~Chapter Twenty Six : A Cat's Lie~
~Start~

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Every Saturday, it was considered as a lazy day for (Y/N) and the cat boys. This is the day where it's okay to not do any work in both in and out of the house. Anyone can sleep and laze around as long as they want and no one will scold them. Probably because everyone else is doing the same as them. That's why, (Y/N) couldn't understand why her black-haired cat friend was in her room fixing her bed.

"Um...Chikage?" She asked as she watched him fix her decorative stuffed toy in her bed. "Why are you fixing my bed?"

Chikage looked up at (Y/N) as if he didn't even notice that she was there the first time she entered. "Oh! Master! Hello!" He said as he waved and went back to dusting off her bed. "I'm fixing your bed for you! It's lazy day, right? You should go laze around, Master!"

(Y/N) sweatdropped as she looked around her room. Everything was practically spotless. "Uh...Yeah, that's right but..." She said and turned back to him. "How about you?"

"Oh, I'm fine~!" Chikage said as he turned around and place his hand on his hips with a proud look on his face. "What's important is that Master gets her beauty rest~!"

Chikage then got a feather duster and proceeded to dust off (Y/N)'s (F/C)-colored curtains. (Y/N) stared worriedly at the black haired cat boy. "A-Ah, I see what you're doing and I appreciate it but..." She trailed off.

"I got scolded, you see..." Chikage suddenly stopped dusting off the curtains. "Someone told me that telling you what to do isn't the best thing to do. I was just stealing your freedom."

Chikage turned around as his ears dropped down, sadly. "...I'm sorry, Master..." He said, guilt was in his voice. "But I promise! Stealing your freedom wasn't my intention! I was just trying to keep you from working too hard!"

(Y/N) gave Chikage a slight smile, appreciating whatever he is trying to do. "I know, Chikage, it's fine..." She said, giving him a reassuring smile. Though Chikage was delighted to hear her answer, his ears were still down and so, he continued on talking.

"But you know, Master...I just can't keep my cool to see you with so much work..." Chikage said, looking down. He was feeling guilty because he felt his words were beginning to contradict each other just to keep up with his emotions. "I...I really want you to take everything easily..."

"But instead of doing things in the selfish way, I want to ask permission this time, Master..." Chikage said as he walked towards (Y/N) and grasped her hands with a determined look on his face. "Please let me help you, Master! I promise, I won't become too selfish anymore!"

(Y/N) gulped as she stared back at his sparkling red eyes and looked at the side, clearly have no idea what to say. It's not like she don't want him to work, in fact, help would've been very beneficial. (Y/N), like him, just didn't want Chikage to hog all of it himself. She slowly looked back at him and seeing his determined look, she sighed in defeat.

"A-Alright..." (Y/N) said, still unsure of her answer and just decided the answer that Chikage would've liked. "But just like you said, don't be too selfish!"

(Y/N) pat his head and stroked his hair. "You keep on saying about me overworking myself but you never really considered your own well being." She said as she gives him a sad smile. "Me and everyone else would be very sad if something happens to you, you know?"

"Take care of yourself too, Chikage." (Y/N) said, causing Chikage's eyes to widen and sparked as he stared at his Master. Finally, the black-haired cat boy gave out a wide and happy smile.

"Of course!"

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For the past few days, Chikage was satisfied with the outcome with his Master's deal. He felt nice to think that (Y/N) finally accepted his kind of help although there were a few conditions needs to met. But he thought that this was fine too. All he needs to do is to keep an eye out for his Master and everything will go as he wanted it to be.

Chikage took a deep breath after having his day dream and grabbed a broom before looking around. He and everyone he knows are already inside the café that they were working at, chatting and getting ready to open. He smiled as he felt the warm atmosphere that was surrounding him and his friends. It made him feel at home.

"Alright, it's time, everyone!" Aimi said, cheerfully, trying to lighten up everyone's mood before it even starts to go down. "We're gonna open now! Be ready!"

Natsuki raised an eyebrow as he rests his cheeks on his hands. "You talk like a mob of people is going to attack us once we open that door." He said as he laughed as his own assumption and shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just relax~! It's a café~! Cafés can't possibly have that much-"

"Oh, yeah?" Akito said, sarcastically as he and everyone else looked outside through the window. "You should go look outside first and then, I dare you to talk."

