Mai's mother was a cat.
Well, her mother was born human; it's just that she got turned into a cat.
Her mother died as a cat, so it wasn't wrong to say that her mother was a cat.
And soon, that would be her fate. She was going to turn into a cat, live a long life as a cat, and then die as a cat.
Why?
It was because Mai was turning 18 soon and she was running out of time. Everyone in her class already had a partner, and if not, they already knew who to ask or didn't have to worry at all.
She glanced at Oliver Davis, the exchange student who was full Japanese but raised in England. For a Japanese man, he looked more English than Asian. His eyes were a deep indigo, and his height was taller than that of an average Japanese man.
She observed him, biting the cap of her pen in a nervous habit. She stopped when she noticed what she was doing and covered her pen once again—a nervous habit she was trying to break.
Back to Oliver Davis: He was just so handsome, so... perfect, so much so that so many girls and guys dream of being his partner. All he had to do was ask someone, and they would agree without a second thought.
Lucky guy.
And then there were people like Mai, the average high school kid who's just trying to get by in life. Neither pretty nor ugly, smart or dumb.
In fact, Mai considered herself to be cute, or at least that's what her mother told her. Her mother had naturally light brown hair and eyes; Mai had inherited those. Or part of it.
Both her eyes and hair color were so obviously chestnut brown. Her school admonished her for it, and although she tried to prove it was her real hair color, she ended up having to dye it black. Had it not been for the fact that her roots showed up as brown, her school would never have allowed her to keep it as it is.
It's not like she was a rare case anyway; there used to be a senior with red hair back when she was a freshman. And then there's John from class A, who had blonde hair.
Big deal. It didn't matter anyway; what's the point of standing out if it doesn't help her find a partner?
Why was it so important? Finding a partner? It's a funny story, actually. Three decades ago, some kind of scientific experiment was conducted in order to address population problems.
By that, it meant that the human population was estimated to die out in 30 years, and a mandatory law was passed.
Children of ages 18 and above must have a partner, if they do not have a partner within 45 days upon turning 18, a partner provided by law will be given. All kinds of information will be extracted from each citizen to ensure the best match.
However, it turns out that was a violation of human rights. One should not compel another person to pair up with a stranger. Since that was the only problem, in order to address it indirectly, the law was revised.
Children ages 18 and above must have a partner; if they do not have a partner within 45 days after turning 18, they will be turned into an animal. Said person has the free will to choose an animal to turn to, and will be free to do as they please right after.
Why an animal? The reason was simple: people who have not found a partner must have proven themselves to be unappealing, so they should be gotten rid of in order to make way for those who are still appealing and young.
In addition to that, animals are cute. Who doesn't love animals?
Although there were still some who protested against it, it wasn't as much as the first time. For some reasons, turning into an animal was more acceptable than being forced to marry another person.
I mean, thinking about it, Mai had no problem being turned into a cat.
She would be able to sleep whenever she wanted, and the kids in her neighborhood loved cats. All she'll have to worry about is adjusting to cat food, and maybe finding a way to… use the restroom when nature calls.
Mai would probably be a cute cat.
She had 45 days to say goodbye to her friends.
They weren't a lot anyway; Mai could count them with her fingers.
A/N: I KNOW THIS IS A JERK MOVE BUT I'm uploading this work in AO3 and I hope you can read it from there [works/43447518]. There are 6 chapters posted so far so you can go ahead and move there for the rest of the chapters!