You gotta be kitten me!

The next day, Makoto rode the train with Kimiko to work. Sitting side by side, they were quiet for the majority of the ride until she looked over to him with a sudden thought.

"I think the matchmaker was wrong about you." Kimiko said, while unlucky passengers without a seat wiggled like soggy noodles gripping a handrail in the background.

"Huh?" Makoto uttered, having been distracted.

"She said you weren't a prompt person because you were late to her meeting."

"Oh that. Yeah, I do that sometimes." He said with a ruffle of his hair on the back of his head.

"But you were early for our date."

"Exactly. Keeps ya on your toes." He grinned.

"Annnd you were up early to go to work with me too." She pointed out.

"Can't pass up a chance to see you in cat ears." He said with a smug look.

Kimiko narrowed her eyes at him. "I already told you, I don't wear cat ears."

"If you don't, then why am I on this train so early in the morning hmm?" Makoto sassed. "Case closed!" He announced energetically with a stomp of his feet, his hands smacking onto his legs just as they reached their stop and the doors opened.

Today Kimiko wore her hair down with two small braids wrapped around the side of her head to keep her hair out of her face. The wind was light and the sky was a subtle blue. Her uniform consisted of dark green pants and a beige-colored apron with a plain white t-shirt, all of which had at least one small pink paw imprinted somewhere.

The closer they approached the quaint café, the more eager Makoto was. She entered the building and immediately a mob of cats stared at them both then ran over to her and sat down, meowing their little lies of how hungry they were with big eyes.

"Such starving little fat cats." She teased with amusement then knelt down and gave them each a few head pats before her cheery manager came over to her.

"Oooh Kimiko! Did you forget what today is?" The woman asked with a big smile.

"Hm?" Kimiko hummed, then stood up. Suddenly she felt something placed on the top of her head.

Makoto's expression slowly but surely filled with uncontainable glee, like an elevator rising higher and higher up a tall building.

"Eh?" Kimiko tilted her head to the side with confusion, only to hear a jingle of bells. Her face nearly turned pale.

"It's adoption day!" Her manager beamed. "Our new policy is that after each cat is adopted, you do a dance and shake, those, ears!" She said, swaying in an entirely too upbeat and cheesy way for Kimiko to take her at all seriously. "Come on, I'll show you, follow me." She took Kimiko by the hand and dragged her off to the back while Makoto snickered to himself.

When Kimiko came back, Makoto was still waiting for her but this time with a grey cat sitting on his head. He noticed she had a new outfit as well, this time she wore a pink fluffy dress and a short, white apron that was ruffled on the bottom. Her face was the opposite of what should be expected, as gloomy as a mushroom growing in the dark. She folded her arms across her chest in a pout as Makoto stared at her, a jingle accompanying her every move.

"I…" He started.

"Don't." Her eyes narrowed.

"Told…"

"Don't!" She stomped her foot with the bells as her echo.

"You so." He said with a smirk, then flicked the bell on her fuzzy cat ears, making her flinch a bit before she shook her head, jingling all the while.

"Would you just go sit down?" She rolled her eyes.

"You seem pretty annoyed at your soon-to-be husband you know. Shouldn't you be all lovey-dovey?" Makoto pointed out with a gesture of his fingers as he walked over to a booth to relax. The cat on his head turned in a circle to stare at Kimiko while his living perch walked them away from her, soon getting distracted by the catwalk mounted on the ceiling and jumping there instead.

"Husband?" Her manager questioned with raised eyebrows. "Is he really your type?"

"It's a long story, but yes." Kimiko said with a guilty smile as she rubbed the back of her head.

The café turned out to be even more busy than usual today, much to the newly instated "cat-girl's" chagrin.

She zipped through, making themed drinks and serving them, eventually ending up with a cat on her shoulder as she did so. Then when she passed by Makoto again she had another cat perched on her, then another, and another on her head too. The little creatures had various levels of success in keeping up with her, some gripping her dress or hair.

Still, she moved around with the ease of someone used to such an occurrence until eventually, the cats distracted themselves with other things.

"Oh Kimiko!" Her manager called with a wave of three bells strung together. "We have our first adoption!!"

Kimiko smiled, at first, until she realized what that meant for her. Her expression immediately fell, going through all stages of grief until she finally reached acceptance with a big sigh.

She put her hands up into loose fists like paws then swayed her hips side to side, turned in a circle, tapped her small feet quickly with energy then broke out in a big smile with her hands in the air and one leg lifted off the ground. "The cats thank you for your kindness!" She exclaimed, her cheeks beet red from embarrassment.

Makoto simply watched the scene unfold, then walked past her and up to the counter where her coworker was managing the adoption process. "I'd like to adopt all your cats."

"Makoto!" Kimiko exclaimed and grabbed him by the collar then brought him back to his seat. "Very funny." She glared, pouting with her arms crossed over her chest. "As if this isn't embarrassing enough."

"Aww come on. I think you look cute. But… it is kinda funny too ya know?" Makoto said with a boyish smirk, innocent enough for her to let him off the hook.

"Well… anyway. It's not usually like this, I do play a big part in helping these little creatures find a home." She said, clearly concerned that her reputation had been damaged.

"Don't worry, I believe you." Makoto assured her, with a genuine smile this time. "Everyone needs a home after all."

Kimiko looked at the clock, then at her manager, who anticipated the question of her break and allowed it with a wave. She sat in the booth beside Makoto, pushing her fluffy dress down, then soon had a question on her lips. "I never did ask, what do you do for a living?"

"Me? Eh… I usually sell peanuts to elephants. It's actually pretty-"

Kimiko stared at him, disbelief practically painted across her face, so he stopped his ridiculousness for a moment with a sigh. "I work in IT. Not as fun to say out loud and clearly not as fun as working in a cat café." He said with amusement, looking around at the scene of everyone with their warm drinks and cuddly or mischievous cats and kittens.

She smiled softly then took off her fake cat ears and placed them on Makoto's head instead. "It isn't your ideal line of work then, I take it?"

"Not really." He said, lacking his usual energy.

"Well… what would you rather do?" Kimiko asked.

"Whatever the wind wants me to I guess."

"Hmm?" She hummed. "The wind?"

"Yeah." He put his hands behind his head casually. "You know, no plans or anything like that."

"Seems hard to end up where you want to that way." Kimiko mused.

"See, that's the thing. It doesn't matter where you go if you've got no place to be." He said, leaning back in his seat and propping his feet on the chair in front of him, the bells on his head jingling.

Kimiko suddenly giggled, making him tilt his head to the side.

Ting, ting, ting

The bells jingled again.

"You know what, you're right. It is pretty funny." Kimiko decided.

Makoto looked up at the accessory, then shook his head haphazardly to get them off, looking much like a dog, and leaving Kimiko to catch them before they fell. "Well then." She said, thoughtful of his last statement. "I'll be your wind."

Makoto laughed in a huff, a playfully defiant sparkle in his eyes. 

"We'll just see about that."