So after cuddling with Kaoru, she showed me where my room is, and where the bathroom is. I walked up to my room, it was furnished with basic furniture, nothing fancy or eye-catching here, just a bed, a desk with chair, a few bookshelves and an drawer, not that I would mind too much, I plopped down onto the bed, before sitting on my knees, stretching my arms out and yawning, I could feel the stress I had built up releasing from my body, earning me a shudder. I took off my hoodie and let it lay on the bed before stroking my tail. It had gotten really messy and the fur was all over the place. I took my hands, and started working on grooming my tail, being mindful not to release my claws. I was also very on alert while doing so, my ears reacted and rotated, catching sounds that a normal person probably wouldn't be able to hear.
Thud, thud, thud.
Footsteps. My tail puffed up and I prepared to hide somewhere, but because of the fact that this room was very sparsely furnished I really didn��t have any place to hide. I panicked, and Kaoru stepped into the room. I let out a noise of embarrassment and surprise "Fueh?!"
Kaoru, standing on the other side of the room carrying some clothes in her arms, was seeing all of this happen. "Eh?" Her expression went from one of confusion to very sparkly and happy. "You are so adorable!" I slowly looked up, with a tomato red face blushing in embarrassment. I could only make out flustered sounds. "Awawawawaw." She doesn't think that I'm weird? I mean yeah the staff in the hospital didn't think much of it but they were probably informed and trained for it, and that government guy Tobe was also aware already.
She gently put down the clothes on the desk before getting on the bed and sat right next to me. I hid my face in embarrassment of course. "Mrrrrrw." My tail was wagging back and forth in a very stressed manner, while my ears pressed flat on my skull, making me very cute.
Kaoru went in for the strike, she is a head taller than me, at least, and it was very easy for her to overman me, cuddling and petting me while I could only endure it, although it felt good. Of course, I tried to voice my complaints, but the only sounds that made it out were too incoherent to actually understand, only earning me more headpats. But maybe there was something to it, because the longer it happened, the less I tried to resist it.
Kaoru finally snapped out of her very aggressive petting session, "What was I doing again… ...Right, um- Misaki, I brought over some clothes for you to try, me, mom and I decided that we should go shopping tomorrow to buy some new clothes for you."
Shopping. But what about me? "B-but won't people think weirdly of me? And don't you think that I'm weird?!" I said in a saddened manner. "No way that you're weird, you're so cute that there's no way that I'd think that! And It's fine, we're going to a smaller place where less people gather, plus, you can always use the hoodie to hide your tail and ears, like you did when you came here." I pouted, dissatisfied with her answers, sure I wanted to go out and explore but thinking about what other people think about me gave me shudders, and that's the reason I probably don't think about often. But her first answer calmed me, at least she didn't think that I was strange or anything. "Does Ayu- Mom know?" Kaoru thought for a second, "Probably, she is a scientist."
Moving on, I nudged closer to the pile of clothes, most of it had colourful designs and patterns, there were some plain clothes mixed in but really nothing I fancied. If I had to choose, I'd go with another hoodie, new pants, and another pair of underwear. So from the pile, I picked a few clothes that I'd probably use, brought them over and sorted them into the drawer.
Kaoru spoke up again, this time in a more sorrowful tone. "So, do you know if you're going to school or not?" School… Come to think of it, I was 12 when the incident happened weren't I? So that means that I'm 15 and that's when teenagers go to highschool but I haven't even finished middle school and- Kaoru had wrapped her arms around me from behind, and I calmed down a little, the warm embrace of Kaoru was very soothing, "purr purr."
"Hmmm. Let's ask Mom about it okay?" "Okay. But can we just stay like this for some time?" I asked, not showing my face. Maybe I was beginning to get attracted to her, but even if I were I'd probably hide it.
After some more time in this position, I changed t-shirts and walked down the stairs together with Kaoru. Ayumi had probably gotten downstairs while I was cuddling with Kaoru.
