Maybe I should head back.
If I stayed out too long, Aria would worry. Besides, customers would start trickling in soon, and she needed someone to keep an eye on the hall.
I was about to leave when I sensed something tiny following behind me. I turned around to find a little orange cat trotting after me.
“Myaong.”
Why do you keep following me?
It was the young tomcat I’d given the sex-ed lecture to earlier.
How old are you, big bro?
I’ve been alive for twenty-three years.
Gasp!
The young cat, somewhere between kitten and adult, practically jumped out of his fur.
Well, to a four-month-old, twenty-three years probably sounded like an astronomical number.
You’re different from us, big bro. You’re weird. It’s cool.
Was it because I acted too much like a human?
The little cat was openly fascinated with me.
Big bro, can I smell your butt?
No.
Why not? I’ll let you smell Cookie’s too.
He circled around me, then shoved his ass right in front of my face.
I don’t want to smell it.
Why the hell would I want to sniff your asshole?
“Maaoong.”
Move your butt.
The kitten folded both ears back and drooped.
Apparently, he’d taken my refusal as proof that I had no interest in him, and he looked way too crushed about it.
I couldn’t go around scarring such a delicate young heart.
To cheer him up, I leaned in and gave the back of his neck a few sniffs.
You smell nice.
Hehe! I wanna smell you too, big bro.
So we exchanged scents.
Wait, is your name Cookie?
Yeah! That’s right! Betty named me!
Guess people here named their pets after food too.
Cute.
******
Grandma Bonnie, VIP customer of Aria’s Teahouse.
My eternal number-one favorite customer.
As always, Grandma Bonnie personally fed me one of her homemade treats. It tasted a little like dried sweet potato, and I loved the chewy texture.
While she knitted, I kept her company, either sitting beside her and purring or simply hanging around while she talked.
“There, all done. Roro, would you stand up for me?”
At her gentle voice, I pushed myself up from where I’d been lying and sat on the chair, looking at her.
Grandma Bonnie held up her finished piece of knitting.
It was semicircular with strings attached, like a baby bib. Yellow and pale-green yarn had been worked into little flowers and leaves.
It was adorable.
...So why are you giving it to me?
Grandma Bonnie wrapped the baby-bib-looking thing around my neck.
What is this?
I stared up at her in bewilderment, and a wrinkled hand stroked my head.
“Oh, aren’t you pretty.”
“Mya?”
“You look like a little yellow spring flower with that around your neck. Do you like it? Grandma will make you more.”
She chuckled happily.
“You knitted that cape yourself? Oh my goodness, it’s adorable.”
Only when Aria came over and said that did I realize the thing around my neck was apparently a cape.
“I should’ve made him one ages ago. If I’d known it would suit him this well, I would have. Hoho.”
“You’re incredible with your hands. Would you teach me how to knit sometime? It’s so cute, I want to make things for him too.”
“Of course. I’ll teach you whenever you like.”
It happened to be a quiet stretch with no customers, so Aria sat down and chatted with Grandma Bonnie.
With me between them, the two launched into an enthusiastic discussion about which colors would suit me and what shapes of cape would look cutest.
For some reason, I felt deeply uneasy.
*******
Apparently, that conversation ignited Grandma Bonnie’s creative spirit.
Grandma Bonnie turned out to be an absolute master. She didn’t even need patterns—she could knit whatever she pictured in her head straight from memory.
And she was ridiculously fast.
She was finishing almost one knitted piece a day.
It’s not even winter...
Today’s creation was an ear warmer.
An ear warmer with round little teddy-bear ears attached.
For a twenty-three-year-old man, the design inflicted a pretty serious dose of existential humiliation.
But I’d sat beside her and watched her painstakingly work the brown yarn stitch by stitch.
There was no way I could refuse.
So, like a professional model, I stayed perfectly still while Grandma Bonnie put it on me.
“Such a good boy.”
Her pleased voice came from above my head.
I looked up.
“Oh, how adorable. You look just like a little doll. Hoho.”
She was gazing down at me with such warm, delighted eyes.
...Fine.
I’d keep it on until she left.
“Myaa.”
I got up and performed a few tricks for her, then accepted the treat she offered me.
“Oh, you precious thing. So precious.”
I settled beside her, out of the drowsy afternoon sunlight, and a warm hand began stroking my head.
My eyelids gradually grew heavy.
There weren’t any other customers around.
Maybe I could close my eyes for just a minute....
Grateful once again for the absolute paradise that was cat life, I fell asleep on the job.
I had no idea how long I’d been out when a hand rubbing my belly finally made my eyes flutter open.
