To Zing or Not To Zing
Chapter Three: Why
Why is it always me?
-Neville Longbottom, 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'
xxXxx
'Why me?' Haru couldn't keep from inwardly groaning as her mother wept on her shoulder.
"It was awful, just awful!" the red-haired woman couldn't keep herself from repeating as she clung to her only child.
Officer Matsumoto wrote in his notepad with a disturbed expression. "This is very unusual behavior, considering all the other monsters. They've been going out of their way to play nice out in public, so why are the werecats going crazy over you?" he asked, not sounding like he was trying to be intentionally rude to the teenager.
"Don't look at me. I know I'm not cute enough for all this fuss," Haru muttered under her breath as she patted her mother's back with one distracted hand. "Random guess; one of them thought I was cute, and now it's a competition with no emotional attachment to me. None of them will win, though; I'm trying to focus on my studies."
"And I'd never give my blessing," Naoko snarled like she had fangs herself. She was able to look up from her daughter's shoulder to fix a firm glare on the officer. "My girl deserves better than some monster trash."
"Mom!" Haru protested with chagrin, but the cop was already talking.
"I have to agree," he responded while pocketing his notepad. "Equality and all that, but crossbreeding will only lead to trouble. You remember that, young lady," he added before giving the teenage girl a tip of the hat and walking back to the car he had just taken Haru home in.
'It doesn't matter how you slice it, me being in a relationship will be 'crossbreeding',' Haru realized with a certain pang as she watched the cop drive off. 'I'm not a human anymore, and I'm an artificial monster.' The thought made her feel very disconnected with the world she had known her whole life, even though it wasn't the first time she reflected on the notion.
Thank heaven she had always planned on a career. If nothing else, at least she wouldn't have to depend on meeting Mr. Right for a decent future and that he was at least okay with felines.
"Honey, I am so sorry," Naoko apologized over and over as her daughter led her back into their house. "I swear I would have been more sympathetic if I had known those flowers came from monsters."
"Mom," Haru tried as she opened and shut the door after them. "I know you're still hoping to wake up and find out that all the monster business is just a bad dream. But it isn't. This is reality now and-"
"I know!" Naoko yelled at the top of her lungs. "Do you think I've forgotten it, even for a minute?! That I can't even step out of my own home without running the risk of walking straight into a kappa or a youkai?! That I can't get a decent night's sleep anymore because any monster can just stroll by and decide 'hey, that place might have a tasty snack inside!' And now on top of everything else, werecats are after the only family I have left!"
"You're fixating on the 'werecat' part," Haru protested as she forcefully led her mother up the stairs to her bedroom. "I'd have said no if they were humans, too."
"But not as forcefully," Naoko muttered as she stumbled through her own doorway. "Why am I up here?"
"You need a nap," Haru informed her sternly. "You've been working too hard, and my little problem has you in a tizzy. Just relax. I'll make dinner and then start working on home modifications."
"Home modi-no!" her mother ordered angrily, turning enough to glare at her only child.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mom," Haru apologized sarcastically while folding her arms. "I suppose it is more bother to not open windows as opposed to a home invasion if certain parties keep refusing to take no for an answer. It makes a ton of sense for two women with not a lot of body strength to not have a backup plan."
Naoko glared harder before growling in defeat. "Fine. But make sure we still have enough detergent for laundry and dish soap for… well. Their intended purpose?"
"I know what to do," Haru insisted, closing, locking, and covering the only window in the room. "By the time I'm done rigging the house, those jerks would rather attack a castle than us."
Her mother didn't say anything to that. She simply crawled under her blankets, set her glasses on the bedside table, and turned enough to face the wall instead of her daughter.
"Sweet dreams, Mom," Haru wished her before closing the door.
She sighed while stepping lightly to her own room to quickly change out of her school uniform. 'Thanks a lot for ruining tonight for telling her, jerks.' Maybe tomorrow? Maybe she'll feel better after her late nap?
