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Yosuke did not immediately connect waking up as a cat to the wish he’d written on the ema the previous day, but he didn’t really think that was his fault. The thing about waking up as a cat was that once that happened, it took a while to have thoughts other than “what the fuck” on repeat, and that definitely wasn’t a personal failing. Anyone would have had the same issue.
Once he’d moved past “what the fuck,” he didn’t immediately jump to “why the fuck,” either. First, he went looking for Teddie, only to belatedly remember that Teddie had spent the night at Souji’s, because Teddie knew how to communicate things like “you’re leaving and I’m going to miss you so much I want to spend all my time with you” without feeling itchy and self-conscious about it. Overall, Teddie not being around was probably a net positive, but it left Yosuke as a small cat alone in an empty room with a closed door and two closed windows. His stomach was already rumbling, and even if he could reach the doorknob, he didn’t think he could open the door.
Unlike Souji, Yosuke was not a cat expert. His experience with cats was pretty much limited to hanging out with Souji, watching him try to coax a stray into liking him over the course of an afternoon. But he did know that cats could be very, very loud, which was also one of his own specialties. He jumped off the bed, padded over to the door, and sat in front of it, howling at the top of his cat lungs.
It didn’t take long for his mother to start looking. He could hear her opening and closing doors, trying to find the source of the noise. Once she finally did, she didn’t even look surprised, just quietly resigned as she lifted him up and carried him out of the bedroom with a sigh.
“I can’t believe that boy let Seta-kun talk him into taking in a cat,” she muttered. “Just because he’s moving away doesn’t mean we need a pet to remember him by.”
As theories for why there was a cat yowling in his room went, Yosuke had to admit it was a pretty decent one. Certainly way more plausible than Yosuke himself being the cat.
“And of course, he’s not even home to help,” his mother added, shaking her head. Once they got to the kitchen, she checked the list of numbers by the phone, running her finger down the names until she hit Dojima. Realizing what she was planning, Yosuke squirmed in her arms, meowing, but she held him firmly under one arm and dialed the phone with her free hand.
As usual, Nanako picked up. “Hello, Dojima residence.”
“Hello, Nanako-chan? This is Yosuke’s mother. I was wondering if he was visiting you.”
“Oh, hello, Hanamura-san! No, he isn’t here.”
His mother sighed. “He must have been called into work. Is your brother available?”
Although he’d deny it if anyone ever asked, Yosuke always got a little thrill when someone else called Souji Nanako’s brother. He knew Souji didn’t actually want to leave any of them behind, but nothing made Yosuke feel sure that he’d come back to visit as often as he could like the way he lit up when Nanako called him “big bro.”
“Yes, one moment please,” said Nanako, and Yosuke tried to escape again while his mother was waiting for Souji.
No luck. “Good morning, Hanamura-san,” said Souji, smooth and polite as he always was with Yosuke’s parents. “Is everything all right?”
“I was hoping you could come pick up this cat. My son left the house and forgot his cell, so I can’t reach him.”
There was a pause, and Yosuke could picture Souji so clearly, standing at the Dojimas’ phone, trying to figure out what to say about this completely new information.
But he was Souji. He always wanted to help. “Of course. I’ll be right over, Hanamura-san.”
“Thank you, Seta-kun.” She hung the phone up with a sigh. “All right, well, he’ll be here soon,” she told Yosuke. “Good thing I found you before he left. What day was that again…?”
She was looking at the calendar now, checking for where she’d marked the date at Teddie’s request, but Yosuke didn’t need that. Souji’s train was the day after tomorrow, and he wasn’t even going to get to say a proper goodbye. Because he was a cat.
“He’ll have to be the one to feed you, we don’t have anything,” she mused, absently petting Yosuke’s head. Maybe he should suggest getting a cat after this was over. His mom was alone a lot of the day and she might like the company, if she actually had a say in the matter. “But I’m sure Seta-kun will take care of you, Yosuke always says how wonderful he is with cats.”
Yosuke didn’t think he always said that, but maybe it had come up once or twice.
That was the last actual explanation he got from his mother, but she kept a hold on him as she straightened up the parts of the house she could straighten with just one arm. She couldn’t do much in his room, which he’d definitely left in bad shape, but to his surprise she did take his cell phone. Maybe she was mad that he’d left without saying goodbye and thought that confiscating his phone was a good punishment. It would be the first time, but Yosuke didn’t often leave without a word. Maybe she had to come up with new punishments for that.
There was a knock on the door and she perked up. “There he is now,” she told Yosuke. “He’s a nice boy, you’ll be in good hands.”
As expected, Souji was on the other side of the door, looking a little worse for wear. Teddie had probably kept him up late, and his hair was still wet from the shower. Clearly, he hadn’t been planning to go anywhere this early.
His mother must have noticed too. “I’m so sorry to bring you all the way over here, Seta-kun. I know you must be busy getting packed.”
“It’s no problem, Hanamura-san.”
“I appreciate that you wanted to leave Yosuke with something to remember you by, but we simply can’t have a cat right now. You can take it back, can’t you?”
Souji’s eyes flicked down to Yosuke. He didn’t even know what kind of cat he was, which was embarrassing. He’d gotten a look at his front paws, but cats apparently perceived colors differently than people because he couldn’t quite turn what he was seeing into a clear mental image. And who knew what kind of face he had. What if he had one of those squashed, grumpy faces and scraggly whiskers and a perpetual scowl?
Then again, this was Souji. If there was a cat in the world that Souji didn’t think was adorable, he had yet to meet it. More likely, Yosuke realized, he was trying to figure out where this cat had come from and why on earth Yosuke’s mother had decided that Souji was responsible for it.
He reached out a paw hopefully. Now that he was actually thinking about it, he’d much rather be tucked under Souji’s arm than his mom’s. Souji might actually be able to figure out what was going on and help. And if he figured out what was going on and couldn’t fix it in the next day and a half, he’d have to stick around, right? Even if his parents wanted him back in Tokyo, Souji would never leave a friend stuck as a cat.
Which was when he remembered the ema, right as Souji reached out and took him.
“Of course I’ll take care of it, Hanamura-san.”
I wish that Souji wouldn’t leave. Yosuke hadn’t really thought writing the wish would do anything. It hadn’t even been his idea to make it. Teddie had dragged him over to the shrine, reminding him that plenty of people had had their wishes granted--”Because Souji granted them!” Yosuke had pointed out, not that it made any difference to Teddie--and there wasn’t any harm in trying.
The whole time Yosuke was doing it, he felt like an idiot, but he’d known Teddie was right. There really wasn’t any harm.
Except there was. Because he was a cat now.
“We’ll be so sorry to see you go,” Yosuke’s mother said, pulling his attention back to the present. Souji’s grip tightened on Yosuke, just a fraction, just enough to make him realize Souji was uncomfortable. “You’ve been such a good friend to Yosuke, and to Teddie too. They never shut up about you. But it’s always been harder for Yosuke. He’s never had anyone like you before.”
