Chapter Fifty-Four

A Date, After All

 

"Careful!" Kataji flinched when Nekohiko tried to stand up.

Unsuccessfully.

Nekohiko had long forgotten how to maintain balance in the human form. Of course he was unsteady. So many things to take care of in a bipedal body! Like the position of one's head versus the position of one's butt. As a cat and a ladybug, Nekohiko had gotten used to differing parameters and the weight distribution.

Moreover, the arms and legs -- ugh. They seemed so alien and useless after having learned to balance on four paws or without any while he'd been a snake.

"Sit down, you might break something if you force it before you're ready." Kataji pulled him back to the bed.

Dizzily, Nekohiko accepted his help.

But then he realized that he and Kataji were essentially clutching each other in a tight embrace. And that their faces now were nose to nose.

"Are you all right?" Kataji murmured, watching him closely.

Kataji's warm breath smelled of something sweet and grassy as it disturbed Nekohiko's hair that fell over his cheek. It tickled, and Nekohiko jerked his head to toss it aside.

But it came back, swinging over Nekohiko's eye like a tiny curtain. What a savage flood of hair, this dummy body had!

Kataji smiled and lifted his hand to push the strands out of Nekohiko's face. "This hair is too long and unruly, isn't it? You can cut it the way you find comfortable."

"Mn."

Yet it wasn't the hair Nekohiko objected to.

No. It was Kataji's hand as it swept against his skin when the young man brushed the hair aside. The touch was infringing on Nekohiko's personal space.

Not just infringing -- disturbing! He had never allowed anyone such casual touches of his human body before. Abihiko obviously didn't count because Nekohiko had allowed him many more things than that, but... let's say, Abihiko was special.

And look where that "specialness" had led Nekohiko to.

Such proximity to Kataji had never bothered Nekohiko when he had been a kitty. But now, as a human...

"That tickles," Nekohiko lied and drew back from Kataji's caress. "Do not touch me like this again."

"Of course! Sorry!"

"It's not a big deal," Nekohiko added because Kataji seemed so frightened. "But I prefer not to be touched by others as a human. Fur and scales had blocked most of the unpleasant sensations, but now I feel as sensitive to them as I have always been."

Kataji paled. His mouth opened and closed in doubt.

"You feel overly sensitive to being touched?"

Nekohiko nodded, studying his clothes. "Just how I am. Please, let's not talk more about it. It's not a particularly interesting topic."

He wasn't the only one who found all this sharing inappropriate. Mikawa had swiveled aside when Nekohiko and Kataji first began grabbing at each other. The young boy looked so mortified to look at them. As though something shameful was happening before his eyes.

Shame, hot and fast, rose up Nekohiko's face, a feeling he was not familiar with.

What was this heat and discomfort?

He hadn't ever experienced it before. Not even in his most intimate and embarrassing moments -- so why now?

"I'm going to go..." Mikawa mumbled thinly.

"Mikawa! Stay!" Nekohiko screamed.

Kataji blinked in response. Then a faint color crept over his ears.

"Oh Itsuki, I hope we are not infringing on your privacy now," Kataji said. "You must be shy..."

What?

"I'm not shy," Nekohiko said. He had never been shy. "Stop talking nonsense."

"...well, you look a bit flustered," Kataji said, reaching for his bag to take a mirror out of it.

Flustered.

Nekohiko felt only hotter at the realization. Then frustrated.

Why would he ever be flustered? Why would his body expose that, too?

"Do I?" He snatched the mirror from Kataji's hand.

Nekohiko had always known what blush was and how people grew red in the face whenever they were ashamed of something. But himself, he had never been subject to such experiences. Perhaps his skin had always been thicker than most people's, or perhaps his blood flow wasn't fast enough. Not being able to blush had always been one of the things he found most comfortable about his self.

Yet now, touching his newly made cheeks, he was sure this was it. This was what blush felt like from the inside. But why?

This dummy body must have been created wrong.

