I'm the Older Brother of a Genetically-Engineered Cat-Girl?!

Chapter 3 - Prologue (3)

I decided it's better to not go back and retell the events of the past several weeks, since all that really happened was my family taught Luna a few words, how to eat semi-properly, applied for her citizenship and adoption, and explained a few essential manners, which wouldn't get through to anyone her age, regardless of their background. It's nowhere near as interesting as what happened later, so there's no real need to go back and talk about it.

Instead, I decided to pick up where I left off before going on the tangent of Luna's backstory.

After my shower, I exited my room and entered the living room. While I was showering, my parents must have left for work, leaving a note on the kitchen table. It said the usual thing, there's food in the pantry, call if there's an emergency, and make sure to take Luna outside of the house.

That last one was semi-optional, but even my shut-in brain thinks that Luna can't be stuck inside with me all day, especially since she's so young. I also heard somewhere that house cats can go insane by staying indoors their whole lives, and I wasn't about to test that on this poor girl. I usually take her to the park and play with her there, but sometimes the other kids there will accept her into their games, which is usually when she has most of her fun. Of course, being older than everyone else, I don't normally join in on their games, and since I'm a lot younger than most of the parents there, I just quietly mess around on my phone and keep a close eye on her. It's kind of boring sometimes, but I'd rather let her have a fun childhood than a boring indoors one. I probably sound like a teenage parent, but no matter how I look or sound to others, I want to make up for the crummy life this girl has had so far with as many happy memories as she can make.

I left the kitchen to join Luna in the living room, who was still staring at the TV. When she noticed me enter the room, she got off the couch and trotted over to me, looking at me with curious eyes. My parents must've mentioned something to her about me taking her out, which is something my parents do to force me to take her out. For whatever reason, they still don't think I'm responsible enough to remember to let her out of the house every once in a while, which may or may not have anything to do with my lifestyle prior to meeting Luna.

"Luna, are you ready to go outside?" I ask her with a hint of excitement in my voice. Like I said, I don't necessarily love this event, but hopefully by using this tone, she'll grasp the meaning of the words easier.

So far, the method seemed to have worked, since when I said 'outside,' the ears on the top of her head perked up, and visible excitement grew on her face. She probably didn't fully grasp the meaning of the full sentence, but she at least understood what I meant.

A few minutes later, we left the house and headed to the park that was only a few blocks away. Luna was happily skipping along next to me while I held her hand to make sure she didn't jump into the road. Despite being late November, it wasn't that chilly yet, so we only needed to put on light sweatshirts. By the time we reached the park, it was about 10 am, so there were a few people, but not too many. At least, the people who were usually there were there at this time, so Luna ran off to play with them, leaving me by the bench.

I sat down and pulled out my phone, but seeing no new notifications or anything, I turned it off without putting it away and looked for Luna. She was in a big circle with a bunch of other kids, probably deciding who would be 'it' in the game they were about to play.

While this was happening, however, someone snuck up behind me.

"Excuse me, but what do you think you're doing?" a voice behind me asked. I turned around to see a girl about my age with short brown hair in a bob cut and was wearing a white sweatshirt. She had her arms folded and was looking at me like someone who had just done something shameful in public.