~Chapter Eighteen : Helping Hands~
~Start~

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"I-I assure you, there's really no beans to spill!" Hiromi said, holding out his hand but his face that's been getting redder and redder says otherwise. "...I'm not hiding anything!"

The cat boys looked at the guy and looked at each other. "Yup, he's definitely hiding something." They all thought and began to think of a plan to get this little fact about himself. Then, they all looked at each other and as if they what each of them are thinking, they nodded at each other.

"Not hiding anything, huh..." Akito said and smirked. "Not even after your weird actions from earlier?"

"W-what weird actions are you talking about...?" Hiromi asked, his ears were still red. "That's how I normally ac-"

"Eh~? Not even when you looked like you're about to cry earlier when Aimi-san is talking to Haruki?" Natsuki asked with a grin and his tail swaying left and right behind him. "I saw it~! Don't underestimate my eyes~! I can sense a change in emotions really fast, you know~!"

Hiromi's lips trembled. "T-That's..." He said as he looked down, trying to think of a better excuse. "That's because Aimi...Never talked about it with me before...Her love for animals...That's all..."

"Is that really all? That's pretty immature to me." Chikage said as he drank from his cup of hot chocolate, carefully and looked at him with a smirk. "You're too obvious...You like Okano Aimi, your own cat girl, don't you?"

With that, Hiromi's blush became even more redder than it is before. He looked down, wide-eyed and his mouth opening and closing but no words were heard. "That's true...You were really suspicious earlier~!" Natsuki said, placing his hand to his chin in thought. "So, you were jealous of Haruki, huh..."

Hiromi tensed up and bit his bottom lip. "Sending Master like that away too..." Fuyuko said as he paused his game to grab a cookie from the plate infront of him. "Very embarrassing, huh?"

Haruki hold out his hand to Hiromi, but not touching him. "A-Ah, don't mind, Hiromi-kun!" He said as he smiled, in hopes of comforting him. "I would've probably done the same thing if I'm jealous so, cheer up, please?"

"You know, you could've gone past this interrogation if you'd just say what we want to hear, actually." Akito said, taking another sip from his tea. "You should just be honest already."

"You're one to talk." Chikage said as he leaned back on the chair, earning a glare from the orange-haired.

All of their statements somehow became like an arrow that pierced through Hiromi's chest. So much so, that he could feel his own soul leaving his body. That's why, Hiromi couldn't help but to look at them and open his mouth to speak.

"A-Alright! I-I like Aimi, okay!? Is there any problem with that!?" Hiromi yelled and quickly covered his mouth and looked around. He sighed in relief when no one else but the cat boys have heard him. Hiromi turned to the smirking cat boys with a red face. "T-There...! Is that enough!?"

"More than enough." Akito said as he and cat boys smiled in victory.

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"You know, I wish you didn't have to pressure the guy but I guess that's another way of doing it." (Y/N) said, sweatdropping as the five cat boys were just merely swaying their tails left and right. The girl sighed and shrugged as she rest her head on her hand. "Aimi and Hiromi-kun, huh...?"

"They like each other but can't tell..." Akito said, in which everyone agreed to. "Which means..."

"The answer's literally right there!" Everyone said as some face palmed in frustration.

"Master...! I-I can't take it! That's physically painful to me!" Natsuki said as he latches on (Y/N)'s arm with a look of frustration. "Let's help them go together, please!"

(Y/N) looked at Natsuki with the same frustrated look. "What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing..." She said.

"Thank you, Master! You're the only one who understands me the best!" Natsuki dramatically said, hugging (Y/N) in the process. The other cat boys stared awkwardly at them.

"What the hell's up with this atmosphere seriously..." Chikage mumbled.

(Y/N) gave a short laugh and turn to the other cat boys with a smile. "Their feelings are mutual and I'm not satisfied with the relationship they have right now. Even if they act like it's okay, I somehow know that it's not too..." She said as she looked down. "That's why, I want us to help them to achieve better happiness than what they already have as of now."

"Will you guys help me?" (Y/N) asked as she hold out her hand infront of them.

