Chapter XXXII.

'Yippee!' Katsura-san cried out in happiness when I informed her that I'd be coming, and she seemed quite excited to meet with Gōjun. 

She indicated us the way to her house, and Gōjun and I headed for the said-address, to arrive in front of a small, two storied building, situated in the southern periphery of the city. 

The building was found in the middle of a fenced yard, and it had an outdoor staircase which led to the upper floor where there was a single apartment. It was there in that apartment on the upper floor that Katsura-san lived. After her return to Kokubunji sometimes ago, she has been able to rent the same apartment as she used to when she was still at school. And I guessed that her landlady occupied the ground floor.

Making our way up the staircase, Gōjun and I came to a stop on the balcony in front of the green apartment door to knock once.

The brown-haired woman answered the door immediately, and she gave me a large, affectionate hug, telling me that she was very happy to see me.

'I'm happy to see you too,' I murmured, with a shy smile.

She looked at Gōjun after that, to declare, in a pleasant tone, 'And you, you must be Hime's friend, right?'

The latter nodded. 'It's nice to meet you!'

We heard a rush of movement, at that moment, accompanied by several different mewing voices. Instantly, I looked at Katsura-san's feet and my eyes illuminated with adoration at the sight of the four balls of fur which had ran their way to the door to join her.

'Kakkoii!' I exclaimed, with fondness. 

They are so adorable!

I love cats! I find them so cute!

All four were tomcats. The first three were quite young, around six months old, while the fourth one was an adult male of around two years old.

'Ah! I present you the members of my family!' Katsura-san announced, cheerfully, and she presented each one of the cats to us in turn. 'This is Neko-chan! Taro-chan! And Upo-chan! And this is their older brother- Niou-niisan!'

At this, Gōjun's expression turned a bit awkward, while I crouched down to greet the four little darlings properly.

'Ohayō!' I cooed, reaching out for Niou-niisan- which was standing the closest- with the intention to take its paw in my hand and give it a small hand-shake, but only for me to end up pulling my hand away, and backing off, sniffling, as it scratched the back of my hand with a hiss.

'Oi! Niou! That's not done!' Katsura-san scolded it, before she told me, in a light-humored giggle, 'Don't mind him! Niou-chan is always agitated when he sees new people. You'll have to give him some time to get used to you. And once this is done, he'll show himself incredibly affectionate!'

'Ah, Niou-chan!' I said, lovingly, approaching it again by just a bit, 'I hope that we'll be friends soon!'

Katsura-san moved out of the doorway then, to let us in. Her four little companions tagged along with her, walking feet by feet with her.

The apartment was very small. The living room was also the dining room, as well as the bedroom, with its floor covered with tatami. At the center, was a small, low, round table where I guessed Katsura-san sat to take her meals, but also to work on her books- her laptop was sitting there, open. A little further down the room, close to the window on the back wall, was a rolled-up futon, and just on our right, in the corner, there was a door which led to the kitchen. The latter, was very tiny, with its floor tiled, and I supposed that there was a door there which led into the bathroom.

However, the moment we entered the room, what truly caught my attention were the tons and tons of manga books and DVDs that were piled up on the one side of the room. 

I didn't know that Katsura-san loved mangas, just like me! 

I was further impressed when I turned my eyes onto the long and sizable furniture which lined the left-hand side wall. Its shelves were covered with countless famous manga figurines, with the furniture bearing a large TV set in the middle. 

'Wah! Sugoi!' I exclaimed, as I rushed up to the furniture to admire two figurines in particular. 'Are these really the figurines of Seiun Zarame and the Prince Ieyasu Shiraishi from the manga "Te wo Tsunaide"?!'

'Hm-hm!' Katsura-san replied, with a cheery smile. 'They're limited editions! It's a friend of mine who helped me to obtain them!'

I was more than amazed. 'Sugoi!'

She chuckled, before telling us, 'Oh, but where's my mind? Please, sit down! I'll bring you something to drink!' 

And on these words, she started to make for the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, 'I hope you both love milkshakes!'

'Oh, I love milkshakes!' I said, ecstatically, making for the table with Gōjun to sit there.

Just as I had plumped myself down, suddenly, I realized that I had sat on something. A book. I took it out from under me, only to blush madly when I realized that it was, in fact, a Yaoi manga!

I- I didn't know that Katsura-san likes this type of book!

When I heard Gōjun's breath catch, I looked at his face, only to blush even more madly as I realized that the latter had looked into my direction to check exactly on what I had sat, and he was now staring at the book, with wide, unblinking eyes, his cheeks having taken a light shade of red.

Very rapidly, I put the book away under the table, and we turned our face away from each other, trying to avoid each other's look.

Katsura-san returned by that instant with our milkshakes, and after having served us, she sat herself down with us to drink hers. 

The cold drink helped to ease the flush of color on my face, and very quickly, I was no longer thinking too much about the Yaoi manga resting just beneath the table.

'Ah! It's so delicious!' I exclaimed, cheerily.

