Chapter 359 - 4: Maybe It’s Not Impossible

Chapter 359: Chapter 4: Maybe It’s Not Impossible

"Haaah..."

Tatsumaki started waking up with a yawn. One glance at the clock showed she had only slept for about an hour. Perhaps having another living creature around had affected her sleep quality somewhat.

Oh, right. There was another living creature here now.

Tatsumaki had been about to sit on the edge of the bed and put on her shoes when she glanced down at the floor. The little cat who had been sleeping on the bed before Tatsumaki fell asleep had somehow rolled onto the floor, cocooning herself in the stolen blanket like an egg-filled flatbread, with only her cat ears and the top of her head sticking out.

Remembering how troublesome it would be to get bitten again, Tatsumaki refrained from casually lowering her foot onto Yimi.

"...Another hero joins the S-Class. The Demon Cyborg enters at Rank 17 immediately after joining..."

The moment she turned on the television, she heard that kind of boring news. These days, any random nobody she had never even heard of could apparently become S-Class.

Hero rankings, from highest to lowest, were S, A, B, and C.

C-Class heroes were somewhat stronger than ordinary people and generally handled thieves and burglars. B-Class heroes were much stronger than ordinary people and usually dealt with Disaster Level: Wolf monsters. A-Class heroes handled Disaster Level: Tiger threats, while S-Class stood at the pinnacle of heroes and dealt with monsters from Disaster Level: Demon to Disaster Level: Dragon.

Monsters themselves were categorized according to the level of threat they posed, from lowest to highest: Wolf, Tiger, Demon, Dragon, and God.

Disaster Level: Wolf meant the appearance of a potential danger. Disaster Level: Tiger meant a threat capable of causing casualties. Disaster Level: Demon could potentially cripple the functions of an entire city. Disaster Level: Dragon meant the destruction of cities.

The highest, Disaster Level: God, was a crisis threatening the survival of humanity itself. None had ever appeared so far.

"S-Class hero?"

Perhaps the floor was uncomfortable after all. At some point Yimi had woken up, rubbed her eyes, and sat beside Tatsumaki. One little hand reached over almost on its own.

She glanced at Tatsumaki’s chest, which was even smaller than Madoka’s, then withdrew her hand and pressed twice into the sofa’s soft armrest instead.

Tatsumaki: "..."

For some reason, that annoyed her.

"Heroes also have to, join?"

Yimi’s understanding of the word "hero" was limited to things from cartoons, like the great hero who slew Diego Brando the evil dragon. Only after arriving in this world had she heard that heroes had to join something.

"You don’t have to join, but these days, if an unregistered person goes around doing hero work, people will probably think they’re some freak acting suspiciously. You don’t even know that? Your hometown is at least some vacation village with internet access, right?"

Lying on her side, Tatsumaki peeled a sweet tangerine and put it into her own mouth under Yimi’s unblinking stare.

"Yesterday that thing said your mo... your younger sister is a hero too."

"Why do you keep asking about her? What exactly are you after?" Tatsumaki’s gaze sharpened. Psychic power stirred the slightly curled ends of her short hair in the air as she met the little girl’s utterly innocent eyes.

Whether or not she truly suspected Yimi of approaching her with some ulterior motive was beside the point. Her own younger sister Fubuki was a subject that always put Tatsumaki on edge.

"Doesn’t your younger sister live with you?" Yimi seemed not to notice the change in her tone and asked curiously.

"Whether she lives with me or not has nothing to do with you."

Yimi pointed at her unhappily. "How are you so dumb? You can’t answer anything I ask."

"Hah? Can’t you tell I just don’t want to answer? A brat is still a brat and you have the nerve to call me dumb. You can’t even cheer me up. Maybe I should sign you up for a cooking class or something."

"I can cook."

"Then hurry up and cook! I haven’t eaten dinner and I’m starving!"

This was the first time Yimi had ever met someone this shameless. Tatsumaki demanded that the kitty feed her the moment she opened her mouth, yet her attitude was still this terrible.

Yimi looked down at her own belly. Dragon fruit might have been the tastiest fruit she had ever eaten, but it had not filled her up at all. She was hungry too.

"What are you doing?"

Under Tatsumaki’s baffled gaze, Yimi reached up and patted the top of her head as the price of feeding her, then turned toward the kitchen that was practically just decoration.

Watching the kitty walk away, Tatsumaki rubbed the spot on her head that had been patted. "Hah?"

Tatsumaki could fly, so there was no little stool in her home for reaching high places. Yimi, however, carried one in her Storage Space.

"Congratulations to the Host for unlocking the achievement [Young Homemaker]. Reward: Portal Energy +5%."

There had only been one dragon fruit in the refrigerator, so naturally there were no ingredients for Yimi to cook with. The snacks left in her Storage Space were meant for Mama and Grandma, but she still had at least some raw ingredients.

Yimi took out the rat meat she had brought away from the Knights of the Blood.

The System wanted to revoke the achievement it had just given her, but it could not.

* * *

"Green hair, short, flat-chested." Yimi kicked a pebble as she wandered aimlessly, muttering grievances under her breath.

If you don’t like it, then don’t eat it. Why did you have to curse at me too? The kitty overlooked your awful attitude and still cooked for you, and you still had to insult me.

Everyone in the Knights of the Blood loved eating it. You’re the one with no taste.

