Mei tumbled onto the bed, sighing with relief at having finished her Christmas break homework. It was painfully humiliating when, yesterday, Yuzu told her that she'd already finished all her work a couple days ago. Her own annoyance comforted her; it got her back in the headspace to work hard.

Mei turned her head and noticed Yuzu's white hoodie with the cat ears sprawled across her side of the bed. Yuzu had gone out with Mother to buy groceries after getting hurriedly dressed in her usual sloppy manner.

Mei had been worried that officially dating would make Yuzu touchier and possessive. For some reason, it was exactly the opposite. She was still energetic, but it was controlled. She wasn't getting flustered by her mere presence anymore but still showed how excited she was for their next date. It had been a week, so they'd be going out again soon. She gawked mindlessly at the hoodie, wondering where Yuzu might take her next.

Wanting to distract herself from her curiosity, Mei sat up and grabbed Yuzu's hoodie to fold it. However, as she pulled it close to her, she stiffened. Yuzu's perfume radiated off it, giving her the same comforting feeling she always had when they were together. Without thinking, she pulled the hoodie close to her chest and closed her eyes, relishing in that sensation that everything would be okay, that Yuzu would always find a way to make things work out.

She opened her eyes, and the reality of what she was doing hit her. She put the hoodie down and folded it with fidgeting fingers.

It was just so frustrating and captivating, and she didn't understand any of it. She knew that Yuzu wanted her and was pretty sure she'd felt something similar in herself. But eventually, Yuzu had made the call to take things slowly, and everything had felt less tense and more comforting since. She'd thought embracing her desire to satiate Yuzu's desires was a good idea. But it just turned out that she was hopeless in understanding this stuff. She had to trust Yuzu's judgement; she was the only one who could figure out how to make this work. She always did, eventually.

She heard the apartment door open in the distance, as well as Yuzu and Mother's chattering. Mei snatched up the folded hoodie and tossed it into Yuzu's dresser. She burst through the bedroom door.

"Welcome back!" she said and then blushed. Why was she acting like this? As she made contact with Yuzu's sparkling eyes and saw her inviting smile it was obvious. She'd just missed her. I was creepily smelling her clothes after all.

Mother set her bag of groceries and then enveloped Mei in a tight hug. "Aw! You missed me so much, didn't you? You're melting my heart!"

Mei awkwardly returned the hug. "Sure…" Mother acted like a Yuzu who was self-aware of how weird she was. It almost made her want to chuckle.

Yuzu came up and set her bag of groceries on the table. "Come on, Mama!" Yuzu said. "Let her breathe!"

The moment Mother released her from the hug, Yuzu pounced, enveloping Mei in an even tighter hug.

"You–Hypocrite!" Mei squeezed out of her tightened lungs. The real Yuzu smelled nicer than the hoodie, so nice that she didn't mind her lungs getting crushed. It was hard for her to believe that just a few months ago, she'd found this behavior to be annoying.

Yuzu released from the hug but held her hands on Mei's shoulders with her arms extended. "I've got great news, Mei!" Judging from her expression, she'd probably won the lottery. "Mama said we can get a pet!"

"I said…" Mama interjected. "I was considering that maybe I'd get you a pet as a reward for making the top hundred on the exams. But that might've just been a fluke, so if you decide to get one, you better keep those grades up!"

"Absolutely!" Yuzu replied, letting her arms down, but still locking eyes with Mei. "What kind of pet would you pick?"

Why ask me? "Isn't the pet your reward? You should get the one you want."

Yuzu looked at her as if she'd uttered complete nonsense. "Whatever we get, it's gonna be living with all of us! I wanna be sure it's something you like, of course!"

Mei looked off to the side. She wanted to say that she'd be fine with anything, so Yuzu ought to be the one who picked. She looked back at Yuzu who was so eager to hear her answer.

I… I need to try opening up more. She stomached her instincts that told her to close herself off and just be amenable.

"I like cats," Mei said. "Black cats."

Yuzu grinned. "You do? I mean, of course you do! You're kinda like a black cat yourself. So cool and cute! Minus the bad luck thing! You're a good luck charm for sure."

Mei blushed and glanced over at Mother who'd started cooking dinner. Since when had Yuzu gotten so comfortable with complimenting her, especially with someone else around? "I'm not sure about that, but…. Well, what would your first choice be?"

Yuzu put a finger to her chin and looked up. "Well, I like cats too, but I guess I'd prefer a dog. No, a puppy! They're so full of energy and love!"