Natsuki tilted his head slightly and stood up, walking towards the window to look at what everyone else is looking at. Then, his eyes widened as shivers went up his spine when he saw a bunch of people in line infront of their shop. Most of them were students who looked like they just finished their club activities. "Holy cra- How is this possible!?" Natsuki complained as he looked at everyone, who were secretly finding his reaction to be amusing. "This is a café not an arcade bar! How in the world do a small café like this gain this much customers!?"

"Well, on the bright side, I guess people likes what we serve?" (Y/N) asked, trying to hold her giggle in. "Let's just do our best like always. We went through worst, I'm sure we can survive a bunch of hungry people."

"Yeah, exactly what (Y/N) says." Hiromi said as he turned to Aimi. "So with that said, go on Aimi, open the door. It's time to get busy."

Natsuki groaned, unaware of the amused look everyone was giving him. He stretched and shrugged the situation off. "Oh, well..." He said as he turned towards you. "I guess I can still do my best~"

(Y/N) gave him a proud look and pat his head. "That's the spirit~!" She said as she stroke his fluffy blonde hair.

Natsuki stared at the smiling (Y/N) as he slowky blinked. Then, his heart began to pound loudly that caused his face to turn red as soon as he realized his situation. "A-Ahm..." He stuttered out, seemingly having a hard time figuring out which words to say. His blush were taking over the color of his face, making him resemble that of a tomato. He averted his look from her, trying to look everywhere but her eyes.

Noticing his actions, (Y/N) took her hands off his head and tilted her head to the side, confused. "Natsuki? What's wrong? Your face is red." She said, however, Natsuki quickly turned around, trying to hide his face from her.

"A-Ah, really!? Um...M-Must be the heat~!" Natsuki exclaimed as he gave out a nervous laugh and wave his hand, without looking at (Y/N). "Well! I gotta do my job now, Master~! Ha, ha..."

Before (Y/N) could respond, Natsuki sprinted off somewhere with a silent scream, leaving her standing there, wondering what just happened. After a bunch of thinking, she just crossed her arms and smiled anyway. "What a weird cat." She said, chuckling and then, walking away to do her own job.

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The day went as busy as they predicted it to be. Everyone did their own jobs, even helping each other out but the more customer comes, the more work they get. Luckily, everyone had dismissed this kind of day to be a usual occurance. They already went through busy times like this before that they could honestly say that they were used to it by now. However, that doesn't mean that they don't get tired.

(Y/N) sighed as she stretched her body, she slightly slapped her cheeks with her hands to keep herself from slacking off. She was in the storage room as she was asked by Akito to get some stuff that he needed. "Hm...Akito said it was a box of some sort..." (Y/N) said to herself as she looked around the cabinets. Finally, her eyes lightened up when she saw a single box on one of the drawers. Assuming that it was the box Akito asked for (Since it's literally the only box in the storage room), she got it.

However, when she lifted up, she began to stumble. "W-Whoa...This one's heavier than it looks." She said as she adjusted her hold in the box. It was heavy but she could still at least carry it.

Then, the door opened suddenly, startling (Y/N) causing her to stumble back and losing her balance. Her back then slammed against the large cabinet from behind her. "Master?" The one who opened the door, not knowing (Y/N) was inside was the black-haired, Chikage. He then panicked as he realized his mistake of not knocking and attempted to help his Master.

But when Chikage looked up, there was a vase on the top of the cabinet that lost its balance when (Y/N) slammed against it. His eyes widened as it fell, aiming straight down to (Y/N)'s head. With his instinct, it wasn't difficult for Chikage to go towards his Master and hugged her, protecting her from the falling vase with his body. The vase broke due to having a harsh contact with his head and (Y/N) widened her eyes.

Quickly, she dropped the heavy box and inspected Chikage's injury. "Chikage!?" She exclaimed as she went closer to him and he crouched down with his hand on his head. "Oh, Gosh...Are you alright!?"

Chikage then let out a whine. "Oww...That hurt..." He said, like a child and looked up at her. (Y/N) widened her eyes as she saw a wound on the side of his head. It wasn't a serious but it was alarming as it began to bleed. (Y/N) quickly pushed his hair out of the way to get a closer look.

