The Junior Thinks Cats Are the Best
The junior thought cats were the best. “Hmm, is this good enough?” Eunbyul checked her outfit in the mirror one more time. This was already the umpteenth time she had done so. Wearing this made that option look better, and wearing that made the first one seem nicer. She had always paid decent attention to her clothes, but today she was inspecting every detail with extra care.
It wasn’t just anyone—she was going on a date… no, a research outing with Jinwoo. She didn’t want to show up looking anything less than perfect. Is this not too weird? A white short-sleeved blouse paired with a black skirt. It was feminine yet neat, and comfortable enough to walk around in without any trouble. Part of her wanted to dress up purely to look pretty, but she didn’t want to get ahead of herself and ruin the day by overdoing it.
Besides, they were heading to the zoo. There would be plenty of walking and lots of things that could snag her clothes. Anything too tight or excessively baggy was out of the question. At the same time, she couldn’t just throw on something purely for comfort and call it a day as a woman. After much deliberation, this was the outfit she had settled on. Of course, even after choosing it, she kept going back to examine other options.
“Hmm, I don’t think I used to agonize over my clothes this much before.”
Given her job and personality, Eunbyul didn’t go out much. Even when she did, she would just throw on whatever matched the weather. To her, that had been her version of being considerate toward others. Yet here she was now, carefully examining each piece of clothing. This was clearly because she wanted to look pretty for Jinwoo. Just thinking about it made her cheeks grow warm.
The thought that Jinwoo might notice how much effort she was putting in made her feel embarrassed, but another part of her hoped he would tell her she looked beautiful since she had gone to all this trouble. While she wrestled with those feelings, simply picturing his face made her chest fill with a soft, fluffy warmth, and she found herself grinning like an idiot.
“Ugh, I’m making such a stupid face.”
Eunbyul lightly slapped her own cheeks in front of the mirror. At some point, she had stopped being able to control her expressions in front of Jinwoo. Anyone who saw her would know she was head over heels, smiling like a fool. It was practically advertising that she had her sights set on him. Not that she minded. It might even keep other thieving cats away. Honestly, she secretly hoped Jinwoo would notice her feelings.
Still, embarrassment was embarrassment. Hmm, it feels like just yesterday I was talking about showing the composure of an older woman. Come to think of it, she hadn’t really shown that side of herself much, had she? It was fun watching Jinwoo get flustered when she teased him. But beyond that, she somehow always ended up feeling like she was the one being cared for and looked after. At this rate, she had zero dignity as his senior.
Maybe this time I should show him a pretty side befitting an older woman?
With that thought, Eunbyul kept touching up her hair and clothes, checking them over and over again until she met Jinwoo at their meeting spot.
“So, how do I look today?”
“Huh?”
The question flew at him the moment he arrived at their meeting place. The sunlight was bright and clear, the breeze refreshingly cool. It was the perfect weather for a date, without a single flaw. Jinwoo had come early on purpose, but Eunbyul had arrived first. He hurried over, happy to see her, only to be hit with that question right away.
What am I supposed to say in a situation like this?
There was no need to say it out loud—Eunbyul was beautiful. Her slightly flushed cheeks in the sunlight, her long limbs, and the slender waist wrapped in thin fabric all struck him as incredibly attractive. But if he could have said that honestly, he wouldn’t be Jinwoo. Above all, his little sister’s words from before she left the house that morning echoed in his mind.
“Oppa, objectively speaking… you’re not that bad, you know? But that mouth of yours, your personality, and that stupid face are the problem.”
“……Then what exactly is left for a guy?”
“Anyway, don’t just blurt out whatever pops into your head, okay? Girls aren’t into guys who are too simple and innocent. Push-and-pull is super important in romance! The moment a girl thinks, ‘Why is he being so cold today?’ that’s when she starts paying attention.”
“Isn’t that just something from the manga you read?”
“It’s not! Girls are supposed to be drawn to bad boys, you know? That thrilling feeling of ‘I could make him mine, but maybe not…’ is what’s good. But since you’re a total idiot who can’t pull that off, just keep your mouth shut.”
At some point the advice for her brother had turned into straight-up insults. If he couldn’t speak properly, had a bad personality, and wasn’t even that good-looking, what exactly was he supposed to do? And this was a date. If he just stayed silent while the two of them were alone, wouldn’t that come across as ignoring her?
If his sister had heard that thought, she would have clutched her chest in frustration and yelled, “That’s not what I meant, you moron!” Unfortunately, for Jinwoo—whose age equaled the number of years he had gone without a girlfriend—such dating techniques were completely beyond his understanding. Still, he couldn’t completely ignore his little sister’s words just because she was a girl.
So when Eunbyul suddenly threw that question at him, his brain froze on the spot. Come to think of it, wasn’t this one of the hardest questions for men to answer?
Eunbyul stared at the frozen Jinwoo and asked again.
“I said, how do I look today?”
“Uh, yes?”
“Tell me I’m pretty.”
“Pardon?”
“Just say I’m pretty.”
