It's half-past-four in the afternoon and still, Kirika's mind is preoccupied with the little ball of fur she so affectionately called 'Mr. Cat'. She wonders if he's hungry, if he's behaving, if he's grown lonely since no one is home. Kirika wonders if he's still waiting so patiently at the front door, or if he's snuck into her father's office, or if he's managed to fish the two little goldfish out of the fishbowl in the living room.

She hopes not.

"Kirika?" a voice calls, pulling Kirika away from her thoughts and back to the present. Her friend calls her name gently, a look of concern lacing his features, but it's such a strange expression on him.

"Hmm?" Kirika blinks up at the taller boy - her childhood friend. She can remember a time when they were of equal height, and even a time when she had been taller than him and being so proud of it. But once again, he'd outgrown her like he had so many times before. Kirika pouted whenever he about it: she had long since convinced herself that if she ate all her vegetables and drank lots of milk, she'd eventually grow taller - and, of course, 'win'.

False hope, Junmyeon called it.

"Something bothering you?"  

"Not really."

“Liar.”

A sigh rattles her bones. "Maybe."

"What's up?" he asks in a non-prodding kind of way. He's perfected this art of his: making Kirika feel like he's not really listening when he's hanging on her every word. It was the only way to get her to talk about anything she actually cared about, or to admit to anything she actually felt. So he doesn't dare glance at her, and instead finds sudden interest in the blank screen of his phone, and he scuffs his sneakers on the dirty pavement as if that was enough to convince Kirika that he wasn't really listening.

"Well, I found this cat the other day," she starts.

"Like a stray?" he asks, frowning at his phone. It’s too late though, the facade of indifference is thawed, and it won’t be long before the whole disguise melts.

Kirika nods.

"You didn't touch it, did you?"

"What, you think I just left it there in the rain?"

Junmyeon shakes his head, already preparing his lecture. He’d deliver it lat