Chapter 3 -The Cafeteria Fish Incident

Kuro Akamine had always considered herself a rational person.

In fact, if someone had asked the students of Hoshimine High School to describe her, most of them would probably say the same thing.

Serious.

Quiet.

Calm.

Reliable.

The type of person who finished assignments early, avoided unnecessary conversations, and preferred spending her free time reading rather than dealing with the exhausting unpredictability of other people.

Kuro liked things that made sense.

Schedules made sense.

Mathematics made sense.

Physics made sense.

Turning into a neko kanojo overnight, however, did not make sense at all.

Which was why she had spent most of the previous night staring at the mirror in her room with an expression usually reserved for scientific experiments that had gone horribly wrong.

At first, she thought she was hallucinating.

That seemed like the most logical explanation.

After all, people did not suddenly grow soft black cat ears on top of their heads.

People also did not grow tails.

Especially not tails that moved when they were annoyed.

Unfortunately…

Both of those things had happened.

The ears had appeared first.

Kuro had been brushing her hair before bed when she noticed something strange.

At first she thought it was simply a strand of hair sticking up strangely.

Then she tried to push it down.

It moved.

But not like hair.

More like—

Something attached to her.

She had slowly looked up at the mirror.

Then she froze.

Two black ears were sitting on top of her head.

They twitched.

Kuro stared at them.

They twitched again.

Then she screamed.

Which was extremely unusual.

Because Kuro Akamine did not scream.

Ever.

Several minutes later, once she had finally regained enough composure to stop pacing around her room like a malfunctioning robot, she discovered the second problem.

The tail.

It had appeared shortly after the ears.

And unlike the ears…

The tail had absolutely no interest in cooperating with her.

It moved whenever it wanted.

Especially when she was embarrassed.

Or irritated.

Which meant it had been moving constantly.

By the time she finally managed to fall asleep sometime around three in the morning, Kuro had come to one terrifying conclusion.

There was no logical explanation for this.

Which meant…

Something supernatural had happened.

And somehow…

For reasons she still did not understand…

She had become a neko kanojo.

Naturally, this made going to school extremely stressful.

The ears themselves were not visible to other people.

That much she had quickly discovered.

When she nervously asked her younger brother if he noticed anything strange about her, he had simply looked at her for a moment before saying:

“You look tired.”

Which meant the ears were only visible to her.

Unfortunately…

That did not mean they were easy to ignore.

They reacted to sound.

Which was why the classroom bell earlier that morning had made them twitch so violently that she nearly dropped her pencil.

Then there was the tail.

The tail was even worse.

Because it kept trying to move.

Which was why Kuro had spent most of the morning sitting very carefully in her chair, keeping her school bag positioned behind her in a way that prevented the tail from knocking anything over.

This would have been manageable.

If not for one additional problem.

Rei Hoshizaki.

Kuro glanced sideways from her seat during lunch.

Rei was sitting three desks away.

And for some reason…

He kept looking at her.

Not casually.

Not accidentally.

But repeatedly.

Like someone observing a suspicious animal at the zoo.

Which was extremely irritating.

Kuro had noticed it during class earlier.

Every few minutes—

Another glance.

Another stare.

Then he would immediately look away when she noticed.

Which made it even more suspicious.

What is wrong with that boy…

Normally Kuro would simply ignore something like this.

But today…

She was already dealing with enough problems.

Which was exactly why the earlier incident had happened.

The hiss.

Kuro closed her eyes briefly.

That was humiliating.

It had not been intentional.

The sound had simply escaped her mouth when someone dropped a heavy textbook behind her.

Her body had reacted automatically.

Like a startled cat.

Kuro pressed her fingers against her forehead.

I need to control this.

Unfortunately…

Her ears twitched again.

At that exact moment, someone spoke.

“Akamine.”

Kuro opened her eyes.

Rei Hoshizaki was standing beside her desk.

He looked nervous.

Very nervous.

Which was interesting.

Because he was also holding a cafeteria tray.

“Lunch,” he said awkwardly.

Kuro blinked.

“Yes.”

There was a pause.

Then Rei sat down across from her.

Kuro stared at him.

“…Why.”

