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“What is that?”
Akira looked up from where he was cutting squash in the kitchen, completely deadpan. “It’s a kitten.”
Standing in the hallway of the Sakura household, Morgana was too shocked to respond. They had come over to play video games with Futaba, having been living with Haru since they’d successfully been transformed into a human two months ago. The upside was plenty of time with Haru, and plenty of luxury to enjoy while they worked out how to be a human. The downside was not nearly enough time with the Sakuras.
And now this?
Futaba grabbed the kitten off the floor with both hands and extended it joyfully in Morgana’s direction. “Isn’t she adorable?”
The beast meowed, and Futaba made a great show of rolling her eyes. “Oh, fine, you can get down.” She set the cat down on the floor. Immediately, it started circling around Mona’s feet, rubbing against their ankles.
Futaba laughed and turned to look at them. “I’m gonna run upstairs and grab the game from my room. Be right back!” She turned on her heel and headed down the hall, apparently oblivious to their discomfort with the kitten.
They tried to keep their disgust from spreading to their expression, looking back over at Akira. “Is it supposed to be so… small?”
Akira laughed. “She’s a baby. She’ll get bigger. Like how human babies do.”
“And she’s not an it!” Futaba piped up, reentering the living room. She took a flying leap and launched herself over the back of the couch like a hurdle, landing squarely in the middle with a thud.
Akira winced. “Careful.”
Cautiously, Morgana walked around the back of the couch to join her. They moved at a snail’s pace, trying to make as little contact with the cat as possible.
Akira watched with a bemused expression as he went back to chopping vegetables. “Being a cat isn’t contagious, Mona.”
“I know that!” They snapped, folding their legs up under them on the couch in a bid to get them away from the animal. It meandered towards the kitchen and meowed at Akira, who rewarded its efforts with a tiny piece of kabocha.
Futaba’s jaw dropped slightly and she looked at Morgana. “Are you jealous?”
They stiffened. “What? No, I - ”
Akira’s grin broadened. “Awww. I promise, you’ll always be our favorite cat. It’s just, you know.” He shrugged. “You’re not a cat any more.”
“I was never a cat!” Morgana objected. They could feel themselves turning redder as the conversation progressed.
Futaba looked sly. “Then why are you jealous?”
“I’m not.” Morgana snapped. “I just… I don’t like cats, is all. I’m a dog person.”
“Awwwwww, you are jealous!” Futaba cooed. Had Morgana still had hackles, they would have raised.
To make matters worse, the cat, now finished with its exploration of the kitchen, returned to the couch and jumped a distance twice its height to land directly in their lap. They instinctively leapt to their feet, sending the cat flying back to the floor and the dishes on the coffee table tumbling.
In seemingly an instant, Akira crossed the distance between the kitchen and the living room, catching the kitten in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. He slowly returned to his feet and sets the coffee mug down with one hand while the kitten climbed his sleeve and came to roost on his shoulder.
He smiled casually at Morgana, reaching up to scratch the kitten behind its ears. “Sorry. She likes laps. Not so much asking permission. I can bring her back up to my room so she doesn’t bother you while you play?”
Futaba nodded. “Thanks, Akira!”
Akira nodded in return and went down the hallway towards the stairs, keeping one hand on the cat gently meowing on his shoulder.
Futaba got the game ready while Morgana set their bag down, trying to look casual. “What’s her name?”
“She doesn’t have one yet.” The console beeped as she inserted the disc and handed a controller over to Morgana with a smile. “We didn’t want to name her until we were sure we were keeping her. Akira found her wandering around Yongen-Jaya, and after we took her to the vet, at first we thought she should maybe go to an adoption shelter, but… I think he got kinda attached.”
“Attached to what?” Akira asked, sliding back into his spot at the kitchen counter and picking back up the knife.
Futaba twisted to look up at him. “To your cat, dummy.”
Akira looked slightly wounded. “Our cat.”
Futaba rolled her eyes, clicking through the video game’s start menu. “You’re her favorite, though.”
“She likes your hair best!” Akira objected.
“That’s just cause she thinks it's a toy.”
“She thinks it's a toy because you let her play with it.”
Futaba stuck out her tongue at her brother and Akira smirked. “No more talking. Video games now.”
Which of course really meant “no more talking from Akira,” as she and Morgana promptly started yelling at, around, and to each other as soon as the game began. Two months was more or less enough time to get a hang of human fingers and opposable thumbs, but Futaba still had to help them hit the beat on the rhythm minigame and keep track of which character was theirs. Akira worked quietly in the kitchen cooking squash and rice while they played. At some point, he disappeared and reappeared with the kitten circling around his ankles. Bitterly, Morgana thought that the kitten clearly wasn’t the only one who had a favorite.
