A few students exited the university, carrying books and files in their arms and chatting the whole way. Boys were clustered in their own groups, joking and teasing with each other, while the girls traded life hacks and personal experiences with each other. A few intermixed groups of boys and girls hung around too, since there was no one to instil the toxic 'boys and girls cannot hang out with each other' rule and so they were free to be friends regardless of gender.

Then again, it wasn't hard to find small friend groups among the cluster of students outside, and one of them just happened to be the girl wearing a lavender jacket and carrying a fluffy white kitten in her arms as she walked along.

Ichika nuzzled the kitten in her arms gently, feeling it's soft white fur brush against her nose gently. There was only so much one could do when there was a kitty in trouble, and diving in the rescue a cat that had fallen down a drain wasn't all that revolting by Ichika's standards. The kitty needed to be saved, and she just did what she could to help.

But still, that didn't stop a few onlookers from shooting her dirty looks and shouting insults.

"Ew! What in the world did the cat lady drag in this time"!? gasped Rebecca Goldstein, an American-Japanese student at the university and the queen bee of the place.

"It's a kitten", Ichika told her, bringing down one arm to expose the kitten's face. "I rescued it".

"Bleah! That filthy thing"? Rebecca fake-gagged, her cronies Tiff and Brit laughing. "It should be in the garbage, not close to us girls. It might be sick"!

"Which is why I'm going to take it home", Ichika explained, her patience wearing thin. "And instead of insulting the poor thing, why don't you just frick off and look elsewhere? After all, I am some 'disgusting cat lady' in your eyes".

Rebecca just laughed maniacally at that, sending a wave of heat down her victim's neck and chest. Rebecca's parents were the richest yet in Mega-Tokyo, with plenty of assets to back up the claim. Her father, Jason Goldstein, was the mayor of Mega-Tokyo, while her mother, Noriko Ashikaga, was a world-famous fashion queen both at home and New York. Her mother wasn't often around, and to make up for her absence, her father often spoiled her with expensive gifts of all kinds. In a way, it just made Rebecca all the more worse.

Ichika ground her teeth and readjusted the kitten's position in her arms, trying to resist the urge to lash out and tear out a lock of Rebecca's bright flaming red hair. Why? It wasn't like she was anywhere near close to Rebecca's popularity. Rebecca had money and almost all the pleasures in the world, so why didn't she just satisfy herself with those? Was her life so boring she needed to torment others as a form of entertainment? What had she ever done to Rebecca anyway?

"Leave her alone, Rebecca"!

A loud bass voice bellowed out at the moment, shocking Rebecca and making Ichika turn to face whoever the voice belonged to. The person in question was a tall man purely of Japanese descent, with narrow dark brown eyes and silky black hair cropped in small tresses around his forehead and most of his cranium. He walked up to Rebecca and glared at her so hard it wouldn't have been a surprise if that glare he gave her just reduced that bitch to a pile of ash.

That is, if looks could kill.

"Oh, hey Endokins"! Rebecca purred happily, recognising the BMOC of the campus immediately. "Is basketball practice on to"-

"No, and that's not the point right now", Endo snapped, cutting her off right there. "What's your beef with Ichika over here"?

"Well, I, see"...

Ichika hid her face in the collar of her jacket, partly to hide the silly grin on her face now at seeing her bully being harassed herself and in part to hide her now blood red cheeks. What? The BMOC had taken a liking to her or something? This was crazy!

"Pull off another stunt like that and I will squeal on you to your parents about it", Endo growled, making poor Rebecca shrink down like a cat faced with an especially intimidating predator. "And as for our relationship, well, it's officially over".

Tiff and Brit wound up dragging a wailing Rebecca away, just as Endo walked up to Ichika. She gulped nervously as the jock towered over her, casting her and the kitten in her arms a knowing glance.

"You alright"? he asked, handing her a water bottle.

"Um, yeah, okay, I guess", Ichika stuttered, taking the bottle from him and gulping the cold fluid down.

"Don't mind Rebecca. She's a jerk sometimes, but on the inside she's cowardly", Endo replied, taking the bottle back once Ichika was finished with it. "Say, cute kitten. It's really hard to find pure white ones. I always thought they ended up deaf"?

"That depends really", Ichika explained, showing him the kitten in her arms. "They aren't born deaf, but the genes that give cats white fur and blue eyes together come with a defect, so there's a chance they might end up deaf as they get older. Of course, this is just a kitten though, so his eyes might turn green or yellow once he's a grown-up cat".

"You sure do know a lot about cats", Endo mused, letting the kitten run up and down his shoulders.

"My mom owns a cat café", Ichika told him, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "She runs it with my dad and brothers. We have many rescued cats, including three white ones. I used to hang out there everyday after school, so I learned a fair bit about them".

"Must be fun", Endo mused again. "Say, do you have a name? Or can I call you mine"?

"Uh"...Ichika stared at him in confusion. "Sorry, I didn't get it".

"What I mean is"...Endo looked away awhile before continuing. "Y'know, there's a pretty decent spot in the park near an oak tree. It'd make a great picnic spot at night especially".

