Masaki [Arashi, Ohba]
[Title] Masaki
[Author] turtle_ai
[Disclaimer] I don't own Arashi, or Johnny's Ent. They do own my heart, however.
[Pairing] Ohno/Aiba
[Rating] G
[Summary] Ohno and a cat named Masaki.
[Notes] Ohba is adorable, That is all I have to say. XD For calerine , who wanted fic and is also writing fic and needs to share more fic 'cause I'm not as patient is her. :D
On the day of Aiba’s death, Ohno finds a cat outside his front door.
“You’re cute,” he says to it, and opens the door wider. The cat scrunches its face up, meows, and allows himself inside to take up residence.
Ohno doesn’t object.
--
Ohno wakes up in the morning, manages to shuffle out of bed and into the kitchen, and sees a cat curled up on his sofa. “Mrrw,” the cat says, and his head rears up at the sound of footsteps. He rolls on its back, much similar to the actions of a dog, and flicks its ears back and forth.
“Oh,” Ohno says, “I should find you something to eat.”
The cat rolls back over, stands up, stretching its legs, and follows Ohno to the kitchen. Ohno goes through his cupboards, finding rice and packets of instant miso soup. Then he walks over to the fridge and pulls out a fillet of fish.
He makes a call to Jun.
“Poach it,” Jun’s voice says. “And then let it cool.”
“Oh, okay,” Ohno says. “Thanks.”
“What kind of cat is it? Is it one of those really furry ones with hair sticking out everywhere?”
“I don’t know. I guess so.” Ohno puts the fish on the hob. “It came in last night.”
“Are you keeping it?”
“It’s a cat,” Ohno says matter-of-factly. “They do what they want, don’t they?” Ohno looks down at the cat. The cat looks back at him and scrunches its face up in what looks like a smile again.
“That’s true.” Jun pauses. “I’ll pick you up in an hour, okay?”
“Okay.”
When the fish is done, Ohno puts it on a plate and flaps a fan at it. “Don’t eat it yet,” he says to the cat, not knowing if it understood or not, and goes to get changed. The cat stares after it with a solemn gaze and lies down, rolls over again.
Ohno picks out a casual shirt Sho had given him for his last birthday, and slips on a pair of trousers that his mother had bought him the other day; it isn’t too cold to wear shorts.
The cat is sitting on a windowsill when Ohno returns. He touches the fish with a finger, decides it’s cool enough, and sets the plate on the floor. The cat helps himself to the food as Ohno fills a small bowl with water and sets it down beside the fish. The cat purrs as he eats. Ohno finds himself smiling.
A while later, he hears Jun’s car pulling up on the drive. Ohno looks down at himself again, pulls on his shirt, and leaves the house.
The cat follows.
Jun steps out of the car. “That’s the cat?” He crouches down and the cat walks over to him, closing his eyes in an affectionate expression as Jun pats its head. “You have Aiba’s expression,” he says softly, and Ohno doesn’t need to guess what Jun is thinking about.
“He followed me out,” Ohno says finally. He picks the cat up gently, goes back into the house, and puts him down.
The cat is beside his feet again before he is able to shut the door.
“Maybe he just wants out,” Jun suggests, shrugging. “Let’s go, we don’t want to be late.”
The cat follows Ohno into Jun’s car and climbs in quietly, legs standing shakily.
Ohno and Jun stare at it.
Then, Jun takes a deep breath, turns around, and studies the animal with curiosity, and Ohno thinks that he can see the gears in Jun’s brain working, slowly.
Finally, Jun smiles. “Let’s go.”
The cat makes its way to the space next to Ohno’s thigh and sits down.
--
Everything brightens when they all see the cat, and suddenly, it doesn’t feel like a funeral anymore. Aiba’s mother smiles through her tears. Nino manages to laugh when the cat climbs onto his shoulders, and almost nothing can calm him down then.
The family stays behind for the cremation and the friends depart, because that is something private for the family. They feel less sadness - Aiba had had the time to do everything he wanted to and enjoy life before the inevitable - but more of emptiness, one that is now replaced by a strange curiosity.
"So." Nino scratches the back of his head. "Let's get a bag to hide Masaki in.” He gestures to the cat he has resting in his arms. “Then we go for yakiniku?"
--
Several hours of service is all that is needed to install a cat-flap on the front door and make the house cat-safe. Jun said cats usually prefer to use the window, but Ohno has decided he isn't going to always leave the window open when Masaki could be caught out in the rain.
