Ruri Morikawa would have always assumed that if she was spirited away to another world that she would have finally gotten rid of her perpetual stalker, her childhood acquaintance Asahi Shinomiya, in the process.
But alas, it won’t be that easy! After being summoned to another world, and framed as a would-be assassin on Asahi’s life, Ruri is exiled to a magical forest and it’s there that her life can truly begin.
Creator Kureha made an odd choice in titling this series, faithfully reproduced by J-Novel Club, in referencing an event which doesn’t occur until about halfway through this first volume. Even then it isn’t super representative of the series (as Ruri is asked point-blank if she wants “revenge” on Asahi and the nation that summoned her and her response is to want petty misfortune, not revenge). The set-up for this novel also smashes together a number of isekai light novel tropes in a bit of an unusual fashion; it’s odd to have multiple people drawn into another world (beyond Ruri and Asahi a few of their former classmates came along as well) and Ruri and Asahi’s one-side, antagonistic relationship from the start also feels different from what is probably the best-known, shōjo isekai with multiple girls dragged to another world, Fushigi Yûgi.
In other ways however, Ruri’s predicament feels very “over-powered light novel hero”ish.
As Ruri explains to Chelsie, an elderly dragonkin woman whose house she stumbles upon in the forest, she has known Asahi since childhood and Asahi would simply not stop clinging to her, no matter what kinds of steps she took; moreover that Asahi seemed to have an unconscious effect on people who caused them to love her and hate Ruri by contrast (which was at play when Ruri was dumped into the woods). Both of these effects are because of magic Chelsie explains — Asahi has been unconsciously “bewitching” people to like her, something that has never worked on Ruri because the magic she possesses is inherently stronger. In this world, magic is usually done by invoking the help of nature spirits and having a “wavelength” that spirits find attractive is critical to this; not only does Ruri have a very broad wavelength (one that Asahi surely sensed and explained why she was so clingy over the years) but it’s so broad it actually puts her in the category of someone who is “Beloved” by spirits, and Ruri’s practically a national treasure without having to lift a finger!
So, while she’s perfectly happy to spend the rest of her life living in the woods with Chelsie, Chelsie knows that she has to at least make an attempt to get Ruri to the court of the Dragon King (since again, Beloved’s are a matter of national security with how their mere moods can inspire spirits to cause catastrophes or miracles). Although, I don’t think she expected Ruri to do it as a cat! Ruri uses a magical bracelet of hers to escape from some hoodlums and, one thing leading to another, she is installed in the court as a magical, fluffy kitty and concerned how these demi-humans would respond if they learned she was actually a human!
I will confess: “making one of your characters a cat” does create “plausible” obstacles to having your main couple hook up (since, like all light novel protagonists, the endgame clearly involves Ruri hooking up with the most in-universe desirable partner, the Dragon King himself), although I do hope this issue is resolved sooner rather than later (Ruri can change back and forth whenever she wants to at least). I wouldn’t mind the tension going on a bit longer, but I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I expected with only a few minor quibbles. The first has to do with where the book ends; it doesn’t end so much as it “pauses” when there’s a lull in the action and I started wondering if it would have been feasible for this volume and the next to have been combined to create a better stopping point (White Cat’s Revenge already feels more Young Adult-ish than most light novels and combing two volumes would give it a page count very similar to one as well).
I also questioned the two year time-skip near the beginning of the story. While it makes sense for Ruri’s side of the story, we do see a brief scene with Asahi being completely distraught over Ruri’s disappearance and wanting to find her immediately (which subsequently leads her into being manipulated into starting a war with the Nation of the Dragon King). Asahi is dumb; it’s hard to articulate how dumb since she makes inanimate objects look intelligent, and the fact that this event occurs within days of Ruri vanishing, yet by the time Ruri visits the Dragon King the war hasn’t actually yet started, so it felt off to me and I wish it had been framed slightly differently. Asahi’s dumbness in general is a bit of a sticking point though: you either have to be able to get past it or you can’t enjoy the story at all.
I also wasn’t super fond of the illustrations by Yamigo. Normally I feel like light novels should have more illustrations but the generic character designs and utterly bland in-chapter drawings (usually featuring one or two characters with minimal props and no background) left me more interested in checking out the art of the manga adaptation than anything else.
Ultimately I am on-board with this J-Novel Heart series, trope-ish characters and all, and I’m quite glad that volume 2 is already being updated on the website with hopefully a full release coming soon!