Caught
Santoto and Suptoto.
And Isabella as well.
As if some shared signal had gone out all at once, the three of them hurried off toward the restroom together in a flurry.
In the meantime, I went looking for a male staff member to ask a few questions—whether they were properly checking the cats’ health. The answer came back that the cats received regular examinations. Apparently none of them were in poor condition.
After that, I asked whether any of the cats might have a people allergy. Not the kind that broke out in hives—whether there was a constitution that made a cat love people yet get nosebleeds the moment it made contact with a human.
“A special constitution that makes them get nosebleeds when they touch people? We don’t have any cats like that at our café.”
“Strange…”
It was puzzling. Then why had that cat gotten a nosebleed earlier? I couldn’t bring it over to show him. That cat had suddenly slipped out of my arms and fled.
So I tried describing the appearance of the cat that had bled in careful detail. The male staff member listened, said there were three similar cats, and then walked around the café with me, pointing them out one by one.
“Is it this cat?”
“No. Not this one.”
“Then is it this cat?”
“No. It looked much cuter.”
“Then this cat…”
I shook my head. None of the cats he showed me were the one. Even when I explained that it was the prettiest, cutest cat in the whole café, the staff member only kept answering that they all looked about equally cute. A cat as adorable as that one shouldn’t have been common.
Anyway, I couldn’t put the staff through any more trouble, so I decided to leave the search there. If the cat had some illness, the staff would notice eventually and treat it properly.
“Ah. Would it be all right if I asked one last thing?”
Before returning to my seat, I tossed one final question at the male staff member.
“Does this café allow the cats to go outside freely?”
“Pardon? No—we only take them out when we bring them to the animal hospital. Even then a staff member goes with them, and none of the cats at our café particularly like walks in the first place. As you know, most cats prefer to stay in their own territory and hate going for walks, right?”
There were cats that liked walks. I’d seen quite a few that enjoyed going outside and wandering around. But it seemed every cat at this café was a homebody.
Then what on earth was that cat…
It wasn’t as if I’d been seeing things. The whole affair was truly bizarre. If I ran into it again today, I’d make sure to grab it so it couldn’t escape and take it straight to the staff. And if I didn’t meet it today and later crossed paths with it in some alley, I’d at least take a photo and come back to the café to ask—I resolved as much as I returned to my seat and started petting the other cats.
While Kang Hahwi was asking the male staff member all those questions, inside the café’s women’s restroom Seo I-eung was trembling from head to toe, her disgraceful behavior having been discovered by her clubmates.
“Uh, this is… I mean…”
Her mind was a complete mess. The words wouldn’t come out right. She spun her brain at high speed, agonizing over what excuse she could possibly offer. While Seo I-eung was inventing countless excuses,
“Don’t make excuses. It’s useless. Carrot.”
“Excuses won’t work. We’re doing the exact same thing, so we understand your psychology perfectly. Lotus root.”
Santoto and Suptoto said, both wearing expressions of pure disgust. Isabella had been about to chime in herself, but something odd in Suptoto’s remark made her tilt her head. She blinked and looked at the instructor.
“…Professor and Instructor, you’re doing the same thing?”
“That’s right. Honestly, our human forms are closer to our true selves. Lotus root.”
“Carrot! Why would you say that?! Are you insane, Suptoto?!”
“Wow. So neither of you was really in a position to scold her…”
“We still have every right to scold her. Call it same-species hatred. Lotus root.”
“Isabella! If you reveal this fact to Kang Hahwi, I will thoroughly discipline you with carrots!”
Isabella took a step back from the rabbits. She looked back and forth between Seo I-eung and the two of them with an expression usually reserved for something filthy. Santoto and Suptoto turned to Seo I-eung.
“Anyway, since we’re not much different from you, we’ll make a special exception and keep this matter secret. Lotus root.”
“We’ll bury it in secrecy. Carrot.”
“Th-thank you…”
Without needing to offer any further excuses, Seo I-eung let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that she’d cleared the hurdle. But one problem still remained.
“I have no intention of keeping it secret.”
Isabella had no plan to let this slide quietly.
