Vermouth looked bewildered; she feigned a few glances at the child's aura, secretly admiring Brandy's methods in his heart.
But in fact, Vermouth was overthinking it—
..
Are you coming with me?
Is food provided?
Yes, room and board are included.
What do you do?
We run a Liquor Group.
I assume drinking is allowed.
Of course, it's a staff benefit. But don't drink too much; we're here to sell it.
Deal.
—This is the Truth.
..
The Truth is too cruel, so let us not speak of it for now.
Time passed quickly, the little swan—no, the child—gradually grew up. The Liquor Group boss watched him for a long time before giving him the name "Gin."
Afterward, the newly minted Gin complained to Brandy, "The Bar owner is way too lazy, isn't he?"
He is the bar owner, he can be willful." Brandy was older, after all, remained quite calm about it, while casually reminding him, "By the way, don't call him 'Bar owner, Bar owner,' you should call him 'That gentleman.'
Their Bar owner is a very strange person—specifically regarding his logic.
Even though it's just a Liquor Group, they insist on everyone wearing all-black clothing. If it were just for the sake of looking cool, that would be one thing, but the reason given is actually that it's "dirt-resistant."
Take a look at Vermouth's face before you say something like that; how can you bear to make such an unrealistic beauty wear black all day!
—Fine, a great beauty looks good in anything.
The staff all adopted codenames based on liquor names, so they wouldn't fear making mistakes while selling alcohol.
Besides that, the Bar owner also made a particularly high-status and mysterious demand that the staff call him "That gentleman".. Has his chuunibyou not passed yet?
It is said that it is because the Liquor Group is the Bar owner's family business.. which is why he has raised (or kidnapped) so many children.. but let's not get into that for now.
Gin's attention drifted slightly. "Were you also calling for the Bar owner just now?"
Brandy spoke with a straight face, "You misheard."
Gin [male] grew up thriving in such a harmonious and friendly—no, eerie and sinister—no, simply inexplicable—atmosphere. Then one day, a cat arrived in his dormitory.
And so, the story begins.
..
It was a brown-furred kitten with green eyes; its eyes were clear and bright, filled with liveliness and playfulness. Its meows were sweet and soft, its fur felt incredibly fluffy to the touch.
Super cute!
It's so cute, you just want to steal it!
Would Gin raise it?
Little kitten and Gin stared at each other for a few seconds.
Time seemed to stand still.
Gin turned and walked away.
Ah.. our Gin is not a cat lover, nor does he like cats; he only wants to quietly devote himself to the great (and noble) cause of selling liquor.
The Little kitten let out a miserable cry and clung to Gin's pant leg in an instant. Its small, underdeveloped, delicate paws gripped the hem of Gin's trousers, its green eyes filled with glistening tears that swirled around, making it look incredibly pitiful.
Gin remained indifferent to the two watery lakes in Little kitten's eyes. He stared silently at his pant leg for a few seconds, then grabbed Little kitten by the scruff of his neck and lifted his up.
This was the first cat in his home.
In the days to come, Gin, who disliked cats yet unexpectedly possessed a catnip constitution, would also endure a series of chaotic daily routines.
Unfortunately, he does not know this.
..
What if he knew what the days ahead would hold?
Well, if he knew what the future held, he would absolutely, definitely never let the second cat through the door!
As for the first cat, forget it—well.. the first cat's sister is barely acceptable.
After all, Shiratori Midori is just so cute!
That's right, the first kitten was named Shiratori Midori, a super cute Scottish Fold.
Like most Scottish Fold cats, Shiratori Midori likes to participate in Gin's daily life. Most of the time, she quietly watches from the side without making much noise, like a silent accessory or decoration—even though this decoration is incredibly cute.
This undoubtedly provided a significant advantage for its move into Gin's home, considering that Gin disliked strangers intruding upon his "territory."
In some respects, Gin's habits were much like those of a wild carnivorous large cat.
Shiratori Midori is very obedient; most of the time, he will listen to whatever Gin says. He is also unexpectedly very human-like and exceptionally easy to raise; as long as you leave out cat food, you can leave him alone all day. At the same time, he is not fussy like ordinary cats and is very quiet most of the time.
But sometimes, she can be quite naughty, jumping onto Gin's lap and letting out a soft, tilted-headed, sweet "Meow—" His voice, still very young, is milky and sweet; his green eyes are like two exquisite, translucent emeralds, reflecting his master's inner heart.
Occasionally, it would also sulk with Gin, which usually happened when Gin was too busy working seriously. Shiratori Midori would meow several times unhappily, like a silent protest, with unhappiness written all over his clear eyes. But in the end, it seemed that the one who always compromised was the cat; whenever Gin stopped to rest or showed even a hint of making amends, Shiratori Midori would lean in to nuzzle his hand, his soft fur feeling incredibly comfortable.