Gōjun seemed to be enjoying his quite a lot too, and so was Katsura-san.

'I'm so glad!' she said.

'Katsura-san,' I murmured, after a minute, as I took a glance at her open laptop, 'were you working on a new novel?'

Putting her glass down, and lowering her eyes, she nodded once, and informed me with a small squirm, 'But this one is very different from the others. I have been trying my hand at a new genre recently- the whodunit type- and I've just finished writing it sometimes ago. I was checking if everything is right in place.'

'The whodunit type?!' 

I looked at Gōjun's face, on the spot, filled with surprise and enthusiasm, to exclaim, 'That's your favourite genre!' 

'Really?!' Katsura-san asked, her eyes widening at him, expectantly. 

But, just at that moment, her cellphone started to ring. 

Taking a look at the screen, she asked us to excuse her and got to her feet to move to the window to speak on the phone for a few minutes, before she returned to us, with an apologetic smile on her face, to tell us, 'Guys! I'm so sorry! I think I'm going to have to abandon you for a while. It was my publisher on the phone just now. He had told me that he'd send someone to collect the manuscript tomorrow in the morning, but apparently, there's a change of plan; the person he's sending is coming to collect it today itself, and so, I need to rush to the metro station on the spot. I'm really sorry! I hope that you don't mind. But please, make yourself at home! And if you get hungry, don't hesitate to go into the kitchen!'

She had already grabbed her bag and a few things, by now, as well as a fat paper manuscript, and was currently making for the door. 

Gōjun and I got to our feet.

'Katsura-san, are you sure you don't want us to leave?' I asked her, anxiously.

'No, please, stay! I'll be back as quickly as possible!'

'Okay!' I nodded, with a docile smile, after which, she was gone. 

Turning to her four little companions, then, I closed my eyes and put my forefinger up, to tell them, cheerily, 'Well, well, in the meantime, we're going to be able to get a little more acquainted!' 

***

Sometimes later, on the other side...

Hiyori Miyatsu stayed through the whole lesson, interrupting Natsui Mizoroge now and then to criticize her in her explanations, though being careful to use a sweet, innocent tone. She would also point out to imaginary mistakes, only to laugh at herself, in the aim to make herself appear like a light-humored girl in the eyes of a certain young man.

'I'm sorry! I fear I am distracting you!' she said to the latter, putting on an apologetic expression on her face. 

The young man had to admit to himself that he was, indeed, finding it difficult to concentrate with her frequent interruptions. However, not wanting to show himself unkind to the girl by pointing it out to her, he averted his eyes and scratched the back of his head, to lie, 'No, it's okay.'

Natsui's cellphone began to ring by that moment, the alarm she had set, announcing the end of the lesson.

'I'm going to leave now!' the ginger-haired girl told them, edgily, getting to her feet to gather her things.

'Already?!' Hiyori exclaimed, in a disappointed tone, getting to her feet too.

'Y-Yes. I need to- to go to work!'

Natsui was feeling so agitated by the dark-haired girl's presence that she couldn't help but stammer. 

'Hey, I could probably walk you to your workplace today to see exactly where the pizzeria is situated, so I can visit it later!' Yūsei proposed to her, unexpectedly.

'Uh, yes, okay!' the ginger-haired agreed, feeling a bit shy.

'Well! That's an excellent idea!' Hiyori cried, with excitement, and without giving any warning, she jumped at Yūsei to wound her arm around his, asking them, 'Can I come with you? I was exactly going in that direction! And, in this way, we'll get the chance to spend a little more time all together!'

Yūsei looked at the dark-haired girl's face, feeling uncomfortable at the way she was clinging herself at his arm. Again, not wanting to appear rude, he decided not to tell her anything about it. 

'Uh… Sure!' Natsui replied, equally uncomfortable.

She really couldn't understand what the dark-haired girl was up to, and with every passing minute, it was making her more and more jittery. She also had to admit to herself that she felt pretty ill at ease at the dark-haired girl's familiarity with the blond-haired male, not only because she was wary of Hiyori, but also because she could remember a certain young man named Teruaki Kume, who had been presented to her only recently as the girl's boyfriend. 

The pizzeria was located several streets away, and Hiyori kept her arm around Yūsei's as they headed for it. On her side, Natsui kept an arm-length distance from them while she walked, avoiding to look at them as much as she could.

'Ah! This is the shop that I wanted to visit!' Hiyori exclaimed, at some point, pausing down in front of a designer shop along one of the streets, and bringing the blond-haired male to a stop along with her. 'I have detected a beautiful T-shirt the other day in it, and ever since, I've been wanting to buy it!' Turning to Natsui then, she asked her, 'If you're not getting late for work, would you mind accompanying me in the shop?'

Natsui fixated her in hesitation. 'No, I'm not getting late for work but-'

Even before she could finish, the dark-haired girl had cut her off, saying 'Cool!', before grabbing her by her wrist to drag her- as well as the blond young man- into the shop.