Jun also taught him a lot of other things, such as what cats can eat ("cooked eggs are actually okay,") and not eat ("don't give him milk!"). He also reminded Ohno that Masaki will need to see the vet.
Ohno has been putting off that vet visit, in case the vet tells him Masaki is a girl or finds some sort of microchip in Masaki’s neck that says he is actually somebody's pet. But two weeks go by and Masaki is still here, often dozing off under the setting sun while curled up on one end of the sofa, or sitting in front of the window, long tail wrapped around himself and his front paws together, when Ohno comes home from work. Occasionally he may spot Masaki up one of the trees near home, and on those days Masaki doesn't come inside until late. But he always comes back. Eventually, Ohno overcomes his fears and takes Masaki to the vet.
He tells the vet Masaki used to be a stray. The vet checks him over, doesn't find any microchip and says that he is in great condition and has no fleas, rare for a stray. She administers the standard shots and asks if Ohno wants his cat neutered. Horrified by the idea, Ohno temporarily loses his words and doesn't reply straight away.
"Male cats are quite territorial. Obviously there are the hormones, too. Neutering would reduce the mess he might create."
Masaki sits innocently on the vet's metal table, twitching his tail, seemingly calm and unaware what is going on, but Ohno somehow feels a familiar tension in the air. Is it just his imagination?
"The operation is very, very simple." The vet reaches for Masaki. "With an incision-"
Hearing that word, Ohno shudders and feels his blood cool. He picks Masaki up and holds him close. "Uh, no. No. He's fine as he is, thank you."
After the check-up, Ohno calls for a taxi and puts Masaki on his lap. He smiles.
"Hi."
"Meow."
--
"I saw Masaki on the way back home," Sho is saying. There are small sounds of purring coming through the phone. "And took him back with me. Do you want to come and pick him up? And dinner with me?"
It isn't strange that Masaki happens to be there; sometimes, he does follow people home. He gives a strange, confused look when he does arrive back to Ohno’s house. Ohno thinks it’s cute; he agrees to drop by.
Sho’s cooking is much like Ohno’s: somewhat passable, with the occasional decent surprise or disaster. Tonight's dinner is the former and Masaki seems happy with his canned tuna, too.
"I call this a success. Masaki clearly knows my heart."
"Huh?" Ohno doesn't understand.
"You haven't come by for months.”
"Ah. Sorry. I've just been wanting to have some time to myself."
"It's fine. As long as it isn't something I've done." Sho smiles, stands up from his seat and starts to clear the dishes. Ohno helps. "I get like that too, sometimes. I just don't have a cat to brood with."
The cat stands by Sho’s leg and rubs it with his body. Sho puts the dishes down, wipes his hands and crouches down to tickle Masaki on the head. "I want to kidnap you."
Ohno thinks that Sho’s word choice sounds a little like Nino’s there. But he is surprised. "You want to keep him?"
"Cats choose their owners." Sho picks Masaki up and holds him so that Masaki can drape his front arms over a shoulder. "And he's chosen you, I'm pretty certain."
Masaki looks comfortable and happy in his current position.
"That's the thing I don't understand,” Ohno says, creasing a brow.
"What?"
"Why he chose me. He could have easily come here instead."
"It's not that strange, I don’t think. If I were a cat I'd go live with you." Sho stops and his eyes shift. He looks embarrassed about what he just said. "You installed cat-flaps and everything for him, you never forget to feed him...”
"That's after he came. He shouldn't have known that beforehand." Ohno squints.
Sho shrugs and edges past Ohno to leave the kitchen. "It's just one of those inexplicable things, I guess." He turns to the cat flopped on his shoulder. "But I think I'm going to get a cat-flap too, so you can drop by whenever you want."
Ohno smiles and puts a hand in his pocket. He has had something ready since a long time ago. "You're welcome to come and visit whenever you want, too." He pulls out a set of keys, holds them in front of Sho, a plastic keyring dangling from a small chain.
Sho laughs sheepishly and accepts the keys with a smile. "Okay."
Masaki finds the penguin keyring fascinating.
--
Masaki hunts. On weekends, when Ohno stays home to roll his clay around, sometimes he sees Masaki in the garden, chasing something. Then he would run up a tree and jump from branch to branch, elegant and athletic. Every now and then Ohno catches a glimpse of other cats in the neighbourhood Masaki seems to hang out with, one of them a tortoiseshell, which, according to Ohno’s All About Cats book, is definitely a female.
