A puppet among researchers

Collei

Collei doesn't know why she cared so much about a cat story.

It was probably because of the shock of hat guy telling any story. Add in the shock of it being a cat story it just didn't make sense.

Something in her said to pay attention!
That there's some sort of message in his words.
It's probably for the part of her that was from before Sumeru, when her survival relied on a quick decision. A part of her that said this piece of info will be helpful down the line.

So against her better judgment, after finishing her meal she went looking for Hat Guy.

She found him on the hill where the campsite was.

She stood there for a moment wondering if she had made the right decision.
Until he said, "are you trying to be creepy? Because you suck at it!"

"Oh I'm sorry I..." she was completely at a loss of how to respond to that.

Hat guy rolled his eyes, sighed then added. "Just say what you came up here for or go away."

Collei took a deep breath then said. "That story you told, that isn't the ending is it?"

He sighed, "Why do you care soo much about this stupid Cat story?"

"Because.... Because the monster reminds me of someone from my past. That no one saw as a monster until it's too late." Collei answered honestly.

"HA, who does he remind you of, little fox? Dottore?" Hat guy asked even though he clearly knew the answer.

"How did you...." Collei tried to think. Tighnari and Cyno would never tell someone her past and no one else knew the truth. So how did this stranger know?

"I've already answered this once before." Hat guy stated.

"No you didn't! You just said you have met others like me. That's not an answer." Collei said.

Hat guy rolled his eyes then said. "I've met several like you when I was in Snezhnaya, i was there for a long time. But you are probably the only one left with a Will to live."

Collei was shocked,
Hat guy? Being open? Tighnari had complained about his closed off nature. Why was he being honest with her?

After a few minutes he continued, "as for the kitten, I can't tell the ending because it's an oral story! It's never been written. And no one knows how it ends. Also I had to leave out details because if I told the story in its original way Tighnari would have fed me to the wolves."

"If there were so many problems with the story then why tell it?" Collei asked.

"Because sometimes I wish that it ends happily. Or that if you tell enough people about it that someone would be able to help the kitten." Hat guy said.

"Bug if you tell it like it's a children's fairytale, why would anyone help?" Collei asked.

Hat guy shrugged.

"Well, I guess we will have to see where the cat lends itself." Collei said.

Another shrug.

Collei sighed.

Then she realized something.
"You know, I've never properly introduced myself."

Hat guy raised an eyebrow.

"I'm collei!" She said as she held her hand out

Hat guy sighed, shook her hand and said. "Wanderer"

While collei shook his hand, she heard a weird click noise.
Then wanderer said. "Umm do you mind letting go of my hand? I have to reattach it."

Reattach?
Collei looked at the hand in her hand
And screamed.