"Like you," Mei whispered without thinking.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Mei stated matter-of-factly. "Let's get a puppy then."

Yuzu smiled and raised an eyebrow, challengingly. "You're giving up on getting a cat so easily?"

Mei felt her competitive instincts triggering. Is she provoking me? "Well, it's just because I like puppies too. I mean, I'm already living with one."

Yuzu blushed and her smile deepened. "And I like cats too! I love living with this one."

"Okay, then let's get a cat!"

"But I want a puppy!"

"You just said–" Mei sighed, barely able to take how warm her face was getting. This conversation was embarrassing enough, and Mother was clearly amusing herself with it as she hummed with a smile while cooking.

Mei turned around and headed toward the bedroom. "Let's settle this in private."

Yuzu whimsically followed as they entered their bedroom. Mei closed the door and glared at Yuzu with tense eyes. Yuzu shuddered.

"Our next date. Where are we going? What are we doing?"

Yuzu looked off to the side and scratched her cheek, still smiling. "Oh, yeah, that. Hm, I'm not sure…"

"You don't have a plan?" Mei asked. She'd assumed Yuzu would have a backlog of hundreds of date plans by now.

Yuzu put her hands behind her back. "You seem so serious about this. You were excited for our next date, huh?" Her face was brighter red than Mei had ever seen.

Mei crossed her arms, siffling an urge to go over and hug her. "Isn't this relationship important? Of course I'm taking it seriously." I'm desperate to deal with and figure out these confusing feelings, Yuzu! Don't you get that? "Since you didn't set up any date ideas, I'll pick up the slack. How about we visit a cat café and a dog park? Then, depending on which we have more fun on, we'll get that kind of pet."

Yuzu stared at her, and then giggled. "That's a really cute idea! It's just like you to make a competition out of it. Alright! You're on!"

Mei sat down on Yuzu's side of the bed and turned so that Yuzu couldn't see her face. She really didn't mind what kind of pet they got. But, somehow, Yuzu had moved her to fighting for her own preference. Mei closed her eyes and smiled. That's why she's so special.


A cat with orange and white fur stalked towards them, looked at Yuzu, stopped, and then went off to climb up a cat tower.

Beside Mei on the sofa, Yuzu groaned. "I think they don't like me or something!"

Mei picked up her cup of tea from the coffee table in front of them and took a sip. "They probably all saw you petting Mei way too aggressively and now want to steer clear from us."

"Come on! She was a black cat with purple eyes named Mei! I just got so excited! Maybe she's your long-lost twin."

Mei took a second sip to hide her smile. She set her cup down, and Yuzu picked up the pamphlet that listed all the cats in the café and told about their histories and personalities.

"There's gotta be something helpful in here!" Yuzu said. "I'll figure out a toy that one of 'em can't resist and get 'im to play with us!"

"Good luck." Mei was perfectly content admiring them from afar. The room was rather small and cozy, only a few other customers here. The windows were covered over with blinds, and the few lights created a warm dimly light atmosphere. There were several cat towers and stands protruding from the walls for them to climb onto and around, but most of them were lounging about right now.

Yuzu giggled and held the pamphlet out in front of Mei. "Look at this!" she said and pointed at cat Mei's description. "It says that she's the super responsible role model to all the other cats. Like a president, huh?"

"At this rate, we'll meet one named Yuzu who always makes a mess."

Yuzu sighed. "I really wish Mei would give me a second chance!"

Mei found herself smiling at the irony of that. She sat up and held her hand out to Yuzu. "Come on. They won't come to us, so let's go to them." Yuzu took her hand with a smile and Mei looked around the room.

There was a fluffy white cat lounging under a table looking like he'd prefer to never wake up. A small light brown cat was sitting atop a wall stand, enjoying the view of the customers. No, no. She needed to find one who was walking around a bit.

She guided Yuzu around to the other side of the room. The orange and white cat was scratching a scratch post but started walking away as the pair approached. Mei knelt down and gently brought her hand toward the cat. It stopped and sniffed her fingers.

"Try letting them smell you before you start petting them. They'll trust you more that way."

Yuzu knelt beside Mei. "I don't think we'll have much luck with this one. The pamphlet said Haru is shy."

