Chapter 4: Where Is He?!

I sat on the bench with my lunchbox resting on my lap. Beside me was Ester. She leaned a little closer and peeked at it with curiosity. “Woo, you got something special,” she said after noticing what I brought. 

I scratched the back of my head and smiled awkwardly. “Yeah… hehe.” Sitting under the tree was somehow refreshing. The shade felt nice and the quiet breeze made the moment peaceful. 

For a few seconds it became a little awkward between us, and before I could stop myself my mouth slipped. “By the way… seeing you earlier made me freeze.” The words came out so suddenly that even I was surprised. 

Ester blinked in confusion. “Ehh?” She looked a little nervous, clearly caught off guard. “Oh really?” she asked with a small laugh.

Right after that, a strange feeling crept over me. Something felt wrong. It wasn’t Ester, but something else entirely. A weird uneasiness settled in my chest, like my instincts were trying to warn me about something. 

“Umm… something wrong?” Ester asked after noticing that I had started zoning out. I quickly shook my head. 

“Oh, no, no. Nothing.” She stared at me for a moment longer than usual, making direct eye contact as if she was trying to figure out what was going on inside my head.

After school we went our separate ways. The day itself had been fun, but that strange feeling still lingered somewhere in the back of my mind. While I was walking and thinking about it, I suddenly heard someone shout my name. 

“HEY KAI!!” I turned and saw Mina waving her arms in the middle of the street. She was shouting so loudly that it instantly made me nervous. I hurried closer and whispered, “Keep it down.” She tilted her head. 

“Where are you going?” she asked casually. Before I could answer, her expression suddenly changed as if she had just remembered something important. “Hey… Yuki might be waiting for you.” 

For a moment I completely forgot that Yuki existed, and Mina simply turned around and walked away without saying anything else.

After walking for a few more minutes I finally reached my house. I opened the door and stepped inside. “Hey, I’m home!” I called out. No answer. 

The house was completely silent. “Yuki? Are you there?” Still nothing. I took off my shoes and started walking toward the kitchen, and that was when I saw it. 

Yuki was standing there with a knife in her hand, and something that looked like meat sitting on the chopping board. 

She had a suspicious grin on her face. “Heheh.” My heart nearly stopped. “Y-Yuki… is… is that Kaoe?!” I asked in panic. She instantly frowned. 

“Nooo, moron! What do you mean? She’s sleeping on my couch. It’s just chicken.” Hearing that made my entire body relax. “Thank God.”

Suddenly her expression changed completely. “Master…” Her voice wasn’t as cheerful as usual. “Y-yeah?” I replied nervously. “Lemme check again,” she said while slowly walking closer. 

I could smell the soft fragrance of her hair as she approached, and from this distance her cat ears looked even bigger. 

Then she grabbed my shirt and pulled me slightly closer. “Master,” she said softly, but something about her tone felt different. 

“I’m smelling the scent of two girls.” My heart skipped a beat. “W-what…? No, what do you mean?” I laughed nervously, hoping she was joking. 

“One is Mina’s scent,” she continued calmly, “but the other…” She suddenly let go of my shirt and dramatically turned away. “You are cheating again. First it was that ugly cat and now another girl.” 

She kept complaining, but my attention was suddenly stolen by something else. Kaoe had woken up and walked over to greet me, pushing her head against my legs affectionately. “Aww.”

That turned out to be the worst possible thing I could have said. I suddenly felt a cold sensation against my chest. Yuki was staring at me with completely dead eyes. “Go ahead,” she said quietly. 

“I’m not important to you anymore. Here I am trying to make you happy by cooking, and there you are completely ignoring my efforts.” 

I barely even heard her though, because Kaoe had now flopped onto the floor and was inviting me to play with her. “Hmph,” Yuki muttered as she turned around dramatically. 

“N-no, I’m sorry! Yuki, listen!” I tried to explain, but she didn’t respond. Instead she began muttering to herself in a depressed voice. “My efforts… my efforts… my efforts…”

“Hey, listen! Look, Yuki! This is for you.” I quickly held something up. It was a cake. Ester had suggested that I should buy Yuki a cake as a gift for cooking breakfast and lunch for me. 

The moment Yuki saw it, her eyes instantly lit up with excitement. “I-Is that for me?!?” she asked eagerly. 

“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “I thought I should buy you a gift for trying to cook.” Her expression immediately changed again. “Trying?” she repeated with a pout. “Hmph.” 

Once again my mouth had betrayed me for absolutely no reason. “Hey, I’m sorry, listen” Before I could finish, she grabbed the cake and walked straight to the couch without paying attention to anything else I said. 

Sitting down proudly, she hugged the cake box and declared, “Just to be clear, I’m not sharing anything.” I laughed helplessly. “Yeah, yeah. That’s for you.”

To be continued…