cats don't always land on their feet (soraru and mafumafu story)

24

a few days pass and i haven't spoken to anyone, as usual. however, amatsuki had called earlier today and invited me over to sou's house. eve wanted to get the whole group of friends together since it's been so long. amatsuki told me over the phone that he originally wanted to host it at his house, but sou is still super adamant about not leaving the house. apparently, it led to a huge argument between him and eve, which is odd to think of. eve and sou were always so kind and caring for one another, and everyone around them. it's almost impossible to imagine them being angry, much less at each other. eve made the decision to host it at sou's house since he has been staying there with him and it's important for sou to see people. sou hated the idea and wanted no part in it though.

i lay in bed hugging the cat plush and staring at the wall as usual. amatsuki is supposed to pick me up to go to sou's place together.

a few minutes pass and amatsuki arrives. ive grown attached to the cat plush and i don't want to leave it behind, but at the same time, i don't want anyone asking or questioning why i brought a plush toy with me, so i lay it down on the bed as if it's sleeping. i smile softly before getting my stuff to leave.

i hop in his car and we get going. we arrive at sou's house but sou is nowhere to be seen.
eve immediately gives me a huge hug when he sees me.
"soraru.. i'm so happy to finally see you again," he says sounding like he's holding back tears.
"yeah, me too," i return the hug.
we sit down in the living room area and eve gets ama and i a glass of water each.
"sou! you can come out now!" eve calls out from the kitchen.
i raise an eyebrow in confusion. there's no answer. eve sighs then calls again, "sou!! our friends are here!"
ama and i look at each other confused.
from the other room, i hear a faint voice, "shut up, i'd rather die than see anyone ever again. i can call the police for you all being in my house right now."
eve throws a hand towel onto the counter and then storms to the room the voice came from. he tries opening the door but it's locked.
"sou, open this door right now!"
"shut up!" sou yells from inside the room.
"SOU!!" eve bangs on the door aggressively.

they yell back and forth for a while. ama and i sit awkwardly waiting. eve ends up unlocking the door using a hairpin and he quite literally drags sou out of his room. sou flails and cries out for eve to leave him alone. eve sits him on the couch opposite from me and amatsuki. eve grabs a bowl of chips and puts it on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. no one says anything. i look down at my feet, this was a bad idea,  i think to myself. the silence is so loud, no one is even looking at each other. i want to go home, i want to go home, i want to go home, i wa-, i think over and over but finally amatsuki clears his throat to speak.
"this is the most awkward and uncomfortable ive ever been," he says looking at us, "but this is important. even if we aren't saying much, just being together is more impactful than we may think."
"yeah, he's right," eve says agreeing with amatsuki, "thank you for coming out here with amatsuki, soraru."
i nod, "of course."
sou remains silent. i look at him but he's slouched on the couch, arms crossed, staring at the floor.
"its nice to see you too, sou. its been a long time," i say to him, "how have you be-"
he silently bursts out into tears. i wouldn't even have noticed he started crying if i wasn't looking directly at him.
"sou..." i say holding my hand out slightly.
eve gets up and sits beside sou and pulls him into a side hug. amatsuki gets up and goes to hug sou as well. i hesitate but get up as well. we all hug each other on the couch. amatsuki began crying and i teared up as well.
eve spoke up, "it'll all be okay, guys. we'll all get through this, together."
we all nod in agreement. we all sniffle and try to stop crying, but it was quite difficult. tears flowed down my face without me even controlling or realizing it and i have a feeling everyone was the same way.
out of nowhere, sou says, "can you guys get off me now... i'm very uncomfortable."
we look at each other then realize we were all piled on him almost like a dog pile of a hug. we stand up and he shakes his arms, "gah, my limbs lost circulation!"
we all laugh and apologize to him and he laughs and tells us not to worry. we all start talking and having an actual conversation, unlike earlier.
the doorbell suddenly rings. eve gets up and answers it. araki and meychan step into the house.
"sorry we're late! we got lost on the way here, aha!" araki says nervously.
"all good, better late than never, right?" eve smiles, "i'm glad you were able to make it."
"we tried convincing nqrse to come with us, but he wasn't in the mood to see anyone," meychan explains.
"it's alright, there's no need to force anything on anyone," eve says.
i glance over at sou who rolls his eyes at what eve just said. i couldnt tell if he did it out of genuine annoyance or a joke, but i accidentally let out a little laugh, to which he looked at me and laughed as well.

***

we sat and talked for a while. it was quite productive and i can tell it helped everyone who was there. the sun had set and we realized we hadn't had dinner. we decided to stick around longer instead of leaving, so eve ordered some pizza. after we all ate we cleaned up and slowly started going back to our homes.

"thank you so much guys," i say as amatsuki and i put our shoes on to leave.
"no, thank you guys," sou says, "i'm really glad we did this. and i'm sorry for all the trouble i caused earlier."
"no, don't apologize! it's a difficult time for us all and we all react to things differently, we understand," i smile.
"we've got to do this every couple days. now is the most important time for us to see each other often, because if we don't, we'll end up the way sou di-OW! OW! HAHAHA-" eve says but sou began wacking him with a pillow from the couch by the end of his sentence.
we all laugh at that.
"i agree though! we'll keep in touch and plan to meet in a couple days again! hopefully more of the group will show up this time" amatsuki grins.
we wave goodbye and i get into amatsuki's car.
he drives me home and i hardly say anything the whole drive.

"thanks for the drive!" i say exiting the car.
"anytime! see you later!!" amatsuki says with a big smile and he drives away.

i enter my house and immediately collapse to the floor. this is too much.. i think as i put my hand to my forehead. i sigh and head to my room to lay down. as i enter my room i stop in my tracks. the cat was gone.
"wha-?" i say in surprise. i look around my room but it was nowhere. i look around the house as well, in case i left it someplace else last minute and didn't remember. it's no where to be found. tears fill my eyes and i plop on my bed face first. i hug myself and slowly cry myself into a deep sleep.

***

i grunt slightly and open my eyes. i had been laying in the same position for 2 hours. i groan as i stretch, feeling the side i'm leaning on ache in pain. i look down in my arms and my eyes widen. i quickly sit up in bed in disbelief. i was hugging the cat plush.

***