Not all felines like to be stroked on the head

Yui and I crossed the threshold of Aixa's door. Instead of welcoming us, however, a small cat did so and began to meow sharply when it saw us.

"Nya! Okan, a beast has entered Aixa's house! Help me get it out-nya!”

“Beast? It looks just like a kitten.'

“You don't understand-nya. Look closely; it has six legs-nya!”

Yui hid behind my back, pushing me to do something about the 'cat' in front of us. I noticed her tail bristling and, seeing her like that, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. But what could I do with this kitten?

I tried to pick it up, but gave up when it scratched my hand.

“Ah! Yui, you're part cat, so I think you should take care of it. Don't you know how to talk like a cat?”

'That offends me-nya. Clearly my IQ is much higher than that feline's-nya. Even if I tried to talk to it, it wouldn't understand me.'

“So what can we do?”

“Look at this-nya.”

Yui took out the tuna keychain she had found and started swinging it in front of the cat. Whatever her intention, it didn't work — the cat just stared at her without moving.

“What are you doing?”

'Shut up-nya. I'm doing my best, unlike you-nya.”

“In my previous life, I never dealt with cats. What do you expect me to do?”

“Hey! What are you two doing here?”

While Yui and I were discussing how to deal with the animal blocking our entrance, Aixa, still in her pyjamas, peeked out from her bedroom door.

“Aixa-nya, a beast has entered your house!”

“Huh? Oyinbo isn't a beast; he's my pet.”

“Your pet? But even though I've been to your house before, I've never seen him.”

“That's because he's very shy; he always hides in my room.”

“I see-nya, I'm sorry for trying to get your pet out of the apartment.”

“Don't worry. It's my fault for not telling you before, but you should apologise to Oyinbo.”I crouched down, intending to get closer to Oyinbo, but I didn't know what to do.

“Um... This... I'm sorry?”

“What kind of apology is that, Okan? Cats like to be stroked on the head; try that.”

“Huh? Okay.”

I reached out my hand to the cat again, afraid it would scratch me, but this time it lowered its head and let me pet it.

“It's true. It seems you're not just a genius in the kitchen, Aixa.”

“You flatter me, but this is just common sense. I don't feel worthy of the compliment.”

Wait a minute. If this is common sense, it means the same thing happens with all cats. And that means...

"Hey, Yui! Do you like having your head stroked, too?"

“What kind of question is that-nya?! Pervert! Yui would never like having her head stroked!”

“Sorry, I thought that, since you're a cat girl, it would apply to you too.”

“How dare you, Okan! And what are you doing here anyway? We were supposed to meet up for lunch.”

'That's why we're here-nya. It's already 12:00.”

In response to Yui's question, Aixa glanced at the living room clock, checked the time, and quickly went to her room. Not long after, she came out, dressed and somewhat hurriedly.

“Sorry, I remembered I had something urgent to do. Make yourselves at home!”

Her business must have been very important because, before we could answer, she was already out of the apartment.

“It seems you were right when you said that Aixa is not an early riser.”

“Honestly, I didn't think she would wake up so late.”

“Nya! I have an idea, Okan. How about we cook something for Aixa while she's out?”

“Surprisingly, that's not a bad idea, Yui.”

“Surprisingly!?”

“Sorry.”

We took off our shoes at the entrance and went into the living room, where Oyinbo was watching us from a distance like a detective analysing our movements. We went into the kitchen, but when we were about to start cooking, we drew a blank. Without Aixa's help, we had no idea where to start. There were many different types of knives and other tools that we didn't know how to use, some of which could easily have been used as a method of torture in another era.

“How about we see what ingredients we have-nya? Then we can try to guess what the utensils are used for.”

“Okay, what kind of food do you want to cook for Aixa?”

“I only know recipes with fish-nya, so we don't have much variety. We're limited to what Aixa has-nya.”

“Yui...”

“What is it-nya?”

“Look at this.”

When we opened the fridge, we were met with a sight we never thought possible: four shelves and a drawer inside, plus another four shelves on the door, and not a speck of food in sight. We checked the kitchen shelves and cupboards, but the result was the same: there was no food in Aixa's house.

“This is terrible-nya. How could this have happened? Aixa will be devastated if she finds out she has no food.”

'There must be an explanation for this. She always used to give me food. Maybe she keeps it somewhere else.”

'That's it-nya! It's your fault that Aixa has no food left. This happened because she had to feed you. Do something-nya!”

“Huh?!” What are you saying?! If we think like that, it's your fault for eating all the food she cooked for you last night!

“Nya! How can you blame me like that-nya? You're hurting Yui's feelings. Don't you have any feelings?”

“Gh, the important thing is that there's no food. We can discuss what happened later. Aixa will be here soon.”

“And what do you think?”

“We'll have to buy the ingredients ourselves, but look on the bright side that way, we'll have more freedom to choose what to cook.”

“But Okan, we don't have any merit left.”

“...”

“You spent what you had on breakfast, and I don't have any merit.”

'Then we only have one option left.”

“'What is it-nya?”

“We'll have to do missions to earn merit so we can cook something for Aixa.”

“I don't know why, but I think this isn't going to work out-nya.”