"Did you bring a tripod when you went out with Ringo or something?"

Nagi asked, as he descended the stairs of the house, directing the question to Gin who was having a lunch break in his house from work.

"I… didn't? What's up?"

"Well, your room doesn't look like a serial killer's now that you put more stuff in your walls-"

"It's amazing how you started off with that."

"But I saw a picture frame of you and Ringo… sleeping? I could tell it was recently taken because of the petals.

Shiro will talk about it nonstop if she sees that shot."

"Ah… so that's what you meant. Wait, was it really that good?"

"Yeah. She would really like the composition of it."

"The credit goes to Ken, then."

"Ohh. Haven't talked to that guy in a bit, huh.

Ah, right, thanks for the air can."

"By vu wee- Ahem. By the way, have you cleared up your schedule next month? Just reminding you in advance."

"Of course, I have. The company is paying for my plane ticket, you know. I'm still sad that we can't take Shiro with us."

"It is what it is. She's also busy with completing requirements, right? And she doesn't seem as interested with the expo, anyway.

You'll just have to make do with Yuuga as her substitute."

"Can you not phrase it like that?"

‹Gin›

Ooookay, give me a moment to chime in.

What I meant by an expo is, well, we're weebs, but the only difference is that my current housemate is a weeb and also a vtuber. That's why we're going to Japan this coming March to attend a two-day convention hosted by Yololive.

In a sense, we will be going undercover as we have our different personas as the illustrator Capy_nina, the mangaka Yuuki Amagami, the vtuber Michelo Azuria, and well… Rin will also join us since she wanted to.

My only fear is that we're going as a group in the expo knowing well that Yuuga's face has already been in public, although very infrequently.

Scratch that, two fears. Even Nagi is planning on doing a vlog that he is going to upload in his streaming channel that, mind you, already has 211 thousand subscribers, and that was achieved in less than a year. I would assume that he has prepared a low-profile filming gear, but the three of us had agreed to his terms that he would be filming together without us appearing in the camera.

Perhaps it is my anxiety talking, but I still can't take the imagination of getting recognized by someone in the crowd through a video I didn't even appear at out of my head. Or maybe I am giving a human's memory too much credit?

Anyways, I'm excited since I'm probably going to see the man, the myth, the legend—the CEO of Lid Corp., which Covers the existence of Yololive. Wait, why is cover capitalized just now?

"It's almost 1pm, you know. Don't you have a Leap King endurance stream scheduled?"

"Ah, crap! Gotta go upstairs. I probably won't be coming out until late night or something!"

"You really should just ask me for help, you know."

"Shut up, I don't want to hear that from someone who has a 7-minute PB. I'll go suffer on my own."

"I guess. You won't need me backseating you when you have your chat to do that.

Anyway, I'll lock the door so no worries on that."

"I think Haku took a walk, though."

"It's fine. He knows where I hide a spare key."

▪ ▪ ▪

"Oh, right, Potato. I have a question."

"Hm?"

At one instance of a boring night where Gin is rolling on the floor of Rin's room reading a manga, she inquired to satisfy a growing curiosity.

"Just something that I found strange, I guess? You know already that I can talk to Haku now and I guess to Ui too, but sometimes I can only hear a meow from them ever since."

"That's normal."

"Is it really?"

"Yup. I've never really asked Haku himself about it, but my assumption is that they just couldn't be bothered to respond. And that's especially for him. I've learned that big cats like lions or tigers can converse just normally, but for your everyday feline, they're usually talking with broken words. I think I only know two cats that can do that.

As for Ui, she's just like the others even when she plays with Haku. Though I hear much from her less, so nothing's wrong, or at least that's what I think."

"I guess I can take that.

I don't think I should really be asking this in the middle of the night, but it just got me very curious suddenly…

How would you feel if, hypothetically, a cat could not turn back into their original form anymore?"

"…"

Gin had suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest upon hearing Rin's question and putting him in a bit of a sour mood. But it was not long until he realized the consideration Rin placed in bringing up a sensitive topic by generalizing and mentioning not a name.