Nekohiko frowned at his reflection, ready to not be very impressed with what he would see. But rather than cringe at his pathetic, flustered face, he was smitten instead.

Out of the mirror, a face looked at him...

A face. A human face!

"Spirits," he whispered to himself, and the lips in the mirror moved along with his voice.

...it was his face.

His very own!

Not exactly as he remembered it, but his nonetheless. It blinked when he blinked and smiled when his lips stretched up almost on their own.

His eyes crinkled up, too. What a surprising movement. He hadn't been this smily in his previous life, and yes -- he had never blushed before either. But now he did both, and really -- he didn't mind it.

Because he had a face. Perhaps not an overly beautiful or an impressive face, but his. His own.

In silky waves, long black hair framed his high cheekbones. His eyes, his nose, his straight, impassive eyebrows. The only thing slightly different was the lips.

The shape of his mouth was similar to his original one, but his lips were oddly eye-catching. So pronounced, so intricately-shaped. Certain plumpness was where he didn't expect it to be, certain frail pinkness, and so... much... moistness, too?

Why?

Why would anyone do that to him? He hadn't ordered this! Had Kataji ordered all this sultriness added?

The thought made him squirm, and flushed color popped over his cheeks once again. No, don't think about it, he told himself. Not Kataji's fault. The more obvious reason was that he was a dummy modeled after sex dolls. Naturally, his lips would be too sensual and exaggeratedly vulnerable compared to most humans, and his eyes...

Ugh.

The moment he thought too much about blushing, his liquid, bright eyes misted over with a seductive haze. Which was even worse than blushing!

Gods, everything in this stupid face was made to harass his dignity, wasn't it?

He thinned his mouth into a straight, impassive line and gave himself an aloof, sour look. Immediately, his entire appearance shifted from dreamy to dull and lifeless.

Ah, so much better now.

"You... don't like it?" Kataji asked.

"No. I like it very much," Nekohiko said, busy studying himself in the mirror.

"But you are frowning... You don't seem happy to see yourself at all."

Silly young man.

This was what his "happy" face usually looked like!

In an effort to be nice, Nekohiko smiled at Kataji. And unlike his previous body that contorted his face into a pained grimace when he smiled, this time, his reflection even looked... cute.

Wow, it looked like a normal human smile now. Nekohiko didn't care much, but at least Kataji seemed mollified.

"You look really nice," Mikawa offered from the side and Nekohiko directed his new, human smile at him as well.

"Thank you. I feel nice, too." Nekohiko rolled his neck, then gave the syrupy glow of the outside a hopeful glance. "Nice enough for a walk through the mansion garden, maybe?"

Kataji straightened, eyes brightening. "Really? Ah, I'm so relieved there wasn't any issue with your body parts!"

No. None.

The body was perfect.

Absently, Nekohiko raised a hand to brush the bangs out of his eyes, and in the mirror, the uncanny sticks of his wooden fingers repeated the gesture.

He'd almost forgotten that the rest of his body hadn't been given flesh or skin! In fact, everything under the collarbones where the last stretch of the pale skin reached -- was polished, smooth wood.

The wooden parts were painted with the creamy color, of course, and brushed with a subtle haze of pink to make the surface seem more lifelike. But still.

It was clearly artificial, unlike the realistic face.

Nekohiko flexed his fingers, listening to the tiny wooden balls clacking together. The motion of making a fist was smooth, but at the same time scary. His gaze trailed down the wrist as he pulled his sleeve away to reveal the arm. Unlike his face that had been stripped away to the skull-like surface to allow fat and muscles to fit on top, his limbs weren't as bare carcass. The parts of the arm had the appearance of a mannequin's rather than that of a human skeleton. Under the clothes, the form had such lifelike curves, nobody would even suspect it belonged to a dummy.

The wood was polished and varnished -- a pleasant, smooth surface. But still freaky. Just to see how his hand rotated and bent on the wrist ball joint would give most people nightmares.

But not Kataji. A proud smile bloomed on the young man's face.

