Is This Even a Good Butler...? I Don't Know-nyang...
Chuchu kept waving both arms in front of me over and over, as if the sleeves hanging far past her hands were the most fascinating thing in the world. Every time she did, it looked exactly like she was flapping a pair of wings, so I decided to grant her wish to fly—if only in some small way.
"Chuchu, want to try flying?"
"Is that possible, Butler?"
"Of course. Flap those arms as hard as you can, okay?"
She nodded so hard her whole head bounced, then started shaking her arms so violently I thought they might come off. I watched from behind for a moment before grabbing her around the waist with both hands and hoisting her straight up.
Up to that point, it was just lifting her. But what if I tossed her a little higher and caught her again?
"Woooaah! I fleeeew!"
"Yeah, Chuchu can fly, huh?"
"Butler, do it more! More! Higher!"
"Higher? All right."
Chuchu's bright, beaming smile got me excited too, so I put more power into it and threw her higher. Except I threw her a little too high.
A solid thud rang out.
"Ugek!"
The crown of Chuchu's head smacked into the ceiling hard enough to make a real noise, and she plummeted like a bird with a broken wing, landing on the bed.
"Gyaaaaaah!"
"Chuchu, are you okay?!"
"My head... this body's head...! It split right in two...!"
I got that it hurt, but where on earth had she learned a line like that?
"I'm sorry. Does it hurt a lot?"
"Nnnngh... it hurts, Butler..."
I kept stroking the top of her head, then—knowing full well it wouldn't do a thing—blew on it anyway.
"Hooo... hoooo..."
"Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore!"
And amazingly enough, Chuchu popped right back up as if nothing had happened, her tail swaying lazily from side to side. The moment I looked at her face, an emotion I'd never felt in my life surged up inside me. It definitely wasn't just because she was cute. A warmth bloomed in a corner of my heart, a smile tugged at my lips all on its own, and I found myself vowing to keep Chuchu even closer—to make sure she spent her days happy.
Was this... the joy of raising a child?
Was I already going through the process every butler had no choice but to feel?
"Aww, you're so pretty. Who made you this pretty and this cute?!"
"Eueeh."
"Chuchu, kiss."
"No."
"No? Then I'll just do it myself."
From the moment that feeling took hold, I found myself taking one step closer to Chuchu, and my actions grew that much bolder.
Smooch.
I whipped my head around and planted a kiss on her cheek. Chuchu immediately rubbed at the spot with her arm.
"Then I'll just have to do it on the lips."
Smooch.
"Eueeeng! Kissing ghost!"
The instant our lips met, she shot to her feet and fled from me.
"She's acting like that, but she likes it. I'm sure of it."
Cats were supposed to be worse at showing their feelings than dogs, after all.
"Don't kiss me."
Poking just her head through the crack in the door to say that was basically the same as asking for more.
"Chuchu, c'mere."
"Aaaaah! Run! The kissing ghost is coming again!"
"If I catch you, that's ten kisses."
"No! I'm running away!"
I chased after Chuchu as she bolted, and if I just stretched out my hand I could have grabbed her shoulder. But the instant I reached, her waist bent in an S-curve so fluid it was almost liquid, and she slipped right between my legs.
"Heh! Bet you didn't see that coming!"
"A cat's a cat, I guess."
That one glimpse was enough to make me wonder if the whole "cats are invertebrates" theory might actually be true.
"Nyaang! Nyaaat!"
Making little nya-nya sounds, she darted around, and before I knew it she'd scaled a high shelf, well out of my reach.
"You can't catch me up here~"
"If you stay up there, you can't drink water or eat, either."
"Uh..."
"Why not come down quietly and take your ten kisses?"
"Nngh... no!"
"Then no Churu, and no snacks either."
After a long, agonizing deliberation, Chuchu finally climbed down with a heavy sigh. And I, as if I'd been waiting for exactly that, wrapped my arms around her from behind and kissed her all over.
"Haaaah... no matter how I look at it, I picked the wrong butler."
"Mmphhwaaah!"
"Butler, at this rate you're going to suck me right in."
"So cute. Our Chuchu. How can anyone be this cute?"
"A good butler... is that even right? I don't know-nyang..."
I wanted to play with Chuchu all day, but I had work of my own, so I pressed a toy into her hands and sat down at the computer.
"Butler, what's that?"
"This is a computer. It's a tool that lets people do all kinds of things."
"Then what's that?"
"This is a smartphone. An essential for humans. Without one, everyday life is basically impossible."
Chuchu, who'd been playing with her toy, started showing interest in the phone sitting on the desk, circling it like she wanted to get her hands on it. That curious little face of hers made me want to just hand it over—but letting her play with a phone while I worked felt too much like leaving her to fend for herself. And since she knew nothing about smartphones, something unfortunate could easily happen.
"Chuchu, once I finish work, we'll play with it together. For now, play with your toys, okay?"
"Work?"
"Yeah. I have to work so I can buy all the clothes Chuchu wants to wear, and all the snacks and food she wants to eat."
"I see. Then I'll be quiet. In exchange, give me something tasty for dinner!"
"Deal. I'll give you tuna belly."
"Woooaah! So gooood!"
There was a toy with a bell on it, so every now and then a little jingle-jingle drifted over. It didn't bother me in the slightest. It just meant Chuchu was playing happily on her own.
"This part... maybe if I design it like this."
