Chapter 7
The many lights that were shining from all around the room, bursting from every corner and crevice were no doubt meant to create a feeling of warmth, of home. (Even though Jirou couldn't imagine anyone would actually have quite this many lights) But in that second, to Jirou, they felt like spotlights, shining on him and turning everyone's attention to him.
"Jirou-kun?"
She was still saying his name. His real name.
"Jirou...kun?" Hesitant this time. Maybe she thought he was the wrong guy. Or maybe, due to the way he had frozen up, she realized something was wrong. He was messing up again. He had to act natural. Stand up, smile, act like nothing was wrong. That's what humans who weren't hiding things did.
But he was a cat. A cat who was hiding something very big, and very important. And even though just moments before he had been blissfully happy, now, the very big and important secret was at stake. And every cell in his body, in response to this sudden predicament, this overwhelming stress, was screaming at him to flee. To hide. Instinct was hard to fight.
"Jin...shiro-kun?" That was Shinchirou-sama. Jirou finally turned, facing his owner, his eyes wide and his breath held. The human's eyes flashed with confusion, his mind clearly working to put this new information together. "I think that girl...is calling you?" The end of the sentence was a question, a desire to have things explained. To tell him why this girl was calling him by the name of his missing cat.
"Yes. Nina. Nina." The last "Nina" was directed to the girl herself. She had stopped smiling, and Jirou saw the truth settle into her, her fears confirmed when Shinchirou-sama called him by a different name. But suddenly, her smile was back, as if it had never been away.
"Hiroki, this is my friend, Jinshiro-kun." she said this to the boy standing next to her. He'd been taking in the situation, but remained totally silent throughout all exchanges. "My nickname for him is Jiro though. It's the first and last character in his name. Get it?"
Hiroki didn't look as confused at being given the full story behind a nickname as Jirou would imagine one to be, and he wondered if the human boy already knew the truth. If he was her boyfriend, and Jirou suspected heavily that he was, he probably knew she was a witch. Or maybe he was a witch too.
"Hey. Nice to meet you."
"H-hello. Nice to meet you too." Jirou said, his heart calming just a little bit. He shook hands with the other boy, and glanced over his shoulder to see if Shinchirou-sama was buying this. The human looked less confused now, and more like he was just politely waiting, so Jirou exhaled quietly, and turned back to him.
"Shinchirou-sama, this is my friend, Nina. She's uh...she was…"
He couldn't think of a believable lie fast enough. They were too far apart in age to have been classmates, she was too young to be a co worker. Not to mention that him holding down a job would contradict the locked in a house and never released story that Shinchirou-sama had chosen to believe.
"Nina is an old neighbor." the witch said.
Okay, neighbor. Abused kids could meet neighbors. It's not like he was locked in his fake home twenty-four seven.
"It's lovely to meet you." Shinchirou-sama said, standing up so that they could shake hands. "I'm happy to see that Jinshiro-kun has a friend."
"Thank you." the girl smiled, then turned her attention back to him "How have things been since we saw each other last, Jinshiro-kun?"
He smiled, and somehow, it was actually real. He wanted to tell her all about the things that had happened to him, the bath, the dog, the bed, and about all the things he had learned of the human world. The words were clamoring, fighting to climb over one another to get out. It was next to impossible to hold them in.
Instead, he just said, "Fine."
"That's good." she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a crumpled and dirty scrap of paper that had probably been there for a while. Then she looked around, and Jirou, even though he didn't know what she was looking for, joined her, glancing around the fancy room.
"Hiroki, do you have a pen?"
Hiroki quirked an eyebrow, as if thinking this over. His hands searched his pockets, digging through them, and came back out carrying a few things. Some money, a cellphone, and a pencil. He handed this last item to his girlfriend.
"Thank you!"
She wrote on the paper, and then turned her attention back to Jirou. "This is Nina's number. Call me when you have free time, okay?"
He took the paper, taking in the writing. He knew they were numbers, and that numbers were not the same things as letters, but he still couldn't read the human communication in the slightest. He'd have to learn some. Then he'd have to learn how to use the phone. He'd seen Shinchirou-sama on it, but so far, he'd had no reason to learn himself.
He promised to call, and the witch and her boyfriend said farewell, walking away with their hands connected. Jirou watched them. Nina was laughing loudly, and Hiroki was smiling back, an affectionate smile gazing back at her. Their hands swung between them.
It was everything Jirou wanted.
"She was a very nice girl." Shinchirou-sama said, and Jirou turned back to him.
"Yeah."
"Can you read the numbers?"
Jirou shook his head sheepishly, then put the paper in his pocket.
"I could teach you."
Jirou looked up from behind his hair, which had somehow become very disheveled in the last few hectic moments. When they got home, he'd have to use one of those brushes humans used to groom themselves.
"To read?"
Shinchirou-sama nodded. "It's no trouble. And I would hate for you to have such a disadvantage in the world."
Learning to read. It was such a human thing. With every passing day, he was leaving his old self behind, and becoming someone able to be with his master. "O-okay." he said, smiling, while a tint of blush shaded his suddenly warm cheeks. "Only when you're not busy though, alright?"
"Deal."
The rest of their meal was passed in a happy silence that was only interrupted every now and then for a few minutes of idle chitchat. Jirou was so happy that if he had a tail, it would be wagging, even if he was a cat, and not a dog. Instead of going straight home, Shinchirou-sama took some time to drive him around town, purchasing him a few items, such as clothes and snacks and puzzles and toys that Shinchirou-sama said he could use to pass some time while he was at work.
