?The following day, Hikari returned from her own routine checkup. Her gait was even more precarious than the day before.

  ?She stumbled violently over the threshold of the entryway, clinging to the wall until she reached the low chabudai table. She placed a single sheet of paper there and collapsed onto her futon without a word.

  ?I jumped onto the table and stared intently at the medical certificate.

  ‘Retinitis Pigmentosa: Progression of symptoms confirmed. Visual field narrowing, worsening night blindness…’

  ?(…Hey, you’ve got to be kidding me. It’s not just my sister? Her eyes too…)

  ?Late that night, while Hikari was fast asleep, I used my paws to boot up my old partner—my battered laptop—and began a desperate research session.

  “Retinitis Pigmentosa latest treatment,” “Artificial retina,” “Surgery costs.”

  ?The numbers the search results spat out were in a completely different league than my sister’s leg. Ten million yen, or more.

  ?(Ten million… That’s way beyond the royalties of a single book deal. If she keeps working a normal job, her sight will be gone long before she saves that much.)

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  ?The next morning, Hikari woke up with swollen eyes. She hugged the two of us alternately.

  ?“…I’m sorry for being so gloomy. It’s sad for you to go without names forever.”

  She traced the pattern under my nose.

  “You’re… ‘Hige’ (Mustache). Like a thief’s mustache. But somehow, it looks tough and reassuring.”

  ?Next, she looked into my sister’s clear eyes.

  “This girl… her eyes are so sparkly. From today, you’re ‘Kira’ (Sparkle).”

  ?Hige. And Kira. My soul trembled at the names she gave us.

  As soon as Hikari left for work, I meowed to Kira.

  ?“Mya. (Kira, did you hear? Our objective is set. We’re going to earn the surgery fees for both of you.)”

  “Mya? (…What’s with that look? If you’re thinking about nude modeling, I refuse.)”

  “Mya. (Sis… we’re just hairy. We’re always naked.)”

  “Mya? (…Oh, come to think of it, you’re right.)”

  ?I dragged over the beat-up smartphone Hikari had left behind. The password was “0310.” My birthday.

  ?(Watch me. I’m not ‘Mada-Mada-O’ anymore. From today, I’m going to be a real ‘thief’—one who steals back this woman’s future.)

  ?In the dead of night, in a run-down apartment.

  A single ugly cat pressed the record button on the smartphone with a soft click of his paw.

  ?[Next Time: Chapter 5 Preview]

  ?2:00 AM. While Hikari sleeps soundly, Hige’s obsessive “Strategy” finally begins!

  Setting the phone on a makeshift tripod, the goal is to film a video that will earn ten million yen.

  However, standing before the keyboard, Kira has a massive misunderstanding…?!

  ?“Do I… really have to take my clothes off?”

  “We’ve been stark naked since the day we were born!”

  ?A discordance played with crippled legs, and a close-up of a thief-stache occupying the entire screen.

  Our “Inspiration”—ridiculous, yet heart-wrenching—is about to be unleashed!

  ?Next time, Chapter 5: "The Naked Producer."

  ?