Haru couldn't help but hate herself, now in a comfortable purple shirt and jeans, as she started a set of sandwiches for when she and her mother were hungry. She needed to get the kitchen ready for 'lab work'. 'I can't wait until I can afford my own laboratory.'
She was still cleaning the counters when her phone started ringing. Assuming that it was Hiromi, she answered it without looking at the caller I.D. "Hello?"
"Was the policeman really necessary?" Thiris asked, sounding like he was speaking through clenched teeth.
Haru gave an angry huff that he hadn't been Hiromi. "Well, I already politely explained why I'm currently not interested in dating. That would have been enough for a good man."
"Well, how do you know I'm not a good man? Or, male," he conceded grudgingly.
Haru decided to set him on speaker so that she could continue her prep work. "I'm pretty sure I just barely finished answering that question. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about, or do I get to hang up?"
"No, no, don't do that," he hastily begged, but was quiet for a while. Perhaps trying to think of a good reason why he needed more of her time.
While he was thinking, her phone began ringing again.
"Just let me take this," she informed him before answering it with one finger. "Hello?"
"Hello, Miss Haru. I'm afraid I absolutely must apologize for the first impression you had of me this morning."
The accent was polished English, so probably not the grey and tan cat. "So what does the C.R. stand for?" she asked curiously, since she was somewhat sure that had to be who was on the line.
"Cattius Reginald. Cattius Reginald Waul at your service, and may I say that you are a clever one to know it was I?"
Haru decided to be logical with him to deflate some of that airy manner. "Well, you weren't the other cat, Thiris is on the other line, and Meph-"
"What do you mean, 'Thiris is on the other line'?!" he demanded in shock.
Haru rolled her eyes and turned the two calls into a conference call. "Why don't you see for yourself?"
"See for myself, what?" the sphinx werecat asked suspiciously.
"Thiris! What are you doing anywhere near Haru?!"
"Wally?! What are you doing anywhere near Haru?!"
"Wally?" Haru tried not to giggle as she finished cleaning the counters and put on her customary apron and thick rubber gloves.
"Did you have to use that stupid nickname, Thiris?! Should I tell her your charming moniker?!"
"Don't you dare! Shouldn't you be working on that hostile takeover anyway?"
"I can manage it just as well from here as from America, but what about your little enterprise?!"
"Being your own boss has its advantages."
'Oh, please say this isn't their way of letting me know they're loaded,' Haru inwardly groaned as she broke her current casings out of their custom silicone molds.
They fell into hollow half-shells into their waiting bowl, and she started the Jell-O-based syrup on the stove for the next round.
At least she had been smart enough to start on making molds again since right after coming home from the Cat Kingdom. That should give her enough elbow room for prank bombs, but which ones should she start with?
It wasn't until the doorbell rang that Haru realized that she had been tuning out their heating feud. "Let's see if someone else wants to join the argument," she sighed with resignation, picking up the phone and carrying it with her to the front door.
"Wait, someone else? Just who else is in Japan?!"
"Well, Neko lives here, after all, and tried to claim first dibs on Haru this morning-"
"You don't call dibs on girls!" Haru snapped before opening the door just a crack, keeping her foot braced against the door in case.
The tan and grey cat was back, but Haru doubted the coral roses in his paw-like hands were the same as yesterday, since not a single one was dripping with age.
"Haru, I really can't walk away without saying my piece-" he started with a very determined look on his face.
"Neko! I told you to stay away from Haru!" Wally roared from Haru's phone, soon joined by a furious Thiris.
"Step away, Neko! Haru deserves a better werecat than you!"
That hit the tan and grey cat hard, but then he glared at the phone. "You step down, then! She deserves better than a werecat that's not even a real werecat!"
"Well, what do you know? We finally agreed on something," Wally noted almost with surprise.
Thiris made some enraged yowls at that, but Haru was done. Intentionally keeping the phone close to her mouth, she fished her father's harmonica out of her jean pocket and blew the highest note possible on it.
