Chapter 12: Neko

The smell of delicious food was what pulled Arthur from sleep. He cracked one eye open. The living room ceiling stared back at him.

"Kiddo!" Amanda’s voice came from the kitchen, bright and bursting with energy. "Wake up, breakfast is ready."

He groaned, turning onto his back and rubbing his face with both hands. Finally, he jumped off the sofa and stretched his body.

Turning his attention to the kitchen, he saw that Amanda was almost finished setting the table. But his eyes immediately darted to her clothes.

Amanda stood at the counter with her back to him, wearing a tight dress that clung to her body so much that he could see the lines of her panties.

Then she spun around, and the first thing Arthur’s brain registered was the fabric pulling taut across her chest. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and he could clearly see her stiff nipples pressed against the thin fabric.

He looked away. Hard.

"I’ve been thinking," Amanda said, practically bouncing on her feet. "About the tea party. I need to get a menu. As such, I need to test things."

Arthur blinked. "The tea party is like... a month away."

"So? That’s no time at all!" She waved a spatula at him. "What if I pick something and it falls apart? I need to be ready!"

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck. His brain was still booting up, and his body was not helping. He shifted his weight, subtly adjusting his sweatpants, hoping she wouldn’t notice anything.

"And you need me for this," he said, guessing where she was going with all of that.

"Yes, please, help me, please!" She leaned into him, begging with her cute eyes.

Arthur thought about it. He knew Iris would be busy on Sunday, Vanessa was out of town, and he wouldn’t be picking up the cat until Monday. In other words, he had nothing to do.

"Count me in," he finally concluded.

Amanda’s entire face lit up. She clapped once, jumping excitedly, which made her boobs move sexily.

For two, or maybe even three, hours, they worked nonstop in the kitchen. And just as with the cleaning, they easily found their rhythm with each other.

Then, at some point, Amanda was reaching for the top shelf of the pantry — the one with the vanilla extract and the good saffron she never used. She was on her tiptoes, arm stretched high, the hem of her dress riding up the back of her thighs.

"I can get that," Arthur offered, stepping toward her.

"No, no, I’ve got it, I just need to—" Her foot slipped.

Arthur moved on instinct. He stepped forward, arms out, catching her as she fell — but somehow his hands found her chest, both of them, as he pulled her closer and stopped her fall.

His hands almost unconsciously clenched around her warm, soft boobs as his brain short-circuited for a second.

Amanda’s breath hitched, and Arthur finally released her.

"I... I’m sorry!" he said, blushing. "I was trying to..."

"It’s fine," Amanda interrupted him, her face red as a tomato. "You caught me, so thank you for the help. Now let’s focus on the food."

She turned away and focused on cooking, trying to take her mind off what had just happened. Arthur did the same, falling silent.

Twenty minutes later, the two of them were working perfectly well together again.

◯ ◯ ◯

Monday arrived, and Arthur was surprised by a text from Rachel. He remembered getting her number, though he hadn’t expected her to actually reach out.

She was simply trying to start a conversation, and he felt awkward not answering, so he replied.

Arriving at the vet clinic, the weird man from last time was not there. He simply took the cat, and they gave it its vaccines.

The little thing still looked scared, but it was much calmer, even if it didn’t actually want to go with Arthur.

On his way back, Arthur wondered if he should give the small kitten back to its mother, but he never saw the cat’s mother again.

When he arrived at Amanda’s house, she was excited to see the little animal and took it in. She had even bought it special milk and a bowl to drink from.

The two of them showered the small animal with love at first, but then let it be, as it slowly explored the house and got used to their presence.

"Now, have you thought of a name yet?" Amanda asked as the two sat on the sofa, watching the cat crawl around.

Arthur thought for a moment. "Neko."

Amanda stared at him. Then she laughed, recognizing it. "That literally means ’cat’ in Japanese. You want to name the cat Cat?"

Arthur grinned. "It’s short. Easy to say. It’d learn it fast."

"It’s a cat; it doesn’t care about names." She was still laughing. "Do you watch anime or something?"

"Sometimes..." He glanced at her. "Do you?"

Amanda tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I was a nerd in high school. Still am, honestly. But I’m more the bookworm kind — always had my nose in a novel. But some of my geek friends were huge anime fans. They dragged me to a few watch parties."

"I see... So Neko is not an option?"

"Absolutely not," Amanda said firmly.

The two of them discussed it for a few more minutes and finally settled on the name "Luna," since the cat was female.

◯ ◯ ◯

The next few days passed quickly. Arthur helped Amanda here and there with her recipe tests, but she was occupied working most of the time.

Thanks to Vanessa’s money, he could start going to the gym. And since he didn’t need to worry about looking for a job, he had quite a lot of free time.

The only slightly annoying thing was that Rachel was still sending him messages, and the boy, who wasn’t used to attention, wasn’t sure how to deal with it.

Back when he had a girlfriend, girls didn’t even talk to him, and whenever they started being friendlier, they would suddenly stop a few days later.

Thinking back on it, that was probably Clarice’s doing.

Anyway, during the weekdays Iris was also mostly occupied, though he still visited her house once to play Mario Kart. And when Friday came around again, she introduced him to another round of drinks.

He already expected she would want to drink with him, so he had already told Amanda he would probably go out for drinks and maybe sleep out on Friday. That way, she wouldn’t worry.