A few hours later, they finally managed to secure their freedom by insisting that Haru would get lonely if they didn’t get home soon. Akira went to watch Leblanc so that Sojiro could give them a ride home. Which was kind, though they didn’t need it. It had been really nice, being able to talk to Sojiro and have him understand them. They didn’t talk much on the ride back to Haru’s, though.
And they weren’t really lying about Haru. Dinner was already set out on the large dining room table by the time they got back, and Haru, understandably, didn’t like eating at it alone. She asked them how hanging out with the Sakuras was, and they said it was fine; she asked them how Futaba and Akira were doing, and they said they were fine.
Finally Haru put down her fork and set her hands firmly but carefully on the dinner table, looking directly at them. “Mona-chan, is everything all right?”
There was really no hiding it from her. They fidgeted with their food for a second before sighing and putting down their utensils. “Akira got a cat.”
Haru immediately brightened, but her wide grin receded when she noticed them wince in response. “I’m… sorry?”
Morgana scowled. “It’s stupid. But I’m not jealous! There’s no reason for me to be jealous, cause I’m not - I was never a cat!”
Haru took a second to respond, which was something that Haru did not do unless she was weighing her words carefully. “Of course you weren’t a cat. But it’s okay to be jealous, even though that’s true.”
Morgana squirmed slightly, their righteous anger interrupted by Haru’s measured kindness. “I - but that’s dumb.”
“Not really. People get jealous of animals all the time.”
“Okay, sure, but - it’s still dumb.” Morgana insisted. “Being jealous at all. I’m a human now, like I wanted to be, so being jealous of a cat…”
They trailed off. Haru waited patiently, only speaking when she was sure they wouldn’t start talking again.
“I know that’s what you wanted. And we’re all really happy that you got it. But change can be hard. You’ve been with Akira all the time almost as far back as you can remember. You can be happy that you’re a human now and still be lonely. I’m sure he is too. Why else would he have gotten a cat?”
Morgana pawed at the air, searching for the right words. “But I get to live with you now. And you’re awesome. And he can see me basically whenever he wants.”
“Sure. But it’s not the same, is it? You can’t sleep on my bed, or come to work with me in my bag. You can’t eat dinner out of my hand. I can’t pet you whenever I’m feeling nervous. So even though he’s happy that you got what you want - even though you can see him all the time - he might still miss that version of you. Maybe you weren’t a cat, but I think a cat might be the closest thing for him.”
Their stomach sort of tangled up as Haru continued to speak. “I hadn’t… thought about it that way.”
Haru smiled. “Think it over, then. Maybe you can go visit them tomorrow. This is your first time meeting a cat as a human, right? It could be fun.”
Morgana was silent for another second before grabbing their fork and returning their attention to their food. “Okay. I’ll think it over.”
Akira looked surprised when he opened the door for them the next morning, even though they’d texted beforehand to ask if it was okay to come over. Maybe because even though he’d said it was, he’d also said he would only be available for an hour before he had to leave for work, where he’d be for the next four hours. More likely because Morgana had said that was fine; they’d just babysit the cat while he was at work.
The kitten was on his shoulder, and she started purring immediately when she saw Mona. Akira sighed, catching her in his hands as she attempted to jump to the ground in front of them. “Kuro-chan, c’mon, they don’t want to say hi.” He muttered, scooping her back onto his shoulder.
“Kuro-chan?” Morgana said.
Akira looked up and blushed. “Hi. Uh, yeah, Kuro-chan. I haven’t, um. Told my sister yet.”
Morgana laughed, proceeding into the house past him. “She’s gonna want to name it herself, you know.”
“Why do you think I haven’t told her?” Akira responded, shutting the door behind them as Morgana toed their shoes off.
Morgana chuckled. Akira, nervously, removed the kitten from his shoulder and set it on the ground. “Do you, um. Want to say hi? Actually?”
Morgana looked cautiously at the kitten. It meowed. They looked back at Akira, who was turning slightly red.
“Because you don’t have to. And I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before you came over, and I’m sorry I made fun of you for being jealous. I only did it because I’m jealous too, and I’m embarrassed about it. Which is dumb, but it’s true. I miss you, and I’m not trying to replace you but I can see how it would look that way, but she just sort of showed up one day and I was feeling so lonely and I could tell Sojiro was in love with her so…”
Finally, he trailed off. Morgana waited a second to make sure he was done before talking. “Did Haru text you?”
Akira looked confused. “No.”
It was baffling, how perfect he was sometimes.
Morgana looked at the kitten again, then picked her up. They sat down on the entry bench with Kuro on their lap and she started humming and settled onto their legs. She weighed as much as a paperback, and they felt their heartbeat quicken pleasantly.
Cautiously, they reached out a hand and stroked the cat, and its humming intensified.
“Was I this soft?” They asked.
Akira looked surprised, but it faded quickly into a smile. He settled down onto the bench beside them and started scratching Kuro’s chin as Morgana ran their hand through her fur.
“Believe it or not, you were softer.”