My Cat Came Back as a Hot Guy (And He Remembers Everything)
Sakura Tsukishima, a 21-year-old college student, has lived with her black cat Kuro for five years. One morning, she wakes up to find a tall, ridiculously handsome guy with black hair and golden eyes sleeping in her bed. He has a crescent-shaped mole on the back of his neck — just like Kuro.
"Good morning, Sakura. It's me. Kuro."
Sakura runs. Kuro calmly opens the fridge and eats a tube of cat treats. There's no doubt. It's him.
Kuro's first declaration? "I'm here to pay back five years of gr
My Cat Came Back as a Hot Guy (And He Remembers Everything) - The Art of Revenge and the True Nature of Heart-Pounding Excitement
The words Kuro had spoken last night still lingered in Sakura's mind.
"Time is running out."
What did that even mean? She hadn't asked him to clarify. And even if she had, Kuro probably wouldn't have answered anyway.
Tsukishima Sakura shifted restlessly under her blanket, turning the thought over in her head.
May morning light filtered through the curtains. Bird calls drifted from the direction of the Utsuze River. The second floor of Corpo Minazuki woke early.
Just a little longer, she thought, closing her eyes.
That's when she felt breath against her ear.
"Breakfast."
"Kyaaaa!!"
Sakura bolted upright. Her head smacked against the wall.
"Ow...!!"
Kuro stood there without changing his expression. His black hair caught the morning light, thin red streaks glinting faintly. Golden eyes stared straight at her.
"That's how I woke you. I did it when I was a cat."
"That was way too close! I thought my heart was going to stop!!"
"When I was a cat, I meowed to wake you. Now that I'm human, I use my voice. It's the same thing."
"It's completely different!!"
Kuro completely ignored her protest and headed toward the dining table. He pulled out a chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the surface. He stared at Sakura intently.
(…This is bad. That look is exactly the same as when he was a cat.)
That demanding gaze. The pressure of waiting. She didn't need words to understand it. Five years had taught her that look all too well.
Sakura started toward the refrigerator. She reached for the door.
Kuro was already there.
Standing in front of it with his arms crossed, silent.
"Huh?"
"…"
He said nothing. Just stood there. Arms crossed. His eyes said "you're slow."
"Move! I can't make breakfast like this!!"
"Thirty seconds late."
"You were timing me?!"
Kuro slowly stepped away from the refrigerator. Then he pulled out a notebook and spread it on the table. His pen moved across the page smoothly.
Sakura peeked over nervously.
"Page six. Breakfast delays, total of two—wait, two times?!"
"Yesterday was also thirty-one seconds late. I wrote it all down."
"You're a cat! Don't be so full of yourself!!"
Kuro added something else to the page smoothly.
"'You're a cat' added to page seven."
"It's growing!!"
＊
The next day—day three of living together, midday.
Sakura's phone rang inside the Minase University library.
The library was quiet and still, green May foliage visible through the windows. Books lined the shelves tightly, the ceiling was high, and it was supposed to be a calming place.
Sakura had just typed "cat," "human transformation," "change," and "supernatural phenomenon" into the search bar and sighed.
Results: 0 items.
Of course. There was no way the library had reference materials on "why cats suddenly become human." Minase University's library supposedly had 280,000 books, but not a single one about that.
(I want to talk to someone. But I can't. If I said "my cat became human"…)
Just imagining it made her face burn.
Her phone rang. She checked the screen. Unknown number.
She quietly stepped into the hallway and answered.
"Yes…"
"Is this an acquaintance of one of our customers? This is Drug Store Yotsuba calling."
A bad feeling shot through Sakura's mind.
"…Yes. Um, did something happen?"
"We thought you might be with the black-haired gentleman. About the payment…"
Sakura ran. She bolted out of the library and sprinted toward Hoshizora Street at full speed.
＊
Kuro was standing in front of the register at Drug Store Yotsuba.
A brown-haired part-time worker stood at the register, looking completely bewildered. Kuro held three packs of Churu in his hands, his golden eyes fixed straight on the clerk.
An awkward silence hung between them.
Sakura burst in, breathless.
"I'm so sorry! He's with me!!"
The clerk's face relaxed.
"When I asked about payment, he said… um, 'What is money?'…"
Sakura looked at Kuro.
Kuro's face suggested he'd done nothing wrong.
"I needed Churu. I took it. I gave it to her. That's all."
"You have to pay money to buy things!!"
"Everything in Sakura's house could be used without money."
"Because I was paying for it!!"
"…I see. Sakura was paying."
Kuro looked upward for a moment, thinking.
"I was a cat. Cats don't need money."
"You're human now!!"
Sakura pulled out her wallet and paid for the three packs of Churu. She bowed to the clerk multiple times. The clerk told her "It's fine, he was a strange person but not scary." That somehow made her even more embarrassed.
On the walk back to the apartment, Sakura sighed.
Walking along the path beside the Utsuze River, she heard the sound of water. The surface glimmered, and a single cat sat curled up on a stone by the riverbank. Kuro glanced at it sideways. His expression suggested he was remembering something.
"Kuro, there are lots of places in Tsukimi City that require money. Convenience stores, shops in the shopping district—you have to pay for everything."
"…That money is something Sakura has."
"I only have so much money!!"
"Churu is justice. Just understand that."
Sakura looked up at the sky. It was blue.
(Why is he so confident about this…)
Even though she was angry, she felt like laughing. It was strange.
＊
Sakura's shift at Café Harukaze started at 4 p.m.
Harukaze was a small café with 24 seats, located in the middle of the Hoshizora Street shopping district north of Tsukimi Station. It smelled of freshly roasted coffee, thick egg sandwiches were the specialty, and Sakura worked here three days a week.
