"Yui..." Komachi Hikigaya, her eyes red-rimmed, hugged Yui Yuigahama. "You've already done wonderfully. During the days it spent with you, it must have been very happy."
"Thank you, Komachi." Yui Yuigahama leaned against Komachi Hikigaya.
Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly spoke. "No."
Yui Yuigahama raised her head. "What?"
"Experts who study wild animal behavior believe that cats hiding before death follows the jungle law of survival of the fittest. When cats are injured or ill, they conceal their weakness, find a secluded place away from threats, and adjust their bodies." Yukino Yukinoshita's voice barely fluctuated. "Especially places with dim light and lower temperatures, where they wait to recover and regain their strength. But they may also die because their injuries or illness are too severe to heal on their own."
"So..." Yui Yuigahama smiled forlornly. "It wasn't trying to spare my feelings."
"I mean, it might still be alive." Yukino Yukinoshita spoke softly. "Dim light, lower temperatures, somewhere familiar and away from threats—you already searched there, didn't you?"
"That drainage ditch!" Yui Yuigahama suddenly understood, only to fall into fresh confusion. "Then why...?"
"Most calico cats are female, and female cats mature earlier than male cats. Usually around six months, though nutrition, environment, physical condition, and psychological factors can affect the timing. Early-maturing cats may show clear signs as early as four or five months." Yukino Yukinoshita paused. "They go into heat three times a year, each lasting about a quarter: mid-January to early March, May to June, and... August to September, when you met it."
PS: Bonus chapter for ten thousand recommendations
Although it still looked like a kitten, that calico had already grown up. It was old enough to fall in love.
"Compared to your guess, the more likely possibility is..." Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze softened. "It got married."
"If that's really what happened..." Yui Yuigahama's eyes blurred as trembling tears slid down. "That would be so wonderful..."
"As I said, compared to running away, talking things through is a better way to overcome emotional trauma." Yukino Yukinoshita lowered her head and took a sip of her drink. "So it's better to say it aloud."
"Exactly!" Komachi Hikigaya nodded forcefully, pulling out a tissue to wipe Yui Yuigahama's tears. "Then, Yui, do you think you can go to the cat café now?"
Yukino Yukinoshita responded almost seamlessly. "I can go with you."
"I don't know..." Yui Yuigahama sniffled. "I might need a little longer to get used to it... Oh, right, Komachi has a cat at home." She smiled. "You two can go together."
"That won't work... I've been there once before." Komachi Hikigaya spread her hands helplessly. "It caught the scent of other cats and got really angry."
Yui Yuigahama looked at Dong Yunshan. "Then..."
Komachi Hikigaya's gaze followed. "What about..."
Dong Yunshan sighed. "I..."
Yukino Yukinoshita looked at Dong Yunshan. "You should still have something to take care of."
Dong Yunshan nodded. "I do."
Komachi Hikigaya and Yui Yuigahama exchanged a look.
For some reason, they were a little worried about Dong Yunshan's married life.
Under Yukino Yukinoshita's guidance, even Yui Yuigahama, who was not good at studying, passed the exams easily.
Not to mention Dong Yunshan, whose grades had never been bad to begin with.
The first school year ended with the start of spring break. Following the address he had found, Dong Yunshan walked through the shopping center called PLENA.
"And then this way... Hm?" Dong Yunshan turned his gaze and saw a figure who was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Yukino Yukinoshita.
Dong Yunshan was familiar with her face, but this was the first time he had seen her dressed like this.
Yukino Yukinoshita wore a pale yellow coat over a light white dress. A ribbon tied high around her waist outlined her slender figure while further emphasizing...
Compared to her usual cold appearance in her school uniform, she looked softer and cuter.
Her strapless high-heeled sandals made crisp, cool sounds with every step.
Her twin tails, tied with red ribbons, swayed gently along with her.
She held a shopping mall guide map in one hand, expressionlessly searching for something.
She lowered her head to look at the map.
Then she raised her head and looked around.
Then she looked at the map again and raised her head once more.
Then she sighed softly, snapped the booklet shut, and resolutely headed toward the wall.