"If any of the parts to do not fit together well, just tell me, and I'll work on them more," he said after Nekohiko checked his elbows and his knee balls by turns.

Of course Nekohiko wanted to check how more of his parts worked, but...

Maybe not in front of two people?

"All right. Let's try to make a walk for the hallway first, then the garden," Nekohiko announced before pushing himself to stand up.

As before, Kataji jumped to help him. Nekohiko waved at Mikawa to come closer so that he could lean on him as well. He knew he had to lean on somebody during his first attempts to walk -- but he didn't want it to be solely Kataji.

He and the others made their slow way through the corridors. Nekohiko spent most of his time relying on the other two for the walking because his attention was so absorbed with taking in the world from the point of view of a human body.

So tall! So freely-breathing! So capable of fine motor movements, ah!

Though he did notice with displeasure that Kataji's face was slightly above his own. Even when Nekohiko straightened his back fully.

How come?

This sneaky little bastard. Had Kataji actually calculated Nekohiko's height to be shorter than his own? What a betrayal. Nekohiko distinctly remembered that the parameters he had told Kataji to make for his body were very tall! So that his human dummy wouldn't have to look up at Abihiko when the inevitable meeting between the two of them occurred.

But not only had Kataji not made him as tall as his Eldest Brother -- he'd made Nekohiko shorter than even himself! Slightly shorter, but shorter nonetheless.

And that would put Nekohiko's final dummy height exactly at around... Abihiko's chin?

He would have to raise his face up and look at Abihiko as though he were a child! Why, why, Kataji? Why backstab him like this?

The house dummies dispersed to allow the wading trio to pass. The main House Lady who managed the mansion, Saeko, was attracted here by all the commotion and confusion of the Bound servants.

She was the young lady who had welcomed them to the mansion when Abihiko brought them. Through the past two days, she had only appeared on their horizon to feed them, to tell them their baths were drawn, and sometimes to tell Kataji that his coming and going out of the estate so sporadically was inappropriate. Nekohiko barely knew her other than her bossy and unforgiving attitude toward anyone who misused Lord Hira Okinaga's hospitality.

But now she came across a whole new young man squeezed between Mikawa and Kataji in the mansion's halls... And an utter stranger.

He prepared himself to be scolded or questioned again, but she hardly reacted.

"Do you want your dummy to be given the floor-plan of the mansion to serve you better, Master Kataji?" she said.

Tsk.

Your "dummy".

She must have seen Kataji bring back his unconscious half-naked wooden body, huh. So she probably didn't even take Nekohiko for a real person. Only one of the countless dummies working the house.

Kataji halted, aghast. "He's not my dummy, Saeko. Please don't call him that. His name is Itsuki, and he'll be living with us from this moment on."

Saeko gave Kataji a steady look that exposed none of her thoughts. "Of course."

"He can go wherever he pleases as I can," Kataji went on. He turned his head to the narrow corridor's rooms and their doors. "A separate room, then, would fit him as his living quarters, I presume."

This time, Saeko's eyebrow twitched visibly.

Under Nekohiko's armpit, Mikawa squirmed.

"Lord Hira did not tell me there would be more than two guests staying. Therefore, no spare rooms were prepared -- or would be prepared for an uninvited person." Her polite smile was flitting. "I hope you understand, young masters. Forgive me for inconveniencing you like this."

"Not at all," Nekohiko told her when Kataji wanted to explode with indignation. "I don't require sleeping quarters, really, since I do not need to sleep. Neither I need to eat or take baths, so my presence will not pose any new chores on you."

Nekohiko's ability to speak surprised her a lot. Baffled, her eyes flicked from Kataji to Mikawa to Nekohiko as though wishing to understand some prank she missed. But then they returned to Nekohiko's clearly mannequin-like hands twined around Kataji's and Mikawa's shoulders on each side.

And her confusion only grew.

"We'll take a small stroll through the garden," Nekohiko hummed at her as they went by, his new, amazing smile plastered on his face. "You don't mind, do you?"

