Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat

The car carrying us started to move slowly and gradually accelerated.
The scenery around us changed in the blink of an eye, and the familiar scenery of the town changed color into a different world.

Mashiro, who was sitting by the window, was looking out the window with shining eyes.

(I never thought I’d be on a train.)

I thought as I looked at her profile. It’s not uncommon for people to take the train when they go out.
What made me feel this way was the fact that I’m going out with Mashiro.

So far, the only times I’ve gone out with Mashiro have been to the local park, the supermarket, or a shopping mall just a few blocks away.
All of them were within walking distance of each other, no matter how far away they were.
So it was no mistake that this was Mashiro’s first trip out of town, and of course, it would be her first time on a train.

To be honest, I was quite anxious, but as expected of Mashiro, she just looked curious and didn’t show any signs of anxiety.

“Is this your first time on a train, girlfriend?”
“Ah, yes. I’ve seen them from the outside, but this is my first time on one.”
“Heh heh heh, I got the first time from her.”

Mashiro and Ayano, and I and Sakakibara were seated facing each other, basically talking to each other face to face.
There’s nothing to say about Sakakibara and me, but to be honest, Sakakibara’s words don’t really enter my head because I’m so focused on whether Mashiro was speaking well with Ayano-san.

When they first met, Mashiro seemed confused by Ayano’s closeness to her, but surprisingly, they were able to get along.
I’ve heard that cats can be shy, but maybe it’s because they’re both women, but she didn’t seem to need to worry that much.

“Hey, Satou.”
“Huh. Oh, what is it?”

When I turned around, I found Sakakibara staring at me with a big sigh in his eyes.

“It’s okay to be melancholy about your girlfriend, but this is a double date, remember?”
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

It seemed that I was paying too much attention to Mashiro. The best friend sitting in front of me seemed to be very upset.
As Sakakibara said, today’s situation was different from the usual one where I was alone with Mashiro. It was the other side that invited me to the party, so it would be wrong to leave Mashiro alone.

“…Anyway, Sato.”
“Mmm?”

Sakakibara made a small beckoning gesture and asked to lend an ear.
When I obeyed him and put my ear to his ear, he quietly whispered in my ear so that the other two could not hear.

“I wondered the last time I saw her, how old is she?”
“…You mean age?”
“What else is there to know about…? Well, she looks very young, so I was curious.”
“Ah…”

Another question that was difficult to answer flew at me. However, if I were in Sakakibara’s position, I would probably have asked that first too.
First of all, I don’t know Mashiro’s age either. But Mashiro’s age, as I said, looked like a high school student.

In fact, Mashiro was a cat, and legally speaking, it was safe to have a pure love affair with a high school student.
But it can’t be helped that it was not normal from a general point of view. And Sakakibara has no ill intentions at all, he’s simply worried about me.

“…Can you wait a little longer about that too?”
“I see…yeah, okay.”

I was left with a nagging feeling in my heart, but since I couldn’t answer in any way, I had no choice but to give the same answer as before.
Sakakibara must have been thinking about it when he saw how I was doing because he backed off with the same two words as before.

“Girlfriend, let’s exchange contact information!”
“Y-Yes!”

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Unlike the men, who were a little more serious, the women by the window were very excited.
Mashiro responded well to Ayano’s aggressive approach, and from a third party’s point of view, they already looked like good friends.
For Mashiro, who had only been able to talk to me before, being around Ayano-san might be a great stimulus.

Maybe I don’t need to worry too much about this. Thinking that I turned my gaze back…

At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Ayano’s expression. The smile that had been on her face earlier seemed to disappear for a moment.
It was as if she had realized something, or was confused, or something indescribable.
But when she turned her gaze to Mashiro again, she had already returned to his usual carefree smile and was once again engaged in conversation with Mashiro.

…No, maybe I care about Mashiro too much, maybe I care a little too much.
I trust Ayano as much as I trust Sakakibara. With the way she looked, there’s no way Mashiro will be hurt in any way.

“Where is this train headed?”
“It’s in the next prefecture. There’s a big outlet mall there.”
“An outlet…?”
“Yes! Well, don’t worry, it’s not much different from the shopping mall I mentioned before.”

I hadn’t been told anything about today’s destination either, so when I heard the location from Ayano, I couldn’t help but look at Sakakibara’s face.

“Originally, Ayano wanted to go. I thought it would be a good opportunity, so I invited you two.”
“I didn’t know that. …I know it’s a little late for that, but are we interrupting anything?”
“I told you that we were the ones who invited you. The main thing today is this.”

As Sakakibara said this, he looked at Mashiro and me alternately.
Mashiro listened to Ayano’s explanation of the outlet, nodding repeatedly with interest.

Today would be an important day for Mashiro in many ways.
Not only would she be revealing her true identity to Sakakibara and Ayano-san, but it would also be her first trip outside of the prefecture.

I’ve always tried to give her as much freedom as possible, but even so, I’ve always considered going outside to be a big barrier.
Mashiro was not the type to express her needs, but she always seemed to be in a good mood on the days she went out.
Even though I had thought negatively about it at first, I was sure that this opportunity would be a good stimulus for Mashiro.

“Thank you again for inviting us out today.”
“It’s my pleasure. Ayano seems to be happy too.”

As the train swayed by, the two girls laughed at each other as they sat by the window, laughing as well.