The white Ragdoll cat, with its slightly chubby figure, hopped quickly across the living room of the Yukinoshita household, with a gray American Shorthair, marked with black Madara patterns, chasing closely behind. The sounds of their paws scraping against the wooden floor echoed.
The American Shorthair, with its fit physique, quickly caught up with the Ragdoll, which had started eating a lot and gained weight since being bought.
The two cats rolled around on the wooden floor, a lot of white and gray fur flying up in the air.
In the tea room next to the living room, Yukinoshita's mother, who was sitting on a cushion and wearing a purple embroidered yukata, happened to see this scene. Her brows immediately furrowed, and her voice, while gentle, carried seriousness as she said, "Shirayuki, Haiguchi, stop playing around."
Shirayuki and Haiguchi were the names Yukinoshita Yukino had given to the two cats.
Strangely, the two mischievous cats, upon hearing Yukinoshita's mother's scolding, stopped their play and obediently rolled over to her side, lying down and showing their soft bellies.
It seemed like, in the Yukinoshita household, whether human or cat, everyone would instinctively obey her words.
Looking at the two cute little cats, acting spoiled and begging for petting, Yukinoshita's mother's expression softened.
She put down her teapot, extended her well-maintained, fair hand, and gently rubbed the little cat's belly.
"Seriously, when Yukino isn't around, you two little troublemakers start causing chaos."
For some reason, these two kittens are only calm in front of Yukinoshita's mother and Yukinoshita Yukino. When it's the other two, they can't control them at all. Whether or not they get petted depends on their mood, and sometimes they even huff at them.
Especially Yukinoshita's father, who is the only one who has been huffed at by both kittens, and even scratched by the Ragdoll cat, Shiroyuki.
Now, Yukinoshita's father no longer bothers to play with these two pets that don't know their place in the family. Instead, he spends his time in his study, bonding with the parakeet he named "Xiao Ji."
According to him, he is trying to teach Xiao Ji to sing Chopin's music. Once Xiao Ji learns, he plans to bring it to the office to show off to his employees.
This is our Yukinoshita family's parakeet. It's so much better than the two silly cats at home who only know how to eat, drink, and play!
As for the two little kittens' true owner, she is currently in the Yukinoshita family's dojo.
A slender girl stands straight in the center of the dojo, her long, smooth black hair falling like a waterfall behind her.
The white and black-striped training uniform fits snugly on her, with a slight curve on her chest and a black belt that accentuates her near-perfect figure.
Below the loose pants are small feet, pale and smooth, like jade, with no nail polish on her toes, just a natural healthy pink color showing through.
"Blacker than black, darker than dark, all impurities and filth, completely banished."
After taking a deep breath, Yukinoshita Yukino softly recited the incantation and cast a small barrier around the dojo.
As the light in the dojo gradually dimmed with the spread of the barrier, she extended both hands, forming the Enma Ten hand seal, channeling the surge of magic energy within her body, and softly spoke: "Domain Expansion · Demon Slaying Chef."
A rush of magical energy began to flow out as she intended, trying to attach itself to the barrier and form Yukinoshita Yukino's mental landscape.
However, the flow of magic lasted less than a second before the barrier, which was meant to act as a shell for the domain, shattered.
The light in the dojo returned to its bright state.
After a barely noticeable sigh, Yukinoshita Yukino didn't show any signs of disappointment but began thinking about the cause of her failure.
This wasn't the first time she had failed.
In the past week, aside from meals, sleep, and breaks, Yukinoshita Yukino had been spending all her time in the dojo, trying to master the pinnacle of curse battle magic, Domain Expansion.
But each attempt ended in failure, without exception.
Every time she tried to use the barrier to act as the eight boundaries and shell for the domain, the barrier couldn't withstand the magic output. Before her mental landscape could even begin to appear, the magic energy would overwhelm it and break it apart like a tidal wave.
Could it be because the barrier's range isn't large enough?
Afterward, Yukinoshita Yukino tried expanding the range of the barrier and reinforcing its strength, but still couldn't use it as the shell for the domain.
"Mr. Gojo's advice was probably just for reference, not to tell me to keep trying this way. Maybe I should try thinking in a different direction..."
The black-haired girl, one hand on her chest and the other resting on her chin, murmured with a faraway look in her eyes.
As the sky shifted from bright to dusky, Yukinoshita Yukino decided to stop her attempts and left the dojo.
The evening was reserved for spending time with her family and the cats, a restful time just like her schedule when she was at Sobu High.
Yukinoshita Haruno had returned to her university in Tokyo, so the family dinner that night was just Yukinoshita Yukino and her parents.
When the kittens saw their owner, they immediately jumped off Yukinoshita's mother's lap and rushed toward the black-haired girl.
Seeing the kittens eagerly run toward her, Yukinoshita Yukino's heart melted, and she couldn't help but smile fondly.
All the disappointment and slight frustration from a day of failure disappeared in an instant.
After dinner, she played with the two little ones for a while, then read a book for a bit before heading to the shower and bed.
Her life was both regular and healthy.
And then, she dreamed.
In the dream, Hayashizaki-kun had possessed her sister Haruno's body. Young Mr. Gojo and a boy with a bun hairstyle she didn't recognize came to ask Hayashizaki-kun how to use reversal techniques.
"You can only say you've truly mastered cursed energy once you've learned Reverse Cursed Technique!"
The black-haired girl's eyes shot open, and she suddenly sat up in bed like a spring, looking as if she had just experienced a moment of sudden realization.
Maybe she should focus on mastering Reverse Cursed Technique first before diving into domain expansion.
Right now, Yukinoshita Yukino's incomplete domain expansion worked fine—aside from needing to rely on someone else's domain barrier as a base, everything else was almost the same as a full domain expansion.
As long as she didn't run into someone with an ability like Gojo Satoru's Unlimited Void—where activating a domain meant instant victory—being a second late in expanding her domain wouldn't be too big of a problem.
In the dimly lit room, a faint warmth passed through Yukinoshita Yukino's heart, and the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
She hadn't expected that even in a different timeline, Hayashizaki-kun was still unknowingly guiding her.
Since her sister, Yukinoshita Haruno, had experienced almost the exact same dream as she had, it was likely that what they saw in their dreams was actually what had happened in Hayashizaki's timeline.
And the reason she was seeing events from another timeline in her dreams was probably because she carried a part of Hayashizaki-kun's soul, causing a resonance between her and the Hayashizaki in that other timeline.
As for Haruno, she resonated with her own soul, and since Hayashizaki-kun had happened to possess her in that timeline, that was why she and her sister had the same dream.
But there was one thing that still confused the black-haired girl—why had she never dreamed about herself in the other timeline?
Was it because her other self had simply followed the normal course of history, without any major events that would trigger a strong enough resonance?
…
**Title: Absolute Zone Zero: This Star Rail Chat Group is a Mess**
That Noisy Summer:
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