 

---

***

 

The garden was made out of tiny pebbles amassing trees and flowers and even lifelike ducks and bumblebees swooping around. Each pebble was Bound -- with a different color and texture -- pearly, velvety, translucent, petal-like, jellyfish, dewdrop. All the myriads of combinations that made the intricate, artificial garden full of Bound spells into a grove full of motion and life.

Chimes and subtle birdsongs filled the air and made learning to walk into a meditative experience.

Though it still didn't stop Nekohiko from cursing under his breath every time he crashed down or toppled onto Mikawa. Who could have known walking would be such a hard skill to relearn?

For the tenth time, he found himself lying on his back in the pebble grass and staring up at the scudding clouds above. Mikawa lay beside him, desperately trying not to look too injured by Nekohiko's latest collapse which only made it more embarrassing.

"Is it structural? It must be structural," Kataji was mumbling as he skittered around Nekohiko as though wishing to take a peek at Nekohiko's limbs and ball joints underneath all the clothes but being too shy to ask. "Do they feel too big or to tight for your movement? It's strange that we've been doing it for an hour, yet you still have trouble walking..."

It hadn't been an hour. And Nekohiko didn't have trouble walking. Only trouble walking as a human dummy. Not even as a human.

Oh, his inability to get used to the balance had nothing to do with him forgetting how to be human. He had remembered it all very fast, in truth.

But moving as a human and moving as a dummy were different. Drastically different.

For one, dummies were... creepy, for the lack of a better word. No matter how perfect and lifelike a dummy was, it would always be the downgrade from the human form. No movement of the dummy body came from the will inherent to it. Thus, all movement this body made was artificial by nature.

It was faked. Mimicked. Performed.

He had never wondered about this in his cat or snake form, but now he guessed it was because he had no idea what the authentic cat body felt like, for example. He had only ever known the human experience to be able to tell the difference, and this human dummy's experience was damn weird. The body always moved with a delay and stopped moving with a delay as well. More than that -- everything was much, much slower than a real human's movements!

That, he'd noticed before. Dummies and Bound servants in forms of people moved fluidly as though too afraid to appear insect-like or uncanny. Because dolls only followed commands, they had no purpose behind their motions and no restraint -- so everything would look jerky and twitchy if the Binders didn't put severe movement restrictions on the doll's joints. Because if the doll appeared to be too mechanistic, that would disturb the potential customers.

Nobody wanted a creepy, insect-like-moving machine in their house if it looked like a very lifelike human! That was the stuff of nightmares.

Thus, Nekohiko felt the full scope of the motion softener spells in his joints and limbs. It felt as though he was tied with very fine and invisible threads. He couldn't whip out his arm to grab a falling leaf out of the air. He couldn't turn around dramatically. Couldn't flick his sleeves in annoyance or jump to run all of a sudden.

Even when he fell down, he couldn't flap around his arms or to twist his torso and rebalance and not fall! Instead, with his restricted movements, he could only plop down gracelessly and without choice -- like... a log.

And the dull, wooden sound his body made when it met the ground...

Painful.

"Itsuki!" Kataji cried when it happened for the eleventh time. He caught Nekohiko in time and now held him, refusing to let go. "No, that's enough of falling for today. You will crack something, and it's only your first day as a human. You have better things to do with your new life than to fail at walking and break your new body!"

Ah, Kataji, but you are so biased.

This is a body you made, after all.

"I want to learn to be self-sufficient," Nekohiko told him, gently but firmly trying to extricate himself from Kataji's arms. "For me, there is no better thing to spend my time on than this."

Yes, even if it broke something. No way would Nekohiko accept being unable to walk by himself! Training, training, training. He got this!

Mikawa grimly patted his dark Nagare clothes off the dirt that his repeated tumbles in the grass had muddied him with.

"Your first day, and you don't want to go out and enjoy life?" Kataji side-stepped, shielding Mikawa from Nekohiko's sight with his back. "Itsuki, this is not what I made this body for. I made it for you to live, not to torture yourself and others with grueling workouts."