Neko immediately dropped the bouquet to painfully cover his ears, and the two werecats on the phone were now mewling with pain.
"Now that I have all of your attentions," Haru said a bit coldly. "It's pretty clear that I'm not needed for these debates, because there is no debate. I'm staying single until after I graduate high school."
"Was that really a harmonica?" Thiris whimpered like he couldn't believe she had such a thing.
Haru blew another note for good measure, making all of them cry out. Her own ears were ringing, but she was a lot more used to this instrument than they were. "It's pretty clear that you guys have things to hash out before pursuing anyone, let alone an uninterested minor," she stressed the last word to help them realize that it really was a bad idea to chase her. "So how about I hang up, the three of you take Mephistopheles-"
"Not him, too!" Wally choked in horror as Neko shuddered in pure terror.
"Oh, yes. Him, too," Haru affirmed with a tired sigh. "I got his flowers and note this morning, already passed to the police. Go ahead and include him on the discussion about why I'm not on the market."
She simultaneously shut the door while ending the call, ending the conversation by twisting the lock over the handle. Just in case Thiris or Wally tried to call her back, Haru shut off her phone and pocketed both that and her father's harmonica.
Ignoring the knocking and mewling at the door, she checked the Jell-O mixture on the stove.
Warm but not boiling yet. Haru began poking around underneath the sink for the chemicals she had to work with. An evil smile crawled over her face as her mind automatically translated the ingredients into types of bombs.
She had dishwashing soap, window cleaner, and an obscure scouring liquid on the counter before she heard a new voice outside. Her lungs inhaled sharply as she automatically ran for the door and unlocked it.
"You have no business here!" a solidly built man with dark purple hair was screaming at the cowering Neko.
"Fumio!" Haru exclaimed with delight, already feeling more secure with the man around. "What a nice surprise, come right in!"
"You'd better be gone by the time I come back out," he growled at the nervous feline before marching through the doorway. "Would you care to explain what a monster is doing here, Haru?"
"Werecats think I'm cute," she explained miserably while locking the door after him. "They don't listen when I tell them I'm uninterested, though."
"Well, of course you're cute," he quipped with an affectionate eyeroll. "You came from the best stock, after all. Speaking of which, is your mother ready?"
It was only then that she noticed how nicely he was dressed. "Wait, right!" Haru yelped in chagrin. "Date night! I'll be right back!" She ran up the narrow stairwell to bang on her mother's door.
"I heard him yelling!" Naoko called amidst the sound of flying clothes. "Give me five minutes!"
"Got it," Haru agreed, racing back down the stairs. "I'm really sorry about this, Fumio. Mom was a little stressed out from the werecats, so I made her lay down for a nap. She won't be long."
He chuckled while slowly shaking his head at her. "I have to admit that I love how you two keep forgetting which one is the parent."
Grinning wickedly, she rested one hand on her hip and started waving a finger at him while still wearing the thick rubber gloves. "Now I want you to be a gentleman tonight, be on your best behavior, and home by eleven. Am I clear?"
He laughed even harder, collapsing onto the couch with one hand at his forehead. "I-I… was scared… when Naoko… told me… teenage daughter?!"
"Fear me," Haru smirked before noticing that her Jell-O syrup was bubbling. She rescued it from the stove top and let the bubbling calm down before carefully funneling it into her prepared molds.
"Anything specific?" he called from the couch while watching her.
"The werecats are having a little trouble respecting my decision to stay single until graduation, so I'm taking precautions," she explained while using a spoon to control and guide the specially made syrup as it dribbled into one small hole after another.
"… How long have they been bothering you?" he asked a bit darkly.
"The one you were screaming at started during lunch hour yesterday, and three more have decided to join the 'game'. Haven't met the third one yet," Haru admitted as she set the syrup aside for when the new molds were congealed.