After a light sigh, he answered in a roundabout way.

"In my case… I try to give Haku the best experience he can receive, but even I'd argue that I'm not doing such a good job at it… especially since he got in danger because of me.

That's why I treat him the way he is now without expecting anything more from him. I want him to live his life to the fullest as a cat, and not as one of us… because he doesn't deserve to get hurt.

The more he tries to understand us, the more he would develop, and he would learn emotions and many other things that, in my opinion, he shouldn't have. He doesn't need to become 'one of us' to be one of us. I love that guy just the way he is.

…

Wait, did that sound like I'm kind of conservative?"

"Heh? I wouldn't say that. It's such an extremely rare occurrence that I don't feel like you are. If it is a common thing, then I would say it is, but we're not at that point."

In the end, Rin felt like she did not get a direct answer, but it showed her what Gin feels in the situation he is in—in which he is somewhat averse to that thought, assuming that it was only for Haku.

"I think I'm getting a little sleepy, so I should probably wind down now. Feeling a sleepover, Potato? You can lay down a futon here, you know."

"Don't casually invite your boyfriend for that, you dum-dum. I'm going back to my house."

"Then a hug!" she stood up and pulled Gin's arm until he was standing likewise, then opened her arms as though welcoming an embrace, to which Gin gladly went for.

"…?

Why are you suddenly trying to lift me up, Rin…?"

"I just thought that maybe the virus from the cure would also give me super strength."

"…

Go to sleep. We both have work tomorrow."

Opposite of what Rin was trying to do, she suddenly found her feet off the ground with little to no effort. And after a kiss on the forehead, Gin crossed the room's window to his.

"'Night."

As Gin closed his blinds and mindlessly stood in the middle of his room, he suddenly did a subtle fist pump.

"So this is what is meant with 'Inject this fluff into my veins.'"

After several years, he finally realized how fortunate he is to feel the gushing he always does when reading a fluffy romcom manga, but in real life.

"Man, I'm so cringe."

▪ ▪ ▪

Something unusual has been happening, or at least it has been in Gin's mind.

He did not think at first that something was amiss, but ever since his conversation with Rin, he became a lot more observant and recognized some small changes.

The first thing he had found out is that Haku has been responding less and less, at least verbally. He would still respond kinesthetically, but less words have been noticed from him. Hence, Gin had noted it with Rin, and had shared the same observation subsequently.

The second thing he had noticed is that the cat has been recently leaning towards eating fish, but mostly in the day while he settles with cat food at any other time. Furthermore, he had consistently seen the cat take his fish and eat it somewhere outside.

And the last thing they had noticed is that he has remained in his original form for about two weeks without ever changing forms.

He had thought of sending Haku to a veterinarian, but on the contrary, nothing exactly is wrong with his behavior or health, apart from his new patterns. Thus, Gin held off for now, considering that he is also a very special case.

…

At a certain weekday, the downstairs of Gin's house had become somewhat messy quickly.

"Ah-ah-aaahhh. Test, test. Hello…? Am I live? Can you guys hear me, chat?"

At the kitchen counter is a laptop displaying a broadcasting software beside a non-reflective countertop over the marble that would be sure to reflect Nagi's face and be revealed through a top-down camera he had rigged in the kitchen to his more than two thousand concurrent viewers.

"Looks like my audio is good… But I'm sorry if there will still be a lot of reverb. I brought my sound panels here to the kitchen but I'm not sure they're enough. It is what it is, but we'll still move forward with today's stream!

Anyway! You probably don't recognize this but this is actually the same kitchen where I filmed the intro film I did for my debut. I've done a lot of handcam streams in my office but this one's a biiiit riskier since my camera is rigged differently and I don't really want it falling over anytime soon.

But yes, for today's stream, we're actually cooking. So enough of the 'let him cook' comments in the chat, although I'm technically baking a cake today."

