“Hm?”

Liao Luo turned and glanced toward the street corner.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but all day long he’d had the feeling someone was following him. Whenever he looked back, though, there was never anyone there.

Aileen gave him a mildly reproachful look and patted him lightly on the back.

“Stop moving around! Honestly, why can’t I take a person to the movies? These rules are so weird. Do people really have to pee and poop wherever they want? Even if you peed on the seat, couldn’t they just wipe it clean?”

Liao Luo could only sigh.

“I didn’t realize people in your world just relieved themselves wherever they felt like it. But seriously, bringing a pet into a movie theater really isn’t appropriate!”

“Right? Right?” Aileen said. “You get it too, don’t you? I knew you’d feel the same way! Fellow cat owners, you know what I mean? I met such a trash cat today…”

Liao Luo sighed.

Who said I felt the same way as you?!

No decent person would ever bring a pet into a movie theater.

Even though he was a hundred percent sure he wouldn’t pee in one.

“Hm?!”

Liao Luo spun around again.

There was still nothing to see, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching his back.

Aileen gave him a slightly reproachful look and patted him on the back.

“Stop moving around! I know you’re upset, but if they won’t let her in, there’s nothing we can do, right? Let’s go get some fried chicken. Two drumsticks—one for you and one for me…”

Liao Luo thought, Well, that’s something. She’s splitting the food right down the middle with her pet.

They made their way to the fried chicken shop. Liao Luo turned to look at the employee, who was crisp and efficient, wearing a tight pair of overalls. Their middle-parted hair was neatly groomed and tucked under a cap so it wouldn’t fall into the food.

“You’d never guess, right?” Aileen whispered. “Most fried chicken shop employees are chicken-people!”

Liao Luo was stunned.

“Isn’t it kind of weird to have a chicken buy fried chicken? Isn’t that a little messed up?”

Aileen said, “Beastfolk and animals aren’t the same species. No matter what, an animal is just an animal. It can’t turn into a beastperson. So even if a chicken-person eats fried chicken, they don’t have to feel bad about it. It’s not cannibalism! But I’m not getting a cat. One of me is enough.”

It sounded pretty scientific, but Liao Luo still couldn’t help feeling that something was off.

From the outside, he couldn’t see how the employee looked like a chicken. They didn’t even have a comb.

They quickly picked out a whole chicken to tear apart, two drumsticks, and two boxes of wingettes.

Liao Luo even took the time to compare the portions.

At this rate, she was sure to put on weight after eating both boxes of wingettes.

“But why am I worrying about whether a catgirl will get fat? I mean, the fact that catgirls exist at all is already bizarre, isn’t it?”

As they bagged up the food, Liao Luo glanced at the glass display window. Then he spotted a familiar-looking figure leaning against the street corner behind them, staring at her phone.

“Isn’t that… the rabbit-girl who was sketching downstairs?”

Liao Luo remembered those big ears.

Could she have been following them all day? No, surely not.

He quickly dismissed the baseless thought.

Ha! As if! A rabbit following a cat? That was ridiculous.

Besides, Aileen didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d offend anyone. Why would a rabbit follow her for no reason?

Sure enough, when they finished shopping and headed back, the other girl didn’t seem to follow them. She put her phone away, then brazenly got on the same bus.

—Which was perfectly normal, of course. They all lived on the university campus, after all.

Anyway, Liao Luo didn’t think there was anything strange about it.

The bus driver, though—a hawk-person who looked downright intimidating—turned around and pointed at the sign by the door.

“No pets allowed on the bus.”

Aileen shook her head. “No, he’s not a pet. I don’t even spoil him.”

The hawk-person driver rolled his eyes. “Spoiled or not, it makes no difference. No people on the bus!”

Aileen said, “He’s really well-behaved.”

The hawk-person driver stood his ground. “Still no. No people on the bus.”

Aileen said, “But I rode the bus this morning?”

The driver said, “That was because I wasn’t the one driving. Anyway, no people on the bus.”

Aileen said, “But he’s so cute.”

The driver kept a straight face. “Cute or not, the answer’s no.”

Actually, Liao Luo agreed with the driver.

After all, bringing a pet on the bus was pretty inconsiderate.

But…

He’d been out all day. He was tired too!

Sure, she’d been carrying him the whole time, but he was still tired!

Liao Luo turned to look at the driver.

The driver: …

“Fine.” The driver put on a pair of sunglasses, his face still stern. “Hold him, and don’t take up any other seats! I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

In the end, the driver backed down on his own, though he still sounded pretty tough about it.

Liao Luo couldn’t help touching his own face.

No, come on. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

Was he some kind of beastfolk superweapon—especially cute in their eyes?

Liao Luo looked up at Aileen.

Sure enough, Aileen was delighted. She hugged him and kissed him again and again.

Liao Luo sighed, thinking that it seemed he’d been right after all.

It was like how some cats might be seen as total couch potatoes by their own kind, but as adorable chubby orange cats by humans.

Of course, it wasn’t that Mr. Liao thought he was ugly. He just hadn’t expected beastfolk to find him so appealing.

Aileen sat with him in her arms. He could clearly feel the other passengers looking their way, but since he already belonged to someone, they didn’t quite know how to approach her.

Liao Luo looked across the aisle.

The rabbit-girl from earlier was sitting across from them.

There weren’t many seats on the bus. The only other empty one was beside a bear-person who looked huge, and Aileen obviously didn’t want to sit there. That was why they were here, across from a rabbit-girl.

The rabbit-girl looked their way. Her ruby-red eyes were clearly filled with curiosity.

“Auntie…”

Her voice was sweet and soft.

Aileen put on a stern face. “Call me ‘Miss.’”

“Okay,” the rabbit-girl said. “Auntie, can I touch you?”

Aileen said, “Call me ‘Miss’!!”

Liao Luo felt like laughing.

Fortunately, he managed to hold it in.

The rabbit-girl smiled sweetly. “Miss, can I touch the human?”

Only then did Aileen relax a little. She nodded, somewhat bashfully.

“All right, but just once.”

Liao Luo looked at Aileen.

She hadn’t even asked what he thought!

But whatever. At least this was a rabbit-girl he’d met before.

Even if Liao Luo didn’t know her name.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he couldn’t help thinking she’d called Aileen “Auntie” on purpose.

The smiling rabbit-girl, Nan Yue, leaned over and patted Liao Luo’s hair.

Liao Luo thought her little hand was cold. Maybe it was because she was dressed a bit lightly and had been out for a long time.

“Humans are so nice. I wish I had one too.” She made the wistful remark without any particular reason.

After chatting with Aileen for a while, Nan Yue learned that Aileen was studying at Lincheng University. She didn’t live in the dorms, though; she lived in a residential building converted from the old staff dormitories.

Before long, they reached Nan Yue’s stop. She smiled sweetly and waved, her red eyes blinking again and again. “This is my stop. Bye, Miss!”

Aileen waved back casually.

Liao Luo studied the rabbit-girl’s back, then looked at Aileen.

So they’d just been pumped for information by a high schooler.

Thinking about it, Aileen had told her so much about herself, yet by the end she still didn’t even know the other girl’s name.

“Come on. How could a high school girl have that many schemes?”

For now, Liao Luo decided he was probably overthinking it.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he no longer felt like anyone was watching him.