Today she'd messed up an order. A customer at table three had said "lemon tea," but she'd repeated it back as "milk tea," and only realized her mistake after going to the kitchen and coming back.
The shop owner, Seta Genichiro, called her over with a short "Hey." He was a man of few words, but he paid close attention to his employees.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine! Sorry about that."
"…I see."
He said nothing more and returned to the kitchen.
Silver-white long hair appeared at the edge of her vision while she was wiping the counter.
Nonomura Aoi, her senior, approached. Her clear blue eyes stared at Sakura intently. She had a small mole near her eye, and today she carried her usual calm, mature aura. But right now, her gaze was slightly sharper.
"Hey, Sakura-chan. Did something happen?"
"Nothing at all! Really!"
"It's written all over your face."
Sakura instinctively touched her face.
"Really that obvious?"
"Plus the thing with table three. It's rare for you to make mistakes."
Aoi was that kind of person. She paid close attention to Sakura. She was a caring senior, maybe a little too devoted, but fundamentally very kind.
After closing, while the two of them wiped down the counter, Sakura stayed silent the whole time.
When she didn't say anything, Aoi quietly came to stand beside her.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I'm here for you."
Silence.
Sakura gripped the counter cloth.
"…I got a roommate."
The cloth stopped moving.
"Huh?"
"There are some circumstances…"
"Introduce me right now."
Aoi said it while removing her apron. With a smile. But her eyes weren't smiling. They glittered.
"Today? Well, I guess… wait, that's fast!!"
＊
When the door to room 201 of Corpo Minazuki opened, Kuro was standing there.
Under the hallway light, a young man with black hair streaked with red mesh stared at the visitor with golden eyes.
Aoi froze for a moment.
Then she smiled.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Nonomura Aoi, Sakura-chan's senior!"
She stepped forward. She tried to move beside Sakura.
In that instant, Kuro extended his arm.
In front of Sakura. Quietly, but unmistakably.
"Don't come near Sakura."
His voice dropped a register. Not commanding, exactly. Just stating a fact, in a flat tone.
Aoi stopped.
(This person…)
Something clicked into place in Aoi's mind. The moment she tried to approach Sakura, he blocked her with his arm. Guarding his territory. Wary of a stranger. Like—
"But I'm Sakura-chan's friend, so of course I'm close to her, right?"
She said it with a smile, her tone unchanged.
Kuro's golden eyes narrowed slightly.
A quiet tension settled between them.
"Okay, okay! Aoi-senpai, come on in! Kuro, move your arm!"
Sakura stepped between them. Kuro slowly lowered his arm.
Aoi entered the room while keeping all of Kuro's movements in her peripheral vision.
Throughout the conversation, Kuro never stayed more than a meter away from Sakura. Every time Aoi spoke to her, his golden eyes shifted. Not quite jealousy, not quite wariness—something more primal. He was simply guarding the space beside Sakura.
(It's real.)
Aoi was certain. She thought it while keeping her smile in place.
(This kid really is a cat…)
＊
Aoi left after 10 p.m.
"See you later, Sakura-chan."
Before closing the door, Aoi glanced at Kuro. He stood beside Sakura with his arms crossed. Aoi smiled lightly. Kuro didn't react.
The door closed.
The room fell silent.
Sakura flopped onto the sofa and let out a long sigh.
"I'm exhausted…"
"Why are you exhausted? You're the one who invited the guest."
"Because you blocked her with your arm right away! That made me nervous!!"
"Unknown people shouldn't come near Sakura."
"Aoi-senpai is my friend! She's important to me!"
Kuro was quiet for a moment. Then he pulled out his notebook.
"…Nonomura Aoi. Requires monitoring. Added to page seven."
"Why are you adding her?! Do the opposite!!"
Kuro closed the notebook.
Sakura burrowed into her blanket. She stared at the ceiling. Today had been too much. Finding nothing at the library. Kuro causing a scene at Yotsuba. Confessing to Aoi-senpai.
The words "time is running out" flickered through her mind again.
She didn't ask today. She couldn't ask.
"…Kuro."
"What."
"That thing you said yesterday… about time running out."
Kuro went silent.
"What did you mean by—"
"I'm not talking about it now."
"But—"
"I said I'm not talking about it now."
He said nothing more.
Sakura couldn't ask either.
For a while, they both stayed silent.
Then the edge of the blanket dipped slightly.
Sakura's eyes shifted. Kuro was sitting on the edge of her bed. Not hugging his knees, just sitting there, watching her. It was somehow similar to how he used to curl up beside her at night when he was a cat.
After a moment, Kuro slowly leaned forward.
"Wait, Kuro?"
Kuro rested his head on her lap.
Quietly. Naturally.
"Your lap is calming."
Sakura froze.
He used to do this when he was a cat. She knew that. He did it every night. It was heavy, but warm, and she'd loved it so much.
But.
(Kuro is now a 178-centimeter-tall young man…)
Something jumped in her chest.
Thump-thump. Without any explanation.
Sakura pressed her hand to her chest. Quietly, so Kuro wouldn't notice, she turned her face away.
(Why. It's not like I hate it. It's the same thing he always did, but…)
"…It's not like I hate it or anything."
"Then it's fine."
Kuro didn't move.
There was weight on her lap. Warmth.
Sakura stared at the ceiling for a while. She had no idea what this thump-thump was. She couldn't explain it. They'd been together for five years.
(Well, it's fine…)
She tried to think that. But her heart was still beating a little faster.
From outside the room, the faint sound of the Utsuze River drifted in. The quiet sound of night. May nights were a little chilly, but the blanket was warm.
Kuro's weight was there. On her lap.
Sakura slowly closed her eyes.
The reason for the thump-thump remained a mystery.
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