A/N: I said I was going to write Determinationshipping and by god, I'm going to do it. Even if I have no idea what the hell I'm writing; I'm just going to write and see where it goes. Also, I am going to break consistency and use Japanese names for this story, mostly because Caswell only has one name in English, compared to Takashi Todoroki.
'Today's the day; just you wait, I'll tell you how I feel, Yuma! Then you'll have to at least acknowledge me, even if—'
"Even if...?"
"NYAAAN! I-Inchou, I-I didn't s-see you there...!" Heartland Middle School's resident cat-girl, Cathy, screeched and jumped nearly six inches in fright, her silvery hair standing on end much like a cat's fur did when spooked.
Class representative Takashi Todoroki, called 'Inchou' by most of his classmates, merely raised an eyebrow, his mouth set in a thin line to prevent himself from laughing at Cathy's admittedly amusing reaction. "Well, I am the class rep, so I have to be here in the mornings to help out Mr. Kitano. Why are you here so early? Need time to think?"
Cathy blushed madly, embarrassed that she had actually spoken her thoughts out loud. "U-uh, you could say that...nya..." Twirling her hair absentmindedly, she edged back to her desk, not wanting to make a fool of herself again.
"Oh, don't mind me, I didn't mean to pry; but you know Cat-chan, aside from me being the class rep, I'm your friend too—you can always talk to me if you have something on your mind," he flashed a quick smile at her, which was met with a shy one of her own.
"Th-thanks, Incho—um, I-I mean, Takashi..." Friends. That was something she'd never imagined she'd gain, not when her classmates thought her to be either a weird cat-otaku or some snobby rich girl. Growing up, with parents always out on business and the maids too busy to do more than keep an eye on her, felines were here only companions; in return, she shared a special connection with them unlike anything else. Cathy had always thought that she would be content with her cats, living the rest of her life quietly with her furry friends, but everything changed when she met Yuma Tsukumo.
Yuma. He was one of those once-in-a-lifetime people, the ones you never knew how much you needed until they came into your life. Sure, she had pretty much stalked and obsessed over him, even going as far as to "kidnap" his now-girlfriend, but she never regretted getting to know him. After all, wasn't it because of him that she was starting to come out of her shell, starting to get noticed by others? He'd even included her (if somewhat unintentionally) into his circle of friends, and just like that, there were suddenly five more people to talk to and be around.
Even if one of them was her self-appointed rival in love.
Takashi hummed quietly to himself as he swept up the floor and placed the trash bins in their correct positions—Yuma had shown him this video of some weird K-pop guy dancing like a horse and now the song was ingrained in his brain—before moving on to checking the computer equipment. Usually he was always the first one in the classroom (after Mr. Kitano of course), and so he'd been surprised to find Cathy wandering the aisle, muttering to herself. It really was none of his business, he told himself, but he felt compelled to try and help her anyway; whether out of his responsibility as Inchou, or simply because he cared about her, well...that was a harder line to draw. Even if Yuma had never noticed her until now, Takashi had always known her—she'd been in practically every one of his classes since elementary school, and he'd always thought of her as the shy, quiet cat-girl who never spoke to anyone. Now that she was finally getting along with others, he wanted to continue that connection. 'Although, it seems that she's pretty much still focused on Yuma, despite the circumstances...to summarize, if it weren't for Yuma, she wouldn't be hanging out with us in the first place.'
"—uh, Inchou? Takashi?"
The girlish voice next to his ear startled him out of his thoughts, and Takashi nearly dropped the datapad (but caught it just before it hit the floor). "Y-yes? Sorry, I was too caught up in my own business—what's up, Cat-chan?"
"U-uh, you mentioned earlier that...you'd be willing to talk if I had anything on my mind..." The cat-girl looked down, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Of course! I meant what I said about being your friend," he reassured her as he moved on to synching the data onto the main computer, "so...what did you want to talk about?"
Cathy nervously dug her toe into the floor, wondering if it was really a good idea to get Takashi involved in this. He was friends with Yuma and Kotori, but they weren't super close, not in the way Tetsuo was. Then again, who else could she talk to? She had no other female friends besides Kotori (who was out of the question), and she doubted that Tokunosuke would care all that much. Steeling herself, she decided to just go ahead and deal with the collateral later. "Well, it-it's about...Yuma...and..." She looked at him furtively, hoping he would get the hint.
Instead she got a confused look and raised eyebrow back.