Over the past seven or eight years, the world of virtual streaming had branched out into many methods and styles. In this case, one limitation of using a 2D avatar is that it lacks movement outside its rigging. Although 3D models predated 2D avatars, the latter was much more accessible, but it is undeniable that the former allows for more dynamic movements with the use of motion capture. However, a really good motion capture would ideally be achieved using high end technology that costs a lot of money. Still, one of the biggest companies in Japan had invested in a 3D studio that allows for more precise tracking, but not to a point where it would perfectly capture detailed movement as seen on film quality productions.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Thus, a solution to the mentioned limitation was much simpler, and it would be mostly akin to what Nagi has set up.

Vtubers nowadays bring a closer sense to reality by simply having an overhead camera setup above where their hands would be in the frame. Most of them would use gloves and even custom-made sleeves that would match their outfits, but some also chooses to stream barehanded. It is in the end either a matter of preference, or a matter of weighing security risks.

In this case, Nagi had long chose that he would go live as is without gloves or anything special as there isn't really an identifying feature in his hand like a scar.

[Are you sure it's not just a cheesecake where you make a **** out of strawberries and stab it with a chopstick?]

"Mystia, thanks for the yellow super, but who do you take me for? I don't cook my burgers raw, just so you know. Though, I wish I have my manager here to see if I can kill him.

For legal reasons, that is a joke."

[Just don't do a PON moment where you bring out a large metal bowl.]

"As if I'm not ready for that. I'm not falling for that. Although it would be funny if I actually just slam a metal bowl here and you just see a distorted reflection of a gorilla, yeah?

But we really should get started here since I probably have three hours maximum in this kitchen… or maybe I could eat lunch with you guys. Give me a sec while I bring out the white powd-"

All of a sudden, Nagi was interrupted by a noise coming from the outside that was slowly getting louder.

"Umm… Can you guys hear the cat outside by chance?"

[Yup]

[Is that a kitten?]

[You have a cat right]

[CATTOOOOOOOOOO]

"Nah, that doesn't sound like the cat in this house. And yeah, it sounded like a kitten. We don't get a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood, thoooOOUGH?!"

In the middle of a sentence, he was caught off guard by Haku sprinting down the stairs and turning into a human form just to open the porch door.

It all happened in a matter of four seconds, and suddenly, the sound of a kitten was gone.

"Uh, I've told you guys that I have two other housemates… right?"

[yeah]

[you did]

[ayo??]

[are they going to appear on your stream?]

[CATTOOOOOO]

"You probably heard them but nevermind that. I think they got a package and they just zoomed past me.

Anyway! As I was saying, the white powder."

[PHRASING MILO]

[LMAOOOO]

[ayo what]

[you mf just say flour lol]

[clipped and shipped]

"The hell do you mean 'clipped and shipped?' And then a few hours later I'll see an out of context clip of that, huh? How predictable, chat. How predictable you are."

~ ~ ~

This time, Gin did not go home to eat lunch, but Nagi made sure that by the end of the work day, the shared space of the kitchen, dining, and living room must be tidied up before he arrives home. Then two hours after his stream, he managed to clean up for the most part with Haku coming back home midway as a cat.

"You've really been wandering off somewhere these days, huh?"

"Meow."

"That was the first time in a while where I saw him in that form earlier, and only for a moment."

~ ~ ~

With Gin not around for the closing shift, he clocked out at around the early minutes of 6pm seeing Nagi at around the vicinity of Giotto's waving at him.

"Didn't expect to see you around here."

"I was about to grab some takeout and thought I might as well stop by. Can you come with me for a bit before you go home?"

Thus, they set out on a walk.

"I thought you're in charge of dinner today."

"I ran late while cleaning up earlier."

"Oh right. You did a handcam stream on the kitchen. I better check the VOD when we get home to see what crimes you made in my kitchen."

"Come on, it wasn't bad. I even made sure to mop the floor, you know.

Also, don't bother to pay for your own food. You just have to come with me."

"I wonder whose red superchat you're going to use."

"Oh, hush.

Anyway, something interesting happened earlier while I was streaming."

"Yeah?"

