Nobody Owns a Cat

A Cat Is a Puzzle for Which There Is No Solution.

The author here! Thank you so much for reading my first book. It is a bit of a mess in some places, but it has a big place in my heart. I am a big fan of horror, romance, and yanderes so I really enjoyed making this book.

I wanted to write a book on Diabolik Lovers that improves on some aspects of the anime. I have to say that I think the anime is pretty cringe but I love some handsome yandere men. And so I made this book with my two favorite characters being the main love interests, Shuu and Subaru.

I ended up going with Subaru because I sympathize with him the most and feel he is the least awful brother. I mean let's be honest, the brothers can be pretty bad. Reiji literally set an entire village on fire. Laito got into incest and his backstory is just so dark. Kanato is just plain psycho. And Shuu is just kind of a dick. Subaru has the most acceptable personality because of his backstory and I really wanted to give him a happy ending!

Subaru was also a good pick because I knew I wanted my main character to be Nao. Nao has been a character that I have been developing for around a year now. I thought him and Subaru are a good match because they have similar issues. They both think of themselves as monsters and don't value their lives or live them properly. So they could really connect and grow with each other.

I made it a point to give them character growth while still keeping some of their flaws. They both have been through some hard stuff and people don't change so quickly. In reality, people continue to grow throughout life. Some things change quickly while others never change. There isn't a definite solution or ending. So I wanted to reflect that in my book.

I also did my best to keep some yandere aspects in the relationship while also being realistic and not encouraging bad relationships. There is still a level of extreme in their love, but I wanted it to be a mostly healthy romance. It was a bit of a struggle to depict a yandere love with Nao because of his personality. Due to his cat-like nature and past, he doesn't really want to be owned or tied down.

I had this change a little towards the end. I felt it fit with his character growth and was a good example of couples meeting in the middle for each other. Nao realizes that Subaru feels insecure in the relationship and can't help but love in that way. He sits aside his fears because of his love and willingly gives himself to Subaru. In turn, Subaru does his best to control himself and gives himself to Nao.

Together they help each other overcome their similar fears and issues. They push each other to better change while still being accepting and sympathetic. I think that kind of love is real and beautiful.

I thought about giving Nao a baby in the epilogue, but I felt that would be a little fast and not very fitting with the scientific way Nao was made into a neko. Though he has female cat DNA and that female cat part caused a heat, he does not have the female parts to reproduce. I did want to include his love of children and want of a little Subaru in the book though. I feel that both his and Subaru's hard childhood would make them very doting, sweet parents. I did sort of hint that they may have a child in the future, so it is really up to the reader if that miracle will happen or not. Fun fact: Nao's smaller body and more feminine characteristics is from the experiment causing his body to produce more estrogen than testosterone.

Another important part of the book is Yui's part in the story. I decided to keep her in and stick to the overall plot of the main anime. I do think it is interesting with the elements of rebirth and linking people with blood. After much thought on how to incorporate Nao into the story, I expanded on the themes and linked them with his character growth.

So I used the concept of nine lifes and had Nao's choice to give one up despite not knowing if it was his last. Putting someone else before himself for once. The blood link is why Nao could connect with the cat he was experimented with. I very much fell in love with the idea that she would be this mother figure he hadn't had before and gave him the final push to change.

I also decided that having Yui connected to him by blood now was a good touch. It helped him even more to accept himself and strengthened their already sibling-like bond. Plus neko Yui is super cute.

I actually meant to put more horror into the book, but I didn't want to scare away readers. I might go more into that direction next time with more extreme yanderes. As is, I really like and am proud of this book. I hope you all enjoyed it too and look forward to my next work. Please let me know if there is something particular you want to see from me in the future or of any constructive criticism you have. I will continue to work hard to become a better writer.