A cat girl, or a girl cat? That's my first reaction when I put on my glasses.

Tsubaki saw that I hadn't spoken for a long time, but when I got closer, I said again, "Do you have anything here that is suitable for a birthday present?"

I felt that her face was about to be pressed against mine, and her blue eyes were almost about to suck me in, so I hurriedly took two steps back and pushed my glasses, "I'm sorry, we're in a grocery store, and I don't think there's anything that can be used as a gift." As he spoke, he silently said in his heart: "She's a cat, she's not a human, she's a cat." ”

"But my friends tell me that you are here to answer your needs, and that you can see me in human form, and that you are right. Tsubaki said, pulling his hair back and grabbing my hands with his small hands, "Please, help me find it, it's someone very important to me." ”

"I'm just here to help people write letters, if you want to write letters, I can help you, but there is no such thing as a birthday gift. I was distraught by those soft and boneless hands, and the already hot weather was even hotter, and I pulled my hand out with all my might.

"But I have something good in return. The clingy white cat blinked, the corners of her mouth furrowed, "You're going to be interested." ”

"Even if you have the best things, I can't help you, you see we have some daily necessities here, so..."

"I know a guy might be able to help you find the answer you've always wanted. Tsubaki interrupted me, took a step back, put his hands behind his back, tilted his head slightly, and smiled maliciously on his face, "If you don't agree, I'll really go, I won't come." With that, she walked step by step to the location of the container bell, glancing at me with every step.

If I wasn't moved by her human form before, it must be false, and what she said just now made my whole body calm down, "That's right, she's just a monster." I silently said to myself in my heart, "It's still a youkai who knows why I came to City A." "With that in mind, I decided to accept her request.

"Okay, but you're not going to pay for anything like finding your birthday present," I said, skirting her around and sitting down at the nightly letter-writing table, "If your friends told you we had everything we needed here, they should have told you that we charge a lot here." ”

"You... Why is he such a greedy person!" Miss Cat was a little anxious.

"You said it yourself, it's a gift for a very important person," I looked at her with the same malicious smile, "Since it's an important person, I naturally have to put some thought into it, and if I don't think it's worth it, I can find someone else." ”

“··· But I'm just a house cat, and there's nothing else I can give you..." She was a little depressed, and her previous naughty appearance vanished.

"Come, sit across from me. I took out a piece of letter paper and pale blue ink from the drawer, "Press your handprint on this piece of paper as your IOU, and when you think of what to pay with, I will return this paper to you." ”

"It's so unreasonable, I just left someone's handprint. Tsubaki's expression was not very pleasant.

"For you, names and handprints are messages that don't come easily," I pushed the letter in front of her, "So, with this, I can guarantee that you won't get something and run away." ”

Miss Cat raised her eyes and looked at the letter paper and ink, bit her lip, and said, "Then if I am not satisfied with your things, you must also return this to me." Seeing that I nodded in agreement, she reluctantly reached out and pressed her handprint.

"Okay, tell me about the person who is important to you, so I can choose the right gift. I put a sticky note on the hand-printed stationery with the word "Tsubaki" written on it, "Tsubaki, is that the name he gave you?"

"He's my master, I'm his cat. To be precise, he took me in. Tsubaki's hands were clenched into small fists and gently placed on the table, like a cat's paws lying on its owner, "I'm especially afraid of rainy days, because when it rains, I will change back to the appearance of a normal cat, and humans will be able to see me." ”

"Don't you like to be seen?" I wondered why she didn't want to be seen by humans, even though she liked her master so much.

"Yes, because humans are not gentle at all, children hit me with stones, adults hit me with sticks, even if I take the initiative to show favor, I am still disliked, I hate humans, but also, who would welcome a stray cat with a dirty body. Tsubaki's eyes looked at the table, and her lips twitched slightly.

"Dirty stray cat?" I looked at the humanoid Tsubaki in front of me, thinking that she was a white cat, and how could she not be associated with a stray cat.

