Chapter 39: A cat?

The next day, as the sun was slowly setting, Nemuri arrived at the airport in a beautiful black car. After going through a few security checks, she was able to make her way to the private aviation terminal. She then parked the car near the hangar in a spot indicated by the staff.

After thanking the staff for their directions, Nemuri took a book from the car's glove compartment, opened it to where a bookmark was placed, and adjusted her seat to a more comfortable position. She began reading as she waited for time to pass.

A while later, a magnificent private jet landed on the runway. Two stunningly beautiful women with striking figures stepped out, wearing dark sunglasses that matched their jet-black hair, which was wildly blowing in the wind.

After greeting the nearby staff, the pair of women walked gracefully and stylishly toward Nemuri's car, as if they were on a fashion show, which highlighted their elegant outfits. One was dressed in a black pants and blouse ensemble, while the other wore a white blouse and a black pencil skirt.

When they reached the car, the two women opened the front and back doors with familiarity and quickly got in. Inside, they removed their sunglasses, fully revealing their beautiful faces—one appeared to be about 25 years old, while the other seemed to be around 14 or 15, a stark contrast to her voluptuous figure.

"Thanks for coming to pick us up, Nemuri," Keiko, who had taken the front seat, said with a smile as she leaned in to give Nemuri a small hug, which Nemuri returned with a smile.

"No need to thank me."

"Hi, Nemuri Onee-chan," Momo greeted with a smile from the back seat, to which Nemuri responded with a smile of her own.

"Hi, Momo, you look gorgeous; that outfit suits you very well."

"Hehe, thanks," Momo replied shyly, glancing again at her pants and blouse ensemble.

"By the way, Nemuri, why didn't Kai come?"

Keiko asked, a bit puzzled, since the boy usually accompanied Nemuri to pick them up. It had become a routine for her to open the front door, and Kai would move to the back seat with Momo.

For the past few years, it had somehow turned into a little tradition for Nemuri and Kai to pick them up whenever they returned from a trip. It all started because young Momo had seen a movie where families picked each other up at the airport, and she made quite a fuss about doing something similar.

In the end, even Keiko appreciated being greeted by her little Momo, Kai, and Nemuri upon arriving home. Over the years, Keiko had grown as close to Nemuri as sisters, so it eventually became an unwritten rule of their little family.

"He doesn’t want to leave the house because he’s incubating an egg, hehe," Nemuri replied amusedly to Keiko's question, causing both mother and daughter to tilt their heads cutely, completely confused.

"Incubating an egg? What do you mean?" Keiko asked, puzzled, while Momo asked with understanding.

"Did Kai develop a new ability?"

"Yes, but he’s been very secretive about it and doesn’t want to tell me what it is, though this time he needed to draw some blood." Nemuri added as she drove out of the airport, prompting Keiko to comment.

"His quirk is really strange; it can do so many things that seem completely unrelated to each other, almost like magic..."

The trip passed calmly with casual conversation until the three beautiful women arrived at Kai's property. After greeting the guards at the entrance, Nemuri drove the car to the parking lot, from where they all headed toward the main house.

When they reached the door, the girls found Kai, accompanied by Salem, waiting for them at the door with a smile, holding in his hands an egg the size of a basketball, which was glowing softly.

"Welcome back, and sorry I couldn’t pick you up—I had to take care of this thing," Kai said as he walked toward the girls, showing them the egg.

"What is that thing?" Keiko asked curiously as she approached Kai, then gave him a warm hug.

"A new ability. In a couple of hours, you’ll know what it’s about," Kai replied with amusement as he returned Keiko's hug with one hand.

"Why do you always have to be so mysterious?" Momo asked with a playful smile on her face as she hugged Kai, who responded just as playfully.

"It makes it more interesting."

(Although it’s also because I have no idea what will come out of the egg. I hope it’s not something gross like certain Nen beasts I remember...)

As he added to himself, Kai hugged Nemuri before they all went into the house together. After having something to eat, everyone stayed in the living room, curiously watching the egg that Kai had placed on the coffee table while they talked about Momo and Keiko's trip.

After a couple of hours, the egg suddenly began to glow brightly, immediately drawing the attention of everyone present, who watched with interest as the egg started to rise into the air, cracking and shaking violently.

