My Childhood Friend Meows Under My Skirt. (GL) - Chapter 3

As I walked down the street, a calico cat approached, climbing along the fence of a nearby house. This was Mimi-chan, the cat I secretly fed, with ears of different colors. I had a can of cat food from a participation prize in a shopping district contest in my bag, so I opened it and offered it to her. After she finished eating, Mimi-chan turned to me and spoke.

“Ichika.”

“Huh?”

“Ichika, it’s me, Maki. Because of you, this is what happened. Because you didn’t do anything for me, I can’t go back to being a cat. I’ll be like this for the rest of my life.”

I jolted awake from the dream.

I was drenched in sweat.

Looking down from my bed, I saw the futon neatly folded, and Maki, who had been staying since yesterday, was not there. The clock showed it was almost nine in the morning. She might be having breakfast downstairs.

As expected, Maki was at the dining table in the living room. She was eating a combination of buttered toast and natto rice, a pairing neither producer would likely desire. It seemed she prioritized energy replenishment in her eating habits; perhaps this kind of freedom comes with living alone.

“You’re eating without permission.”

“What about my share? Something other than that natto rice toast.”

“I can make a dish that mixes scrambled eggs with cereal. Surprisingly tasty.”

“Sorry, but I think I’ll prepare my own.”

I realized that there is indeed a sense of style even in meals.

On Maki’s defenseless head, cat ears still sprouted. Additionally, a tail swayed from her waist, moving gently as if trying to sense the subtle air currents in the room. She said it felt somehow easier to keep her tail out by lifting her clothes.

Normally, the cat ears would have disappeared, but they remained, and now a tail had grown. Maki reported this surprisingly calmly, without changing her expression. This was clearly a different pattern, a phenomenon that deviated from the rules I had hypothesized.

Not knowing what would happen, Maki stayed over last night. My parents were scheduled to return today.

“Should we go consult with Kimizu-san?”

“I’ll stop by on the way back.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, I’ll go alone. You’re probably just thinking about sexual harassment.”

“That’s not true.”

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t interested in Maki, who now had both ears and a tail. I had endless questions about how the texture felt, what kind of reaction she would have if I touched both at once, but I managed to restrain myself more than usual. Deviating from the rules likely meant either improvement or deterioration. Given the situation, I felt it was the latter.

“I’ll definitely come with you.”

“I told you it’s fine. You wouldn’t be of any help.”

Maki stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom. And I need to take my medicine. What, today feels annoying.”

“You’re not being sexually harassing.”

“No, it’s a different kind of annoyance.”

I couldn’t say it was because of that dream I had.

In the end, after finishing breakfast, Maki went home. She wore a combination of a hoodie with the hood up and a long skirt, a look as mismatched as her buttered toast and natto rice. If she grew a beard, she’d need a mask, and if she had paw pads, she’d have to prepare gloves. At that point, she would definitely attract attention, not just at school but even in the neighborhood.

My parents returned in the early afternoon. I hadn’t asked for details about their trip since I knew I couldn’t go, but it turned out they had gone to Taiwan. As they spread out their souvenirs, they showcased the Chinese phrases they had just learned, which became quite annoying. I realized that this might be the kind of annoyance Maki had mentioned.

“Where in Taiwan did you go?”

“We went to a place called Houtong. There are a lot of cats there. Mom insisted on going because it’s called Cat Village!”

While talking, my father let out a distinctive sneeze. As he searched for tissues, he sneezed again, “Faisai!” My own peculiar sneezes must come from his genes. But putting that aside, there was one clear cause for my father’s sneezing.

“That’s strange. Is it allergies…?”

“It must be because I met a lot of cats in Houtong.”

“No, I didn’t have any allergies there, but fess!”

My mother laughed at my father’s unique sneeze. Then, in a tone that wasn’t entirely serious, she asked,

“You didn’t invite any cats in while we were away, did you?”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

I hadn’t let any cats in.

But just a moment ago, Maki had been sitting there. Looking closely at the hardwood floor, I noticed a few short white hairs scattered about. They must have fallen from her ears or tail. There was no doubt that my father’s allergy was triggered by them.

I pretended to drop some snacks on the floor to collect the hairs. Perhaps it was a good thing I was home this time. If either of my parents had found the hairs first, it would have led to a complicated explanation.

“Tell me more about your trip.”

As I watched the two of them talk, I searched for traces of Maki.

The report that Maki’s ears and tail had disappeared came on the last day of Golden Week. She said she planned to go to school normally the next day. I suggested I could pick her up, but she declined.

Maki entered the classroom just before the start of the period. Her mouth was covered with a mask, and as I stared in disbelief, our eyes met briefly, and she gestured with her fingers as if pinching and stretching. It meant she had grown whiskers.

According to the usual sequence, the next occurrence should have been the takeover of consciousness by the white cat Maki. Yet, the changes in her body continued.

During lunch break, Maki suddenly grabbed her bag and left the classroom. I chased after her and caught her on the landing of the stairs.

“Are you going home?”

“Just now, I felt a tingling sensation. There might be changes in another part of my body.”

“What did Kimizu-san say?”

“I didn’t go to see her.”

I gasped.

“Why not? Why didn’t you go?”

“I’m not sure I can really trust her. The symptoms have worsened since I started taking the medicine.”

“Does that mean the medicine isn’t working?”

“Or it might be a medicine that accelerates the progression.”

“…Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know, but not all shrine priests are kind people, you know.”

Maki’s claim that her symptoms had worsened since starting the medicine seemed to align with the timing. But it could also be interpreted that the white cat inside her was resisting because she was taking the medicine.

“Even if she’s a shrine priest, it’s questionable whether that’s even true. She sends weird dance videos. The other day, it was hula dancing. And she was surprisingly good at it.”

“She does seem suspicious, but I feel like she’s not a bad person.”

“What if she’s trying to make us let our guard down, including that character she portrays?”

It was a circular argument. No conclusion was reached.

But what needed to be done remained unchanged. We had to somehow suppress the cat’s blessing. If this continued to worsen—

“Let’s go see her together again. I want to confirm it too.”

“Then let’s go now.”

“Okay. I’ll get ready, so wait for me at the entrance.”

Maki began to descend the stairs. She moved so quickly that I felt she might leave me behind if I was even a moment late. I hurriedly turned around and went back to the classroom.

Just as I was about to grab my bag, I was called, “Ichika.” I turned around to see Sakura-chan.

“Are you going home?”

“Yeah. Sorry, but could you let them know I’m feeling unwell?”

“That’s fine. Is it urgent?”

I hesitated, unsure how to respond. I thought I was being clumsy. Still, Sakura-chan didn’t point it out.

Then I remembered something and turned back to Sakura-chan, who had come to see me off at the classroom door, and decided to ask her.

“Your dad is the president of the shopping district, right? So you know quite a bit about the town. Do you know anything about the Miyatai Shrine?”

“The shrine? I think I know about it. Why?”

“Do you know anything about the shrine priest? I met him the other day, and he was a bit of a mysterious person.”

“Probably my dad knows more about it…”

As she recalled, Sakura-chan continued, “I think the shrine priest there is an old man in his seventies.”