Natsuki, being the cheerful one, immediatly took hold of (Y/N)'s hand. "Of course, Master~!" He said as he leaned onto her shoulder.

"I like the idea, myself..." Haruki smiled as he knelt down beside her. "That's why, I'll do whatever I can to help!"

(Y/N), then, felt a body slowly leaning onto her back. She turned to look behind her and saw Fuyuko leaning onto her, pausing his video game and looking up at (Y/N). "Master said so...I'll join." He said and went back to playing his game.

(Y/N) sweatdropped and felt something warm, laying down on her lap, as she was sitting on the floor. She looked down and saw fluffy black hair that she resisted to touch. "As always, I'll do whatever you want, Master~!" Chikage said as he hugged her and giggled with a tint of red in his cheeks. . "As long as I get a praise, I'll do my best~!"

Akito stared at them and turned his back onto them, crossing his arms infront of his chest with a slight blush on his face. "Well...I was the one who proposed the idea..." Akito said as he turned to look back at them. "I suppose it'll be unfair if I stayed on the background."

Natsuki chuckled. "Pfft, Akito, there's no need to be embarrased~!" He said as he stood up and grabbed Akito's arm. "Don't act innocent when you want to go near Master too! Come here, already!"

"Wai-! Natsuki!" Akito said as Natsuki pulled him over with a forceful pull, causing him to lose balance and fall over to the others. Akito blushed in contact with everyone else and gave Natsuki, who was laughing the whole time, a deadly glare.

Let's just say Natsuki end up with a large bump on his head that night.

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And so, the quest to bring their two newly made friends had officially started. (Y/N) and the cat boys had made a plan together to bring these two to the happiness of love that they deserved. The plan doesn't have to end in a complete success, even if they don't end up together immediatly like they hoped for, they just wanted them to become closer than they already are. Hoping that fate would do it's thing and handle everything else.

It started the day after their meeting that (Y/N) and the cat boys got closer to Hiromi and of course, Aimi. All of them became great batch of friends and starting helping each other in just a few days. However, Hiromi and Aimi had no idea what (Y/N) and the cat boys were planning to do. for a simple plan, It took quite a lot of planning and finally, today was the day the execute the plan.

(Y/N) called Aimi for a little girl talk while Hiromi was called by her cat boys for a conversation of their own. (Y/N) placed the phone down and sighed in relief. She heard her bedroom door open and looked to see the cat boys peeking their heads out and gave out a thumbs up, signalling they, too, have finished what they need to do.

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"I'm really glad you decided to come over, (Y/N)-chan!" Aimi cheerfully said as she placed a cup of tea and sweets on the table. They were currently on Hiromi's garden, deciding that it's nice to go outside of the mansion sometime. Aimi sat down across from (Y/N) and leaned on her palm with a sigh. "It's boring to do the same chores every single day, you know?"

(Y/N) giggled as she can relate to her problems, somehow. "Well, atleast you do chores~!" She said as she stuck out her tounge at her. "In our house, Akito do mostly all the chores that I'm starting to get lazier and lazier!"

They all talked about random things for a few minutes until Aimi asked the question that (Y/N) was waiting for this whole time. "Ah, this reminds me..." She said as she tilted her head to the side. "Why'd you decided to come over, (Y/N)-chan? Do you wanna talk about something?"

(Y/N) inwardly smirked but on the outside, she faked a sad smile and looked down. "Ah, you see..." (Y/N) said as her face turned serious. "Remember when you told me about your...feelings for Hiromi-kun?"

Aimi blushed slightly and looked down, embarrassed as she nodded. (Y/N) placed her hand on her shoulder and gave her a pat. "I suggest you tell him how you feel." She said.

Aimi blushed even redder and began to move frantically. "W-What!? N-No! I can't do that! Impossible!" Aimi said, biting her lips. "I-I'm just a cat girl! For me to like my master is just...!"

"I suggest you do it before it's too late, Aimi." (Y/N) said, seriously and sat down, looking all sad, which caused Aimi to get worried.

"Is there...something wrong?" Aimi asked.

