The next day after we met the 5th grader Prince, Pixie and I started watching his class by the window of their classroom.

“But to think that this body doesn’t need sleep nor food... It’s surprisingly convenient,” I muttered to Pixie.

“Well, it’s only your consciousness taking a physical form after all. The only drawback to our situation is boredom.”

“I agree,” I followed with a resigned smile.

Then, when recess came, Prince brought out a book and started reading it instead of going out or eating.

“So he immediately started doing your advice,” Pixie reacted with a surprised look.

“Well, being smart is not a bad thing after all,” I replied with a confident smile. “He’s like that in the present anyway.”

After that, we continued watching him while he was reading in silence.

“Wait. Isn’t this a bad thing though?” I asked Pixie.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...he’s already getting bullied. He won't make friends if he isolated himself like that!” I realized, devastated. “I have to warn him later about this!”

“Wait, Bella! I think you don’t have to do that,” Pixie followed, serious.

“But why?”

“After all, this is how Prince should be in the first place. We need to connect this past to our future, right? So by introducing this hobby, you're only fulfilling your role as 'Rosa' and that's what we should focus on.”

“I guess...you're right,” I answered but still hesitant.

Well, you’ll meet real friends anyway no matter what your hobby is so it’s not a bad thing I guess.

“Hey, Prince...what are you doing reading alone here? Trying to become smart?” the fatso kid from yesterday asked with a grin. He stopped before Prince’s desk with the other two behind him.

As for Prince, he continued reading without any sort of movement. He was so engrossed in the book.

“Can’t he hear us?” the kid with glasses asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“I get it! He became more idiotic to the point that he doesn’t know how to hear others anymore,” the skinny kid followed. Then, all three of them laughed. But after they noticed Prince's lack of reaction, they stopped with irritated faces.

“Hey, Prince Lame! You ignoring us?” the fat kid asked, agitated.

“Sorry, I’m reading so please don’t bother me,” Prince replied in a monotone voice without looking at them.

“Oh~” I reacted in amazement. “He countered that f*cking fatso head-on!”

“I think he’s only engrossed in the book though,” Pixie followed and smiled after. “But that’s the Prince I know alright.”

“What did you say?” the fat kid asked in anger but the kid with glasses pulled him.

“Hey, the teacher is here!” the kid in glasses said in nervousness.

“Tch,” the fat kid clicked his tongue and went back to his seat, followed by the two. Then, the teacher greeted the students.

After the class, Prince immediately grabbed his bag with an excited smile and ran out of the room.

“Hey, Prince! Where are you going?” the fat kid shouted but Prince disappeared in an instant.

“He’s gone like the wind,” the skinny kid commented with a slightly surprised face.

“Pixie, let’s go,” I said to Pixie, knowing where he was going.

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

When Pixie and I arrived at the playground, we immediately saw Prince. He was sitting on the swing while holding a closed book. When he saw me, a bright smile immediately appeared on his face.

“Rosa!” Prince called and stood up.

“You’re early, aren’t you?” I asked as I walked towards Prince. Then, I stopped before him and continued, “You reading something?”

He showed me a book about ‘Programming’ and he answered, “Yes. This.”

“So you’re already reading something advance like that,” I commented with a surprised face. The cover has a design of a personal computer with technology symbols around it.

“I borrowed it from my father and I learned a lot after reading it,” he explained and open the book with a smile. “At school, all they teach to us were about word processing. So when I read this, I learned even more about the subject. I didn’t even know that there’s an entire language made to program the different applications that we are using.”

“I see,” I responded with a smile. “So you’re planning to become a Computer Engineer like your father?”

“No. I only got amazed at the information that I didn’t even know before reading,” he answered with a bright smile. Then, he made a curious face and asked, “Did I tell you about my father’s profession?”

Because of that, I averted my gaze and answered “Of course you did” in a flustered face.

Why the f*ck did I even mention that?

“I see.”

“Well, knowledge is power after all. Read different books one at a time and I’m sure you’ll learn a lot,” I followed to change the topic. “Anyway, want to play?”

“Sure,” he replied with a gentle smile. “But what are we gonna play?”

“Hmm...” I mumbled while in a thinking pose. “Well, there are lots of games involving two people but it will be more fun if we had another one playing with us.”

“You want someone to join us?”

“Well, we’re the only ones here anyway...” I said and noticed someone on top of the slide near the jungle gym. She was sitting there alone.

It was a petite girl wearing a strange mask together with the uniform from Prince’s school. As for the mask, it was a red cat with cat ears, closed eyes, and drooling mouth with whiskers on the side.

“That’s Neko Red,” Prince informed me.

The girl noticed us and looked at our direction. Because she was wearing a full mask, we couldn’t see her expression.