The shop for toys was more embarrassing then the shop for clothes, oddly. Shinchirou-sama's cell phone rang, and after informing Jirou that it was someone from work, the human answered, leaving the cat to his own devices.
He stayed close for a few minutes, waiting patiently, but then the conversation began to drag on, and even though the siamese prided himself on his maturity and control, it was impossible to stay still in such an interesting and new place. He wandered away from the aisle, keen to take in a human shopping center. He took in the humans, their babies, the way the interacted. He looked closely at almost every item on the shelves, hoping to gain new knowledge, and marveling in the ones he managed to work out. He listened, and smelled, and even though human food had never down much for him before, suddenly, it made his stomach rumble loudly, despite the fact that they'd only just ate a couple hours prior.
His attention was drawn to one aisle in specific, one that was filled with things he finally recognized. There were toys for animals, for cats and dogs, and cans of food that had once been his dinner. A part of him longed for it, because he hadn't been eating it. Humans didn't eat that stuff, and no way was he going to let Shinchirou-sama catch him eating it.
He went over to the toys. There was one, a little pink mouse, that made Jirou smile. Shinchirou-sama had purchased one very much like it when he was just a kitten, when he was still the only cat in the household. It had been a gift for Jirou, and the siamese had accepted it gratefully, happy that his owner had graced him with a present. He'd carried it almost everywhere, to show Shinchirou-sama just how much he loved it. It even slept in the bed with them, taking up the empty spot that would have been filled by another human, had Shinchirou-sama had someone to share the bed with.
It had stayed with them, all the way up until only a few weeks before Gorou appeared. One night, when the sun was gone and it was time for sleep, Jirou went to where he had last remembered placing the mouse. It hadn't been there, and at first, Jirou hadn't minded, thinking he must have just left in somewhere else. But no amount of searching turned it up. Shinchirou-sama tried to coax him into bed, confused when his faithful cat seemingly blew him off. Eventually, he gave up, and the siamese searched for hours. It was the only night in his memory that he didn't spend with Shinchirou-sama. By the time morning came around, Jirou was exhausted, and upset, the cold wood floor sending chills up his numb legs.
"Jirou, did you stay up all night?" Shinchirou-sama had asked, sounding surprised.
Jirou had opened his mouth to answer, (even though he knew already it was pointless) but couldn't get the words out right away.
"Are you looking for something?" asked Shinchirou-sama, observing Jirou closely as he checked again and again in places he'd already been over. "Is it your mouse?"
It was then that Jirou finally managed to speak.
"I'm sorry, Shinchirou-sama." he whispered. "I lost it."
Once he'd realized what Jirou was looking for, his owner had, (not surprisingly) joined in the search.
But the mouse was simply gone. To this day, Jirou had no idea what had happened to it. He'd been depressed at first, and Shinchirou-sama would pet him and whispered to him as they fell asleep, "It's alright Jirou. The mouse knew you loved it, I'm sure of it."
And Jirou had loved that mouse. It had been a special gift from the one he loved. It had represented their bond, (at least in Jirou's eyes) and now it was just gone. Slowly, each day, he got better, and a few weeks later, Gorou appeared, (and Jirou had suspected that Shinchirou-sama had kept him so that Jirou would have a friend again) and after that he hadn't had the time to dwell on the mouse.
"Jinshiro-san?"
The sudden spell Jirou had placed himself in broke, and he looked up. Shinchirou-sama was standing at the end of the aisle, looking a little confused. "Are you alright? You seemed a little out of it."
"Oh, I am okay, thank you. I was just remembering something."
"Something about a mouse?"
At first, Jirou was shocked, and thought that Shinchirou-sama had somehow managed to figure out his secret. But then he realized he was holding the little pink mouse in his hand, and had been gazing at it quite fondly.
"Uh, yes."
Shinchirou-sama walked over to stand beside him, and smiled too. "Jirou used to have a mouse like that. He really loved it."
"Yes." Then, realizing he shouldn't have answered that way, the cat quickly cut himself off, changing the subject, "Speaking of which, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the uh, nickname Nina has for me. I thought it might make you sad, since it would you know, uh, make you think of your cat." The words were fast and jumbled together, and when he finished getting them out, Shinchirou-sama laughed.
"It's alright, Jinshiro-san. Actually…" he trailed off for a moment, and for the first time since they'd met, (with Jirou as a human) it looked like it was Shinchirou-sama who was blushing. "Do you think I can call you that too?"
A beat of silence followed.
Then.
"Eh?"
"Jirou-kun. Can I call you that?"
If Shinchirou-sama was blushing, it was almost impossible to notice, but there was nothing subtle about the way Jirou's face flared up. It was ridiculous. How could he be embarrassed to be called by the name he'd always had?
"Y-yes. Of course."
Shinchirou-sama smiled, and took the small pink mouse from Jirou's hands, which were suddenly feeling both colder and warmer. "Do you like this mouse?"
It took a moment for Jirou to focus, still going over what had just happened. "Oh, um. Yes."
"I'll get it for you."
Jirou managed a nod, and knew that his blush must have only been getting worse. "Yes. Thank you."
"Alright. Let's go, Jirou-kun."
Hearing it, again, finally, after what felt like so long...Jirou suddenly realized it wasn't embarrassment he was feeling.
It was happiness.
