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

I turn towards the sound.

There, without a doubt, is Maki.

Not the meow of a cat, but a voice that called out with intention.

“Did you just speak?”

Maki stares at me in silence. Has she returned? Has Maki already come back? No, that’s not it. The way her eyes move and the intensity of her gaze are not human. The white cat is still there. And yet, just now, she called out to me?

“You can talk…?”

Could it be a misunderstanding? Did I mishear something that leaked from the gymnasium?

Maki rubs her cheek against me. She doesn’t attempt to speak further. Perhaps she learned words from being inside Maki for so long? I haven’t heard anything like that from Kimizu-san. It’s not the kind of story where a pet starts to talk because their owner’s love is overflowing.

“Ichika…?”

She calls my name again.

But this time, the atmosphere is different.

In her eyes, there is undoubtedly a human consciousness.

“Uh, Maki? You’re back?”

“What is this? Why are you here?”

The shock continues.

An obvious change, unlike anything before.

“Could it be that you don’t remember?”

“No, I was trying to jump over the vaulting horse, and then…”

What happened next? Maki’s voice fades, and she looks down. Maki has no memory. We had been able to share everything that happened while her consciousness was taken over by the white cat, but now that connection is lost.

With a pale face, Maki asks, “Hey, what did I do?”

Since the day of gym class, Maki stopped coming to school. I contacted her several times, but there was no reply, and then Saturday came.

Around noon, I visited Maki’s apartment and pressed the intercom at the entrance. I could tell from her voice that she had just woken up.

“Who is it?”

“Oh, it’s me. Ichika.”

“…You have the key, right?”

The microphone cuts off, and the entrance door opens. She seems to be down enough to allow me to enter without permission.

The front door was locked, so I opened it with the spare key I had. I passed through the hallway and entered the living room, but there was no sign of her.

I heard a sound like fabric rubbing from the bedroom behind the sliding door, and thinking she might still be asleep, I opened it to find her in the middle of changing out of her pajamas.

“Oh, sorry.”

“If you’re sorry, then close the door.”

“I’ve been thinking this since we took a bath together, but you really haven’t grown much since middle school, have you? Could it be that you haven’t changed in size at all?”

“You’re not going to close it, are you?!”

With a snap, the sliding door is shut, and I’m rejected. She responds to teasing with a proper comeback. She seemed to be in better spirits than I expected.

In less than ten seconds, the sliding door opens again, and Maki, now dressed in a yellow hoodie and shorts, glares at me.

“Move.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom.”

“…Want me to make some coffee?”

“Make it with milk and turn it into café au lait.”

“Understood.”

As I watch Maki leave the living room, I head to the kitchen. I grab the bottle of instant coffee from the shelf and look for a mug. I find the one I usually use when I stay over, but I can’t find the one Maki always uses, which has a cat silhouette on it.

When I open the sliding door to peek into the bedroom, I see it sitting on the desk. It looks like there’s still some leftover tea or something from yesterday.

“Come on, wash it already.”

As I take the mug and try to leave the bedroom, my smartphone vibrates in my pocket. I realize it’s a call and check to see it’s from Sakura-chan. Maki still hasn’t returned. I can hear the sound of a toothbrush from the bathroom down the hall.

Since I have some time, I decide to answer.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Ichika. Sorry for calling out of the blue.”

“What’s up?”

“I was just talking to my dad about the shrine priest we were discussing the other day.”

Ah, I remember now.

It seems she still remembers and even went out of her way to ask her dad about it.

“I asked for more details, but are you still interested?”

“Yeah, thanks. I’d like to hear.”

I pull out a chair and sit down, absentmindedly stroking the edge of the table as I listen.

“There are currently two shrine priests there.”

“Really?”

“It used to be run by an old man, but a woman he knew recently joined, and now they’re working together. It’s unusual, right? But recently, the old man has been hospitalized, and it seems the female priest is handling everything alone now. Her name is, um…”

“Kimizu-san.”

“Oh, right, that’s her. You know her well.”

It matches.

Everything I heard from her matches perfectly.

So, Kimizu-san was genuinely just cooperating out of goodwill. We must have misunderstood unnecessarily.

I let out a long sigh and lean back in my chair.

“That person is a real shrine priest…”

“When I told my dad that you said she was a mysterious person, he laughed.”

I had become suspicious and wary of someone I didn’t need to doubt. What would have happened if this had continued? I would have lost one of my few allies. I need to go apologize soon. If I bring her a golf ball or something, would she be happy?

The top drawer is slightly ajar, and I casually try to close it. Something is stuck, preventing it from closing properly. When I open it again, I find the edge of a handkerchief caught in it.

Something is hidden beneath the handkerchief, and when I lift it, I find a small bottle of medicine.

