I get woken up by some activity next to the living room.
“Shh, or you’ll wake up the two kittens,” I hear Nikki say to my sister.
“Oh ye, sorry,” she replies.
I peek my head up over the sofa.
“What are you two doing?”
“See, you woke her up you dolt.” Nikki gently slaps Élise on her head.
“Oof, ouch, ouchie, ow! Save me from this abuse little sis!”
“Hmm, nope,” I smirk.
“Traitor!”
Nikki gives me a thumbs up and mercilessly starts tickling Élise.
I turn my attention to Pocky who’s still asleep next to me and gently pat her.
A couple of minutes later Nikki and my sister join me in the living room.
“I’ll be making some pancakes for breakfast, after that we can ready ourselves to go shopping, is that okay?” Nikki says while rubbing me gently behind my ear.

Oh Goddess.

I lean into her rubbing with my head when suddenly she says “Oh, sorry, that was unintentional,” and pulls her hand away.
My face goes bright red “D-don’t worry, I don’t mind.”
Nikki smiles and goes off to the kitchen, leaving my sister with me.
“Lise, don’t you cook?”
“W-well, uhm…”
“Only under strict supervision, last time she almost burned down the apartment.”
I chuckle as my sis starts to pout.
“I just wanted to impress you with my flambé skills.”
“Those definitely were some skills alright.” Nikki laughs.

My sis’ pout grows ever stronger as she takes out her phone to play some games.
“Have you heard anything of our parents yet?”
“Nope. I think I’m the last person they’ll come to anyway…Want to play something while we wait for the pancakes?” She’s a master at switching subjects, probably for the better.
“Sure!”
“Cool, Fabio Rally 10?”
“Yes! I always wanted to play that game!”
Élise gets up from the sofa and walks over to their TV cabinet, taking out two steering wheels, a blue and a pink one.
“Do you know how it works?”
“Is it similar to the one we played when we were younger?”
“Pretty much.” She giggles.
“Why are you giggling?”
“I just remember you always picking the girly characters, I really should’ve guessed.”
“Hey, guys can play them too!”
“That’s true, but they generally don’t shine as much as you did back then.” She gives me the pink controller and ruffles my hair. “Here, it matches your hair.”
“Bully.”
She laughs. “I know, I only bully the people I love though.”
We start the game and although Lise does go easy on me, I still manage to get last place every time.
“Hey, you almost won that last round.”
“If it weren’t for those meddlesome blue squirrels, I would’ve.” I pout.
“Haha, yeah, they can be really annoying. Hey Amicia, I was thinking.”
“Oh, that’d be a first.” I hear Nikki say from the kitchen.
“Ha ha ha, I’ll pay you back for that later, and for the tickles as well.”
“Oh no, what should I do now?” Nikki’s laughs maniacally.
“A-anyway, I was just thinking about your hair, a lot of people would be pretty jealous not having to pay lots of money to keep it that way.”
“How so?”
“Did you think colouring hair was free?”
“Oh, I suppose not… is it really that expensive?”
“Yeah, and it generally doesn’t stay in very long either.”
“Guess I’m lucky then.” I smile.
“Definitely, you basically got a free pair of eternal highlights as well. I do wonder if you can bleach your hair though, maybe it’s got some magical protection too...” “Pancakes are ready!” Nikki yells from the kitchen.
“Yay!”

After the delicious pancakes and a marvelous glass of milk my sister and Nikki go to their room to make ready.
“Oh here Amicia, take this.” My sis throws a pink hoodie to me and a skirt. “This should fit a lot better than your other clothes, although they are probably still too big.”
“Thanks sis.”
I put on the clothes she gave me and indeed, just like she said, they do fit a lot better.
“We’re coming out!” Nikki says after five minutes, with the door swiftly opening.
Nikki and Élise are standing there, both with cat ears and a tail.
“Really now? This is your plan?”
“I know right, it’s brilliant.” My sis ads. “They’ll never suspect a thing.”
“What do you mean, they’ll never suspect a thing? Now we’ll draw even more attention.”
“Maybe, but less attention will be drawn to you specifically.” Nikki says while booping my nose.
“I suppose that’s true…  How did you get your tails and ears to match your hair that well?”
“Nikki is quite heavily into cosplay, she made these herself, they can even move.”
“Yep, animatronics.” Nikki says proudly. “If they can’t compare by touching them, they can barely see the difference.”
“That’s actually pretty amazing.”
“Thanks, it’s actually not that hard when you know what you’re doing! Anyway, are you ready to go out?”
“Uhm. I think so, I don’t have any shoes that fit though.”
“I think my shoes will be the best fit for you. I’m a bit smaller than your sis.” Nikki walks over to the shoe rack to examine her collection. “Here, take these.” She hands me a pair of plain white sneakers. “That should work for a short trip.”
I swiftly put them on and while walking is a bit uncomfortable, it’s not the end of the world. “Thanks Nikki.”
“We’ll go shopping for shoes first, so you don’t get blisters while we look for your other clothes.” Élise says with a hint of concern in her eyes.
“Yeah, that might be best, can’t have the kitten hurt her paws.” Nikki winks.
I pout as I walk over to Pocky, who’s still sleeping on the sofa.
“Hey Pocky, we’ll be home soon okay.” I say as I softly pat her.
Her eyes open slowly as she gives me an agreeing meow.
“See you later.” I give her a gentle kiss on her head to which she quickly licks my chin.
“Awwhh.” The two lovers behind me say in unison. “This level of cuteness should be forbidden by law.”
“Yeah yeah, we know.” Both me and Pocky stick out our tongues.
After saying goodbye to Pocky we all leave the apartment, it feels so weird not to cover up my catlike features.
“It’ll be okay, we’ll be with you all the time.” My sister quickly puts a soothing hand on my shoulder.
“Exactly, unless you want to taste test some cat food, you’re on your own for that.” Nikki teases.
“Thanks for the support…” I can’t help but think about that last comment though, it probably doesn’t taste that bad...