'Figures he would be just as clueless; then again, he is a guy too so...' Resisting the urge to smack her forehead, Cathy resigned herself to the inevitable. "You know how he's going out with Kotori, right—"
"—I think the entire school knows—" Takashi commented dryly, but Cathy ignored him and plowed straight through.
"—and even though, they're both my friends, and I value that, I really do, but...I..."
"...And...?"
"—a-and...I like...him..." she all but whispered, lowering her eyes partly in embarrassment, partly in shame. She wished there were some other way, that there was some justification for her continual attraction to Yuma; but in the end, there was no denying the fact that he'd chosen Kotori over her, and now she would be painted as a villain for trying to steal their happiness away. "I know, it sounds horrible, and even I hate myself for feeling like this, but—"
"Hold on a minute, Cat-chan, I didn't say you were a horrible person, or that you were wrong for feeling like this," he managed to grasp her by the shoulders and calm her down before she burst into hysterics. "Maybe you think it's a crime to be in love with someone who's already in love with someone else, but that's what love is, right? You can't help it if you feel that way, it's just how we are; even if it causes you pain, it's also something that makes you happy, right? I mean, it's not like you're out to sabotage their relationship or anything—you aren't, right—and it's simply part of being...human?" Takashi stopped himself after he realized he'd been rambling on for a while, but the truth was, he wasn't really sure what to say in a situation like this. Was there even a right answer? Cathy and Kotori's rivalry was nearly legendary at this point among their classmates, yet nobody seemed very surprised at the outcome. Poor Cathy was left to pine for someone she couldn't have, and being friends with both of them must've made it ten times harder than it should've been. It was almost pitiful, really, that she would fall so hard for the one person who had opened her up, only to be rejected. "Love is...complicated...?" he finished lamely, feeling like he'd let her down.
At this point Cathy was nearly in tears, sniffling and biting her lip. "I-I know that, and I don't want to hurt either of them...but I don't think I could ever f-forgive myself if I never told Yu-Yuma how I really f-feel..."
Oh dear. He hadn't meant to make her all emotional like this—way to go Takashi, make a girl cry while trying to comfort her—and frantically he searched the desk for some tissues. "A-ah, Cat-chan, please don't cry, it's okay, really—aw, come now, it's fine, I promise," he sighed inwardly and handed her a stack of tissues, which were immediately snatched out of his hand and used to blow her nose.
"It-it's not that I'm not—hic—happy for them, b-but I want Yu-Yuma to know, at least, what my—hic—true feelings are, e-even if he re-rejects m-me..." Cathy hiccuped slightly as she wiped her eyes, thankful that nobody else was in the room to see her in such a state. She looked up in surprise as a hand gently rested on her shoulder.
"Well, then to summarize, you should tell him, don't you think?" Takashi suggested gently. "Yuma's the kind of guy who, unless you put it right in front of his face, simply fails to notice the, ah, finer details in life. Let's put it this way—he wouldn't see a wall unless he ran right into it. And even then he'd probably just charge straight through anyway."
Despite her tears, she managed a laugh at his amazingly accurate summation of Yuma's character. "O-of course, Inchou...you're right, as always...only...only..."
"You're not sure of how to tell him?" Takashi smiled slightly, finishing her sentence for her.
"E-exactly! I-I mean, I can't just confess in front of everyone...! B-but I don't know how I'd get to be alone w-with him...and I'd rather not let Kotori know..." Once again she flushed, looking down at her feet.
"Well, first off, you should stop slouching and looking down all the time," he tilted her chin up, much to her surprise, "because if you're going to succeed in this mission, you need to have confidence in yourself! And secondly, I'd be willing to help you out, if you'd like..." The representative hoped he wasn't being too forward with his offer, given the sensitivity of the situation. Cathy however, appeared to be surprised by his proposal. "Uh, not that I'm trying to impose on you or anything—"
"—It's not that, Inchou, I'd...I-I'm just amazed that you'd be willing to help me with such a trivial issue..." As far-fetched as it seemed, she was gradually warming up to the idea of having some help in this, especially if it came from someone as level-headed and responsible as Takashi. "Th-thank you so much, I truly appreciate it." She bowed low to express her gratitude; above, she could hear him chuckling nervously at her sudden display of respect.
"Er, no need to be so serious about it, Cat-chan; that's what friends are for, right?"
