Ena and Miura weren't in the least surprised to discover that there was suddenly a third member to their group as they walked away from Ena's house. They'd gotten far too used to Yotsuba for that. "Where are we going?" she asked as she fell into step with them.
"We're going to Miura's apartment building, Yotsuba," Ena said, grabbing the little girl's hand to make sure she wouldn't wander away as she so often did.
"One of my neighbor's cats had kittens," Miura explained. "We're gonna say Ena's thinking of getting one, so we can get in and see them."
"Ooooooh, kittens! Kitten is..." Yotsuba's head slowly tilted sideways, and Ena and Miura exchanged a glance over her head. They knew that she was ignorant about a lot of things, but this couldn't be one of them, could it? "A baby cat! Right, right?" she suddenly burst out, to their relief.
"That's right!" Ena gave Yotsuba a pat on the head before she realized that she was acting like Yotsuba was a dog who had just done a clever trick and quickly stopped herself.
"Yay! Let's go see kittens!" Yotsuba cheered, and began to run forward, dragging Ena along with her.
• • •
"Look, Ena, look!" Yotsuba said, thrusting a kitten into her friends face. "It's sucking my finger!"
Ena blinked at the kitten. "I... think that means it's hungry. You should give it back to its mama and play with another one."
Yotsuba looked at her blankly for a moment, then turned around and showed the kitten to Miura. "Look, it's sucking my finger!"
• • •
Yotsuba was surprisingly quiet on the walk home. Ena was starting to wonder if she needed a nap when they entered her house. But then, as soon as she spotted Ena's mother in the kitchen, Yotsuba suddenly bounded up to her, dropping to all fours. "Meeeeeow! I'm a kitten, Mom!"
Mrs. Ayase didn't even seem phased for a moment by this behavior, kneeling down to scratch Yotsuba behind her ear. "Well, aren't you the cutest little kitten I've ever seen?"
Yotsuba made a gargling noise in the back of her throat that Ena realized was supposed to be a purr. "Did you know?" she asked, "Kittens like ice cream!"
"Oh, do they?" Mrs. Ayase replied, the corners of her eyes crinkling with humor, although she otherwise schooled her face into a serious expression. "Well, I might be able to find some for a good kitten, if she can wait until I'm done washing the last few dishes."
"Meow!" Yotsuba exclaimed in response.
"Mom, you shouldn't always give her treats like that," Ena said as Yotsuba turned and took off for the stairs.
"Don't worry, Ena, there's enough for you to have some too."
• • •
"Meow!" Yotsuba suddenly burst into Fuuka's room and tried to jump into her lap, a feat made difficult by the fact that she was sitting at her desk working on homework. "I'm a kitten, pet me!"
"Uh..." Fuuka said uncertainly, then reached down and ran her hand quickly over the top of Yotsuba's head. "Is that enough?"
"No, pet me!" Yotsuba rolled onto her back, sprawling her limbs out in all directions. "Now I want belly rubs! Belly rubs and pets."
Fuuka sighed but complied, knowing that there wasn't much you could do in the face of Yotsuba's weirdness but go along with it. "Shouldn't you be trying this with your dad instead?" she asked.
"Don't you like kittens, mew?" Yotsuba asked, making large, wobbly, eyes at Fuuka that would look better on a puppy.
"Well, yeah, but..." Fuuka trailed off, knowing that Yotsuba wouldn't know what she was talking about if she said that it was different, and kind of bizarre, to be giving a belly rub to a little girl instead of an actual cat. Instead she just switched to scratching Yotsuba under her chin. "There, is that purr-fect?"
There was a groan from outside her door as Asagi passed by on her way downstairs, but Yotsuba seemed happy enough.
Especially when a call came up from the kitchen. "Ice cream!"
• • •
"Meow! Ice cream! Meow!" Yotsuba cheered as she scrambled back downstairs and jumped into her seat.
Or tried to. She was met halfway by Asagi with a rolled up newspaper. "No cats on the furniture," she said, smirking down at Yotsuba.
Yotsuba leaned back and hissed at Asagi, the sound much more authentic than her purr, then yelled out, "Mom! Put my bowl on the floor, mew!"
"No ice cream for kittens either," Asagi said, lifting the spoon from Yotsuba's bowl and taking a bite for herself while the little girl looked on in horror. "Mom, do we have any fishheads for the cat?"
Yotsuba lunged up onto her chair, pulling the bowl possessively towards herself in the same movement. "I'm not a cat anymore!" she said, stuffing a giant spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. As she swallowed it she had another thought. "Mom! I'm a human now! And humans like cake too!"