Julia suddenly jumps to her feet and starts coming toward me.
At the sight of Julia striding straight at me, I clamp down harder on the basket and bolt for the door with all my strength.
“Nabi—!”
I hear Julia calling from behind me, but I don’t stop. If I can just bring this all the way to the patron’s bedroom, then this basket and Big Guy will officially be mine.
“Nabi!”
Just a little more. Just a little more and I’ll make it…
I strain with everything I’ve got, staring at the bedroom door ahead of me. But the basket is too heavy—I can’t keep holding it any longer.
“Aiyoo. I can’t live like this. Come here, Nabi.”
In the end, I drop the basket onto the floor and start panting, and Julia clicks her tongue as she approaches. I glance back and forth between the basket and Big Guy, then between Julia and the door to the patron’s bedroom.
And then I make my decision.
I snatch Big Guy from inside the basket and dash off again. Julia calls after me desperately, but I ignore her and sprint full speed toward the door. Big Guy dangles from my mouth, and compared to his size, he’s light enough to run with.
“Nabi—!”
When I reach the door, the knight who’s been watching from earlier opens it for me. Without a second thought, I slip straight inside.
Where’s the safest place?
I scan the bedroom and spot the wide bed. If I’m on top of the patron’s bed, no one will dare snatch Big Guy away from me. I leap up onto the bed in one quick hop.
“Nabi!”
I glance back to see Julia entering the bedroom. I drop Big Guy from my mouth, puff out my chest, and lift my chin at her.
Nyaaang—
This is mine now.
I stare her down in a come-at-me-if-you-dare stance, but—
“Pfft—.”
Julia suddenly covers her mouth and starts laughing. She keeps snorting and puffing until her whole body starts shaking.
“Ahahahahahaha—!”
Seeing Julia clutch her stomach and burst into loud laughter, I start wondering if I’ve finally gone insane from losing my yarn. But then the maids who chased us in take one look at me and immediately explode into laughter too, cackling like lunatics. I seriously wonder if they’ve all lost their minds together.
“Heeheehee… Na, Nabi… ahaha… what do we do, our Nabi…”
Julia wipes tears from the corners of her eyes, laughing and crying at the same time. I scowl deeply and lower my gaze to where her finger is pointing.
……
……
Eek—!
I look down at my feet and jump straight up in shock.
The round, fluffy, marshmallow-like Big Guy that I’d definitely been carrying is nowhere to be seen. In its place lies a pathetic, tangled little lump of red yarn. I frantically scratch at the sheet beneath my paws, searching for the real Big Guy.
But Big Guy is gone. Completely gone.
“Heeheehee… oh no, oh no… our Nabi, so pitiful… ahahahaha.”
The maids collapse onto the floor as a group, wheezing with laughter. I poke the tiny yarn lump that’s sitting where Big Guy should’ve been with my forepaw. The yarn ball is connected to a single strand of red thread. I stand up and follow the thread attached to it—under the bed, then straight out past the door.
I jump down from the bed and peek my head into the hallway. The red yarn stretches all the way down to the far end of the corridor.
“……”
I climb back onto the bed, lift the sheet with my nose, and burrow underneath. I shove myself deep into the gap, curl my body into a tight ball, and lie there.
My red, fluffy, round Big Guy is dead. I killed him by forcing myself to carry him away. If I’d bitten through the strand connected to Julia’s knitting needle before running, he wouldn’t have died such a meaningless death…
This is all that patron bastard’s fault.
It’s because that jerk suddenly rubbed his mouth all over me last night. If that hadn’t happened, I would’ve gone to the office with him for sure, and I never would’ve met Big Guy in the first place. Damn bastard. Perverted asshole.
The moment their eyes met, the boy hurriedly lowered his head. It’s always the same reaction. He already knew why. It’s because of his lips. Calyx traces his lower lip with his fingertips.