Just then, the door slid open and Ukyo Kitano stepped in, papers in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. Both teens shot straight up and tried to make themselves look busy—Takashi hurriedly resumed setting up the desk and Cathy scurried back to her seat.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise—good morning to you, Miss Cathy," Mr. Kitano greeted as he passed by her desk, amazed that someone other than Takashi had chosen to voluntarily come early to class. "And of course, good morning, Inchou—I see you're on top of things, as always."
"G-good morning, Mr. Kitano."
"Good morning sir, I've almost got everything set up—just need to put these away, and..." Takashi trailed off as he struggled to stack the papers into a mile-high tower on the desk. Luckily, Mr. Kitano was able to straighten the tower into a perfect rectangle before the entire structure collapsed.
"Thanks for your work, Takashi. Why don't you take a break before class starts?" As he spoke, the door opened and a few other early risers entered, including Kotori's friends Sei and Sachi. Kotori herself however, was not among them. Cathy could hear them gossiping amongst themselves as they strolled past her, as though she were invisible.
She sighed. Well, at least she had the Numbers Club to hang out with, if not everybody else. As she idly fiddled with the settings of her d-pad, a couple of familiar names caught her ear, and she perked up instantly, glancing in the direction of Sei and Sachi's shared desk.
"—no way, are you serious? Kotori? Are you sure you didn't see something else?"
"I'm almost positive Sachi, trust me, I know a hickey when I see one—"
"—maybe it really is just a bruise—"
"—oh puh-leeze, girl, have you seen the way they're all over each other during recess?"
"...They're not that bad, Sei. In fact, I've only seen her holding hands with Yuma once or twice in the mornings. Don't you start spreading crazy rumors yourself now."
"I'm not spreading rumors, Sachi, I'm just laying the facts out—yesterday after gym, in the locker room when Kotori was buttoning up her uniform, I saw this huge purple mark right on the underside her neck! And it wasn't there before we started gym!"
"Oh my..."
"Don't tell her I know though, or she'll kill me—"
"Sei..."
Cathy forced herself to stop listening to their conversation, her feelings a little more than muddled after that revelation. She had suspected that both Yuma and Kotori weren't quite as innocent as they appeared to be, but nobody wants to hear about their friends making out. Or giving each other hickeys. Just when she thought she was going to have to excuse herself, her d-gazer pinged, signaling that a message had been received. Curious, she opened the file, wondering who would be texting her this early in the morning.
Hey Cat-chan, I know we didn't get to finish our conversation earlier, but if you're not busy after school, do you want to hang out downtown and talk some more?
-Takashi
A little shocked, but pleased as well, Cathy was surprised at the warm feeling creeping up her cheeks. Nobody ever paid attention to her like this, much less help her out; and now Takashi of all people was asking if she wanted to hang out. Wait, did that mean it was a date? Her mind spun at all the possible implications such a simple question could stir up—what if someone saw them and got the wrong impression? 'Hold on, why am I getting so worked up over a single text? It's not like Inchou doesn't understand what's going on...' He had offered first, so surely he must have meant it in a purely platonic manner. This was Takashi after all, and she doubted he would be so ungentlemanly as to lead her on. Feeling a little calmer, she quickly typed back her reply just as Yuma and Kotori burst through the door, arguing as usual. A couple of students looked up at the commotion, but most of the class was used to their antics by now.
"U-um, g-good morning Yuma, Kotori—"
"—how is it my fault that the alarm didn't go off in—"
"—the last time Yuma, getting up on time should be your responsibility, not mine—"
"—just sayin' I did set it okay?! Oh, hi Cat-chan," The boy gave a quick wave, before dumping his bag onto the desk he shared with Kotori, earning him a glare from the girl.
"Hey, you're not the only one using this space you know," Kotori grumbled, nursing a headache from the night before. To make matters worse, she couldn't find her concealer anywhere this morning, forcing her to rely on the uniform's collar to hide the hideous blotch. "Sorry about that Cat-chan—morning to you, too."
"...I-it's okay...uh, rough night?" She ventured shyly, noticing the dark circles lining both of their eyes. 'Yeah; a definite yes on the not-so-innocent part.' It didn't take a genius to guess the types of activities they were participating in last night.
"You could put it that way..." Kotori groaned, rubbing her temples. "Somebody had the brilliant idea of hunting for Number cards well after 10pm—"
"—Hey it was a good lead, okay? And I made it up afterwards...didn't I...?" Yuma shot his desk partner a knowing glance, which was promptly met with a kick in the shins. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"Yuma," Kotori warned in a dangerous tone, "we're not the only ones here..."