Fumio hummed thoughtfully, leaning forward in his seat to rest his chin on his intertwined fingers. "That's extremely unusual. I've been interviewing monsters since Dracula and the others resurfaced, and every single one I've talked to is being cautious about integrating with humans."
Haru almost suggested interviewing the werecats but managed to clamp her mouth shut before he noticed. 'I need to tell mom before anyone else finds out.'
"So how did they get interested in you in particular?" Fumio asked curiously.
"They heard about an experiment I ran last month," she decided, figuring the safest course for now was to feed him the same story as the police. "I don't know why they think chasing an underaged girl that makes bombs and isn't interested is a good idea."
"I've caught hints that some monsters are into a bit of pain," he noted absently.
"Great," she moaned as her mother came down the stairs in a navy-blue dress and looking like it had taken her an hour to get ready as opposed to a few minutes.
"I'm really sorry about the wait," Naoko apologized, making Fumio rise from the couch in order to kiss her.
"You're worth the wait," he assured her with a warm smile, though it seemed troubled. "But now I'm wondering if maybe we shouldn't go."
"Nope!" Haru insisted, leaving off her search for more chemicals to walk out of the kitchen area and start pushing them toward the door. "You two are not allowed to put a rain check on your love life just because some jerks are trying to jump-start mine. I know those tickets are non-refundable."
Naoko flinched guiltily.
"I'll be fine," Haru promised, pausing only long enough to unlock the door. "I won't be leaving the house or answering the door without calling the police first. I'm going to be spending the night quietly making bombs-"
Fumio snickered at the oxymoron, making the teenager and mother give identical glares at him while the mother hurriedly slipped on dress shoes in the entryway.
"-and you two are going to have a lovely evening. See you later," Haru insisted while gently pushing them out the door and locking it behind them again.
At least Neko was gone by the time her mom and the boyfriend left. As selfish as it was, Haru didn't really want her mom talking to the werecats until after their little talk.
At least she had the comfort of knowing that her story was so outlandish, that her mother wouldn't believe a word of it if it wasn't from Haru's own mouth. Even then, Haru would probably have to shape-shift in front of her to get the point across that it wasn't a joke.
She couldn't resist a happy sigh thinking about closing that final barrier while returning to the kitchen to look for more supplies. It was actually a shame she had forgotten about date night tonight, or she would have been able to fix herself a hot meal for once.
But at least she had those sandwiches for later, and more time for building defenses.
Satisfied that at least food wasn't a problem for now, she started the trek up the stairs to raid the cleaning closet next.
That is, until someone knocked politely.
Haru audibly groaned but kept moving until reaching the right door on the second floor. Although she didn't really want to, her hand fished for her cell phone in her skirt pocket and turned it back on. She used her free hand to gather an armful of cleaning agents.
As soon as her phone was able, she began looking through her contacts for the number she was given by the police. She tapped on it and held it to her ear as someone knocked again downstairs.
Nothing.
Haru blinked and checked her phone.
No signal.
"Oh, great," she griped, since that had almost never happened before.
The knocking was now more persistent.
Haru rolled her eyes, pocketed the phone, and adjusted the chemicals to both arms. "Well, they can knock all they want. I'm not opening the door."
She returned to the kitchen and started setting out her ingredients.
Now the tapping had moved to her large front windows.
She looked up to see a black werecat with pale blue eyes, gesturing for her to go to the door.
Haru groaned again, slamming the last of the cleaning crystals on the counter before marching up to the window. "Not interested!" she called loud enough for him to hear through the glass before closing the drapes. 'This is getting ridiculous.' She marched back to the kitchen area to start her labors.
As soon as her back was turned to it, the little window behind her began a similar tapping.
"Go away!" Haru snapped, not bothering to turn around as she got her own set of measuring cups and spoons out of her personal cupboard. 'Do you want to be a target in five minutes? Then stick around.'
Her hands were quick as they worked. A little of this, a little of that; one swirl to mix it all.