It wasn’t like Souji didn’t know that. Yosuke had said the same thing himself. But it was so much worse hearing his mom say it. He’d never live that down.
He let out a little involuntary whine and Souji scratched his ears, which was honestly really awesome. Souji had really nice hands.
“I’ve never had a friend like him before either,” he said, so earnest Yosuke felt guilty hearing it. “But I’d better get this cat some food. It seems hungry.”
“Thanks so much for taking it again. I don’t know what Yosuke was thinking, just letting you give him a cat without telling anyone. Oh! And here,” she added, pulling Yosuke’s phone out of her apron pocket. “You’ll probably see him before I do, so why don’t you take that.”
Souji accepted the phone, said his polite goodbyes, and started back towards the Dojima residence, still carrying Yosuke.
“You’re pretty well behaved,” he observed, shifting so that instead of holding Yosuke under one arm like his mother had, Souji was cradling him in his arms, and Yosuke was staring up at him. It would have been embarrassing, but it wasn't like Souji knew it was him. And it was kind of nice to not be dangling anymore. Yes, his best friend was kind of holding him like he was a baby, but he was a cat, so it probably wasn’t weird. “I wonder where Yosuke found you.”
Yosuke meowed, mostly because he felt worse not talking to Souji than he had not talking to his mom. But he tried to make it a friendly meow.
“I wonder where he went,” Souji mused. “Teddie said he wasn’t working today. I think he might be avoiding me,” he added, and Yosuke wondered if Souji always said this much to cats. He wasn’t very talkative with people, but maybe every time he was petting a stray, he was giving it a running update on his life and feelings. “At least he said he’d come to the farewell dinner tonight.”
Yosuke meowed again, and Souji rubbed his belly with one hand, which also felt extremely nice.
“You don’t act like a stray. Pretty well fed, not too old.” His hand moved down from Yosuke’s belly to his tail and Yosuke realized with a jolt that Souji was going to check out his fucking cat junk and tried to squirm away to no avail. “Male,” he said, so at least he had, like, good cat junk? Recognizable cat junk?
This was officially the worst day of his life.
“Maybe if there aren’t any signs up looking for you, I’ll see if I can convince my uncle to take you in. Nanako would probably love to have a pet. It might help her deal with me leaving.”
That wasn’t a bad idea either. A cat would be the perfect way for Nanako to remember her brother. Not Yosuke’s own cat form, obviously, but Souji knew a lot of strays. Maybe one of them would be a good fit for her. Once Souji was gone, Yosuke could ask him about it. That could be something to focus on, at least for a little while.
Yosuke made a couple of half-hearted attempts to escape on the way to the Dojima house, mostly because Souji kept glancing at him like he was expecting mischief, but it wasn't like he actually wanted to get away. He wouldn't do particularly well being a stray cat.
When they got back, Nanako and Teddie were waiting at the door, apparently very excited by the prospect of Souji bringing Yosuke back.
“Wow, there really was a cat!” said Nanako. She reached out to scratch Yosuke’s ears. “It's so cute.”
“Was it really in Yosuke’s room?” Teddie asked.
“Yeah,” said Souji, shifting Yosuke under his left arm as he took off his shoes. “He really didn't say anything to you?”
Teddie shook his head. “But he hasn't said beary much to me lately! He doesn't want to talk right now.”
Yosuke winced, which Souji seemed to take as a sign he wanted to be put down. “We're going to my room, then you can walk around,” he said, leading Teddie and Nanako up the stairs and closing the door behind them. Once the room was sealed, he put Yosuke down as promised and turned his attention back to Teddie. “I know he's been acting a little weird lately.”
“It's because he's going to miss you!” said Teddie.
Souji sighed and sat down on the couch. “I know. I'm going to miss him too. I was hoping to spend a little more time with him before I left, but he's always at Junes these days.”
Yosuke had told himself that Souji would be busy during his last few days in Inaba. He'd made a lot of friends, and he probably wanted to say goodbye to everyone. It was just Yosuke being considerate, making sure he was busy so Souji wouldn't feel obligated to ask him to hang out instead of other people.
He had known that it was bullshit, but it had been a lie that was easy to tell himself. Easy right up until he had to hear how much it had hurt Souji.
He'd been counting on not finding out.
“Maybe the cat was a present for you,” Nanako said, holding her fingers out for Yosuke to sniff. He obliged, then butted his head against her hand, like he'd seen real cats do to Souji. “Maybe he was trying to save up for it.”
“Maybe,” Souji agreed, smiling. “I'll go and ask him as soon as Junes opens up. I need to get some supplies for the cat either way.”
Nanako perked up. “Supplies? Are you keeping it?”
“No, I couldn't. My parents move around too much to have a cat, and I have another year of high school before I'm off on my own for college. But we'll need to take care of him until we figure out what to do with him. Maybe Yosuke has another plan for it and he’ll tell me not to bother with food or a litter box, but your dad wouldn't be happy if he had an accident.”
Nanako giggled, and Yosuke tried not to think about accidentally pissing on Dojima’s floor. A litter box sounded bad, but better than getting murdered.
“Maybe we can keep him,” she mused. “If he doesn't have another home.”
Souji smiled. “That might be nice.” He pulled out Yosuke’s phone and checked the time. “They should be open by the time I get there. Do you want to come, Teddie?”
“I'll stay here with Nana-chan and the cat! We can think of a name for him.”
“Yosuke might already have one,” Souji pointed out. “So don't get too attached to anything. I'll get him some food before I go, don't bother him too much.”
As soon as Souji left the room, Teddie and Nanako whirled on Yosuke. Nanako alone wouldn’t have worried him; she was young, but on her own she was a sweet, considerate girl. Teddie, though. Teddie was a bad influence.
“Do you think we can pick him up?” Nanako asked, because, again, she was a sweet, considerate girl.
“Of course!” said Teddie. “Come here, kitty!”
He charged, and Yosuke ran. As a cat, he was quick and maneuverable, but Souji’s room was only so big, and there weren’t many hiding places. If Souji had a bed instead of a futon, like Yosuke did, he could have gotten under it, but there wasn’t any furniture that he could fit under and Teddie couldn’t.
But he could jump. He scrambled up onto Souji’s shelves, actually grateful that all the figurines were packed away, and onto the wardrobe from there. He could live up here until they got bored. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was safe.
“Kitty!” Teddie said, disappointed, and Nanako tugged his arm.
“We should leave him alone. He needs time to get settled in.”
Teddie pouted, but he stopped trying to reach Yosuke. “He let sensei hold him.”
“Big bro’s really good with cats. He doesn’t chase them,” she added, her tone pointed, and Yosuke wished he could jump down and show her some appreciation without opening himself up to a Teddie offensive.
