I'll Be Villain to Everyone! Except for my Cat...-Chapter 44: Cat’s Silent Gaze

"Flies..." That was what he called these devices.

Paymax’s prediction came true, and 15 minutes later, reconnaissance drones appeared on the horizon, sent to hunt them down.

As soon as they spotted them, a punitive squad would surely follow...

But Mr. Nobody didn’t seem to care much.

"..." The black cat also noticed the silhouettes flying in the distance and turned its gaze there.

He, in turn, just smiled and gave the order to Paymax.

*Vroooom!* Just a couple of seconds later, the roar of an engine was heard from behind the nearest dune.

"Wh-what?!" Kuronuma exclaimed in fear and let go of the cat. "What the..."

*Vrrr...* But, outpacing the girl’s fear, the motorcycle, gleaming in a gloomy black color, stopped in front of Mr. Nobody.

"Hey, Kuronuma. . ." he called out.

The girl’s tears still bothered him, so he tried to distract her a little.

"Y-yes, señor?"

"See those drones in the sky? They’re coming for you."

"W-what?! Are they going to kill us...?"

"Don’t you want to shoot them down?" he said with a smile.

"..."

Apparently, this suggestion left both the girl and the cat stunned.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said..." He rummaged through the small trunk of the motorcycle and pulled out a futuristic pistol. "Choose... a pistol or a sniper rifle?"

Martha had been successfully retrieved, and now the terrifying sniper rifle was mounted on the motorcycle.

"But I’ve never fired a gun."

"Don’t worry, beginners are usually lucky," he replied and handed the girl the pistol.

Handing a weapon to a little girl? This would probably count as extreme child abuse.....

But no one seemed to care.

"Aim, pull the trigger, and... Boom! It’s that simple."

"B-but I... I won’t hit anything..."

"Relax, you’ll be fine." He patted the girl on the back with a smile and left her alone with the weapon.

"O-okay..." Kuronuma replied, not very optimistically, and began to aim at one of the approaching drones.

Moving away from the girl, Mr. Nobody whispered into his bracelet.

"Paymax, help her..."

"Understood."

The girl squinted and puffed her cheeks in concentration, while Mr. Nobody leaned casually against his motorcycle and watched her actions with a gentle smile.

During this time, he managed to drink some water from a flask attached to the motorcycle. He also treated the wound on his right hand, which Dirty Baal had inflicted on him, and bandaged his left hand, where the upper layers of skin had been torn away.

"Most likely, there will still be scars... But not for the first time", he whispered, looking at the deep cut on his right hand.

He took off his blood-soaked scarf and desert cloak and put his goggles in the trunk.

The tunic he was wearing was torn and cut from chasing the car hooked to the grappling hook.

His pale body was clearly visible through it, completely covered in fresh bruises and scratches.

He was lucky that the symbol of the Champion of Dream on his chest was fairly inconspicuous.

He was about to quickly pull on his motorcycle jacket so that the girl wouldn’t see such an unpleasant sight...

"..." But then his gaze fell on the cat, which had somehow ended up next to him.

Her blue eyes watched him change clothes with disinterest. It didn’t seem like the sight of his battle-hardened body shocked her, and yet...

"What a cliché, kitty... You should be at least a little shy," he said with a smirk and pulled on his jacket.

"..." The cat just licked its paw, relaxed, cleaning the sand off it.

"Looks like she doesn’t like me very much..." thought Mr. Nobody, when...

*Bang!* The sound of a gunshot finally rang out.

He turned in surprise at the sound of the shot.

"Huh? I-I... I hit it!!!" Kuronuma exclaimed in shock.

Sure enough, the bullet had hit the left wing of one of the two drones, sending it spiraling down. A few seconds later, the drone crashed into the sand and was completely disabled.

"Did you hit it?!" exclaimed Mr. Nobody, feigning genuine surprise.

"Yes!!! Señor, look, it fell!"

"Wow... Admit it, you’ve done this before, haven’t you?"

"No! Really, really, señor, never!"

"Come on, I don’t believe you... Are you saying you hit the target from a kilometer away on your first try? No way..."

"It’s true! The most dangerous thing I’ve ever done in my life is keeping a diary and studying languages!" exclaimed the girl, frowning and blushing.

"Really? Then hit it again. If you can do it, I’ll believe you..."

"Easy!"

The girl seemed to have gained confidence, because after only two seconds...

*Bang!* Another shot rang out from the pistol.

And a moment later, the second drone was shot down.

"Unbelievable..." Mr. Nobody whispered in amazement.

"See? You didn’t believe me!" Kuronuma replied with a sly smile.

For the next minute, Mr. Nobody kept grumbling, and the girl continued to laugh.

"Ha-ha, looks like I don’t need you anymore! With this gun, I can save myself!"

"Oh? Then maybe you can show me how well you can ride a motorcycle?"

"Um..."

After that argument, the girl finally couldn’t find anything to say.

"..." A black cat quietly watched their exchange. She kept cleaning the sand off her paws, but her blue eyes never left the two figures.

What did the cat see... as it watched them?

...

"W-what should I hold on to?" Kuronuma said awkwardly, finally managing to climb onto the motorcycle.

"I think you’ll figure it out yourself," Mr. Nobody replied with a smile, grabbing the handlebars. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Reinforcements from the Dirty Baals were expected to arrive any second.

There was no time to waste, and they had to leave as soon as possible.

"..." Kuronuma awkwardly grabbed the spiked shoulders of his jacket, thinking that would be enough.

Unfortunately, his helmet didn’t fit her at all, and touching the red horn was painful. The girl would have to do without it.

"By the way, won’t we need to shoot back? I could..." she whispered into the ear of the man in the helmet.

"Hah... Don’t worry about it. You won’t need to shoot if you don’t even get the chance to see them."

"What do you mean..."

"I’m going to squeeze everything I can out of it," he said, tapping the motorcycle. "So hold on tight."

"..."

"By the way..." He took a player with headphones from his belt and handed them to the girl. "Put these things in your ears and press the center button when I start the engine."

"O-okay..." the girl whispered awkwardly, putting the headphones in her ears.

The sound became muffled... And a few seconds later, the motorcycle beneath her began to shake.

The feeling was frightening... but at the same time, it got her blood pumping.

"..." Kuronuma looked at the music player’s screen and saw a curious message

"Playlist for Insane Speed," it read.

"Looks like they’re here..." said Mr. Nobody, looking at the horizon.

The Scavengers on desert-modified bikes were already visible in front of him.

All that remained was to find out which would be faster — their bullets or his motorcycle.

"Are you ready, kitty?" he asked, fastening his helmet on his head.

"..." The cat settled right on his lap and responded only with an uninterested glance.

It didn’t seem like the whole situation caused her the slightest bit of anxiety or danger.

"Well then..." he said, turning back.

He saw that instead of holding on tighter, Kuronuma was carefully studying his racing playlist.

To avoid wasting time, he pressed the play button for her.

"..." A sound unlike anything she had ever heard rang in her ears.

She had never heard anything like it...

But there was no time to take in the feeling of the song.

"Hold on tight!" Mr. Nobody shouted one last time and twisted the throttle.

*Vroooom!!!* The engine roared.

Feeling an irresistible pull, she clung to his waist with all her might, and then...

"So that’s what it means... to fly."