"You're right." Kiana smiled at Shu. "It really does look a bit like me."
She bent down, scooped the kitten up from around her ankles, and cradled it in one arm.
The kitten nestled obediently against her chest, resting its two front paws on her arm as it tilted its head up to look at her.
Those mismatched gold and blue eyes were bright and shining—just like hers.
It really does look a lot like me...
Looking at this kitten that seemed to have been carved from the exact same mold as herself, a sudden impulse surged in Kiana's heart.
"Shu." She tugged on his hand. "Let's keep it."
Actually, from the moment Shu saw Kiana pick the kitten up, he had already anticipated exactly what she was going to say.
"Have you really thought this through?" Shu asked rhetorically as a mere formality. In reality, he was already mentally compiling a shopping list of all the things they'd need to buy to raise a cat.
"Mhm!" Kiana hugged the kitten closer and turned it so Shu could get a better look.
"Look, isn't it so cute?! Plus, it's all alone on the street. It's so pitiful!"
She looked at Shu with those azure eyes, completely brimming with anticipation.
"I promise I'll take full responsibility for taking care of it! Feeding it, scooping its litter, brushing its fur, giving it baths—I'll do it all! I absolutely won't cause you any trouble!"
Kiana swore up and down. Shu looked at her earnest face, and then down at the little white kitten in her arms, which was also staring back at him.
He stayed silent for a second.
"Pleeaaaaase~" Kiana wriggled her body, deliberately sweetening her voice.
Her voice was already sweet to begin with; adding this exaggeratedly cute tone made it almost sickeningly sweet.
To make matters worse, right after Kiana finished her plea, the kitten in her arms let out an equally cloying meow.
"Meow~"
Hah, you were just hissing at me a minute ago!
Shu instantly felt slighted and decided to make things a little difficult for this "mother-daughter" duo who were trying to strong-arm him.
"You can't even take care of yourself without me. Can you really take good care of a kitten?"
Kiana's face stiffened.
"I... I can!" she shouted, though she sounded entirely guilty.
"Really?" Shu raised an eyebrow, continuing to give her a hard time.
"Really!" Kiana gritted her teeth and answered again.
"Are you sure?" Shu's gaze landed on the cat.
"Meow~" The kitten let out the exact same sound as Kiana, making Shu genuinely wonder if they really were mother and daughter... or perhaps sisters?
"I'm sure!" Kiana closed her eyes and replied stiffly.
Shu didn't say anything else; his teasing ended there.
Since Kiana had agreed to it three times, she would definitely take responsibility for it.
Besides, Shu never actually intended to let her shoulder the burden all on her own.
He sighed, pretending to have been successfully persuaded by her.
"...Suit yourself."
Kiana immediately let out a cheer.
"Yay!"
Hugging the kitten, she grabbed Shu's hand and spun them both around in a joyful circle.
"Shu is the best! Shu is the absolute best in the whole wide world!"
The kitten got a little dizzy from the spinning, but it didn't run away, just burying itself obediently into her embrace.
Shu was also a little dizzy. The sudden movement caused his barely-settled heart rate to spike in agitation once more.
He suppressed the thumping noise in his ears, instead looking at the ecstatic Kiana and the meowing kitten.
Whatever. Raising one is raising one, raising two is raising two.
I'm happy to do it.
Of course, he would never say those words out loud.
At most, he'd only tell Kiana the first half of that sentence. There was no way he'd say the last part...
Why?
Because he only had so much dignity left in this life. Couldn't he cherish it just a little?
After Kiana finished celebrating, she stopped and lifted the kitten up to eye level.
"Alright! Now it's time to give you a name!" Kiana stared at the kitten with immense responsibility, determined to fulfill her very first duty.
Naming it!
The kitten tilted its head.
"What should we call you..." Kiana held the kitten up, furrowing her brows and closing her eyes in deep thought. "Hmm... White... soft... clingy..."
Her eyes suddenly flew open, shooting out twin beams of profound wisdom.
"Rice Cake!"
Shu, who had been waiting for Kiana's answer, choked on his own spit.
"What?"
"Rice Cake!" Kiana pulled the kitten back into her arms. "We'll call it Rice Cake!"
Shu looked at her, his expression a little strange.
"Why 'Rice Cake'?" He was kind of asking the obvious here, but...
Kiana had treated her Seed of [Wish] like a daughter. And this kitten... uh... was she planning on treating it like a daughter too?
For someone as deeply emotionally invested as Kiana, that probably wouldn't be out of character.
And honestly, even he himself... would probably adopt a similar attitude...
"Because—" Kiana explained righteously, "when I was little, the thing I wanted to eat the most was rice cakes!"
"Before I ran away from home, I was always in Europe, and I only occasionally got to visit ." Kiana said, "Where are you supposed to find rice cakes in Europe? I could only watch other people eat them in anime..."
So that was the reason... Although it differed slightly from his expectations, the core sentiment was essentially the same.
Shu was silent for a second.
"So... you want to eat it?"
The moment he spoke—
"Meow!"
The kitten let out a terrified screech and desperately tried to shrink back into Kiana's arms.
Kiana hurriedly tried to comfort it.
"No, no! I'm not going to eat you! Rice Cake is just a name! A name!"
The kitten remained huddled up.
Kiana looked down at it, a wicked smirk suddenly appearing on her face.
"However..."
She leaned in close to the kitten, letting out a sinister "Hehehe."
"A kitten this cute is just born to be eaten!"
She began to pet the cat frantically.
The kitten's fur completely puffed up under her aggressive petting, its face bearing a look that clearly said: I have lost all will to live.
Shu, who had just explicitly stated, "This cat looks like you": "..."
Hah... are cute little kittens really born to be eaten...?
He didn't dare say another word.
The two humans and one cat walked home under the glow of the moonlight and streetlamps.
Kiana walked with a light step, holding Rice Cake in one arm and pulling Shu along with the other.
Shu was dragged along beside her, carrying the shopping bags.
Rice Cake nestled in Kiana's embrace, curiously taking in the world around them. It occasionally let out a "meow" in response to Kiana's muttering, making it seem as though the girl and the cat were genuinely having a conversation.
The streetlights stretched their shadows out long across the pavement.
Just like a family.
"Shu."
"Hmm?"
"Do you think Rice Cake will get used to it?"
"Get used to what?"
"Living with us." Kiana looked down at the cat in her arms. "This is probably its first time being kept as a pet... Do you think it'll want to run away?"
Shu thought about it.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you're here."
Kiana froze for a moment.
Then, she smiled.
"That's true!"
She hugged Rice Cake tighter, her steps growing even lighter.
The moonlight poured down, falling gently upon the three of them.
It was incredibly tender.
Just like the words Kiana had spoken.
"I'm here. I'll always be here."