'Yūsei, I'll need your advice! I'm not good at choosing colors!' she said to the latter, faking a sheepish smile, and letting go of the ginger-haired girl's hand, she tugged the young man away with her towards a particular rack of T-shirts. 

Yūsei turned his head around to look at Natsui, feeling a bit embarrassed at the priority that had been given to him by the dark-haired girl, over her cousin.

Natsui watched after the two of them for a minute, before she took a glance around of herself and moved to the closest racks to take a look at the different models and designs. The T-shirts were quite plain, their designs simple and unique, with each sample bearing the logo of the designer. She found a few of them very pretty.

'Ah, Yūsei, you've really got to help me out!' she heard Hiyori declare, at one point, complainingly, and the ginger-haired girl lifted her head to look at the two of them for a moment from where she was. 

The dark-haired girl was showing the blond male three T-shirt of different colors, asking him to pick one for her, and the young man in question was scratching the back of his head, his expression half-confused, half-panicked.

'Can I choose one at random?' he asked the girl, and latter shook her head at him, and sighed, 'Alright! Fine!'

Natsui couldn't help but find the young man a bit funny, and covering her mouth with her hand, she giggled at him.

After Hiyori had paid for the T-shirt, they came out of the shop all together to head in direction of the pizzeria. This, was only a short distance away from where they were now.

'Say, Natsui, do you know the woman who works at the shop?'

Natsui looked at Hiyori's face in bewilderment, replying, 'No. Why?'

'Well, she was watching you in a very peculiar way!' Hiyori asserted, with a small pout.

'Really?' The ginger-haired girl became even more bewildered now.

Pretending to be vexed, the dark-haired girl stared ahead of herself, muttering, 'Those shop attendants I tell you! Whenever they see someone who comes from a poor background walk into their shop, they immediately assume them to be thieves, and think that if they leave them of the eyes even for a second, they're going to grab something and run out of the shop!'

Natsui's eyes widened at her, her heart skipping a beat. Yūsei looked at the dark-haired girl instantly as she said that, the young man astounded. He couldn't understand how Hiyori came to the conclusion that if the woman was watching Hiyori, it was because she took her for a thief!

'I don't think that was the reason why she was looking at Natsui,' he stated, honestly. 'I've noticed that she was going through several pictures of women with ginger hair and the hair-dyeing process on her computer! I think it's Natsui's natural hair color that attracted her!'

'Oh- Oh, really?' Hiyori giggled, awkwardly, before she turned her face slightly away to grit her teeth together, her blood making a rapid turn in her body. She was enraged not only by the fact that her attempt to belittle the ginger-haired girl has just been thwarted, but also, and perhaps, above it all, that it was Yūsei who contradicted her on it.

Natsui looked at the blond young man's face for a minute, grateful for the precision, before she remembered a recent incident, and chuckled, 'Well, well! Talking about thieves, do you remember the incident with the dog?!'

And, the young man couldn't help, but chuckle too. 

This had for effect to rile Hiyori even more. She couldn't support the idea that they were sharing what resembled to be a private joke between the two of them. She wanted to hit them on the head with the bag she had in her possession, but managed to resist the urge.

'Oh, there we are!' Natsui announced, shortly after that, as they arrived in front of the pizzeria where she worked. They all came to a stop in front of the door of the building. The pizzeria was quite small. The building was one-storied and rectangular, with large bay windows.

Hiyori looked at Yūsei's face on the spot to check out his expression. The place looked so shabby to her and had nothing to do with the kind of place where she had taken him on the previous night, and therefore, she expected him to be disappointed. But, on the contrary, the young man didn't seem to depreciate it. His stomach proved it as it groaned with hunger.

Natsui chuckled at him, and embarrassed, the young man giggled at himself, his face reddening.

'Ah! Ah! My stomach is becoming a small devil! I've just taken lunch!'

'Do you want to come in?' the ginger-haired girl asked him, kindly, and he replied, with a smile, 'No, maybe some other day.'

Turning to Hiyori then, Natsui asked the girl, with agitation, 'And you, Hiyori?'

The latter had too much difficulty to control her anger by now that she felt like if she had to spend one more minute in their company, she was going to kill one of them.

Putting on a fake smile, Hiyori replied "no" in-between her teeth and said goodbye to them rapidly, before she scooted out of sight. The moment she rounded the corner of the street, she backed up against the side wall and closed her eyes to slam her fist against it.

Calm down, Hiyori! You need to control yourself more properly! 

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, to stare in front of herself, her jaws tight.

Yes, tomorrow, I'll do better!

On their side, Natsui and Yūsei stared at the dark-haired girl for a minute after she had left, before they turned their gazes onto each other.

'Well, see you tomorrow!' the young man said to the ginger-haired girl with another smile, which the girl returned, while giving him a small nod.

And the two parted with each other.

Thank you for reading!

Glossary

Kakkoii - means 'good-looking' or 'handsome'

Sugoi - 'wow'

Onii-san/Niisan - elder brother

Yaoi - Boys' Love