I Don't Think I Regret it

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Ai Ohno was new to a neighborhood with few kids her age, none she had ever seen, but the elderly neighbors assured her they existed. It was summer break, an awkward time to be moving, but Ai's mother had recently gotten reassigned to the Tokyo branch of her company. She spent the first couple days organizing the house with her mother and familiarizing herself with the surrounding area. Her mother started work almost immediately so Ai was alone in the house most of the time. Life became dull and boring almost instantly, the thrill of being somewhere new faded.

One afternoon as she walked back from the mini-mart with a milk flavored popsicle and a meat bun in hand; she ran into a stray cat along the wall of the school. It was late in the afternoon and her mother wouldn't be home until long after sunset. So Ai was in no hurry to get home.

The black cat was lounging on a wall in the sun. It peeped an eye open to look at her and it's collar jingled. 'I suppose it isn't a stray then.' she thought, holding onto the popsicle with her teeth.

Reaching into the bag, she pulled out the meat bun and broke off a small piece hopefully for her prospective feline friend.

Ai spent a good half hour feeding the cat and petting him. She waved the popsicle stick over his head as he lazily pawed the air for it. She didn't notice how dark it was until the streetlamp flickered on above her.

Ai checked her phone. A few Instagram notifications but otherwise not much else. No texts from her boyfriend.

"Goodbye Neko-san, I'll see you tomorrow." Ai cooed, giving the purring cat a final pat before she was on her way.

The walk was quiet, on her way to her street, two boys emerged from a side street and continued in the same direction as her. One was busily hunched playing something on his PSP as he walked. His large golden eyes were illuminated by the screen but dulled with mild boredom. The other boy was tall, his hair stuck up in all directions like a cockatoo's. they were silent, except for the times when the taller one reminded the gaming boy when he got too close to the wall.

She tried not to stare, she couldn't help it. Ai decided she should walk a little bit faster. Despite neither of the two boys being particularly threatening, she felt a sort of curious butterfly in her stomach, an excitement urging Ai to get home quickly. What caused it? She wouldn't know.

Ai looked back. Wrong move. She made eye contact with the tall one. His smile was a smirk that curled onto his lips. In the dingy lighting, it was damn near horrifying. She held back a yelp and continued down the block, absurdly unsettled.

Ai crossed the street and ran up the steps of your apartment complex.

She fumbled with her key when she got to the door. "Hey!" A voice called out from the stairwell, "Do you live here?"

Even when faced with a terrifying situation, Ai replied coolly. "Nah, I am breaking in, would you like to join me?" She gestured her hand to the now unlocked and open door.

The two boys approached her, the blond one finally looking up from his gaming console. He looked uncomfortable, yet he studied her in the briefest of seconds. His large golden-brown eyes met her green ones before they darted back to his PSP, where he fiddled awkwardly.

The cockatoo-haired one snorted. "Kenma, looks like we have a new friend."

The blond looked up at his friend, someone alarmed by the prospect of social interaction.

"Yeah, see ya." She said, closing and locking the door behind her, foolishly praying she'd never have to talk to those two again in her life.

****

She woke up to the sound of thumping on the walls. She angrily buried her face into her pillow and screamed. It was the third day that her new neighbors had decided to start banging on the walls in their room. Ai finally had enough of that shit. She grabbed her fluffy bathrobe and the key to her apartment before bursting out the door, fully prepared to give those punks a piece of her mind. "Oi!" She growled, pounding on the front door. "I know you're awake!" Her voice was a siren that could not be ignored (and not the seductive kind).