He tells Jun this.
"He's got a lady friend?" The flat tone in Jun’s voice is very obvious. "He's doing better than either of us. Well actually, you don't count. You have Nino."
Ohno looks out to the garden, where Masaki is almost flattened on the ground, staying very still, eyes trained on an unsuspecting bird. Masaki isn't going to hurt the bird; this is more of a game.
"Say, Jun-chan, do you want to go fishing on Saturday?"
--
For the trip, Ohno checks his fishing rod, and, after some thought, buys one of those pet carriers that can be strapped to the car with the seatbelt; Masaki travels well in the car but Ohno feels not giving him the safety protection is irresponsible. Some time ago Jun had already given him a carrier for Masaki that looks like an ordinary shoulder bag, and he packs that, too.
Some people take their dogs out, surely it can't be weird that he takes the cat.
Masaki doesn't seem to have an opinion when Ohno tells him they are going on a trip. But almost everyone likes to be with Jun so there won't be a problem. And the cat loves it when Jun strokes him.
Sitting on the sofa watching a documentary on Antartica animals, Ohno suddenly realises he has never stroked Masaki's fur. He has carried him when necessary, but not stroked him like someone normally would stroke a cat.
He looks at Masaki, who is curled up beside him, half asleep. The cat opens his eyes wide and the ears stand tall when Ohno holds his hand near, stopping mid-air.
"Um." How does one initiate this? "Is it okay if.... may I?"
"Mrrw!"
The cat stands, arches his back and stretches. He pushes himself up to brush his cheek on Ohno's hand, purring.
Masaki's fur is thick and soft and feels lovely to the hand.
--
"You what?"
The journey to the lake takes one and a half hours by car, and then half an hour on foot. They take just their fishing kits and let Masaki walk on his own. Masaki isn't a dog that would respond to the owner calling him back, but somehow Ohno knows it's going to be all right.
"It didn't feel right to just touch him without asking. Even if he's a cat."
Jun stares at Ohno disbelievingly, but lets out a chuckle and shakes his head after a while. "That's definitely something you'd do, yes," he says. "Actually..." he smiles, "you're right. People shouldn't assume things; Masaki doesn't necessarily have to enjoy being touched just because he's a cat. He deserves respect, too, and should be given a choice."
Ohno frowns a little. "Is what I said that complicated?”
"I think," Jun ignores the statement, "this is one of your good traits. You respect. You never assume and you don't take anything for granted."
Ohno looks away shyly and then announces they are almost at the lake; the ocean is too far, and Ohno is afraid that Masaki would get lost.
They put their things down, set up the fishing rods and keep them in place with small piles of stones. Masaki shows up a while later looking a bit dusty and then wanders off again as though he only came to confirm their location.
The surface of the lake is very still; it's a windless day. The lines from the rods are barely moving, and no leaves falling from the evergreen they're sitting under. Everything is still. Ohno feels calmness washing over him, something Aiba liked to call "inner peace", despite his flamboyancy.
"Late last year, I was talking with Aiba," Ohno says, and Jun shifts his gaze from the water to his companion, "about a lot of things, but mostly about respect. And choice. It was a serious conversation,” Ohno says, pausing to pout and think before continuing.
"I don't assume, but he made so much fun of me because of the things I thought and what I assumed must be true. He told me if I don't know something with complete certainty, then I should ask questions. And if something has half a chance of success, then it's worth going for it."
"Aiba." Jun smiles wisfully, shaking his head.
Words are getting more difficult. Ohno thinks about Aiba’s advice, and his gentle laughter, and his understanding smile when Ohno said he didn't feel he was ready yet. Aiba told him some things couldn't be rushed; patience brought the maturity and insight needed for big decisions.
Ohno tries to remember the reassurance that being with Aiba always brought, but feels something brush against his knee instead.
"Meow." The cat looks up at Ohno for a moment, and then finds a comfortable place-Ohno's
folded jacket-to lie down on, purring to himself.
At this moment, Ohno feels that he has won the world.
--
This feeling strengthens when one day, he sees Masaki asleep, curled up beside a pillow, breathing in and out gently.
--
At work, over plastic bento boxes and during a conversation that evolves from the TV program to house pets, Ohno mentions that he has a cat.
"Really? Last time, you did say you liked cats, but I didn’t think you’d actually go out and get one."
Ohno doesn't answer.
"Have you heard the saying that people choose dogs, but cats choose people?"
