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"Nooooo, Nekomaru!" *sniffles* "Nekomaruuu! Noooo!"
Kyousuke's cry filled the air. It can be heard in at least 2 houses from theirs. 'He cries as if the cat was dying' thought Miko.
In the background, she can hear her mother quietly telling her brother to behave and act more maturely in front of his sister's sensei. Her brother, still a child despite how adult-like he acts most of the times, let their mother's words insert his left ear and go right through the other. She can even hear their father's chuckle and light-hearted comment about the situation at hand, but she remained her focus in front of her. To the man she once wrongly judged, came recently from the hospital for saving a cat, her substitute teacher.
He seemed frozen in place, awkward, and emotionless, unsure to proceed.
"Is this really okay?" He asked, feeling guilty for taking away the cat whom his student's family must have already been attached to.
"Yes, please don't pay attention at what's happening behind me." She replied in nonchalant manner, holding still and steady the cat for Zen-sensei to finally take. She had learned her lesson once that the cat gets bored staying at one place in a long time and has a habit of jumping out of hold when she's had enough of physical touch. She made sure her hold was comfortable and tight, protective but not dominant.
Her teacher only responded with a nod, took the cat and named her, "Mocha".
She thought it was fitting because of her fur's color, much better than what her brother called it for the time being the cat was in their care. She had no problem with it, even called the cat that way, but Neko literally means Cat, and from living with her brother she knows well he is not the most creative at that stuff.
"Are you sure you do not want to stay for dinner, sir? The food I'm cooking is almost done." Said by the kind woman who resembled her daughter so much while holding back her son from running and taking the cat back from the teacher.
Miko's mother's word broke his trance of thought about the things he needs to get the cat whom he would take care of now. He tried to remember what he got for his first cat, the basic needs, and he'll call his friend later to ask for more information.
The offer made Zen uncomfortable, it reminds him of that lady neighbor in his old apartment that would bring him home-cooked meals from time to time. But he can't eat food cooked by others. His mother told him that, installing in the mind of the young bright boy that no one would love him like her. What if they put poison or some other thing in it? Only eat the food made by her or his own's.
Still, feeling a sense of formality and shyness to the mother of his student, he declined politely and not in the straightforward way he would have if not for the warm feeling he feels in this house.
Their house sure seems well-lived. Toys stored in the corner cabinet, the smell of delicious food in the air, various shoes by the door. It was well-lit, too, unlike his.
If he was being honest, he was insecure. It was the thing he didn't get as a young boy, and he didn't have until now. Most young adults his age have their family to call or have their own to come home to. His only friend also joked one time that he might never find a woman if he stayed the way he is, forgetful of names and unapproachable. He took that seriously, having trusted him and despite his intelligence, very easy to convince. It's not like he cared about that stuff's though, he tells himself.
But that was in the past, he had already left his old apartment, his mother's looming presence had vanished somehow and everything seems lighter. His childhood was done but he had decided to move forward and Mocha is his light to start.
Coming home to his new apartment, he settled Mocha in the cat bed he had prepared and cooked himself the food that he smelled in Yotsuya's house. Secretly, he had copied the design of their house in the hope and longing for that kind of energy too, and he started to get used to his new environment with Mocha.