“What do you mean Neko Red?” I asked in a confused face.

“You don’t know?” Prince asked in a slightly surprised expression. “It’s a cartoon airing every Saturday morning about the Neko Dan, a group of teenagers fighting aliens.”

Now that he mentioned it...I now remember a certain famous anime like that back when I was still in high school.

“I remember now. But isn’t that the leader’s mask? There’s one girl in the Neko Dan, right? She should wear that instead.”

“Neko Pink? Who knows,” Prince followed in a puzzled look. “Maybe she likes Neko Red more?”

Hearing that, the girl slid the slide and when she reached the bottom, she went before us. Then, she nodded once.

Is that her reply to Prince’s guess earlier?

“Anyway, you can call me Rosa like Prince,” I introduced and looked at Prince.

“Well, my name is Prince,” he followed with a forced smile.

“Aren’t you two acquainted already?”

“Well, I tried talking to her before but she only either nods or shakes her head when I talk,” Prince answered, anxious. “So I thought she didn’t like talking to me so I left her alone instead.”

Because of his explanation, the girl shook her head to show that Prince was wrong.

“See? I think you’re only mistaken. Anyway, what’s your name?” I asked the masked girl with a smile.

Then, the girl pointed at her mask.

“Uhmm...Neko...Red?” I asked in a puzzled expression.

The girl nodded as her answer.

“That’s also how she introduced herself back then,” Prince commented with a sigh.

What's up with this f*cking weird girl? Well, maybe she has a reason why she's like that? It's bad to judge others on the go after all.

“Then, can we call you Neko instead?” I asked, still with a smile.

As her response, she nodded once.

“So want to play with us?” Prince asked.

Again, she nodded.

“I guess that’s okay. Anyway, let’s play hide-and-seek!” I said with a smile and the two agreed.

♛ Prince's Point-of-View ♛

When lunchtime came, I immediately went to my secret place. It was the room behind the gymnasium. It was a former storage area and I found a hole leading inside. At first, it was full of dust and webs but after I cleaned the place, it became a nice one. There was even cool wind ventilation due to the position of its small sole window. But when I arrived near the covered hole, I saw a familiar masked girl.

“Neko?” I reacted and hid behind a tree. There she was standing in the middle of the path with her back faced to me. She was also holding a branch shaped like a sword. “What is she doing?”

I tried to view what she was looking at and saw a stack of cardboard boxes in front of her. The distance between those and Neko was around three meters. Then, she held the branch unto waist height and sprinted towards the cardboard boxes.

“Is she…fighting that?” I muttered to myself and tilted my head.

She delivered a slash to the box but it only budged a bit.

So there’s something inside those.

Then, she jumped away and paused like a statue.

Don’t tell me she’s observing the next movement of the cardboard box? Wait, cardboard box?

And just when I thought Neko was only playing, the cardboard box transformed into a monster. It was a dark green bipedal reptile full of scales on its body. Then, Neko’s uniform turned into red spandex like the 'Neko Red' in the TV show.

“You’re kidding me,” I said and shook my head. Then, everything went back to normal. “She’s playing at a high level beyond the norm. I didn’t know that there was a kid like her in this school.”

“Catch this!” one guy shouted and a soccer ball got accidentally kicked towards Neko.

“Hey, where are you aiming!” his companion yelled.

This is bad, Neko will get hit!

I immediately ran towards the ball and jumped to receive it.

*bam*

But it landed on my face.

“Ouch,” I reacted and the ball fell on the ground. The two kids went towards me and immediately apologized.

“Sorry, it’s an accident,” the guy who kicked the ball said with a bow.

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” I said with a forced smile.

Though my cheek hurts.

After they picked the ball, they jogged away and disappeared from our sight. Then, someone from behind tugged my sleeve so I faced her.

“Neko,” I said and she gave me a nod.

Is that her way of saying thank you?

“You're welcome...I guess?”

Then she looked at the stacked cardboard boxes and pointed at it.

“You…want to play with me?” I asked, surprised a little.

Then, she nodded.

“Okay,” I answered and went to the nearby bench to place down my bag. After that, I jogged back towards Neko. “So, what do we need to do?”

As her answer, she brought out a blue mask. It was the mask of Neko Blue, a cat mask with a smug smile and a star near its one eye. I took it and wore it. After that, the cardboard box transformed back to the reptile monster and gave us a shrill scream. Also, my uniform turned into a blue spandex.

“Are you ready?” Neko asked and looked at me.

“Wait, why is your voice manly?” I reacted, shocked.

No. She didn’t say a thing. This voice…is from the actor voicing 'Neko Red'. Neko is talking to me through telepathy!

“I’m ready!” I responded with serious eyes.

“Then, brought out your weapon and back me up!” Neko said and sprinted towards the monster.

