While Kotori was walking past the school gates to the black car parked nearby, she noticed there was a strange cardboard box in front of the gates.
She stepped closer to it, and discovered that there was a small kitten lying inside. She gasped in surprise. She looked around to see if there were any other people around, but it didn't seem as if any cared about the cardboard box, let alone what was inside of it.
Who would abandon an animal like this in front of a school? Especially a school like Kouketsu High? Kouketsu High was stood at the top of a steep hill, and there weren't very many houses nearby, so it wouldn't make sense for anyone to dump an animal here of all places.
Thinking carefully about it for another moment, she realised it must be like that rock from before. Something strange and misplaced in their surroundings, but was put there for a specific purpose. Maybe the abandoned kitten would be something to trigger an event. If that was the case then it was probably meant for Mari.
Kotori was about to leave, knowing that Mari would probably come eventually to care for the kitten, but the kitten started meowing pitifully and Kotori felt she couldn't just leave it alone.
She sighed and approached the cardboard box, bending down so that she could scoop the kitten up into her hands.
It was small, and it struggled a bit at first when being held, but then Kotori started to pet it gently and it seemed to relax. She couldn't help but smile at how cute it was, even though she knew she would never be able to take it home with her.
In the mean time, Kotori could at least feed it. Luckily her mother had packed salmon for her lunch today. She'd eaten most of it already but there was still a bit left over for the kitten. It probably wouldn't be enough to fill it up, but it was better than nothing.
Kotori fed the kitten, then played with it for a little bit, while at the same time trying to keep an eye out for Mari.
Instead of Mari, however, Kazuki was the one who came. One minute Kotori was alone and then the next she looked up and he was standing next to her, peering down into the box and looking at the kitten.
"Um." Kotori said, a bit unsure of herself.
Kazuki bent down beside her and reached his hand out to play with the kitten too. "Who could abandon something this cute?"
"I'm not sure. I don't even know why they'd leave it out here, in front of the school."
"Maybe they wanted it to have a better home. Everyone knows that the students here are all filthy rich."
Kotori laughed. "That's true. It's a shame that I can't take it home, though."
"Why can't you?"
"I wouldn't be able to care for it properly. I don't have the patience or the responsibility to care for anything like a pet. They would definitely have a happier life with someone else, someone who could love them properly."
Kazuki looked at her strangely for a moment, before smiling. "You're a very honest person."
They spent another few minutes talking and playing with the kitten. It seemed like Mari wasn't coming here after all. Maybe she wasn't going down Kazuki's route, or had triggered another event.
"Why don't you take it?" Kotori asked.
For a moment Kazuki looked as if he wanted nothing more, but then he sighed and shook his head. "I couldn't. My mother doesn't like animals, she'd throw a fit if I brought one home."
Kotori thought about it for a moment. It was unlikely that another student would come by and show an interest. Half the school had already walked by it without interacting with the kitten whatsoever. Kotori suspected this was because it was an object that was supposed to used for an event, and so people other than the heroine and the capture target couldn't interact with it. Kotori herself was probably an exception, as she was reborn into the villainess' role. She could probably be compared to a glitch in the system, able to see and do things NPCs usually wouldn't be able to do.
"You could always try to keep it a secret from her."
Kazuki looked like he thought her suggestion was crazy.
"Just keep the kitten in your room, or a specific section of the house she doesn't visit. As long as she doesn't run into the kitten it'll be fine, right?"
Kotori wondered if Mari didn't want to take the kitten home either, and that was why she had never showed up.
"I guess that might work..."
In the end Kotori managed to talk Kazuki into sneaking the kitten home with him. From what she could glean, it seemed like Kazuki didn't have a close relationship with his mother to begin with, so she probably wouldn't be showing up to his room unannounced. The kitten should be happy in a new home, and Kazuki might be happy too with some company.
Before he left, he asked Kotori for her phone number, saying that he would send her pictures of the kitten if she wanted to see them, seeing as she was the one who found it first. Kotori agreed. While she didn't want to take care of the kitten, she still thought it was very cute, and wouldn't mind getting updates every once in a while.
She waved goodbye to Kazuki as he walked away, but as she was waving she noticed Mari was walking towards the gardens.
Thinking that she might be able to witness another event, she ran up to the family car and quickly told the driver to wait a few more minutes before she rushed towards the direction of the gardens.
It was easy enough for Kotori to spot Mari. There was a small hedge maze in the middle of the gardens, and she was able to spot Mari's brown hair over the maze's walls.
Kotori hurried after her, but tried to make herself as quiet as possible.
When she reached the centre of the maze she could see a big statue of a woman, and a bench underneath. Mari was now sitting on that bench, but looked to be falling asleep.
For a long moment nothing happened. Perhaps Kotori had been wrong and Mari just went into the maze to take a nap? Kotori checked her phone, and seeing that the time was getting late she sighed and began to make her way back out of the maze.
She had just reached the entrance when someone was suddenly standing in her way. She took a step back, a little surprised, and looked up.
She couldn't help but gasp a bit, for the person standing in front of her was none other than Hiroki Ishijima, another capture target.
She remembered in her past life when her sister used to gush endlessly about how Hiroki's looks were so perfect it was as if he was a painting brought to life. Kotori had always just rolled her eyes, thinking her sister was exaggerating as usual, but now that she was looking at him in the flesh she had to agree. He was beautiful, almost unnaturally so. While all the capture targets were handsome in their own way, Hiroki was definitely the most good looking, hands down.
"Oh wow." Kotori couldn't help but exclaim out loud.
Hiroki looked at her a bit strangely. "Yes?"
"Sorry!" Kotori mumbled, a bit embarrassed she was caught blatantly admiring him like that. "Just got a bit distracted."
Hiroki only nodded politely. She figured he was probably used to those kind of reactions by now.
"I see."
Things were extremely awkward now. Kotori was hoping to make a good impression on the capture targets, but Masao constantly thought he was flirting with her, Sota just thought she was abnormally clumsy, and now Hiroki probably thought she was just another fangirl.
She sighed.
"Is something the matter?" He asked kindly.
Her sister was right, he really did resemble a prince. "It's nothing, Your Highness, I'll just get going now."
Kotori left quickly, not even noticing that she had referred to him as Your Highness. Hiroki watched her leave with a funny look on his face, all thoughts of entering the maze forgotten.