A/N: I don't own the Nagatoro franchise
BlackDragon829: Yep, sort of like when you don't jump in the pool when someone says "Last one in's a rotten egg"
A.L.S.: You're in the Air Force? That's awesome! And don't worry about it!
Diavolo: Thanks!
Makobro23: Yeah, I forgot to put a bunch up. Thanks for the reminder.
Leokunn: So, you have chosen...death.
Also, I have an announcement. After this chapter, I will declare this series completed for the time being. I do intend to come back and add a few more chapters, such as some part 2's and other ideas I haven't started yet, but I want to get back to my other main stories. On another note, there's a chance I may make this chapter a new story after the other two are done.
Just a heads up, most of this may not make sense unless you've seen the anime. I don't recall if the main story catalysts occur in the manga.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the art club room was the perfect temperature. For the time being, the only sounds coming from the room was the rhythmic scritching of a pencil on a canvas. Slowly but surely, the piece of art was carefully filled in line by line. After having been working for nearly half an hour, Hachioji was just about finished with his still life.
And, if his watch was right, it was just about time for a certain someone to barge in.
The door slid open on the tracks, and a quick "Senpai!" broke the silence. But truthfully, he didn't mind for the time being. He knew the arrival of Nagatoro would directly lead to sarcastic comments and losing his own tongue, but until then, her presence was rather enjoyable.
"Another still life? You're so boring, Senpai."
Naoto checked his watch. Nineteen seconds. Not a new record by far, but much faster than she had been recently.
"Well, I like them. They're easy and don't move, so detailing is consistent," he explained as he grabbed the canvas and slid it with the others he had finished throughout the year. He then sat down on the couch next to his kohai and pulled a box from his bag.
"What're you eating today, Senpai? Yucky virgin food?" Nagatoro asked with a malicious yet friendly smile.
"No. Just a sandwich. I didn't have a lot of time this morning." He took a bite and chewed, during which time the girl next to him got up and started playing with the utensils and new canvas. Then, her movements came to a halt. That kind of "Oh crap, something's about to happen" kind of sudden halt.
"So, would you like me to model for you again? I have the swimsuit in my bag, so I could change into that," she blurted out.
"N-no, that's fine. If-if you want to model, you can just keep your normal clothes on," Hachioji stammered as his face reddened. He pushed up on his glasses and prepared for the inevitable wave of suggestive remarks coming his way.
"Come on! I'm a high school girl offering to wear anything for you! Maybe I could see if the sewing club still has that outfit from earlier. I'm sure you'd like to see that again!" his kohai declared with a catgirl-like pose.
There they were again. Those cat ears and tail. He didn't know how she did it, but at least twice he had seen her grow feline ears and the tail. The first time was when she had chased Gamo-chan and Yoshi off when they tried to shave his head, and the other time was when she recommended a cosplay drawing for his "art battle" against the president of the art club.
"Uh, Senpai? You're staring pretty hard, even for a virgin," Nagatoro said with a finger snap in front of his face.
That's odd; they weren't disappearing. Both times he had seen them, they had disappeared when she calmed down. But for some reason, the triangular ears and tail were still as present as before.
"Stand still for a second," he requested while reaching up for her head.
"What're you-" she began to ask. The startling sensation of fingers rubbing skin she didn't even know she had was more than enough to cut her off. The first few seconds of shock gave way to an almost enjoyable sensation of feeling the gentle rubbing on...well, she didn't know what he was rubbing, which was a strange thing to think about.
"S-Senpai? What did you do? What's going on?" she managed to ask once he dropped his arm down to his pocket.
"I-I think it'd be easier to show you," was all he offered. He raised his phone from his pocket and snapped a photo of her and turned the phone to let her see.
"What are those?" she screamed, patting down the two things growing from her head. Much like a locks on a bad hair day, the extensions flopped back up the moment she took her hands off them. Repeating the process resulted in alack of success, and only managed to get an amused snort from her friend.
