Chapter 18 | Riri's place

-18-

So it turns out that Kaoru just was shopping with some friends, although a slight hint of stress coming from her made me doubt it a bit. Well, I was just happy that she came back, I had been worried ever since I noticed she wasn’t at the cafe, and Dad didn’t exactly tell me anything either.

 

So when she did come home I gave her a hug, I had been worried and wanted to relieve the stress on her.

 

She responded by giving me a pat on the head, I think she noticed that I had gotten worried about her.

 

Today's dinner was baked salmon, I think Mom or Kaoru had a hand in deciding for that meal, nevertheless the fish itself tasted great, and I got embarrassed by the fact, I tried to hide it inside as good as I could but I knew that Mom and Kaoru was having a laughing fit behind their pretty smug poker faces.

 

After dinner I got to shower, and then got on the computer to play a few games. I got bored quickly, due to the fact that no one could match my skill level.

 

I think I managed to catch a whiff of catnip, I normally don’t want to cuddle or anything with Kaoru that much, but I got this sudden urge to do that. Well, it’s not like I’m doing anything important right now. I got out of the chair and left my room, and ended up peeking into Kaoru’s room, I was not feeling brave enough to ask for a cuddle.

 

“Nya...“

 

“Hmm? Misaki, what are you doing here?”

 

“...” I looked down, Embarrassed and ashamed of myself.

 

“Do you want to cuddle?” My ears perked up at that word and I visibly jerked.

 

“Aww, come here.” She was sitting on her office chair, I hastily walked over and jumped into her lap.

 

“Unyaa..” She gave me a hug, and petted me while doing something on her computer. Cuddling with Kaoru was nice, and I think I’ll never get enough of that.

 

A few days later… 

 

So I got to go and shop with Riri and well, it was fun! I had managed to get permission from Dad to not work today, ‘You deserve it!’. Maybe I did, ever since I started managing the cafe’s SNS account we got quite a few more visitors each day, maybe we’ll need to get a few more employee’s soon.

 

We managed to find a few accessories for the cheap, played on a claw machine where I got a plushie, I gave it to Riri and got a head pat in return.

Of course those weren’t the only things we did, we also tried out a new shop that sold fresh fish. I think I fell in love with it, as I just couldn’t get enough of it!

 

I was surprised when Riri invited me to go over to her place, that was way too sudden and we had only been friends for a few days, but I agreed and we walked to her house. She was actually living in one of those one person condo’s, since her family doesn’t live in Yokohaba. Her flat was on the second floor, the first door after the stairs. She had also invited Yuki and Atsu, they were waiting by the stairs for us two to come.

 

“Took you long enough, lovebirds!” Yuki exclaimed in a cheeky way, trying to tease us.

 

“Stop it! No teasing until we get inside.” Atsu said, with her being a head taller than Yuki she hugged her, despite Yuki’s best efforts to escape she couldn’t free herself from Atsu’s hug.

 

The quartet that consisted of us moved inside Riri’s house, it was kinda lacking in furniture, except Riri’s room that is. Her room was furnished in a lovely pink and had a large bed, with creamy white sheets. Next to the bed was a desk, with the complimentary chair. Opposite of the desk was a pair of bookshelves decorated with a variety of boxes and books.

 

 So apparently Riri had prepared for a study session, since school had started and we had gotten our homework.

 

Of course, since it was kind of sudden for me I hadn’t brought over my homework with me, but Riri said that it was fine, as she had somehow managed to acquire it… I’ll just not think too much about that.

 

Well, There honestly wasn’t anything hard in the homework or that’s what I feel about it at least, but Yuki just can’t grasp the math homework we had gotten.

 

“Why do we even need to learn this stuff? When are we gonna use multiplication of parenthesis or the mathematical rules that come with it?” Yuki loathed, she just couldn’t get how the rules worked.

 

“Sigh, it’s not about using it in real life but the experience of knowing it~ Let me help you with it.” Atsu replied to Yuki’s loathing, she got close behind Yuki and I could make out a faint blush in Yuki.

 

“So you see this variable here?” “Mhm” “You multiply it with the other variables on the other side, and then you move to the next one.” “Mhm, but after that, there is this one problem…” I slowly tuned out Atsu and Yuki’s conversation in favor of doing my own homework, I blasted through it like it was kindergarten math and got done pretty fast. Riri had left the room to get some drinks.

