Tom even started to tremble all over, with such high intensity that if Haku ignored the fact that it was a living creature, he would almost feel like he had strapped a massager to his leg; it was shaking so much his leg was going numb.
Compared to the incredibly brave Tom who had previously obliterated Ryunosuke, whose body was far larger than his own, it was like two different cats.
If brute force didn't work, then a softer approach was needed.
"It's okay, trust me, it's just going in to open a door." Haku said, stroking Tom's head, trying to soothe the timid cat who was inexplicably terrified.
"After you squeeze in, you just need to open the door, don't be scared. Besides, even if there's a ghost, you'll definitely be fine… right?"
Tom had just barely calmed down after hearing Haku's first sentence, even loosening his grip on Haku's leg slightly. But within a few seconds, Haku's next uncertain remark directly sent Tom's recently settled heart into his throat, scaring the entire cat white.
He was truly scared white, the kind of scared white from a visual perspective.
If one had to describe it, it was as if he had been splashed with a bucket of white paint; the entire cat was scared colorless.
After a few seconds, Tom's color returned, and he shook his head furiously at Haku, so quickly and with such a wide range that Haku could feel a cool breeze.
"Well, there's no other way. I was planning to buy you cake and milk with the saved rent money. What a shame." Haku said, making a show of walking away slowly, giving Tom time to consider.
This was just talk, after all, he was an unregistered resident; how could he rent a ghost of a house? And even if he had a household registration, he still couldn't afford a house. No other reason, just that Ryunosuke's wallet had too little money.
Perhaps Ryunosuke had money elsewhere, but it was none of his business. Since he really didn't know how to deal with Ryunosuke, kill him? He had never killed anyone and couldn't bring himself to do it. Let him go? That would be letting the tiger return to the mountains. In the end, he could only have Tom carry him at all times. He just didn't know why, at first he was carrying him, but later Haku was surprised to find Ryunosuke had disappeared. But when he asked Tom, he could pull him out, like a four-dimensional space.
At this moment, Haku was just taking advantage of Tom's lack of common sense. If Tom really remained unmoved, then he would just have to smash the window. Haku was determined to stay in this house.
Tom immediately became restless. The thought of the food that was about to be his disappearing was unbearable. Absolutely not!
He understood the difference between one full meal and constant hunger.
After realizing this, Tom immediately let go of Haku's leg, his eyes instantly sharpened, and he immediately decided to squeeze in and open the door!
Feeling the sudden relief in his numb calf, Haku knew that his taunt had succeeded. He looked back and saw that Tom was already covered in 'armor' he had somehow found.
He wore a small pot on his head as a helmet, held a trash can lid as a shield in his left hand, and a spatula as a defensive weapon in his right hand.
Then, he walked triumphantly towards the front door, though for some reason, the closer he got, the more Tom's figure shrunk, and the less confident he became.
Arriving at the door, Tom took a deep breath, his upper body immediately squeezed through the door crack into the house, while his lower body ran vigorously outside, trying to pull his entire body through the crack. Soon, his whole body was inside.
As soon as the entire cat was inside the house, he immediately began to look around. Cobwebs hung everywhere, making it feel very eerie and terrifying, but there didn't seem to be any ghosts.
However, just as Tom breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn back to open the door, his peripheral vision caught a floating white figure at the end of the hallway, its eyes even glowing with an eerie red light.
If Tom could speak Chinese, he would definitely be scared enough to shout, 'Holy cow, there really is a ghost!'
"Yikes!!!" After a moment of stunned silence, Tom abandoned his equipment, let out a shriek, and leaped up, clinging to the ceiling with his claws, trembling.
The ghost, upon seeing Tom, barely paused and immediately prepared to fly towards Tom.
However, before it could make a move, a short-haired girl in a blue kimono with a red outer jacket appeared behind it. As the sword light flashed, the ghost was instantly cut in half, turning into spirit particles and disappearing from this world.
"With that, the last spirit here is finally dealt with. Seriously, what kind of world have I been sucked into? The number of ghosts is just too exaggerated… Hmm?" Just as the girl was about to finish up, she suddenly noticed a light blue cat hanging above the doorway.
"What, it's just a cat? But how can there still be a cat alive here?"
Although she found the cat a bit strange, the girl didn't pay it much mind. After sheathing her dagger, she opened the window and left the house.
Tom, who had watched the entire process from the ceiling, confirmed that the ghost had disappeared. He then quickly jumped to the ground, opened the door, and immediately pounced onto Haku, continuing to shiver.
Seeing Tom burst out the door, Haku quickly started asking what had happened inside, "What was that scream just now?"
Just as Tom went in, he suddenly screamed, scaring Haku, who was keeping watch outside. He was about to crouch down and try to peek through the door crack when Tom jumped out.
Hearing this, Tom jumped off Haku, pulled the corners of his mouth with both hands, revealing his fangs, then made his hands into claws and waved them in front of him.
Then Tom grabbed his spatula, swung it at the air in front of him, and immediately threw the spatula aside. He then returned to where the spatula had just swung, continued to act like a ghost, and then covered his heart with both hands and fell forward.
With that, Tom's one-cat, two-role pantomime ended.
"You mean, there was a ghost inside… and you got rid of it with one spatula?" Watching Tom's performance, Haku struggled to understand what Tom meant.
Tom was about to shake his head, but then he had a change of heart. If his new Master thought he had handled it, wouldn't there be plenty of cake afterwards? So he immediately nodded, proudly raised his head and straightened his body, put his left hand on his hip, and used his right thumb to tap his chest.
Seeing Tom nod, Haku's eyes immediately lit up. He instantly gave a thumbs-up and started cheering, "Oh? Tom, well done!"