A/N: Finally back to working on this. It's been months…though you probably wouldn't be able to tell from my uploading.

The Curse of the Cat

091. Ring

'So let me get this straight,' Kousei said finally. 'You've finally admitted that Takuya Kanbara, Zoe Orimoto, JP Shibayama and Tommy Himi are your friends plus made an additional friend somewhere along the line, you've loosened up enough around them to earn yourself a detention which you didn't see fit to inform me of until now, you agreed to a sleepover without informing me, and you've finally accepted Satomi into the family?'

When it was put like that, it sounded like a really horrible list, but it was the truth and so Koji had no choice but to shamefully admit it.

Kousei nodded in approval. 'Good; the first part of being an adult is admitting your mistakes and fixing them.'

His son stared at him; he had been expecting, from the previous tone, a reprimand at the very least.

'So you're getting along fine with your friends now?'

'Fine enough,' Koji said, a little cautiously.

'Just follow your heart,' his father advised. 'You've got a good one after all. No amount of me telling you what to do got you to do something.'

Koji was rather relieved when his father's cell phone rang; he wasn't used to getting into such deep conversations with his father. Kousei on the other hand wasn't as pleased.

092. Drive

Katsuharu normally didn't like to drive – he would up playing chaperone for his siblings more often than not, but there were times he just had to get out of the district and the car was the only way to go.

After all, no-one was crazy enough to try and avoid people on the metropolitan, as crowded as it always was. And at that moment, he didn't feel like looking at even Teppei. Teppei who always followed him into trouble without question. Teppei who always said what he was doing was wrong, and then turned around and did it with him. Teppei, who let him crash for the night when he didn't want to go home. Teppei, who was nothing more than a sidekick.

But he didn't want to crash for the night this time. Hell, he didn't even know what he wanted. And it was all Tommy's fault, for what he said.

He slammed a fist into the steering wheel. The horn blared, but there was no-one for miles to hear it, save the birds to squawked and ran.

'Yeah,' he muttered sourly. 'You'd better run.'

But he didn't want the birds there. He didn't want them running. It wasn't quiet enough. It wasn't alone enough. They were still judging him. Being frightened of him.

He send the rest of the birds flying with skidding tires as he tore out onto the highway again, over the speed limit but not even caring.

093. Missing

It wasn't like Katsuharu to shake off his company, so the first thing Teppei did after arriving back home was ring his place.

One of the twins answered the phone. And he was unable to get someone more coherent on the phone because of the learning disability they shared. So he was forced to surrender, calling again after finishing his homework this time to get the elder sister, who was marginally better, provided she didn't brush him off like she usually did.

She disappeared for a moment, before returning on the line. 'He took the car,' she said perplexed. 'He never takes the car.'

'He took the car,' Teppei repeated.

'What's he thinking,' the older girl muttered. 'If he's not back by the time Mum starts work, he's dead.'

Teppei frowned at that; Katsuharu had never mentioned his mother started work in the evening. 'Where does your Mum work?' he ventured to ask.

The girl's tone suddenly went defensive. 'What's it matter to you?'

'I'm Katsuharu's friend,' the brunet snapped back. 'I think I deserve to know what's going on with his home life, especially since all I get is half-answers.'

She was silent.

'I remember you,' she said finally. 'You're at our place sometimes.'

'Ye – yeah.'

094. Full Moon

It would be a full moon that night, and Koichi couldn't help but sneeze as he weeded the garden. Often, he would wait for his mother, but she had been frequently putting in extra hours at her work in the absence of one of the senior staff. Since it looked as though she might get a promotion soon, no-one was complaining.

Still, the full moon always made him ansty, and gardening was always a comfort. It was probably the cat part of him, but he didn't mind the restlessness so much if he could enjoy the smell of watered soil and dancing plants and dry grass…even if they did bring on the occasional sneeze. It was a natural, peaceful smell, crafting an environment like.

It smelt of a world without judgement, without chains. With freedom.

He scraped at the ones ensnaring a rose bush, managing to scratch a finger while pulling the weed away. It went to show, that even in nature, where there were no humans to make labels and confines, things weren't as free as they appeared. And if he was a true cat, wild as the grass he now coaxed away from the other plants, he would still be slave to his hunger, his thirst, and his need for companionship.

His eyes and heart darkened as they remembered that time all too well…

095. New Direction

Mrs Shibayama laughed at the shopping list her son handed to her. 'You're asking me to get enough food to feed an army. Remind me how many friends you're inviting again.'

'Five,' her son announced proudly. 'Just very close friends this year.'

She knew the significance; often, their house was filled on JP's birthday, but when looking at the presents in the aftermath, she couldn't help but find them very shallow. A lot she gave away to charity or to various distant nieces and nephews; JP would look momentarily sad before waving her of on her errand.

But this year was promising to be different. For one, he wouldn't stop talking about these new friends of his. So much so in fact that she never noted the transition from one friend to three to four and then five. They just happened. And he seemed genuinely happy with them, sacrificing other things to go "hang out with them" as he called it. He'd never do that before, because no-one would do the same fro him.

And while she was looking forward to meeting these new friends, she highly doubted she needed that much food to celebrate the new direction of her son's social life.

'Do you think eight people can eat this much?' She showed him the list, and JP considered, running over it again.

'I guess not,' he said, sheepishly rubbing a mat into the back of his hair. 'I guess I was just remembering the other years.'

'I'll tell you what.' His mother scrunched the list up and threw it away. 'How about you let me make a homemade dinner for your friends. Or don't you think they're worth that?'

'They're definitely worth that,' JP empathically replied. 'Your meatloaf?'

She laughed again. 'They must be very special if they're worth my meatloaf. But if you insist.'