Cats and Cradles

The Fool Arc

Pain… Pain… PAIN! It hurts ithurtsithurts!

The creature ran from the scene, patting burning areas of its skin, its diseased body burned away by the bright light of those strange glowing blasts.

Stupid. That was stupid. Of course she’d be able to do that, of COURSE she could fight me like that.

The creature howled with no recourse as it ran to the safest place it could think of. The dark. The cold. Somewhere away from the glowing lights, somewhere it could take a moment to breathe, to center itself.

She’s a Magical Girl, we’re on even footing. I only survived because I have the tenacity to withdraw when outnumbered.

The creature reasoned with its decision, justifying the retreat.

Outnumbered… yes. She had backup. There was another one that attacked me. From a distance. It was luck that saved her, not my failure.

The creature felt a sense of relief that it no longer had to blame itself. That was good. That was what the creature wanted. It couldn't be wrong. In its own mind, as warped and twisted as it had become, it was still righteous.

I won't fail my benefactor. 

The mysterious individual identified only as "XV". Fifteen. That was the one who had granted the creature this power. That was the one who had stood and accepted the creature's genius.

I was entrusted with this power, and I will not fail.

♦ Tamaki Anya ♦

“...I’m home.” I got home at the right time, I am always careful of time. Mama does not like me being late. I slip off my shoes at the door, place them carefully away, and am ready to put my backpack in my room and start homework when Mama calls out my name.

She was waiting for me in the kitchen. She yells about running across the road that morning. The school called her. I told her I hadn’t, that was the boys in my class.
“Are you calling your teacher a liar?”
“...If my teacher said I ran across the road, then yes.” It is important to be truthful.
“You’re always causing problems. You threw your indoor shoes in the trash, didn’t you?”
“...No.”
“Well, your teacher asked your class and they say you did! And you always complain about wearing them. Going and acting like you’re feral!”
“...I am not feral.” Mama raises her hand, and there’s a sharp pain across the side of my face.
“Could’ve fooled me!”
My face hurts. Papa is not home. It is not safe here. She winds up her hand again, and I run.

*            *            *

I adjust my randosel on my back. School ended three hours ago, and the sun is already setting. I head to the park. I do not come to the park during the day because sometimes my classmates are there and I do not like the games they play. I do not like that I have to chase them when I am not good at chasing, and that chasing them as ‘it’ is the only thing I am allowed to play with them. At night I like to come here because it is where my friends are. I walk past the slide, the climbing frame, to the bench where the old ladies sit sometimes, and squat down, breathing slowly, blinking slowly.

“Nya.” I let out a small sound, and there’s a tiny mewl in response. In a few seconds, a cat's head pokes out of the bushes.

“Hello Mr Bushes.” I say, reaching out a finger to scritch his ear, he flips them a little and closes his eyes, accepting the scratches with gentle glee. I slowly take my backpack off, open it up, and find the contents. Cat food with a ring-pull to open it. I pull it off and open it up, placing it in front of the shabby-looking black cat. He dives in to eat, devouring it hungrily as I gently stroke along his back.

“Is Miss Tree home?” I ask. He pauses, looking up at me with an unknowing look, licking his lips before diving back into the food hungrily.

I stand up, looking around, and move over to the slide. I peer around it here and there until a familiar slender white cat pops out and curls around my legs, looking up at me with startling blue eyes.

“Hello.” I acknowledge Miss Slide, and crouch down. I take a long piece of grass from nearby and begin playing with her, jumping and moving it, skittering it around and watching her claw at it excitedly. We continue to play for a little while, until I fish in my backpack and pull out a few cat treats, placing them one at a time on the ground for her. She takes them, crunching them fast and looking up at me. I do not need to feed Miss Slide. She has a collar that is fancy, and is always clean. She has a house that she goes to sometimes, too.

I move away from Miss Slide and towards the last cat in the area. I get down on my knees and crawl into the bushes at the side of the park, a tiny tunnel. I am grateful again that I am small and can fit inside.

Nestled in the roots of the big tree is a large, overweight feline. She looks up at me groggily and slowly. One of her eyes is scarred over, so I close my bruised eye as I greet her to be polite. She gives a small, squinting, head-up look and nudges her head in my hand as I reach down to pet her.

“Hello Miss Tree.” I say, presenting her the cat food tin I got for her. She sits up a little, and begins to eat. Watching her, my tummy rumbles, so I take a small piece and put it in my mouth. It tastes bitter and tangy. Miss Tree stares at me for a moment before resuming her eating. She has put on a lot of weight, but I do not know why. She eats the same amount as the others. She also does not like tummy scratches any more, and is super protective of it. Maybe it is because she does not move?

“If you do not go to gym class, you will put on weight and be fat forever.” I chide her softly, copying what my homeroom teacher says. She looks at me with the same expression I would like to think I give the homeroom teacher, so I give her a small nod and lie down next to her. I fish around in my backpack and pull out my schoolbook, opening it up to the homework and start writing it down. It is a journal of what I did at the weekend.

An hour passes and it is too dark to do any more work in here. My tummy is grumbling. I thought I was going to drift off to sleep in this little nook, but I find I can’t. I was not able to eat during lunch, and I did not eat breakfast. So I rub my tummy gently. Maybe I can find something being thrown out at the conbini?

I crawl out of the bushes, dust myself off, and make sure I’m not forgetting or leaving anything behind before starting towards the conbini across from the path when I notice something strange.

There is a glowing orb floating gently in the park, about the size of both of my fists together, changing colour from pink, to yellow, to blue, to red, and back. I do not know how it does not go green in the middle of yellow and blue, but somehow it avoids that step.

“...Hello.” I bow my head to it in greeting. Maybe it is an alien? I have read about aliens. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are annoying. Sometimes they are evil, but I do not like those books.

I approach it, and it floats gently, not moving or reacting. It smells faintly of candyfloss. I eye it curiously, sniffing it a little more. It doesn’t move.

Getting closer and closer, my tummy grumbling, I poke my tongue out towards it, and lightly touch the tip to it.