"I heard a kitten outside and Haku almost immediately bolted out of the house. It was amazing though. I've never seen anyone move so fast besides you."

"Wait, you're implying he changed forms?"

"For a very short moment. But after he stepped out, the meowing was suddenly gone."

"Is that the first time that happened when I'm out?"

"Yeah. Even if I was in my office, I should still be able to hear it faintly."

"This sounds like a detective work for me."

"Can you not say that? I'm cringing just hearing you say that."

"…Yeah I admit that was lame."

▪ ▪ ▪

At Gin's usual Thursday day off, he recalled the recently occurring patterns that he had observed from his companion, and as he had expected, his companion has taken the fish outside anew. Thus, Gin set out to follow the cat as he was seen jumping over the wall of the residence, all the while Nagi was once again caught in awe with how silent Gin was able to leave the house.

"He'd sneak on someone's house and you probably won't notice at all despite being a big guy…"

Nevertheless, Gin maintained a few meters of distance from the casually treading cat, and finding himself in difficult places in more ways the one—and one of them being almost losing Haku's trail as he took a roundabout way instead of the quicker, yet illegal route that is conventionally a path that a cat or other small animals can take but he could theoretically traverse.

He then found himself half a kilometer away from his house according to his phone's step tracker, within a very narrow alleyway where Haku had finally slowed down.

The gray cat then dropped the fish from his mouth and let out a few loud meows that Gin could not discern. However, what was seemingly three minutes of nothing was replaced with surprise as he could see a kitten with orange and large white spots of fur approaching Haku with its little legs.

"Wh- Wha…"

"CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTEEEEEE…!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-"

For once, Gin could almost not resist his thoughts leaking out in the grand presence of such a small yet majestic ball of fluff. After he composed himself, he silently hopped on a ledge at a higher elevation to observe from above.

Thus, he watched the two share the food with Haku thereafter cleaning the kitten. The ashen cat then carried the small one away from the middle of the alleyway and he curled giving the kitten a safe place to rest.

"I should have brought a battery bank with me."

Almost an hour of observation had passed and the battery of Gin's phone is approaching draining. Fortunately, however, Haku had gotten up as both he and the kitten had woken up in which it seems that he is walking away to leave the place.

"Just like that?"

Gin was conflicted for a moment. He does not exactly know what is going on, where that kitten came from, and he also couldn't be sure if it was someone's cat.

In the end, his indecisiveness had stalled him as he watch his companion walking away further…

Until he heard a cry from the little one.

Immediately, he jumped down just in front of Haku and landed on a crouch.

Needless to say, it gave Haku a shock and leaped backwards just in front of the kitten with a glare that was far cry from the natural look of his eyes… as if it triggered his instinct to protect his young.

"Easy there… I'm not going to hurt you two, got that? Now look at my face…"

Upon seeing Gin's visage, the alarm in Haku has drifted away and his eyes lost much of their sharpness.

"Care to talk now?"

"Meow. (I found this one all alone not long ago.)"

"Around here?"

The cat nodded.

"And you've been feeding it ever since?"

He nodded again.

"You could have just told me, you know."

Haku then gave Gin a dumbfounded, and somewhat funny look as if he had never thought of doing it.

"Oh, well. It was surprising enough that he had comprehended much of human logic until now. But I think it's better this way."

"Do you want me to take the little one home, then?"

"Meow. (He wouldn't stop crying otherwise.)"

"That was quick discussion between us. If he's not scared of me, then I can carry him on my hand."

"Meow! (Don't crush him.)"

"What do you take me for?" and he shook Haku's paw.

Thus, Gin slowly walked towards the kitten while Haku moved over for the two of them to meet.

"Please don't hate me. Please don't hate me. Please don't hate me. Please don't hate me. Please don't hate me. Please don't hate me."

With no signs of the kitten running away, he reached out his two hands and gently picked up the kitten from its body. For a moment, there was a little bit of resistance as the kitten flailed but quickly pacified not long after. Then, he lifted the feline closer to his face… and took further notice on the stubby legs, fluffy ears, and most importantly, the heterochrome eyes with gold on the left and blue on the right.

