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Honami ran down the dark streets, rain pouring in hard sheets. Thunderstorms hadn’t been on the forecast today. It was supposed to be cloudy and gray at most, she kept cursing herself for having left her umbrella at home. Her heart pounded a little faster trying to run home while also not slipping on the wet pavement.
She tried to brush the water off her, like that was going to do anything for her soaking clothes. She felt like a sponge at this point, or like she’d just jumped in a pool. Her clothes were heavy with rain water, making her begin to shiver just a little. She jumped a little as thunder boomed through the streets, squeaking as a flash followed it.
She was shivering a little, soaked hair dripping even more water down her back. Brushing it away with her fingertips did nothing, she just had to get home quicker, her sneakers were slippery and squeaked against the ground-
That’s when she spotted something that made her heart stop. It was barely visible in the darkness, the last of the sunlight actively slipping away with her last opportunity to find it. A ball of black fur that didn’t look any larger than the average soda can.
It didn’t even jump as thunder cracked behind it again, not raising a head or paw as lightning lit up the streets for a brief moment.
In that moment of brightness, Honami could finally pick out its shape just slightly better. Pointed ears and a fluffy tail. Stiff, like it was asleep.
The awareness of her soaked clothes and the waterfall dripping down from her hair faded away. She didn’t feel it all of a sudden. Without a second thought, without even an idea of what to do, she picked its little body up off the ground.
A slight wave of relief hit her when she could feel its breathing against her palms, but it didn’t take long for the anxiety to set in as she realized how shallow it was, how it didn’t move much besides the narrow rise and fall of its chest, and how its body felt cold to the touch instead of nicely warm.
She hadn’t even thought this far, other than the fact she knew she had to save it. Her clothes were soaked, she had nothing warm to wrap it with. Hoping for the best, she pressed it under her chin against her neck and cupped her hands around the rest of its body, saying a silent prayer that this would be enough.
She’d never been particularly a runner. She preferred to swim or just take a calm walk, she hadn’t particularly considered fast movement to be a specialty of hers.
However, for the rest of the way home, she couldn’t help but feel herself going faster than she ever had before, paying no attention as her rushed footsteps splashed more water on herself and no longer jumping at the frequent booms of thunder.
She could barely hear Ichika’s relieved welcome over the sound of her ragged, anxious breaths.
“Honami, you’re back! I was worried, we weren’t expecting thunder and I realized you didn’t take your umbrella-”
“Thank you guys- I’m fine!” she breathed all the words out in something that sounded more like a distressed whisper than a full voice.
Before she could process anything- Ichika approaching her, Saki leaning just a little bit in her path for a kiss, Shiho looking up from her bass- she rushed past everyone to the kitchen.
She wasn’t even sure what her plan was, her mind ran both too slowly and too quickly for her at the moment. She just felt like she had to be running somewhere and doing something, even if she wasn’t sure what.
The first thing she saw was a towel. She grabbed it and wrapped the tiny ball of fur in it. She held it for just a moment, and then, seeing no more movement, began scrubbing with the towel in the hopes it’d dry the poor thing.
She heard footsteps approaching behind her and tensed up like she half expected it to be a predator jumping out at her, even though she knew what it probably was in actuality. Her body was on high alert.
“Honami, are you alright?”
“Hona? What happened?”
“What are you doing?”
She turned around, still holding the ball of black fluff wrapped in a towel. Though her mouth opened, all that came out were a string of half-thoughts, incoherent syllables that each seemed to start a different story she decided not to finish by the second word.
Shiho was the first to rush forward.
“You found this?”
Honami just nodded, a somewhat blank look in her eyes.
“Alright, alright. It’s alright, it’s probably just cold. How long was it out in the rain?”
Honami shrugged, looking just as clueless as Shiho.
“Alright. Okay.”
Saki stepped forward. “Shiho, didn’t you used to be on the animal care committee back in high school?”
“Yeah, yeah- we learned about this.”
Honami watched with her body frozen as Shiho shoved an empty water bottle from the trash into Saki’s hands.
“Saki, fill this up with warm water. Not too hot.”
Without a second thought, Saki was standing at the sink filling it with water and putting her fingers in to measure the temperature.
“I’m going to get one of our fresh towels from the dryer- Honami, keep drying with the towel.”
The urgency in Shiho’s voice made her hands move without any further thought. Though it felt like she couldn’t move the rest of her body, she started scrubbing it again like her life depended on it.
Honami watched Ichika approach, unable to speak or move besides the automatic movement of her hands. She tried to say something, but all that came out was another incoherent stuttering sentence.
She was just barely aware of the footsteps as Shiho approached, unable to even move her head to look up. Shiho took it from her hands, removed the towel, and wrapped it in a warmer one. She held it to her chest.
“Saki, water bottle.”
Saki handed the water bottle over to Shiho, who wrapped it in another towel and pressed it against its fur gently, wrapping the blanket around its back.
Honami wasn’t sure how long they were there, passing this bundle around with the water bottle attached, reaching in to check that it still breathed, the room drowned in a tense silence that had never filled the usually upbeat air of the house before.
