Every now and then, passers-by would walk past him, but no one seemed interested in stopping. After all, at first glance, Cola just seemed to be an ordinary American Shorthair; there was nothing particularly remarkable about him.
"Look at that cat, such a chubby American Shorthair!"
"Why would anyone be interested in an American Shorthair? Let’s check out the magical pets instead. I’m telling you, the Mandrake over there is absolutely adorable! Make sure to take plenty of pictures for me so I can post them in my friend circle later..."
Two young girls passed by the stone platform, giggling as they looked in Cola’s direction.
Cola paid them no mind, lazily sprawling on the warm stone. His gaze followed the girls as they left, and a smirk crossed his face: Hmph, foolish humans! I have no desire to please women who squeal with delight at the sight of a piece of grass!
Stretching his body and letting out a yawn, Cola looked up to see Mu You approaching from afar. He quickly jumped up to complain: "Mu You, when is this going to end? I want to go home and watch anime!"
"Is there a time when you can’t watch anime? With all these visitors around, at least try to interact with some of them. If you make a good impression, people might feed you."
"I’m not interested, meow. And these fools couldn’t recognize a treasure if it hit them in the face. That woman actually called me fat? Am I really fat?" Cola said, clearly annoyed.
Mu You gave him a disdainful once-over, thinking to himself: you really ought to take a piss and catch your own reflection; you have absolutely no self-awareness...
Rather than rubbing it in, Mu You shook his head. "You should cherish this opportunity. This is your last day on Earth, tomorrow you’ll return to your master. Don’t you want to win the title of ’Star Animal’ before you leave, as a gift for your master?"
"Star Animal? What’s that?" Cola was taken aback.
"I started a ’Cutest Animal of the Day’ voting feature on the app. All visitors can cast three votes for their favorite animals. The top three animals with the most votes will receive the ’Star Animal of The Day’ label," Mu You explained.
"Oh? How many votes do I have?" Cola seemed intrigued. He had participated in similar voting events back when he was with his master at the Magic Academy and usually, he was among the popular votes.
"Uh... three votes." Mu You checked his phone and responded.
"Only three votes?" Cola frowned. The number of votes was a lot fewer than he had anticipated.
Mu You shot him a speechless look. Those three pity votes were cast by him, Lin Xue, and Little Ya.
"In what place am I?" asked Cola, refusing to give up.
"Um... you’re in last place," Mu You answered.
"Last? As in last from the bottom?" Cola stared at Mu You incredulously. It took him a moment to process it: "I, meowself, am in last place? This is a joke, right? I am obviously the highest valued familiar of all!"
"See for yourself." Mu You handed him the phone screen.
Cola hastily grabbed the phone and checked. Indeed, amid a row of more than forty animal avatars, his cat head was in last place. And while the other animals had votes in double digits, he only had a measly three votes.
"How did this happen..."
Cola was as shocked as if he’d been struck by Thunderstrike, drowning in a sea of self-doubt.
"Could it be... that I’ve lost my allure?"
"... will my master abandon me once I return?"
Cola gazed collapse at the visitors coming and going around him. Not one of them glanced in his direction, which deepened his sense of dejection.
Mu You, worried that this silly cat was too devastated, witnessed Cola suddenly full of resolve, proclaiming loudly, "This is unacceptable. I cannot embarrass my master! I must prove that I am the cutest! I will become the Star Animal!"
Meowing loudly, Cola leaped off the stone platform and charged towards the two closest human figures.
It was the same two girls who had been laughing at him earlier.
The two of them were eagerly discussing something when they saw a spherical creature charging at them like a bullet. They jumped in fright before realizing that it was just a cat.
Cola made a beeline for the short girl, rubbing against her leg and meowing incessantly, doing his best to be as adorable as possible.
The girl was stunned: "Ah, why won’t this cat leave me alone!"
The girl with the round face who was standing next to her eyed Cola for a moment, then suddenly said: "Hey, this cat is quite cute too!"
The short girl shook her head in disgust immediately: "Let’s go. I feel like there’s something off about this cat, and I’m allergic to cat fur shed by American Shorthairs..."
Once again, Cola felt his spirit crushed by the girl’s scornful look. After a short period of dejection, he hurriedly redirected his affection towards the round-faced girl, continuing to meow non-stop while pitifully looking at her.
The round-faced girl softened a little. Holding the bucket of food in her hand, she hesitated and said, "Look at how pitifully it’s meowing. It must be starving, should we feed it a bit?"
"What? Are you sure you want to feed it? This food was meant for the Chocobo, and the feed is pricy here. I can’t afford a second bucket," the short girl looked a little reluctant.
Cola quickly motioned towards the food bucket, signaling that he wasn’t hungry, then started meowing at the phones held by the two girls.
"Huh? It seems like it doesn’t want food... it’s pointing at the phones... could it be asking us to vote for it?" The round-faced girl began to understand.