...
After leaving Ines Fujin's place, Lucian slowed his pace, strolling toward home while taking in the night air.
By the time he neared his doorstep, it was almost six-thirty in the evening.
Lucian stopped in his tracks because he spotted a familiar silhouette standing in front of his door.
He observed the figure—it seemed to be on the phone.
Sure enough, the next second his phone screen lit up, but he immediately switched it to silent and quietly crept closer to the figure.
"Ehhh~~~ I rang the doorbell and no response, called the Trainer and no one picked up either (⇀‸↼‶)."
Just as Meisho Doto finished speaking, she suddenly felt something poke her waist.
"Don't move." Lucian spoke in a deliberately rough, low voice.
"There's a bad guy!? =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪ ‧̣̥̇)"
In her fright, Meisho Doto whipped around, flinging Lucian with her swinging arms and sending him crashing into the wall on the side.
"No way, bro... ( •̩̩̩̩＿•̩̩̩̩ )" Lucian held his breath, feeling the ocean of food in his stomach churning violently.
"Bad guy sir, please let me go, I don't have anything on me ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚." Meisho Doto covered her face, squatted down, and whimpered in surrender.
"Doto... take another look at who I am?"
"Eh, this voice sounds so familiar." Meisho Doto parted her fingers and peeked through the gaps toward the source of the voice. "It's the Trainer!?"
Meisho Doto hurriedly got up, supported Lucian, and pulled him down from the wall. "Mo….. Trainer, seriously, scaring me like that out of nowhere, and you can't sleep on the wall, you know."
Lucian clutched his chest and coughed twice. "Apologize, or I'm calling the police. I'll say there's a suspicious horse girl loitering in front of my house and elbowing the owner."
"Please don't do something so cruel. (ɵ̷᷄⤙ɵ̷᷅)"
"Then apologize."
"But the Trainer scared me first, and now you want me to..."
Seeing Meisho Doto still symbolically resisting, Lucian put the phone to his ear. "Hello, police station?"
"Private horse race, private horse race~ (૮ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ა)"
"Didn't connect. Just messing with you." Lucian put the phone away and entered the password to open the door. "How about I give you the pass..."
He cut himself off just in time.
Better not casually give out the password—wouldn't want to be caught off guard one day and have something awkward seen.
"Trainer, did you just say something?"
"Nothing. Come in."
The door opened, and from the gap at the bottom a little cat head poked out.
"Dango-chan~ ( ˃̶͈ ꇴ ˂̶͈)" After changing shoes, Meisho Doto scooped the fuzzy caterpillar-like cat off the floor and rubbed her face all over it.
Lucian changed shoes too and closed the door behind him.
No need to think about it—Meisho Doto coming to his house had to be for Dango-chan. No way she came for him, right?
"You haven't come these past two days. Dango-chan doesn't recognize you anymore; she recognizes me as her owner now."
"Nooo~ (˃ ˄ ˂̥̥)" Meisho Doto protectively held Dango-chan close. "The Trainer is lying again. Dango-chan clearly doesn't resist me at all."
"That's just because Dango-chan has such a gentle personality. With any other cat, you might've already gotten two solid punches."
"I don't believe it. (￣^￣)"
"Then put her on the floor and go over there. Let's see who she runs to."
"F-Fine, let's try it." Meisho Doto was curious too—who would Dango-chan choose?
If she chose the Trainer, then next time she wouldn't feed her freeze-dried treats so readily.
She set Dango-chan down and ran to the opposite side.
Lucian sat on the floor; Meisho Doto squatted.
"Dango-chan~ Come to big sis~" Meisho Doto fluttered her hands like butterfly wings.
Dango-chan glanced in her direction, then decisively turned and walked straight to Lucian.
This little female cat was quite the clingy one. With big adorable eyes, she looked up at Lucian and let out soft, coquettish mews. "Meow~ Mewww~~"
As if saying: "Master, hug me please."
Perhaps because he was so used to teasing horse girls, Lucian didn't spare even this little female cat. He just watched her get anxious, stretching out her pink paws to paw at his pant leg.
"Okay, okay~ petting you, petting you." Lucian extended his hand, palm down, hovering in front of Dango-chan.
Dango-chan stood on her tiptoes and bumped her head into it.
"So good~" Lucian took the chance to scoop her into his arms, gave her several big sniffs, then started scratching under her chin and rubbing her belly.
He was just about to show off to Meisho Doto when he looked up and saw her staring blankly in his direction.
That look was strange—like she'd been entranced by some illusion, dazed and hazy, yet not entirely vacant.
Lucian felt like he could read a faint thread of envy in Meisho Doto's eyes.
As if she were an abandoned house cat, watching longingly as her owner welcomed a stray into his arms, powerless to do anything.
But Lucian figured it was just his imagination running wild. What Meisho Doto envied was probably that Dango-chan chose him.
"Ahem, Doto?" Lucian called out. "Actually, I put catnip on my hands. Do you believe me?"
Under the interruption of Lucian's voice, Meisho Doto slowly snapped back to reality after a long moment.
She had accidentally seen Cat Master again... still holding her beloved Dango-chan in his arms.
A sudden wild thought struck her: What if it were her in Cat Master's arms? Then she could experience having her chin scratched and belly rubbed too.
So amazing... Cat Master's smile, Cat Master's gentle touches.
If she just showed her "paws," whimpered a little, would she get Cat Master's affection and attention? Then... then maybe she could do it too.
"Doto, you're not sulking again, are you?"
Under Lucian's call, that beautiful illusion finally shattered... or at least temporarily retreated.
"N-No, Trainer, what did you just say? What horse mint?"
"Horse..." Lucian's expression froze; he licked his lips. "I said catnip—the stuff that attracts cats. You said horse girl mint? Is there really such a thing that can attract horse girls?"
"Um... probably not." Meisho Doto couldn't help imagining it. "If there really was something that could cause that kind of physiological obsession, it'd be way too incredible (⇀‸↼‶)."
Maybe it wasn't that it didn't exist—maybe Meisho Doto just hadn't noticed yet. That "thing" was right in front of her.
"Trainer, next year at the school festival, will you open the restaurant again?"
"Not sure. Why ask all of a sudden?"
"Because I have a pretty good idea." Meisho Doto's face lit up with anticipation.
"What kind of idea could a little klutz like you have?"
"No… no stereotyping desu!" Meisho Doto waved her fists up and down in protest.
"Then tell me—what's the idea?"
"A café..." She unconsciously glanced at Lucian again. "With cosplay and stuff. Like 'Rigil' does."
...