"I am a sinner. I might kill you and take over this house."

  When I said that—half threat, half warning—she simply swayed her tail and smiled quietly.

  "Killing me now would be pointless. You know far too little about this house. Acting in ignorance will only strangle you in the end."

  Her tone carried a strange authority. An eerie dignity that didn’t quite fit within her small feline frame.

  "My name is Aria. Three days ago, I was murdered by a man... and when I woke up, I had become a cat."

  "…Reincarnation?"

  The word stirred something in me. It felt too familiar. As if she had walked the same path as I had—though clearly, the details were different. I chose to keep my thoughts to myself.

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  "The police ruled my death a suicide. Even now, someone is still searching for my body."

  "Why... suicide?"

  "A boy was the first to find me. He said he saw a woman hanging from a rope. He ran to the police, but when they returned, the body had vanished. The investigation concluded it was likely a suicide. They assumed stray dogs had taken the corpse."

  "You remember the face of the killer?"

  "I do. A middle-aged man. I think… he was the manager of a restaurant."

  "Where’s the body?"

  "It couldn't have been taken far. Not with how quickly the police cordoned off the area. And taking such a risk… it’s not something an ordinary person would do. I suspect a 'necromancer.'"

  "Necromancer…?"

  "You don't know? They’re said to worship eldritch gods—twisted entities from beyond. The necromancers use forbidden magic to manipulate the dead. It’s just a rumor in the city’s shadows, but… I’m sure my body is in that man’s house."

  Her voice was calm, yet each word chilled me like the breeze of midnight.

  An eldritch god, a necromancer, a woman reborn as a cat—none of it should have made sense. But somehow, it did. It all felt disturbingly real.

  I, Ratt, turned over her words again and again, trying to piece the fragments together.

  And I reached one, undeniable truth.

  —The evil god and the eldritch god... they are perhaps one and the same, or twins born of the same abyss, bearing different names and forms.

  Now, the enemy had a shape.

  Vague. Shadowy. Yet unmistakably present.

  And the night fell, silent and deep, cloaking the world in darkness once more.