Once her concoction turned a glowing purple, she knew she didn't want to waste one of her bomb molds for this.
She very casually kept it in one hand and made like she was going to open the front door. 'Please be this stupid or run, please be this stupid or run, please be this stupid-'
She unlocked the door and opened it quickly.
The scrawny black cat was at her doorstop, but Haru barely had the time to see the nervous smile before she intentionally splashed her entire vial on his chest. She immediately tried to shut her door again to observe the reaction through her front window, but it was yanked out of her hand and thrown wide open.
Haru's second of surprise cost her.
There were three black cats, identical to the one now trapped in a body suit of purple goo that cemented him to the concrete when he stumbled in surprise with a yowl.
One werecat each grabbed her arms and a third hurriedly gagged her with a thick black scarf, making her vial fall to the ground with a noisy shatter. It didn't really stop Haru from kicking and screaming as hard as she could as they physically picked her up like a piece of furniture and run her to a black van parked in front of her house, making her lose one of her indoor slippers in the process. But the scarf wrapped tightly around her mouth and neck three times before the knot did keep her from alerting the neighbors when the third one opened up the back so his companions could throw her into the van after slapping a pair of cuffs on her wrists.
Even as she gave a muffled yelp of pain from the impact, the door slammed shut behind her and locked tight.
"Glad I didn't pick the short straw," one of them muttered, clearly audible to the girl as she sat up with difficulty and started angrily kicking the side of the van. "Antonios, see if you can pry Ariston out of her trap. If the boss doesn't see her within the hour, it will be all of our hides."
There was a brief sound of one of them shutting her front door, at least.
"How did she even get that out of Windex? Knock it off in there; the boss isn't going to hurt you," the second voice scolded as a fist banged from the outside in response to her kicks.
'Right. Nothing sets the mind at ease like getting kidnapped. Again,' Haru couldn't resist thinking with an eyeroll.
"I'll call after he dismisses us," the first voice promised as two sets of feet ran to the front of the van and getting into the front seat.
Unfortunately for Haru, they were smart enough to have a metal mesh material separating that front seat and the large back end she had been tossed into. She looked around frantically, but it was clearly a new van without any convenient toolboxes or even a paper straw for her to exploit. Not even any windows for her to kneel next to for someone to see her on the road to call the cops for her.
'I guess this is more comfortable than a pack of cats carrying me on their backs again.'
Both of the black cats looked over their shoulders at her, the passenger one visibly flinching at her dark glare.
"Let's just get going," the driver decided, swiftly turning on the surprisingly quiet van and driving away from the sunset. "We both know what happens when the boss is kept waiting."
ooOoo
Haru did try her best to keep track of which turns and how long between them, but it wasn't long before she was lost. She tried briefly to see where the two werecats were taking her by kneeling high enough to see through the mesh barrier, but the driver made a sharp turn for gravity to slam her back to the van's floor with a muffled yelp. They didn't even talk much to give her any hints on where they were taking her or how much longer until they got there.
Haru did everything in her power to at least be outwardly calm. 'Okay, Haru. You've done this before. The important thing is to escape the new creep and either find a new way to call the cops or get back home before Mom finds out and blows a gasket. Drat it! Why do cats have to be so stubborn?!'
'See? You were born to be a cat,' a rebellious little voice seemed to whisper in her ear.
'Shove it!' she snarled back, deciding to ignore for the moment that the only person she was arguing with was herself.
After what felt like an hour, the van suddenly did a U-turn and began slowly backing up over ground that felt softer and more uneven than a road.
'Showtime,' she couldn't resist thinking to herself, awkwardly sitting up in a way she hoped wouldn't make her look as vulnerable as she felt. 'At least I'm not in a skirt.'
The driver shut off the van, both of the werecats left the front seat, and she could hear both of them walk along their respective sides of the van like they had choreographed it for a movie. One of them unlocked the doors, and they simultaneously opened both of them.
