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By all accounts, Kaito Momota was a dog person. He was the very epitome of one: he not only grew up with a dog, he basically was a dog, complete with puppy eyes and an excitable nature.
So when this dog person apparently fell in love with Ryoma’s new cat, a one-eyed black cat named Serena, there was some understandable confusion.
“Just look at her! Come here, little kitty, come here!” Kaito’s eyes sparkled as he attempted to lure the cat with a waggling finger. The black cat blinked its one yellow eye, then dismissively flicked her tail and strutted away. Kaito didn’t seem undeterred. He clicked his tongue and stood back up.
“Closed off, isn’t she?” Kaito banged his fists together. “Well, I’m gonna get through to her, just you wait!”
“Kaito, why do you like the cat so much?” Shuichi had finally managed to speak through his surprise. Ryoma chuckled behind him, opening a can of cat food.
“Yeah, Momota. I always thought you’d like dogs more.” The tennis player raised his eyebrow at the astronaut. “Maybe I underestimated you.”
“Nah, I definitely like dogs more! I usually do, anyway.” Kaito had squatted back to the floor to watch as Serena daintily trotted to where Ryoma was serving her food. The besotted boy grinned. “But Serena is different! I can just tell that she’s a good person - ah, well, a good kitty, actually.”
Shuichi joined in Ryoma’s chuckling. His purple-haired friend could say some really funny things without seeming to realize it. “Alright,” the detective humoured him, “What is it about Serena that makes you believe in her so much?”
“Huh?” Kaito seemed genuinely confused. “Can’t you tell? I thought it was obvious.”
“Not everyone has your…insight, so you’ll have to explain it to us.” Shuichi hid a giggle behind his hand. Not seeming to notice, Kaito gave a determined nod in response.
“Okay. Then take this as a lesson on how to see the potential in others!” He gave the detective an encouraging thumbs up from his squatted position on the floor. “After all, as my sidekick, you gotta know how to believe in the right people! Like this beautiful kitty.”
Ryoma repeated “like this beautiful kitty” under his breath, chortling to himself. Kaito began his very logical and comprehensive explanation.
“You see, this kitty just has the right vibes. Guess some people can sense them, and some can’t. But!” Kaito turned his attention back to the still-eating cat. “I mean, just look at her! She’s so beautiful! Just because she’s cold at first doesn’t mean she’s cold on the inside. She tries to be all aloof because she thinks we should be afraid of her, but…all she really wants is love.” Kaito’s eyes suddenly turned sad. “I get the feeling she didn’t have such a great life before finding Ryoma.”
Kaito fell silent. Ryoma had begun to wash the dishes, and the only sound in the room for a few moments was clattering plates. Ryoma sighed. “Yeah. She was rescued by the shelter from some horrible people. They didn’t treat her right. I adopted her so that she could have a safe home.” His voice had adopted an edge of hurt and anger. “Wish I could find those bastards who hurt her, though. I’ve got a few ways to make them pay.”
“I get what you’re feeling, but it’s no use holding onto the past, Ryoma.” Shuichi gave him a reassuring pat on the back. Kaito nodded in fierce agreement.
“Exactly what I was about to say! Best thing you could do for her is to help her grow and to give her a happy life with your friendship.”
Ryoma smiled at his friends, dipping his head. “Heh. Thanks. Looks like I still gotta way’s to go.”
The trio took a few minutes to chill in the kitchen, Kaito staring lovingly at the cat, Ryoma washing the dishes, and Shuichi thinking deeply about something. Suddenly, the detective snapped his fingers.
“Ah! I figured out what you reminded me of, Kaito!”
“Eh? I reminded you of somethin’?”
“The way you were describing the cat sounded really familiar to me, and I was trying to figure out why…” Shuichi gave him an amused smile. “Then I realized: you described the cat just like you would describe Maki.”
“Huh? Maki Roll?” Kaito’s eyes widened as he looked back and forth between Shuichi and Serena. He furrowed his brows. “No way. I mean, I guess they have some similarities but…” Kaito fell into thought, his legs crossed and his hand cupping his chin. After a few seconds of pondering, he shook his head resolutely. “Nah! They’re totally different!”
“In what way?”
Kaito looked at him with raised eyebrows. “'In what way’? Bro, they’re obviously different! If you can’t see the difference, then I really gotta question your eyesight.”
“If you’re talking about how Serena is a cat and Maki is not, that doesn’t count as a true difference.” Ryoma wiped his hands with a dish towel and bent over to pat Serena as she ate. She didn’t seem to mind. “What Saihara meant was the similarities beyond their species.”
“Exactly,” Shuichi agreed. “The way you talked about Serena was practically the exact same as how you described Maki after we first met her, remember?”