Moments later, the egg completely shattered, transforming into spores of light that scattered into the air, revealing a beautiful adult cat with dark blue fur and blue eyes, exactly like Nemuri’s.

"A cat?"

Seeing the cat on the table, Kai couldn’t help but exclaim, a little surprised, since he hadn’t expected that at all. Then again, the only Nen beast he could summon was basically an exact copy of Salem, so in a way, it made sense.

For its part, the cat meowed as if it were a real cat before jumping towards Nemuri. Who watched in surprise as the ‘cat’ turned into light midway and then entered her body. She couldn’t help but ask, both surprised and curious, as she touched her chest, where the cat had disappeared.

"What is this cat, Kai? What is it doing in my body? Is this cat the ability you were talking about?"

Seeing Nemuri's expression, Kai couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, but soon after, he explained as he played a little with his aura. After all, barely being able to use it for 24 hours felt pretty strange.

"Yes, it’s the latest ability I was able to develop, which spawns a guardian beast—well, the cat you saw—that will protect you. It can use my defensive abilities and, over time, will develop an ability that complements you. But you have to be careful because they feed on your vitality, so you need to manage the consumption as if it were your quirk."

Kai’s explanation left everyone present absolutely stunned. After all, Kai was basically saying he was giving them a new quirk, and a powerful one at that, since his abilities were no joke.

"…I really don’t understand how your quirk works…" Keiko commented, dazed, to which Kai smiled playfully before asking.

"Pretty useful, isn’t it?"

"… Well, that can’t be denied," Nemuri responded as she tried to notice anything strange in her body, but she really didn’t feel anything particularly different, so she couldn’t help but ask.

"And how can I use this ‘guardian beast’?"

"Mmm... it should work automatically, but try thinking about making it come out or something like that. It might work."

"Are you not sure what it does, Kai?" Momo asked curiously, hearing the slightly uncertain tone in Kai’s voice, to which he nodded.

"Well, yes, my quirk has those drawbacks. Although I develop the abilities, I still have to figure out the finer details myself."

"Your quirk is really strange; nothing like our [Creation], where to make something, we have to understand very well what we want to do," Keiko added thoughtfully, while Nemuri focused on doing what Kai had instructed her, which soon caused the dark blue-furred, blue-eyed cat to appear in her lap.

"It actually worked!" At Nemuri’s surprised exclamation, everyone present turned to look at her, quickly noticing the cat in her lap, so Momo asked curiously.

"Can you really command it to do things with your mind?"

"Yes, I just thought about making it come out, and it actually did. It’s strange; it’s like my quirk, but at the same time, it’s different..."

Nemuri responded as she held the cat in her hands, looking into its eyes, which seemed to alert Salem. It quickly got up from its sofa and began to walk menacingly toward the Nen beast, only to be instantly stopped by a powerful pressure that left him frozen in place.

"Don’t start, Salem. It’s a Nen beast," Kai commented in an authoritative tone while using his ‘Conqueror’s Haki’ on the large, lazy cat—though at low intensity, as he only wanted to warn him.

"Kai! Don’t intimidate Salem, poor thing; he just wants to protect Onee-chan."

Seeing the scene, Momo scolded him angrily, then ran over to Salem and hugged him protectively, something the big cat didn’t seem to appreciate much as he let out an annoyed meow. However, he didn’t dare move because who knows what his unreasonable master might do if he accidentally hurt his female while trying to get free.

"It was just a friendly reminder, Momo; I’m not intimidating him," Kai replied with a smile, which didn’t improve Momo’s expression at all. She retorted accusingly.

"You always say that, but all I see is you intimidating poor Salem, even though he’s always so cute and obedient."

"He’s ‘cute and obedient’ precisely because I’ve trained him well." Kai quickly defended himself, unwilling to lose, but Momo simply huffed angrily and started ignoring him, focusing instead on talking to Salem as if he were a spoiled child.

"Hmph… Isn’t that Kai just a liar who only likes to intimidate you, Salem? You should stop following him. I’ll take care of you properly instead of that silly Kai."

While Momo tried to pamper the big cat, who was trying to escape by moving as little as possible to avoid hurting her by mistake. Nemuri, somewhat amused by the little quarrel, asked as she held her guardian beast in her arms.

"By the way, Kai, are you going to give one of these ‘guardian beasts’ to everyone?"

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Note: I have updated new images in the chapter "images".