The real reason was that whenever Tomoe went into the castle town, she sometimes came back carrying a stray cat. Our beloved little sister Tomoe could speak with animals, and she’d been an incredible help to the Kingdom of Friedonia—both in our development projects and in negotiations with the Seadians. But her gift didn’t come with an on-off switch, so there were times she had to hear things she would rather not.
Technically, if Tomoe wasn’t actively trying to listen, she would only catch voices with exceptionally strong wills behind them...but that meant the cries of those in pain or distress always reached her. That was why Tomoe avoided farms that shipped their animals off for slaughter, and shops that dealt in live animals or fish. If she ever went to a restaurant that served live seafood (though I doubted any existed in our country), she’d probably faint.
Because of the way her hearing worked, she always caught the voices of abandoned puppies and kittens—left behind by their owners, torn from their parents, crying out from the roadside. The animals in this world were hardier than those in my old one. They had ways of surviving. Though I called them dogs and cats, they were a little different here. Some had horns on their heads, some had gemlike stones embedded in their foreheads (like the three-eyed race’s third eye) and some had wings or extra tails. They were quick, and they knew how to fight. A grown dog or cat might have been able to make it in the wild...but just as easily, they could lose to some other dangerous beast and die.
As for the puppies and kittens who couldn’t yet fend for themselves, they had only two options: be taken in by someone...or waste away until death found them. No wonder their cries for help were so desperate. And when Tomoe heard those voices, she was too kind to ignore them.
She’d bring them back to Parnam Castle, and...
“Um... Big Brother...”
...she’d look up at me with those pleading eyes.
Could you have looked into those eyes and told her to “put it back where you found it”?
Even Liscia, who could be plenty strict when she needed to be, always went quiet when faced with Tomoe’s dewy gaze and would end up leaving the decision to me. There really wasn’t much of a choice. Under the condition that every animal had to be spayed or neutered to keep their numbers under control, we started taking in the abandoned dogs and cats at the castle.
Later, we even set up an office to care for them and help find new owners, along with laws to regulate pet ownership. But even after all that, Tomoe still kept bringing home puppies and kittens.
Now, back to the present...
“Arf, arf!”
“Woof, woof!”
“Meowwwww.”
“...”
Two puppies were darting around the room while two kittens lounged nearby, pretending they couldn’t care less.
“Umm...what am I supposed to make of this situation?” Anne asked, looking utterly lost.
Tomoe had brought these little ones home to Parnam Castle not long ago. This was Anne’s room, but with Mary’s permission, I’d let them loose inside.
“B-Big Sister...” Anne turned a troubled look towards Mary, who stood in the doorway.
Mary awkwardly looked away. Anne’s expression was so stunned I could practically hear a sound effect playing in my head. Mary had said she’d leave everything to us, so she was keeping quiet.
The puppies stopped chasing each other and padded over to Anne, resting their front paws on her knees as she sat in a W-position on the floor. Their tails wagged furiously as if to say, Play with me!
“Um... Uh...” Anne stammered, not sure what to do.
She reached out a hesitant hand, but the puppies pulled back before she could touch them.
“These little guys want you to pet them,” Tomoe explained gently.
“Th-They do?”
“Yes. They’re just curious because they’ve never met you before.”
This calm, confident Tomoe wasn’t the one we usually knew. Wearing a day care worker’s apron she’d borrowed from her mother, Tomoko, she had become Tomoe (Day Care Worker Version).
She’d learned the soft mannerisms of an easygoing adult woman from Juna, and now, wrapped in her mother’s apron, she radiated such warmth and patience that even Anne—who was always afraid of how others saw her—could relax and talk with her naturally.
Tomoe began introducing her “kids” to Anne.
“This white boy here is Little Shiroji. And this girl with the light peach fur is Little Momomi. I recommend petting them on the head, under the chin, and on their backs.”
“Little Shiroji and Little Momomi... N-Nice to meet you.”
Anne greeted the two puppies, patting their heads and scratching gently under their chins. Both responded with goofy grins, tails wagging happily. Then, apparently satisfied, they trotted off to resume chasing each other around the room. What free-spirited little things. Anne looked a bit disappointed to see them go.
Next came the cats.
“The calico who’s lazing around is Mikemaru, and the black cat with the cool look on her face is Little Kuroe,” Tomoe said.
“Little Kuroe and Mikemaru... You don’t call him Little Mikemaru?”
“Ahh... He’s got such a big attitude it didn’t feel right calling him that. But he’s cute in his own way.”
“I-I see...”
I watched their exchange from the doorway.
“You named them, didn’t you, Souma?” Liscia said with a teasing grin. “They’re all a little too on the nose. You just took color words from your world and added a bit to make them sound like names.”
“Hey, don’t blame me. Tomoe keeps bringing home so many dogs and cats that I’ve run out of ideas. But she still asks me to give them ‘good names,’ so now I just take their color and tack on something extra.”
Liscia sighed. “We’ve got more than I can count on my fingers and toes. There are so many that the castle gardeners have a whole department just for pet management. I wish you’d show a little more restraint, but...”
“It’s easy to say that, but could you really turn down Tomoe when she’s holding a puppy or kitten and giving you that apologetic look?”
“Not a chance,” Liscia admitted immediately.
“I know, right?” I nodded in agreement. We would always be her doting Big Brother and Big Sister.
Would Ichiha be all right once they married? They’d probably live in the castle town, but I could already imagine their house overflowing with animals. I’ll have to give Ichiha a subtle warning about that...
As I was thinking that, Tomoe picked up Mikemaru, who had been stretching lazily, and set him down in Anne’s lap. Even after being moved, Mikemaru continued to doze without a care in the world.
✦ ✦ ✦