Haru finished sniffing Mei's fingers and then leaned forward, rubbing the back of his head along Mei's hand. Mei smiled and scratched the back of his head. He moved forward, rubbing his side up against the length of Mei's forearm, purring. "Even the shyest ones open up if you offer a gentle enough hand. Don't you think?" She looked over at Yuzu and found her gazing at her with wonder, as if she were an angel. "H-here. You try." Mei pulled away from Haru to give Yuzu a chance to pet him.

Yuzu inched towards Haru who pulled away slightly. She slowed down her hand as she reached for him, and eventually, he sniffed her fingers. Yuzu smiled and then he started licking her fingers. She giggled. "It's a bit scratchy."

"It needs to be since that's how they clean their bodies. You better hope he hasn't washed a certain area recently."

Yuzu jerked her hand away from the cat, and then laughed. "Oh, shut up, Mei!"

Mei let out a soft chuckle and the two stood up. "Now that you've tamed this guy, let's see if the rest still hate you."

"In the end, everyone shall fall to my charm!" She pumped a fist, a grin of determination on her face.

Yeah. You're pretty good at that, aren't you?


In the end, they really only ever got to get Haru to open up. The rest had kept insisting on lounging about.

"That's sometimes just how cats care," Mei told Yuzu for the third time as they walked along the snowy street. It wasn't snowing, and there was little wind, so she barely felt the winter's cold. "They're very insistent on what they want to do, and very often, that means relaxing and refusing to deal with you."

Yuzu pouted. "Yeah! You can feed 'em like a dozen treats and they'll just be like 'great, Imma go nap now.' Come on! Don't I get at least five minutes of playtime for feeding you so nicely?"

The cat café was nice, especially the moment they warmed up to Haru, but Mei had a somewhat heavy feeling in her stomach since she left. They both loved how adorable cats were, but they could be a bit boring sometimes. I wonder if that's how Yuzu sees me…

"They're having so much fun!" Yuzu hollered. Mei looked up. They'd reached the dog park, the second half of their date. It looked like five owners had brought their dogs here to play today. A couple owners leaned against the fence, talking while their dogs ran around playing with each other. A couple of the others were playing fetch or throwing frisbees with theirs.

Yuzu ran up to the owners leaning against the fence and asked very politely but eagerly if she could play a bit with their dogs. They agreed with smiles. Yuzu went to grab a frisbee from the box of toys, and Mei trotted up to her.

Something moved quickly in the corner of Mei's eye. She turned in its direction to see one of the dogs running right for her. She slipped and fell on her back in surprise, and the dog pounced on her, trying to lick her face as she kept trying to nudge herself away. He was a rather big husky and very, very 'playful.'

The husky jumped off Mei and chased after a frisbee that flew over them. Mei stood up and shook off the snow, her heart pumping from the attack. Yuzu jogged up next to her.

"I tossed him that frisbee," Yuzu said, " 'cause it looked like you were getting a bit overwhelmed."

Mei raised an eyebrow. You think? "Yeah, thanks for saving me. He's coming back!" The husky had jumped high in the air to catch the frisbee and immediately jetted back towards them, kicking up snow with his strong legs.

Yuzu giggled, causing Mei to glare at her. This isn't funny!

"He's just really excited to play!"

Mei stepped back as the husky got close, but he just held the frisbee out to Yuzu. Yuzu took it and wound up a strong throw. She sent it flying and drifting to the right. The husky ran far to the right, as if predicting where the frisbee would land based on how it was curving. Then, when it descended enough, he jumped up, caught it perfectly, and landed with grace. Mei gawked at how athletic he was and then gulped. That guy could definitely kill me if he wanted.

"What's his name?" Yuzu called to the owners by the fence.

"Kuuki!" one of the owners called back.

Kuuki ran up to Yuzu and dropped the frisbee at her feet. Then she squatted down and ruffled his fur as he snuggled up next to her, all his movements as frantically erratic as his rapidly whipping tail.

Mei hesitantly approached, ready to bolt if Kuuki made any sudden movements toward her.

"Yuzu!" Mei yelped as Yuzu fell over, Kuuki stepping all around her and over her, licking her face.

"It's fine!" Yuzu said through her laughter. Kuuki backed up from Yuzu, picked up the frisbee in his mouth, and tossed it onto her. "See. He just really, really wants to play! He won't hurt you."

Mei blushed from hearing Yuzu acknowledging her apprehension. I'm not scared! They're just a bit… much.

Yuzu stood up and held the frisbee toward Mei. Mei looked down at it as if she had no idea what it was.