"...Well, there's just...Someone..." (Y/N) said. "Someone in school seems to have...feelings for Hiromi-kun as well..."

Aimi widened her eyes, suprised. She was csilent for a moment as she looked and bit her bottom lip. "...Oh..." She said. "I see..."

(Y/N)'s face began to worry as Aimi looked to the side and tried to smile. "I see...! That's...That's fine!" She said. "I-I'm fine with that...! Really! I...I expected this..."

Aimi said those words with a certain tone however, her emotions and eyes just didn't go well together. (Y/N) inwardly felt bad for making her feel like this but at the same time, she felt happy knowing her feelings for her master was true. But she needs to keep focus on this mission as everything might go in the opposite direction.

"Is that so...? But what if Hiromi-kun ends up being with that person?" (Y/N) asked. "Wouldn't that be painful?"

Aimi widened her eyes slightly and looked down. "...I-I will respect Master's choices..." She said, clenching her shaking fist.

(Y/N)'s eyes soften and sat down properly on her chair and smiled. "I see..." She said as she got her cup of tea. "If you respect your Master that much then, I will be the one to respect your choices like that."

(Y/N) took a sip on the tea as Aimi looked at her with hesitation on her eyes. "...But it would've been nice for Hiromi-kun to know your feelings, atleast..." She said with a sad smile on her face. "I mean, you have such an honest and loyal feelings inside that I think Hiromi-kun deserves to know about it."

Aimi bit her lips at her statement and sighed sadly. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the hesitation from taking over her and clenched her fist even more. "I..." (Y/N) heard Aimi uttered out, making her look at her in curiousity.

"Aimi?" (Y/N) asked, tilting her head at the side. "Are you okay?"

Then, suddenly, the green haired cat girl stood up and looked at (Y/N), who got suprised by her action. "I'll do it!" She said with determination and tiny tears coming out of the side of her eyes, trying to stop herself from crying. "I-I'll tell Master Hiromi my feelings! Even if...Even if he doesn't accept my feelings! Atleast, I told him what I'm feeling on the inside!"

(Y/N) smiled at Aimi's blushing face and stopd up from her seat and pat her head for comfort. "That's the Aimi that I know~! You're very brave!" She said. "I'm going to support you, don't worry!"

Aimi nodded and thanked (Y/N) for her somewhat motivation towards her. (Y/N) smiled in relief as for a second, she thought she was going to fail at her first step to the mission. She did told the cat boys that she was never the greastest when it comes to convincing other people.

But somehow, she did and comes the greatest part of the mission, the confession. (Y/N) is already happy for Aimi to be motivated like this which makes her hope that the cat boys was doing as fine as her with their work.

**********

"Are you guys good on your side?" (Y/N) whispered over the phone connecting to the cat boys' side.

"Ah, yes! It went unexpectedly well!" (Y/N) heard Haruki, sounding happy.

"That's good! I'm fine with Aimi here as well!" (Y/N) giggled and looked at Aimi over her shoulder, who was practicing her confession. Then, (Y/N) got suspicious. "You guys didn't do anything bad to Hiromi-kun, did you?"

"Well...About that..." (Y/N) can hear Haruki nervously laughing which made her sighed and just went with whatever happened to the guy.

"I get it, it's fine~" (Y/N) said as she sweatdropped as she looked at Aimi once again. "I kinda did the same thing, so I guess it can't be helped..."

"Y-Yeah..." Haruki nervously said as he gave a laugh. Suddenly, (Y/N) heard a voice from the background, sensing someone was talking to Haruki. "...Eh? A-Ah, alright, I'll be there in a moment!"

"Master, Akito-kun said that it's almost time to execute the plan, I have to go." Haruki said.

"Ah, that's right, go ahead!" (Y/N) said. "I need to do my job here as well, bye Haruki! Good luck to you and the others!"

Though (Y/N) can't see Haruki, but she felt as if he made a warm and gentle smile just now. "You too, Master!" He said. "Take care..."

With that, their conversation had come into an end. (Y/N) took a deep breath and looked at the clock and back to the cat girl. "Aimi, I called Hiromi-kun already, he said he'll be in the park in..." She paused and can feel herself smirking. "...About ten minutes or so?"

