Ayumu exhaled as soon as their two friends were out of sight. He didn’t like the idea of feeling tense around his friends all the time so he would need to find a way to make peace with the situation, if only until the other two found out about the details.

...He was doing it again. Perhaps it was wishful thinking- or perhaps it was catastrophizing? He was thinking that there would come a situation where they would just become involved without his input, or there would arise a situation where he would have no choice but to involve them.

Regardless, he still wanted to believe--or rather, delude himself--into thinking that the involvement of his friends in his problems was something out of his hands, that he could absolve himself of all, or most, of the responsibility.

In short- he was being a coward, like always. He didn’t want to take responsibility. He didn’t want to feel guilt. He didn’t want to admit his own weakness and selfishness. No matter how much his friends claimed that he was some “Giver”, the fact of the matter was that he took so much but offered only token, meaningless things in return.

He wanted to-

No, he needed to decide for himself whether he truly wanted to let Haru and Yuki know about everything. If he did, he needed to accept that their safety was his responsibility from then on. Just as Masaru’s safety was his responsibility now.

Ayumu contemplated these things, not paying attention to the conversation that had started between Tomos and Masaru. He vaguely registered Tomos telling him that he was going to give Masaru something…?

As he started to pull himself out of his head, he began to notice the eyes that were staring from dark corners. He only had seconds to register them before they zoomed past them, but that was enough to make him deeply uncomfortable.

He hated feeling like he was being watched by a crowd. It was as though the weight of the gaze was slowly crushing him. The feeling that he would be judged and ridiculed for every slight deviation from “normalcy” was asphyxiating.

He needed to get used to it. He would not cage himself inside his home anymore. He was done living like that.

Ayumu shook his head and took a deep breath; his fingers clutched onto the side of the metallic carrier with enough force for it to be painful, but the pain grounded him and helped to steel him.

Now that he focused, he could notice vague outlines of people fading in and out of reality on the road. Ayumu didn’t know whether it made steering the bike harder for Masaru, but it was startling when a semi-transparent figure suddenly blinked into and then out of reality right beside them where there wasn’t anyone there previously.

Ayumu noticed that the outlines of people wore rather anachronistic clothing, with the most vague and indistinct of them wearing seemingly the oldest styles of clothes. But they didn’t seem like ghosts… Well, they didn’t resemble his conception of ghosts, at least.

Ayumu noted the surroundings and realized that they had reached the slope again. He got off the bike before Masaru could ask and took half of the bags hanging on the handlebars, despite Masaru protesting the latter.

Ayumu ignored him. He wasn’t going to let him do all the work.

Masaru simply sighed, but didn’t comment further about the groceries. He did, however, show him a new accessory that Ayumu hadn’t noticed at first.

“I hope it doesn’t look too silly…” Masaru said sheepishly as he showed Ayumu a small koban hanging like a pendant around his neck on a thick, black string.

Ayumu’s eyes widened, “Where did you get that?”, and Masaru looked just as confused as Ayumu felt.

“Didn’t you hear me and Tomos talking about it?” Masaru asked incredulously, to which Ayumu could only rub the back of his head sheepishly with one hand.

“Sorry, I was spacing out. Kinda.” Ayumu replied to an exasperated Masaru, who shook his head.

“Well, better spacing out than passing out, I guess.” Masaru said in a lighthearted tone, to which Ayumu booed in response.

“Lame!” Ayumu said, though he still grinned in amusement, “Does that even count as wordplay?”

“I’m sorry, but at least I try.” Masaru said, feigning offense.

“Saru, I grinned. Is that not enough?” Ayumu asked, poking him with an elbow, and Masaru returned it with about the same force.

“Bah, whatever. Back on topic.” Masaru said, shaking his head, “Tomos gave it to me. Apparently it’s supposed to keep me safe.”

“Oh, a good luck charm?” Ayumu asked, the question not directed towards anyone in particular.

“Something of the sort, perhaps.” Tomos’ voice said.

“Well, it actually looks pretty good on you.” Ayumu complimented; Masaru absently fiddled around with the oval-shaped golden coin with his fingers and nodded in acknowledgement, still seemingly unsure about what to think.

“I’m not the accessory type, to be honest.” He said, a thoughtful smile on his face, “I did want to get a dog tag necklace though, they look pretty cool. I guess this is kinda close to that?”

Ayumu hummed in affirmation. It was a rather odd choice as far as accessories go, but it didn’t look bad at all, in his opinion.

“Well, you do not need to worry yourself about appearances, lad.” Tomos said, a faint tone of amusement evident in his voice, “It is not a ‘real’ koban, so those without the Senses can neither see nor touch it.”

“Oh…” Masaru breathed, his expression seemed to indicate he was relieved, but his shoulders did slump slightly.

