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

Chapter 6 - Mystery of the Stolen Bike (3)

Luna sat dejectedly on the couch.

Honestly, this was the first time I'd ever seen her so depressed about something, and it's really disheartening. She's usually so happy and outgoing, but this sad little girl curled into a ball was not the girl I had grown to know. Though, it wasn't as if she completely changed. Her ears still perked up when I mentioned food, and she was still fairly chatty, but she wouldn't initiate any conversation. She also didn't really pout or turn into a brat either. She kind of just... crumpled. All of the joy in her body suddenly left, but sadness or anger didn't take over. I think this does prove one thing, however: this girl does not know how to hate someone else. Even when I told her someone else had taken it, she didn't get mad or think about the other persons greed; she just realized that something she liked was gone.

After we realized the bike was gone, we decided to come back inside and relax for the day. Luna didn't seem like she wanted to play with the other kids anyways. As soon as we came inside, she looked from side to side, as if the bike would be in here, but after seeing it was truly gone, she just stood still while looking down. I brought her over to the couch, and there she sat for the next few minutes.

I sat next to her and switched the TV to one of her favorite channels, which got her attention, but didn't improve her mood much. I tried patting her head and scratching behind her ears, but that didn't help either. Eventually, she fell asleep on my lap, looking sad even in her sleep.

It was at this moment that I realized I still didn't know Luna that well yet. We've only known each other for a few weeks, and even though we've spent most of that time together, I still can't tell what makes her the happiest. I didn't even know she could get this depressed, so of course I wouldn't know how to cheer her up.

Another thing, I've known Luna for several weeks now, but I don't know anything about her life prior to meeting her. She couldn't really tell us before, but I think she's more than capable of talking to us now. We know she must have come from one of those labs, since she was alone on the streets and couldn't talk. But other than that, we haven't taken much of an interest in Luna's past life.

After a short nap, we heard a knock on the door. I got up without trying to wake up Luna and answered the door, seeing Mari and a pouting George at our front step. Before I could say anything, however, Mari spoke.

"I'm so so sorry," she said, bowing her head down. "I don't know if you noticed yet, but George had stolen your bike. We just found it in our yard this morning."

I was speechless. At first, it was surprise, but then almost instantly, I was overwhelmed with relief. I'm glad that it wasn't stolen by some random dude, because that would mean I would have to tell my parents, who would've started some kind of pointless search party and made a whole big deal out of it. This way, I could keep it a secret, as long as I gave Luna a little bribe.

Speaking of Luna, despite my efforts to not wake her up, she was right behind me before I realized, rubbing her eye and looking confused at Mari and George.

George, seeing Luna got very red in the face, and started tearing up while Mari squeezed his hand to get him to apologize.

"I-I'm s-s-s-so sorry, L-Luna..." he said quietly through his tears and shaky voice.

"Hmm...?" Luna looked up at me in confusion, then back down at George, who was wiping away tears streaming down his face. "Why sorry?"

"I-I-I-I'm sorry for t-t-t-taking your bike..."

"Bike...? OH! Bicircle!" Luna ran past Mari and George and saw her bike standing right in front of our house without a scratch. The instant she saw it, she squealed and ran up to it, awkwardly trying to hug it.

"Again, I'm really sorry..." Mari said with her head down in embarrassment.

"I would say it's fine, but you probably don't want to hear that..." I said in reply. "Luna was a little depressed about it this morning, but it looks like she's fine again."

"I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to keep saying that, like I said, it's fine. Though, I am a little surprised that it was you guys."

"Right... you probably don't want to do anymore playdates after this, do you...?"

"Actually, I think the first one was a success. As long as we keep my parents from finding out, everything would be the same as always, so I'd be glad to invite you over again. At least, as long as this doesn't keep happening."

"It won't, I promise..."

"That's perfect then," I walked out past Mari and George and patted Luna's head. "Luna, do you have anything to say to George, since he brought your 'Bicircle' back?" She looked up at me and nodded with an odd sense of duty before marching over to George who was still sobbing.

"Let's share!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hands. He looked at her confused, but was met with strangely fiery eyes with a brand new spirit. "I don think you have a bicircle, so I will let you use mine sometimes!"

George looked a little shocked at first, but he nodded as if he understood, and stopped crying. "Th-Thank you..." he said in reply. I walked back over to Mari, who was also looking at them in surprise.

"I don't think she minded too much in the end either," I said.

"Yeah... Again... I'm... well... you know." Mari was at a loss for words. "This all probably started because we told him we couldn't get a bike..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... both of my parents work, and we still don't bring in a lot of money... I was thinking of getting a job soon to help them out too... but it's nothing you have to worry about. Sorry for bringing it up."

"I see... I'll try not to talk too much about that then. But I think you heard what Luna said, George is welcome to share the bike with Luna."

"Yeah... well, I think we've imposed too much on you already today. I think we should head home..." She was still looking down a little, and her face was a little red as well. Though, that may have been because I was standing right next to her, which also got my face red and made me step a few inches away from her.

"Alright then, have a safe trip home. Also, thank you for bringing it back."

She nodded and started to pull George by the hand while he waved back at Luna.

"Bye bye," Luna said while waving back.