A-City could be considered the capital of humanity’s city-states, so public security was naturally quite good. At least no one tried to carry off a cute little girl walking alone in the middle of the night.

It was impossible to get the green-haired dumbass version of Madoka to tell her where her younger sister was, but the kitty now knew that her sister was a professional hero.

Yimi ran over, randomly stopped a middle-aged woman on the street, and tugged at her clothes. "How do you become, a hero?"

"You’re so cute! What’s your name? Why are you out here alone?"

Instead, the woman pulled out her phone and started taking pictures of Yimi’s little face from every angle.

Yimi was unhappy. She wanted to pull out a phone and take pictures of the woman in return, but she did not know how to operate one like that at all, so she could only run away on her short little legs.

People in this world were all a little strange in one way or another.

As she ran around the corner of an intersection, her EX-rank luck came into play. Yimi slammed directly into a body as solid as a wall. Even though it was not particularly soft, the rebound still knocked her onto her butt.

"Oh, Little Tatsumaki’s daughter."

Superalloy Darkshine, whom she had met during the day, greeted her. "Why are you running around outside by yourself? Little Tatsumaki isn’t watching you?"

"The green-haired dumbass version of Madoka’s daughter?" Yimi climbed to her feet and looked around curiously.

Superalloy Darkshine rubbed his bald head. "What Little Tatsumaki said during the day was a little harsh, but you shouldn’t call her that. No matter what, she’s probably your mother, right?"

"Mother!" Only then did Yimi realize that this bald man’s "daughter" referred to her.

"I’m not, her daughter."

"You sound exactly like a kid saying that out of anger. Did you run away from home?" Superalloy Darkshine crouched down. Even in that position, he was still taller than Yimi.

Yimi raised a paw and patted him. "Do you know how, to become a hero?"

"A hero? Speaking of heroes, I’m S-Class Rank 11." Superalloy Darkshine stood up and showed off his muscles.

Yimi’s ears twitched, but she did not play along. "Then do you know, how to become a hero?"

...

"What did you say? My older sister’s daughter?"

Only one intersection away from Yimi, a tall, curvaceous woman glanced at her subordinate codenamed Eyelashes.

She was dressed entirely in luxury brands, with an expensive coat simply draped across her back. Despite being a great beauty, she insisted on dressing like a gang boss.

"So she’s your older sister?" A newcomer who had joined not long ago was astonished. He had always thought that Tatsumaki was some kind of child prodigy.

"That’s impossible." Fubuki remained completely calm in the face of the news and did not believe it at all.

Her gaze turned sharp as she looked into the distance. "That arrogant woman could never be attracted to a man weaker than herself. And there may be only two men in this world stronger than she is."

S-Class Rank 1, Blast, and S-Class Rank 7, King, known as the strongest man on Earth.

Eyelashes looked awkward. "Maybe she’s adopted. I heard S-Class hero Superalloy Darkshine-san talking about it with Child Emperor."

"Adoption is even less believable." Fubuki sat in the front passenger seat.

Could that woman really possess something called "compassion"? They had not seen each other for a long time, but Fubuki did not believe Tatsumaki could have changed.

Because of her strength, there was practically no one in this world capable of teaching her a lesson. She was like a brat who never grew up, and she possessed what could only be called an insane protective obsession toward Fubuki, her own younger sister.

That woman...

Fubuki stared at the scenery passing outside the car window and spotted the Superalloy Darkshine her subordinate had just mentioned.

Aside from her sister, the S-Class powerhouses were probably people Fubuki would never have a chance to interact with.

But because she was slightly curious about what she had just heard, she still waved for the newcomer driving the car to stop.

Naturally, she would not put on airs in front of an S-Class hero. She opened the car door and stepped out.

"Once you grow up, why not have Little Tatsumaki bring you along to become a hero?" Superalloy Darkshine patted the top of Yimi’s witch hat with his broad palm, seemingly paying no attention to Yimi’s earlier denial.

The moment Fubuki got out of the car, she immediately heard something that caught her attention.

Yimi adjusted her hat. "You already patted my head. Tell me how to become one."

"Like I said, wait until you grow up. I’ll be waiting for you in the S-Class." Superalloy Darkshine gave her a thumbs-up.

"Mm. Then since you patted my head, you have to give me food." The little kitty always made sure she got something in return.

Tatsumaki had kicked her out right after she finished cooking, so Yimi had not even gotten to taste her own Rat Stewed in Red Wine for the first time.

Superalloy Darkshine looked completely baffled by this rule. "I don’t have food or money with me. If you’re hungry, hurry back to Little Tatsumaki. Is she really not your mother? The way you two dress really makes you look like mother and daughter."

When Tatsumaki’s robe fluttered, it also gave her a kind of witchy look, though it was completely different from Yimi’s pretty little dress.

This man had patted the kitty’s head, refused to tell the kitty how to become a hero, refused to give her snacks, and now he was even saying that the green-haired dumbass version of Madoka was the kitty’s mother!

After listening for a while, Fubuki focused her gaze on Yimi.

What a ridiculous rumor. How could this girl possibly be that woman’s child?

Meanwhile, the displeased little kitty pointed at Superalloy Darkshine and cursed him in her crisp childish voice. "Small fry, cue ball, baldy, idiot." She had learned "cue ball" from Tatsumaki.

Hearing that chain of insults, Fubuki sucked in a breath and stroked her smooth chin.

Maybe it wasn’t impossible?