"What!?" Aimi yelled, her tail stopped moving in shock as she followed your figure skipping towards the door.

"Better hurry up~!" (Y/N) said still with smirk that says she's aware of what she's doing. Aimi hurried up and followed, careful not to ruin how she looks like.

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The two girls hurried towards their destination in which in this case was a simple park near their house but still takes time to walk. They hurried as the noticed that the sun was slowly coming to a set. Aimi was ahead of (Y/N) despite the (H/C)-colored girl leaving the house first. (Y/N) smiled as she watched Aimi hurried to the park, making her feel how strong the cat girl's feelings are for her Master.

Finally, they arrived at the said park, panting at how much they rushed. They looked around and (Y/N) tapped Aimi on shoulder and pointed to a familiar figure in the distant when she caught her attention. With Aimi's eyes, she could clearly see that it was indeed her beloved Master, Hiromi.

"I'll be in the shadows if you need me~" (Y/N) joked as she winked at her and gave her a thumbs up. "Good luck, Aimi...I'm rooting for you!"

With that, before Aimi could say anything, (Y/N) quickly dashed away from her. The green haired girl was startled but shook her head and nodded in determination. She took a deep breath and began walking towards her Master.

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(Y/N) looked around, trying to find the cat boys' hiding spot that they said they got. "Psst! Master~!" She heard a familiar voice called, which made her look around and finally spotted a blonde haired cat boy gesturing her to come over. She marched over to where they are and sweatdropped at the hiding place they got.

It was in one of the kids' playground that looked like a big wall of some sort. It looks like what the kids use for safe rock climbing. It was a bit small but tall and still big enough to hide the six of them. "Are you sure this could hide all of us? I mean...It's kinda..." (Y/N) said.

Natsuki smirked and gave a thumbs up, showing that he's the one who decided on the hiding place. "Don't underestimate this rock climbing wall, Master! It may be for kids but it can hide even the biggest army!" He said, proudly.

"He's exaggerating but what matters is that it can hide us." Akito said, sighing in irritation but then, his ears twitched and signalled (Y/N) to come over. "Master, hide. Target's on the move."

(Y/N) quickly followed what he said and hid behind the wall as well. Indeed, they saw the cat girl going towards the boy in a somewhat shy way and the blush on her face doesn't look like they're going away soon. (Y/N) and the cat boys looked at each other before nodding in determination, hoping that everything will go as planned.

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"M-Master Hiromi...?" Aimi said as she began to fidget and smiled. "Sorry I'm late...I got caught up with some trouble..."

"I-It's fine...I wasn't been waiting for that long." Hiromi replied, blushing slightly as well as he replied.

The people behind the wall sweatdropped as this scene feels as if it's not real anymore. "I feel like I've seen this scene before somewhere..." Haruki said as he looked at the side, hesitating to what's he's going to say next as a blush began to come out of his cheeks. "...Somewhere in a manga that I once read..."

"From Shoujo Manga, probably." Fuyuko said which made Haruki flinch. That's when the white haired blinked and looked at Haruki in confusion. "...You read Shoujo Manga?"

Haruki laughed nervously and averted his eyes. "Well, it's nice..." He said and when Fuyuko was about to say something when Natsuki cutted him off.

"Ah...! Shh! They're talking again!" Natsuki said, shushing everyone.

"Oh, what would you want to say? (Y/N)-san's cat boys just suddenly told me you're going to say something and told me to meet up with you..." Hiromi said, scratching his cheek.

"Ah! Yes...I really do have something to say to you..." With that, Aimi's heart began to beat faster than before. "...That's...Um..."

"I..." In that moment, Aimi felt as if her body was shrinking and everyone in the world was looking down at her, laughing at her every move. The green haired began to sweat, scared of of her next move and her body began trembling. Aimi can feel all the courage she built up from earlier was slowly crumbling away and the feeling of wanting to cry began to eat her. She felt guilty as she began to feel as if (Y/N)'s comforting and encouraging words were nothing but a sound ready to stop and she couldn't even imagine how much burden she was causing for calling her Master in this place. "I...You...Um..."

