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A new café had opened within Shibuya. That in itself was nothing out of the ordinary. Shops came and went in this part of Tokyo. It was an endless cycle honestly. Unless a mainstream sensation, expect your favorite shops to disappear after some time. Back then it was a bit of a pain to keep track of, at least for Goro. After all, he had to keep tabs on these things as a public figure. Know where to go, try out whatever was popular and then run his mouth dry about it. That was pretty much expected. But now that pressure had been lifted off his shoulders. Those days were no more, thank goodness. Otherwise he would probably drive insane by now.
That didn’t mean that he wasn’t going out anymore. He couldn’t even dream of it honestly. There was always a certain someone who loved dragging him out to new places they had heard of. And that was none other than Lukanja.
It was a side he hadn’t expected from them at all. Not too long ago he knew them as some type of self–described hermit. All because they stuck inside their room outside of obligations, never leaving their four walls. They had told him themself when going on one of their first outings together.
“ Penguin Sniper? I didn’t even know this place existed. ”
“ Really? I thought everyone had been to this place at least once. ”
“ Well, not like I knew who to go with anyways. I can have fun at an arcade alone but anywhere else? Not much… But we’re here together now, right? So let’s make the best of it! ”
What a twist this was. He had been showing them some places here and there, as a gesture of their pretend friendship back then. But now that months have passed, a year approaching closer and closer, and the two had gotten into an actual relationship, he was the one dragged to all sorts of places. And there was one in particular Lukanja had eyed for a while now…
Cut to the present, with Goro sitting right down onto the couch. His partner sat at the same table, right across him on a chair. A café, nothing special about it. Or so it seemed… There was one catch here. Or two rather.
One was the presence of a familiar black and white feline who had seated himself onto the same table. This one was none other than Lukanja’s pet cat, Ole. And he had gotten really cozy on this massive table. In fact, the position he was in made him almost look like some type of loaf. He certainly looked fluffier. That in itself was already odd, that he could sneak inside without raising suspicion… Until realizing what place this was.
Because the former Detective Prince had barely any space to move. Despite sitting on this wide couch he felt cornered. There was no place to go, no place to hide. In fact if he dared to make even the slightest movement he would cause a disruption right then and there. Everything would just fall into utter chaos. He had tried yet that was his mistake the first time. There was no way out of this, at all. And it annoyed him.
But why could he not move? Was it because he was glued onto the couch or something? No, the reason was honestly simpler than that. Right after he had sat down he was just swarmed by cats from all sides. Beneath the table, from above and even the sides. One had even gotten comfortable on his lap. All the fluffy fur was right on him in some way. He was stuck.
Yes, the location Lukanja had picked was a cat café which had recently opened. They really wanted to go to one and a chance presented itself. Ole had snuck along by hiding himself beneath Goro’s coat, only to be caught on the way there. But the two agreed to take the old cat with them, especially since both Lukanja and Ole insisted for the day.
The idea sounded fun. And Goro still wouldn’t complain about it. After all, it was nice to be at a place filled with cats. Most people like cats and he was no different. But what he didn’t account for was to be swarmed by cats, literally. And now he was just sitting there, trying to not make any hasty movements. All while Ole and Lukanja looked at them, much to his own dismay and embarrassment.
“Do you two have to look at me like that?” He asked the duo. It made both the cat and the person look at each other before turning their heads back to him, nodding in unison. Hah, even outside of the Metaverse it seems that these two understood each other just fine. “Why was I expecting anything different?”
“Hey, it’s not a bad thing.” Goro’s partner pointed out, unable to hold back their upbeat grin. They were really having a blast with this situation, weren’t they? “Actually, I’m kinda envious. I wanna be surrounded by cat floof too!”
“It’s… Not as comfortable as it looks…”
“Still!” They then turn their attention to Ole for a moment. “You know old man… My lap’s still free. So—”
“Mrow.” The only response they got as the tuxedo cat looked back at them with a bit of a glare.
It made them drop their head in defeat. “Haha, yeah. As I thought. You aren’t the cuddliest of cats.” Ole only turned his head away as a response. Or wanted to, because suddenly he was lifted up in the air by his owner, both of their hands right beneath his belly. “But I’m sure that you wanna join in on the fun! Right?”
“Meow!?”
“Hehe, don’t worry. I got you covered!”
“Meow!”
“Lukanja? What are you–” But before Goro could ask he suddenly found a certain cat right on top of his head, the paws dangling right in front of his eyes. Not just that but his head felt a little heavier than it should be. But that had to be expected when you have a cat suddenly laying right there.
Though despite the paws in the way he could make them out sitting back down and laughing. “There we go! Now Ole’s part of the squad too!”
“You gotta be kidding me…” Goro sighed. But this was like them, wasn’t it? He couldn’t see Ole’s reaction yet he was probably not impressed either. If his grumpy side was anything to go by.
“Oh c’mon. Now you have cats everywhere you look!”
“That really wasn’t necessary.”
“So you say Cat Prince.”
“Come again?” What?
“I know what I said. Ya heard me~”
“Cat Prince? I’m not–”
“Say that while being swarmed by cats like this.”
“Mrow…” Ole chimed in, a weak meow from his mouth.
“See? Even the king himself agrees!” Lukanja laughed while leaning backwards in their chair. “Besides, doesn’t it sound more fun than being the Detective Prince?”
“That’s not—” He wanted to protest, he really did. Yet seeing how much fun they were having as well made it hard to protest. As embarrassing as this all was. Damn it… “Nevermind…”
“Now then, how about we honor this with a momentum, Sir? May I take a picture of Your Highness and Your Majesty?”
“M… Mrow…”
“Don’t start talking like that now…”
Yeah, this was somewhat embarrassing… But Goro was going to endure it. For his partner’s sake and for every cats’ sake, including Ole’s.