Getting to the bottom of the stairs, Kaoru asked mom if I would need to go to school. She was doing something on her computer, but stopped once Kaoru asked. "Mmmm… Yea, she will need to go to school, why?" "B-but won't people think of me as weird? A-and I haven't finished middle school!" "Oh dear, don't worry about that, and in a few days you'll take a special test to judge whether you should go to high school or continue middle school." "Okay." Truth to be told, I didn't really want to go to school, and that answer didn't help with my anxiousness.
"Aww Misaki stop sulking! We are going to buy you some new clothes so cheer up!" Kaoru tried to cheer me up, to which she succeeded and my worries were eased.
Ayumi suddenly closed her computer. "So you and Misaki are planning on shopping right? I could give you a ride if you want." "Thanks mom, but I think we'll be fine, besides, Misaki probably wants to go out and explore." Kaoru was right, on one hand I wanted to go out and explore, but on the other hand I'm scared, what would happen if people saw me without my hood on? Or my tail? Ngh.
"She's really adorable when she's pondering over something isn't she?" "Yeah! I just want to cuddle her!" I snapped from my sulking phase. "Eh?" I wasn't paying attention to their discussion because of me being deep in thought, but I had a feeling it was about something bad.
"So, when are you gonna go shopping?" "Hmm probably right now." "Fueh?" Shopping? Right now? I'm still not ready to go out yet! "B-but I'm not ready to go out yet! I need my hoodie."
"Alright, I'll be waiting down here then." I hurriedly ran upstairs as soon as Kaoru finished her sentence, got into my room and threw the hoodie I had been using before on, and quickly ran back downstairs again. "Sigh. I'm ready, I guess." "Great!"
Me and Kaoru walked to the front door, put on our shoes and headed out. Smelling the fresh and humid air was refreshing, to say the least. I don't think I was that into nature in the past, or at least what I can remember, but hearing the birds chirping and feeling the wind blowing past my face was to put it simply, calming. Kaoru led the way, with me following her, holding her hand.
We took several turns, before getting to a main street. The main street was not really that big, just one lane each way, with basic railing and trees decorating the walkways. There were several stores decorating the main street along with restaurants and a singular convenience store. Walking past a few stores selling miscellaneous things, we stopped by a clothing store. Entering through the door I was hit by the smell of aged wood and new clothes.
The store clerk greeted us, before going back to watching her phone. Kaoru greeted her back, before moving to the back of the store. I think the store had been going for a very cozy and homey theme, as it was decorated in boreal wood and was lit in an orange yellow light. There were also different paintings hanging on the walls, and home furniture such as drawers, bookshelves and bean bags were placed down. Wait? Bean bags? I plopped down on one of the bean bags, the bag gave out a 'thud' when I landed on it. Kaoru looked back at me, and had a surprised face plastered on her. I lazed on the bean bag, not budging at all despite Kaoru trying to get me to get up.
Kaoru grew a smirk, and stopped trying to get me to get up. Not that I mind at the time, since the only thing I cared about was staying in the bean bag. I think I'll get a bean bag for my room if I get the chance.
I forced myself to get off the bean bag, and got to finding Kaoru, apparently she had picked out a few clothes for me, but… ...I don't think I would wear even a quarter of those she had chosen, but she forced me to wear them. I only gave a disgruntled pout, being forced to become a temporary dressing doll was very boring and exhausting. But in return I'd see some sides I'd never thought would come to light. For example, Kaoru got me a maid dress, which of course I first objected to but after a lot of perseverance from Kaoru I finally put it on, and wow. Simply wow. I looked elegant, graceful. No! Stop! Don't think of those thoughts!
Another one of the clothes I would need to avoid would be those underwear plastered with the silhouette of a cat. I shuddered at the thought.
The shopping trip concluded with Kaoru basically buying everything that she thought was cute, filtering out most of my opinions.
Getting home, I was tired from shopping. But also strangely happy. Maybe it was because the entire time I had been lonely, or maybe because I had someone I could talk to, but nonetheless, I felt happiness.