Shiori Novella One-shots

Nighttime Date with Shiori

A yawn escapes your mouth as you’re walking home at night. It’s been a long day, and your plans were upturned several times, which caused you to stay out so late. Should you have dinner first? Maybe a bath would be better.

A black cat leaps out in front of you with its nose in the air, sniffing as it picks up a scent. It gave a single meow as it watches you with its yellow eyes.

“Oh, right,” you say.

You reach into your back pocket for a folded up brown paper bag with leftover popcorn shrimp. You open it up and lay it out for the cat. It t akes a single step, looks up at your eyes again, then rushes for the meal. You reach down and softly pat its fur as it eats.

“Aww, how cute,” says a woman’s voice.

You look up, but you already know who that voice belongs to. She covers her face, but you can still see her eyes, smile, and blush peek between her fingers.

“Hey, wait…you’re…” says Shiori.
~~~~~
“Yeah?” you grin slightly and tilt your head at her. “I’m…?” you prod, your grin widening a bit.

You don’t see her often, since she tends to shut herself in her apartment, but she’s always just so… tease-able. Her reactions are always priceless.

“Hmph! You dirty cat feeder, you! You like that don’t you!” she blushes a bit more, trying to feign being upset with you, but you can see the corners of her mouth quivering as she tries to keep them down.

“I do, actually. I like cats a lot, and this one’s very soft. Want to pet it?” you ask, chuckling a bit.

It’s her turn to tilt her head at you, as her expression changes to confusion.

“But… That’s my cat… That’s Pepper, he likes to run off sometimes,” Shiori replies.

“Oh, this is the floor… dirty-er? I guess?” you chuckle, and the cat, Pepper, looks up at you and meows, before returning to its meal.

“Wait, you can hear that?”

“Well, it’s not like our walls are soundproof…”

Her eyes widen, as she realizes you might be hearing her regularly.

“Oh, don’t worry, I can only hear when it’s pretty loud, and it doesn’t bother me. If anything, it’s… kind of… adorable…” your voice trails off as you realize what you just said and start to look down as your face heats up.

Shiori relaxes and her face takes on a *very* smug smile.

“Oh…? Adorable? Me? Nah…” she leans forward, giving you quite a view, so you look away, trying not to be rude or creepy. Her smile widens when she notices.

Seeing that Pepper is silently watching the two of you, having finished his meal, Shiori picks him up, cradling him softly against her chest. Pepper glances at you before relaxing into her hold, and… it felt smug.

‘That’s frustrating…’ you think to yourself.

“Well, I’ll take Pepper home, but….” Shiori pauses and takes a deep breath. “Want to grab a late night dinner? The family restaurant down the street is open until 2am, so…”

You look up at her golden eyes, glimmering in the night and filled with hope. Seeing her so nervous, you relax a bit, glad that it’s not just you that’s nervous around her, and that she’s nervous too.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” you smile, and she does a little bounce, smiling back at you. “I’ll walk you back, and we can head over together.”

The two of you walk back, chatting about nothing in particular, the sounds of your laughter echoing down the empty streets.

‘I’ll just try not to get too close, in case I stink…’ you think to yourself as you glance over at her next to you, her smile brightening your mood and wiping away your exhaustion. ‘Damn, she’s so adorable.’