"What's so funny?" she demanded, then yelped when something brushed against her leg. "And when did that get there?" A quick inspection revealed that her tail had grown from her lower back and found its way between her skirt and shirt.
To say she was panicking was a tad of an understatement.
"Hey, hey. Just calm down and think. What do you normally do to get rid of those?" Naoto asked. However, the disbelieving expression he got was a bad sign that things wouldn't be solved that easily.
"This has happened before? And you never told me?" She snagged the tail after rubbing against her leg and let it hang, not noticing it start to gently start swaying again.
"Don't-don't blame me. What would you have said if I suddenly asked, 'Hey, where'd that tail and ears come from?'"
Nagatoro was quiet for a short while, but quickly grabbed her tail and tried shoving it under her shirt after brushing against her leg one too many times.
"Fine, you make a point. But what am I supposed to do now? Doesn't this go against several laws of physics and basic biology? And what if someone sees me?"
Understandably hysterical, Nagatoro's though process was more crooked than the usual linear.
"Look, I don't know how, but I'm sure there's a way to fix this. Like I said, this isn't the first time they've appeared, and I doubt it'll be the last."
"Ugh. I hate this and nothing bad has actually happened," Hayase groaned after flopping down on the couch.
Her day, which had been going great, was completely ruined.
"Well, I guess we can just wait it out. If they don't retract or disappear or whatever before your next class, I guess you could just hang around here until the end of the day and say you went home sick," Naoto suggested.
"I guess I can give that a try. But that doesn't actually get me any closer to normal," she complained.
"Yeah, because normal is so much better," Naoto muttered under his breath. The two ears atop Nagatoro's head twitched and she shot up like a rocket.
"What-what's that supposed to mean? Do you prefer me like this, Senpai? You would, because you're so creepy."
"No-nothing. Nothing at all. Let's get back on figuring out how to deal with this." He made a mental note that apparently her hearing was a lot better now and to be even more careful than usual when it came to muttering around her.
"Someone's coming! Can I hide in the back room?" Hayase suddenly requested.
"Uh, sure." The words had barely left his mouth before she bolted over and closed the door to the adjoined room. Merely two and a half seconds later, the door to the art room opened again.
"Hey Paisen, have you seen Nagatoro around?" Gamo-chan asked.
"Seen her around!" Yoshi added in her typical yes man style.
"She, uhh, stopped by earlier, but had to run off. Maybe check the bathroom?" Naoto nervously offered.
"Hmm. Thanks. See ya!" Gamo-chan replied before running off. Naoto peeked out the door to confirm that the two had left, and quietly slid the door shut.
"Coast is clear," he said, and the girl walked out of the connected room and sat back down on the couch. The two ears were rather droopy, and the tail would probably be conveying the same message if it wasn't shoved up her shirt.
"Well, the next class is about to begin. I have to go. I'll see you later," Naoto offered. Nagatoro replied with a quiet, "Yeah." before he left.
"Hey, Paisen! We didn't find her. You're not keeping her all to yourself, are you?" Gamo-chan called from behind him. When he turned to face her, he was met with her usual constricted pupil and snarky grin.
"N-no, I haven't seen her since. Maybe-maybe she had to go home suddenly," he stuttered before taking off for class.
Luckily for him, he managed to avoid Nagatoro's friends for the rest of the day. Periods came and went, and hours later, he was back in the art room.
"Nagatoro? You can come out. It's just me," he declared upon seeing an empty room. The girl he addressed poked her head out from the adjoined room and returned to the couch. Her ears and tail were still there, so waiting the changes out wasn't looking like the best course of action anymore.
"Man, today's been both incredibly boring and a pain in the rear," Hayase groaned.
"Hey, do you plan on letting Gamo-chan, Sakura, and Yoshi know about..." he pointed at her ears. "...this? They already asked me about where you were twice, and I don't think I'll be able to keep making excuses for much longer."
Nagatoro sighed, and it wasn't a little, inconvenienced sigh. "I, I guess I will if I'm not back to normal by tomo...crap! What about when I go home? My sister will never let me forget this!"