“You have to be patient with cats,” Souji said, pushing the door open. “Let them take things at their own pace. Where did he go?” Teddie and Nanako pointed to the top of the wardrobe, and Souji smiled. “That’s good. Don’t try to get him when he’s up there, let him come to you. Here, I’m just giving you something to eat, okay?” he added, to Yosuke. “I won’t try to get you down.”
He slid two bowls onto the wardrobe, and Yosuke went over to investigate. Souji had gotten him water and chopped up some fish, not his first choice, but he hadn’t eaten anything today, and the fish didn’t smell too bad to his cat nose. He took a cautious bite and, to his relief, he actually liked it for once.
By the time he’d finished his meal, Souji was gone again, and Teddie and Nanako were sitting on the couch, watching him so intently he could almost hear their concentration. The earnest hope in Nanako’s eyes crumbled away his resolve, and he jumped down to rub up against her legs like he’d seen cats do.
“Hi!” she said, delighted, reaching down to stroke his back. Yosuke arched into it without conscious thought, making Nanako giggle. Teddie leaned down to let Yosuke sniff his fingers, which was weird, but he scratched Yosuke’s head after, and that was great.
He was so distracted with how good the petting felt that he let his guard down, and before he knew it Nanako had picked him up and put him in her lap.
Which, to be fair, was much more comfortable than the shelves, and his ears were still getting scratched and Nanako was petting his side, and he didn’t have anything better to do than go to sleep.
*
“Teddie, when did you last see Yosuke?”
Yosuke’s eyes blinked open and for a second, he couldn’t remember what was happening or why everything looked weird. Then someone scratched his ears and everything came back to him: Souji leaving, ema wish, cat transformation. He was caught up.
“Yesterday, before I came over here!” said Teddie. “Why?”
Souji was in the doorway, frowning at Yosuke’s phone. “He’s not at Junes. His parents haven’t seen him today, he left his phone behind…” He sighed. “I have no idea where he could be. I checked his messages on the way home, but there’s nothing about any plans today.”
Nanako jerked up, dislodging Yosuke. “He’s missing?” she and Teddie asked in unison.
“That’s what it looks like. I called everyone I could think of, but no one had any idea. We all thought he was just picking up extra shifts at Junes, but maybe…” He let out a harsh breath. “I shouldn’t have just let it go. I was worried about him, but I thought he needed space to process stuff. And now he’s in trouble.”
Yosuke’s stomach twisted. Souji looked so desperate and miserable, like Yosuke’s disappearance was all his fault. And now he probably would stay in Inaba until he figured out what had happened to Yosuke, making the wish come true in the worst way possible.
He’d expected better from that stupid fox.
“You should tell Dad!” said Nanako. “Report him missing. He’ll help look.”
Souji gave her that gentle smile he reserved just for her. “It hasn’t been long enough to report him missing to the police.”
“But it’s not like before,” she said, her voice cautious, hopeful and guarded at the same time. “With people going into the TV.”
All the blood drained from Souji’s face. “No,” he said, too quickly. “No, of course not.” He cleared his throat, glancing at Teddie. “But we’ll check, just to make sure. Can you take care of the house?”
“Of course!”
Souji showed Yosuke the litter box he’d set up, which rocketed right up to the top of his list of most humiliating moments, and then he and Teddie were gone and Nanako went downstairs to watch TV and Yosuke was left alone with Souji’s mostly empty room while his friends went to desperately search for him.
There had to be a way to tell them. He couldn’t talk, but there was certainly some way he could communicate. He must have watched an anime or read some manga where someone got turned into an animal and had to communicate. Maybe writing a message with his paw or his mouth? His handwriting was pretty bad when he had hands, but even trying to write something would at least tip Souji off that he wasn’t an ordinary cat.
With Nanako out of the room, at least he had privacy to try things out. He jumped up onto Souji’s desk to investigate, hoping against hope that it wasn't packed up like everything else. To his relief, Souji had taken all of his books and keepsakes, but the desk wasn't empty. He'd left a cup full of pens and pencils and a pad of paper. Thank goodness for Souji’s stupid need to leave things neat and tidy and functional.
Getting a pen he could attempt to use still proved to be a challenge. He spent way too long gnawing the top off the pen, and even once that was done, getting it situated in his mouth so that he could try to write something was no easy task. He made a lot of marks on the paper before he had anything even resembling a character, and he had to actually rip the first, failed page off with his teeth before he tried to write an actual message.
Looking at it critically once it was done, he had to admit that it wasn't great. He knew it said I’m Yosuke because he had written it, but to an uninformed observer, he was pretty sure it looked like gibberish.
But Souji wasn't totally uninformed. He didn't know Yosuke had turned into a cat, but he knew that Yosuke was missing, that a cat had been found in Yosuke’s room without any explanation, and that cats did not generally pick up pens in their mouths and try to write notes. He was a smart guy, and definitely not someone who would rule out the possibility that his best friend had been turned into a cat. If Yosuke had just acted completely weird earlier, he might have figured it out already, but better late than never.
He jumped down from the desk and onto the futon. It was folded up neatly for the day, but still soft and warm and smelling strongly of Souji. It should have been too much, but Yosuke found he didn't actually mind being surrounded by the scent of his best friend. He lapsed back into a contented sleep.
It felt like only seconds later when he was woken up again. Someone was poking his head, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Naoto.
“Yosuke?” she asked, and he nodded vigorously and meowed for good measure.
“I'm surprised you didn't think of it, senpai,” she said, looking over her shoulder, and Yosuke saw the rest of their friends behind her, all watching him.
“It's not exactly something you'd expect,” said Rise. “Someone turning into a cat.”
“No, but the timing was extremely suspicious.”
“I didn't know he was missing yet when I got the cat,” said Souji. He looked like a nervous wreck, and Yosuke wished there was something he could do. Like go back in time and not write that ema, and not be such an avoidant jerk while he was at it. “Sorry, Yosuke.”
He meowed in a way that he hoped conveyed that Souji didn't have to be sorry, but that was asking a lot from a meow.
Yukiko started laughing. “He's just so little and cute! I can't believe it's Yosuke!”
“Do you have any idea what happened, senpai?” Kanji asked, and Naoto glanced at him.
“I think that's a little beyond his communicative capacity.”
“Well, we just have to make it easier for him to talk to us!” said Rise, clapping her hands. “One meow for yes, two for no?”
“How about this?” asked Souji, holding up a piece of paper with YES written on one side and NO on the other. “We could write out the hiragana too, so he could spell things for us. But that would take a lot more paper.”
“I can do it,” said Naoto, and settled in at the desk to start. Souji put the yes/no paper on the ground and Yosuke jumped off the futon to sit in front of it. It was a little weird, having everyone's attention on him, and even weirder because he couldn't crack a joke or anything to break the tension.