The air suddenly seemed stifling, despite the morning chill; Cathy awkwardly turned back into her seat before she found out more than she cared to about her friends' love lives. Thankfully, she was spared when the final bell rang and Mr. Kitano called the class to order.
"All right everyone, settle down unless you want to stay in during recess!
The day ended with Cathy walking home with Yuma and the gang, just like every other day. Only this time, rather than heading towards the affluent part of town where her mansion resided, she turned towards downtown; a change that did not go unnoticed.
"Oy, Cat-chan, you're not going home right away?" Yuma chirped, casting a curious glance in her direction and wondering what she could be doing instead. Unless the group had planned beforehand, Cathy almost always headed home directly after school—for her own good, she'd explained once, although lately she was starting to care less and less of what her parents' expectations for her were.
"O-oh, I-I have some...errands to run today...nya..." Licking her lips nervously, Cathy hoped nobody would point out the fact that she never ran errands (nor did she ever need to); this business was strictly between her and Takashi, and the less everyone else knew, the better. Especially if the person asking was the very one her troubles were centered around.
Luckily, nobody seemed to really notice, and after saying goodbye to the trio of Yuma, Kotori and Testuo, and splitting with Tokunosuke at the monorail station, it was just her and Takashi. Once again she was struck with a sudden shyness, for now it occurred to her that she rarely ever interacted with other people one-on-one. With Yuma, it was always a group situation, and so she could rely on others to keep up the conversation or turn attention elsewhere. 'One step at a time, Cat-chan, you can do this.' Still, perhaps she should have thought things through a little better—where exactly would they go anyway? The mall? 'But we're not here to do shopping...uh, a café? Might seem too much like a date though...' Mulling over her thoughts, she walked right into Takashi's backside. "Nyan! S-sorry, I'm s-sorry Inchou!"
"Whoops, I should've told you I was stopping," Takashi rubbed his head sheepishly. "Ah, well, do you want to go somewhere...less busy?" He gestured towards the direction of the park, which currently had far less passerby than the crowded shopping plaza. "Is the park okay with you?"
"S-sure..." She fiddled again with the strands of her hair, then forced herself to stop before they all turned into split-ends.
"If you don't mind, we can talk while we walk. Time saver, you know?" The two students fell into step, with Cathy trailing slightly behind Takashi.
"Okay...well, you already know that I l-like...Yuma..." Darn. Why couldn't she control her stuttering, even after all these years? She remembered when she first started school, and everyone made fun of her awkward, stammered sentences. Eventually, it just became easier to not say anything at all; other students left her alone, and she supposed it was better than being teased, even when the loneliness became unbearable.
"Mm hmm...to summarize, you have feelings for Yuma, and you want him to know about them, even though it is highly unlikely he will return the same sentiments? And you would prefer to not have other people know about this?" Takashi wondered what he was getting himself into. Logically speaking, the most straightforward course of action would be just to convince Cathy to give up on Yuma entirely—in the off-chance that Yuma actually had some slightest bit of interest in her, all their relationships would be upended, if not greatly strained. And yet when he was listening to her true feelings, he found himself unable to dissuade her; even if it was a long-shot, even if it was only just slightly on the crazy side, he sincerely wanted to help her out. Everyone deserved at shot at happiness, and well, it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, no?
"Yes, but I don't know how I would...be alone with Yu-Yuma...I-I mean, in a setting that wouldn't seem suspicious," Cathy shielded her eyes from the sun that was glaring through the tree branches lining the park. Being that school was out for the day now, there were quite a few young children scampering about, ignoring the warnings being shouted by their parents. She and Takashi sat down on a bench by the fountain. "And I wouldn't want Kotori getting suspicious either..."
If it had been any other boy, the situation would've been a no-brainer. As such, they would have to go about this in a more...delicate manner. "Hmm, that's quite a list of conditions we need to clear. But I'm up to the challenge! In fact, how about just asking him to meet you somewhere, like this park?"
"But he would no doubt tell Kotori, nya..."
"...Right. Uh, maybe you could...no no no, asking him to not say anything would just make it more suspicious..." Takashi muttered under his breath.
"Maybe I could 'accidentally' bump into him?"
"That would involve stalking him. Which I think you've already done enough of."
"Secret love letter—nyan?"
"Adding another element would make it too complex. Besides, if it's from an anonymous person, he's likely to just ignore it. What about texting?"
"Nya! That's just...so...crass! So...thoughtless! Only D-list celebrities and morons express their feelings using SMS."