Ohno thinks about Aiba, and knows the saying is true.
[Author] turtle_ai
[Disclaimer] I don't own Arashi, or Johnny's Ent. They do own my heart, however.
[Pairing] Ohno/Aiba
[Rating] G
[Summary] Ohno and a cat named Masaki.
[Notes] Ohba is adorable, That is all I have to say. XD For calerine , who wanted fic and is also writing fic and needs to share more fic 'cause I'm not as patient is her. :D
On the day of Aiba’s death, Ohno finds a cat outside his front door.
“You’re cute,” he says to it, and opens the door wider. The cat scrunches its face up, meows, and allows himself inside to take up residence.
Ohno doesn’t object.
--
Ohno wakes up in the morning, manages to shuffle out of bed and into the kitchen, and sees a cat curled up on his sofa. “Mrrw,” the cat says, and his head rears up at the sound of footsteps. He rolls on its back, much similar to the actions of a dog, and flicks its ears back and forth.
“Oh,” Ohno says, “I should find you something to eat.”
The cat rolls back over, stands up, stretching its legs, and follows Ohno to the kitchen. Ohno goes through his cupboards, finding rice and packets of instant miso soup. Then he walks over to the fridge and pulls out a fillet of fish.
He makes a call to Jun.
“Poach it,” Jun’s voice says. “And then let it cool.”
“Oh, okay,” Ohno says. “Thanks.”
“What kind of cat is it? Is it one of those really furry ones with hair sticking out everywhere?”
“I don’t know. I guess so.” Ohno puts the fish on the hob. “It came in last night.”
“Are you keeping it?”
“It’s a cat,” Ohno says matter-of-factly. “They do what they want, don’t they?” Ohno looks down at the cat. The cat looks back at him and scrunches its face up in what looks like a smile again.
“That’s true.” Jun pauses. “I’ll pick you up in an hour, okay?”
“Okay.”
When the fish is done, Ohno puts it on a plate and flaps a fan at it. “Don’t eat it yet,” he says to the cat, not knowing if it understood or not, and goes to get changed. The cat stares after it with a solemn gaze and lies down, rolls over again.
Ohno picks out a casual shirt Sho had given him for his last birthday, and slips on a pair of trousers that his mother had bought him the other day; it isn’t too cold to wear shorts.
The cat is sitting on a windowsill when Ohno returns. He touches the fish with a finger, decides it’s cool enough, and sets the plate on the floor. The cat helps himself to the food as Ohno fills a small bowl with water and sets it down beside the fish. The cat purrs as he eats. Ohno finds himself smiling.
A while later, he hears Jun’s car pulling up on the drive. Ohno looks down at himself again, pulls on his shirt, and leaves the house.
The cat follows.
Jun steps out of the car. “That’s the cat?” He crouches down and the cat walks over to him, closing his eyes in an affectionate expression as Jun pats its head. “You have Aiba’s expression,” he says softly, and Ohno doesn’t need to guess what Jun is thinking about.
“He followed me out,” Ohno says finally. He picks the cat up gently, goes back into the house, and puts him down.
The cat is beside his feet again before he is able to shut the door.
“Maybe he just wants out,” Jun suggests, shrugging. “Let’s go, we don’t want to be late.”
The cat follows Ohno into Jun’s car and climbs in quietly, legs standing shakily.
Ohno and Jun stare at it.
Then, Jun takes a deep breath, turns around, and studies the animal with curiosity, and Ohno thinks that he can see the gears in Jun’s brain working, slowly.
Finally, Jun smiles. “Let’s go.”
The cat makes its way to the space next to Ohno’s thigh and sits down.
--
Everything brightens when they all see the cat, and suddenly, it doesn’t feel like a funeral anymore. Aiba’s mother smiles through her tears. Nino manages to laugh when the cat climbs onto his shoulders, and almost nothing can calm him down then.
The family stays behind for the cremation and the friends depart, because that is something private for the family. They feel less sadness - Aiba had had the time to do everything he wanted to and enjoy life before the inevitable - but more of emptiness, one that is now replaced by a strange curiosity.
"So." Nino scratches the back of his head. "Let's get a bag to hide Masaki in.” He gestures to the cat he has resting in his arms. “Then we go for yakiniku?"
--
Several hours of service is all that is needed to install a cat-flap on the front door and make the house cat-safe. Jun said cats usually prefer to use the window, but Ohno has decided he isn't going to always leave the window open when Masaki could be caught out in the rain.
