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Meow~
The soft pit-patting sound of paws in the distance gradually grew louder as a fluffy object caught up to the duo.
Its presence went unnoticed at first - the cat seemed to be a bit shy and walked in zig-zags, hesitating to make itself known to the strangers.
But no, the star could most definitely sense any suspicious activity in his surroundings and so he turned around to check what it could be.
Before he could make note of what it was, however, his vision was immediately covered by a flurry of snow white fluffiness as it pounced onto his body, paws grabbing onto Tsukasa.
“AAAAAA!! Hahahaha!” Tsukasa let out a thunderous yell, startling both the cat and his purple-haired friend.
“Oya? Hello there, little cat,” Rui crouched down to its level with an amused smile.
The stray cat was aggressively scratching Tsukasa’s shirt for some reason. “Look… it wants… to play with… us!” he said between grunts and noises of discomfort. “Hey if you keep doing that my shirt’s gonna have holes!”
“Fufu, it seems to like you Tsukasa-kun,” Rui said, reaching a hand out to pat it. Just before it reached its fur, though, the cat temporarily stopped its scratching activity and used a paw to swipe at Rui’s hand, leaving the boy in shock.
“S-sorry?” Rui blinked twice in confusion. Tsukasa started laughing like a madman, “Weakness number 1: disliked by cats. Hahahaha!”
No but seriously the confused face he made just now was so cute help me help help asdfgkhjiuhguAAAAAAA I think I’m gonna combust and melt into a pool of nothingness right here and now.
Tsukasa’s laughter was merely a front to hide his rising blush, heart pounding and threatening to rip out of his ribcage. Every now and then, there were moments that made Tsukasa fall for his friend even more. And that was not a good sign.
“Well… that’s not very nice of you, little cat…” Rui shrank back into a corner with a pout. The ball of fluff seemed to understand his words and whipped its head around, burying itself back in Tsukasa’s arms as if saying ‘hmph!”.
“There, there, don’t be so mean to my friend! He didn’t mean any harm,” Tsukasa added whilst gently stroking its head, somewhat recovering from his previous frenzy.
Purrrr… It made itself at home in the warmth of his arms, snuggling up as if ready for a nap.
“Don’t tell me you came to me to find a place to sleep…” he sighed, giving in as it was too adorable to let go. Taking a closer look at its facial features, Tsukasa notices something odd. “Hm…” he held it up vertically by the body and placed it next to Rui’s face.
“This is an amazing discovery… hm…” Tsukasa tilted his head left and right, inspecting with great detail and attentiveness.
Rui, on the other hand, was growing more and more bewildered by the second.
The cat gazed at Tsukasa with its amber eyes and meowed softly with the corners of its mouth curled up. It looked so strangely… huggable.
“Hm… yes!” A light bulb seemed to go off in his head as he arrived at a conclusion of some sort.
“……yes?” came a disgruntled reply from the other.
“This cat looks very much like you, Rui. Look!” Tsukasa proceeded to turn it around so that it faced Rui, with the action resulting in the cat ferociously snarling at him.
“Don’t you see any resemblance?” he started to ramble. “The way its mouth….”
“No. No way I look like this thing, not in the least,” Rui cut him off. “Tell me, Tsukasa-kun, do I really look like this indignant-“
“Yes and since you don’t think so I will make it so that you do! Hehe~” Tsukasa seemed to have come up with a brilliant idea.
The blonde playfully stuck out a tongue to the side of his mouth, grabbing his phone and opening to the camera ready to showcase his photography skills.
Phone in one hand and cat in the other, he asked Rui to perform a variety of facial expressions to which the other hesitantly agreed to.
“…aaaand, done! Take a look at these photos, now you won’t deny that you two don’t look alike!”
To Rui’s dismay, the photos really did capture how similar they looked… however, Rui noticed something off about Tsukasa as they were swiping through the pictures.
He was… blushing. His face was as red as a tomato, and the tips of his ears were cherry pink.
“…Tsukasa-kun?” Rui’s frown disappeared and he started feeling heat rising up his neck.
“Don’t look at me, look at the pictures,” Tsukasa turned away in embarrassment to hide his face. No way he was going to fall apart and express his feelings right then and there.
Sensing his anxiety, Rui leaned closer to his friend to encourage him to open up.
No… don’t come any closer… please… my heart can’t handle this.
Tsukasa let go of the cat in unease, the latter dashing away into a nearby bush. It was just him and Rui now in this horrible horrible silence, alone on the freshly-laid cement footpath.
“Tsukasa-kun, look at me.”
The said Tsukasa shakily turned his head around, giving up on hiding. As expected of Rui, huh…
“I’m sorry… I just thought you looked really… cute with the cat…” he sighed. A delicate tear slipped out of the corner of his eye, rolling down his burning cheek.
There came no reply. And that silence was unbearable to Tsukasa.
How did I get myself into this situation… it’s all over now.
Ready to turn around and leave, Tsukasa braced himself for the future he set in stone himself.
…Huh?
Rui was not going to let Tsukasa go so quickly. Arms wrapped around him from behind, he positioned his face on the shorter boy’s shoulder, hugging him tightly.
Tsukasa could feel Rui’s racing heartbeat on his back… the sounds merging with his own.
Ah… so he was the same as me… Tsukasa released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, relaxing and leaning into his embrace.
Just as he started to calm down, though…
The boy with pretty purple hair pressed a quick kiss on Tsukasa’s cheek.
Tsukasa’s heart leaped with joy, an irresistible grin breaking free onto his face.