Tsubaki raised his head again, his eyes were all soft, "Yes, I didn't expect it, I wasn't like this in front of you, it's very difficult for a helpless cat to live in such a city, I'm often hungry, and I will go to a human family to steal food when I have to, one day I suddenly found that I can already become a human, but humans can only see me in cat form, and I can't see me in human form, since then, I haven't been hungry much again." ”

"That's because you're starting to have demonic powers," I remembered the touch she had when she grabbed my hand, which was still different from a human hand, "At first, you should just be an ordinary cat, and you yearn for a human life too much, so you can become a cat demon who can turn into a human form." I looked her straight into the eye, "But the demon power is too weak, so you humans in the form of a monster can't see it, they can only see your prototype." ”

"That's right, but I'm not annoyed by the weakness of the demon, because I can do a lot of interesting things without knowing it," Tsubaki didn't avoid my eyes, "But one day, I was eating at the vegetable market, and a sudden rainstorm knocked me back to the prototype, and when the shopkeeper caught me, I still had half a sausage in my mouth, which was like a stolen stolen." I wanted to run but I couldn't, the boss was very fierce, and the strength in his hands was so strong that I felt like my bones were going to be broken. That's when I heard his voice. ”

"Your master?" I asked.

Tsubaki nodded, "Yes, it's him, that's the best voice I've ever heard, and he said to the boss, 'I'm sorry this is my cat, can you give it back to me.'" The corners of her lips curled slightly, "It was the first time I was held in the arms of a human being, so warm and warm, I wanted to get out of his arms, but he kept slowly touching my forehead, talking to me softly, he took me home, helped me bathe, dried me, and fed me, he called me Tsubaki over and over again." From that moment I realized that human beings can also be such gentle creatures. ”

"He didn't know you were a youkai?"

"I don't know, maybe I know. But I don't want him to know. Tsubaki said slowly, "Later, I knew that his surname was Qu, because everyone called him Lao Qu, he lived alone in a big house, and never met anyone else, I liked Lao Qu very much, I ate with him, listened to him, and coquettished with him, as long as it made him happy, it was fine." It's just that sometimes I see him flipping through the photo album alone, and there is a beautiful woman on it, and every then he will sit alone for a long time, but as soon as I walk up to him, he will smile at me, and then every time he will pick me up and hum the same melody. ”

"What is a nice melody?" I saw the fine beads of sweat on her head, got up and opened a small crack in the window, and pressed the switch of the ceiling fan.

"I don't know what the song is, it's probably like this, lala, lala, la..." Tsubaki hummed softly, her eyes closed, her eyelashes trembled slightly, her lips closed one by one, her body swayed slightly, and gusts of wind flowed in the small space, stirring her light gray hair, relieving the heat of the summer night, and blowing the notes of the melody.

I felt a peace that I hadn't felt for a long time, just listening to her shallow singing, looking at her satisfied expression, I should be recalling something, right?

"Well, that's kind of the melody. She opened her eyes, and there was a glow in her blue eyes.

"It's called 'La Vie en Rose'. I pulled out a piece of paper, wrote the name of the song on it, and put it on the corner of the table, "Your master, I guess you are thinking about someone." ”

Tsubaki pursed his lips, "Well, if I'm not mistaken, the woman in the photo should be his lover, but I've been in Lao Qu's house for almost fifteen years, and I've never seen this woman." ”

"Fifteen years?" I was a little surprised, "how old is the old Qu you said, and the average cat is already very old at fifteen years old, and he doesn't have the slightest suspicion that you are still so lively?"

Tsubaki seemed to suddenly realize, "Ah, so that's the case... No wonder he often looked at me and said, "Are you a goblin sent by heaven to accompany me?"

"But even if he had doubts, he wouldn't believe that there really were youkai. "Although I said this, I thought in my heart that Tsubaki is a cat that behaves differently, and everyone will suspect it.

"Well, yes, who would have thought that their cat was a youkai, right? Tsubaki was soothed by my words and continued to tell his story, "Lao Qu is fifty years old this year, and I originally wanted to be an ordinary cat by his side all the time and accompany him until he is old, but..." She suddenly couldn't speak, and her eyes were a little red.

"But?" I don't think it's good news.

"But a few days ago, a friend of mine told me that there was a strange smell on Lao Qu's body, and this smell can only be seen in people who are about to die. After Tsubaki finished speaking, he lay on the table and began to cry.