Kaito scratched the back of his neck, his furrowed eyebrows and lopsided frown painted with confusion. Shuichi continued, amusement evident in his voice and smile. “There are a few things that match up. First, you said that you could tell just from looking at her that Maki was a good person.”
“Well, yeah! And I stand by that!” Kaito puffed up his chest. Ryoma sniggered a little, and Shuichi cleared his throat.
“Yes. And you said the same about Serena too.” Before Kaito could defend himself, Shuichi went on to use all of his truth bullets. “There’s more. You said that ‘just because she’s cold at first doesn’t mean she’s cold on the inside,' which is word-for-word how you described Maki’s own coldness. Then you stated how Serena tries to be aloof because she thinks we should be scared of her, but all she truly wants is someone to love her.”
“And let’s not forget how you kept calling Serena beautiful,” Ryoma said with a meaningful stare from under his beanie. Kaito spluttered, trying to get a word out. Shuichi put him out of his misery and patted him reassuringly on the back.
“Don’t worry, Kaito. We’ll drop it.” Shuichi was just happy to get some evidence that Kaito felt more for Maki than he might let on. The astronaut crossed his arms and pouted.
“Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated?” He threw his arms in the air. “Fine, fine, I said the same things about Serena that I have about Maki! So what?”
Shuichi and Ryoma shared a glance. The detective sighed. Maybe one day he’d talk to Kaito about the feelings towards Maki he was clearly trying to hide. Today, however, probably wouldn’t be the day that happened.
“Nothing. I just thought it was interesting.”
As Shuichi went to help Ryoma clean up Serena’s now empty food bowl, Kaito stared at him, his eyes narrowed.
~~
“So? Did you get any evidence about how he feels about Maki??”
Shuichi put down his teacup after taking a sip. The mission Kaede had tasked him with had been at the back of his mind every time he hung out with Kaito. Meeting up with Ryoma’s cat, however, was unplanned, and the detective had not expected any findings from it.
He shrugged at Kaede, who was sitting across from him, vibrating with excitement. “I guess, though nothing concrete.” The detective then explained the whole Serena debacle and how Kaito had described the kitty. As he spoke, Kaede’s eyes grew wider. At the end of his story, Kaede stared at him, incredulous.
“Shuichi, that’s so obviously him projecting his feelings!” Kaede smiled as she took a sip from her own teacup. “I mean, he doesn’t have a crush on the cat, of course, but the way he described her was exactly like he would describe Maki, right?”
Shuichi nodded, a soft smile appearing at the thought of how smitten Kaito was with the one-eyed kitty. “Yes, there were lots of similarities. It was pretty funny in a sweet way.”
Kaede giggled. It did sound cute. And, perhaps, it could help Kaito take a step forward in his relationship with Maki. The pianist crossed her arms and closed her eyes, her forehead scrunching as she thought. “There’s gotta be a way to use this to help them get together,” Kaede sighed. “Just yesterday, when I was hanging out with Maki, she was miserable. She tried to hide it and all, but...there were lots of couples walking around us, and her eyes…they were so full of longing.” Kaede suddenly pumped her fists, changing the sombre mood to one of enthusiasm. “So we gotta get them together ASAP! Right, Shuichi?”
Shuichi gulped his tea down, then gave his friend a nervous smile. “Uh, well, I want them to be happy, but I also don’t want to force them together. That’d only create more problems.”
Kaede waved his worries away. “It’ll be alright! We’re not forcing them, after all. We’re just nudging them a bit so that they can finally accept their own feelings and actually communicate with each other. And if I have to be a trickster like Kokichi to make my friends happy, then I will!”
Shuichi couldn’t argue with that, though the comparison to Kokichi made him a bit nervous about the pianist’s intentions. Then, Kaede smiled in such a mischievous way that Shuichi gulped.
“You know, Rantaro’s Halloween party is this weekend.” Kaede’s eyes gleamed. “Do you happen to know where I could buy a special costume for Maki?”
~~
The party was fairly rambunctious. Scores of vaguely familiar people flooded enthusiastically into Rantaro’s house (likely because it was a mansion with a swimming pool and literally no supervision). The party was filled with the noise of general chatter and laughter, and the alcohol flowed with reckless abandon.
Kaito very much liked this party.
“Yooooo, there’z my siiidekick!!” Kaito barrelled into a startled Shuichi, who had just arrived dressed as a vampire. The drunken astronaut – who was dressed as a pirate – threw his arm around Shuichi’s shoulders. “Been lookin’ for ya!! Where’ve you been, dude?? And are ya…a vampire, is it??”