"We-well, my parents left for a trip yesterday and won't be home for a few more days, so-so if you want, you can hide at my place for a little," the boy offered while doing the best to fight off a blush.
"Of-of course you'd try to take me home, Senpai. Gross, gross, gross," Nagatoro exclaimed while gently slapping him on the side of his head. "But, if you're serious, I may have to take you up on that," she added in a calmer tone. Her ears drooped again.
"Okay, let's go. And, I grabbed this from my locker." Naoto opened his back and pulled out a light hoodie. "I've started keeping one in my locker for if it rains. But I think you may have a better use for it now."
"Thank you." She quickly donned the clothing and pulled the hood over her head to hide her new ears, ignoring the fact that she was wearing his clothes.
It smelled like him.
The two traversed the halls, more than once needing to backtrack and find a different route to avoid stragglers. Finally, they found a way out of the school and began the journey home.
"My parents are okay with me spending the night. God, I just wish I knew how to get rid of these," Nagatoro once again complained with a feel under the hood. Of course, the ears were still there. By the time they arrived at the Hachioji household, it was almost dinnertime.
"So, can I get you anything? We have Ramen, leftover Katsudon..." he listed off as he scavenged through the fridge.
"I'll have Ramen, please."
Naoto nodded and threw together two bowls of the noodles and placed them on the table in front of the living room television.
"I know this isn't a great question, but what'll you do if those are permanent?"
Nagatoro's hand froze halfway to her mouth. She truthfully hadn't considered the fact that this could be her new normal.
"I don't know. I guess I'll have to find a way to live with it."
Naoto decided not to ask any more questions and refocused on the television for a few minutes. It was nice, really. He found himself forgetting Nagatoro's current state when the two of them were just hanging out. Maybe things between them wouldn't be much different if she stayed the way she was.
A tickly sensation of something fuzzy rubbing against his arm brought him out of his thoughts with a very unmanly yelp.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it got out," Nagatoro apologized as she grabbed her tail and started tucking it under the hoodie.
"Actually, it's just the two of us. You don't have to worry about it," he assured her, receiving a questioning glance from his guest.
"Do you...do you like catgirls, Senpai? That's so weird!" Another barrage of slaps, pokes, and gentle punches came his way, most of which were blocked by his defensive stance.
"No, but if you can't get back, you should get used to being comfortable like this around other people," he explained.
"I get where you're coming from, but you need to work on phrasing." She ditched the hoodie and her ears immediately poked out of her hair. Her tail, which she had let go of, continued to drag itself over the empty space between them and occasionally over the boy next to her. He got used to it rather quickly, which was odd, given that it was something that should have taken a while to grow accustomed to.
"It's getting late. Do you have a guest room?"
"Uh, no, but you can sleep on the couch. We also have a spare futon if you'd prefer that."
"I'll take the futon, if you don't mind."
"Certainly." He led her upstairs to a closet right next to his room. "Here we go," he muttered as he pulled the futon from the closet. "Where do you want to set it up?"
"Actually, maybe your room would be best. If something happens, you're right there," she shyly answered.
Naoto prepared for the onslaught of remarks like "Besides, you'd love to have a girl in your room." But nothing came.
"Oh, okay. You can just place it wherever, then."
There was a lot of space on his floor, so Hayase decided on a space not too far and not too close to the bed. She felt comfortable enough around him, but at the same time, she didn't want to infringe too much on his personal space at night.
"Well, if you're ready, I'm going to call it a night." He quickly grabbed a change of clothes from his dresser and left for the bathroom, returning changed in just a few minutes.
"Goodnight, Senpai," Nagatoro said once she got comfortable under the provided sheets. Naoto flicked off the light and crawled into his bed, hoping for things to be back to what they considered "normal" in the morning.
Unfortunately, things were even less normal when the sun rose.
A/N: Well, another chapter come and gone. Sort of a cliffhanger, but I guess that'll lead into the next chapter. See you all eventually, I hope.