"You want me to come"? Ichika asked, feeling excitement bloom in her chest.

"Yeah, sure, you can come", Endo confirmed, then petted her head gently and walked off with a final reply. "It'll be tonight at 8:00 p.m. You can bring something for the picnic if you like"!

"Sure", Ichika murmured as Endo disappeared into the crowd. The mewing of the kitten snapped her back to attention and she picked it up again and started walking home.

All while debating if this was one day where romance was probably the best thing that ever happened to her at the moment.

-

Ichika's P.O.V
"So, this is our important 'guest', eh"?

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at Tazuki's statement. A friend of Ichiji's who had a fanatical-if not exactly mind-boggling-interest in extraterrestrial anatomy, Tazuki took to his research like a duck to the water, and while he wasn't exactly the best person to have around if you didn't want your kid picking up on the habit of dissecting things alive that is, he was the best person to call on if you needed help in identifying something that was pretty much alien in origin.

(Okay so he doesn't actually do that but you get the point here, right)?

"I just found him out in the forest today when Miko, Seia and I went hiking", I explained, pointing to the alien's bandaged arm, leg and midriff. "I dunno much about alien biology, so I just swathed his wounds in bandages to stem the bleeding".

"Did you clean his wounds"? Tazuki asked, pulling a stethoscope out of his backpack (yes, his backpack), slipping the buds into his ears and placing the circular bit on the alien's chest. "Or did you sterilise them"?

"I...did clean off whatever was sticking to them, along with most of the blood", I explained, nervous at where I might have gone wrong. "I just didn't apply any antiseptics".

Tazuki raised an eyebrow there.

"I wasn't sure if they were safe to use on him", I clarified. "I mean, aliens, right? Maybe they use their own kind of antiseptic back home? Something...safer, for lack of a better word".

That was probably not the best explanation I could give to justify not disinfecting the guy's wounds, but it was the best explanation anyway.

Or I'd taken The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells too seriously this time.

"Well, I don't blame you for that. You were right to be cautious", Tazuki murmured, taking the stethoscope's earbuds out of his ears and hanging the device around his neck. "His heart rate's normal, for somebody who's currently asleep that is, but his breathing sounds ragged".

"Ragged"? I asked, curious and alarmed. "You mean he can't breathe"?

"Not 'can't', just finding it difficult to breathe easily", Tazuki clarified, then pointed to the alien's chest, neck and nose area. "This might sound like educated guesswork mostly, but given the symptoms he's showing, it seems that his species have a physiology similar to humans, which could also mean that he's susceptible to human diseases".

"So he's fighting off the flu at the moment"? I queried. "Y'know, if he has a flu".

"He's showing the symptoms already, but it's relatively minor to begin with", Tazuki murmured, feeling the alien's forehead to see if it was hot. "I would suggest at this point that you keep him warm, cool his fever if you have to and start disinfecting his wounds starting from the next bandage change".

"Sure", I replied, glancing at the alien and then down at my hands.

"As for eating, it'll be a liquid diet for now", Tazuki clarified further, packing up his bag and getting ready to go. "And make sure he's well hydrated too".

"Sure thing", I murmured, then showed him out the door.

-

Present moment.
Ohaw is a soup that is made by boiling fish or other kinds of meat with various vegetables. It is a central dish in Ainu cuisine, since it could be made from virtually any kind of gathered meat or herbs.

Not to mention that, given my currently not fully stocked fridge, it was the best I could whip up at the moment.

I left the soup to boil and sat down with Miko at the table. It was already dinnertime, but I didn't really feel like eating. My head was still spinning from what had just happened this afternoon and evening, along with trying to process what Tazuki had just told me about the alien.

His physiology is similar to those of humans just kept going off in my head repeatedly, until I finally pressed my fingers to my temples in an effort to ease the budding migraine in the back of my head. This was definitely going to be life-changing, I was sure of it. Who else ever got the luck to rescue an alien that was surprisingly humanoid in many aspects and got to speak to them?

For all I knew, it definitely wouldn't have been me, but that's life sometimes.

"Mom"?

"Hm"? I looked up to see Miko looking at me curiously, bits of sticky rice and seaweed sticking to her upper lip.

"Aren't you hungry, mom"? she asked me, gesturing to the remaining California rolls she had on her plate. "You can have some of my rolls, if you want to".

"Thank you dear, but it's okay, I'm not hungry", I purred, pushing the plate back to her. "You can finish the rolls. I'm just...thinking about something".

"About the alien"? Miko asked, shoving a California roll into her mouth and chewing it speedily. "Is he okay"?

"He'll be fine", I reassured her. "Tazu-nii came over to check on him. He said he only has a fever, besides his wounds that is".

"He needs to be cozy at night then", Miko mused, pondering on the thought. "Can I loan him Jubilee for a night"?

Jubilee was Miko's fluffy lavender bear which I had bought for her on her 1st birthday. She was extremely attached to it and wouldn't even let me touch it unless it was strictly for washing. For her to give it to someone meant she really trusted them and hoped they would reciprocate her feelings towards them as well.