“Are you okay?” Teddie demanded, his eyes wide. “Does it hurt?”
Yosuke tapped the yes with his paw, and then the no.
“He's okay and it doesn't hurt,” said Chie. “Do you know what happened?”
That one required a little more thought, and he finally hit the blank paper between the two words.
“You have an idea, but you aren't sure,” Souji supplied.
Yes, said Yosuke.
“Do you know how we can fix it?” Souji asked, and that one was hard too. If he was right and this had happened because of the ema wish, what would fix it? Would Souji have to stay in Inaba forever for him to turn back into a human?
No, he said. Once Naoto finished those sheets of kana, he could give some guesses, but until then, he wasn't going to overcommit.
Right on cue, Naoto started arranging her papers in a neat row. “It won't be particularly efficient, senpai, but I hope it will work.”
Yosuke experimentally spelled out thanks as his friends read along outloud.
“Perfect,” said Naoto, pleased. “Now, what do you think happened?”
The nice thing about being a cat was that he couldn't blush. He could get embarrassed, but it wasn't written all over his face, and it was impossible for him to splutter or get defensive or anything like that.
Spelling out ema was still humiliating, but a different kind of humiliating.
“Ema?” asked Chie. Then she snapped her fingers. “You made a wish to be a cat?”
He tried to hit the no harder, like it had an exclamation point.
“What did you wish for?” Souji asked. Yosuke couldn't see him, nor could he fully read his tone, but he was definitely curious.
Knowing Souji, he wanted to know how to turn into a cat so he could try it too.
Souji no leave, he said, going for efficiency over grammar. Just like texting, really.
He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he was expecting. Everyone knew he didn't want Souji to leave, and that he'd been dealing with it exceptionally poorly. A part of him had hoped no one had noticed, but it hadn't been a realistic hope.
In that context, writing a wish on an ema wasn't so bad. It was one of the less pathetic things he'd done lately.
There was a pause, and then Yukiko said, “Oh, I wished for that too.”
“Me too,” said Chie, and one by one, everyone admitted the same thing, a bunch of teenagers begging the universe to let them keep their friend.
“I went with Nanako and she and I did the same thing,” Souji finished. “Some of my other friends might have done it too.”
Seriously? asked Yosuke, not even sure anyone was paying attention to him.
“Apparently everyone thought it was a good idea,” said Souji, with a shrug. “I know the fox can't do anything, but it felt good to just write it down and admit that it was something I wanted.”
“Well, if everyone did it, it might not have anything to do with what happened to Yosuke-senpai,” Kanji pointed out. “It's not like everyone who made a wish turned into a cat, just him.”
“You haven't gone into the TV lately, right?” Rise asked. “This feels like a TV thing.”
Yosuke hit the no hard again. It sucked not being able to defend himself more.
“There is another possibility,” said Naoto. “That in order for all the wishes to come true, only Yosuke-senpai needed to be turned into a cat. We saw in the TV world how people’s thoughts could influence what we saw. Perhaps the same thing happened here: our collective desire for Souji-senpai to stay here caused this.”
“Okay, but how does Yosuke turning into a cat make Souji stay?” Chie demanded. “Wouldn't it be easier to just break the train or something?”
“I'm not going to leave while he's like this,” Souji offered. “But once he's back to normal…”
“Is Yosuke going to be a cat forever??” Teddie asked, and Yosuke hissed his annoyance.
“I don't know how we're going to fix him,” Naoto admitted. “But as Chie-senpai said, this doesn't seem like the most straightforward way to grant the wish.”
“What about you, Yosuke?” asked Yukiko. “Do you have any idea why?”
No.
“Yeah, I'm stumped,” said Chie. “Unless you want to just say you won't leave, Souji! Maybe then he'll turn back.”
“I can say it as much as I want,” said Souji, his voice laced with bitterness. “But my parents still expect me back.”
A dark silence settled over the room. Yosuke wished, once again, that he could just say something. He'd been avoiding this conversation for months because Souji never treated it like a conversation. His parents wanted him back, so he was going back. Every time Yosuke heard it, he just wanted to scream, to ask if Souji had even tried to argue with them, if he'd ever told them what he wanted.
If he even wanted to stay, or if he didn't care after all. At least that question was answered.
“Whoa, cat Yosuke looks pissed,” said Kanji, and Yosuke realized his tail was lashing and he was hunkered down like he wanted to bite something.
“I'd be pissed too,” said Chie. “He got turned into a cat and we have no idea what to do.”
“Have you used the litter box yet, senpai?” Rise asked, gleeful, and Yosuke thought about biting her foot.
“Leave him alone,” said Souji. “I'll call my parents and let them know I'm going to be delayed. We can meet back up here for dinner as planned. Teddie, can you tell his parents that we found him and he's staying with me for a few days before I leave?”
Teddie saluted. “Beary good, sensei!”
“Are you kicking us out?” Rise asked. “What if we can help?”
“Do you have any ideas?” Souji asked. No one had a response to that, and he nodded. “In that case, we'll regroup later and see if anyone’s thought of anything.”
“Hey, senpai, can I pet you?” Kanji asked. Yosuke gave him the okay and Kanji knelt down to scratch his ears. “You're real soft. You probably don't care, but you're a really cute cat. A little orange tabby.”
Much as he didn't want to admit it, that did make him feel better. He gave Kanji a headbutt and Kanji smiled.
“Okay, well, see you later.”
One by one, they left, until it was just Yosuke and Souji alone in the room. Souji collapsed onto the couch with a long sigh, looking exhausted.
“I'm sorry,” he said. “For what you're going through. I didn't think…”
Yosuke jumped up next to him, pushing his head under Souji’s hand. After all, he was a cat. Anything he did right now was going to be weird, so he might as well try to do weird things that made one or both of them feel better.
Souji scratched his ears. “I'll figure out a way to turn you back. I promise.”
On the couch, he had no way to reply, so he just curled up next to Souji’s thigh, trying to show he believed him without resorting to the papers on the floor. Souji stroked his hand down Yosuke’s back, a firm, pleasant pressure, and Yosuke settled in, thinking about sleeping until he heard ringing through Souji’s phone.
He had said he was going to call his parents, but Yosuke somehow hadn't thought it would actually happen. Souji had never mentioned speaking to his parents during their entire friendship.
The phone kept ringing until voicemail picked up. Souji sighed, waited for the beep, and straightened up to leave his message. “Hello, Father. You haven't said anything about my request to stay in Inaba, and I understand you want me to return to Tokyo. But something has come up. I’ll need to stay here until it’s resolved. I don’t know how long that will take. I trust you'll understand.”
He hung up the phone and let out another long breath. “No matter how many messages I leave, they never call me back. I know there's a time difference, but it feels like I'm trying to call a ghost.”
