Cat
“Oh, a cat…”
Hinata stopped in her tracks as she said this, just a short distance from the main street where the Centennial Festival was being held in full swing.
Ibuki also stopped, following her gaze.
There was a cat. With a bell around its neck, it was probably someone’s pet.
It was a black cat, but its paws were white, making it look like it was wearing socks.
Let’s call it Kutsushita (Socks).
Hinata stared at Kutsushita for a while.
Seeing her face looking like she wanted to pet it… or perhaps eat it, Ibuki said,
“You can’t eat it, okay?”
“I won’t eat it!?!?”
Hinata looked up at Ibuki in shock.
“B-Onii san, what do you think I am!?”
“A gluttonous angel.”
“I’m not gluttonous! Th-though, angel might be nice depending on the context…”
In the latter half, Hinata mumbled, her lips quivering, and slowly averted her gaze.
Then, as if suddenly remembering, she turned her face away with a pout.
“Geez, Onii san is so mean!”
“—-“
Ibuki, struck by an arrow to his heart, smiled brightly.
He had no regrets in life.
…While they were doing such silly things, Kutsushita had stopped grooming itself and was staring at them.
Despite all the noise they were making, it didn’t run away, showing quite some nerve.
“It’s cute.”
Hinata’s gaze had returned to Kutsushita at some point.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed with excitement, and her eyes were sparkling.
“Yeah.”
Ibuki nodded without thinking.
“Cute (Hinata-chan is).”
In that instant, an electric current ran down Hinata’s spine.
“…!! (It feels like he meant me!)”
That’s exactly right.
But there’s no way she could have known Ibuki’s inner thoughts…
“Y-Yeah, right? It’s cute, isn’t it?”
Hinata went along with it with all her might.
It was a fierce attack, as if such chances were rare.
In fact, they happen quite often.
The otaku Ibuki, being the fool he is, nodded while looking straight at Hinata, not at Kutsushita.
“Yeah, extremely cute.”
“~~~~!!”
A second electric shock coursed through Hinata’s entire body.
Her ears visibly turned red.
(H-He’s just talking about the cat. It’s fine, right…?)
She squirmed, making excuses to someone while fidgeting.
Seeing his oshi like this, Ibuki’s ultimate otaku meter instantly maxed out.
“Super cute. Really cute. An angel, right?”
“…! !! ~~~!”
Two fools and one cat giving them a fed-up look.
After a while, the two of them realized almost simultaneously, “Doesn’t this look like a stupid couple from the side?” and cleared their throats, moving apart.
What saved the two as they gradually became flustered was,
“Meow~”
The cat. The source of the meow was at Hinata’s feet, which had quieted down.
Hinata’s heart was instantly stolen by the cuteness of the black cat rubbing against her leg.
Carefully holding down her skirt to avoid dirtying it, she squatted down and tentatively reached out to pat the cat’s head looking up at her.
And the moment her hand touched the soft fur,
“Ahh…”
She relaxed her cheeks with a blissful expression. Hinata continued to stroke slowly, as if savoring the warmth.
Watching this, the pervert– I mean, Ibuki’s mouth corners remained upturned.
He found it a bit surprising to see the girl’s behavior, as if she was petting a cat for the first time.
(I thought Hinata-chan would be used to handling animals. …Oh, wasn’t there a story about that?)
He tilted his head, recalling something from over eighteen years ago.
Since the person in question was right in front of him, he decided to ask.
“Hinata-chan, have you not had much experience with animals?”
The girl’s hand, which had been happily stroking the black cat, stopped.
“Well, yes, that’s right… unfortunately.”
Hinata looked up with a wry smile.
“I’m usually always with Rui-chan… and Rui-chan is incredibly popular with animals.”
“–Ah.”
At that moment, Ibuki clearly remembered.
There were two or three such scenes in [Watayume] as well. Scenes of Rui being inexplicably loved by dogs, cats, and even birds, with Hinata standing beside her, looking envious.
“Ah~”
Hinata nodded at Ibuki’s understanding reaction.
“So, I rarely get to interact with animals.”
After saying that, Hinata busied herself petting Kutsushita’s head, tickling under its chin, and enjoying its fur.
(If she hasn’t played with cats much…)
Ibuki retrieved something from a nearby planter.
“Here, Hinata-chan.”
What he held out in front of Hinata was,
“A cat toy…?”
“Yeah. Try waving it in front of the cat?”
Meanwhile, Kutsushita was staring intently at the cat toy.
And the moment Hinata nervously brought it closer from above,
“Wow!”
It leaped up and caught the toy between its paws as if clapping.
Hinata’s eyes sparkled as she enthusiastically waved the toy up and down.
! Image
She was thoroughly enjoying watching the black cat hit, lie down, and jump around.
“Hinata-chan, try spinning around yourself?”
“Eh? Okay.”
Hinata obediently did as Ibuki suggested.
She moved her right hand holding the cat toy behind her, switched it to her left hand, and brought it forward again.
Instantly, Kutsushita began chasing the cat toy, circling around her.
“Wow, wow, ahaha!”
Watching the black cat bouncing around her, she laughed joyfully.
Ibuki smiled too, caught up in the moment.
“It’s surprisingly easy since I don’t have to move myself,” he said.
“Onii san, why do you know so much about cats when you don’t even have one?”
“Well, it was before Hinata-chan moved in… You remember the park we used to go to together, right?”
Hinata nodded deeply after a brief pause at Ibuki’s question.
“That place was quite overgrown before the ward office people took care of it. For a while, it became a hangout for cats. I spent a lot of time playing with cats there.”
“…Were you that bored?”
“Hey, isn’t that normal for elementary school kids? I quite like cats, you know.”
Ibuki frowned, feeling offended, while Hinata smiled with an oddly mature expression.
Then, as if she had gotten the hang of it, she started waving the cat toy up and down, left and right with ease.
Ibuki was enjoying this blissful moment with his Oshi and the cat, when he suddenly realized something.
“By the way, ‘Kutsushita’ in katakana looks a bit like ‘Kushina’, doesn’t it?”
Instantly, Hinata shot Ibuki an incredibly unimpressed look.
“What are you saying with such a serious face? Should I tell Kushina-chan…?”
“Wait, please forgive me, just not that. Look, I named it that because only its feet are white, so it looks like it’s wearing socks.”
“Hah, well, I suppose so.”
Hinata-chan slipped her hand under Kutsushita’s side and easily lifted it up.
“Ah!”
Kutsushita, who had been compliant until then, eventually slipped out of the girl’s hands like liquid and quickly disappeared into the bushes.
“It’s gone…”
Hinata-chan said regretfully. She stood up and looked at Ibuki with narrowed eyes.
“About that Kushina-chan talk earlier, you shouldn’t mention other girls’ names at times like this, you know? After all… this is… a date…”
Unable to maintain her narrowed gaze until the end, she blushed.
Though not entirely won over by her innocent cuteness, Ibuki bowed his head sincerely.
“I’m truly sorry about that.”
“I forgive you. …I was also neglecting you while being absorbed with the cat.”
Chuckling teasingly, Hinata-chan started walking.
“Thank you.”
Ibuki wondered why Hinata-chan seemed to be in such a good mood today.
(Maybe she was really looking forward to this. If so, I should do my best to enjoy it too, or it would be rude.)
Knowing that Hinata’s ideal friendship was to enjoy things together, Ibuki felt even more strongly about this.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