Ah, such is the innocence of a five-year-old.

"Maybe not tonight, sweetheart", I suggested, feeling unsure of whether the alien would understand what she was trying to do. "You can loan him Jubilee another time".

"Aww"! she pouted, dropping a half-eaten roll onto her plate as she did. "But he'll be scared at night then"!

"No he won't", I assured her. "He can have Cheese-kun if he gets scared".

"But you need Cheese-kun too, mom", Miko reiterated.

"I know, but not when someone else is scared too", I told her, kissing her lightly on the forehead. "It's okay Miko. I don't really use Cheese-kun much. He can have it for a night or two, but if I ever need to use Cheese-kun then you can let him have Jubilee instead".

Miko nodded, then finished the rest of her California rolls and put the dish and chopsticks in the sink before giving me a goodnight kiss and running off to her room. I sighed and cleared the sink before checking on the ohaw brewing in the pot on the stove.

It was a transparent yellow, with bits of ohaw kina in it and also some egg tofu I had on hand that was luckily still fresh and soft. I stirred the contents and tasted some of it. A hint of saltiness and the bitter but refreshing taste of greens hit the back of my mouth and covered it entirely like paint on a wall, indicating that the soup was pretty much done by now. I took the pot off the stove and ladled some of the contents into a bowl, then tossed a spoon into it and hurried back to my room to give it to the alien.

-

Shin's P.O.V
I woke up to the sound of someone turning the doorknob, then soft footsteps drawing up close to me. I rolled over and looked up to see the lady standing over me (well, over me because I was lying down), holding a bowl in her hands. I tried to get up, but my back screamed in pain as I attempted to and finally gave up after a few tries.

Nice move Shin, my inner voice remarked acidly. The lady's not gonna stand there forever you know.

I tried rolling onto my side, but a flash of pain prodded me back into my usual position. Then I tried a quick roll onto my belly instead. It was just as agonising as the other two moves. I finally gave up and just settled back down on my back again, debating if I should attempt to do it again or if it was more prudent to just stay where I was.

Or I could use a little telekinesis and get everything I needed to do done.

"Are you hungry"? the lady asked me at that moment, startling me out of my reverie. I turned to look at her and saw that she was looking down at me anxiously.

My stomach suddenly growled in reply, and I could feel a sharp pain coming from the air that was currently occupying the empty space in my belly and shifting about. It had definitely been awhile since I'd eaten anything, not to mention that my mouth was already parched. My tongue felt like it was glued to my mouth, and when I tried to speak, only a hoarse grunt resonated from my throat.

"You're hungry, aren't you"? the lady asked me again, kneeling down and holding up my face to face her using her hand. I grunted again, this time with my tongue hanging out of my mouth to tell her I was thirsty as well as hungry.

"Here, I made you something", she murmured, showing me the bowl. A pleasant aroma wafted through my nostrils (I have something analogous to nostrils), making my mouth water. "It's not much, but I suppose it'll do for now".

Forgetting the searing pain in my back and arm, I propped myself up on my hands and let the lady feed me. She wasn't forceful, nor was she in a hurry, but allowed me to gulp down each mouthful at my own rate. If I had to stop a moment because I was suddenly feeling nauseous, she wasn't frustrated about it and let me stop until the nausea subsided. In that moment I couldn't have felt...safer, for lack of a better word, but part of me still wondered if I could trust her, if could rely on her until I was able to go back home.

Aw, stop whining about it, my inner voice scolded me again. Are you really gonna doubt her after she's saved you and everything? Sure, humans can be scared of stuff that's alien to them, but think about it. If she hadn't found you when she did, her planet's military would've found and done God-knows-what to you. Hell, you might not even be alive now if she hadn't stepped in when she did.

That was true. Damn me. My thoughts made it sound so easy. The part of me that had stolen a moment to go through the lady's memories awhile when she had put a ball-shaped me in her backpack told me I could trust her to take care of me, and that maybe a relationship could be forged between us if given the chance.

Or it would just be enough to get me off this planet and back home to my family.

After I was done, she put the bowl on the nightstand, murmured something along the lines of 'I'll take care of that in the morning' and begin running her hand along the back of my neck gently, occasionally giving my a nice hard scratch behind the ear. I let loose another purr and leaned back against the pillow, feeling a wave of contentment wash over me at being warm, safe and being able to go to bed with a full belly at the moment. At least this was a fair change from sleeping on the ship's stone hard rehabilitation slab.

Good riddance.

Finally, I begin to drift off, and the lady stopped stroking me. I heard her get up and open the cupboard beside the bed, then the sound of her pulling something out of it, shutting its door, slipping out of her own clothes and then into what I assumed was a different set of clothing (I could tell from the smell) passed by in a flash before I felt her settle down just beside me on the other side of the bed. I heard her yawn deeply, then lie down on the plump pillow and fall asleep immediately once she had pulled a duvet over herself.

After some time, I fell asleep too.