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Unknown to its members, today’s Tarot Club meeting started with a feeling of trepidation from Mr. Fool Himself.
At first, everything was as usual. The members appeared in Sefirah Castle. As was tradition, Miss Justice started to greet the members, but unexpectedly stopped as her lips formed ‘Mr. World.’
Alarmed, everyone turned to look at Mr. World.
‘…Am I seeing wrong?’
For the first time, the Tarot Club members all had the same thought. They could not believe their eyes.
Mr. World, the terrifying, crazy adventurer Gehrman Sparrow…
…had a pair of cat ears on top of his head!
Mr. World remained unflinching in the face of their bewilderment.
‘Did I die? Is this a hallucination before my death?’ Fors wondered dazedly.
‘Klein!? Is something wrong with him!?’ Having suffered a thousand scares from his old colleague, Leonard’s stress level instantly spiked.
‘???’ Emlyn’s mind couldn’t form a single thought.
The Tarot Club formed a unit once more as they all turned to Mr. Fool for an answer. If Mr. World had a problem, surely Mr. Fool knew about it!
But the Tarot Club instantly received a second, more devastating blow.
Compared to the rest of them, Mr. Fool’s face was more heavily concealed by the gray fog, and He also wore a hood. Adding to that the fear of looking directly at God, and all Tarot Club members had long ago learned not to look for too long―or too closely.
As a result, it was only now that the Tarot Club realized that there was something different about their God.
Even Cattleya, who had been personally taught not to look directly at God, suddenly seemed to lose all her intelligence and glanced at Mr. Fool. When the pain didn’t immediately assault her, she turned her head fully and tried to understand what she was looking at.
On top of Mr. Fool’s head, creating two triangular shapes from underneath His hood…………
………………were a pair of cat ears!
Silence. One of Mr. Fool’s ears folded for a brief moment.
He tilted His head, abruptly awakening the Tarot Club members from their stupor. They simultaneously snapped their heads away, acting like misbehaving children caught in the act. Only Mr. Star was a little slow to look away, looking like he’d been hit in the face.
‘C…Cat… Mr. Fool has cat ears… Gehrman Sparrow has cat ears…’ Miss Magician mind was in a daze. Her three worldviews had collapsed. Her mind, nay, her very soul could not accept what her eyes saw.
‘If it had been Mr. Fool only, I would have understood… No, if it had been Gehrman Sparrow only… No, no, both are terrifying!’
She could not decide which one was cuter―and by extension, more terrifying. Neither the man who haunted her nightmares nor the God she worshiped could be cute! She refused reality!
If Fors had not been in Sefirah Castle right then, she might have shown signs of losing control.
Meanwhile, Miss Judgement glanced worriedly at her best friend. Even through the gray fog, she could understand her friend’s mental state, and worried about what would happen once they descended from this plane.
However, she was in no position to help her out. She, too, had been shocked into a trance. Mr. World having cat ears could be accepted, as he certainly had the attitude of a cat―aggressive and unafraid to claw any hand that came too close until only bone remained! Xio’s mind started to form the image of a sleek cat with black fur…
‘No, what am I thinking! I need to be more careful, otherwise Fors, who’s already lost, and I, both of us will suffer a horrible fate…!’
Having been around Fors for too long, Xio inevitably inherited her phobia of Mr. World.
‘But why does Mr. Fool also have cat ears…? Is my Sequence too low to understand His reason?’
Xio quickly accepted defeat and refused to think any longer.
Next to her, Mrs. Hermit was nervously adjusting her glasses, staring down at the table. ‘Wouldn’t you look at that, isn’t this an interesting table… I wonder what it’s made of… No, don’t think too long about how this space was made. Isn’t it interesting that… that… that there’s a table here… and I’m sitting here… and…’
Cattleya tried to brainwash herself into not thinking. She was terrified of being punished for the second time by Mr. Fool. Everyone else might be fine, as they’d never offended their God, but she, who had already received one strike, feared that she would not get a third chance.
‘Praise the Fool! I swear to follow only you! I’ll become a preacher as soon as I descend!’
The fear of God had been properly engraved onto Cattleya’s soul―and all of that because of a pair of little, fluffy cat ears.
On the opposite side of the table, Mr. Moon had become so confused that he turned his head left and right in search of someone who could explain―although he would never admit to this behavior.
‘Did I see this right? Mr. World and Mr. Fool both had strange appendages above their heads… Those look like an animal’s ears, like cat ears… Is this their mythical forms? Will it be alright for us to see them? No wait, wasn’t it a bug… It can’t be some curse, right? Mr. Fool will be fine, but what if Mr. World is sick… If he asks for a potion, I’ll definitely overcharge him.’
Emlyn suddenly felt like he’d had a forbidden thought. He shivered violently.
‘Never mind! I won’t overcharge him! It’ll be bad for all of us if that crazy Mr. World becomes seriously sick…’
He unconsciously treated Gehrman Sparrow as the Tarot Club’s attack dog. Distressed by his own thoughts, Emlyn glanced around again.
While turning his head around, he accidentally met the gaze of Mr. Sun.
As for Derrick, he… had no idea what was going on.