"Come on!" Yuzu begged. "You just gotta get used to the way they show their love. Start by playing a bit of fetch. That's easy!" Yuzu's cheeks were warm, and her hair had gotten all messy. Damn it, why is she so cute?

Mei snatched the frisbee out of Yuzu's hand and backed up as Kuuki walked around in front of her. His mouth was wide open from his panting. Those teeth are pretty big and sharp…! She swung the frisbee and sighed in relief as he ran to it. However, she didn't throw it very far, and he was running up to her with it in his mouth just a few seconds later.

Frustrated, she threw harder this time. It was as if Kuuki felt her frustration and ran faster to get it back to her just as quickly. The cycle continued until her arm started slouching from exhaustion. Even Kuuki looked exhausted from playing for so long. Mei found herself not shying away at all as he dropped the toy and slowly trotted up to her, clearly too tired to play this game anymore.

Mei squatted down and rubbed his soft fur along his back. The way he looked like he was smiling with his mouth open like that was comforting. He's not scary at all. She knew she was only handling him much better now because he was too tired to trample all over her, but she figured she could get used to that eventually. There was something adorable about someone who wouldn't give up pestering you until you had fun.

Yuzu squatted down beside her and petted Kuuki on his other side.

It's just like Yuzu.


Mei sat on the bed with her legs up, watching Yuzu who was leaning her shoulder against the balcony door, watching the sunset. Yuzu had changed into a t-shirt, insisting that all the excitement today got her warm. Mei was cold enough that she'd put on a sweater.

"Today was amazing!" Yuzu said. "And we get to finish with a gorgeous sunset!" Indeed. The clouds around the sun were radiating layers of vibrant oranges, reds, and pinks. It was almost as colorful as Yuzu's personality.

"It's such a shame," Yuzu continued, "that we have no idea which pet to get…"

Mei looked up, puzzled. "But you said we'd get one based on which we had more fun with."

Yuzu looked back at her and cocked her head. "Exactly! We had so much fun with both of them!"

Mei glared at her with tensed eyebrows. "I thought it was obvious that we had way more fun at the dog park."

Yuzu smiled and scratched her cheek. "I don't know… I mean, I really liked how cute Haru was."

Mei sighed. It was obvious that Yuzu was just afraid of making her feel bad by winning the competition. Mei stood up and joined Yuzu by the balcony door, the two of them watching in silence as the sun slipped behind the distant buildings.

"I trust you, Yuzu."

Yuzu looked at her with puzzlement all over her face. "Huh?"

"You've annoyed me. You've frustrated me. But above all of that, you've shown me how amazing you are. You always make things great in the end. I trust your judgement. You're like an arrow that wobbles after being shot but somehow still hits the bullseye. So, you can stop doubting your decisions so much. Okay?"

Yuzu looked to their feet, blushing with a faint smile curling her lips. "Okay, I'll try. I'll keep that in mind." Then she looked up with hard-set eyes. "Then Yuzu's final verdict is that we'll pass on getting a pet for now. Yeah, we're going back to school soon, and we both still have a lot of progress to make. Maybe we'll get one next year, when I'm more in the habit of dedicated undistracted studying."

"An undistracted Yuzu? Well, we can pray." Yuzu shot her a smiling glare and Mei returned the smile. "Oh. Before I forget." Mei stepped up to Yuzu and wrapped her arms around her back. Yuzu stared back with anticipating eyes. "We have to end the date with at least one kiss, don't we?"

Not waiting for a reaction, Mei pressed her lips on Yuzu's. Feeling the comfort of her warm lips heightened her longing, and she kissed harder. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed this feeling. There was something so special about the way Yuzu felt. It touched both her body and her soul.

Mei pulled back and they stood in each other's close embrace, the warmth between them invigorating. Mei couldn't bring herself to back away any further.

Finally, Yuzu pulled back and jumped onto the bed laughing nervously. "Man, that was one hell of day! I'm nearly ready to pass out! 'Night, Mei! I–" Yuzu's voice sharply cut out, and then she pulled herself under the covers, tensed up.

Huh? What was she about to say?

Mei shrugged and sat over on her side of the bed. She thought back on all the events of the day. It really was a blast. Yuzu helped her have more fun than she thought she could.

I can't get her out of my head. She's such a whirlwind. So different from me.

A sinking feeling snuck its way onto her heart despite how great things had been. It didn't overwhelm her, but it lingered there like a stain she just couldn't rub off.

Why does she even like me? I'm nowhere near as exciting as she is.