Yosuke nudged his thigh. It had never occurred to him that Souji’s parents wouldn't even respond to him. He'd thought Souji just didn't have the guts to tell them what he wanted, but he'd told them and they ignored him, so what was he supposed to do?
“Maybe when I don't show up, they'll finally get in touch.”
It was actually kind of nice to not be able to say anything to that. There were plenty of things he wanted to say, condolences to offer and jokes to crack. If he could fill the room with sound, he would, but it wouldn't have helped.
“You're probably hungry,” said Souji, standing up and dislodging Yosuke from his side. “Was the fish okay? I know you don't like it when you're human, but you ate it all.”
Yosuke gave him an unimpressed look, which Souji figured out after a second. He picked up the yes/no paper and put it on the couch next to Yosuke. “Do you want more fish?”
Yes.
Souji lingered, watching him. “Are you okay?”
Yosuke thought about it for a second. Yes.
“Good. I'll bring you something to eat.”
*
“I have an idea,” Naoto said, once everyone had regrouped for dinner. “I’m not sure it’s really a solution, but I think we should try it.”
“Is Souji going to kiss him?” Yukiko asked, and Souji choked on his sushi. Yosuke wasn’t eating anything, but he tried to get across with the power of his mind that Yukiko’s suggestion was clearly fucked up.
Naoto blinked a few times in rapid succession. “No,” she said slowly. “Do you think he should?”
“Well, it could be like the frog prince,” said Yukiko. “Of course I know he’s not a frog, but I don’t know any stories about people turning into cats. I thought it might be worth a try.”
There was a certain logic to it, but the specifics left a lot to be desired. Cats didn’t even have lips. And it wasn’t like Yosuke had stupid, girly dreams about what his first kiss would be like, but he’d definitely be human, and he’d definitely be kissing a girl, and Souji wouldn’t be there. Not unless it was a weird double-date situation, but it probably wouldn’t be.
Chie cleared her throat. “So what was your idea, Naoto?”
“Oh,” said Naoto. “I thought we should try bringing him into the TV world. As I said, I’m not sure it would actually fix him, but he might be human on the other side. And we could try using some of our Persona’s healing abilities on him.” She shrugged. “Again, I have no idea if it will work, but I certainly don’t see a downside to trying.”
“You hear anything from your parents?” Kanji asked Souji. “About you not going back?”
Souji shook his head. “Nothing yet.”
“What would happen if you just…didn’t go?” Chie asked. “Like, screw them, just stay here, whether they say it’s okay or not. Dojima-san wouldn’t kick you out, would he?”
“I honestly don’t know. They’re still my parents,” he added. “Even if my uncle wants me to stay, it’s not really his decision.”
“You could live with us!” said Teddie. “The Hanamuras are very welcoming.” Yosuke bit his foot, and Teddie yelped. “Ow! Yosuke!”
Souji smiled. “I guess Yosuke doesn’t like that idea.”
That wasn’t quite it, but it was hard to convey nuance as a cat. Mostly, he didn’t think his parents would go against Souji’s either, and they definitely wouldn’t believe that Souji was a foreign exchange student whose housing had fallen through. The fact that they’d apparently bought that Teddie was was miracle enough on its own.
“Going into the TV tomorrow makes sense, though,” Souji went on, nodding to Naoto. “I don’t want to try it today, it’s late and we’d be even more suspicious without Yosuke to cover for us.”
“Feels weird just not doing anything,” Kanji said.
“Oh, we can still do something!” said Rise, pulling a bag out from behind her back. “This is a party, remember! I know it’s not exactly happy, especially for Yosuke-senpai, but we’re here to have fun.”
“Rise,” said Souji, a low note of warning in his tone.
Rise waved her hand. “Don’t worry so much. It’s nothing bad. He’s had a really hard day! He deserves to relax.”
In theory, Yosuke agreed, but he wasn’t sure he trusted Rise’s expression.
His wariness must have been obvious, even filtered through a cat’s face, because she pouted. “You’re all so distrustful! If you don’t like it, you don’t have to play with it,” she told Yosuke, and pulled an overstuffed and weirdly colored mouse out of her bag.
Yosuke’s knowledge of catnip started and ended with the name. It was drugs for cats. He’d never actually seen a cat exposed to catnip, but he had a sort of general idea that it made them act drunk or something.
That was what his human brain knew. His cat brain knew that the thing Rise was offering smelled amazing and he wanted to rub his face all over it and roll around on the ground with it and slobber on it, and before his human brain had caught up, he was doing all those things. He jerked suddenly into awareness and stopped what he was doing, looking around wildly.
Everyone was staring at him, but no one looked judgemental. Souji had grabbed a video camera and was filming, and Yukiko was doing her full-body laugh, and Rise looked as smug as anything. Even Naoto was hiding a smile.
“I’ve got a laser pointer too, senpai,” Rise said, with a smugness that Yosuke could admit was probably justified.
“It’s not like there’s anything else we can really do tonight,” Souji added. “Unless you want me to kiss you.”
Yosuke returned to the catnip mouse with renewed vigor.
It was actually a pretty great party, all things considered. Rise did bring out the laser pointer, and that was pretty fun to chase, and once he’d tired himself out, he just got to curl up by Souji’s leg and listen as everyone else talked. Maybe he should have felt left out, but Souji was absently scratching his ears, and Chie had grabbed his yes/no paper so that he could respond to questions when they were asked. It wasn’t better than participating, but he’d been kind of dreading this whole goodbye party. With all the avoidance he’d been doing, he had been hurtling towards a confrontation with some or all of his friends, and this night had been the most obvious time for things to come to a head.
Instead, everyone knew why he’d been so shitty lately and no one seemed interested in calling him out, probably because being a cat was punishment enough. It would have been nice to be able to more actively reminisce with them too, but not even having the option to talk took a lot of pressure off.
And if he was human, he wouldn’t have been nearly this close to Souji. He probably shouldn’t have been anyway, it was probably weird, but he had the cat excuse. And Souji certainly wasn’t objecting.
Kanji was the first to leave, saying his ma would worry if he was out too late, and one by one, everyone else went too, even Teddie, leaving Yosuke alone with Souji.
“Are you really okay not going into the TV tonight?” Souji asked. He was getting changed, and Yosuke was trying to keep his eyes closed, but apparently Souji wanted to have a conversation while he was taking off his pants. He opened his eyes long enough to hit yes on his now slightly battered piece of paper and then closed them again. “If you’re sure. We could go, just us.”
Yosuke hit no and saw a brief flash of Souji’s stupid ass.
“Okay.” He let out a long sigh. “I’m really sorry about this. I know I didn’t do anything, but it feels like my fault.”
For the first time in hours, Yosuke wished he could talk. Not because he wanted to have the conversation, but because Souji sounded so helpless and guilty. Whatever he could have said would have been awkward and full of too many feelings, but it would have helped Souji if he’d said it. And they probably should have one more awkward, girly conversation about feelings before Souji left, right?
