Chapter 4 - Yuuki

When I came back home, fortunately my parents hadn't noticed my absence. They were too focused on the tournament that would soon take place.

I went straight to my bedroom. I had so many questions in my head, but I guessed a lot of them would go unanswered.

I wondered who this man was, and why he and his jaguar had been so badly injured. What had really happened to them? And how had I gotten this power? Not only could I heal animals, but I could speak to them as well, that was crazy.

I also thought about what Lobo had told me about Yuuki. It had been two days since I'd welcomed Yuuki home, and so much had already happened.

— "Yuuki, you can understand me, right? And you can answer as well? No need to pretend anymore."

— "Well... I couldn't talk to you right away. I didn't know how you'd react if you suddenly saw a cat talking to you."

I hadn't had the time yet to really get to know Yuuki, where he'd come from, or how my family had found him. So, I decided to ask him directly about his story, and see if he wanted to share it. I didn't want to push him to talk about anything he wasn't comfortable with.

Yuuki told me I wasn't his first host family. There had been two families before me, but apparently things hadn't gone well with either.

Yuuki settled beside me and began to tell his story.

The first family I stayed with found me outside, a small girl, around eight years old, was the one who discovered me. The moment she saw me, she asked her parents if they could keep me. They said yes.

I looked at her, she seemed kind and gentle, so I let her carry me home. Once we got there, they set me up in her bedroom. Her name was Lucia. I had a small cushion to sleep on, a bowl of food and water.

I was well taken care of at first, until I discovered what this family was really like. Day by day, I saw more of Lucia's true personality: spoiled, and never satisfied with what she had. She always wanted more. I started to wonder if she was even the same girl, I'd met that first day.

One day, she was in a particularly foul mood. I was sleeping on my cushion when she came over and kicked my water bowl, spilling it all over the floor. She screamed at me:

— "You're boring, all you do is sleep all day. I don't even know if I want to keep you anymore. My parents said I can only have one pet, and since I already have you, I can't get another one. So I guess I'll just leave you outside."

So I decided to leave that family before she could do something to actually hurt me.

Then I met my second host family during a tournament. I was wandering around when I came across a boy, maybe eleven years old, feeding stray cats outside. When he saw me, it was as if he was fascinated. He said:

— "I've never seen a black cat before, this is my first time. You have such a beautiful coat. Do you want to come home with me? I'll take care of you."

Since he seemed calm and kind too, I decided to trust him. When we got to his home, he brought me to his room. I had food, water, and a place to rest, just like before.

But here's the thing, the boy never told his family he'd brought a pet home, and it turned out they were completely against having one. The next day, I woke up in a cage at an auction house. That's how your family found me and brought me to you.

What he had gone through was so much worse than my situation. I had no right to complain compared to that.

— "Oh, I see. That must have been tough for you too. I guess our situations aren't so different, in the end. My family ignores me but compared to your story, mine is nothing. But what they don't know is that I have magic too now."

— "You too?"

— "What do you mean, you too?"

— "I have magic too."

— "Whaaat?!"

— "Let me explain. I actually have magic that lets me change shape. But here's the thing, once I changed into this shape, I couldn't change back. My magic just... stopped working. And since I've been close to you, I can feel it slowly coming back."

— "Can you show me your original shape?"

— "Sure. Let me show you."

Once Yuuki transformed into his original shape, I saw a magnificent black panther. I never imagined he could be this impressive.

— "Do all animals have magic like you?"

— "No, only certain types of animals can carry magic."

— "How can we know which pets can carry magic?"

— "We don't, really. Among pets, we can usually tell which ones are powerful and which carry magic. But between pets and humans, there's no way to know until the animal shows it itself."

— "Can you use your magic on humans? Like changing a person's features, hair color, eye color, that kind of thing?"

— "I've never tried it before, but we can if you'd like."

— "Yes, please, change my hair to blond and my eyes to pink."

— "Alright, let's do that."

Yuuki approached me and placed his paw on my forehead. I felt a faint, pleasant warmth. When I looked in the mirror, I saw myself with long, golden blond hair and pink eyes.

— "Yuuki, I've got an idea! Let's enter the tournament. That way I can hide my identity, I'll change my hair and eye color. The reward for first prize is 5,000 lyra. It'd be better if you came in your panther form, since my family already knows your cat form, it'll be less suspicious this way."

Yuuki went still for a moment, his ears lowering slightly and said:

— "There's something else you should know, the tournament isn't just watched by villagers, Amaria. Lot of nobles come too, sometimes even ones from the capital." He paused. "The kind of people who'd recognize a rare magic the second they saw it."

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