Rei froze.

“Why what?”

“Why are you sitting here.”

Rei opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

Then opened it again.

“Because… chairs exist?”

Kuro continued staring at him.

Rei slowly looked away.

“…That sounded better in my head.”

The cafeteria buzzed with the usual lunchtime noise around them.

Students talking.

Chairs moving.

Plates clattering.

But the space between their table suddenly felt strangely tense.

Kuro looked down at her tray.

Rice.

Vegetables.

And grilled fish.

The moment the smell reached her nose—

Her ears twitched.

Kuro froze.

Because suddenly…

The fish smelled extremely good.

Not just good.

Amazing.

Irresistible.

Her eyes slowly focused on it.

Rei noticed immediately.

“You like fish?” he asked.

Kuro looked up quickly.

“…It’s food.”

“Yes.”

“People eat food.”

“Yes.”

“So obviously I like it.”

Rei nodded slowly.

“That makes sense.”

Then he leaned slightly closer.

“But you’re staring at it like it owes you money.”

Kuro’s tail flicked under the table.

She quickly stabbed the fish with her chopsticks.

“I am hungry.”

“That’s fair.”

Rei paused.

Then he leaned slightly closer again.

“…Do you always hiss when you’re hungry?”

Kuro stopped moving.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

She looked up.

Rei smiled nervously.

“…Just asking.”

Kuro stared at him for several seconds.

Then she sighed.

“…You’re strange.”

Rei immediately pointed at himself.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“You hissed.”

“That was a sneeze.”

“That was not a sneeze.”

Kuro leaned forward slightly.

Her eyes narrowed.

“…Are you calling me a liar?”

Rei panicked.

“No!”

“Good.”

There was a brief pause.

Then Kuro returned to eating her lunch.

But something about Rei’s expression had changed.

He was watching her again.

Not mockingly.

Not suspiciously.

But thoughtfully.

Which made Kuro slightly uncomfortable.

After a moment he spoke again.

“…Akamine.”

“Yes.”

“Hypothetically.”

Kuro sighed internally.

“Hypothetically what.”

Rei hesitated.

“Hypothetically speaking…”

“If someone suddenly became… different…”

Kuro slowly looked up.

“…Different how.”

Rei scratched the back of his head.

“Like… really different.”

Kuro’s ears twitched again.

“…Continue.”

“And hypothetically,” Rei said carefully, “they didn’t know why.”

Kuro stared at him.

Then she spoke calmly.

“…Then they should probably go to a doctor.”

Rei nodded.

“That’s reasonable.”

There was another pause.

Then he leaned slightly closer.

“But what if a doctor couldn’t fix it?”

Kuro looked down at her tray again.

Her tail flicked slowly beneath the table.

“…Then,” she said quietly, “they should learn to live with it.”

Rei blinked.

“That sounds difficult.”

Kuro shrugged slightly.

“Most things are.”

For a moment neither of them spoke.

The cafeteria noise continued around them.

But the space between their table felt strangely quiet.

Then suddenly—

CLANG.

Someone dropped a tray nearby.

Kuro jumped.

“HIS—”

She stopped herself.

Too late.

Rei stared.

Kuro closed her eyes.

“…I hate today.”

Rei slowly leaned back in his chair.

His expression looked both shocked and extremely excited at the same time.

Which made Kuro immediately suspicious.

Then he whispered something very quietly.

“…This might actually be happening.”

Kuro looked up.

“…What.”

Rei froze.

“Nothing.”

Kuro narrowed her eyes.

Her tail flicked again.

“…You’re definitely weird.”

Rei sighed.

“…I get that a lot.”

But inside his mind, one thought was repeating louder than ever.

She reacted to fish.

She hissed again.

And she jumped at loud noises.

Rei slowly looked at Kuro Akamine.

Then he placed his hands on the table dramatically.

There’s no way.

But if she really is the neko kanojo…

His heart began beating faster.

Because if that was true…

Then somehow—

Somehow—

Rei Hoshizaki had to make Kuro Akamine fall in love with him within one month.

Rei looked at her again.

Kuro looked back.

“…Why are you staring again.”

Rei immediately looked down.

“…I’m doomed.