Haru groaned even worse than before at what she saw.
The sun had set by now, but there were gentle lights draped over a large white gazebo, surrounded by a lush green garden and set up for a romantic dinner for two. There were lights coming from a building on the other side of one hedge, but it didn't seem like the kind of light that included an outdoor area.
In one of the chairs was a dark blue cat in a sharp black suit that somewhat looked like Lune, but nothing about his posture, his face, or even his mismatched eyes of fire and ice had even a spark of the young Cat King's warmth.
But what really made her hate the feline on sight was the satisfied smirk on his face as he stared at nothing but her.
The bouquet in the center of the small table was identical to the 'vampire' one she had gotten in school, declaring loudly the werecat's identity.
"Ah, Haru. So glad you accepted my invitation to dinner, after all," Mephistopheles purred as the two black cats were a lot more careful about picking her up and carrying her to the empty seat.
Her other indoor slipper fell off into a bush along the way.
Much to her disappointment, there was a thick special belt that the two kidnappers used to strap her to the back of the chair by the waist before uncuffing her.
The chair didn't even have a place to rest her feet other than the cold concrete.
Haru had to use every bit of self-control she had not to let her nails turn into claws as she painfully yanked the scarf off her face. "It's not exactly an invitation if you can't accept a refusal," she snarled at him while already trying to find the thick leather belt's weak point.
None, save one. The corset-like strings at the chair's back were just out of her reach to untie, but she knew for a fact that while the leather was too thick for human fingernails, her cat claws could rip it like paper.
Haru forced herself not to do it. Her little secret might be useful later, and she was still wearing her rubber gloves.
"And I'm pretty sure this isn't how corsets are supposed to be worn," she added, making sure to add a bit of struggle as one of her kidnappers scooted the chair in for her before standing off at a respectful distance, one ducking behind the other to make a quiet phone call as promised. 'I've changed my mind! I am definitely not using this method for school!'
"Traditionally, no. Would you care to show me the proper way later?" Mephistopheles asked eagerly.
"No," she informed him coldly while vainly trying to reach around the chair for part of the lacework holding her fast.
His cold mismatched eyes took in her thick rubber gloves and apron with distaste, as well as the plain shirt and jeans beneath them. "It's such a pity you didn't think I was worth dressing up for. If I had known you were going to be this informal-"
"You could have taken it as a hint that I had plans to stay at home," she interrupted with a glare. 'I do not want to hear about this creep wanting to play dress up with me!' "Since it's not like I ever rsvp'd with you. Or kept the flowers. Or opened the door the first time my 'ride' knocked?"
Mephistopheles took in a deep breath before letting it back out. "Haru." He stated her name like a command. "I know about the others."
Since her attempts to break free as a human weren't doing much, she gave up and folded her arms over her front with another glare. "Then you are aware that I've been turning everyone down? Everyone?"
The dark werecat smirked at her while waving a nervous human waiter over from where he was standing a good distance away. "I really don't blame you. Wally might have a touch of class, but the others… not so much."
Haru decided to keep her agreement private, even though all she really knew about Wally was that he had a British accent and spent time in the U.S. "So how is abducting me from my home supposed to make you better than them?"
"A regrettable necessity, but I assure you that my plans for the evening will make up for the inconvenience," Mephistopheles assured her, accepting one copy of the menu from the waiter.
Although she had never seen the paper menu before, Haru knew where she was as soon as she saw the restaurant's logo. "Call the cops, I was kidnapped," she hurriedly told the human waiter.
He gave her a regretful smile before sliding a menu in front of her. "I know. Try to enjoy tonight anyway."
"Just how much did this creep bribe you?!" she screamed at him as he retreated guiltily to a respectful distance once more.
"Now, now. It's bad manners to raise your voice at the staff," Mephistopheles scolded gently, as if the waiter had only asked what she wanted to drink. He opened his menu to start perusing. "Good day at school?"