"I don't know where you're trying to go," Dong Yunshan said, "but I do know you can't walk through walls."
Hearing his voice, Yukino Yukinoshita glared at him. Her wariness was unmistakably displayed through that fierce look.
Once she saw it was Dong Yunshan, the coldness in her eyes was replaced by surprise.
"Oh?" Yukino Yukinoshita tilted her head. Her lively twin tails swayed, and a complicated expression appeared on her face—concern mixed with anticipation. "Did you take care of it?"
"Thanks to a few friends of mine, and after quite a bit of trouble, I finally got it done." Dong Yunshan waved the address in his hand. "Do you want to go to the newly opened place, or come with me?"
Yukino Yukinoshita pressed her cherry-colored lips together, and the worry in her eyes faded. "We're going together."
Dong Yunshan said, "Do you even know the way? And you want to go together?"
"Gh..." Yukino Yukinoshita was glaring again. "I'll send Yuigahama an email."
"When did you exchange email addresses?"
"I don't remember exactly when, but I can confirm it was when you didn't know about it." After sending the email, Yukino Yukinoshita said, "Give me your email address."
"Why?"
"So I can contact you when you figure out how to complete the second command," Yukino Yukinoshita answered. "And so I can contact you to issue a command when you fail to think of one."
Dong Yunshan gave Yukino Yukinoshita his email address and received a test email from her.
"So..." Yukino Yukinoshita walked beside Dong Yunshan. "You've confirmed it?"
"Yeah." Dong Yunshan let out a long breath. "The girl with the braid did it."
The girl with the braid said she had two good friends, but neither of them played with her anymore. While wandering around alone, she found the calico kitten.
Why had her good friends stopped playing with her?
The class representative had already given them the answer.
It wasn't just Yui Yuigahama and the class representative. Many children in that apartment building had secretly kept cats from the adults.
The girl with the braid's two friends might have been among them. Children with the same hobby could gather together.
Children without the same hobby would be excluded.
To fit back into her circle of friends, the girl with the braid needed to find a cat and secretly keep it.
So she began wandering around and found the calico kitten.
But that cat was being raised by Yui Yuigahama.
The girl with the braid and Yui Yuigahama lived in the same apartment building. Even if she forcibly took the cat away, she would not be able to hide it forever.
She needed the cat to play with her friends, but Yui Yuigahama would inevitably discover it sooner or later.
So she could only ask Yui Yuigahama for it.
But Yui Yuigahama refused.
The girl with the braid could not play with her friends who secretly kept cats by using the calico cat, so she changed her approach.
As long as nobody had a cat, it would be fine.
As for the method...
Catching them herself would not work. She could not do it, and her friends might see her.
She needed to borrow someone else's power.
For example... the cat-hating building manager whom the class representative had told Yui Yuigahama about, and Yui Yuigahama had told the girl with the braid about.
As long as she told the manager there were cats in the apartment building, the manager would capture them.
The cats belonging to the girl with the braid's two friends, the class representative's cat, Yui Yuigahama's cat... To prevent her friends from finding other cats, every cat in the apartment building had to be sent to the animal shelter.
Stray cats taken to the animal shelter had one week to wait for adoption.
If nobody claimed them, they would be euthanized on the next scheduled culling day.
To save those lives, many people had put in a great deal of effort.
Some, like the friend Dong Yunshan had mentioned before, took in stray cats and found adopters for them.
Others constantly kept an eye on adoption information and helped the cats in shelters find adopters.
Others adopted cats directly from shelters to run cat cafés.
For example...
Dong Yunshan and Yukino Yukinoshita stopped and looked at the sign bearing the exact same name as the one on the address.
This cat café that had been operating for many years.
PS: Bonus chapter for ten thousand rewards
Dong Yunshan and Yukino Yukinoshita entered the shop, selected a service package and drinks at the counter, and listened as the clerk explained the basic rules.
"All the cats in our shop are rescue cats adopted from animal shelters."
After saying that, the clerk led them to the room where the cats were.
Yukino Yukinoshita's steps were unusually light, and her twin tails bounced cheerfully along with them.