Face to face with such a creature, his face burned up with an obvious blush on his cheeks.

"Dude… I can't fathom how such a creature exists," Gin's voice violently shook.

"Meow. (Okay, calm down now, Aruji. Let's just get him to a safer place.)"

Gin could not explain the bliss he experienced as he walked with a kitten on his two hands towards home. With that, Nagi welcomed the two-- the three of them home with a very apparent surprise painted on his face.

"What in the world just happened?!"

After a few minutes of bringing Nagi up to speed, he got the gist of what has been happening with Haku in the past few weeks.

"Isn't Haku spayed?"

"Yeah. It's already like that when I got him from the cafe."

"So you're telling me that a cat… has picked up a stray cat…?"

"Oh, now that I think about it… that's wild, isn't it?"

"What are you going to do then? Are you going to adopt it?"

"I should probably ask around the neighborhood where I found them to see if they have a missing cat or something. If there's none…

I just remembered that one stare into Haku's eye was all it took me to take him home."

"You really have impulsive tendencies, huh."

"Anyway… I'm probably going to bring him and Haku to the vet just to get them checked out since they've been out and about maybe on the weekend. But first… I should probably give the little guy a wash before I show him to the others.

If only you know how many hundreds of visions I'm having of just pampering this adorable monster…"

"Yeah, yeah… Just hit me up if there's anything I can help with."

"Sure, I'll just refer to your stream schedule on Witter."

~ ~ ~

That night, a high-pitched scream was heard within Gin's house.

On her knees with quite an excited expression on her face, Rin watched the little creature from afar walking around on small steps with its little legs.

"Kyaaaaa…!!!! I can't believe I'm breathing the same air as this cute thing… Aaaahhhhh…!!!"

"Not gonna lie, Rin-san, that sounded like what an idol fan would say."

"H-H-How does something this cute exist, Potato?!"

"I also ask that myself."

"Please… Please, little one… Even when you grow please stay in that size…"

"Hear that, Nagi?!" Gin pointed towards the dining table where Nagi is slurping noodles, slightly irritated. "I'm not the only that thinks like that!"

"You guys really are made for each other."

Some moments after, Rin was finally able to calm down with a few deep breaths and a glass of water. But Gin had to ask Haku to go somewhere that Rin would not see otherwise she would erupt again.

He then told her the conditions he had set himself in adopting the kitten in the event that no one assumes ownership of the cat.

"So… have you decided on a name?"

"I literally got him earlier so I haven't even thought of that. Do you want to?"

"How about… Trivington the Destroyer?" she said with a straight face.

"I'm not giving this little guy an eyepatch and a magic circle on his right paw. Are you for real?"

"Of course I'm not," she gave the man a nudge with her elbow. "Give me a minute to think of a name.

But if it turns out that no one owns him, can I also take care of him together with you? Haku's already really smart so I want to take care of a kitten and see it grow up."

"That'd be a big help. But he'll have to get used to this new environment first."

"Hmm… Then maybe I should also get a cat bed on my room."

"You suddenly sound so fired up… Or maybe you sound like you're about to immediately snatch the little dude away."

"What gave you that idea? Ahahaha. I'll never do that," Rin asserted, all the while her eyes are completely averting Gin.

▪ ▪ ▪

A few days have passed, and Haku's communication continued to be sparse. While there is no apparent reason known, it has been very evident that ever since Haku had started taken care of the kitten even before Gin and Nagi had taken notice, he has been talking less and less in a sense that Gin does not hear anything beyond his meows.

However, the cat had divulged that he found the kitten a few weeks ago crying and alone amidst one of his casual walks, and has been since taking care of it, which led to the little one following him around to the point of it having reached the vicinity of Gin's house.

At any free time Gin gets, he asked around the sector, especially on residences with pets if they are missing a kitten and showing pictures (which he definitely did not burst capture). In the end, none of them claimed to have a lost pet which made it concrete that the kitten has found its new home.

