| Batan |
At 10:37 Neko pounces out of the house in Human form before slamming the door shut with a level of energy uncharacteristic for her, this sleepy cat is brimming with joy as she makes her way down the street dressed in a stylish winter outfit. Each of her agile steps was made with brown high heel leather boots worn over white woolly tights, her black box pleats skirt waved with every step along with her long pink hair
Her left-hand clutches a black handbag tightly like it was her lifeline while her right is free to brush her bangs off her forehead & reposition her fluffy white earmuffs. Neko turns actively turns a corner almost skipping as she advances to the nearest bus stop
As she reaches the bus stop large grin forms on her angelic face, she halts her advance & stands with her back straight underneath a blue sign in the shape of a square with a white bus on it. Tilting her head back & rotating it to her right to glance at the bus times
“Next bus is at 11:05”
Her eyes remain wide open as her brows furrow, she holds her smile the same way scaffolding holds up a building while her body stays still like a tree. “Oh nyo!” she yells in her mind after being confronted with how long she’ll have to wait for the next bus
Her head snaps back into place like an elastic band, her smile disappeared as she just stands a few meters to the left of an old lady also waiting for the bus. What seems like an endless line of cars passing them from both directions covering the dark tarmac, the sight of all these giant metal beasts cause Neko to take several steps back while her pink eyes trace each of them
Her heart rate races, she takes her free hand up to scratch her head only to let out a gasp of shock when she feels her cat ear is no longer there, “a good sign I’m still in Human form” she thinks while regaining her composure. Keeping her back straight & forming a new smile to take with her
As Neko breathes in & out she notices thin white air clouding her vision, this subtle mist accompanied by the cold breeze on her cheeks brings her the festive feeling of Christmas. “It’s December 20th & I’m off to celebrate with friends” she proclaims to herself
--
| Chii uu |
An emerald, green bus gently stops outside a modest-sized transport terminal in the dense urban sprawl of Kawaguchi, just north of the border with Tokyo prefecture
| Gachaa |
The bus stops under a footbridge leading to the train station, the single door at the front of the bus automatically opens like a flap & out walks a pink-haired girl with a curious look on her face, she gradually takes her first steps off the bus while gazing at the door enough to see her reflection in the glass. “My pupils are literally circles” she comments in her mind as she notices how round the pupils of her Human eyes are, contrasting the slit cat eyes she normally thinks of herself with
| Gachaa! |
Neko: “Eeeep!”
As the door suddenly shuts Neko lets out a little scream while taking a giant leap backward with her left arm guarding her handbag & right behind her back. Her free hand waved left & right to clutch her tail, “Oh yeah, Hyuman form” she remembers
She takes a sigh of relief before brushing herself down by tapping small bits of dirt off her skirt
???: “Yahoo!”
Neko’s eyes widen & her cheeks raise after hearing a familiar cute voice beckon her, this causes a smug cat smile to form as she turns to greet the person calling her
Neko: “Yahoo!”
She carried that cat smile to this familiar person as she greets her. This person standing several centimeters below Neko wearing a white sailor outfit with a red ribbon bow underneath a black coat
???: “Nyekko Nyan!”
She says while imitating the speech pattern of a cat with an equally smug cat smile as her blue eyes filled with excitement, illuminating light while they stand in the shade of the large footbridge
Neko: “Rannyan!”
Neko does the same with her smile & manner of speech mimicking a cat’s though with more authenticity
The two come closer & give a large high five that turns into a handshake while the casual laugh. The friend accompanying Neko today is a lively girl just a year younger named Ōshima Ran (大島 欄)
Ran: “Ran could never match your cat Lingo”
She interrupted her feline speech pattern to complement Neko’s ability to talk like a cat
Neko: “Ehh it just takes practice nya”
Neko meanwhile takes her free hand up to stroke the back of her head while her eyes shut momentarily as she gives a dampened smile, “I didn’t even plan to say Nya, it just came out on instinct” she argues with herself
Ran: “How much practice did it take for you to get it perfect?”
She gazes at Neko with her large blue eyes & dainty cat smile, stepping a few steps closer enough to supplant herself in Neko’s personal space
Neko: “Pat pat”
The taller girl in pink retaliates with several well-placed pats targeted at the top of Ran’s head, gently caressing her hair each time
Ran: “Ahh no fair, Ran wasn’t expecting such an offensive”
Her smile getting replaced with a gaping mouth & eyes immediately shutting
Neko: “Nyahaha so easy to get passed your defenses”
She lets out a slight laugh before taking her arm up & taking a step to Ran’s side but facing behind at the entrance to downtown Kawaguchi, a thin tarmac road between buildings leading to several stores & restaurants. The footbridge doesn’t continue down that way so the street receives light from the sun filling the signs & Christmas decorations with life as the street fills with shoppers
Neko takes a brief look at the atmosphere while Ran turns to catch the commotion
Neko: “Rannyan…”
Ran: “Umm”
Hearing her name Ran turns to face Neko by looking up at her pink eyes, Neko turns to Ran with a buzz
Neko: “Merry Christmas!”