Huh?

"The world is so nice," Mikawa mumbled timidly from the grass. "We could go out and see the fountains or ride in hovers around the main streets... or go to the stores and browse clothes that fit you exactly..."

Double "huh"?

"I thought you hated the idea of going out, Mikawa," Nekohiko said, feeling wronged. Did Mikawa hate Nekohiko's training so much he would rather explore Nara than help him gain liberty in his movements here?

Mikawa paled. "I... don't. But Elder Sister forbade me to, so..."

"Your Elder Sister is right," Nekohiko stressed. "This place is a den of sin. A hellhole from which nobody emerges unscathed."

Now Mikawa looked positively horrified. "I didn't... intend to. I was only wondering..."

"This place isn't that bad! Don't exaggerate," Kataji said.

Nekohiko narrowed his eyes. Kataji was a backwater boy, himself. What did he even know about Nara?

But the young man was already chuckling nervously. "If we just go to a nice, quiet restaurant and spend the evening there -- what sinful, bad thing could possibly happen? It's only a place they serve food in. That's what I meant. To do such simple, mundane activities instead of all this... unsuccessful walking, for a change. You know?"

"I do feel a bit hungry..." Mikawa whispered into his knees. "But I guess I have to sit here because Elder Sister told me to. I don't mind." He tried to smile, bashful. "You go without me."

"Go? Well, to go there, I would need to be able to walk on my own first," Nekohiko went on, stubborn.

Like a shackle, Kataji's fingers wrapped around Nekohiko's wrist. He looped Nekohiko's hand through his own elbow, then gave Nekohiko a content smile. "I'll take you there, don't worry. I would never let you fall."

Errrr...

"You are not going anywhere without holding onto my hand, you understand?" Kataji said, slightly less cheery. A note of dominance crept into his voice.

And it made Nekohiko very, very scared.

"What about Mikawa!" Nekohiko whelped, lost. "I promised Kasuga I'll keep an eye on him at all times. So I can't possibly leave him alone, you see?"

"Then he can just come with us, doesn't he?"

"I..." Mikawa stammered.

"Great." Though it seemed forced, Kataji maintained a bossy, self-assured attitude. He rubbed his palms, then jerked his chin at Mikawa, motioning him to stand. "Let's go. There's a restaurant not far from here that my Great Aunt and Uncle had told me to visit the first day I'm in Nara. It's a classy, distinguished place with sophisticated singer performances and the best meals from all around the Empire! We'll eat there."

Nekohiko didn't even get to interject. Kataji already pulled him forward and the only thing Nekohiko could do was reach desperately for Mikawa.

"I won't go anywhere without you," he told the boy in the most panicked tone.

Because, really, he depended on Mikawa. First of all, he and Kataji would never be able to go anywhere truly bad with Mikawa in tow. Second of all, their leisure in Nara would always have to be cut short to protect Mikawa from the cultural shock -- and would have distinct goals in mind, like eating, or visiting a specific shop, or a park. No spur of the moment, and no whims.

And lastly, because Mikawa's presence would... maybe deter Kataji from accidental flirting? Not that Nekohiko expected Kataji to do that, but he'd be mortified to find out.

Kataji had always dreamed of Nekohiko gaining a human form. Plus, the way his form looked now was so sensual, Nekohiko couldn't help but be uncomfortable with the implications. He wanted nothing to do with romance in this life. He had never wanted anything to do with romance in his previous life, either! So the less this outing in the restaurant looked like a date between him and Kataji -- the better.

"Of course, of course," Kataji hurried to say when Mikawa took a timid step toward Nekohiko. "We don't even need to tell anything to Kasuga about this, do we? It's not like we'd be doing something inappropriate."

"Mn." Mikawa shook his head, only slightly trembly. "It's only one meal at a classy place. I don't... see how sinful it could be."

Oh.

Oh. You naive, stupid boys!