Although he had seen plenty of cats since leaving the City of Silver, he still hadn’t become familiar enough with them to recognize them at a glance. As a result, he recognized that Mr. Fool and Mr. World had grown animal-like ears above their heads, the sight didn’t have the same cultural impact on him.
‘Are Mr. World and Mr. Fool growing stronger? That’s great! I also need to become stronger and be worthy of being Mr. Fool’s follower…’
‘I wonder if I could gain those animal ears as well? They might be useful…’
Little Sun ended up praising Mr. World and Mr. Fool without understanding anything. When Mr. Moon met his gaze through the gray fog, Little Sun smiled brightly, and thus could not understand why Mr. Moon physically recoiled away from him.
Of course, the one with the sharpest heartbeat was Mr. Hanged Man, who felt as if 50 years had been taken off his life expectancy.
‘Mr. World might have been affected by a curse, or it might even be his mythical form… No, wasn’t it an insect of some kind? Worms of Spirit… Then, is he hurt? But if Mr. Fool has also been affected by that curse or ability… Has He been hurt? Or is there something else at play? What is the meaning behind Mr. Fool’s change in appearance? Could those cat ears be a symbol of Mr. Fool’s influence, and that’s why His Blessed Gehrman Sparrow has them too? Is it a sign of Mr. Fool’s strength growing? Praise the Fool!’
Alger effortlessly talked himself into praising the Fool.
Thankfully, his hands were hidden beneath the table, otherwise Alger’s internal dismay would have been seen by all―including Mr. Fool Himself!
‘The fact that Mr. Fool didn’t punish us at all despite us looking at Him directly… Praise the Fool!’
Out of everyone present, only two people had calm minds.
Mr. Star thought: ‘Is Klein helping Mr. Fool with some kind of condition…? No, it should be the opposite way around. So Mr. Fool is helping shoulder the burden of a curse of some kind… Thank you, Mr. Fool!’
His focus was more so on his friend, Mr. World, whom he was staring at.
Could he possibly meet up with Klein soon? He wanted to see those cat ears on Klein’s original appearance, unobstructed by the fog. He’d always felt that Klein’s temperament was not unlike a cat’s, longing for comfort and tranquility, alongside his shyness (which only Leonard, delusional, could see). Now that Klein had become like this, he felt strangely vindicated.
‘I should tease him a little. As payback…’
An unconscious grin formed on his face. If he hadn’t been in front of Mr. Fool, he might have even leaned back in his seat.
As for Miss Justice, she was smiling gently.
‘Mr. World is so stiff, I can’t read anything… And Mr. Fool is feeling so embarrassed that I’m able to see it! But the way he’s trying to conceal his feelings makes it even cuter… The way his ear twitched, it means that he felt shy under our gaze; and when his head tilted in confusion… I never realized that Mr. Fool could be this cute… No, no, what are you saying, Audrey! I’m sorry, Mr. Fool… Praise the Fool, but since when did he become so adorable… No!’
Her internal monologue fluctuated wildly between reverence and blasphemy, and she felt that if only Mr. Fool happened to see her thoughts, she might cause Mr. Fool a great deal of embarrassment―and forget the gentle Mr. World, who put in so much effort to appear tougher!
She tried to control her thoughts, but was endlessly defeated by the memory of Mr. World’s stiffness, and the slight movements of Mr. Fool while under their united gaze.
‘If Mr. World or Mr. Fool ask me to wipe this moment from our memories, I’ll definitely agree. Free of charge!’
Of course, all of the above took place in only a few seconds.
Miss Justice gently cleared her throat.
“Should we begin the exchange portion?”
At her words, everyone instantly snapped back to attention, but were too dazzled to instantly answer.
Mr. World picked up the slack:
“I need information on…”
Klein, who had just spent the last few seconds sweating heavily under his hood, felt the urge to cross the table and thank Miss Justice on his hands and knees. Thank you! It was so awkward!
The Tarot Club meeting continued on as usual―only perturbed by the few seconds of latency whenever someone had to look at Mr. World and see the twitching ears on his head. By the time the meeting ended, everyone had more or less adjusted to the new situation, and had only glanced at Mr. World (and Mr. Fool) a total number under 100 times… maybe a little more… There were eight members, after all.
In a collective daze, the meeting ended with no explanation, and the Tarot Club members were all sent back to their bodies.
Sefirah Castle was emptied. Only a puppet and a God remained.
Klein looked at Mr. World, and the stiff ears on his head.
Unlike Mr. World, who was a puppet and couldn’t accidentally move his cat ears, Mr. Fool had ended up twitching every so often.
Why were those ears so sensitive? The poor Mr. Fool felt like he’d ruined his image of an untouchable deity.
Are they all prejudiced against cats or something?
It must be such a blow to have your god become a catboy…
Mr. Fool, who had been attacked with the (perceived) judgmental gazes of all his followers at once: ………Would it be better if I was a catgirl?
The catworm, who treasured his Tarot Club greatly, spent a long time worrying about his image.
Later.
Klein had barely returned from Sefirah Castle that Miss Messenger appeared and handed over a letter from Leonard.
A letter from Leonard? So soon? Was it something urgent?
Klein hurriedly unfolded the letter. In it, Leonard had written only one sentence, handwriting blurred from hurriedness:
‘Can you shapeshift into a cat?’
Klein: ………You wasted a gold coin on this? Give it to me instead!