“Carrot?”
“Lotus root?!”
“I’ll keep quiet about the fact that the professor’s and the instructor’s true forms are human, but the fact that you, Seo I-eung, transformed into a cat and fawned all over Kang Hahwi? I’m going to expose that.”
“D-don’t tell him… please…”
Seo I-eung begged desperately. Seeing a side of her so different from usual, Isabella’s lips curved into a wicked little smile.
“Hmm. When you beg that pitifully, it does make my heart soften a bit.”
“Please…”
“Mmm. Then first I’ll hear the reason why you did something so filthy, and decide after that. Go on—tell me. If you lie, I’ll run straight to Kang Hahwi, so be honest.”
“That’s…”
Seo I-eung hesitated, lips moving without sound. Then she slowly opened her mouth and continued.
“Because I like him…”
“……”
It doesn’t suit you. The idea of you liking someone.
The thought flashed through Isabella’s mind for an instant. Of course she didn’t say it out loud. Words tossed out without a filter could wound someone.
“If you like him, you should approach him fair and square. Don’t you think transforming into an animal to get close is a pretty underhanded method? Even being creepy has its limits.”
“I didn’t have a choice… Hahwi hates women…”
It’s not that he hates all women. Isn’t it just that he hates women who don’t meet his standards?
Isabella suppressed her inner voice once more. A full-force assault of facts would probably make the girl burst into tears on the spot.
Seo I-eung has a surprisingly cute side. Creepy, but still.
Pretending to deliberate, Isabella stroked her chin and murmured to herself.
“Ahh. What should I do? Keep it secret? Should I, or shouldn’t I… I’m torn.”
In truth she had never planned to simply let it go—but she also had never planned to tell Kang Hahwi from the start. Yes, Seo I-eung was wrong for deceiving him, and yes, it was something a person shouldn’t do… but even so, if the relationship between Seo I-eung and Kang Hahwi fell apart because of her, Isabella didn’t think she’d feel at ease. She had simply seized some leverage, and she intended to use Seo I-eung’s weakness for a little personal gain.
“Please keep it secret…”
Seo I-eung fidgeted and stamped her feet. Watching her, Isabella curled one corner of her mouth into a sly grin.
“Fine. But there’s a condition.”
“A condition…?”
“From now on, you stick with me.”
“…Stick with you? Why?”
“No special reason. I just don’t have a best friend yet. I hate walking around alone, so I’ve been forcing myself to hang out with a group I’m not even that close to. If I get one best friend, I won’t need to do that anymore.”
“……”
“Don’t want to? Then forget it. I can just go tell Kang Hahwi right now—”
“I-I’ll stick with you!”
At Seo I-eung’s answer, Isabella wore a thoroughly satisfied smile. And thus a relationship that was less “best friends” and more master-and-servant was born.
“Carrot… Looks like she needed an obedient little slave.”
“Good thing I’m the instructor. Lotus root.”
The club members who had gone to the restroom returned. But something about the atmosphere felt a little different. Should I say that Seo I-eung and Isabella seemed closer?
Just a short while ago, Seo I-eung hadn’t so much as glanced at Isabella. She’d even deliberately sat far away when they took their seats. Now it was different. The two of them sat pressed right up against each other.
“By the way, Seo I-eung, where do you live?”
“Huh? Oh, near here…”
“Don’t just say ‘near here’—give me the exact address.”
“Why do you need the exact address…?”
“So we can walk to school together from now on. I hate going alone. It’s lonely and desolate. And other people’s stares bother me more than you’d think.”
“…I’ll text you the address later.”
“Got it. Then from now on when we go to school, I’ll wait in front of your place. Aren’t you grateful?”
“Y-yeah, grateful… I’m sincerely grateful you didn’t tell me to wait in front of your place…”
They were chatting far more than before. It was mostly Isabella initiating and Seo I-eung looking a little uncomfortable, but the usual Seo I-eung would have stuck to one-word answers or ignored her completely…
Did the two of them get closer in the restroom?
In that short span of time, I couldn’t begin to guess what had happened. The world of girls truly seemed like a profound realm beyond all understanding.