Thus, he immediately brought Haku and the kitten to a veterinary clinic that he frequents for checkups. It has been estimated that the kitten is around more than a month old which was enough time to give vaccinations as fortunately it did not have any diseases or fleas that could have infected Haku. It was also presumed that its first few weeks the kitten was underweight until Haku started feeding him. But other than that, the cat is healthy.

Following that, Gin has consistently come home from work seeing Haku and the kitten pretty much almost inseparable with the gray cat looking after the little fellow every time. And as Gin was just removing his shoes, he saw Rin coincidentally coming downstairs with her eyes laser focused on the kitten.

"You know, it sounds like you spend more time here than your house these days."

"I can't help the urge, okay?! I just want to know if Kyupi is doing well!"

And yes, Rin has picked the name "Kyupi" as she stumbled upon the mayonnaise of the same name one time she was grocery shopping. Gin, however, opts to call the kitten "Kyu" with the occasional honorific attached at the end.

Once Haku sees the girl coming, he steps away anticipating that she would pounce on Kyu, instead of the other way around. After gently carrying the kitten, she jumped on the couch and watched the little monster move around.

The same sight has happened so many times that Gin could not unsee a little girl always excited to see a small animal from the way Rin acts. At very abrupt moments, Gin then thinks about a fabricated possibility at which the two of them met as children and grew up as childhood friends.

As the lovestruck man daydreamed while washing his hand, the front door as it is in the line of sight of the kitchen opened with his little sister entering with an orange cat casually on her arm.

"Is this a cat convention now?" Gin asked as it dawned on him that presently, there are now three cats in his house.

"Aaahhh… I really wish I could have seen Ui when she was growing up…"

Then, Anna let the ginger cat leap from her arm and join the two cats in the living room to play while she walked to the kitchen.

"Isn't this bliss, Nii?"

"Oh, it absolutely is," Gin's cheeks reddened as he pumped his fist. "I've never thought I would be taking in two cats, but here we are. At least Haku wouldn't be lonely anymore… unless the day comes when Rin abducts the poor guy."

"Yeah… Nee-chan looks a lot more smitten towards Kyupi than she is with you."

"I'm not going to lose to a cat."

"Ahaha, best of luck with that.

By the way, Mom and Dad would like to have dinner here."

"I hope Mom made food since we don't have enough for three more people."

"It's fine, she's cooking right now. It seems like they also want to play with our rookie here anyway."

"Another fluffy braincell later and this house is suddenly lively…"

…

It was almost midnight.

Gin had come down from his room after putting a few hours towards an illustration and he saw Haku as a human putting a blanket over Rin who had fallen asleep on the couch together with Kyu who also passed out just before her face.

With damp eyes, a sniffle was suddenly heard from Gin as he looked at the maiden and the kitten together.

"Ah, man… I really cry over the smallest things, huh…?"

In truth, it was nothing serious, but Gin has recently found himself emotional over many things, with most of them being something precious just like the scene in front of him.

It did not even cross his mind to wake up Rin in this situation, partly because he did not want to disturb the adorable sight.

Instead, he briskly climbed upstairs and came down with a folded futon on his hands. Upon putting another layer of blanket over Rin, he moved the coffee table away and closer to the television to make space for the futon he had laid out on the polished concrete floor just beside the couch.

For a few more moments, he savored the peaceful sight before lying down on the futon. As he laid down, he raised his hands to look at the scars on his hand brought by the work he has done in the Exiles' underground base that he put himself into and whispered, "Just a bit more and I'm almost done."

The lights of the living room shut off with one tap from his phone. Then, he gestured Haku, who had returned to his original form, to join him on the bed.

"Come here, man."

Thus, Haku decided to settle beside Gin's body over the pillow and curled up comfortably, feeling the caress of his companion's hand.

And somehow, everything has felt incredibly comfortable for Gin that the usual thoughts that he has to fight off at night were seemingly nonexistent, as he found himself growing very drowsy upon closing his eyes.