I set out with Momoa and the children.

The store selling cat cakes was quite a walk away.

“Woohoo!”

Levinas ran far ahead, then came back again.

There was no particular reason for it. She must have been happy to be out with everyone.

Momoa seemed uneasy about Levinas running around wildly and suddenly grabbed her hand.

Unable to run around anymore, Levinas bit Momoa’s forearm. Judging by the lack of screaming, it didn’t seem to hurt much.

“Momoa, why are you holding hands? This way Levinas can’t run, you know?”

“She might get lost. Do you know that if you get lost outside, you might never be found again?”

“Wha…!” Startled, Levinas tightly grasped Momoa’s hand.

Momoa smiled with satisfaction and grabbed my hand with her other one.

Huh? Why grab me?

I looked up at Momoa with wide eyes. “Um…”

“Yes?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to hold Saebyeok’s hand instead of mine?”

The children were more important than me, after all.

I glanced at Saebyeok as I spoke, but Momoa firmly refused.

“Saebyeok is mature, isn’t she? I don’t think she’ll get lost.”

“I-Is that so…?”

Saebyeok did seem more mature than me a lot of the time. It was thanks to her characteristically quiet nature.

“I’m more worried about Gyeoul than Saebyeok.”

“Why…?”

“She’s the smallest. If she gets caught up in the crowd, she could easily get lost.”

Momoa had a point. The shorter you are, the more likely you are to get into traffic accidents too.

I appreciated her concern, but it wasn’t necessary given my abilities.

“I have tracking abilities, so I’ll be fine.”

“Tracking abilities?”

“Yes. If I leave my scent like this, I can find my way no matter where I am.”

I rubbed my ear against the back of Momoa’s hand.

Momoa made a strange squeaking sound. “S-So you have tracking abilities?”

“Yes. But let’s just hold hands anyway.”

“…Even though you have tracking abilities?”

“Yes. I like holding hands with Momoa.”

“…!”

Momoa’s cheeks turned red.

She also made a “hmph” sound typical of someone pouting.

Did she dislike holding hands with me? Was she only doing it out of a sense of obligation?

I carefully tried to let go, but Momoa gripped my hand even tighter.

She was just easily embarrassed, I guessed.

I looked up at Momoa and grinned.

“H-Hmph.”

Momoa grumbled and stared off into the distance.

But her hand swayed happily as we walked.

—

—

We arrived at the store selling cat cakes.

A young female employee greeted us. “Welcome…” She trailed off mid-greeting.

Her mouth hung open like someone shocked by something.

She must have been surprised to see beast-kin for the first time.

Brushing it off, I greeted the employee. “Hello. We’re here to buy a cat cake.”

“…Is it for a cat to eat?”

“Yes. A cat will eat it.”

Did she think I was going to eat it?

I felt like we’d been in this situation before. I was getting a sense of déjà vu.

So today, I made sure to clearly state that a cat would be eating it.

“…Which cat will eat it?”

“Um… I’m not sure of the breed. It’s a white cat, but still very young.”

“Young and white…?”

The store employee looked at Momoa standing next to me.

When Momoa nodded, the employee seemed to understand.

“The cat cakes are over there. Would you like me to show you?”

“Yes. Please give us a delicious one.”

“I’m not sure if it will suit your taste…”

“Is there a chance it won’t taste good…?”

Did she lack confidence in their products? The internet said they were extremely tasty.

I looked up at the employee with confused eyes.

“There haven’t been any complaints so far. So far…”

The employee kept glancing at me. She seemed like an employee lacking in confidence.

If there hadn’t been any so far, that meant there’d never been a single one.

She appeared to worry too much.

“If there haven’t been any so far, shouldn’t it be fine…?”

“I-I suppose so…?”

“Yes. It will be.”

After a brief chat with the store employee, I examined the display case.

Levinas, pressed up against the glass display, pointed at a pink cake. “Wow! That one! That one’s pretty!”

“Okay. Shall we get that one then?”

“Yes!”

Thanks to Levinas, choosing a cake, which I thought would take a while, was quickly settled.

Just as I was thinking we should pick out a toy or two and be done, Momoa pointed at some fireworks nearby.

“Aren’t you going to buy fireworks?”

“Fireworks are scary, so we can’t. She might cry and run away.”

“C-Cry?”

“Yes. She might even meow while crying.”

“…She cries like a cat?”

Crying like a cat. Well, she was a cat after all…

That’s when I remembered. That Seol cried with a “meong meong” sound.

“Come to think of it, she probably won’t cry ‘nyaong’.”

“R-Right?”

“Yes.”

Maybe she’d cry “myaa” instead?

