Last Man On Earth When There Is No Earth ?

Planet Rooster, Gram city, Seven

"Hmm~~ huhummm~~~"

"I don't really get it but…" Lilia smiled, somewhat confused "glad you got better so soon"

On the opposite side of the table, the four armed red skinned shop owner looked at me with a piercing glare, folding all her arms whole nervously tapping with the index finger of both her rights

"Why wouldn't he? Who wouldn't feel good after nearly bringing down a whole building"

I have to say I completely agree with Lilia, I do feel a lot better right now. Considering what happened yesterday it shouldn't be that surprising if depression crippled me me for a week or so. I have many things to thank, and one of them is the ghnem meat we had this morning. Yeah, apparently I didn't threw it up along the poisonous red energy. I can eat though, after the light exercise I did in Jar's bas.e.m.e.nt I don't feel as full as when we finished our meal but.

My light exercise ended up rubbing our female Homr friend the wrong way, and what's more, I don't really care!

"Now now, I already promised I would pay for all the repairs, right?" it's a pain that would disappearas London as you have enough coin. But paying for the repairs alone isn't going to satisfy someone like her, it seems

"Don't forget the time it would take" time huh. Isn't this supposed to be an advanced alien planet? Would it really take that long to build something?

Jar didn't seem to bother hiding her hostility at all, her yellowish green eyes still fixed on me as a threatening aura surrounded her.

"Whoever, are repairs really necessary? You are going to change the shop's location soon anyway"

"And who is this idiot that would get this rubble off my back? You think I have the leisure to waste money of those proportions?"

"Well…"

The damage I did aside, since there is a high possibility of us being tailed on the way here. This place being the simple building it appears to be is a past now, and if by any chance someone discovers it's a weapon on demand business ground out red skinned friend here might get into some shitty situations down the line.

"You probably should learn how to control your shit show before it gets you into more trouble" sitting on the table unnoticed by everyone, Iris stabbed me with her usual harsh words. Nevertheless I was in a way too good a mood for her to ruin

'Those things take time you know'

Besides, it's not like I see me having super powers as a bad thing

"Having them is not the problem, foolishly using them is" slowly swinging her legs, she looked at me with annoyance in her eyes "pay some mind to the people around you, at lea-"

"And? Care to explain something" Jar began speaking, unintentionally cutting Iris before she could end her words. I took the cup that was in front of me and gulped down the juice-or is it tea?- she served us earlier. In a tired voice Jar asked a question I thought she already heard the answer to

"Breaking through reinforced glass is one thing, but falling from such heights then moving around wrecking havoc everywhere you go? What about the bullets? What kind of monster survives a whole magazine of EMAS 5T ammunition without getting a single scratch?"

"Someone with too much plot armor, I think"

"umm, Seven, I think it's better if you take things… more seriously" sensing the tension growing between us, Lilia jumped in to cool things down "I'm sure you already have an idea as to why we went through this event"

"has it not opened your eyes to something important? You act is way too careless"

Now, what could this red skinned four armed supposedly female alien be talking about? I mean, I'm just a normal guy walking around with morbidly obese wallet and mega, ultra, out of the world rare SSSSS class babe like Lilia, what could possibly go wrong?

"I thought you were too distracted to think about something obvious, like the thief's motive"

'I may have been a little… excited, but I did ask all the important questions during the chase, subconsciously at least"

But she didn't know, did she? There are things, or maybe conditions for what she can and can't read

"don't forget the things I don't want to see, like your perverted dreams"

'I would appreciate it if you don't ' I'm not exactly proud about those either.

"Jokes aside, your mind becomes a mess when you turn white, you don't seem to listen when I talk to you too"

'Ho~h? Guess I better learn how to keep it constantly activated huh?'

"Good look with that"

Back on track

While I had my little mental conversation with Iris Jar brought a book -the smartphone like device- and placed it on the table. A few seconds later she presented to us a small floating panel with one image and a few lines of text in Zesionien, which I obviously couldn't read. But the guy -he is a guy, I think?- in the picture is someone all three of us recognized, the leader of the mob we faced earlier

"His name is Giran, a convicted criminal in sectors from the thirteenth the the eighteenth"

He looked like a metamorphic tiger , and with his white and grey fur hhe looked like a character from a movie I liked as a kid.

Jar showed us other files one after the other, introducing us to few of his subordinates that I won't remember since they all fell victim to Lilia's fists and spear.