Finally, on one of Shiho’s turns to hold it, it seemed to shift just a little under its towels. All four girls seemed to share the sigh of relief that came next.
“It seems to be getting better.”
Ichika turned to Honami as the bundle was placed back in her arms.
“Honami… what is it?”
This was when Honami realized she hadn’t bothered to check what exactly she’d picked up, other than the fact it had pointy ears, a tail, fur, and it breathed. It looked more like a ball of black fur than anything, like she could get a similar result by buying black fake fur from the craft store and balling it up in no particular shape. For all she knew, she could have picked up a baby fox. She just knew the animal was struggling and she wanted to help.
But as she felt a heavy shift in her hands, and the faint shape of paws pressing against the towel, it let out a high pitched, distinct meow that told her everything.
Anxiety still wracking her body and binding her chest like thorny vines, she stuttered out a response. All that came out of her mouth was:
“Uh- Um- Cat.”
Honami sat by the window with the kitten in her arms as the sun rose. She wasn’t sure if it was more for her or for the kitten. Perhaps she was enjoying the sunrise a bit more, since it calmed her nerves and the cat seemed to be sound asleep still.
“Honami! I’m so sorry, I should’ve woken up for my shift a few hours ago- I slept through my alarm- Is he okay?”
Honami turned around to see Ichika looking half panicked.
“It’s fine, he’s sleeping. I know you didn’t get much sleep yesterday either since you had all that paperwork, and Saki woke up a little late too. Besides, I couldn’t sleep that well even when someone else was looking after him, so I might as well take the extra time.”
She was actually a little surprised to see Ichika’s face turn from mild anxiety to concern.
“Honami? Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… I didn’t want anything to happen to him, you know?”
Ichika sat by the window next to her.
“Honestly, this was a very… you thing to do.”
“Huh?”
“Well, I mean… you did something really kind without even half of a second thought. You were running home in the rain with your clothes soaked and you stopped to save a cold kitten.”
“I mean, who wouldn’t? The poor thing was barely awake.” Honami shrugged and looked back down at the sleeping kitten in her arms.
“See, you say it like it was nothing. You didn’t even know what animal it was for like, an hour at least.”
“Was it that obvious?” Honami gave her a lighthearted smile.
Ichika smiled back. “You paused for a long time after I asked. It was pretty obvious.” They both chuckled.
“Well, I just wanted to check in with you… You seemed really stressed out during that… whole thing yesterday. I don’t blame you, who wouldn’t be? But hearing that you couldn’t sleep even when someone else looked after him… that worries me, Honami.”
Honami met Ichika’s eyes as she placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s been loosening up a little as time went on.”
“As long as it’s getting better, okay?” Ichika leaned over and planted a kiss on Honami’s forehead, which made the stress dissipate for a few long moments. “Love you.”
Honami sat on the couch, still a little tense even as her girlfriends surrounded her in their usual cuddle pile configuration. They were all holding each other in their arms as they watched a movie. Or mostly pretended to watch while they chatted and giggled.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a little fluffy black figure approaching. It jumped up, meowed, and then curled right up in Honami’s lap. The tenseness left her body.
“Aww!” Saki squealed. “Clingy kitty!”
Shiho sighed. “You’re telling me. Last night, when it was my turn to look after him, I sat up on the couch and he just… climbed up and sat on my head. Fell asleep there.”
Everyone shared a giggle.
“I sat on the couch too, he leaned up against my leg like it was the most natural thing ever.”
Saki reached toward the kitty’s belly, and Shiho reached an arm out toward her.
“Saki, cats don’t usually like being petted there-”
Shiho cut herself off as Saki made full eye contact and started scratching his belly. He shifted to lay on his back, soaking it all up.
“Nevermind. I guess not this one.”
Honami caught Ichika staring right at her in the corner of her eye.
“Honami, you said we would give him to the shelter tomorrow if he seemed well today?”
The room went quiet. Honami felt tense again, like she had every moment the night before where she didn’t know if he was okay.
They all looked at each other in silence for a few long moments before Shiho interrupted with a sigh.
“We’re all thinking the same thing, aren’t we? Nobody wants to give up the cat?”
Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Yay! Does this mean we get to keep him?”
“I was waiting for someone to say it…”
Honami chuckled. “I couldn’t give him up. Not now.”
She reached down and scratched him under the chin, which he gladly accepted.
“Also, I’m not sure if any of you noticed.” Honami pulled up one of his front paws, showing them the pawpads. They were a soft pink, but in the middle of the pad was a little brown mark that looked like a star. “Doesn’t that seem like a sign to you?”
“He really is our cat.” Ichika grinned. “What do you think about the name Leo?”
“Aww, Leo! Our kitty!” Saki squealed.
Shiho nodded. “That’s a great name, Ichika.”
Honami just reached down and took him in her arms, rocking him back and forth in her arms. He put his head down on her and soaked it all up. She smiled.
“Welcome home, Leo.”