"Oh, no...I'm sorry, Chikage..." She said as she tried to help him up. Chikage looked at her and smiled in a silly way.

"Nah~! It hurts but not that much! So, I'm fine, Master!" He said, assuring her but his wound doesn't look fine though.

(Y/N) fidgetted with guilt. "L-Let's just patch you up, alright?" She said as she hold his arm to guide him out. "Are you sure you're not feeling anything else?"

Chikage shook his head with a no, smiling to reassure her once again. Then, the door opened once again but this time, none was startled. It revealed to be the emotionless white-haired cat boy, Fuyuko. "Master, I heard somethin in here." He simply said. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but you should be asking Chikage that not me." (Y/N) said, causing Fuyuko to look at him and noticed his wound.

The white haired cat boy tilted his head to the side, watching as a drop of begins to fall from his wound. "You're hurt." He said, stating the obvious.

"Oh, what? Really? No waaay..." Chikage said, sarcastically, earning a sweatdrop from (Y/N) and no response from Fuyuko, who remained in his current state.

With a few awkward seconds, (Y/N) shook off the atmosphere and turned to Fuyuko. "Anyway, Fuyuko. Can you bring that box to Akito while I patch Chikage up?" She said, smiling at him as she pointed at the box on the ground. "That would really be appreciated."

Fuyuko immediatly nodded. "Understood." He said as he began to walk towards the box.

"Thanks, Fuyuko." (Y/N) thanked him as she helped Chikage walked out of the storage room and into their break room, carefully to not let a customer see his injury and cause trouble.

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"There. All better?" (Y/N) asked, still kinda worried.

The black haired cat boy nodded with a cheerful smile. "Of course! Master fixed me up so I definitely feel better than before." He said as he inspected the bandage on his head.

(Y/N) looked uneasy as she hesitated on touching him, fearing that a single touch may give him more injuries. "A-Are you sure? Does it still hurt or...?" She asked, frantically.

Chikage snorted and chuckled at his Master's behavior as a blush began to creep up on his cheeks. "Geez, Master worries too much~! I'm a cat person, injuries doesn't affect too much!" He said as he rests his cheeks on his palm. "But Master is really cute too when she worries so I don't really mind..."

(Y/N) puffed her cheeks as a tiny bit of pink appeared on each. "...But I'm really worried, though..." She said, pouting and crossing her arms.

Chikage giggled, causing (Y/N) to sulk even more and was about to scold him when the door opened suddenly. The two of them looked and saw Hiromi with a slightly panicked look but still managed to let out a smile. "Um, (Y/N)-san? Are you busy right now?" He asked and looked at the two of you. "I know that something just happened with Chikage and I understand if you can't attend with this help right now but..."

"We're having a bit of a problem with customers here and we kinda need your help..." Hiromi said, awkwardly as he looked between (Y/N) and Chikage.

Chikage blinked and turned to his Master with a smile. "I'm alright now Master, I think I just need a little rest." He said. "You can go ahead and help out! Seriously, everyone's hopeless without Master out there~!"

(Y/N) sweatdropped and hesitated a bit before sighing in defeat and patting Chikage's hair with extra care. "Fine...If you say so..." She said as Chikage giggled at her touch. She walked away from him but looked back at him just before she could step outside the room.  "But if you feel something bad, just tell me, okay?"

Chikage nodded with a cheerful "Yes!" and waved at her form as she closed the door on him.

The black-haired cat boy then looked down on his lap and brought a hand on his bandaged head. With a smile, he began to sweat and his eyes were twitching. "This is bad..." He thought to himself. With a deep breath, He rests his head on table with his hands not moving from his head. "...Headache..."

As he tried to ease the pain silently, his eyes saddened. "I...I lied to Master..." He thought.

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"Hm? Group project?" (Y/N) asked as she and everyone else were fixing their stuff and was ready to go home. "The teacher gave us a group project?"

"Yeah, she gave the announcement to me and told me to announced it to everyone in our class and the other class." Hiromi said, sweatdropping and scratching the back of his head. "I don't really know why she decided to asked me to do that. I mean, shouldn't she give this to the class presidents or something?"

"Damn teacher probably forgot to tell each class and just decided to pick a random student to announce it for them." Akito said, crossing his arms as he watched Aimi locked the door of the café. He looked behind at Hiromi who sweatdropped. "You're one unlucky guy, aren't you?"