While I was lost in such pointless thoughts, the employee brought us some fireworks.

“These are completely harmless fireworks.”

“Harmless fireworks?”

“Yes. They’re for cats, so there’s no explosion sound. They just scatter confetti without any noise.”

Scattering confetti. Seol would probably like that.

Felines tended to go crazy for small moving objects. I could understand that, being feline myself.

“Should we buy three of these?”

I held out the fireworks to Momoa.

Momoa agreed and put three fireworks in the basket.

Now we just needed to buy some toys.

As I was about to move to the toy section, Momoa tapped my shoulder.

“By the way, aren’t you going to buy candles? It would be nice to put at least one candle on the cake.”

“Candles are dangerous, so we can’t.”

“D-Dangerous?”

“Yes. Fire is dangerous, so we can’t. It would be very scary.”

“…She seems to be afraid of quite a lot of things.”

She was still a young cat, after all.

I wanted to say that, but Levinas spoke up first.

“She’s still a baby, so it can’t be helped!”

“…She is young, I suppose.”

Momoa nodded and moved to the toy section.

On the way to the toy section, something caught my eye.

“Catnip?”

I’d heard cats go crazy for this stuff.

Should I buy just one?

As I was examining the catnip, Momoa suddenly shouted.

“N-No way!”

“…!” Startled by the loud voice, I jumped up.

For some reason, Momoa had a frightening expression on her face.

“Catnip is not allowed!”

“B-But I heard cats really love this…”

“No! It would be terrible if the kids used it!”

“Is it that bad?”

I looked at the store employee.

For some reason, she wore a terrified expression.

“…If I sell that, it might ruin my life.”

Ruin her life?

I didn’t realize catnip was such a dangerous item.

Without hesitation, I put the catnip back down.

“What happens if you use catnip?”

“I-I don’t know. Even when you become an adult… it’s still not allowed!”

“O-Okay…”

Momoa’s face was flushed red. She looked like she might explode at any moment.

“Let’s just buy some toys!”

Momoa quickly walked towards the toy section. Her steps seemed urgent.

‘…I should just buy some toys.’

Catnip was very dangerous for baby cats.

Storing this new knowledge in my mind, I picked out toys for Seol.

I was already getting excited for tomorrow’s party.

—

—

The next afternoon.

I headed to the park with the children to find Seol.

“Seol.”

“Meong?”

When I called, Seol emerged from the bushes.

There was a cabbage leaf in Seol’s mouth.

“Seol, were you eating cabbage?”

“Meong meong!”

Seol ran around me with the cabbage leaf in its mouth.

I picked Seol up in my arms.

“Seol, do you know what day it is?”

“Meong?”

Seol answered my question like a person would.

It was as if asking back, “What day is it?”

“I’ll tell you when we get home.”

“Meong!”

I returned home with Seol and the children.

Since we were celebrating a cat, I didn’t plan on doing a surprise party or anything like that.

Just feeding cake and playing with toys should be enough, right?

With those thoughts, I entered the living room.

Whoosh-!

Swish-!

Colorful confetti rained down from above.

As we entered the house, our attention was drawn to the sparkling confetti.

“Wow!” Levinas hopped up and down, while Saebyeok snatched falling confetti out of the air.

Seol, held in my arms, waved its front paws wildly.

“C-Congratulations…” The one who set off the fireworks was none other than Momoa.

It seemed Momoa had prepared a surprise party for Seol.

“Wow.”

The living room was decorated with party supplies, including balloons.

Did she do all this in the short time we were out looking for Seol?

As always, Momoa’s efficiency was truly impressive.

‘This much wasn’t necessary.’

I had planned to have a small party with just the children to celebrate Animal Day.

It was going to be a really modest party that we didn’t even tell others about.

But thanks to Momoa, our modest party had turned into a festival.

“Momoa, you’re amazing.”

“A-Ahem. Don’t just stand there, why don’t you sit down here?”

“Okay.”

Momoa seated me and the children at the table.

Then she handed each of us a beautifully wrapped gift.

“Congratulations. Let’s continue to get along well. This is a present for you.”

“Um…”

Why was she suddenly giving us presents?

I stared at Momoa, unable to withdraw my hand holding the gift.

“Um, today is Animal Day…”

“Yes! That’s why I prepared all this!”

Clap clap clap.

Momoa applauded in celebration.

She had clearly misunderstood something.

“Um, I may be a beast-kin, but I’m not an animal…”

“…You’re not?”

“No… Today is for celebrating Seol…”

I fidgeted with my fingers, finding the situation difficult to explain.

Momoa stopped clapping.

She looked dazed, then turned pale.

Her expression began to change in real-time.

—

3/6 Enjoy the chappy!

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