"...I can't do it, after all..." Aimi thought, her cat ears going down in sadness and disappointment. "I'm sorry, (Y/N)-chan...After you went through all this trouble just for me...I-"

Before Aimi could finish her thoughts of surrender, she felt Hiromi gripped her shoulders, gently and looked up, startled at her Master's actions. Hiromi had pink on his cheeks but his eyes were looking concerned. "Aimi? What's wrong? You're crying!" He exclaimed. "Did...Did something happened? Did someone hurt you? You can tell me anything! What happened?"

"If someone did something bad to you, I'll make them pay! I'll make sure of it!" Hiromi said, certain of his words. "No one has the right to hurt my cat girl!"

Aimi stared wide eyed at her Master, blushing at his words and looked down. Then, a smile began to appear in her face as tears were falling from her eyes. "You're always like this..." She said, wiping her tears and bringing confusion to Hiromi's face. "You're the one who is always protecting me despite the fact that it's my duty as a cat person is to protect my Master...You're unfair, Master..."

"If you hadn't done those actions, I would've been a very normal person but you just had to go and do it." Aimi said, jokingly and looked at him with the most beautiful smile that Hiromi has ever seen her do. "You just had to go and make me fall in love with you."

Hiromi widened his eyes and blushed at her somewhat smooth confession. He covered his mouth to try and hide his red face but was still pretty obvious. Meanwhile, (Y/N) and the cat boys were watching the whole seen and some were controlling their emotions. They all had tiny blush on their faces like they're watching some kind of romantic movie.

Aimi laughed at Hiromi's reaction and smiled gently, enjoying the satisfaction she felt from confessing. "That did felt good, (Y/N)-chan...It's sad but..." She thought, slightly saddened by the reason on why she confessed in the first place. "I have to let him go, huh..."

Aimi took a deep breath before looking up at him. "Master, you don't need to say anything to me...I'm just confessing to you because I want to." She said, smiling. "I just want you to know how I feel, that's all...And it's not like you wanted to go out with a cat anyway..."

As Aimi laughed at her own words, Hiromi stared at her as his face was just as red as hers. "Well, the sun is gonna set soon and I need to prepare for dinner, so let's go home, Master!" She said, turning her heel and started walking away. "What do you want for tonight, Master? Does Burger Steak sound good to yo-"

However, before she could take more steps, she was pulled from behind and arms hugged her neck. Aimi blinked repeatedly and looked behind her, seeing her Master burying his face on her hair. "Dinner isn't important right now and you shouldn't just walk away when you don't even know my opinion yet!" Hiromi scolded, blushing as he tightens his hold. "I know you said that I don't need to say anything but..."

"Just like you, I...I want to say what I want too, Aimi..." Hiromi said. "...And that's the fact that I'm in love with you too..."

It was Aimi's turn to gasp and widen her eyes as she turned to her Master. "...No way...But I'm...Just a cat..." She said, her eyes shining. "I'm not even a real human...Why would you..."

"It doesn't matter! What's important is that you're still a human on the inside!" Hiromi protested as he stroked her hair and smiled. "And I love you for that..."

"Master..." Aimi uttered out, her eyes beginning to tear up in joy and slowly began to hug Hiromi, letting the tears fall out.

(Y/N) and the cat boys sighed in relief at the successful outcome of their plan and looked at each other, as if saying "good job" to everyone. They were all happy with what happened and continue to watch the scene until the very end.

**********

"Daaarn! That was such a sweet moment!" Natsuki said, a tiny blush coming out of his cheeks as he stretched. "I barely slept last night thinking of how happy they must have been yesterday!"

They were all currently walking towards their school, reminiscing about what happened yesterday. They were all still very happy about the result of their plan, almost to the point they couldn't believe it even happened. "I wonder what they're doing now, huh?" (Y/N) thought as they continued walking and chatting with each other.

"Everyone, good morning!" A cheerful and familiar voice greeted them and they all turned around to see Hiromi, dressed in his normal student uniform.