"Okay, never mind then..."
"Show up at his house?"
"...How would you ensure that he'd be alone?"
"...Show up late at night?"
"..."
The gaggle of school kids had cleared out by now, and still she and Takashi were no closer than when they started. Cathy sighed dejectedly and rubbed her bare arms—the breeze was getting cool now, and because she usually headed straight home, she didn't have the foresight to bring a jacket or sweater. "Maybe we should just go home, Takashi..."
"H-huh? Oh, I suppose...it's barely four-thirty though..." He blinked a little in disbelief. Perhaps being a rich girl meant stricter curfews? Although, admittedly, he had not been able to come up with any brilliant ideas either...this was going to be more of a trial than he estimated. "Are you...did you need to get home?"
"Oh, well, n-not really...it's only, we don't seem to be making much progress here, and I w-wouldn't want to keep you any longer..." Rubbing her arms again, she made a mental note to start carrying a cardigan or something with her.
"Don't worry about me, Cat-chan, I still have time this afternoon. Although, I think we should probably head indoors, from the looks of it—it is getting kind of chilly, isn't it?" Takashi gestured toward her feeble attempts to warm herself. "We should get you warmed up—with a hot drink! My treat," he said jovially, and (to Cathy's astonishment) lead her by the hand to a small café nearby.
"—and that was when I realized that, I really liked—no, I could even say...he was my first l-love, I guess, nya." Cathy recounted her tale of falling head-over-heels for Yuma to Takashi over a steaming cup of café au lait.
"Wow. Forgive me for being forward, but it sounds just like a fairy tale. Or maybe a shoujo manga," Takashi nodded, sipping his own hot cocoa. The two of them stumbled across this tiny shop in their search to get out of the cold, and now they were sitting in a window seat in the café known as Cat's Eye, which was evidently more popular with college couples than it was with middle schoolers. Truth be told, Takashi was a little uncomfortable being in such a place, given that 90% of the patrons seemed to have an absolute disregard for engaging in PDA, but it had been close by, and Cathy was enamored with the cat-themed menu. He tugged his collar nervously as the couple behind them started holding hands and exchanging sweet-nothings, and hoped Cathy wouldn't get the wrong idea.
Cathy giggled at his comment about her life being like a manga. "Sometimes, it does seem almost too cliché to be true...but, ever since Yuma told me how he goes through life with 'kattobingu', I thought to myself, why can't I do the same? To have the courage to chase after what I really want, nya..." She blushed at the thought of her first duel with Yuma. Back then, she had been so desperate to get his attention that she'd been willing to stoop so low as to trick him into showing up; this time around, she wanted to be honest, and show him her sincerity. Swirling her cup around so the last of the latte art dissolved into the foam, she wondered about the end of her goal. Would Yuma be shocked? Embarrassed? Maybe even happy? (She shot that thought down immediately, though.) Or, god forbid, he might be upset at her...she honestly hoped that would not be the case.
"Going through life with 'kattobingu', huh? It is pretty admirable, I guess..." Takashi liked to think of himself as a fairly capable guy, given that he'd managed to snag the position of class representative, but Yuma was in a class all on his own. Despite his rookie-level skills at dueling and a lack of academic smarts, there was a certain air about him, a certain charisma, that seemed to magnetically draw people towards him. It evidently seemed to work, as not only was he one of the most popular guys at school, but even former enemies and rivals could be charmed into becoming one of his friends. Not that he was jealous of Yuma or anything, but sometimes he couldn't figure out the logic behind such occurrences. How was it that he could even convince somebody like Kaito, who first set out to hunt him down, to not only change sides but work with them? And through a single duel, no less. Takashi scoffed quietly to himself as he took another sip—maybe it all came down to kattobingu, in the end.
Their waitress, a girl who didn't look much older than them with short brown hair and a cheerful smile, wearing a standard maid outfit with cat ears and tail, dropped off their tab and collected the empty cups. Before Cathy could protest, he had already scanned the amount into his d-gazer, which automatically deducted the correct amount from his e-wallet. Paying had certainly gotten a lot handier in the 24th century. Grabbing their belongings, they headed out the door, where the waitress and proprietor bowed them good-bye.