"Those are all members of the Verta clan" and out of nowhere this four armed alien dropped a bombshell before us

"The Verta… clan?" Lilia slowly looked my way, her expression somewhat stiff

"No wonder we didn't get along"

"They are called Herara right?" If it weren't for their humanoid form I might had noticed the resemblance much earlier! is what I would like to say but in all honesty, I just didn't care.

"Of course, all Verta clan members belong to the same specie" clearing her throat with a cough, Jar went on and explained "their home world, Namira, is an open planet, yet the not the very welcoming kind. The Verta clan is as the name suggests, a community that warsh.i.p.s the mythical beast Verta. It is said that their leader was chosen as its proxy having a portion of its power granted to him at birth"

"hmm…."

"Don't look at me, I don't have anything to do with it"

That goes without a question. After all it hasn't been that long since Iris… became the giant lightning farting blue tiger. That's said, for someone else to have that kind of power, does that mean he has the ghost of a former Verta possessing him too?.

"After his influence grew to a certain level he was banished for refusing by the first amendment of the intergalactic union that prohibits the consumption of other intelligent beings. He was followed by his believers and with no intent on bending the knee the clan turned to illegal activities such as piracy and smuggling"

Yeah… I thing we may have gotten ourselves in a really tight spot with someone dangerous.

Sigh… I always hated cults.

"mmm….mmmmm…. I think I understand. Now, tell me about the cat-girl"

"A shit, here we go again" Iris facepalmed herself at the seriousness in which I asked the most awaited question -at least for me-.

"Cat-gurl?" of course, an uncultured alien such as Jar had no way if knowing what I'm talking about, but Lilia on the other hand seemed to have figured who I was referring to

"You mean that little thief, tight? Yu keep calling her that but…"

"Hm? You mean the young female that stole your book?" the red skinned shop owner shuffled through the files once more but couldn't find one about the mysterious little thief

"No info, huh… meaning no criminal, an unregistered child"

"What specie is she from?"

"I just told you, if she works for the clean, meaning she is a Herara too"

"Wait… you mean she is from the same specie as them!!"

"Your surprise is understandable. For the most part, their females don't resemble the males at all. Ther fur doesn't start growing until the last stages of their life"

So… let me rearrange things for a moment. You are telling me there is a planet out there, and this planet is inhabited by real, living, breathing, flesh and bone nekos?

"Hey, don't just erase the other half to suit your fantasy !"

Ignoring ghost girl's voice for a moment, I lean forward resting my elbows on the table, hands clenched together.

I did some serious unnecessary thinking. After all there is only one thing I have to do after learning those valuable information

"you said it's called Namira, right?..." I turn to Lilia who sat by my side with a confused look "I think I know where we should go next"

"…" slowly processing my words in silence, her eyes opened to the utmost as she said in a hesitated voice "you don't mean…"

Unable to hold my excitement anymore I stand up and slam the table with both my hands , almost breaking it

"That's right! We are going there!!..."

"What an idiot"

"To the promised land of humanity's salvation, the neko world!!!"

…..

"….humanity's survival?"

Hearing me say the H word, all the ladies had reacted in their own way. Lilia and Iris had been taken by surprise thinking it was just a slip of the tongue, but the one startled the most by it was Jar, her yellowish green eyes opening to the utmost as she slowly repeated my words

"You thing I didn't notice that you already figured out about my true identity?"

Shaking my head in an exaggerated manner, I spoke with an uncharacteristic smile on my face

"Lilia noticed that we were being followed, probably ever since we landed, then suddenly a thief appears before us l, why? The only reasonable answer would be that they knew who we are"

"…"

"And if some pirate group out there got the news, someone with the right connections, let's say, for example, a weapons dealer who only works with government officials, he or she should be able to get their hands on those information pretty easily"

"Wait…" surprise still painting over Lilia's face, she might have had the idea that we were cautious enough but that doesn't seem to be all that's on her mind

"Just earlier… she told me she couldn't find anything about you…"

"Yes, there is nothing about me out here besides the news that Gorgola is no longer a death trap, that I single handedly defeated Zesionien soldiers in their own home and finally that I'm a human"

"…."