The sight made Dong Yunshan's heart itch, and his hands itch too.
As if some memory had awakened, he kept wanting to grab them and give them a squeeze.
There were no other customers in the room. Several cats looked over curiously, while even more merely glanced at them before continuing to play by themselves.
Yukino Yukinoshita immediately fixed her eyes on a black cat grooming itself on the armrest of a sofa and tiptoed over.
She raised her hand for the black cat to sniff, cautiously patted its head, and gently scratched behind its ears.
Only after seeing the black cat narrow its eyes and let out a pleased purr did Yukino Yukinoshita sit on the sofa, pick it up, and place it on her lap.
Only then did Dong Yunshan notice that Yukino Yukinoshita was not wearing the thigh-high socks she usually wore. The black cat's paws left subtle indentations in her fair thighs.
Dong Yunshan sat beside Yukino Yukinoshita and casually picked up a cat teaser wand. With a gentle shake, several cats raised their heads.
When he shook it again, a black-and-white cat pounced over, stretching out its paws to catch the teaser.
Dong Yunshan waved it left, then right, before suddenly lifting it high. The black-and-white cat instantly did a backflip.
The black cat on Yukino Yukinoshita's lap yawned, its eyes full of disdain as it watched the black-and-white cat.
"I thought you would say it outright back then." Dong Yunshan spoke while teasing the black-and-white cat. "The most likely possibility."
Yukino Yukinoshita stroked the black cat's smooth fur. "You didn't say it either."
"We're different. I don't mind lies, but you pursue what is right." Dong Yunshan put down the teaser wand, and the black-and-white cat happily bit it and played by itself. "I didn't expect you to come up with such a gentle possibility."
"It was the more likely possibility. Compared to Yuigahama's original guess, the possibility I proposed was greater." Yukino Yukinoshita's voice was very quiet, as if she were afraid of disturbing the black cat on her lap. "Of course, there are many other possibilities, but there was no need for me to list every one of them."
Yui Yuigahama's calico cat had not left on its own. After the girl with the braid reported it, the manager had captured it and sent it to the animal shelter.
After hearing Yui Yuigahama's account, Dong Yunshan and Yukino Yukinoshita had both arrived at that conclusion.
But neither of them said it aloud.
Dong Yunshan took out a tube of cat treat he had bought from the shop. With a light shake, he drew over an orange cat. "How did you know I would investigate this?"
"You were too quiet. You didn't even spin your pen." Yukino Yukinoshita wanted to take a tube of treat and feed the black cat, but she did not want it to leave when she got up, so her outstretched hand hovered in the air. "Whenever you reach a crucial point in your thoughts, you suddenly grow quiet and lower your presence so you won't be disturbed. Like how talkative you were at the Film Research Club before—that was the abnormal situation."
Dong Yunshan picked up a tube of treat and handed it to her. "So that's why you said... 'You should still have something to take care of.'"
"But I didn't expect you to really finish it." Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze swept over the different kinds of cats in the room. "And so quickly, too."
"It actually wasn't that difficult." Dong Yunshan rubbed the orange cat's soft belly. "Once I deduced that the girl with the braid did it, all I had to do was find the apartment building's manager, ask which animal shelter he normally sent stray cats to, and then check that shelter's records."
"But that was six years ago." Yukino Yukinoshita pointed out the difficulty. "And Yuigahama never said which apartment building she lived in."
"Didn't I mention it before? When I went to school in Nagoya, a boy with a terrible personality transferred into our class. He was very good at gathering information." The orange cat in Dong Yunshan's arms meowed and pawed at the empty treat tube. "As long as I tell him a name, he can quickly get me the information I want."
He could have gotten the answer by directly asking Yui Yuigahama, but Dong Yunshan did not want to give her uncertain hope. So it was better to investigate it himself.
There were actually many methods. He could trace things back from high school to middle school, find teachers to ask for relevant information, and if that led nowhere, look through elementary school records. He would quickly be able to determine the general area.
It was not classified information. If someone truly wanted to investigate it, it would not be very difficult.
Before you continue