Her expression was quite determined. It was the serious face of someone who wouldn’t back down until she heard what she wanted. Jinwoo met her gaze for a moment, then managed to speak with difficulty.
“Um… I think you look pretty.”
It was a clumsy answer, but it must not have been bad because Eunbyul’s expression softened a little. Anyone who knew her would have realized her mood had shot up to the sky even as she tried to hide it.
“Hmm~ Be more specific?”
“Your hair looks pretty when it sways, and the clothes suit you really well. Your face is pretty too. I think it matches today’s weather perfectly.”
“O-oh, r-really?”
Now it was Eunbyul’s turn to feel embarrassed. She had pushed him because she suddenly wanted to hear she looked pretty the moment he saw her, but receiving such pure, one-hundred-percent compliments made her incredibly shy.
“Ahem! Ahem! I’ll give you fifty points.”
“Then what would get me a hundred?”
“That’s your homework~”
Eunbyul spoke playfully. Despite her words, her face was filled with complete satisfaction. Still, it feels nice to hear it. With that thought, she broke into her usual silly grin—the one she had told herself to hold back today. Then she slipped her arm through Jinwoo’s.
Jinwoo’s body stiffened instantly. It felt like he couldn’t breathe properly. In fact, he had stopped breathing for a brief moment. The soft touch and body heat came through far too directly.
“S-Senior?”
“Come on, this is for research. Couples link arms on dates, don’t they?”
It was true that linking arms probably wasn’t a big deal for actual couples. They would be holding hands, hugging, even kissing. In that sense, linking arms was just casual skinship that even friends did. But for the two of them, even that was overwhelming stimulation.
Not only Jinwoo, but Eunbyul—who had been the one to initiate—also began turning bright red. I-I’m so embarrassed! It wasn’t possible, but she felt like the whole world was staring at them. How could people walk around doing things even more embarrassing than this? Everyone seemed overflowing with courage. Her face was burning so much she didn’t know what to do.
Even so, she didn’t want to pull her arm away after finally working up the nerve to link it. But if they kept walking like this, she doubted she would see any animals by the time they reached the zoo. Just as she unconsciously began to loosen her grip a little, it happened.
Squeeze.
Suddenly Jinwoo tightened his arm, locking hers firmly in place. When she looked up, he cleared his throat with a slightly awkward expression. But he didn’t loosen the link at all.
“Th-this is for research, after all.”
“Y-yeah. That’s right.”
The two of them stayed like that for a moment before speaking again.
“……Shall we go?”
“Let’s do that.”
Arms still linked, they stepped inside the zoo. It was only the tiniest bit of courage and progress. They felt embarrassed, but something even warmer seeped into their hearts.
So the two of them enjoyed a fresh, budding date… or so one might hope, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. The pair walking around the zoo actually wore very serious expressions. It looked as if they were engaged in some incredibly important debate.
“In the end, what’s most popular with otakus is nekomimi.”
Regrettably, the content of their conversation left something to be desired. It definitely wasn’t the kind of talk a man and woman would have on a date at the zoo. Sadly, there was no kind person here to point that out to them.
“Why cats of all things? Is it because they’re so common?”
“If we’re just talking about how many you see, wouldn’t dogs be more common?”
“Or is it because they’re pretty? There’s even a saying that cats would have gone extinct if they weren’t cute.”
“Dog ears are pretty mainstream too, though.”
Eunbyul’s next work would apparently focus on beastpeople as heroines. The reason they had come to the zoo was to see if there were any animals or characteristics that might make good material. Naturally, their conversation flowed in that direction.
“I want to go with something that has broad popularity if possible. I’m not sure which animal would be best.”
“Then it really would be dogs or cats. Rabbit-ear characters are pretty common too.”
Even Jinwoo could immediately think of several characters. Animal-ear characters were such a well-known trope, after all.
“There are also foxes, or bears if you want to go a bit more unusual.”
“Now that I think about it, all the popular ones are mammals.”
“That’s probably because a lot of people like the unique fur and ears.”
In most cases, popular genres and subjects contained elements that people liked. In isekai terms, it would be like an ordinary male high school student suddenly gaining cheat powers and going on a rampage. Of course, that wasn’t necessarily the only correct answer.
“Still, wouldn’t more people want to read something that uses a more unusual animal?”
“Hmm, Jinwoo, you still have a lot to learn.”
Eunbyul shook her head from side to side. “Web novels aren’t supposed to be too unusual. Readers need to find something special within the elements they already like.”
“Is that how it works?”
As a reader himself, Jinwoo found it hard to understand. Not that he had ever analyzed stories while reading them, though.
“I want to write something with a perfectly standard development that anyone would enjoy.”
“That sounds a bit difficult.”
“Hmm, how should I explain this?”
Eunbyul thought for a moment, then spotted something. She trotted over and bought it. It turned out to be a cat-ear headband.
“Watch closely. If we’re talking beastpeople characters, it’s like this.”
“Huh?”
Eunbyul put it on her head, then made fists with both hands. She slightly bent her wrists to strike a cat-paw pose.
“Nya~ Master, please say I’m cute, nya~”
Jinwoo’s body and face froze exactly where he stood.