"Remember what old man Blitz said the other day? There will be no shortage of people able to recognize what I'm from appearance alone. Someone between the soldiers knew what specie I belong to, did the necessary calculations and figured out that info about a planet owner traveling with nearly no security at all, and a miserable human above all, would sell for a really huge sum"

Giving our red skinned friend a side look, she let out the breath she held in and held up all her hands in defeat

"Sigh…. Well, you surely are not the rich spoiled idiot I thought you are" shrugging her shoulders she went and explained " synths that look awfully similar to humans aren't really a strange things, especially male ones, and with all human males being extinct for some time now the absence off any defining features is now associated with synths"

"But a synth that eats normal food and needs water to survive"

"Exactly"

Manipulating the hologram coming out 9f her book, Jar showed us another file. This time it contained what appears to be my silhouette, I think they are called thermal images?

"Synthetic beings sometimes use a type of camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. One exists for nearly every specie in the known universe be it intelligent or no. Meaning that scanning their biological signature wouldn't be enough as a proof for what they are"

Oooh, so that was the missing part. Why would someone get to such lengths just to play the role of a long gone race, right?

"If it was to blend in here, wouldn't it be better to replicate a Zesionien? Disguising as a human is more suspicious than it needs to be"

"And since unarmed humans are known not to have any abilities to speak of, stealing from them wouldn't be a hard thing"

"… so, in the end every precaution we took to keep that secret was a waist of time" Lilia sighed, sloshed her eyes and sipped from her cup

"pretty much" well, better careful than sorry.

"Actually, them knowing you are a human probably worked in your favor. Your hidden powers surely took them by surprise"

'Well, obviously'

It isn't hard to guess that humans are near the bottom of the list when it comes to physical strength. Someone more normal would be completely vulnerable out here where buff horned aliens and bipedal huge tigers are the norm.

"sigh…" Jar took her cup and gulped its contents in one go then snapped the fingers of her upper right arm and a small box appeared from one of the corners of the room.

"Would you like some more?"

I looked at Lilia then confirmed that "we are good"

"Suit yourselves"

The placed the cup inside an opening in the box and a second later it came out from the top filled to the brim with the tea like juice.

"We drifted really far fro our topic huh"

"Hmmm… we were talking about… ah!" Lilia clapped her hands as she finally remembered "about where we should go next!"

"Am I right to guess you were referring to Namira, right?"

"Yup, a planet where a whole nekos civilization is built, what more reason do we need to make that trip our purpose!"

"Nekos?" said Lilia, slightly tilting her head to the side

"Cat-girls in Japanese"

"Cat-gurls?" Jar too seemed a bit confused

"Japanese?" Iris looked up, probably went to search for the answer in my memories.

"So basically, you want to visit Namira to see those cat-gurls, meaning female Herara, right?"

"Hopefully, I may obtain one or two… maybe five or six wouldn't hurt"

"I'm not sure if the intergalactic union would let slavery slide" maybe the way I put it caused a little misunderstanding between me and this four armed lady

"and what could it be that a married man wants from all those females he plans to obtain?" Iris flew up, looking down at me with disgusted eyes

"Pet them, of course" this time I was too quick, expecting her reaction before I said anything. I look at her with a very provocative smirk and ask her a question I knew the answer to "now, what could it be that you saw that distracted you from reading me"

Her body twitched and she froze for a moment, her face slowly growing red. I wouldn't blame her for that though, after all when we are talking about cat-girls there is one particular game that stands out, and it's most famed parts are scenes don't suit innocent girls like her.

"Well, I don't want to question your tastes but… are you sure about that? Namira is really fare you know"

"Doesn't matter! As long as it exists I will do whatever it takes to get there!"

"Pervert"

'Shut up'

Red color still painting her face, Iris angrily stared holes into me. But suddenly her expression changed as her ears twitched a little.

She brought her hands close to her face and with her usual smug smile she mimicked one of the most stereotypical things someone pretending to be a cat would do

"Nya~~"

"….eight out of ten"

"Just an eight!!?"

"I can't unsee your whiskers, plus you are more of a tiger than a cat"

"huh? Wait! Did they grew back!?"

Iris is cute in her own way, but all the smugness and the fact that she knows nearly everything I may think of are preventing me from looking at her as anything other than a really annoying brat.

Today started as my typical bad day, almost the same as any other day back when I was a normal human waiting for his own death. Things got a little better, and now for the first time since waking up on that godforsaken planet I have a goal. Not a really noble one, but at least for now, it's more than enough.