Shuichi grimaced at the smell of Kaito’s breath, which burned and stank of beer. “Ugh, Kaito, please get off of me.” The astronaut-turned-pirate shrugged, then swayed back to a standing position, his arms crossed.
“Suit yourself! Just wanted to say hey.” Kaito then seemed to notice something, his eyes widening. “Oi oi oi, where’z Maki Roll??”
“She should be coming soon. She and Kaede were just behind me.” Shuichi scratched at his cheek nervously. “Maki seemed a little nervous, actually. I don’t think she’s very confident in her costume.”
“WHAT!?!?” Apparently, this news was enough to grab Kaito’s full attention. His sudden shout drew some startled eyes, which Shuichi desperately tried to wave away. “Whaddya mean ‘not confident’?? Does she need a pep-talk?” The pirate put his hands on his hips in his classic hero pose. “Lemme find her! She has noooothing to be worried about!! She’d look great in anything!!!”
Shuichi couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at that. Kaito didn’t notice anything amiss with his words. With determination blazing in his eyes, he puffed up his chest and swiftly raised his hands to cup his mouth.
“MAKI ROOOOOLL!!! WHERE ARE YA???”
Kaito’s yelling was certainly enough to halt the party for a good few seconds. Shuichi clamped his ears shut. How could a single person be so loud!? After a few seconds, the echo and ringing noise of Kaito’s shout faded away, and the detective was left to face a crowd of wide-eyed party-goers staring at him and his grinning friend. The only sound remaining was that of the subdued party music.
“There!” Kaito clapped his hands. “Thaaaat should do it!! She should’ve heard me for sure!”
“How could I not?”
Both Shuichi and Kaito spun around immediately to the source of the voice. The first person Shuichi saw was Kaede, waving cheerfully in her witch costume. Then, his eyes drifted over to Maki, who was—
“YOU’RE A CAT??” Kaito’s jaw dropped, almost like he was a cartoon. “Maki Roll!! You look super cute, what the heck??”
The assassin-turned-cat’s scowl was somewhat softened by the increasing redness in her cheeks. “Sh-Shut up, idiot. You’re obviously drunk.”
“So what if I am??” Kaito gave her a sloppy grin before stumbling over to give her a hug. Maki squeaked at the physical contact, visibly freezing. “I don’t gotta be drunk to see you’re cute!! Cute is for everyone! You don’t gotta be drunk, y’know! Cute is for drunk and not drunk!”
“You’re not making sense, Kaito,” Shuichi gently muttered, putting his hand on Kaito’s shoulders to ease him out of the hug. The drunken pirate refused to move. Bizarrely, he instead decided to tighten the hug, nuzzling his beer-flushed face into Maki’s ever-reddening neck.
“Noooo…not letting go...so nice here…” Kaito’s voice shrunk and blurred as he burrowed deeper into his new nesting place. Maki herself seemed torn between hugging him back and stabbing him mercilessly. For the moment, her hands twitched in mid-air, resolutely not touching Kaito in any way. Kaede sighed, amused.
“Looks like he’s gonna fall asleep soon. What a lightweight!” The witch patted his back. “Right, Kaito?”
Snooooore….
“…huh? Has he actually fallen asleep!?” Kaede’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “B-But it’s so loud! And he’s standing up!”
“You’re right. Looks like we’ve figured out what can make Kaito comfortable enough to sleep.” Shuichi smiled and chuckled. “Maki’s arms.”
Maki’s red eyes bore into Shuichi’s skull, immediately halting his laughter. Though, it would’ve been scarier if the assassin wasn't pouting in pink-faced embarrassment at the same time.
“…I’ll take him home.” She bounced Kaito, startling a combination of a snort and a snore out of his open mouth. He leaned his entire weight onto his considerably shorter friend. Luckily for the two of them, Maki was more than capable of carrying him, a fact she proved by sweeping him off his feet and carrying him bridal-style. The still-asleep Kaito didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he joyfully snuggled further into Maki’s chest as she stubbornly looked anywhere but straight at him.
“Let Rantaro know that we’ve left early. He doesn't deserve my help, but... I’ll take Kaito to his dorm and make sure he doesn’t die. It'd be annoying if he did.” And with that, Maki turned around and walked out of the party, the crowd parting for the small, blushing cat-girl heroically cradling a huge, snoring pirate.
Shuichi and Kaede stayed where they stood, staring after the strange pair. Kaede broke the stunned silence with a giggle.
“You know, I read into cats once you told me about Kaito and Serena. Apparently, cats don’t trust people very easily, and they’re not the type to help others.”
“Not unless they love them,” Shuichi pointed out. Kaede nodded, smiling as she watched Maki kicking the front door open and carrying her love outside.
Maybe Maki would convert Kaito into a cat person after all.