But there was no way Yosuke was going to attempt that particular conversation via his hiragana papers, so instead he jumped off the couch and padded across the room to the futon where Souji was sitting, thankfully fully clothed now. He butted his head against Souji’s leg and Souji smiled, scratched his ears.
“I know you don’t blame me. But the best explanation we have is that this is all so I won’t leave.”
If he was honest, Yosuke had liked that explanation a lot more before he found out that everyone had wished that Souji would stay. Now, it felt even more egotistical than it had before. At least if it had only been his wish, it would have made sense that he was the one who’d been transformed. But it made his stomach squirm, thinking that whatever magic granted wishes at the shrine had decided he should be the target, not Nanako, not Dojima, not any of their other friends. Just him.
He couldn’t be that special.
“Where do you want to sleep?” Souji asked. “I don’t mind if we share the futon.”
Yosuke gave him a look that he hoped conveyed his skepticism, but with Souji, it was always hard to tell. “I’ve always wanted to have a cat to cuddle with when I went to sleep,” he added, with that kind of easy earnestness only Souji could pull off. And, honestly, Yosuke could believe that Souji really did have fantasies about having a cat to cuddle with at night. He wouldn’t tell Yosuke what girls he liked, if he’d ever had a girlfriend, even whether or not he’d ever kissed anyone, but at least Yosuke now knew one thing he liked in bed.
He should have gone to the couch, he knew that. Even if he was a cat, it was weird to let his best friend spoon him.
Instead, he got onto the futon, giving Souji an expectant look. Souji’s face melted into a relieved smile, and he settled down next to Yosuke. His face was so close, and he was still smiling, and it was doing weird things to his chest. Probably a cat thing.
“If you need anything, just wake me up,” said Souji. “Bite me or something.”
Before Yosuke could even try to think of a response to that, Souji was settling in, pulling Yosuke against his chest, and closing his eyes.
“Goodnight, Yosuke,” he said, and Yosuke closed his eyes too.
It really was kind of nice.
*
It took Yosuke a minute to remember why he was in bed with Souji when he woke up, and then another minute to realize that he wasn’t a cat anymore, and he was naked, and his legs were tangled with Souji’s and--
“Shit!” he said, scrambling off the futon and dragging the blankets with him in a desperate attempt to cover himself.
Souji blinked awake. “Yosuke? What are you--” He sat up, apparently remembering what was going on. “You’re yourself again.”
“I guess I had, like, a twenty-four hour cat thing,” said Yosuke, feeling vaguely hysterical. “Like a bug. No big deal.”
“Yosuke…”
“Sorry, dude, I know this wasn’t how you wanted to wake up. I guess I need to borrow some clothes, huh? At least you don’t have to spend your last day in Inaba trying to--”
Souji caught his wrist. “Yosuke, breathe.”
The warmth of Souji’s hand on his skin startled him into silence, and he took a few breaths without really thinking about it. Souji was watching him, his eyes full of concern and compassion, and Yosuke felt split open.
“It’s really good to see you,” said Souji.
“Yeah, but now you have to leave.”
“I don’t have to.” His eyes cut away. “I told my parents I wasn’t coming back on schedule already. I might as well see what they have to say about it.”
Yosuke’s breath caught. “Partner…”
“I can’t promise anything,” he said quickly. “Maybe they’ll call tonight and tell me I’m still expected home on the train tomorrow. But if they don’t, then…”
He trailed off with a little shrug, and for once, Yosuke didn’t think about what he was doing or how it would come across. His whole brain was filled with the thought that Souji would stay, that if he had done something, it had worked, and he couldn’t help it. He threw himself into Souji’s arms, hugging him with a wild, reckless joy like nothing he’d ever felt before. Souji laughed, surprised but clearly delighted, and he was hugging back before Yosuke’s brain had caught up enough to realize how weird it was.
He was definitely still naked.
“Shit, sorry,” he stammered, pulling away and gathering the blanket back to him. “Just…I’m really glad, dude.”
Souji’s mouth twitched. “You want to borrow those clothes?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
Yosuke always thought of himself and Souji as about the same size, but wearing the guy’s clothes really emphasized how Souji was just a little taller and just a little broader than he was. He wasn’t swimming in Souji’s t-shirt, but it was just big enough that he was aware, all the time, that he was wearing Souji’s clothes, and then he remembered why he was wearing Souji’s clothes and felt himself flush all over with embarrassment.
Plus, something about being a cat had definitely short-circuited his brain, because he was now very stupidly aware of Souji’s smell, and he really liked it.
Despite all that, though, it was somehow a nice morning. Nanako was thrilled to see him, and the three of them had breakfast together before she took off to do some errands. Yosuke got his phone back and texted everyone that he was human, and there were a bunch of messages about what had happened and why and if Souji was staying, and plans to have another dinner tonight, celebratory this time.
“Do you think it was all the wishes at the shrine?” Yosuke found himself asking as they cleaned up the breakfast dishes.
“Yes,” Souji said, with his typical easy conviction.
“Really?”
“What else would it have been?”
“A twenty-four hour bug, like I said.”
Souji hummed as he thought it over. “But it worked, didn’t it? I’m not leaving.”
“Yeah, but…” Yosuke sighed. “Come on, if that worked, anything would have worked, right? Why would it be me turning into a cat? Instead of Kanji or Rise or, hell, Nanako. If something had happened to her, you wouldn’t have slept until she was okay.”
“And then once she was okay, I would have gone back to my parents.”
“But now that I’m okay, you’re staying?”
Souji huffed, turning to face Yosuke and leaning against the counter. “It’s not that. I was worrying that you wouldn’t want me to stay.”
Yosuke’s jaw actually dropped. He felt like a cartoon character; he must have had the most ridiculous expression on his face. “What the fuck? Of course I wanted you to stay, how the hell could you--”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Souji said quickly, but Yosuke barely heard it through the roaring in his ears. He’d known that he was acting like an asshole, but he hadn’t thought it was possible for him to be such an asshole that Souji would think Yosuke wanted him gone.
“Whatever,” he said, turning and heading for the door. “I’m glad it worked or whatever, but that’s a shitty thing to say.”
“Yosuke,” said Souji, catching his wrist again, pulling him back around, and as Yosuke turned, they were suddenly kissing.
At first, he assumed it was an accident. He’d turned too quickly and crashed into Souji’s lips and Souji was so surprised he couldn’t move, which, to be fair, Yosuke was too. But then Souji moved his hand down Yosuke’s wrist so they were holding hands, and Souji tilted his head so he had a better angle, and there was no getting around the fact that Souji was kissing him.
Apparently Souji was here for his first kiss, after all.
