Is This Also a Cat Pickup?
Another uneventful day had come to an end.
On the barren concrete path, a streetlamp flickered with a faint, unsteady light. The surroundings were dark and silent. The streetlamp was the only source of light, and there wasn't a single soul in sight.
The time was eleven at night. I was on my way home after finishing my shift.
A few cans of beer I'd stocked up on along the way rattled pleasantly inside the plastic bag.
"…Guess I'll just go home and sleep."
Buying them had been fine, but the drowsiness weighing on me killed any desire to actually drink. I was especially exhausted today. More difficult customers than usual. That was just the daily grind of convenience store work, though.
"Haaah…."
I let out a big yawn and kept walking.
Boring. The same day, over and over. The same unchanging routine. Maybe it was the accumulated fatigue, but the monotony felt especially unbearable tonight.
The work itself wasn't that hard, but it was hollow. I had friends I could hang out with, sure, but they were all working adults now, so coordinating schedules was a nightmare.
The real problem was that my life had no color. This was boring, that was a hassle. I didn't even have a proper hobby to speak of. Sometimes things were fun, but that was about it. Most of the time, there just wasn't enough stimulation.
Would things have been different if I'd had a cute girlfriend by my side?
…No idea. I'd have to have had one at least once to know.
"Haa…."
This time I sighed instead of yawning. I was still walking when a sound from nearby suddenly caught my ear.
"Hm?"
A rustling noise, mixed with something that sounded faintly like a cat's meow. It was coming from under the bridge just ahead.
"…A cat?"
With my foggy head, I turned toward it without much thought. Just take a quick look at a cat before bed. That was the full extent of my shallow reasoning.
I stepped under the bridge and looked toward the source of the sound. And what I found there was…
"Mmnya…."
…not a cat, but a woman thoroughly soaked in alcohol. I'd misheard her voice, apparently.
Disappointed by the dashed expectation, I was about to turn back and go on my way when—
"Mmm…."
"…Wow."
The clouds parted, and moonlight spilled down. Bathed in that soft light, her beautiful face was fully revealed, and I unconsciously held my breath.
A youthful face overflowing with cuteness. Silvery, moonlight-like hair spilled out behind it. Her limbs were long and slender, her skin fair and soft-looking.
An attractive figure clung to a simple shirt, tracing gentle curves. She had a healthy build, with all the right places filling out nicely — especially emphasized by the way she was sprawled on her back.
"This is… wow."
She looked to be in her early twenties. Her face was quite young, but her development had caught up to about that age. …Probably.
It was early autumn. The temperature was fairly low. Yet the woman showed no sign of being cold, even in worn clothes that left her arms and legs bare. If anything, her flushed red face and the way she was mumbling in her sleep made her look overheated.
The moment I took one more step closer, a thick smell of alcohol hit my nose. Her consciousness seemed hazy. She'd clearly had quite a lot to drink.
"…Cuter than a cat, honestly. Yeah."
The version of me from moments ago who'd been about to walk away disappointed that she wasn't a cat now felt like an idiot. I was genuinely glad I'd misheard the sound. When else would I get a chance to see someone prettier than a celebrity or an actress?
Who could dislike a beauty this adorably pretty? The disheveled look from being drunk and her flushed face only added a sultry edge to that beauty. It had been a long time since my eyes had been this entertained.
Even so, I still wasn't thinking anything particularly special. I was glad to have seen a beautiful woman. Leaving someone like this — especially someone who'd collapsed drunk at night — alone could lead to trouble, so I figured I should at least call the police. Meeting her had been lucky, but we'd probably never cross paths again. A thin, fleeting connection. That was all.
Or so I thought — until I saw that.
"…Huh?"
I looked once, rubbed my eyes, and looked again. Wondering if maybe I'd gotten drunk somehow — if I'd somehow downed the beer I'd bought in my sleep — I checked inside the plastic bag, then looked again.
"I didn't drink any…?"
No matter how I looked at it, the beer was untouched, I was sober, and my eyes were fine. So what was that?
"…? For a decoration, that's way too…."
"Hwaaah…."
As if responding to my dumbfounded muttering, the woman opened her mouth wide and yawned. And atop her head, two twitching cat ears came into view.
Yes. Cat ears. Two fluffy-looking ears covered in ash-gray fur, occasionally perking up as if reacting to sound.