Jun also taught him a lot of other things, such as what cats can eat ("cooked eggs are actually okay,") and not eat ("don't give him milk!"). He also reminded Ohno that Masaki will need to see the vet.
Ohno has been putting off that vet visit, in case the vet tells him Masaki is a girl or finds some sort of microchip in Masaki’s neck that says he is actually somebody's pet. But two weeks go by and Masaki is still here, often dozing off under the setting sun while curled up on one end of the sofa, or sitting in front of the window, long tail wrapped around himself and his front paws together, when Ohno comes home from work. Occasionally he may spot Masaki up one of the trees near home, and on those days Masaki doesn't come inside until late. But he always comes back. Eventually, Ohno overcomes his fears and takes Masaki to the vet.
He tells the vet Masaki used to be a stray. The vet checks him over, doesn't find any microchip and says that he is in great condition and has no fleas, rare for a stray. She administers the standard shots and asks if Ohno wants his cat neutered. Horrified by the idea, Ohno temporarily loses his words and doesn't reply straight away.
"Male cats are quite territorial. Obviously there are the hormones, too. Neutering would reduce the mess he might create."
Masaki sits innocently on the vet's metal table, twitching his tail, seemingly calm and unaware what is going on, but Ohno somehow feels a familiar tension in the air. Is it just his imagination?
"The operation is very, very simple." The vet reaches for Masaki. "With an incision-"
Hearing that word, Ohno shudders and feels his blood cool. He picks Masaki up and holds him close. "Uh, no. No. He's fine as he is, thank you."
After the check-up, Ohno calls for a taxi and puts Masaki on his lap. He smiles.
"Hi."
"Meow."
--
"I saw Masaki on the way back home," Sho is saying. There are small sounds of purring coming through the phone. "And took him back with me. Do you want to come and pick him up? And dinner with me?"
It isn't strange that Masaki happens to be there; sometimes, he does follow people home. He gives a strange, confused look when he does arrive back to Ohno’s house. Ohno thinks it’s cute; he agrees to drop by.
Sho’s cooking is much like Ohno’s: somewhat passable, with the occasional decent surprise or disaster. Tonight's dinner is the former and Masaki seems happy with his canned tuna, too.
"I call this a success. Masaki clearly knows my heart."
"Huh?" Ohno doesn't understand.
"You haven't come by for months.”
"Ah. Sorry. I've just been wanting to have some time to myself."
"It's fine. As long as it isn't something I've done." Sho smiles, stands up from his seat and starts to clear the dishes. Ohno helps. "I get like that too, sometimes. I just don't have a cat to brood with."
The cat stands by Sho’s leg and rubs it with his body. Sho puts the dishes down, wipes his hands and crouches down to tickle Masaki on the head. "I want to kidnap you."
Ohno thinks that Sho’s word choice sounds a little like Nino’s there. But he is surprised. "You want to keep him?"
"Cats choose their owners." Sho picks Masaki up and holds him so that Masaki can drape his front arms over a shoulder. "And he's chosen you, I'm pretty certain."
Masaki looks comfortable and happy in his current position.
"That's the thing I don't understand,” Ohno says, creasing a brow.
"What?"
"Why he chose me. He could have easily come here instead."
"It's not that strange, I don’t think. If I were a cat I'd go live with you." Sho stops and his eyes shift. He looks embarrassed about what he just said. "You installed cat-flaps and everything for him, you never forget to feed him...”
"That's after he came. He shouldn't have known that beforehand." Ohno squints.
Sho shrugs and edges past Ohno to leave the kitchen. "It's just one of those inexplicable things, I guess." He turns to the cat flopped on his shoulder. "But I think I'm going to get a cat-flap too, so you can drop by whenever you want."
Ohno smiles and puts a hand in his pocket. He has had something ready since a long time ago. "You're welcome to come and visit whenever you want, too." He pulls out a set of keys, holds them in front of Sho, a plastic keyring dangling from a small chain.
Sho laughs sheepishly and accepts the keys with a smile. "Okay."
Masaki finds the penguin keyring fascinating.
--
Masaki hunts. On weekends, when Ohno stays home to roll his clay around, sometimes he sees Masaki in the garden, chasing something. Then he would run up a tree and jump from branch to branch, elegant and athletic. Every now and then Ohno catches a glimpse of other cats in the neighbourhood Masaki seems to hang out with, one of them a tortoiseshell, which, according to Ohno’s All About Cats book, is definitely a female.
He tells Jun this.