It wasn’t until Souji started to pull away that Yosuke realized he didn’t actually want the kiss to stop. It had definitely been a really bad kiss, partly because Yosuke hadn’t been expecting it and partly because he’d never kissed anyone before, but he was pretty sure he could do better. And of course Souji could, Souji was good at everything. He’d probably had good kisses before, which meant the badness of this one was Yosuke’s fault.
He slid his free hand into Souji’s hair, fingers tangling in the soft strands of it, and pressed his mouth more firmly against Souji’s. Souji made a soft noise of surprise, but then he settled back in, smiling against Yosuke’s mouth as he kissed him back. Why hadn’t anyone ever told him you could taste smiles when you kissed someone? Yosuke hadn’t even been fantasizing about the right things.
It was definitely a better kiss. It was the kind of kissing Yosuke felt like he could settle into, do for hours, although it would definitely be more comfortable if they were in Souji’s room, maybe on the futon, and--
His phone buzzed in his pocket, jolting Yosuke suddenly and violently back into reality, and he broke the kiss, staggering a few steps back from Souji.
“I wasn’t sure you’d want me to stay if you knew how I felt about you,” Souji said, his voice and face unreadable.
Yosuke let out a shuddering breath, his brain finally catching up with what he’d been doing. “How you feel about me,” he repeated, for lack of any other words in his brain. Souji kissed him. Souji liked him. And he’d been thinking about taking Souji upstairs to kiss him more.
He still kind of wanted to kiss him more. Kissing really lived up to the hype.
“I kept telling you I wasn’t interested in any of the girls. You never believed me.”
Yosuke rubbed his jaw. “Me.”
“You.”
He was expecting Souji to call him out, to say something about how Yosuke had kissed him back, how he’d pulled him back in, but he was Souji, so of course he wasn’t saying anything. Just watching, waiting, smiling ever so slightly.
“Why did you change your mind?” Yosuke finally asked. “Something about me as a cat made you think I liked you back?”
Souji shook his head. “No. I just thought you’d want me to stay even if you didn’t.”
“Yeah, of course,” Yosuke said without thinking. “Dude. I wouldn’t--I want you here no matter what.”
“That’s why it had to be you. I needed to know that. So…” He shrugged. “My parents could still call and tell me I have to go back and I’d probably have to. But I want to stay here.” He paused, waited until he’d met Yosuke’s eyes. “With you.”
He swallowed hard. “I, uh. I had no idea.”
“I didn’t think you did.”
“I should probably go home,” he finally said. “Check in with my mom. Apologize for dropping off the grid.”
Souji’s face gave absolutely nothing away. “Yeah.”
Yosuke nodded, mostly to himself. “Okay. Uh, I’ll see you tonight? For dinner? And text me if you hear anything from your parents.”
“I will.”
“Cool,” said Yosuke, and left without looking back.
*
It wasn’t quite warm enough yet that lying on the bank of the Samegawa was comfortable, but that kind of worked for Yosuke’s mood. He was overly aware of every part of his body and of the cold soil under his back and of the smell of Souji still coming off of his clothes. He could not, on any level, be comfortable.
He should have been having an existential crisis about the cat thing. That was the obvious crisis. It was impossible and unreal and deeply fucked up. It should have been way harder to handle than Souji kissing him and liking him and presumably wanting to kiss him more, and probably be his boyfriend. But the Souji thing was probably the weirdest thing that had ever happened to Yosuke, weirder than the TV, weirder than the personas, and, yeah, even weirder than turning into a cat. It was fucking surreal. He still couldn’t make it make sense in his head that Souji, who could have had Rise or Yukiko--or, hell, if he didn’t like girls at all, Kanji or Kou or Daisuke or anyone--wanted Yosuke, of all people.
And of course, there was the kissing thing. Yosuke basically hadn’t stopped thinking about kissing Souji for a single second since he’d done it, but he also had yet to manage to have a single coherent thought about it. Mostly, all he could think was that it had happened, and it had been really good, once he got the hang of it, and it would probably be even better if he did it more.
“Like with a girl,” he said, to no one, and it sounded even less convincing out loud. He could kiss a girl, of course, but he had kissed Souji. Souji had kissed him and he'd kissed back and when Souji had tried to stop kissing him, Yosuke had kept going. He'd thought a lot about kissing as a concept, a thing he’d like to do someday, but never about kissing a specific person, not even Saki-senpai. He'd wanted to go out with her, but even in his wildest fantasies, the most he'd allowed himself to hope for was holding hands. He would have gotten to thinking about kissing her, probably, if she'd lived longer and kept on being nice to him, but even a date felt like a stretch.
He'd never thought about kissing Souji either, but he thought about Souji pretty much all the time, in general. He'd never had a friend like Souji before, and it was hard to imagine being closer to anyone than he was to Souji, or liking anyone more. Even if he had a girlfriend, Souji would still be his best friend and favorite person, right? That was probably how it was supposed to work.
Was it gay if you only wanted to kiss one guy? He didn't feel gay. Not like Kanji’s shadow, anyway. He didn't want to start wearing makeup or flirting with random dudes. He just wanted to kiss Souji more.
“Isn't that enough?” he asked the sky. It felt very profound and dramatic, but some guy passing by yelled, “What?” and kind of ruined the moment.
“Nothing!” Yosuke called back. “Sorry!”
And then he got up, dusted himself off, and went home.
*
“Sorry for disappearing on you,” Yosuke told his mom, with genuine contrition. The most recent disappearance hadn’t really been entirely his fault, but he had definitely generally been kind of an asshole about Souji leaving, and his mother deserved an apology.
“And for leaving me with a cat,” she said, but her mouth was twitching.
“I thought you might like a cat.”
“Why?”
“I dunno, I thought you might get lonely with all of us gone all day. Souji says cats are good company.”
Her smile was gentle. “Are you sure you aren’t just thinking about how you’re going to be lonely? It’s tomorrow, right? When Seta-kun leaves.”
A lump rose in his throat. “He’s staying, actually,” Yosuke managed, his voice somehow coming out normally. “He decided to stay.”
She looked so happy for him, instantly and immediately, like no news had ever been as good as Souji not leaving. Would she be this happy if she knew he’d been kissing Souji earlier? If she knew he was planning to kiss Souji again as soon as he left? If Souji wanted to be his boyfriend, they’d probably tell people about it eventually. Maybe as soon as he told his parents, they’d wish Souji was back in Tokyo and away from their son.
“I’m so glad,” she said, and Yosuke bit his lip. “I know how much you were going to miss him.”
“Yeah. I’ve never liked anyone as much as I like him,” he told her, not trying to confess, just to test the waters, but from the way his mother gasped softly and her eyes widened, he thought he might have gone a little farther than he planned.
But she put her hand on his. “It’s amazing to find someone who makes you feel like that. That’s why I’m so glad you’re not losing him.”