Nekohiko even reveled in the idea of them learning a thing or two about Nara, but he quickly shook his condescending smirk off his face. Because at the entrance gates to the mansion they were trudging through, a Bound guard stopped Kataji to give him a small envelope with a message inside.

The envelope's colors were emerald green.

The Emperor's personal mail.

Why?

Nekohiko had been so disturbed with Abihiko's private, deranged life that he hadn't peeked into his seashell form for days. He had consciously suppressed his desire to spy on Abihiko -- because, in general, nothing was happening in Abihiko's personal life other than freakshows and pain.

But it didn't mean he wasn't interested in that life now, when he had a human body of his own and could meet with Abihiko as his equal. No more a numb seashell. No more a humiliated cat.

The only issue was that Nekohiko's human form had no access to Abihiko. As the Emperor, Abihiko was guarded and stashed too far away from most mortals, and wouldn't be able to interact with his own siblings once he was in the Emerald Palace. That was the sole reason why Kataji had been put into Hira Okinaga's mansion instead of living under the same roof as Abihiko.

The Emperor couldn't just welcome random nobodies into his Palace without any reason.

Thus, although Nekohiko had gained a human body at last and wouldn't mind meeting Abihiko in person -- there was simply no way for him to achieve that.

So, what was this small envelope from Abihiko about?

An invitation for Kataji's visit? A suggestion to meet?

Please, let it be that!

Yet Kataji glanced at the envelope askance and wanted to stash it away in his robes. He didn't even deem it important, far more absorbed by his plans to take Nekohiko and Mikawa out into the city.

"You aren't going to check it?" Nekohiko felt his smile once again blossoming on his face. "That letter seems important. It's from the Emperor, yes?"

"I'll read it when we come back." Kataji made big eyes, pointing. "Look, a sightseeing boat with dandelion fluff draw! We can take it to let your feet rest a little."

"No, no." Nekohiko tangled his hand deeper inside Kataji's elbow to pull him back. "What if it's urgent? I won't be able to enjoy myself tonight because I'd think I distracted you from the letter from your esteemed Brother."

Was it Nekohiko's smile or the fact that their arms were now linked tighter? Whatever it was, Kataji stiffened. A trace of color flashed on his face.

"Yeah, all right," he whispered and quickly tore open the letter envelope to peer inside.

But he looked displaced as he read, a subtle furrow on his brow.

"Nothing urgent. Just nonsense," he said. He hid the letter in his robe folds with an aggravated sigh, then pulled the other two out of the Hira mansion gates.

Nekohiko's curiosity only piqued to the contents of the letter. Kataji was seriously getting grimmer with each step. All of the young man's joy from this day and the plans they'd made all but evaporated.

"It's an invitation to a reception in the Palace tomorrow night. Mandatory for all Imperial relatives if they can attend. What... hell that would be," Kataji grumbled at last after they had found the closest empty umbrella carriage and were boarding it. He sagged into his seat by the edge and gave both Mikawa and Nekohiko a look full of misery. "Sorry. Can't believe we now have to go to a clothing store first. Eldest Brother invited me and a date of my choice, I guess. So not only do I have to buy some decent reception clothes, I have to spend the entirety of tomorrow getting acquainted with some girl the Great Aunt's matchmaker had found for me so that I could take that girl to the reception with me!"

Mikawa let out a commiserating hum while all Nekohiko did was stare at Kataji in an odd bout of inspiration.

A date.

To the Palace.

Hmm.

A mandatory one, too?

And in regards to it involving some matched girls... pffff. To hell with girls.

"If you're nervous or scared, I can be your date instead," he said. "I don't mind, and I don't believe this letter specifies if your date should be a match or... a friend. Yes?"

Nekohiko smiled and reached out his hand to pat Kataji's wrist in what he wanted to appear a brotherly fashion. Yet this brotherly fashion somehow still made Kataji's fingers tremble and his ears redden just slightly.

"All right," Kataji whispered, averting his eyes. "We go to the Palace to see my Eldest Brother. Together."