“Weapon?” I repeated and touched my spandex suit. But I didn’t find any weapon attached to me. “Neko Red! Where is my weapon?”

Then, the monster fired missile-like scales towards Neko.

“Believe and your weapon will appear!” Neko replied and continued her run. With her metal sword, she deflected every projectile that got fired to her.

“Believe,” I said and looked at my palm. “Believe!”

After my shout, a blue metal bow and arrow appeared on my hand.

“It’s here!” I exclaimed with an excited smile and made a firing stance. “I should aim for the projectiles, right?”

With ease, I pulled the string and fired my first arrow. Then, it landed on one of the upcoming scales and exploded.

“I hit it!” I yelled in celebration and continued firing towards the monster’s projectiles. All my arrows didn’t miss even once. Because of my assist, Neko managed to arrive before the monster without a scratch.

“It’s the end!” Neko shouted and slashed the reptile. It screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground.

“We did it!” I reacted with a big smile.

“It’s not over yet!” Neko interrupted and the monster glowed. She jumped away and the monster grew tenfold in an instant.

“It became gigantic!” I exclaimed in shock as I looked up at the monster as tall as a ten-floored building. “Can we still beat it?”

Neko looked at me and replied, “That’s why we have the Nekozorg.”

“Neko…zorg?” I repeated and became surprised. “We also have that?”

“Come!” Neko yelled and the ground shook.

“Woah!” I reacted and almost stumbled.

Then, a gigantic red lion robot ran towards us in a dramatic entrance.

“That’s my Neko-Lion Red. Call for your Neko-Tiger Blue,” Neko said to me.

I have to imitate what she did earlier, right?

“Neko-Tiger Blue, come!” I yelled and the ground shook stronger. Then, a gigantic blue tiger robot appeared and ran alongside Neko-Lion Red. “Now, what’s next?”

“Combine!” Neko screamed and both our Nekozorgs jumped up trice their height. Then, they morphed in the air and robotic sounds reverberated the area in each movement they made. Then, after half a minute, Neko-Lion Red transformed into that of an upper-body of a bipedal robot. Likewise, Neko-Tiger Blue transformed too but into that of a lower-body. Then, they merged and formed one big robot with a bastard sword on its hand. “Megazorg – Dusk Neko Liger!”

“How cool!” I reacted and my eyes shone brightly because of the big robot that formed before us. It was the same height as the monster.

“Let’s enter!” Neko said and offered her free hand.

“Okay!” I replied and held it. Then, we got transported inside the Dusk Neko Liger, our weapons no longer with us. We found ourselves inside a sci-fi-looking white room with different wires fixed on the walls. Also, there was a big screen before us that projected what the Megazorg was seeing. “How should we control this?”

“You see these?” Neko asked and pointed to the big table below the screen. There, lots of buttons can be found.

“Do we need to push these buttons depending on how we want the Liger to move?”

“No. What I want to say is don’t push any of these. We only need to think as one and move the Dusk Neko Liger through telepathy,” Neko answered swiftly.

Then, what are these buttons for? Display?

“Shhhaaaaaa!” the monster hissed and walked towards our Megazorg. Every step it made destroyed the ground below us.

“Walk!” I shouted and imagined the Liger walking. But our robot didn’t respond. “Huh? Am I not doing this properly?”

Before I knew it, the monster arrived before us and delivered a punch on our Megazorg’s gut. The impact was enough to produce some spark and shake us inside.

“Neko Blue, we should think together as one. Together, we can beat this monster!” Neko said and held my hand.

Neko Red…

As my answer, I gave her a serious smile and a nod. Then, both of us looked at the screen.

“Shaaaaaa!” the monster once again hissed and prepared to punch us. But before it landed a blow, the Dusk Neko Liger lifted an arm and blocked it. Then, its other arm punched the monster. The attack was powerful enough to send the reptile up in air.

“We did it!” I exclaimed in joy.

The monster landed on the ground with a bang. Though the ground shook violently, it was not enough to shake our Megazorg.

“Let’s finish this!” both Neko and I announced. Then, a red-blue bazooka formed in the shoulder of our Liger. “Fire!”

Our projectile hit the monster and exploded like a bomb. With that, the battle ended and we protected the peace once again.

──◈─▣─♕─▣─◈──

“That was fun, Neko,” I said to Neko with a smile after our play ended. I took off my mask and gave it to her.

But she only shook her head and pushed the mask towards me.

So she wants me to keep it.

“Thanks,” I responded with a bright smile. “We should let Rosa join next time.”

Because of my suggestion, Neko immediately brought out a pink mask and looked at me.

So she’s already prepared.

“Yeah. Let’s do this again with Rosa next time,” I followed.