Hello, Chrome's here. My friend requested me to make a KuroMary, so here it is. It's based on the song A Love Story of a Certain Bakeneko by Nem. It's truly sad but catchy. You should hear it. Anyway, Kuroha isn't the sadistic person here so. Yeah. Sorry.
Just, just go read, okay? Okay.
Hm... Ah? Oh, hello there. Thank you for visiting. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kuroha. Do you ever feel like you have committed an unforgivable sin? Or, maybe, sins? Well, if you compare your sins to a certain bakeneko*, then your sin isn't worth to tell. And here, I'm going to tell you a story of a certain bakeneko. A sad love story of a certain bakeneko. Please listen to it carefully, because this story is really dear to me.
Once upon a time, in an era where people still believe in yōkai, a bakeneko made a vow—that if he conceals himself, he will lose everything, but to him, it's alright.
The bakeneko stayed in a girl's house. He was curious with her life. He was always watching her with his sharp, yellow eyes from the shadows, watching every of her movements. His ears are always twitching whenever he heard her voice—her voice is what makes him melt. He remembered her name for the rest of his life.
Eventually, the bakeneko fell in love with her. But, unfortunately for him, he couldn't show himself to her, since he is a bakeneko, and he couldn't do anything but to haunt her house.
The bakeneko learned almost everything about her—but what made him sad was that the girl already had a lover. The two of them lived happily, making the bakeneko's heart broke into pieces, until something unfortunate happened. Her lover was killed in a horrible way—leaving the girl weeping to herself alone in her house.
However, even though the boy went missing, that he could've approach the girl because of it, the bakeneko was not happy by it. He hated it when he saw the girl crying. It broke his heart even more than when he saw her with the boy. He wanted to bring back her smile and her laughter again. He wanted to see her happy once again.
So, just for her sake, the bakeneko pledged to the moon, and took the boy's form and live. Though, he knew that it won't be long until he turned back to his original form.
Using the boy's form, the bakeneko stepped into the girl's house without knocking. Once he was in, he could hear the girl's weeping clearly. The inside of his heart ached, but he didn't care. He followed the sound of the girl's weeping, and saw her in the living room.
He saw her sitting on the floor, broken, crying and weeping continuously. The bakeneko couldn't bear it hearing her weep—so, as quickly as possible, he embraced her frail body tightly, and said, "I won't leave you alone anymore." Though, the voice wasn't his—it was her former lover's voice, the boy's voice. He hated it, he hated it so much, but he had to do it—for her sake. While embracing her, he thought to himself, Ah, God. I am so cruel...
The bakeneko had to pretend that he had a memory loss, which is an unforgivable lie and sin for him. But, he felt different. He thought, if it was for her sake, all sins and lies can be forgiven.
All things had gone smoothly at first, which made the bakeneko happy that he could live with her. But then, one night, Mary spoke to him. He didn't expect that she would say it to him.
As she raised her hand to his eyes, she said, "hey... your eyes are different to his..."
It's true. Her former lover's eyes were soft and brown, very different from his—his eyes were a pair of sharp, striking yellow eyes with sharp irises that would glow in the dark.
"But it doesn't matter," was the sentence that followed the girl's words. To him, it sounded like that she was going to cry. The bakeneko trembled when the girl suddenly embraced him. He felt water was dripping down to his hair—he realized she was crying. "Don't leave me alone anymore," she said. Though, he knew that he couldn't do that—he couldn't stay with her forever. As the girl weep, the bakeneko thought to himself, Ah, God. This is my punishment, is it not?
Day by day, the bakeneko's disguise slowly peeled away. His black cat ears started to pop out on his head, startling the girl completely. He lost his ability to speak, that he couldn't explain anything to the girl. He quickly dashed to the window, running away from the house. As he ran away, the girl spoke to his back.
"Thank you," she said.
The bakeneko couldn't help but to cry silently as he ran far, far away from the house. As he ran, he thought to himself, Ah, I have committed such sins. So please, hate me all you wish.
...And that's the end of the story. That was it—it's such a short story, is it not? But you enjoyed it, right? Though short, it is still dear for me. If you are wondering, the story is indeed a real story. It happened in Edo period, apparently.
Ah, I wonder what is she doing right now...? She must have passed away long ago. What was her name again? Ah, right. It was... Kozakura... Mary...
おわり。
* = The bakeneko (化け猫, "changed cat") is a type of Japanese yōkai, or supernatural creature. According to its name, it is a cat that has changed into a yōkai. They haunt their household they used to live in. A bakeneko can change their physical form to a human form—which is temporary, of course.