The Curse of the Cat

146. Disaster

Shinya could sit quietly and play a video game… assuming Takuya hadn't gotten to the consoles first. But Takuya was never the sort to sit still and this summer holidays, he was more restless than ever.

He knew why, of course. But he was trying not to dwell.

That was impossible, of course, especially when he had his own little brother at home.

'What?' Shinya asked, lying on his stomach still. 'It's still my turn.'

'I know,' Takuya sighed. And it was their usual routine, easy and carefree. He sighed.

'It's not the end of the world.' Shinya, to his surprise, set down the remote. 'What is it?'

'Nothing.'

'It's not nothing.' He changed the game, then connected the second console. 'Come on.'

Takuya didn't move, at first. It wasn't as simple a fix as that.

Then again, Shinya barely knew his friends. He might not even notice if they were one short either.

But Takuya knew. And he couldn't just accept it, even if there was little choice.

147. Blush

Tommy was getting used to having friends. Yutaka and his parents were getting used to the subtle changes he was going through as a result, and the small bits of confidence seeping through, but now the balance had shifted again. He knew it had, because Yutaka had taken to shooting him concerned looks and his parents had returned to asking him a few too many times how things were going.

But he couldn't exactly tell his family that his friends' family was cursed and followed a really messed up hierarchy. So he'd mumble something about friends having family troubles and leave it at that. And his parents would mumble their pride and allow him to leave it at that, and Yutaka seemed to do the same.

Except when he didn't. When he pushed and Tommy couldn't give it back to him. 'What are you protecting?' Yutaka asked, finally.

And what was he protecting? Wasn't the whole problem that he couldn't protect them?

'It's a complicated family situation,' Tommy reiterated.

'Like Sohma complicated?'

And that shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as it was. 'I guess the Sohmas are pretty well known.'

'Doesn't mean the general public isn't aware of how old-fashioned and micro-managed they are.'

And that was true. Even if they didn't know the specifics.

'Well, it's like this…' And Tommy explained, as best as he could, without mentioning the curse. And while Yutaka lends a sympathetic ear, he has no better ideas than the others.

Or maybe one better idea. 'We are in the digital age, you know.'

And surely it would be easier to sneak a phone or something in than to sneak in physically for significant periods of time.

148. Nimble

Chiaki didn't expect to bump into Tomoko, but maybe that was fate giving her a nudge. So, of course, she doesn't protest too much when the older women cooes over her, laments that she's still too thin, and invites her over for dinner.

Koichi looked strained, and surprised.

She supposed she shouldn't be too surprised herself.

But when Tomoko was preparing their dinner, the two were left to their own devices.

Or their own opportunities.

'We haven't talked for a while,' Koichi broke the ice.

'Didn't want to,' Chiaki admitted. 'Honestly, I'd be happy to only need to remember the Sohma family once a year, but I'm not quite that heartless.'

'So you pity the cat as well.' Koichi sighed.

'Sure I do,' Chiaki replied. 'Hell knows what I would have done in your shoes.'

149. Remain

Chiaki wasn't sure if she'd ever shared so much about her thought processes before. She lived alone, after all; had lived alone for years. She'd told bits and pieces, to Teruo and the twins because she still saw them outside the compound, but that was about it. And they'd respected that distance.

But this is different. This is a distance she created, to protect something that she'd fought for and that someone else needed to fight for too.

'What do you even have to lose at this point?'

'My family,' was the immediate answer, and there was the main difference between the pair of them. Her parents were happy enough to leave her to the mercy of the Zodiac. The twins' parents cared enough about their children to break a love couple to give them as good a life as they could manage.

And they got the cat and the rat, to boot.

'Fuyuno's not that strong, you know,' Chiaki said. She's said that before, but she doesn't think she's said that to Koichi before. 'You remember the suicide, right? That shook him, both mentally and socially. And, of course, the district police aren't entirely in their pocket. So he has to be careful. Another death on the compound would've been too high profile. So he called my bluff.'

'But you…' He looked at her, as though he could see the scars under her clothes. 'You took the risk of…'

'Dying, yes.' She nodded. 'I was pretty blasé at that point, to be honest. It was a risk worth taking. Now, not so much because I've got enough freedom that I don't want to risk losing it. Risk and benefit ratio, I guess. But you're going to lose your freedom if you do nothing.'

Koichi said nothing.

'That room doesn't air very well. It gets cold. And if someone bangs on the door the sound just echoes and the walls shake…'

'Why do you..?' He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. When the room was empty, it was used for errant Zodiac members.

She hadn't jumped straight away, after all.

150. Snore

JP used to be good at sleeping in the summer. It was warm, and cosy, and going outside meant dealing with the humidity he could avoid with the indoor fan. But this summer, his mind was simply racing too much.

Tommy had brought up a good point. Tommy's brother had brought up a good point. The room might be empty and cold but surely it didn't have to stay that way. Of course, they didn't know how often someone would enter that room; whether it was essentially a prison cell with an outside flap to push food through or whether someone would have to physically look in. Whether that someone would strip the room bare if they found it populated, or whether more substantial things could be snuck in.

But even still, a phone was fairly easy to sneak in. Though it was expensive on the allowance of five teenagers. Sims weren't so bad, though. Prepaid sims, or a plan without too many perks. If only one of them had an old phone, but he wasn't to get an upgrade until his phone stopped working or he could afford it himself…

Or he lost it. He wondered how disappointed his parents would be. What that breach of trust would cost.

Not a friend, at least, and that was the more important part.

So "losing" his old phone it was. And seeing what sort of sims the five of them could wrangle into it for a birthday surprise.