Chapter 19 | Aftermath

-19-

I woke up sometime after what happened, in a groggy yet energetic state.

 

“Mew?!” (Eh?!) Looking around, I found that everything was larger, or that I was smaller, I could see two brown fuzzy paws in front of me, and in front of that was Riri’s face, apparently, I had been sleeping on her. Yuki and Atsu were back to doing some of their usual antics.

 

If it wasn’t for the fur covering my face then everyone in the room would be able to see me blushing, a very embarrassing thing to happen.

 

“Oh? You’re finally awake!” Riri happily spoke, I think she’s also a cat lover.

 

“Meow.” (Oh no.) Well, the cat is out of the bag and I’m sure they knew I was still me since I was wearing the pink collar.

 

“You are just so cute when you’re like this!” Riri said, while now holding me up close to her face. I used my left paw to boop her in the nose.

 

“Meow~ Mew.” (You don’t think this is weird?) There’s no way she can understand me in this form.

 

“No, no not at all! I kinda wanted this to happen, honestly~”

 

“Meow?! Mrrv.” (Wait? You can understand me?) I just. What? How did she understand me? Is this magic?

 

“...Wha? Of course I can understand you! You’re my friend after all silly!”

 

“Hey Riri, you talking with Misaki?” Yuki suddenly asked.

 

“Yeah!”

 

“So what’s she saying?”

 

“She just asked whether I could understand her.”

 

“And I’m guessing that you do?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

After getting her answers Yuki went back to playing gacha games, while I was still being held up by Riri.

 

“Meow.” (Put me down please.)

 

“Oh right.” And Riri let me down on the ground again, I think she hasn’t moved too much since I fell asleep.

 

I let out a relieved meow, being back on safe ground and not being held up in the air was relieving. I could still smell the lingering odor of cat-nip, but it didn’t affect me whatsoever anymore since I’ve had my fill of it already.

 

I walked up to the bed and took a glance at the clock. 6 pm. Not too late but I should probably go home soon in either case, maybe my parents would get a bit worried.

 

“Meeow.” (I want to go home)

 

“You sure? I mean you’re still in cat form after all.”

 

“Mew.” (Positive)

 

“Alright, but that means that I’ll need to walk with you, can’t let a cat as beautiful as you get lost.”

 

“Meow.” (Fine)

 

And with that, Riri got to carry my stuff while I was bundled up in her fawn. We passed several streets and got back to the part of town where I’m more familiar. Riri walked and carried me all the way to my home, and just when she was entering the outer gate I transformed back.

 

Poof!

 

Light smoke filled Riri’s arms and she’s carrying me in a princess carry.

 

“Eh?” I got confused for a quick moment, staring at Riri while she did the same.

 

“...Mind letting me down?”

 

“Of course, of course.” And she let me down onto the ground.

 

I lightly stretched my body, being bundled up and held in a fawn was comfy but it got a bit stuffy too. I got my stuff from Riri and walked over to the front door and opened it. I waved goodbye to Riri before closing the door. Mom greeted me and the smell of chicken filled the living room.

 

“Welcome back Misaki, heard you got a full dose of cat-nip while over at Ritsu’s place.”

 

“Ummm… Yeah, I sorta did.”

 

“Mind sharing your experience on it later?” 

 

“Sure… What’s for dinner?”

 

“Fufu. It’s noodles in chicken broth.”

 

“Sounds tasty!”

 

After the short conversation, I moved up to my room and dumped my schoolbag on my bed, I opened the bag and sorted through it, going through a mental list of the lectures I would have tomorrow and preparing accordingly.

 

I finished almost exactly as Mom called down for dinner.

 

“The noodles are ready!”

 

“Coming!”

 

I got out of my room and walked downstairs to the living room, Mom was pouring out the chicken soup into bowls.

 

We all ate at the kitchen table and chatted a bit about today, Mom was especially curious about what I had been through today, and I told her a bit about it, leaving out some of the more embarrassing parts to when we could talk in private about it.

 

Overall, pretty good day, although I still haven’t managed to add Riri on LINE…

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