Even though Takashi lived in the opposite direction of Cathy's home, he insisted on walking her back—"you can call me a white knight all you want, but it's not going to change my mind"—the sun wouldn't be setting for another hour yet, and there was a bus stop close by in case he really needed to get home in a hurry. As they reached a set of wrought-iron gates covered with a sprawling mass of ivy, he suddenly realized just how well-off Cathy was. Not that they hadn't known she was wealthy, but there was a difference in hearing about it and actually seeing it. The mansion spanned at least a few acres, not counting the spacious yard and lengthy driveway that wound around a European-style fountain. His eyes grew just slightly wider taking the sights, and he feared he might've stared a few seconds too long at the countless windows that lined the immense front of the manor.
"Yeah, it's something, isn't it?" Cathy joked as she noticed Takashi's gaping expression. "Still, I feel that it's too big, honestly...I mean, I'm an only child, and my parents are rarely around often enough to even enjoy it, so..."
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," Takashi apologized.
"It's fine; I'm used to it, to be honest...and it does mean that I can have as many cats as I want, nya," She bent down and stroked the head of a grey tabby that had wandered over, who instantly started purring and rubbing against her hand.
"That's always a good reason..." Takashi reached down and hesitantly petted the cat as well. Fortunately, it did not lash out and maul his arm into a bloody mess. "...Do you ever get lonely sometimes?" Immediately, he berated himself silently for blurting out such a sensitive question. "S-sorry, that was a dumb question—"
"N-no, I don't mind...though it's true, I don't really get many visitors...but I've always got my furry friends, and they do make for very good company," Cathy replied smoothly, although the realization of just how little of a social life she had sent a wave of depression through her mind. "I think maybe people get intimidated when they find out how rich I am."
"Not me—I-I mean, me and everyone else," Takashi quickly corrected himself. "Maybe we could all come over one day and just hang out, you know?"
Cathy stopped petting the tabby and scooped it up into her arms. "...I'd like that. That's...actually a really good idea...maybe I'll even get a chance to tell Yuma how I feel!"
"Yeah! Granted, the details need to be ironed out, but, I think it's a start!" Cheered slightly by the beginnings of a plan, he walked with her up to the enormous main door. "Well, I guess I'll be heading home now, too," he started to turn away, but Cathy grabbed his arm.
"W-wait! Um, before you go, I just wanted to s-say...th-thank you, Takashi. I'm, uh, glad that you're...willing to help me and l-listen to my...troubles...and also..."
"...Yes...?"
"...I had a lot of fun today...hanging out..." she half-whispered, half-mumbled. Takashi had to strain to hear the words, but he made out most of it.
"Me too, Cat-chan. You should try it more often," he said sincerely, glad that the afternoon hadn't been a total waste. "Well...see you tomorrow, then. Bye!"
"See you at school, nya," Cathy waved as his figure slowly vanished around the bend. Reluctantly, she closed the door and traipsed upstairs to her room. Most of the servants were either getting ready for dinner or minding their own business, and her footsteps seemed to echo louder than usual as she ascended each flight of stairs. Takashi was right; she should be bolder and invite her friends over some time, rather than waiting for them to bring up the subject first. When she entered her bedroom, she collapsed face-first onto her canopy bed, too distracted to even change out of her uniform first. The tabby cat she carried settled onto the pillow near her head, purring contently.
"Today was...interesting, I think...who would've thought Inchou of all people would be willing to help me?" The tabby gave her a curious glance, as if agreeing with her. "I know, right? Still, he is a good person...and I want to make more friends, too, nya." A couple more cats appeared from various nooks around her room until her bed was covered, but Cathy was glad for their support. Getting up, she went through her closet to discern which gothic lolita outfit she should wear for tonight's dinner.
"I wonder what will happen tomorrow...nyan..."
A/N: So, this is how it begins. I'm still really stumbling my way through this story, as in, I don't even have a lot of the details (or even the plot) pinned down yet, but hopefully it'll come to me as I'm writing. (I hope.) It was surprisingly hard to write about Takashi and Cathy, Takashi more so because his personality isn't as "extreme" as Yuma's, and therefore is a little harder to pinpoint and decide on more specific aspects of his behavior. I hoped they are both portrayed pretty closely in-character.
Anyway, let's try something different with this fic; for each chapter, when you leave a review, you can also leave a little "something", and I'll try my best incorporate them into the next (or future) chapters. So, for example, you can say "apple pie" and I'll try and insert that somewhere in the next chapter, one way or another. Please limit it to something that can be worked in with relative ease; no plot-ideas or OCs, please. No super-long-drawn-out-specific-detail-situations either. Each chapter insert will be picked at random.
Let's all support the horribly-underrated-but-adorable pairing of determinationshipping!
