Not Cut Out for Babysitting Blunders

"Mizuki, Mizuki!" Garden scampers up to Mizuki, shaking her frantically. "You need to help us take care of that kid over there."

[Not Cut Out for Babysitting Blunders: Commission Accepted]

Mizuki stares blankly. "How did you get yourself in this position?"

Garden speaks with elaborate hand gestures, gaze frequenting between the child and Mizuki nervously, "My brother and I—We wanted to find a way to earn for ourselves since Mother's having a hard time at the restaurant—"

"Do you know what he likes?" Mizuki turns to Garden. She shakes her head. Mizuki's heart falls because God, children are such a big responsibility. Steeling herself for what she has ahead, she approaches the child with cautious steps, leaning in front of him. Mizuki reaches a hand out towards the child. "Hello, I'm Mizuki, what's your name?" she tries to make her voice sound welcoming. The child stops, raising his gaze to Mizuki cautiously.

"I'm Jake," the child introduces, turning his face away from Mizuki. With an attitude, still in the midst of tears, he adds coldly, "What do you want from me?" Mizuki's brows crease at his tone, swallowing any bitterness she might hold against the child. Mizuki side-glances towards Olive who's smile settles into his usual smile. He shrugs.

"Do you want to do something fun? Why are you crying?" Mizuki coos. The toddler's frown deepens into a scowl and another tear slips off his eyelid. Mizuki blinks in confusion, having absolutely no idea as to what she's doing wrong.

"They scared off my cat," the toddler sniffles.

"You what—?" Mizuki snaps her neck towards Olive. Olive rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, flashing a small but awkward smile. Jake flinches at Mizuki's louder voice, choking up as he bursts into yet another fit of tears. Mizuki reaches her hands out for his shoulder, opening her mouth to speak while knowing she has no words of comfort.

'I'm going to be a horrible caregiver'. Mizuki clenches her jaw, slowly caressing the child's arm in an attempt to calm him. Except, this continues for at least fifteen more minutes with Garden picking random toys and giving it to him while Olive fidgets with the Blueblume stalk in his hands. "I want to find my cat," the child folds his arms.

"Okay," Mizuki stands. "Where do you want to look for him?"

"Different places," the kid babbles in response. 'Not very clear', Mizuki remarks to herself, looking to Garden for a better translation of her task.

"We have to go to different locations around the town and look for cats. His one should be somewhere around one of them. It's a stray," Garden explains. "I have spare fish and Olive has cat toys too!"

Olive fidgets with a cat claw toy in his hands distractedly.

[Not Cut Out for Babysitting Blunders: Follow Jake]

Mizuki follows Jake carefully as he totters off into town. She turns to Garden, leaning towards her to whisper, "Do you know much about cats? I've never had to take care of a pet myself so this is intimidating."

"Me either but Olive seems to get along well with strays," Garden smiles warmly. Mizuki keeps her eye on Olive who looks like he's being pulled along by the kid, running with his hand outstretched in an awkward manner. Jake occasionally turns back to slap his hand away or pause to berate the older boy. Garden flashes an awkward grin, "Not so much with children."

"Yeah, I've always been the babysitted… Never the babysitter," Mizuki narrows her eyes, watching Jake in thought as she wonders if she used to be like that with her maids who took care of her when she was growing up. A couple minutes of walking later, Mizuki is snapped out of her reverie with a tap on her shoulder by Garden. She winces, awkward upon having been caught distracted. She inches forward with several cautious steps, trying to get a better look at a group of cats at the foot of the fountain in the middle of the Plaza.

"There, feed the cats and they might tell you where Tibbles is," Jake instructs. Mizuki furrows her eyebrows, looking to Jake for clearer instructions like how she's supposed to know what they like or who in the world Tibbles is. Jake stares back and furrows his eyebrows, "Why are you standing there? Do you have all day to do this?"

Mizuki rises to her full height, leaning a hand against her hip as she questions where such a small kid, basically half her height, gets the audacity to retort against her. Mizuki crouches in front of the cats. Most don't acknowledge her presence, one or two staring at her with piercing feline gazes. Garden hands Mizuki a list, "I found this pinned on the refrigerator. It could help you in knowing what the cats like."

As she lowers her gaze towards the paper, a grey cat with a white patch around its eye steps forward, brushing against Mizuki affectionately. She coos, referring to the piece of paper which is a list of likes and dislikes of the cat. She lowers herself onto her backside, reaching out her hands towards the cat. Double-checking with the list, she notes the cat's name to be Ragdoll (an odd name of choice for a Calico) and it supposedly likes cat food. There are question marks after this, giving no further indication as to what she's supposed to do. "Do you have cat food?" Mizuki looks up to Garden.

"What kind? I have tuna, chicken and… pork? Not sure why I have that," Garden states doubtfully as she digs through her waist pouch.

"Uh… I'll take tuna," Mizuki drags her words in doubt. You can't go wrong with fish, right? They're cats. Garden tosses her a can of raw tuna. Mizuki catches this, promptly removing the metal cover. She sets it on the ground, watching the cat with an inviting smile. For the first few seconds, she thinks her choice was correct when the cat cautiously approaches the can, even lowering its nose to sniff it.

Mizuki reaches a hand out to pat it but it quickly swerves, a three-heart bar appearing in front of her with one shattering. Mizuki's brows crease in confusion. "What are you doing?! Didn't you check the back of the paper?" Jake groans upon seeing the cat's disinterested expression. Mizuki flips the page. Ah. She probably should've done this earlier, considering that she now has a detailed list of what each species enjoys.

Mizuki attempts to beckon the same cat towards her again. It watches her quietly with its yellow eyes before hissing and turning away. Mizuki recoils. 'This cat reminds me of Hinata', she thinks before realising the significance of the thought. She huffs, waiting patiently for another cat to approach her. 'I wonder when I'll see him again.'