Her excitement rubs off on Ran who responds with a dose of equally charged anticipation & a huge beam
Ran: “Hai! Merry Christmas Neko Nyan!”
With that Neko points her handbag forward aiming it at the first convenience store in their path & proceeds to march ahead like a marching band member, humming away to a Christmas jingle
Ran tags along closely behind her icon with an almost matching waltz however, her movements lack rhythm as she advances rigidly like a pair of walking chopsticks. Completely lacking the elegance of Neko’s comfortable steps
--
The girls make their way out of the convenience store each carrying plastic bags of snacks & drinks, Ran carefully grips her can of Strawberry Vanilla milk while Neko casually takes a sip of her chocolate royal milk tea from a golden-coloured bottle
| Toku toku |
Neko: *Exhales*
She savours the refreshing sour flavour of her drink as she steps out of the store holding a plastic bag in her left hand filled with candy & an abnormal amount of canned fish
Ran catches on to the cans in Neko’s bag but doesn’t speak about it, she discreetly looks at the contents of the bag while Neko is fixated on the Christmas decorations. “Is Neko trying to eat like a cat as well?” She questions herself
Neko: “Nee Rannyan!”
Ran’s train of thought gets interrupted by Neko turning to her while pointing at a store on the other side of the street with her left arm, the one lumbering her bags
Neko: “Look, an accessories store!”
She cheers & aims her bags toward it before walking across to reach it
| Gaaaa! |
A loud booming noise is heard from Neko’s right, she halts her advance just as she steps on the road & turns her head in that direction in response. The joy on her face vanishes & in its place is a look of concern with raised eyebrows concealing the fear building up from within
Ran: “Neko Nyan”
Ran remains closely behind her with a look of confusion as she gently tilts her to the left
| Gaaaa! |
Neko’s limbs stay motionless like a statue apart from her shoulders & cheeks which start twitching, seeing this Ran steps forward & reaches out her right arm
As her hand still clutches the tin can she extends it a little further so that her wrist can touch Neko’s arm, their coats make contact. Ran looks up at Neko’s face & sees her lips trembling while her eyes frozen
Ran: “Neko”
She calmly addresses her dear friends with concern in her eyes before turning right to see what’s approaching
| Gaaaa! |
A large grey SUV struggles to drive through this narrow street, making loud noises with its engine as it quickly comes nearer to Neko standing at the edge of the road with one foot on the tarmac
At that moment the concern in Ran’s eyes depletes for a second before she turns back to Neko
Ran: “Neko Nyan it’s just a car”
She says while moving her arm up & down to grab Neko’s attention but nothing changes in her behaviour as the vehicle gets closer, her eyes are planted on the car’s location
| GAAAA! |
The car whizzes past Neko at an uncomfortable speed, the air swaying her long pink hair as the car crosses their path to the store ahead. Neko’s head turns swiftly to the left followed by her instinct to create as much distance from it as possible
She takes a few steps back off the tarmac & lets her breathing increase in speed to let air flow into her lungs
Neko: *Inhales* *Exhales*
Meanwhile, Ran stays close to Neko increasingly tapping on her arm with her wrist
In no time at all Neko stops shivering & moves her head both ways like she’s shaking the fear off her body, she swings to Ran with a boost of energy as she flashes her round cat smirk to her
Neko: “Syo where were we”
Acting as if nothing had just happened Neko locks arms with Ran & continues toward the store on the other side of the street, only raising Ran’s confusion as they reach the sliding glass doors of the accessories store adorned with Christmas bell & reindeer stickers
| Bachan |
The automatic doors slide open feeding into Neko’s sense of wonder while Ran stands beside her friend with a perplexed look as the events of a few seconds ago stay in her mind
Neko: “Isn’t this festive? Rannyan”
She says as she takes her first steps inside. An explosion of colours hit both their eyes along with the warm draft caused by indoor heating, this allows Neko to loosen her posture & relax herself
The ceiling of the store is adorned with colourful festive ribbons & dazzling paper snowflakes hanging like chandeliers, lights flashing on every store shelf illuminating the items on sale like clothing, jewellery & stationery
It wasn’t long before Ran’s mind is taken off what happened as she spots something on display in one of the aisles that catches her attention
Ran: “Nekko Nyan! Cat ears!”
She calls for Neko’s attention as she points with her right arm & index finger while holding her can of strawberry milk
Neko: “Oh where?”
