Chapter 1
"What's his name, Haru?"
"Who?"
"The guy you think is cooler than me."
"Machida, you have the biggest ego. There are lots of guys that are cooler than you."
"Name one."
"Tsuge."
"Does Hiromi know you think that?"
"Tsuge is my cousin, and I've been pushing them together for ages. I'm not about to set my best friend up with a guy who isn't cool."
"Why won't you go out with me then?"
"The answer is no Machida. I'm just not interested. Besides, I have to study."
The brunette closed the garden gate between herself and her year-mate and turned a frosty shoulder to him as she walked calmly to her front door.
He had walked her home after school every day that week. Monday he'd asked if she'd like to do something on Friday night. She said she'd think about it, and every day he'd walk her home and ask her if she'd reached her decision. Yesterday, Thursday night, she had, and now he was pestering her about it.
"Mum, I'm home!" she called, taking off her shoes in the entryway.
Silence greeted her. That was surprising, Naoko hadn't said anything about a business trip that morning. The girl who was now in her second year of college started searching the house. In the kitchen, lying innocently on the bench, was a piece of paper.
Haru, sorry about this, urgent appointment with a new client – wish I could have said goodbye first, but there wasn't the time to wait for you. By the time you're reading this, I'll be on the plane to Kyoto, and I'll be gone for at least a week. Don't worry, there's enough money and food in the house for you to be able to manage without me for that long, no problem. If I end up having to stay longer, and I'm afraid that it's a very real possibility, I'll transfer an extra thou. to your account. Lots o' luv, your mum.
Haru sighed. Another week, maybe longer, with just her in the house. Bother. She had wanted Naoko's help with some of the harder trig. questions too.
Oh well. Dinner was the thing to think about now. It wasn't like she couldn't survive on her own – she could, she had a weekend job and knew how to cook and all that sort of thing… It was just… lonely sometimes, in a house built for three, and being only one. Yeah, built for three. Her, her mum, and her dad – that was who was supposed to be living here, but mostly now, it was just her. Her mother worked a lot, and her dad… Her dad had run off with another woman and gotten himself hit by a truck. It was almost perfect karma. He had left his wife for the wife of another man. That had been years ago though, when Haru was just five, and the house hadn't quite been finished yet. Life had thoroughly adjusted by now.
It was just her, so she pulled out some of last night's leftovers and stuck them in the microwave. It would do. She'd cook tomorrow night; she wasn't in the mood right now.
Tomorrow is Friday, don't tell me you're going to stay home on a Friday night and just make dinner for yourself?
"You bet your bootlaces," she answered herself, trying very hard to not feel down about the whole thing.
"Bet my bootlaces what?" a voice from the window asked.
"Oh, hi Toto, sorry, I was talking to myself," Haru said as she went to open the window further, allowing the large crow entry.
"Good, because I don't wear bootlaces."
That made her smile. Really – trying to picture Toto doing anything with bootlaces, it tickled her funny bone at least. The brunette covered her mouth before she started to giggle.
The microwave finished. The brown-eyed girl took her now hot meal to the table and started eating, politely.
"What's prompted this visit? Muta getting too unbearable in his quest to tone up?"
The week before, Toto had come around, almost in a fit of hysterics, to tell her that Muta had finally gotten sick of all the wise-cracks about he weight and was going to prove that he was more muscle than fat. He was still eating as much as ever, but now he was also exercising – push-ups, sit-ups, running laps around the refuge, chin-ups, boxing invisible opponents, the full enchilada.
The workout was often followed by a full enchilada.
"No, he's actually looking better for it. He isn't thin or anything, but I can't call him a marshmallow any more. The ex-fatso is genuinely a large cat, big bone structure. No, I came to see you on a wholly different matter."
Haru put her fork down and listened intently. She hadn't liked the sound of Toto's voice when he said that.
"Louise has reappeared."
Haru suddenly bore a striking resemblance to a fish – mouth opening and closing, but no sound coming out, eyes nearly popping out of her head.
It was like finding out that Darth Vader was your father, or that Hiroshima had been bombed, or the black death had just evolved to be resistant to all their antibiotics. Only it was worse.
Toto had told Haru about Louise some time ago. She was a cat doll, like Baron, and apparently believed that they were engaged to be married – a belief, Toto assured her, that Baron did not share. Louise was also something of a Wicked Witch of the West – all nastiness, and possessive, but beautiful despite how twisted her soul had become.
The reason black cats are considered bad luck. That was how Louise had been described to Haru. Oh, when she was made, Louise had been white, but the outside must reflect the inside somehow, and her pelt had changed from the purest glowing white to the darkest black, without even a gloss to the coat – as though it sucked in light, and reflected nothing back.
"We were, all three of us, wondering if we could possibly shelter here, with you, until she has given up waiting for us at the Bureau?" Hope was plastered all over the dark avian's sharp features.
"Toto," Haru started, her voice finally coming to her, and there was a hint of warning to it. "According to you, Louise won't ever give up. Don't get me wrong, I love your company, but feeding Muta every day, and seeing Baron –" she bit down on her words.
A week after the Cat Kingdom incident, Toto had started visiting her, checking up on her, listening to her woes and joys and sharing the latest news of what was happening at the Bureau, as well as some less recent. The bird knew how she felt about the cat doll, which was why he had told her about Louise in the first place.
"I'm sorry Haru, it wasn't my place to ask."
"No, of course it was – that's the sort of thing friends are for," the pale brunette rubbed her eyes and sighed, coming to a decision. "You can stay until my mum gets back from her business trip. After that, we'll have to figure out something – I don't know how she's going to take having an extra three bodies in the house."
Rubbing her face as she considered what she might have just let herself in for, Haru smiled weakly at Toto.
"If Louise comes here though, I'm going to try and break her."
Toto almost gasped. The feline may have been something of a she-devil, but she was still a Creation, and the thought of destroying her, a rare marvel, seemed akin to murder. On the other hand, she should probably have been turned into firewood a long time ago.
He nodded his understanding and flew out the window again – intent on taking his tidings to his feline associates.
The girl sighed and kept eating.