Haru was now seething in anger. He didn't really expect her to treat this like a date, did he?
She refused to accept this as her first date! One gloved finger pushed the menu away from herself, and she crossed her arms stubbornly with a steely glare.
He lowered his menu enough to give her a stern look. "I will be more than happy to order for you if you can't decide."
"I'm not hungry," she informed him between her clenched teeth.
He frowned while lowering his menu a bit more. "You're not going to be disagreeable all night, are you?"
"What part of all this strikes you as a good way to start a healthy relationship?" Haru asked in a tone that felt like the calm before the storm. "If that's even your goal?"
He blinked but couldn't retort to that immediately.
Haru exhaled through her nose at what his silence told her, slightly deflating in the process.
She had been right. This werecat, at the very least, saw her as a trophy.
"Wait, let me try again!" Mephistopheles begged in a panic, but Haru managed to grab the sides of her chair and turn herself away from the table to show him what she thought of his hesitation.
She felt a little like a turtle for having to be careful with her legs to not bump against the chair's while rotating and moving a slight bit from the table so her arm wouldn't be bumping against it, but at least she wasn't facing him anymore. Once she was facing the van she had been delivered in like a pizza order, the teenager crossed her arms again and began glaring off into the horizon. "Don't be too long about sending me back home. I still have homework." 'And my feet are freezing, you jerk!'
"Oh, don't be like that," the dark cat tried to wheedle before a wet splash was heard, as well as an angry yowl of displeasure.
Since Haru felt a few droplets of moisture fly against her cheek, she turned to him with surprise before biting back a laugh.
Her captor looked a lot less dignified when half his fur and tuxedo were soaking wet.
"Mephy!" a somewhat familiar voice roared as a second water balloon hit him square in the back this time instead of the head.
He turned around in his chair with an angry snarl that clashed completely with the calm gentlecat persona he was trying to present to his 'date'. "I told you never to call me that, Wally!"
"Yippee," Haru muttered under her breath, since she already had doubts on whether or not Wally was here to rescue her, or just get 'Mephy' out of the way and take over the so-called 'date' himself.
Wally was still dressed in a red suit when he rose from the bushes with an angry expression.
It would have looked a lot more intimidating if he wasn't sporting a bandaged head wrap from his earlier fight with Neko.
"Secure the area!" Wally barked, making a whole gang of mismatched cat minions spill from the same bushes.
"Deal with the intruders!" Mephy also ordered but seemed to know that he was outnumbered. He gave Haru a regretful expression as his two servants rushed to meet the challenge. "I won't be long, dear," he promised while standing up from his seat as the waiter fled the area.
"You do not have the right to call me 'dear'!" she yelled at him, but he was already joining the brawl.
Yep. Not a single one of Wally's gang or even Wally seemed all that concerned about setting her loose. If she were watching the two well-dressed werecats fight each other amidst their gangs in a movie, she'd probably be eating popcorn by now.
There was a tiny tug on the back of the corset restraints as the fight raged on.
Haru snuck a look behind her with surprise.
There was another black werecat, scrawnier than the others. He was hiding in her shadow, but his yellow eyes said loud and clear that he wasn't one of her kidnappers. He didn't look like one of Wally's minions, either. Holding a finger to his lips to encourage silence, he used the claw of his free hand to run up and cut the corset strings until she was freed, making her take in a deep breath of relief since it had been strung just a bit too tight to ensure she couldn't escape on her own.
"Thanks," she mouthed while quietly setting the restraints under the table, and then slowly sinking down behind the red tablecloth in hopes that none of the warring felines would notice her disappearance if she didn't make a sudden movement.
The new werecat only gave a small tug on her sleeve, pointed a certain direction into the hedge, and was even nice enough to make sure she saw him pick another way to retreat so she would feel safe.
Grateful to have met one werecat that was willing to be helpful, Haru slipped through the small opening under the tall hedge without rustling the leaves too much.