Neko approaches Ran & traces her arm to the spot she’s pointing to, at the entrance of one of the distant aisles is a rack with dozens of cat ears in all the colours of the rainbow on display for sale. Her pink eyes spot the cat ears before they roll as Neko gives a sarcastic groan
Ran: “Oh sorry, do they remind you of work?”
She stops pointing & lowers her hand
Neko: “Yeah they do, you could say”
Sipping her milk tea as she takes in all the festivity the store put up for this time of the season, all the lights & colours along with the music playing from speakers top up Neko’s excitement
Neko: “Come on Rannyan, how about we pick you the best cat ears?”
Ran’s eyes glisten like the lights on display as she gasps the way a child would, the girls rush to the rack presenting the cat ears
--
Neko walks through an aisle neatly displaying necklaces & bracelets, all arranged in size & price she takes her time examining each item that takes her fancy with the focus of a feline. Getting closer each time & gazing at their unique shapes, colours even sparkles of minerals embedded into the miniature metallic frames
Eventually, she comes across a section just for key chains, they had everything from tiny glass bottles of powder to fortune Darumas to even anime characters. Neko was hooked on all of them, tapping & watching them move back & forth like balls on string
Neko: *Purrs*
She lets out a faint purring sound as she begins to play with these key chains, tapping with the tips of her fingers & rubbing them with the back of her hands
This action continues until she comes across a tiny gold Star dangling amongst the other key chains, “Oh like Hoshi!” she instinctively thinks as her hand reaches out to grab it
Neko: “Wow, what a lucky find”
She says with the dainty Star in her palm shining like those diamonds of the night sky, “I can find gifts for the others here!” she proclaims in her mind
With a new sense of determination, Neko sets off to find presents for each of her housemates
--
*2 hours later*
The sun has long since set under the horizon allowing the illuminations to brighten the high street & leaving the shoppers in awe at their spectacle
The automatic door slides open & outcomes two cheerful girls, both hands full as they carry a few bags each. The small plastic bags from the convenience store is hidden within a sea of large paper bags in colours matching the festive decorations
Ran joyfully skipping while wearing her sapphire car ears & humming along to festive jingles, to her right is Neko standing tall with all her bags kept close & dancing to the tunes
The two girls go on their merry way down the street as it crowds with eager shoppers taking in the hearty atmosphere
Ran: *Hums*
Neko: *Purrs*
Ran hears Neko’s purring noises
Ran: “You’re just bragging at this point”
She says with a cute chuckle
Neko: “Nya I can’t help when I’m happy”
Ran: “Hehe or you could really be a cat in disguise”
Her chuckles turn into laughter
Neko: “Hehehe”
Neko can only dip her head as she gives a dampened smile & an awkward laugh
Ran: “By the way, Neko Nyan. Ran heard that you’ve bagged a foreigner”
Neko: “Nya where did you hear that? Eh?”
To that Neko pounces up with cheeks as red as Santa’s robe, “Oh no I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned my Klausu”
Ran: “Is he Western? You have to tell Ran!”
She takes a slight detour, turning to catch Neko before she can change the subject. Pulling her arms out to make a dominating T pose so Neko cannot escape the conversation
Ran: “& spare no details pwease”
She requests with a cute dialect while looking up with puppy eyes contrasting her cat ears, Neko looks down to see this tiny girl trying to keep her from leaving. She gives a small grin & a subdued blush
Neko: “He’s from Germany & his name is Klausu”
She stops & thinks
Neko: “Klausu…um…I can’t pronounce his surname”
Her blush grows redder as embarrassment settles on her face like snow on a mountain
Neko: “Heh I spent so long practicing as well”
Ran: “Ohh so Neko Nyan likes him enough to spend that long on remembering his name”
Ran comments on the situation as if she’s getting enjoyment from Neko’s flustered state
Neko: “Well could you blame me?”
She tightens her limbs & twirls her high heal boots on the ground
Neko: “He has golden blonde & has blue eyes like the ocean & he has a funny accent. He can’t speak Jyapanese very well”
As Neko gets more comfortable about this subject in front of her dear friend Ran drops her arms & gives a defeated look
Ran: “You can’t even speak Japanese well”
Neko chooses to ignore that comment directed at her speech pattern by looking up at the illuminations, “The lights are always syo pretty this time of year”
Then she turns back to Ran
Neko: “He’s also very tall, like nearly 2 meters tall”
Hearing this Ran’s eyes bust open & a rageful reaction takes over
Ran: “All right! Everyone’s taller than Ran!”
She goes to Neko & tries to pull her close
Ran: “Come on Neko Nyan! We’re finding a place to eat”
She asserts while dragging Neko with her down the street straddling the outskirts of the crowd hoping to find a place to eat but Neko is stuck in her dreamy state with only one person on her mind. “I wish Klausu could have joined us”
“My Santa Klausu”