"He's got a lady friend?" The flat tone in Jun’s voice is very obvious. "He's doing better than either of us. Well actually, you don't count. You have Nino."
Ohno looks out to the garden, where Masaki is almost flattened on the ground, staying very still, eyes trained on an unsuspecting bird. Masaki isn't going to hurt the bird; this is more of a game.
"Say, Jun-chan, do you want to go fishing on Saturday?"
--
For the trip, Ohno checks his fishing rod, and, after some thought, buys one of those pet carriers that can be strapped to the car with the seatbelt; Masaki travels well in the car but Ohno feels not giving him the safety protection is irresponsible. Some time ago Jun had already given him a carrier for Masaki that looks like an ordinary shoulder bag, and he packs that, too.
Some people take their dogs out, surely it can't be weird that he takes the cat.
Masaki doesn't seem to have an opinion when Ohno tells him they are going on a trip. But almost everyone likes to be with Jun so there won't be a problem. And the cat loves it when Jun strokes him.
Sitting on the sofa watching a documentary on Antartica animals, Ohno suddenly realises he has never stroked Masaki's fur. He has carried him when necessary, but not stroked him like someone normally would stroke a cat.
He looks at Masaki, who is curled up beside him, half asleep. The cat opens his eyes wide and the ears stand tall when Ohno holds his hand near, stopping mid-air.
"Um." How does one initiate this? "Is it okay if.... may I?"
"Mrrw!"
The cat stands, arches his back and stretches. He pushes himself up to brush his cheek on Ohno's hand, purring.
Masaki's fur is thick and soft and feels lovely to the hand.
--
"You what?"
The journey to the lake takes one and a half hours by car, and then half an hour on foot. They take just their fishing kits and let Masaki walk on his own. Masaki isn't a dog that would respond to the owner calling him back, but somehow Ohno knows it's going to be all right.
"It didn't feel right to just touch him without asking. Even if he's a cat."
Jun stares at Ohno disbelievingly, but lets out a chuckle and shakes his head after a while. "That's definitely something you'd do, yes," he says. "Actually..." he smiles, "you're right. People shouldn't assume things; Masaki doesn't necessarily have to enjoy being touched just because he's a cat. He deserves respect, too, and should be given a choice."
Ohno frowns a little. "Is what I said that complicated?”
"I think," Jun ignores the statement, "this is one of your good traits. You respect. You never assume and you don't take anything for granted."
Ohno looks away shyly and then announces they are almost at the lake; the ocean is too far, and Ohno is afraid that Masaki would get lost.
They put their things down, set up the fishing rods and keep them in place with small piles of stones. Masaki shows up a while later looking a bit dusty and then wanders off again as though he only came to confirm their location.
The surface of the lake is very still; it's a windless day. The lines from the rods are barely moving, and no leaves falling from the evergreen they're sitting under. Everything is still. Ohno feels calmness washing over him, something Aiba liked to call "inner peace", despite his flamboyancy.
"Late last year, I was talking with Aiba," Ohno says, and Jun shifts his gaze from the water to his companion, "about a lot of things, but mostly about respect. And choice. It was a serious conversation,” Ohno says, pausing to pout and think before continuing.
"I don't assume, but he made so much fun of me because of the things I thought and what I assumed must be true. He told me if I don't know something with complete certainty, then I should ask questions. And if something has half a chance of success, then it's worth going for it."
"Aiba." Jun smiles wisfully, shaking his head.
Words are getting more difficult. Ohno thinks about Aiba’s advice, and his gentle laughter, and his understanding smile when Ohno said he didn't feel he was ready yet. Aiba told him some things couldn't be rushed; patience brought the maturity and insight needed for big decisions.
Ohno tries to remember the reassurance that being with Aiba always brought, but feels something brush against his knee instead.
"Meow." The cat looks up at Ohno for a moment, and then finds a comfortable place-Ohno's
folded jacket-to lie down on, purring to himself.
At this moment, Ohno feels that he has won the world.
--
This feeling strengthens when one day, he sees Masaki asleep, curled up beside a pillow, breathing in and out gently.
--
At work, over plastic bento boxes and during a conversation that evolves from the TV program to house pets, Ohno mentions that he has a cat.
"Really? Last time, you did say you liked cats, but I didn’t think you’d actually go out and get one."
Ohno doesn't answer.
"Have you heard the saying that people choose dogs, but cats choose people?"
Ohno thinks about Aiba, and knows the saying is true.