Everyone chuckled as they began walking towards their homes. "Well, I know! Isn't this a great chance for us to hang out!?" Aimi excitedly asked. "Let's do the project together!"

"But we're in different classes..." Haruki said as he tilted his head in the side.

"No, I mean let's conceptualize the project!" Aimi suggested. "Even if we aren't groupmates, we still can think of ideas together in advance. That's why, we won't have to cramp ourselves with work on the last minute."

"Oh, that is a good idea~!" (Y/N) said as she imagined what Aimi was trying to say. She turned to the cat boys. "Do you guys want to try it out? I personally think it would be fun."

The cat boys looked at each other and gave an understanding look to each other. They too felt as if the cat girl's idea was fine and decided to agree with her plan, nodding in their direction. (Y/N) smiled even more, understanding their response and turned back to the cat girl. "Alright, we're gonna do that!" She said and placed her hands on her chin. "You guys' place?"

Aimi looked at Hiromi with a shy look on her face. "Um...Master?" She asked, feeling kinda embarrassed at the fact that she decided on an activity without his permission. "Can we...?"

Hiromi stared at Aimi and smiled gently. He placed his hand on her head and stroked her hair, lovingly. "Of course, Aimi." He said. "Everything you plan turns out fun and enjoyable for everyone so I don't see why not."

Aimi brightened up with what Hiromi said and blushed. She looked down, giggling and continue enjoying the feeling of her head getting pat by her Master. Their warm atmosphere enveloped the whole group as they stared at the two. "Waah...What a nice couple they are..." (Y/N) said, sweatdropping as she hold out her hand, trying to block out imaginary light. "They're so lovey-dovey that it's blinding."

Natsuki suddenly appeared beside her and hugged her arm. "That's right, that's right~! It's kinda frustrating, isn't it, Master?" He said, receiving an unconcsious nod from her.

Akito's ears twitched and looked at Natsuki nuzzling on (Y/N)'s arm. He moved slightly closer to her, hoping no one would notice and crossed his arms. "Well, atleast they aren't kissing and stuff." He said. "We have too much of those couples in our world."

Upon realizing their situation, Aimi and Hiromi immediatly stepped away from each other, blushing in embarrassment. The others laughed at their actions, causing Aimi's face to turn even redder and waved her hands around. "A-Alright! Enough of that!" She said. "L-Let's just go already! It's decided, isn't it!?"

"Yeah, yeah~!" (Y/N) teasingly said as they all began walking, chatting as always.

Listening silently to their conversation, Fuyuko chewed on the bread he just bought from a nearby convience store. Something about this whole chatter was somehow felt incomplete to him, he looked around and saw Chikage, looking down. Fuyuko blinked as he noticed how he was being quiet since school ended. He looked like he was in deep thought and though, the white-haired boy wondered why, he wasn't one to ask something so suddently. So, he took his eyes off him and continue on walking.

"I guess he really is hurt." Fuyuko thought, taking another bite on his bread as he remembered what happened to the black haired cat boy earlier.

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~End
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A/N :

And I'm baaack!!! There's so much stuff that happened this past few weeks! I'm sorry I left you all waiting again _:('ཀ'」 ∠): My phone re-activated and deleted all my notes/chapters without my permission **Silently crying**.

Anyway! A lot of things did happen that I wanted to talk about! First off, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! To everyone of you as I just reached 1K followers! ｡ﾟ(ﾟ'ω'ﾟ)ﾟ｡ I literally screamed when I saw my follower account and I'm so happy!!! It made me sad that I couldn't thank you all on the exact day that it happened! ('；ω；') But still, Thank you very much! I hope you still continue on supporting me!

Next up is my...Birthday. It just happened. **Looks at the distant** I'm...I'm 17 now...('；ω；') I'm gonna be legal next year...That's not a good thing. Im gonna die _:('ཀ'」 ∠): Help, I don't want to be an adult yet （；＿；）I'm not ready.

The last thing is SCHOOL! YEAH! ヽ(；▽；) School, classmates, all those chaos! Yeah! Tests, activities, and projects! Yeah! ヽ(；▽；)

(._.)...It's not fun at all.

Anyway, that's all for now! Please continue supporting this story and thank you for reading this chapter! ╰(*'︶'*)╯♡

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