Tanimoto strolled home, plastic bags clutched between his fingers containing rice, fish, and tea leaves — enough for a Thanksgiving meal for one, maybe two — in case the Shirahamite came to harass him for the night. So she won't eat anything else in his fridge, that's all…
But instead of the usual sisterly pest, something new awaited him instead: his black cat of misfortune, Renka Ma, scaling the building of his oversized home to peek through the window. What the hell?!
"Why are you here?!"
Renka's form froze, her head slowly twisting to view his irate expression. Time to jump away from the window like nothing happened—
Tanimoto's glower intensified, even if he tried his best to reign in his initial outburst.
"What do you think you're doing?" He approached the girl with malice, now planted on the ground after a successful landing.
But rather than shirking away, Renka stood her ground, concealing any form of intimidation with an attempt to remain stoic.
"... I was just looking for Kenichi!" Not quite the truth, but it seemed plausible, right?
Wrong. Tanimoto squinted, seeing right through her ruse.
"Why would he be here?"
"Because— because I didn't find him at Ryōzanpaku! I wanted to see if he wanted to eat with me, okay?!"
Far too defensive.
And Tanimoto, in turn, was offensive, taking a tempestuous step forward.
"He broke into my home and attacked me because of you! He won't be swinging around anytime soon!"
Renka's argumentative stance fell, pulling away with a concerned frown.
"W-wait. What?! What did I do?!"
Again, this conversation had run its course. This girl hardly deserved a second of his time. Tanimoto disengaged from the fight, storming through his front door after unlocking it.
"You've been nothing more than bad luck to me," he mentioned in passing before disappearing into his home—
"Wait, wait!" Renka held out a powerful arm, preventing the door from closing all the way. "Why did Kenichi beat you up?!"
What was this feeling stirring inside of her? Guilt?
Tanimoto whipped his head back to the nosy girl, seething.
"He didn't! I kicked his ass, the same way I did to you."
But of course, this didn't answer the cat's question, eyes growing wide with glimmering anxiety by the second, lips puckered in a pout.
...
And the blonde sighed. Fucking hell, why does he keep falling for that look of hers—
"He thought I did something perverted to you when I tended to your wounds."
The expression on Renka's face only seemed to intensify, verdant eyes darting around to the bushes in his yard…
"I … I may have told him you undressed me when you— but I didn't say you did anything to me! It's not my fault, damn it!" She crossed her arms, huffing.
Was that some sort of half-baked attempt at an apology? Whatever.
"It doesn't matter. Just piss off!"
Shoulders stiff, pigtails on end. She winced from the loud timbre of his yelling, and even more so from the ensuing noise; he slammed the door shut with such force, it bounced back from the frame. But by then, Tanimoto had stomped deeper into the house, leaving the door ajar with a small crack. A small crack for the frightened kitten to peek through…
Was Honoka there?
Tanimoto could sense a pair of cat eyes staring at him.
"Aaand she's still here," he muttered to himself in dismay. He'll have a conniption at this rate.
Renka, with little sense of space or boundaries, stepped inside his home. She came all this way; she might as well get the information she sought.
"Are you going to have Thanksgiving dinner with Honoka?"
Yep. That's it. Conniption time. His vein bulged out from the side of his head, nearly tossing the groceries out the window with how much he shook his fist, meeting the cat's gaze with his own enraged optics.
"How do you know about her?!"
He meant, of course, the strange obligatory time he had to spend with the girl, not her existence. That fury made the catgirl swallow hard, but she stood her ground; she returned the scowl, and even leaned forward enough to touch the tip of her nose to his.
"She was over at Ryōzanpaku the other day," she uttered almost teasingly, a cold whim in her voice.
A whim that made Tanimoto's stomach sink as he pulled away from her. The subtle, underlying glint within her voice … why was it there? What did she know? What did Honoka tell her?
"Don't—" was all he could muster, fist shaking.
"Told me that you're basically her secondary big brother.~"
It felt like a knife to the heart.
"I'll rip your throat out and hang you by it!" he shouted in a fiery reflex, blue eyes on the verge of turning red with blood.
Renka's mischievous gaze didn't waver against those fiery cerulean eyes, but she did recall…
He just acts like a big meanie to scare people off. 'Cause that's the easiest way to protect someone, right?
…
Is that why he's so defensive about this?
Her gaze softened, relaxing her stance. Her voice was now sincere, emerald eyes sympathetic.
"You know… I'm not going to hurt her or anything. So you can drop the act."
Tanimoto's features scrunched up. Why was Renka saying that kind of shit? That's not why he was angry right now! Aside from this annoying cat finding out his situation that was rather em… em… embarras… tch…—
—… the whole "big brother" comparison was just… triggering rather painful memories. Memories he'd rather not relive.
… Sigh.
He set his grocery bag on the kitchen counter, head spinning. Some interesting conversation between the two girls must've taken place, and now Renka was inadvertently here to remind him of his past. He can feel his entire world crumbling and his rage dissipating, disappointment now taking its spot. What a shitty day.
"Don't ever mention her to me again."
Renka gauged his reaction. So much fuss for something like this. What a weird guy...
"Why? She made it clear that she really cares for you, you know."
"You'll never understand. Just do as I say," he groaned, pulling the ingredients out of the plastic bag.
. . .
For once, the cat had found no words to say. She wanted to pester him further, get the juicy details, expose a softer side of him. But if she were to do as he requested, that would mean she'd have to keep her mouth shut.
Normally, she wouldn't listen. But… he seemed rather … sad. There was a distant faraway look in his eyes as he milled about his kitchen, putting groceries away with a drained posture. She continued to stare at those despondent azure hues, darting across the pages of a cookbook he began reading.
… He looked… lonely.
And the lingering silence hung between them as he began to gut the newly procured fish in his grasp; cooking was now a skill he was working on, partly so that he would no longer have to eat Honoka's dreadful cuisine.
Agh. What was Renka doing here? She began to feel out of place, guilt now effectively burrowing its way into her chest. Clearly, she had upset him beyond the usual annoyance, and, well… frankly… he didn't really deserve that, now did he? Not if he was the guy that Honoka described to her.
"Sorry about Kenichi," Renka muttered, breaking the silence after several minutes. "Happy Thanksgiving."
She shuffled to the door, feet as heavy as her heart, and slowly twisted the knob—
"Why were you peeking around?" he coldly called out to her, not daring to look up from his kitchen preparations.
Was this his way of asking her to stay for a little bit?