“Me too.” He swallowed, and his voice came out less thickly when he added, “I’ll ask him about finding us a cat. Not the one from yesterday, he was kind of an asshole. I’ll get you a better one.”
“Language, Yosuke.”
“Sorry.”
“A cat might be nice,” she said. “A kitten.”
“A kitten,” Yosuke repeated. “I think we could handle that. I think I’m going to go over there now?” he added, the statement coming out like a question. “To see Souji.”
“Sure. Tell him we’re going to have him over to dinner one of these days, now that he’s not going anywhere.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“And change your clothes before you leave!” she added. “There’s mud on your back. Where did that shirt even come from?”
Whatever his mom thought he’d meant about liking Souji and however accepting she’d been, Yosuke was pretty sure that telling her that he was wearing Souji’s clothes wouldn’t go over well. “It’s new,” he said instead. “I’ll get changed, don’t worry.”
The polite thing to do would have been to wash Souji’s clothes before he returned them, but the idea of waiting for that long before he talked to Souji again was simply unacceptable. He found a clean v-neck with no holes and relatively few wrinkles and a pair of pretty nice jeans, fiddled with his hair a little in the mirror. It was ridiculous, obviously, worrying about seeing Souji, like he had to make a good impression on his best friend, who definitely liked him and had already kissed him once today.
But there was nothing wrong with putting a little effort in, right?
Nanako opened the door when Yosuke arrived, which was only a little awkward. “Hey, Nanako-chan. Is your brother home?”
“Yeah, he’s upstairs. I thought you weren’t coming until dinner.”
Now he was grateful that his mom had made him change. He held up the bag of Souji’s clothes. “He loaned me something to wear this morning, I figured I’d come early and bring it back.”
Nanako nodded. “Come on in. I think he’s on the phone, but he won’t mind if you go up.”
She settled back in front of the TV as Yosuke slid off his shoes and headed upstairs. Souji’s door was closed, so Yosuke knocked twice and then pushed the door open, waving as Souji looked up. His face was tense and only relaxed a little when he saw Yosuke, but he waved back before returning his attention to his cell.
“I don’t see what difference it makes whether I finish high school here or in Tokyo, Mother,” Souji was saying, casting a significant look in Yosuke’s direction at the last word. Yosuke pointed towards the door with a raise of his eyebrows, but Souji shook his head and gestured to the couch instead, and once Yosuke was sitting, he even sat down next to him. It might have just been his imagination, but Yosuke thought Souji was sitting closer than he would have before, even if he wasn’t quite close enough that Yosuke could hear the other end of the conversation.
Like he was reading Yosuke’s mind, Souji put the phone on speaker and rested iit on his leg.
“-- fewer opportunities in Inaba,” Souji’s mother was saying. Her voice was harsh and annoyed, as if talking to Souji was taking her away from more important business. Or maybe Yosuke was just very biased. “Are you planning to go to college there too?”
“No,” said Souji. “I’m still planning to go to college in Tokyo.”
“Then why do you care about staying with your uncle for another year? Honestly, Souji, this whole thing is ridiculous. You’ll have much better prospects for college admission if you attend school here in Tokyo.”
“I’ll pass the entrance exam to whatever college I want to go to,” Souji said. “And I’ll be top of the class here in Inaba.” He paused, like he was steeling himself, and Yosuke reached over and put his hand on Souji’s. “I won’t be top of the class if I’m in Tokyo,” he said, a promise. “I won’t pass the entrance exams, either.”
Silence stretched on the other end of the line. “Is that a threat?” Souji’s mom finally asked.
“It’s a fact.”
She let out a long, frustrated breath. “You’ll really throw your future away over this? You didn’t even want to go to Inaba!”
“But I did come here, and now I want to stay.”
“Two years at Yasogami will--”
“If one year here didn’t ruin me, two won’t,” Souji shot back.
“Don’t interrupt,” his mother snapped.
“I’m sorry,” said Souji, immediately contrite, and Yosuke squeezed his hand. “But I’m right, aren’t I?”
Her sigh this time sounded, at least to Yosuke, like resignation. “I thought you’d be excited to come home. I couldn’t wait to leave, you know.”
“I know. But I like it here.”
“Then I guess you’re staying.”
It wasn’t the end of the conversation--there were some logistics to discuss, some passive aggressive snipes about how she would send more of Souji’s things to his new home, some questions about if he’d come visit for holidays--but Yosuke stopped paying as much attention after that, too busy being relieved to care much.
Souji had flipped his hand over and laced their fingers together, and Yosuke was a lot more interested in that right now.
Finally, Souji hung up and slumped back into the couch, closing his eyes but smiling. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting you until later. And I wasn’t expecting her to actually call.”
Yosuke rubbed his thumb against Souji’s hand. It felt like the kind of thing a boyfriend would do. “Would you really have failed out of school in Tokyo?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I was hoping she wouldn’t want to risk finding out.” He opened his eyes and slanted a look at Yosuke. “What are you doing here?” he asked, with a significant look at their hands.
Yosuke swallowed. He hadn’t actually thought about what he’d say to Souji. He didn’t have a confession or anything figured out, but Souji probably deserved one. Yosuke couldn’t expect to just kiss him for the rest of their lives without ever talking about what it meant.
“I like you too,” he finally said, simple and easy and true. “I don’t really know what happens next, but I want to find out. And I really want to kiss you again,” he added, in the interests of full disclosure. And hopefully getting kissed.
“That sounds like a good place to start,” said Souji, leaning in, and it definitely was.
*
“So, what, you just decided you weren’t going back and Yosuke-senpai turned back into a person?” Kanji asked, sounding dubious.
“It might have been a twenty-four hour bug,” Yosuke said, even though he believed it less every time he said it. “If one of you catches it, we’ll know it’s contagious.”
“I think it was the kissing,” said Souji, sounding as smug as Yosuke had ever heard him.
“It wasn’t the kissing,” Yosuke said, just like they’d planned. “That was after I turned back.”
Souji had said they didn’t have to tell anyone, and while Yosuke had agreed he wasn’t ready to tell everyone--he had no idea how Dojima was going to take it and wanted to avoid that conversation for as long as humanly possible--he didn’t mind their friends knowing. In fact, he kind of wanted them to know, even if it was going to be awkward and there would be a lot of questions he didn’t know how to answer and Kanji would probably want to punch him in the face. But then they’d all know he was Souji’s boyfriend, and that was going to be great.
Rise was the first to recover. “Wait, what kissing?” she demanded, and then everyone was talking at once, voices overlapping, and Yosuke started laughing, dropping his forehead onto Souji’s shoulder, stupid with happiness.
“I had better give a really nice donation to the shrine, huh?” Yosuke murmured, as everyone else bickered about whether or not Souji could do better than Yosuke and who’d kissed whom and Kanji definitely said something probably valid about some people protesting too much. “Just in case it was