deep down, she didn’t actually believe the cat could understand her.
She removed the little paw and sighed, hugging the cat closer.
“I’m trying to figure out how to get you back home.”
“Meow.”
I can go home by myself.
“What should I do…”
The young girl ignored the meowing.
She seemed to have understood the black cat’s meaning earlier, but she clearly wasn’t going to allow it.
“Maybe… I should ask the teacher for leave? But I don’t have a good excuse. Fake being sick? My acting is terrible, I can’t even pretend to be ill properly.”
She scratched her hair in frustration.
Finally, she made up her mind.
“Little White, you have to behave from now on.”
Luo Yunzhi looked the black cat in the eyes with a serious expression.
“I’m going to take you back to the classroom and keep you there until school ends.”
“While I’m in class, you absolutely cannot meow or move around. If the teacher finds you, they’ll throw you out of the school immediately.”
The black cat blinked.
After listening to the long speech, she hesitated for a moment before finally nodding her little head.
“Huh? You understand?”
“Meow?”
“Little White is so smart!”
***
Taking advantage of the lunch break when everyone went to eat, Luo Yunzhi wrapped the black cat in her school uniform and secretly brought her into the classroom, hiding her inside her desk.
The young girl already had a very low presence, so no one paid her any attention.
The journey wasn’t exciting or risky at all—not a single person even glanced her way.
“Little White, remember to behave.”
Looking at the cat in the desk compartment, Luo Yunzhi reminded her again, as if worried the black cat might get playful and run around.
“I’m going to the teacher’s office to help with something.”
“Stay here quietly and wait for me to come back. I’ll bring you something delicious, okay?”
After saying that, the young girl hurried off.
The black cat watched her back for a moment, then yawned and curled up inside the desk compartment.
From this angle, she could only see the girl’s chair.
Hiding here wasn’t a bad thing.
Bai Ziyu had originally planned to investigate what was troubling Luo Yunzhi.
This way, they could attend school and go home together.
“Meow meow.”
We should find out the reason today.
“Meow.”
And catch the ‘culprit’.
Luo Yunzhi didn’t take long.
Just as the black cat was getting bored and about to fall asleep, the young girl returned, holding a hot grilled sausage.
The fragrant smell of the sausage made the black cat’s stomach gurgle.
She poked her head out of the desk compartment, staring longingly at the steaming sausage.
Seeing her like this, Luo Yunzhi couldn’t help but smile softly.
She held the sausage out and gently stroked the black cat’s head. “Here, Little White. Eat up.”
The black cat immediately bit down.
Leaving clear tooth marks.
The grilled sausage was quickly devoured. Class time arrived as scheduled.
The teacher stood at the podium lecturing while the students below dozed off drowsily.
The scratch scratch of oil-based pens on paper could be heard from above.
The young girl bent over her desk writing, while the black cat curled up below, fast asleep.
A breeze blew outside.
The sunlight was perfect.