 

Now I was really just left with the Japanese literature homework, trying to ignore Atsu and Yuki being adorable was kinda hard, with Yuki trying to be cheeky and Atsu remaining as calm and loving as ever.

 

The literature homework was not the easiest, so I would need to ask someone for help, and as if perfectly on time Riri joined us again, with a few assortments of drinks too.

 

After taking a large gulp of Calpis I asked Riri for help with the Japanese literature homework, and I got through with it relatively easily. Now, Since most of us had finished our homework we got to relax a little, talking about fashion and games and whatnot. Now it’s in this situation that something I thought really never would happen, what happened is that Yuki got a bit too cocky and wanted to show off her skills in acrobatics, which to say the least went very wrong, though no one got hurt except for my feelings. 

 

So she moved the chair to the bookshelf, which would allow her to balance herself and use the bookshelf as a crutch if she fell, and well…. She fell, sure she managed to balance on the chair for a few seconds but then she lost her balance, causing her to grab onto the bookshelf and making a box fall, right on me. I was laying down and playing a game, there was plenty of space between me and Yuki so she wouldn't land on me.

 

But the box, oh boy, the box. It was labeled as “organic material” and it fell right next to me, spilling out its content. The worst part of it was that it was all cat-nip inside, and I got a face full of it.

 

“Misaki? Are you okay?” Riri asked me, there was a tone of concern in her voice.

 

I blew out air through my mouth, causing some of the cat-nip to fly up in the air, and then sat back upright, shaking my head and using my hands to try and remove as much cat-nip from me as possible.

 

I could feel several weird and strange emotions, and also a warmth coming from my cheek and body in general.

 

...The heck?

 

I was feeling both aggressive and very shy at the same time, and I got pretty confused by it. 

 

“Mrr... nya?” (Eh?) Riri had taken the opportunity to hug me from the back, seemingly trying to comfort me. Maybe it was for the better, because the new feelings that arose from me paralyzed me.

 

I slowly processed all the things that happened, and the more closer I got to this situation the more red I got around my cheek, when my brain finally caught up to real time I was practically fuming in embarrassment, not only because cat-nip would make me do that naturally but because Riri was so close, I could hear her breath and her heart beating in a steady pulse.

 

I used my hands to hide my face in embarrassment, Yuki teased me a little.

 

“Look at this adorable creature! She’s even hiding!”

 

“Waaa I can’t hold it I need to hug you!” Yuki swooped in, squeezing me between her and Riri. 

 

I could almost imagine Atsu getting a nosebleed from this situation, I mean, If a cute and adorable creature was squished and handled like a plushie then I think most people would feel a warmth in their heart.

 

Yuki let go of me, giving me some space to breathe and I removed my hands from my face. I was still blushing, albeit a bit less than before and I had regained enough confidence to not want to disappear.

 

“Haaah.” I let out a noise, cat-nip really does some weird things to me.

 

My rational thinking had been going downwards a bit, since now I wasn’t really that embarrassed anymore, instead I just wanted to cuddle Riri.

 

So I managed to get Riri on the ground, and plopped down onto her, resting my head on her chest.

 

Mmm. Tiredness. Sleep.

 

-o-

 

“Ummm… Girls? Mind helping me please?” Misaki had managed to get me on the ground and was now laying on top of me, her face changed from one of embarrassment to one of content, and her tail just slowly wagged in the pace of her soft breathing, I think she even fell asleep.

 

“Sorry Rie-chan, I just can’t disturb this adorable creature.” Atsu replied, she was breathing heavily and was blushing quite a bit, typical of her.

 

“I gotta agree with Atsu, she’s too cute to be disturbed, protect at all costs!” Yuki said, agreeing with what Atsu said.

 

But they were right, Misaki’s soft ears were so nice to pet, and the fur and warmth enveloped my hand as I stroked them.

 

“Sigh, Yeah, you’re both right, she is cute and adorable, but it’s kinda tiresome having someone lying on me.” 

 

Trying to get up  for the second time I managed to sit upright, Misaki was huddled together on my lap while I gently stroked her on the head. She was purring, not loudly or anything, but she was purring.

 

Maybe having her like this wasn’t so bad after all.

 

End of chapter 18

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