But in that case, he couldn't make sense of the scene before him.
(…That's Mikoto, isn't it? What's she doing?)
After heading down the road a bit after Mikoto left, he saw Mikoto crouching by the side of the road. She was next to a cardboard box sitting at the base of a wind turbine. Just as Kamijou's brain sent out warning signals because the scene was familiar, he saw a black cat sticking up from the cardboard box.
Mikoto was trying to feed the cat by bringing a sweet bun close to it, but the frightened cat pressed its ears back on its head and balled up as if someone were swinging his fist down toward it.
(??? Does she hate me so much that she purposefully went down that other road to get away from me? But then why is she ahead of me now? Why would she circle around ahead of me?)
Kamijou's head was full of questions, but then he noticed something. At Mikoto's feet as she crouched was a pair of NV goggles.
That wasn't Mikoto. That was Misaka Imouto who looked just like her.
"…Without the goggles, you really can't tell them apart," Kamijou muttered.
Misaka Imouto suddenly stopped moving while staring emotionlessly at the black cat. Without saying a word, she turned just her head like a lighthouse to look at Kamijou.
"Hey. Thanks for carrying those drinks and taking care of those fleas yesterday."
"…Misaka did not do that in order to be thanked, replies Misaka."
A slight bit of annoyance was mixed in with her expressionlessness as Misaka Imouto took the goggles from the ground and put them on her forehead. She also drew in the hand holding the sweet bun.
"Misaka only removed her goggles because she had heard that cats hated shining things like lenses, explains Misaka. Should she apologize for making you mistake her for onee-sama?"
As she spoke, Misaka Imouto for some reason expressionlessly hid the sweet bun behind her back.
Despite having been frightened before, the black cat was mewing in dissatisfaction.
Kamijou looked puzzled.
"If I needed an apology for something like that, I think I'd end up asking everyone in the world for an apology." Kamijou sighed. "But if the cat hates lenses, why did you put the goggles back on? Did you want to maintain a sense of individuality?"
It was hard to tell because of her lack of any expression and the calm with which she acted, but for some Kamijou felt like she had frantically put the goggles back on once she knew someone was looking.
"…No, not really, replies Misaka."
She replied immediately, but her words were somehow vague.
Kamijou looked puzzled once more. It was true that taking off her goggles to not scare a cat on the road side and crouching down while holding out a sweet bun for it seemed out of character for the expressionless and emotionless Misaka Imouto, but there was no real reason to hide it.
"Then you can just give the sweet bun to the cat. It likes it, right?"
"No…That is not it." Misaka Imouto froze. "Either way, it is impossible for Misaka to feed this cat, concludes Misaka. Misaka has a fatal defect, says Misaka in an additional explanation."
"A defect? Don't say it like that."
"No, it is the appropriate term. Misaka's body is constantly forming a weak magnetic field, explains Misaka. The human body cannot detect it, but it seems other animals can."
"???"
"It is said that the strange movements of animals that act as an omen of an earthquake are the animals' reactions to changes in the earth's magnetic field caused by changes in the earth's crust, says Misaka giving an easy-to-understand example."
"…Hm. The animals don't like it and run away, right? So does your magnetic field make animals hate you, Misaka Imouto?"
Misaka Imouto looked ever so slightly annoyed.
"They do not hate Misaka. They merely have a slight dislike of her, says Misaka correcting you."
"…"
Kamijou felt a little sorry for her, so he decided against joking around anymore. Animals didn't like Misaka Imouto just because of the magnetic field emitted from her body and she stared at the frightened cat with expressionless eyes. Kamijou felt bad for interrupting her, so he decided to leave.
"Wait, says Misaka requesting that you stop."
"Oh! You sensed that just from my presence!"
"Listen. There is a black cat here, says Misaka as she points toward the cardboard box. How can you leave without giving anything to this hungry cat? asks Misaka?"
"…Why do I have to give the cat some food just because you've grown fond of it!? And you're the one with a sweet bun in your hand!"
"No, not that. There is an abandoned cat here, so why did you not think of taking it in? asks Misaka a second time. Do you know how animals are treated when they are taken in by the health centers? asks Misaka as an example. First they put the animal within a clear polycarbonate case and inject 20 milliliters of a nerve gas called ASD10 inside…"
"Wahh!" Kamijou yelled cutting off Misaka Imouto's words.
Hearing that while the frightened black cat looked him in the eye was incredibly awkward.
"You take it in! You found it and you're the one that was feeding it!"
"…It is impossible for Misaka to raise this cat, honestly replies Misaka. Misaka lives in an environment that is slightly different from yours, says Misaka giving a reason."
Kamijou guessed that her dorm's rules must be pretty strict, but then he recalled that his own dorm's rules did not allow pets. Kamijou was the type who had no intention of following rules he couldn't see the reason behind, so it seemed odd to him that Misaka Imouto would give up on the cat for a reason like that.
Misaka Imouto crouched down and simply stared the black cat in the eye.
Her expressionless eyes followed the black cat despite knowing that it would never take a liking to her.
"…Ahh."
Kamijou stood still.
He had been worried about this when he had taken in the first cat. He had been worried that one cat would lead to taking in a second and the second would lead to third and a fourth. Of course, Kamijou's finances were not well off enough to create an animal kingdom.
Kamijou wanted to refuse the black cat, but he had a feeling Misaka Imouto would stay there all night staring at the cat and then get into a fight with the people from the health center if he left the cat there.
"D-dammit! This is just like with that calico cat!!"
"Misaka does not understand what you are saying, but are you intending to take in this black cat? asks Misaka. If you do not take it in, the health center workers will-…"
"Yes, I get it, I get. Quit staring up at me with those expressionless eyes and talking about the health center!"
(You and I certainly do live lives of misfortune, don't we?)
As Kamijou addressed the frightened cat in his mind, he picked it up from the cardboard box.
"That's right! A name! This is your cat, so take responsibility and give it a name!"
"…It is Misaka's?"
"Yeah, it's yours."
Kamijou looked down at the cat in his arms and the cat timidly returned his gaze. Misaka Imouto looked up at the evening sky for a bit with her usual expressionless face.
"Dog."
"Hah?"
"Misaka is naming this black cat Dog. …Dog even though it is a cat. Heh heh."
Misaka Imouto's expression was that of someone remembering a funny joke, but it looked a bit scary.
"…No, um…Please give it a more serious and dignified name that fits the type of animal it is."
"Then Tokugawa Ieyasu, says Misaka after reconsidering."
"That's too dignified! Wait, are you the kind of character that pretends to think about things but doesn't think at all!"
"Then what about Schrödinger?"
"Hell no! Even if it was just an example, some professor who would happily come up with a story about sticking a cat in a box and spraying poison gas inside couldn't have liked cats!"
In the end, they decided to name the cat later. However, Kamijou had a bad feeling that they would be unable to agree on a name later either and she would end up literally nicknaming the cat "Later".