"Oh, Hiromi-kun, good morning!" (Y/N) greeted as everyone else said the same.

"Yo, Hiromi. You got lucky yesterday, huh?" Chikage teased as his tail began to sway left and right, which made Hiromi flinched and blush. "What did you say to her as you go out to go to school today? 'Honey, I'm going now! See you later' and kissed her?"

Chikage chuckled as everyone behind him sweatdropped as it was obvious that he enjoys teasing the glasses-wearing boy. "I-I didn't do that!" Hiromi protested, pouting as he calms down and smiled once again. He began to scratch his cheek. "Actually, I decided something even better yesterday and that's..."

Hiromi walked over to the side and waited for someone to go out and when they did, a beautiful familiar figure appeared. "Hello~!" The green haired girl named, Aimi greeted as she bowed. She was dressed in a girl's student uniform just like what (Y/N) is wearing right now. "I'll be in everyone's care from now on!"

"Aimi!" Y/N) said skipping towards the girl in excitement. "You decided to enroll her in our school!?"

"Yes, we figured that it's a way to repay everyone of you." Hiromi explained as blush appeared in his cheeks. "For helping us...Get together..."

"Ah, they found out." Fuyuko said.

"You know, we really appreciated it and so, we'll do our best to help you out with your rumour problem!" Aimi exclaimed in determination. "You're getting avoided because of the amount of cat boys you have, right? In that case, we'll just show everyone that having cat boys aren't the only things you have because you have us too! You have your friends!"

"Aimi..." (Y/N) said, deeply moved by their decision. "Thank you very much!"

As they all were happy about the outcome, Akito looked at his watch and chuckled. "As much as I hate to ruin this little ball of happiness you have, I gotta tell you guys..." Akito said as he began to count. "There is currently three more minutes until the school bell rings so..."

"What!?" Everyone but the emotionless people exclaimed and quickly began to run towards the school but with a smile that looks like they are having fun.

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~End~
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A/N :

*Crying to some random friend's lap* Why can't I finish the chapter as quick as the other authors do!? Why do the readers have to wait for literally hundreds of hours for just one chapter!? Why!? ('༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ')

•••

*Sniffs* Alright...Now that I've calmed down, allow me to say a bunch of words.

Alright, in all seriousness, I'm really sorry about the time you guys have to wait just for this chapter. I hope you understand that in this time of year, things get...A lot busier in school ('；ω；') and I wasn't given a chance to touch my phone and actually update.

I actually became one of the members of the Student Organization in our school and now, I'm trying not to abuse my power ('°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) [I say that as if my position is at the highest (￣▽￣)] Time goes by so fast and we had to prepare for test [Which is too depressing to bring up] and my classmates and I have been participating in this school activity which name is I cannot mention.

I'm also very sorry to those people message me and asking me if I'm alive or not (≧∀≦) and not replying to them. Please know that I appreciate every one of your words and I don't just disregard them in my inbox. I read them and I treasure them. It's one of the things that keeps me going as an author. So when I don't reply, please don't think I don't care about you, alright? Candy gets a little busy sometimes ( ' ▽ ' )

But thankfully! We finally reached the finish line and we were given a two week break or as you all know, our Semestral Break! So, I took this chance to upload before I fall back to my bed and let my little brother step on me as a form of a massage ( ' ▽ ' )

So, the next chapter is probably going to take a lot of time once again and I apologize in advance but please, I will try my best and reward you and your patience with the greatest chapters. (*^ω^*) So stay tuned for more, okay? ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

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**Character Information #5**

**I tried to use another form of drawing here to know if it has a good result. Hmm...I'm still finding a better one, though _:('ཀ'」 ∠):

Shizuka Haruki

Hair Color : Light Red (Almost Pink)
Cat Tail/Ear Color : Light Red (Almost Pink)
Eye Color : Purple
Age : 16
Height : 165 cm
Blood Type : A
Likes : Anything that involves Art
Dislikes : Violence
Hobby : Drawing
Specialty : Can talk to animals

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**Please Wait Patiently For The Next Chapter, Nya~**