Buttercup In A Tree

Upon realising that he's fixated on the idea of having her move, Mizuki succumbs to his demand and drags Jake along with her, although he's adamant to move. The guard watches her as she distances before finally returning to his post. When he's no longer watching, Mizuki pauses.

[Not Cut Out for Babysitting Blunders: Look for cats]

"What's going on?" Jake grumbles.

"Nothing, I think we can look for the cat if we're quieter and don't get noticed by guards," Mizuki whispers, crouching.

"How do we do that?"

"Just bring me to the area they usually are, they probably chased all the cats out from the inside so they must be hidden amongst the bushes or somewhere along the walls."

Jake obliges, silently leading her towards the location of the cats while avoiding being sighted by the guards. It's a bad decision sneaking around in broad daylight while there's an entire army on the lookout. It's also a terrible decision doing this days after a castle break-in, with the possibility of the guards having caught her hair-colour or figure during the escape.

Mizuki gestures for Garden and Olive to follow. Garden creeps around, cautious of her movements while Olive stays hiding in a bush.

The group waddles around for a couple of minutes in search of the cats, only to hear soft purring overhead. Jake looks up, catching sight of his cat up on the branch of a tree. He tugs at Mizuki's sleeve, repeating, "That's my cat! He's up there."

Mizuki looks up. Her heart falls. Surely so, amongst the canopy, there's a ginger cat peering out from the branch, meowing pitifully. Mizuki scans her surroundings, turning her frantic gaze towards Jake. "Can't he come down on his own?"

"He would've done that by now," Jake retorts. Right.

"We're going to get caught if we climb…" Mizuki states, only to meet Jake's pleading eyes. For once, he looks genuinely worried for his cat. Instead of forcing her to get it, he instead tries to persuade her, hoping she'll agree. Mizuki sighs. "Fine, I'll try to get him down."

"Please," Jake pleads.

Oh my god, I'm going to regret this. Mizuki sneaks around to the back of the three, hoisting herself up with the help of a branch. She tries to do this as cautiously as possible, trying to keep her eyes on her surroundings as well as her footing.

The leaves rustle as she tries to maneuver through them, ultimately capturing the attention of surrounding guards. She panics, clambering up faster. The cat purrs. Garden drags Jake into a bush.

Guards approach their area. Mizuki cups her hand over her mouth, hoping they won't catch her right above their heads. They mumble to each other in confusion before finally returning to their posts. The branch creaks.

"Hey kitty, come here," Mizuki reaches out a hand cautiously. Her satchel hands dangerously by her side, off the branch. With how heavy it is, she might even get dragged down. The cat takes a step back, pausing at the absolute end of the branch.

Mizuki's heart lodges in her throat. In a dire attempt to not have it fall and cause a huge ruckus from the kid, she pulls out her sheet. In a heart drawn up with crayon, is written the name 'Buttercup' with the diagram of a cat rope toy.

Mizuki gulps. How the hell do I get a rope from here? She peers down at Garden who watches her from the bushes, fervently trying to gesture for the toy. She makes pulling gestures with her arms, mouthing variations of 'rope' and 'toy' until she gets the hint.

Garden fumbles for a couple of seconds, pulling everything out until she finally raises the rope toy. Mizuki nods frantically, her heart dropping as the branch creaks under her weight.

A guard turns, looking up. Mizuki lets out a squeak. He doesn't turn for a few minutes, roaming the area for at least a while before he's convinced that there isn't suspicious activity.

Once his attention is diverted, Mizuki makes hand gestures towards herself, urging Garden to fling the toy towards her. It's a horrible plan, one of the many Mizuki often gets herself roped into in broad daylight, but the only one they have. Mizuki fixates her eyes on the toy, so much so that she messes up her timing when Garden releases it.

Mizuki gasps, leaning backwards in an attempt to catch it. She goes a little too far, curving her back over till she almost loses her balance. She clutches her thighs tighter against the branch, her heart plummeting to the pit of her stomach. She swears she feels the branch drop a little and the cat hisses, standing on its claws at this point. I'm actually going to die trying to get a cat out of a tree. The branch creaks yet again.

"Hey kitty, come here," Mizuki asks with a tremble in her voice, still over-cautious about the branch that is on the verge of snapping. She holds out the cat toy, flashing an awkward grin. Buttercup watches her in question, pausing for a few moments before he reluctantly approaches the toy.

Buttercup takes it in his teeth from Mizuki's hands, luckily not struggling out of her grip when she picks him up. Then, she looks down. How am I supposed to climb down with a whole cat in my arms?

In the end, she's not quite sure how she does it. All she remembers doing is reaching a leg over the branch and praying that she won't topple forwards (which she doesn't, thank goodness for that), after which she hops onto her feet. She tightens her grip around the cat, lowering herself into a crouching position so the guards won't notice her when they check the source of the noise.

She can bet that if this were real life, she would've definitely gotten caught from the moment she tried climbing the tree. It's only because game mechanics exist to her advantage that she's anywhere close to success.

"Go to your buddy," Mizuki utters to the cat, slowly directing it Jake's direction. He peers his head out from the bush, reaching his arms out only enough for it to be barely seen. Olive holds him back by his shirt, a little like you would do to a dog. Buttercup turns back once to Mizuki before it scampers into the bushes with Jake. 'Mission success, I guess.'