Last night, the boy had kept their lips pressed to his, doing nothing but panting softly for a long while. Drunk on the soft sensation and the cookie-scented breath, he’d even forgotten the passage of time.
And yet—of course.
At some point, the boy suddenly bit down hard on Calyx’s lips, and almost simultaneously lashed out at his shin with the tip of their foot. The bite was so fierce that the torn mark is still clearly visible. And the shin they kicked throbbed sharply, deep enough to rattle the bone. It was pure luck that it didn’t even bruise.
After biting his lips raw and kicking his shin, the boy huffed angrily for a moment, then suddenly exploded, shouting as they drove Calyx out. The ferocity of it left no room for argument—Calyx was unceremoniously thrown out the door.
What was it they’d said…?
Something like, you perverted bastard, wasn’t it?
At the memory of the shout that still seems to ring in his ears, Calyx smiles while touching the wound on his lips.
He’d known from early on that the boy’s pride and temperament weren’t things to be taken lightly, but this reaction was beyond what he’d expected. Still, the boy’s boundless trust and oddly dull responses only exist because they’ve opened their heart to him completely.
Letting him touch them greedily, letting flimsy excuses slide—those are reactions reserved only for someone permitted. If anyone else dared do the same, the boy would raise hell on the spot.
The boy, still furious, hasn’t even glanced his way since morning. Even now, as the sun sets, nothing has changed. They don’t even come near him, leaving him with no chance to soothe them at all.
But half a day has passed. Surely by now, there might be a small opening to calm them down… thinking that, Calyx moves his feet.
But how does one even go about soothing him…?
Calyx agonizes as the bedroom door draws closer.
The boy is angry. Panic played a part, but at the core of it, he’s truly angry. Treating them the same way he does when they’re sulking might only fan the flames. But with the boy still in their cat form, he can’t exactly grab them and whisper an apology either.
“Your Highness.”
As he’s about to enter the bedroom, lost in thought, a maid standing by the door steps forward. From her face, he recognizes her as the one the boy is particularly fond of. Her name was Julia.
“What is it?”
At his question, the maid carefully holds out a small basket. Calyx looks at the basket offered to him. Inside the shallow basket sits a single red ball of yarn. When he lifts his gaze again, the maid speaks in a voice laced with amusement.
“Nabi liked this very much, Your Highness. He tried to secretly take it, but all the yarn unraveled, so he’s quite upset right now.”
Calyx looks back at the basket. It’s nothing fancy—just an ordinary basket, with a ball of yarn inside. He accepts it from the maid. His steps grow noticeably lighter as he carries it into the bedroom.
The bedroom is quiet when he enters. As expected, there’s no sign of the boy padding over to greet him. Calyx follows the faint sound of the boy’s breathing.
In the middle of the wide bed, the sheet rises in a small mound. It’s subtle enough that you might miss it if you weren’t looking closely. Judging by the shape, the boy is curled up tightly.
He made sure to walk loudly, so they must know he’s right beside them, yet there’s no reaction. The boy just lies there, curled up beneath the sheet. Calyx sits on the bed and strokes the small mound.
At his touch, the boy flinches and wriggles under the sheet, then crawls away in the opposite direction from where Calyx is sitting and curls up again. Clicking his tongue inwardly, Calyx moves closer to the raised mound of sheets.
When he carefully pulls the sheet back, the boy is revealed, curled up tightly. Even with the sheet removed, they keep their eyes shut, stubbornness written all over their face. Calyx sets the basket he’s holding down by the bed and bends forward.
He presses a gentle kiss to the small head, and the boy’s body twitches. Pulling back, Calyx begins stroking the small back. Unlike usual, the boy doesn’t purr at all, and the body beneath his hand is stiff with tension. A clear refusal.
“About last night…”
As he begins slowly, the boy’s ears twitch slightly. Calyx continues, his hand still stroking their back.
“Last night, without realizing it, I ended up pressing my lips to someone.”
The tip of the black tail flicks back and forth.