My vision refused to focus.
All I could make out was hazy yellow sunlight and a white blur.
Were Grandma Bonnie’s hands always this big...?
As I wondered that, I heard footsteps approaching.
The hand immediately disappeared.
“Hello. I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Is this your first time here?”
“I happened to be passing nearby and decided to stop in. What kind of tea is this place known for?”
I heard Aria’s voice.
And another voice.
A low voice that sounded strangely familiar.
“...I see. Then may I have black tea?”
“Of course. Please wait just a moment.”
Aria’s footsteps receded.
I forced my eyes wide open, trying to shake off the sleep.
Apparently I scrunched my face up in the process, because I heard a quiet laugh from beside me.
“Ha... You’re ugly.”
The hand started rubbing my belly again.
My eyes snapped fully open.
At last, the white blur came into sharp focus.
Starting with the hair, everything was white.
A man with snow-white silver hair and blue eyes was looking down at me.
Even his clothes were white—a priest’s robes.
Huh?
Priest’s robes...?
“Look at you. I leave you alone for a little while, and now you’ve turned into a baby bear.”
“Mya—mya? MYAAAK!”
Y-You?! What the hell?!
Grandma Bonnie, who had been sitting beside me, was gone.
And in her place sat Lippert, smiling pleasantly as he waited for his tea.
Even his hair had returned to its natural color.
Right.
Lippert’s hair wasn’t actually black. He normally dyed it black with a magic potion—
No, that wasn’t the fucking point!
What the hell are you doing here?!
I sprang upright and protested at him.
What are you plotting?!
Why are you here?!
“How cute. Who put that thing on your head?”
...!!!
Only then did I remember what I looked like.
Humiliation crashed over me.
I hurriedly hooked my claws under the knot tied beneath my chin and tried to pull it loose.
Nothing.
Why won’t this fucking thing come off?!
Instead, one of my claws got caught in the string, leaving me frozen in a ridiculous half-twisted pose.
“You want it off? Why? It suits you.”
Fuck off! I wasn’t wearing it for you!
“Want me to take it off?”
With the faintest smile on his lips, Lippert reached both hands toward me.
My claw was still caught, so I couldn’t even dodge.
I sat there glaring while his long fingers effortlessly undid the knot.
The instant I was freed from the teddy-bear ear warmer, I launched myself at him.
Lippert blocked my head with one hand and laughed in obvious amusement.
“Here’s your black tea... Roro, you’re awake?”
Aria returned carrying the tea and stopped short when she saw me fighting him.
“Your cat is remarkably docile.”
Lippert glanced at Aria as he said it.
That was definitely sarcasm.
“...Roro’s never gone up to a stranger to play with them first before.”
I’m not playing with him!
I’m fighting him!
“So his name is Roro. I thought he was a pretty little cat. It’s a cute name. Suits him.”
“Doesn’t it? If I call his name, he comes running right over. It’s adorable how he knows it belongs to him.”
The two of them casually started chatting with me caught between them.
The villain who would one day try to use the heroine to kill the male lead...
And the heroine who would one day nearly be killed by that same villain....
...Is this really okay?
“Please come again sometime. Roro seems to like you quite a bit.”
Aria gave my back a few gentle pats as she asked,
“Roro, are you excited because we have a new customer?”
No, I’m not!
“But you shouldn’t bother him while he’s drinking his tea. Come here. Let’s go eat.”
“It’s quite all right. He isn’t bothering me at all. Having him beside me keeps me entertained.”
“Hehe. Is that so? Then would you mind playing with Roro for a little while?”
Why are you two smiling at each other like this is some wholesome scene?!
******
Maybe I should’ve fought harder that day....
Because the bizarre spectacle of the villain coming to drink tea at the heroine’s shop continued.
Jingle, jingle.
The door opened again today.
And, as if on cue, Lippert appeared.
The instant I saw him, I shot to my feet and charged out to meet him.
“MYAAAK!”
Why are you here again?!
I planted myself in his path, fur standing on end.
Lippert gave a quiet chuckle, his eyes curving with amusement.
“Hello, Roro.”
Then, for some reason, he deliberately lowered himself onto one knee so our eyes were level.
“You look like you’ve been waiting for me. Did you miss me?”
As if.
“You’re wearing a cute scarf today.”
His fingertips lightly brushed the edge of my ear before nudging the scarf.
“Aooong.”
Aria tied this handkerchief on me.
To tell him not to touch it, I headbutted his leg.
Lippert stared for a beat.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Welcome, Father.”
Aria stepped out of the kitchen and greeted him.