On top of development work, I also took web design commissions, so I kept putting together different mockups, trying to figure out which direction the client would want. At some point I slipped into real focus, and by the time I'd roughly wrapped up what I'd set out to do today, three hours had gone by.
"It's already this late."
I spun my chair around to check on Chuchu, and found her already lying on the bed, fast asleep.
"Must've been pretty tired."
Considering she'd even braved a bath, it was no wonder the fatigue had piled up. I reached to pull the blanket over her so she wouldn't catch a cold—only for her to squirm and slowly lift her eyelids.
"Mmh... Butler?"
"Chuchu, you woke up? You can sleep more."
"Is work dooone?"
"Yeah, more or less. The rest can wait."
"Sleepyyy... Butler lie down too."
I pulled the blanket over us as I lay down facing her, and she wrapped her arms around my waist like she'd been waiting for it, burrowing straight into my chest.
"Mmh... so waaarm."
"Chuchu, you really worked so hard today. I'm so proud of you."
"Butler too..."
Maybe it was because she was sleepy, but she was more honest with her feelings than usual.
"Let's sleep. We can eat after we wake up."
"But I gotta playyy with Butler..."
"We can play after we sleep, too."
Chuchu burrowed even deeper into my arms, and instead of that rumbling purr, I heard the soft, even sound of her breathing as she sank into a deep sleep. The fact that she was a cat and still made sounds like a person—if that counted as another one of Chuchu's charms, then it definitely did.
It was about an hour later that Chuchu came back to life. She shot up as if she'd never been sleepy at all and went tearing around the living room.
"Chuchu, time to eat."
"Ung!"
She'd been sprinting all the way to the far end of the apartment, but the moment she heard it was mealtime she came running and plopped herself down at the table.
"Look at you, sitting at the table like a pro now."
"Food, Butler, hurry!"
"All right, all right. Food coming up."
I mixed canned tuna belly with kibble, set the bowl in front of her, and she grabbed a spoon and shoveled it in.
"Were you that hungry?"
"Ung! Super hungry!"
"I should eat too, then."
I was the type who always preferred something simple, so today's lunch was a baguette and butter.
"Butler, that bread looks tasty."
"Hmm... I wonder if Chuchu can even eat this."
Being a beastkin made it hard to say a flat no—or a flat yes. I had no idea whether her digestive system was closer to a human's or a cat's.
"Then let's try just a little of the bread."
I skipped the butter, tore it into bite-sized pieces by hand, and set them in a dish. Tasting bread for the first time, Chuchu's eyes went round, and she started waving both arms at high speed.
"Butler, this is tasty! It's so chewy!"
"Still, let's not eat too much of it right now. I'll give you more later if you seem okay."
"Okay! Anyway, this is tastier."
She'd just discovered a new flavor, that was all.
Once lunch was over, I kept my promise and sat down to teach Chuchu how to use a smartphone. The moment I settled on the sofa, she came running and parked herself on my lap, staring at the phone with sparkling eyes.
"Here, you can have this. If you put your finger on the screen like this, you can tap it."
"It just moves! And there's so much stuff."
"Those are called apps. There are all kinds of them, and lots of things you can play with."
I thought about what to show her first, then tapped into YouTube. The moment Shorts started playing and sound came out, Chuchu jumped so hard she nearly dropped the phone.
"Th-there's sound! A human voice!"
"Pretty amazing, right?"
"Wooow... is a human trapped inside this tiny thing, Butler?"
"No, this is a video."
"A video?"
"Think of it as something people made. And that's what Chuchu is watching right now."
Ears perked, tail swaying, she stared in wonder, then moved her finger the way I'd shown her. The screen scrolled, the next Shorts clip popped up, and the fact that the picture had changed startled her all over again.
"Oh, a cat!"
A Shorts video of a cat happened to come up, complete with a string of meows.
"It says it's hungry."
"Chuchu, you can understand cat meows?"
"Of course. This body is a cat too."
Ah, right. She looked so much like a person that I forgot sometimes.
"This one's not trapped inside either?"
"Nope. This is a video someone filmed, too."
"I see. Humans have so many tricks. Amazing!"
Leaning comfortably against me as she watched the phone, Chuchu tipped her head up and met my eyes. My hand moved on its own to stroke her hair, and she blinked up at me with an even brighter sparkle.
"Butler, this is so amaziiing."
"It is, right? But you only play with it when you're with me. Promise."
"Ung, I promise!"
She seemed to keep her promises when she made them like this, so that ought to keep the mindless phone use in check.
"Woooaah. It's so pretty!"
"That's the ocean. Does Chuchu know the ocean?"
"The ocean? No."
"It's a place with a whole lot of really salty water."
"Eck... then why do humans go there so much?"
"There are all kinds of people. People who swim in the ocean, people who look at the scenery, people who play in the sand."
"Sand!"
Maybe it was because she was a cat, but the sand in particular grabbed her attention.
"I want to go to the ocean! Is there lots of sand?"
"So much. Enough that even if Chuchu rolled around forever, it wouldn't disappear."
"Woooaah! Butler, let's go to the ocean! The ocean!"
"We'll go later."
"It's a promise!"
She must have picked up on me saying "promise" somewhere in there, because she said it right back, determined to lock it in as something I could never forget.
"Yeah. It's a promise."
"Hehe. The ocean's gonna be so fun!"
Going to the beach once summer came around didn't sound like a bad idea at all—though that would mean Chuchu needed a swimsuit.
A swimsuit, huh.
If she got any cuter than this, my heart really wouldn't be able to take it.