Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat - Chapter 24 How To Spend The Night With The Cat

I finished the dinner that Mashiro made for me and cleaned up the dishes.
At first, Mashiro said she would take care of the dishes, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing nothing after being fed such a delicious meal.
I managed to convince Mashiro to at least let me clean up, and here we are.

The food Mashiro cooked for me was delicious in every way, and I had nothing to complain about.
The ingredients themselves are the same ones I always buy, but it was amazing how a change in the cook made such a difference.

“Thanks again for the food. It was delicious.”
“No. I’m glad you liked it.”

I finished washing the dishes and sat down next to Mashiro on the sofa to watch TV.

There are many things that have changed since Mashiro took on this form, but I feel that it was a very meaningful time for us to be able to talk while watching TV.
It’s been fun to watch the drama unfold quietly together, but it’s also refreshing and exciting to be able to share our thoughts with each other.

“Have you always liked TV, Mashiro?”
“No, I’ve never had much experience with these machines.”
“Eh, I didn’t know that.”
“But that’s why it’s so fresh and fun now!”
“That’s good. Then it’s worth buying a TV.”

The reason why I bought the TV was because I started to watch a lot of videos on my phone.
For Mashiro, such an electronic device itself must have been rare.

“Thank you so much for doing that for me.”
“It’s okay. I only bought it because I wanted to. Don’t worry about it.”

I don’t know why Mashiro let out a small laugh when I said that.

“What?”
“No, you had the same modesty as me.”
“The same?”

When Mashiro saw my puzzled face, she raised the corner of her mouth in an attempt to stifle an even bigger laugh.
I don’t know what I did to get her attention, but the fact that Mashiro is holding in her laughter is cute, so I’ll let it slide for now.

We watched the drama unfold for a while, and as expected, the ending came at the right moment.
Looking at the clock, it was almost time for the good kids to go to bed. However, I still had some work to do, such as taking a bath and running the washing machine.

“Hey, Mashiro. I forgot to tell you yesterday that I’d like to take a bath first if you don’t mind.”
“Eh…?”

Mashiro tilted her head at my words.

“If you don’t mind, that’s fine, but, well, Mashiro is a girl, so…”

Since she was a cat, she didn’t need to bathe that often…Or rather, Mashiro was a house cat, so she doesn’t get particularly noticeably dirty.
From my experience some time ago, I learned that Mashiro was not noticeably uncomfortable with baths.

That’s why, now that she was in the form of a human girl, I thought it would be normal for her to want to take a bath every day, according to my general sense of value.

“Are you sure? I’m allowed to use the kitchen and even the bathroom.”
“You don’t need to ask for my permission every time, just use whatever you want.”

Mashiro has been this type of cat since I found her.
Whenever she wanted to eat or climb on top of something, she would almost always look at me first before taking any action.

On the one hand, I thought her discipline was cute, but on the other hand, I wanted her to live a carefree life as a cat should.
Now I realize that this was a selfish way of thinking, but I still wish she would relax herself more.

“Then I will take your word for it.”
“Ah. I’ll just give you a quick explanation.”

I led Mashiro to the bathroom and explained where the towels were and where the shampoo was.
I had bought some things on the way home that I might need, such as a treatment that I don’t usually use myself, just in case something like this happened.

I don’t know what Mashiro likes, so I bought her a slightly expensive product from a well-known cosmetic line.
If I remember correctly, it’s the same one my mother used to use.
I’m not sure if it’s for young people, but at least it’s not something she would be uncomfortable using.

“Put your clothes in the washing machine, anyway. I’ll wash them.”
“Thank you very much.”

As well as the bath, the fact that she was wearing the same clothes all the time would be a concern.
Mashiro may be trying to return the favor, but it’s not that easy to have someone cook you dinner every day.
At the very least, I should do my best to make the rest of the day as bearable as possible.

“Take your time then.”
“Okay.”

I walked out of the bathroom and washed the dishes that I had soaked in water at the kitchen sink while watching TV.
For now, we’ve settled on a division of labor, with Mashiro cooking and me doing the cleanup.

Obviously the former’s workload was greater than the latter, but according to Mashiro, “Satou-san pays for the food, so there’s not much difference.”
It may seem taboo to compare housework in general to a regular job, but I think the best relationship was one where both parties respect each other’s work, as we do now

“Umm…Satou-san.”

As I was looking at my phone for a while, I suddenly heard my name called from the bathroom.
Without thinking about anything in particular, I turned my gaze from the screen of my phone to the door of the washroom.

“What’s up…?!?”

I was so surprised that I threw my phone high into the air and shouted so loudly that I shocked myself.
That’s just as well. In front of my gaze, I saw Mashiro peeking out from the door of the washroom, not even wearing a towel.

I covered my eyes in panic and tried to turn my head 180 degrees, but failed. It seems I still have a long way to go to become an owl.
Incidentally, the phone jumped out of my palm and landed on the sofa by sheer luck.

“What’s wrong…?”
“Umm, my clothes…”
“Eh, ahh…”

When I thought about it more, I hadn’t prepared any clothes for her to change into after she took a bath.
I hurriedly went through my wardrobe and found the same shirt Mashiro was wearing.
I handed it to her, trying not to look at her as much as possible.
She gave me a small thank you and then quickly pulled her face back.

While I was watching a video of a mantis and a burr beetle, trying to calm my racing heart, Mashiro came out of the bathroom, fully clothed.
Though she was still wearing the same styled shirt as before she took a bath.
Her beautiful silver hair was wet with water, and her ears and tail were a little smaller in volume, giving her a different look.

“I took it first. Thank you very much.”
“Y-yeah. I’ll go next.”

In the meantime, I couldn’t look at Mashiro very well, so I headed for the bathroom to escape.

Shaking off a nagging feeling of annoyance, I prepared a towel and a change of clothes.
As I was about to take off my clothes and put them in the washer, I looked into the washer.
I wondered if a girl of her age would be reluctant to run the washing machine with me…I looked at the machine again, thinking like a father, and then I realized something.

To make sure, I hastily picked up the shirt she was wearing and looked into the washing machine again. Naturally, there was nothing left in there.

Perhaps it was something I had tried not to think about without realizing it.
Of all the things she had taken off, there was only her shirt. That meant that she was really only wearing this one piece of clothing…

…This was the moment when the number of items on my day-off shopping list increased.

[TLN: I’m moving these days, please forgive me.]