Ayumu patted his shoulder in consolation. Maybe Ayumu had an idea for what to give his friend for his birthday now…

“So, what does it actually do? You weren’t exactly candid with the details.” Masaru said, returning to his usual demeanor.

“My apologies, but it wasn’t something I could show you while we were on the bone-shaker.” Tomos said, “Allow me to call the guardian I have assigned to you.”

Ayumu was about to ask one of the many questions that came to him, but he was cut off by a dignified and commanding 'meow' from Tomos.

On queue, the golden coin began to glow with a pale light and Masaru cupped his hand beneath it almost instinctively when it began to float a few centimeters in front of his chest.

In an instant the glowing coin became a glowing ball of fluff which lightly descended on Masaru’s outstretched palm.

A very… embarrassing sound involuntarily escaped Ayumu’s throat at the sight of the creature now sitting on his friend’s palm.

It was an incredibly fluffy, criminally adorable kitten. Primarily white, the calico kitten had black and blonde spots on its body- most prominently around one of its eyes, which were a lovely shade of greenish-gray.

Most precious of all, it had a tiny necklace around its little neck with a koban for a locket which was smaller than the one it had manifested out of, but still looked comically oversized compared to the kitten’s body.

It fluttered its little eyelids, as though it had just awoken from a nice nap, and let out a small, happy “Mrrpt!” as it inspected Masaru with its large eyes, making Ayumu’s heart melt into a puddle while simultaneously filling it with an inferno-like jealousy.

Why did Masaru get the adorable kitten while he’s stuck with a pompous, unreliable cat?! Tomos could have the smoothest, lowest, most handsome-sounding voice and the most powerful abilities in the world, but he would still trade him for the seemingly helpless ball of fluff in a heartbeat, given the choice.

“That kitten is a rather young Maneki Neko. Even though she’s still a youngling, she consented to becoming a guardian spirit for the boy at my request and- are you two even listening to me?!” Tomos attempted to explain but realized that the two boys were too busy petting and cooing over the kitten to even acknowledge that he was speaking.

“What are you going to call her, Masaru?” Ayumu asked, masking the immense amount of jealousy he felt towards his friend at the moment while he gently stroked one of the kitten’s ears.

“Ayumu, I am sure that you heard what I said just now, considering you called the Maneki-Neko a ‘sh-”

“Oh, gosh, I honestly don’t know.” Masaru said, grinning like an idiot while he let her play with one of his fingers. “Well, I’ve always liked the name ‘Kei’, so maybe her name can be ‘Keiko’- I can call her ‘Kei-chan’, then.”

“That’s all well and good, she was a nameless spirit after all even though-”

“Ohhh, that’s a great name. What do you think of your new name, Kei-chan?” Ayumu cooed to the kitten. He scratched its chin while she snuggled in Masaru’s palm happily. Kei gave a happy squeak in reply.

“She would make do with just about any name, for us Others-”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Masaru said, his tone not unlike a doting parent. “I’m so glad mom and dad can’t see her... I’ve always wanted a dog, but honestly Kei-chan will do. Actually, no, I don’t want you to think that I’m just ‘making do’, Kei-chan. You’re awesome and I promise I’ll keep good care of you.”

“Masaru! She is the one who will be taking care of you! She is your guardi-”

“Ma-sa-ru, look! She has a wispy little bobtail! It’s curly like a corkscrew! So cute!” Ayumu exclaimed, his sentences and tone might as well be saying that he was losing his grip on speech.

“I will have you know, that bobtail is a result of an absolutely barbaric-”

“Oh my gosh I didn’t even notice! Isn’t she just-”

“Enough of this tomfoolery!” Tomos roared loud enough to make both of the boys jump. Without fanfare, Kei stood in attention and began to glow with golden light once more before returning to her original koban form resting against Masaru’s chest.

“Hey, there’s no need to yell like that.” Ayumu said ruefully, crossing his arms under his chest as both of the boys began walking again, “You could have just said what you wanted normally, not like we weren’t listen-”

“Ayumu, if you dare finish that sentence I will curse your room so that any air conditioner or air cooler that enters it irreparably breaks down without exception.” Tomos hissed, and Ayumu swallowed all his words in an instant. He could tell by the tone that the cat was not joking.

“Sorry.” Ayumu said in a small voice, and Masaru apologized, a giddy smile still on his face.

Tomos sighed in response, “Sometimes I wish I too were a youngling, if only to feel self-justified in being vengeful and petty.” Tomos sighed, “Apology accepted. In the future, please refrain from going into a heedless frenzy over such things.”

...Ayumu doubted that they could keep that promise, but he nodded nonetheless, Masaru following his lead rather sheepishly.