As soon as I pick it up and examine it, I feel a sense of discomfort.

I quickly understand the abnormality present.

“…Sakura-chan, I’m sorry. I need to hang up.”

“Eh, uh, wait—”

I put my smartphone away.

I hear the sliding door open, and when I turn around, Maki is standing there. I catch a glimpse of her eyes as they flicker when she sees the bottle in my hand.

She doesn’t seem angry about me entering her room without permission; instead, she averts her gaze to the living room.

“The mug was over there.”

“Maki. What’s going on with this?”

“What do you mean, what’s going on?”

“I mean the medicine.”

I hold up the bottle. The contents rattle inside.

That bottle, which hasn’t been opened at all, Maki doesn’t even look at.

“You haven’t taken any.”

“I thought Kimizu-san was suspicious.”

“That’s not true; that’s a lie.”

With a voice that asserts this, Maki finally stops avoiding my gaze and looks at me.

It was only recently that she started saying Kimizu-san was suspicious. This is beyond that level. Maki had stopped taking the medicine a long time ago.

In the first place, it was Maki who directed suspicion towards Kimizu-san. Perhaps her intention was to divert my attention there. Even when we went to Miyatai Shrine to uncover the truth, Maki had retreated rather easily.

She hadn’t been worsening because she was taking the medicine.

She hadn’t been taking it at all.

That’s why the blessing had been progressing.

Even when I try to recall, the memories feel distant.

When was the last time I saw Maki take her medicine?

“Maki, why…”

“It’s the same as you.”

“Me?”

“I love this town and the cat that’s here.”

I remember saying something similar when we went to the shopping district during Golden Week. Was it back then? Could it be that she stopped taking it from that time?

“There is indeed that white cat inside this body. Living together, I feel it more strongly every day. That child is suffering.”

“But even so, if it continues like this, Maki will…”

“I know. That’s why I’m troubled. But it has nothing to do with you.”

Why?

Why now, say something so dismissive?

Did she intend to keep this hidden until it was exposed? I had no idea that Maki was disappearing, and I was just meant to stay by her side until the end. It’s always like this. It was the same back then. Maki never told me about moving.

Am I shaken by the betrayal, or am I frustrated with myself for not realizing it? I can’t tell anymore.

“Take it, Maki.”

My body moves, thinking I have to do something.

“Quick, take the medicine!”

I approach, and Maki offers the bottle.

Her hand is brushed aside, and the bottle rolls onto the floor.

A jolt runs through my hand, and the pain lingers. I realize that Maki’s hand is covered in white cat fur. For a brief moment, she seems startled by the suddenly sharp claws, but she quickly hides her expression.

“I can’t kill this child. I can’t abandon her. That’s why I jumped in front of the truck. Just as Kimizu-san said. If things had gone differently, I would have died there too. You understand, right, Ichika?”

“Then is it okay to die?!”

“Shut up!”

Maki shouts.

“Can you make a decision right away, Ichika? Can you just cut off the existence that’s been close to you since birth? Is your love for cats a lie? Is it just a cheap affection, nothing more than a pet? You flaunted your superficial love, showering the cat with affection for your own satisfaction.”

“W-What? Why are you saying that…?”

“You have no right to say anything to me. You’ll just run away anyway. This is a problem I have to bear alone. So just leave me alone. If you’re going to interfere, get out.”

“…W-When have I ever run away?!”

“Always. That’s why I cut ties with you.”

The weak shield is pierced, and the spear of words strikes deep.

The important part of my voice is damaged, making it hard to breathe, and I can’t say anything back. Maki knows the words that cause me the most pain.

“You’ve been misunderstanding for a long time. I wasn’t angry that you didn’t come to our meeting place.”

“…Maki.”

“When I had to move, did you ever fight alongside me even once? Did you ever tell me not to go? Did you even try to resist with me a little?”

But.

That was something that couldn’t be helped anymore.

The move had been decided, and I thought there was no way to overturn it. A child can’t win against adult circumstances.

I try to respond, but my lips tremble on their own, and they won’t stop. I can’t get the words out properly.

“I just wanted you to be by my side, even if we couldn’t win. No matter what the outcome was, I wanted you to cry with me. You gave up on me faster than I did. You tried to escape from the truth, and that’s why you didn’t come to the meeting place. I didn’t push you away. You were the one who rejected me first.”

“That’s not true…”

“It is true.”

Maki answers.

“Now you want to meddle in how I use my life? Do you think you have the right to do that?”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Don’t touch my heart anymore.”

I don’t know if those words were actually spoken. But I feel like I heard something like that. My whole body is numb, and I can’t even pick up the slightest sound.

Maki shifts her body, creating an exit for me. I can’t look her in the face and pass by her to head for the entrance.

I feel like I don’t even have the right to turn back.