It didn't have a single bit of that "cat overlord" aura.
As time passed, Gin became a formal employee of the Liquor Group, behind his rise to the peak of his career with promotions and raises, he also had his own loneliness and struggles, during this time, Shiratori Midori had always been by his side.
Silent, considerate, gentle—
Always, always staying by his side.
..
Gin gradually accepted Shiratori Midori.
It was strange; he felt very comfortable around Shiratori Midori. Sometimes he felt as if he were being looked after by a cat—it wasn't an illusion, it became especially obvious later once the house was invaded by cats of all sizes.
Shiratori Midori was different from an ordinary Scottish Fold. Gin had heard people say that while a Scottish Fold's tail is indeed flexible and soft, its shortness makes it difficult to complete certain movements.
However, Shiratori Midori did not have such troubles. He seemed omnipotent—ahem, I misspoke. Although she wasn't omnipotent, she was still incredibly capable, performing high-difficulty maneuvers from time to time.
—Although she is exceptionally well-behaved whenever Gin is around.
—Sometimes, he even blinks his green eyes to act cute.
—But she is truly, truly adorable.
However, as he grew older, while Shiratori Midori's dependence on Gin deepened, he also gradually became more quiet and composed, no longer acting out or causing a scene—ahem, that was wrong, he no longer acted out, but he very much enjoyed accompanying Gin—or rather, letting Gin accompany him.
—She had always loved it this way.
However, even the healthy-looking and highly mobile Shiratori Midori could not escape the misfortune that plagues most Scottish Folds.
She also suffered from a congenital bone disorder, she often felt physical pain, which made her appear listless and lethargic; at other times, she would pretend nothing was wrong so as not to worry Gin.
Gin sometimes felt somewhat lost, because when Shiratori Midori stayed quietly to one side, he didn't know if it was because Shiratori Midori was tired from playing or because of the pain.
So, whenever he saw Shiratori Midori lying flat on his back while sleeping, or sitting like an otter, even though he was naturally cold and didn't particularly like cats, he would occasionally feel worried.
After all, Shiratori Midori is different.
..
These days ended abruptly.
It ended unexpectedly.
One day when Gin went out, Shiratori Midori suddenly vanished, no matter how he searched, he could not find him.
Gin [male] was a bit dazed.
He knew that Shiratori Midori didn't particularly like the taste of liquor, but because he was at the Liquor Group headquarters, he would still behave and follow orders. But running off like this for no reason..
It doesn't seem like something in Shiratori Midori's character at all.
He was very worried, worried that something might happen to Shiratori Midori.
..
Since Shiratori Midori had gone missing, he had adopted Shiratori Midori's sister, driven by a vague feeling for which he could not even explain the reason.
It was a beautiful British Shorthair, with black fur and green eyes—although he was somewhat surprised that the two sisters were of different breeds, but many cats are mixed-breed, it was possible that one of their parents was a British Shorthair.
This British Shorthair was actually very cute, soft, obedient—however, Gin [male] had not wanted to keep a cat before, so he had never taken it in.
—Of course, regarding Shiratori Midori's occasional acts of charity, Gin expressed that he would turn a blind eye.
Little British Shorthair was actually quite clever, but Gin sincerely felt she was smarter than many of Shiratori Midori's peers—and he was being serious, without any bias.
Little British Shorthair is also very obedient, which saves Gin a lot of trouble.
However, there was one strange thing..
Why was the Little British Shorthair so obsessed with making trouble for the Liquor Group staff?
Gin [male] curled his lips in a somewhat speechless pout.
Little British Shorthair, with a tiny body like yours..
In the past, you were just delivering food to people too!
..
However, Little British Shorthair was quite stubborn in this regard. It was unclear whether it was because her Sister had spoken ill of the Liquor Group to her in cat language, but even now, after her departure, she harbored a deep hatred for the Liquor Group.
Little British Shorthair did not rush in recklessly; it was evident that every "skirmish" with the Liquor Group staff—let's call them "skirmishes" for now—was carefully thought out.
In the process, she even recruited quite a few outside reinforcements—though she wasn't being tsundere about it—but that is a story for another time, so I shall leave it aside for now.
But since Little British Shorthair had given it careful thought and firmly believed that dissing the Liquor Group was extremely important, Gin would not stop her.
After all, every person and every kitty has their own thoughts; we cannot oppose someone just because their way of handling things does not align with our own views.
At least in Gin's view, the Little British Shorthair was striving to become a better version of herself because of her conviction to "diss the Liquor Group."