It's Like One of My Japanese Animes

“Sprout, I missed you!” I braced myself for the glomp I knew was coming, and sure enough, Aiko pounced on me from behind, squishing her big fat cat tats against the back of my head.

“We had lunch together just a few hours ago,” I muttered as the girl with dyed blonde hair and cat ears rubbed her cheek against mine.

It had been six months since I was allowed into the Federation. The officer dropped the charges against me, and I walked free. Well, free was a relative term. Despite my protests that I knew more than basic math, Mom put me back in a uniform and forced me to spend my days at school.

The school itself was emblematic of the Federation’s strange obsession with the past, despite being the most technologically advanced civilization in the world. Nothing would have been out of place in the early 21st century—hundreds of years ago—right down to the chalkboards they made us clean after class. Even if I was familiar with it from anime and manga, it wasn’t the life I wanted, but at least I had a few friends now.

I put my pencil down and reached up to pat Aiko’s head. I couldn’t see the cute smile spreading across her face, but I heard the soft e-he-he she always made when I pet her.

“Hey, Aiko, doesn’t this bother you?” I couldn’t tell you why I chose that moment to ask, but the question had been weighing on my mind for months.

“No way, I love it when you rub my hair. You’re so good at it.”

“Not that. Back in the village, I could do whatever I wanted when I wasn’t working, but it’s not like that here. How do you deal with following the rules all the time?”

She purred directly into my ear as she spoke. “Hmmm. Everyone needs to cut loose every now and then. Sounds like you haven’t been having any fun. Hey, I know. You should come to the next mixer with me.”

“A mixer?” I raised an eyebrow. “Like in anime?”

“It’s like a party for nekomimi and humans to get to know each other better. Everyone’s so nice. I’m sure you’ll have a blast.”

“But we are human, Aiko.”

She yawned and stretched her arms out straight. “Not this again. Come on, you know what I mean. Besides, why are you being so picky? It’s a party for both sides to come together. You should love it.”

⁂

I didn’t love it. Sure, it was fun at first. Karaoke was something I had always wanted to try but hadn’t gotten around to, and the booth looked just like I imagined it would, another holdout from the early 21st century. Luckily, I even knew most of the songs from late nights browsing the data archives in the village.

And everyone there was surprisingly nice. Most city folk won’t ask to touch your ears, but you can tell from their body language what they really think of you. Some want to pet me; others are uncomfortable with my presence. People at the mixer, though, treated me as a normal person. First time I’d been in a big group where everyone was comfortable with my presence. After six months of always being on edge from trying to adapt to city life, it was honestly relaxing.

Then the drinks arrived. Nothing alcoholic, just iced teas and sodas, but they struck fear into my heart. What if everything up until now had been an act? There was no logical reason for anyone here to want me dead, but Oliver had taught me how deceptive people can be—both in life and in how he died. We hadn’t known Rosalie’s motivations either.

I thought about making an excuse to leave, but one of the guys must have noticed the fear on my face because he pulled me aside for a chat. In many ways, he looked a bit like Oliver without the cat ears: black hair, muscular frame, and a head taller than me. His name was Kenji, I think.

“Are you feeling OK? Can I get you anything?”

I forced a smile to reassure him. “Sorry, it’s just the drinks. I’ve got, uh, food allergies, but I don’t want to ruin the mood by refusing.”

“Is that all?” A look of genuine relief broke out on his face. “You’re not the only one without a drink. Don't worry about it. Would you like to sing a song together? Looks like the mic’s about to be free.”

I tried to forget my worries while singing, but when I saw Aiko raise a glass to her lips, it took everything I had not to slap it out of her hand. Kenji noticed me stiffening up and placed an arm around my shoulders. The unwelcome contact only made the situation feel more threatening. To add insult to injury, the karaoke machine rated my voice as husky, even though it had a high-pitched, slightly nasal quality.

Like most nekomimi girls my age. The thought flashed through my mind before I could stop it. I’m human. I really am, but when it comes to describing the ways we’re different, labels like ‘nekomimi’ are really convenient, aren’t they?

I wandered to a seat, so lost in self-reflection that I didn’t notice when the lights dimmed and the music slowed. But I definitely noticed when Kenji put his arm around me again, pulling me close. I froze up, my tail going completely rigid.

His voice was hot and raspy. I could feel his breath on my ear. “I’m glad you stayed.”

Blinking, I looked around at the rest of the room. Aiko was curled up in a chair with a boy whose name I don’t remember, sucking on his face. Her tail waved lazily in the air. The others had all paired off, and some of the more adventurous were sliding their hands under their partner’s clothes.

That’s when I realized for the first time that all of the girls at the party had cat ears and the guys—all older—didn’t. This mixer wasn’t being thrown to make friends and break down barriers: It was for guys who wanted to mate with catgirls. Once again, I wasn’t being treated like a human, but as an exotic other.

I nearly puked.

“Kenji.” As gently as I could, I peeled him off me, thinking that letting him down easily would be the best way out of the situation. “You’re very nice, and handsome, and maybe in other circumstances—”

“What, are you shy? If you’d like, we can rent a private booth.”

“It’s not that.” I looked down to hide my embarrassment. “I’m not… in heat, so we can’t—”

No matter how quietly I whispered, my words were picked up by all the cat ears in the room. Aiko started laughing directly into the guy’s mouth. “Sprout, honey, you don’t have to be in heat to have fun. What are you, a cat?”

That was a bridge too far. My face flushed, and I stood up abruptly. “You can have fun; I’m leaving.”

She grabbed my hand as I tried to flee the room. “Come on, you need this. You’re so uptight because you never cut loose. Live a little.”

I pulled my arm away so hard she would have fallen onto the floor if the guy hadn’t caught her. Without saying another word, I marched to the door.

“Wait, Sprout,” Kenji’s voice came from behind me. “Let me apologize. I didn’t mean to make you feel—”

He grabbed my shoulder for the third time, and so help me, I turned on the spot and hissed at him. In retrospect, I should have used words, like a human, but I just wanted to get out of there, and it seemed like the quickest way to communicate that I didn’t appreciate him touching me.

His eyes widened in fear, and he stepped back, but that triggered something dormant in me. All of a sudden, he was my prey. When he turned to run, I pounced on him, knocking him to the floor.

“Is this some kind of play?” he asked, his face inches from the carpet. “First you act shy, then you get aggressive? It’s not my thing, but I’ll try anything once.”

But what he couldn’t see was that my teeth were hovering millimeters above his throat. If I had come to my senses a moment later, my mouth would have been filled with his blood. Everyone else in the room saw it, though. They stared back at me with the same shocked expression that had turned Kenji into my prey, even Aiko.