Looking up, she could see people at the fancy restaurant looking at the obvious ruckus going on, and more specifically look at her and the way she was dressed. Diners and waitstaff alike had all paused what they were doing to stare at the strange scene.
Not about to forget just how fancy of a restaurant it was, Haru embarrassedly held one rubber-gloved hand in front of her face and prayed that no one had recognized or taken her picture as she did a short walk of shame to quietly run for the intricate gate that had the 'garden tables' closed off from the street.
It was locked, but that wasn't a problem for Haru. Keeping her eye on what she could see of the fight, she timed her climb for right after a fat cat in a pink shirt finished flying through the air and landed against another cat that yowled in agony.
She quickly jumped over the tall intricate gate and began running down the sidewalk. 'I can't feel my toes! Come on, Haru, you know it's not that far!'
The sidewalk wasn't abandoned, so she got more than a few confused stares for looking like she was running to pick up more floor cleaner without checking herself in a mirror.
"Sorry, excuse me," Haru repeated the handful of times a crowd got too thick, but at least the way she was dressed made sure that people weren't willing to get close enough to step on her bare toes.
Not that she would notice at this point, but she wouldn't have a lot of fun if a toe broke and it took her a while to notice thanks to their numbness.
After what felt like eternity, Haru managed to stumble into the train station, since it was too far for her to safely walk home, let alone without shoes.
The attendant by the entrance gaped in surprise at the teenager's approach. "You actually showed up?" she gasped.
Haru froze in a mid-stumble. "You knew I was coming?" she asked in a sick voice, even as she sharply remembered that she didn't have her wallet on her for a pass.
The motherly woman shook off her shock before coming forward. "I was told to look out for a young lady fitting your description, down to the rubber gloves. Was your situation really that desperate?" she asked worriedly.
"I was very literally kidnapped from my home but got lucky about escaping. Who told you I was coming?" Haru asked with a sick feeling in her stomach as she let herself lean against a pillar for a moment to rest and catch her breath.
"Kidnapped?!" she tried to whisper in horror, but then hurriedly led the teenager to a train car near the back as other travelers marched into the usual cars. "I didn't meet anybody, but a postman came by not even twenty minutes ago. He had a note with some money for a pass. It suggested that if anyone came looking for you before the train leaves, you'll have less chance being seen if you ride back here." She opened up a small door that Haru had never noticed before. "The note said someone will let you out where you need to stop."
"Thank you," Haru said gratefully, not having a lick of trouble slipping into the tiny door.
Though her nose immediately told her that it was a bad idea. More paw-like hands grabbed her by the arms to finish yanking her in as one of those hands covered her mouth to keep her from crying out.
The attendant obliviously shut the little door as soon as Haru's feet were through, and her footsteps were clearly heard to be walking away quickly, likely hoping that no one had seen her helping the girl into that last car.
Of course Haru tried to fight back against the paws, but before she knew it, she was getting wrestled into a different chair, though it was a bit more comfortable than the one back at the gazebo.
It took so much of her willpower not to automatically adjust her eyes to the dark, since the werecats would for sure notice the change in her irises and start asking questions they didn't deserve answers to. She kept her eyes shut just in case until seeing a warm glow from behind her eyelids.
Haru almost laughed when the light came on from an electric candelabra from a table she suddenly realized she was facing. It was covered with a red and white tablecloth, and even a neat picnic basket waiting for her. The three werecats, identical to the one that had cut her loose at the restaurant, were taking their paws off her. But they didn't step away from her chair, likely the more polite equivalent of tying her down to keep her in place.
It was the werecat on the other side of the table that made her laughter at the clichéd 'romantic picnic' setup die in her throat.
"I was starting to worry you wouldn't make it," a tuxedo werecat purred while holding up a gold pocket watch. "After all, where else would you have run to with an expectation of reaching home safely?"
"Why me?" Haru moaned, burying her face into her rubber-gloved hands with tired despair.