Chapter Text
F★N4T!C
Wednesday, November 8th 2215, 3:15PM
The walk back from school is always long, it’s a basic pleasure that’s sometimes hard to appreciate. I know a lot of people would rather use those auto-skates, or the hundreds of different types of chairs on wheels, but I quite like walking. How else are you meant to exercise in a time like this? Obviously there’s weight loss pills but dad says those aren’t healthy, but if you’re not on those you either do high-pressure workouts or those strange stretches. Or, you can just walk, that’s what I do at least.
C-Aoi (or City-Blue officially) is a great city for walking in my opinion, you have lots of paths and walking friendly spaces, it’s not as automated or dangerous as other cities and we have lots of parks!
Speaking of parks, I take a right into the park, it’s actually a shortcut to the hospital I frequent. It’s got tons of greenery because it’s in a dome that constantly rains. So I pull the hood of my jacket over my head and prepare to get soaked as I speed walk through it.
I go to the hospital every day after school to visit my sister ####, she’s been hospitalized since we were little because of her weaker body. My dad works himself to the bone keeping up with the impossibly expensive hospital bills of her luxury suit, even though she could easily get a standard one and cut the cost in half, he says that’s not an option. So I have to go to a crap school where the kids are strange, disabled or just disturbed.
But I don’t mind, so long as ####’s getting better I’ll endure anything! I mean, you could say the whole idea of me even having a sister is really rare, apparently in the early twenty second century they made a mistake while trying to revive the failing Y chromosome (that's what allows you to have a boy, I think) and they ended up making a lot of women take a pill that essentially doubled the dose of natural Y chromosomes. Making it way more common to have a boy rather than a girl, in places like Japan you practically never see women. I don’t think enough people even have kids here for that, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pregnant woman out before.
I continue through the park as I enjoy the rain, everything is so practicalised nowadays you don’t get chances to just enjoy the rain on your face. I heard a couple of centuries ago rain was normal. Hah, all the rain here comes through a synthetic dome since it stopped raining enough to nurse greenery a century ago.
Which is why all parks have a permanent dome of rain always flowing, it gets muddy and wet, sure. But it’s so easy to not go into a park nobody really cares, in fact, I’m pretty sure everyone that goes into parks does it to get muddy and wet. Even if it is a shortcut, that’s why I do it.
But, as I continue to get soaked by the rain, a small meowing sound catches my attention. It could just be someone's holographic pet, or holographic girlfriend. But weirdly it doesn’t sound as artificial as a hologram, it sounds… vivid.
Then I realise something is nuzzling my ankle, something wet and small. I look down to see a black cat. Its fur is all ruffled and dirty from the mud and rain, but its big green eyes cancel it all out. It looks so… cute.
I immediately crouch down, my blonde bangs sticking to my forehead as the rain continues to pitter patter against my back. The cat meows again, its deep green eyes looking at me curiously.
I’ve never actually seen a stray cat before, they obviously exist in C-aoi, but nowhere I frequent is local to them. I’ve obviously seen a cat before, but never touched one or heard a meow in the flesh. Apparently you’re meant to be super gentle so they don’t bite or hiss.
The cat meows before nuzzling my knee and I take that as the green flag to very gently pet its head. I'm fairly prepared to get hissed at or bitten but it nuzzles into my fingers and I scratch its chin.
Just as I’m beginning to fall in complete love with this small black cat, it meows at me and slowly begins to walk away.
I just stay there crouched in the middle of the path for a moment before standing up, I feel a little sad that the cat’s leaving so quickly… But as soon as it realises I’m not following it, it sits there and waits, its tail swaying in the rain as it waits.
Look, I don’t speak cat or anything, but I think it wants me to follow it. Maybe I’m just delusional and like this cat too much, but I walk towards it and it begins to guide me off the concrete path that leads out the park.
The cat meows at me as I continue following it, through the draping trees and the rain that soaks through my clothes, all up till a small opening through some large bushes, basically my height.
On the other side there’s a small opening with a small lake. I didn't even know this existed, but this is a really big park after all.
I look around in awe, I almost forget that my hoodie is literally soaked through. But the squish of mud into my shoes takes my attention off the scenery completely.
I cringe as I pull my foot out the squishy mud, knowing my dad will basically kill me if I get any mud in his precious home.
The cat meows again as it paws at something small and white looking lodged in the mud. I curiously crouch down to observe it, I can’t really tell what it is, even when I de-lodge it out of the thick mud. When suddenly it vibrates and I realise it opens up, what opens up is white, covered in mud, and it mirrors what looks like a… flip phone?
Wait, no, that can’t be right. Those were from like the twentieth century, they’re hundreds of years old! There's no way I’ve just stumbled on a centuries year old relic I’ve only heard of from those weird history freak accounts.
But at the very possibility I did, I wipe the phone on my wet trousers and put it in my pocket. The cat meows and nuzzles my ankle once again, and I make a split second decision that this little kitty, if it really wants to, is coming home with me. It’s wet, possibly cold or malnourished, but it likes me and has a cute little meow.
I crouch down with my hands on my knees and look the cat in the eyes, “Do you want to come home with me?” I whisper, the cat walks up to my face before licking my cheek, I take that as a yes.
The only confirmation left is whether or not it would follow me out the park.
As I slowly begin to navigate my way out, retracing my steps like the smart intelligent boy I am, the cat follows me all the way. Through the wet mud, the dangling leaves and trees, the particularly wet bushes.
We eventually reach the path once again and I want to pat myself on the back for doing such an amazing job at leading us out. Until I remember I have to get to the hospital. I am so late, like, I’m probably jokingly late. Visiting hours close up in almost 20 minutes!
I click the white sleek bangle on my wrist and my holographic phone pops out, I immediately navigate to the time menu and, just as I thought, I’m nearly half an hour behind schedule!
I look at the little cat patiently sitting, genuinely oblivious to my panic, and decide for sure that this little cat’s coming with me. Good time to have a backpack!
Completely ignoring the fact she is wet and covered in mud, I open up the bag semi filled with work stuff and gesture it to go in.
Like the smart kitty it is, it sniffs it faintly before making her mud caked self comfortable in my backpack, the same backpack that oh so happens to contain all my school work and materials.
Not much I can do about it if I want to bring her with me. I sling the bag back over my shoulder and it meows happily and curls into the bag as I zip it closed, well not completely closed since it obviously needs to breathe.
And with my cat safely secured in my backpack, I start not-so-gracefully running for the hospital.