I turned around to find Mizutan standing with a surprised look. Well, I was pretty sure I have an even more surprised look on to find her here. What was she doing here? "Do I know you?" I asked her, annoyed.
"Yes. You're my cat partner from today's class. I saw you again when I was shopping with my mom. So I followed you here and wanted to play with you." She sounded hurt.
I sighed. Great, now I felt guilty. I sighed again. "Ok fine, I'm not a real cat."
"You're a half cat!" She said happily, pointing at my cat ears and flicking tail.
I rolled my eyes, "Yes I'm a half cat. You can't tell anyone about this alright?"
She nodded furiously. "I promise. Pinkie-promise!" She held up her pinkie finger, motioning towards me. I went over to grip her pinkie finger with my own, anything to shut her up.
"Ok, go away now. Pretend you didn't see me. Bye." I waved at her.
She ignored me, instead she fired questions at me, "What's your name? How old are you? Where are your parents? Where do you live? Are you my age?"
I frowned. I can't reveal too much to her. I was supposed to be unknown, no one should know about me, and if words were to travel around, I would be in trouble. Mizutan was still looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to answer. I closed my eyes, "Please go away. Forget about me, I am nobody, and I can't have you around me."
She tilted her head, "Why not? Can't we be friends? I want to be friends with you."
Friends, huh? "Friends." I said out loud, trying out the word. She nodded. "Why do you want to be my friend?"
"You're my cat partner! And you're cool. You can do transformation magic at a high level already!" She nodded to herself and added shyly, "and you're also pretty."
I was shocked, surprised, and delighted to hear these statements. "Me, pretty and cool?" She nodded. "I'm not your partner. I don't even go to that school. I sneaked in as a cat because I was curious. The only thing I can transform into is a cat, nothing else. Nothing cool about that. I haven't showered properly for months or comb my hair so definitely I am not pretty." I said the facts.
She shrugged, and put her hands on her hips, "Yes you are cool." She argued back. "The fact that you're a half cat, with cat ears, a tail and sharp teeth! You can transform completely into a cat and plus, we're only able to transform faces at the moment in class, so definitely you're cool!" I opened my mouth to say something, but she held up a finger and continued, "I think your long black hair is pretty. And eww, why haven't you showered?" She wrinkled her nose.
Oh my, she was complimenting me. Tears welled up. "Thank you." I whispered. She nodded. "Because I don't have a shower of my own, that's why." She looked puzzled. "I'm homeless, get it? I don't have a home to go to and to shower and my parents are dead."
"Oh. I'm sorry." She said. Then, she extended her hands towards me, "My name is Mizutan Ui. I am 11 years old." She smiled.
I shook hands with her. "My name is Lia Katmist. I am 11 and a half years old. Don't you dare tell a soul about me. Not even your mom, or your doll. Ok?"
"Ok, I promise. Nee, can I call you Lia-chan?" I shrugged, whatever.
"Ui-chan! Where did you go? Ui-chan!" We heard a woman's voice calling out nearby.
"That's my mother." She pointed out, a tall and slender woman, wearing a colourful tunic dress with low heels.
"Your mom's pretty."
"Can I tell her that?" She asked. I looked at her. "What? It would be nice for her to know that someone complimented her, right?"
She has a point there. "Fine, but don't say my name or anything."
"Sure. Will you come to class tomorrow?"
"I don't know. I don't want to be caught again."
"You can hide in the closet as a cat. No one ever opens the closet."
"Maybe." I chewed the inside of my cheek, considering the option.
"See you later." She turned to walk away.
"Wait, wait. Let me try something." She looked at me curiously.
I stared at her face, focusing on the details and remembering every feature. When I was ready, I closed my eyes and activated my magic. I felt my magic in my body and up to my face, changing its form. I opened my eyes and Mizutan squealed. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down in delight.
"You got my face right! That's so cool!" She hugged me.
"That was my first time transforming my face into another human's face." I said, sheepishly.
"You have a strange vocabulary, and well done!"
Her mother called again, "Ui-chan!"
"You better get back to your mother." I gave a nod towards her mother.
"Alright, see ya!" She waved and ran out of the alley towards her mother.
"Ui! Where have you been? I was getting worried!" I heard her mother scolded her.
"Gomennasai, Oka-san. I was talking to a friend, and she said you're pretty."
Her mother giggled. "Oh that's very nice of her. Please say thank you to her for me the next time you see her." I watched them walk away, until the sound of their conversation faded.
I walked back further into the alley and an examined the necklace I had stolen earlier. I held up the necklace high in front of me and let the pendant dangle. It was a long gold chain, the pendant dangled at eye level. I held the pendant in my palm - I fell in love with it the more I stare at it. I put it around my neck; it was long and fell to my stomach. I looked down at the necklace, it looked slightly out of place especially because of my height, but I shrugged. Who cares? Everything about me was out of place anyway. I went back to my safe hideout. I decided to do some training and improve my combat skills. The necklace was bouncing around and at some point; it bounced up and hit my head. I took it off. "Argh, this is annoying. It's too long for me..." I trailed off. "Wait, I've got an idea." I took the necklace and put it around my neck again. I pulled and twisted the chain into a second loop. It became shorter, settled against my flat chest. "That's better."
Evening came; I lay down in the shed with my arms up holding my head, staring at the roof. So, I've got a friend huh? "Mizutan." I said the name out loud, trying it out. "Mizu-chan." I said. I frowned at myself. 'Hello, that was the first meeting and you're already giving nickname? She might get offended.' I thought and shook my head at myself. 'Jeez, don't get your hopes up.' With that, I fell asleep.
