Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat

“Hey, Satou. I’d like to talk to you about something.”

While I was working, Sakakibara, who was sitting beside me, suddenly spoke to me.
Sakakibara always talked about him and his girlfriend’s love life, but today he was unusually not.

Sakakibara basically lived a heartwarming life at all times, but he was honestly better than me at his job.
Sakakibara was a man who could do everything with ease, but there were only a few times when he asked me for advice in a formal manner.
When I replied, “What’s wrong?” he opened his mouth with a grave expression, feeling heavy inside.

“Actually, lately, my girl…”
“Okay, I don’t know. Take care of it yourself.”
“Why!?”

He shouted with a look of deep surprise. I felt the stares of my colleagues sitting at the nearby desk.
I wanted my honest concern to be returned. When I opened the door, it ended up being about his girlfriend, his favorite topic.

“It’s not that I’m in love with her or that things aren’t going well.”
“It’s just…”

Sakakibara continued to talk, adding that as an excuse.
I thought about just ignoring him and going back to work, but then he lowered his head and raised his eyebrows more than usual, so I decided to listen to him.

“It’s a little hard to say, but…you know, she’s been saying that she want to see Mashiro-chan every day for a while now…”
“Ahhhh…”

I wasn’t going to take it too seriously, but when I heard what it was about, it was something that only he could discuss with me.
I have not seen Ayano since our encounter at the shopping mall, but it seemed that she was in a more terminal state than I thought.

“Satou, you haven’t been taking a lot of pictures lately, have you? That also seemed to be the cause…”
“I-I guess…”

I couldn’t help but avert my gaze after the words Sakakibara spoke.
Before, every day was like a photo session, and I would take pictures and send them to Sakakibara.
Ayano-san must have gotten to know Mashiro through that.

Recently, however, I’ve been taking fewer and fewer pictures of Mashiro.
It was only natural, but I don’t have the gut to take pictures of Mashiro in her human form. In fact, it was probably not a good idea to take pictures of her.

I felt bad for betraying the expectations of someone who was so interested in Mashiro.

“I’d like to ask you a favor, but I don’t want to force you, can you let her meet Mashiro in the near future?”
“Hmm, okay.”
“I won’t say I’m in a hurry to meet Mashiro-chan, and —eh, you don’t mind?”

Sakakibara, who had been bowing his head with his hands together, let out a pause at my immediate response. I replied again, “yeah,” and smiled at Sakakibara.

“You were pretty stubborn about it before, what happened?”
“Just the other day, I asked her if I could invite someone over and she agreed.”
“Satou, how long have you been able to speak like a cat…?”

Sakakibara looked more and more mystified.
The correct answer was that Mashiro can now speak Japanese…or rather she could only speak it to begin with.

“Anyway, thank you for your help. To be honest, I didn’t expect Ayano to like cats that much either.”
“If she loves them so much, doesn’t she have the option of keeping them?”
“The place I live now doesn’t allow pets. To top it off, she said she’d move to a pet-friendly place if she couldn’t see Mashiro-chan…”
“Her love for cats is so heavy…”

I had thought that she was quite fond of Mashiro based on what he had just told me, but I honestly didn’t think she was that fond of her.
It was a good decision to get Mashiro’s confirmation at the right time. After a few more minutes, Sakakibara’s plan was finalized.

“I’ll let Ayano know when I get back, and I’ll let you know if I can make it.”
“I understand.”

I replied to Sakakibara, who looked relieved, and went back to work.
I’ll tell Mashiro about it as soon as I get home. This was going to trouble her, and I should think of a way to thank her.

That night, while I was eating dinner with Mashiro, I received a message from Sakakibara.
After confirming the contents of the message, I talked to Mashiro, who was sitting across the table from me as usual, eating her dinner in a well-behaved manner.

“Mashiro, do you remember what I said the other day about inviting someone to the house?”
“Yes, I remember. Have you made plans?”
“Yeah, it was short notice, but they’re coming this weekend.”

The message sent by Sakakibara also said that he was sorry for the urgency of the matter.
I’m sure it was just that Ayano couldn’t wait much longer.
It was within my expectation that she was going to blow off any plans to come and see Mashiro.

“I understand. Then I’ll spend the day as a cat.”
“I’m sorry for being so selfish.”
“No, it’s for Satou-san’s dear friend.”

As expected, she agreed.
As usual, I apologized for the inconvenience I caused Mashiro by indulging Ayano, but she doesn’t seem bothered by it.

“As I told you before, there will be two people coming, and the woman was quite fond of cats, but if you don’t like it, I’ll stop immediately.”
“Thank you very much.”
“I’m the one who should be saying that. I gave you trouble.”

Even Ayano-san knows what she’s allowed to do, so I’m not that worried about her, but what’s important was Mashiro’s feelings.
Mashiro was a patient girl. I can’t let her push herself too hard.
I’ll try to take care of her in return for her helping me.