Chapter 2: It’s Not a Cat

The two ghosts and the white fluffy one headed to the second floor of the abandoned house.
Sayuri opened the door to one of the rooms and drifted lightly inside.
Though it was a haunted spot, the room carried a lived-in air, and a woman was savoring sake alone.

“Misaki-san! What’s white and fluffy?”
Sayuri called out, and from behind her, Shinobu peeked her face into view.

“Why so sudden? A Maine Coon?”
The woman called Misaki answered reflexively.

“Nope, wrong!”
Sayuri wore a mischievous smile.

“…A Norwegian Forest Cat?”
Misaki knitted her brows as she forced out another answer.

“Nor-something cat? What’s that?”
Sayuri had barely caught what she said.
Tilting her head, Misaki replied, “It’s a type of cat. Don’t you know?”

“When it comes to cat kinds, I only know calicos and strays.”
Pouting, Sayuri protested.

“Stray isn’t a kind of cat.”
Misaki said with a gentle smile.

“Sayuri-chan, that’s not what we’re talking about.”
Shinobu whispered to Sayuri from behind.

“Oh, right.”
Remembering what they had originally come for, she slid aside and declared, “The correct answer was a cloud!”
In Shinobu’s palm behind her rested something like a cloud.

“It’s incredibly fluffy.”
Shinobu smiled happily.

“If you two can touch it—then it’s a supernatural being, isn’t it?”
Misaki frowned.

“It’s a cloud!”
“That’s right! It’s a cloud!”
Following Sayuri, Shinobu strongly denied it as well.

Misaki was taken aback by the rare intensity in Shinobu and took a long drink of sake to steady herself.

“There was the supernatural being of the haze on the first floor, right? Isn’t it that?”

“No, that’s not it! It’s a cloud! Clouds and mist aren’t the same!”
Floating lightly in the air, Sayuri insisted.

“Isn’t it a cloud because it’s in the sky?”
“It said it was born in the sky and, before it knew it, it was here!”

“Who says?”
“The cloud itself says so!”
Shinobu watched the exchange between Sayuri and Misaki with an intense gaze.

“…Well, whatever. So, what do you want with it?”
As if giving up, Misaki said this and brought her glass to her lips.

“May we… keep this?”
Shinobu said with a pleading expression.

“It’s a stray cloud, you know? And it’s still just a cloudling! We can’t just leave it!”
Sayuri rattled on.

“Wait a second—don’t start throwing around words I’ve never even heard before.”
She held up a hand to stop the two of them and emptied her glass.
Letting out a small sigh, she added, “Keeping it is fine with me. It’s not really something for me to object to. Just make sure you take proper care of it,” and gave them a gentle smile.

Sayuri and Shinobu’s expressions brightened at once, and they thanked her over and over.

“But, you know, we can’t touch its food…”
Sayuri showed a slightly disappointed look, and Shinobu seemed worried as well.
Misaki looked a little troubled, then let out a big sigh as if resigning herself and said with a smile, “I’ll only handle the feeding, all right?”

“Thank you, Misaki-san! Look, it’s Misaki-san—say hello.”
At Sayuri’s words, Shinobu held out the cloudling in her palm in front of Misaki.

Hesitantly, Misaki extended a finger, and the cloudling stretched and rubbed itself against it.
“Hey! Even I can touch it, you know? That means it’s definitely not a cloud!”
Rubbing the fingertip she had pulled back, she complained to the two of them.
But the two weren’t listening and were already getting excited about what to name it.

“Hey, it’s fine to get excited about the name, but what about its food? I have no idea what a cloud eats.”
Misaki cut in as the two of them were getting carried away talking about names.

“Well, um… water, apparently.”
Sayuri checked directly with the cloudling.

“Even if it’s water, it can’t drink it directly, can it? Maybe we should spray it on with something like a spray bottle?”
Sipping her sake, Misaki operated her smartphone.

Unaware of Misaki’s consideration, the two ghosts said,
“Since it’s a cloud—how about ‘Cloudy’?” “I like it! Nice to meet you, Cloudy,” and with Shinobu’s suggestion, the name was decided.

Watching the two ghosts having so much fun, Misaki smiled faintly.
On the search bar of the smartphone in her hand were the words: “cloud care methods.”