I casually shifted my gaze elsewhere. This time, an ash-gray tail growing from her rear end caught my eye. It was swaying lazily from side to side, as if she were in a good mood.
"Cat ears? A tail…? Come on, no way. They're toys, right…?"
I said it, but I still slowly walked toward her.
Even when I got right next to her, the woman just kept mumbling sleepily with no real reaction. I leaned down and took a closer look at the cat ears attached to her head.
The fluffy fur was the first thing that stood out. Dense with soft down, they looked warm, and the way they occasionally twitched was adorable. The flesh part was surprisingly thin. And contrary to my expectation that they were just realistic decorations, there was no headband anywhere to be seen.
"Huh. Wait."
Unable to make sense of it, I reached out and lightly poked one of the ears.
"Hyaaang…."
The sultry voice that rang out made me flinch and step back.
I watched as the woman began to toss and turn. The poke seemed to have partially woken her — her eyelids fluttered, and then her eyes opened.
"Mmm…. Hm…?"
That coquettish, almost flirtatious voice was a bonus.
Hazy sky-blue eyes wandered here and there before settling on me. Our eyes met directly. The woman blinked a few times, then opened her mouth in a sleepy voice.
"Who…?"
"Uh, well…."
I hadn't meant to wake her. Being startled that just a light touch had gotten her up was putting it mildly.
I considered how to answer her question, then suddenly wondered if I even needed to. There was no need to seriously engage with a drunk person. That was something I'd learned working at the convenience store.
"Just hang on a second. I'll call the police for you real quick."
I casually ignored the "who are you" question and pulled out my phone. She was clearly out of it, so if I left her with the police, they'd take care of getting her home.
I decided not to worry about the ears or the tail. Whether they were toys or whatever — sure, they were fascinating, but we weren't going to see each other again, so there was no reason to dig deeper. Fascinating as they were.
"Mmm…."
I tapped at my phone, glancing sideways at the limp woman. I dialed 112 and was just about to hit the call button when—
"…Smells nice…."
"?! Hey, wait a—?!"
Suddenly, the woman wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.
The sensation of her nose nuzzling against my stomach was ticklish. Along with her warm body heat, a sweet scent mixed with alcohol rose up to my nose.
"Like it…."
That sultry voice gently melted my reason. Because of how she was positioned, something soft and yielding pressed firmly against my thigh.
A woman thoroughly drunk. A deserted stretch of road. Her suddenly clinging to me and murmuring that she liked it. On top of an already exhausted mind, that sweet stimulus made a bad thought flash through my head.
"…No. No way."
I shook my head hard, banishing the improper idea. A man still had a conscience. I couldn't just do something reckless.
Setting the call aside for now, I gently tried to push her away. She slowly started to peel off my body under the light pressure of my hand, but then—
"Mmm. Wanna smell more. Let me smell…."
"Hey, wait…!"
—she immediately tightened the arms around my waist and pressed herself firmly against my stomach again.
"Ehehe…♪ Mmm, somehow it smells so comforting…."
Her dopey little laugh tickled my ear. With her position a bit higher now, that soft, yielding sensation pressed firmly against a spot slightly above my thigh this time. For a guy who'd been single forever, it was a bit much. Especially mixed with that sweet alcohol scent. Her cute twitching ears filled my vision. The urge to just let go of my reason surged up.
"Haa…."
Half deep breath, half groan, I somehow held on to my sanity and raised my phone again. Pushing her away clearly wasn't going to work. If I didn't want to get tangled up in something unnecessary, the police were the answer.
"Mmm…. Wanna stay like this forever…."
No matter how coaxingly she murmured, some things just weren't happening. I didn't know where this little troublemaker had come from, but it was already this late, so she needed to get home soon—
"…I don't want to go back……."
And then a voice of a clearly different quality from everything before slipped from her lips. At that pleading tone, I flinched and looked down at her.
With her face still buried against my stomach, I couldn't see her expression properly. But her two ears, flinching as if frightened, and the ash-gray tail coiled tightly around her own thigh hinted at something inside her.
"Man, …haa, what the hell am I supposed to do with this…."
The thin arms wrapped tightly around my waist. The face buried against my stomach. The soft sensation covering my lower abdomen. A sweet scent intoxicating enough just to breathe in. And the finishing blow — that heartbreaking line just now.
It didn't take long for my reason to crumble.
Slowly, I slipped my phone back into my pocket.