Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat - Chapter 25 Shopping And A Sudden Encounter

It was the first holiday since Mashiro began to take human form.
Nothing much has changed since then, and I’m just looking forward to dinner every day.

Mashiro was now in control of the kitchen, and today she asked me to go to the shopping mall to buy some ingredients.
If I just wanted to buy groceries, the local supermarket would be enough, but today I had another purpose.
It’s the situation with Mashiro’s normal clothes that has been cutting into my spirit day by day lately.

As you know, she wears only a shirt every day.
It was not like she’s protected, as her legs are always in view and the hem of her shirt flips up every time her tail moves.

For the sake of Mashiro’s future, and more importantly for my peace of mind, I had to buy her some clothes as soon as possible.

It’s not something that I would buy with a conscious effort to be fashionable, but since it’s not for me to wear, I feel a bit lost.
I think I should have told Mashiro in advance that I was going to buy clothes and asked her what kind of clothes she wanted.
…Well, I don’t think Mashiro was the type of person who would accept that honestly.

In the meantime, it was no use getting lost in thoughts and I decided to buy a few outfits displayed on the mannequin I saw.
It’s a little too easy, but I’m sure I’ll be right. It’s just my own imagination, but with Mashiro’s looks, I feel like any outfit would look good on her.

After picking up the clothes that were being sold by the mannequins, all that remained was…Mashiro’s underwear.
…It’s not like I’m giving her underwear as a gift of my own volition or anything perverted like that.

It was just the other day. I didn’t see her clearly, but she…probably doesn’t wear underwear on a regular basis.
As expected, Mashiro’s situation was not good. What’s worse is that my spirit is in trouble.

The fact that I’m buying underwear for a girl of my age was bad enough, but if I hold out now, I’ll be saved a lot of trouble in the future.

“My stomach hurts.”

In front of the lingerie section, I involuntarily pressed my lower abdomen.
I’m just a regular guy. I don’t have a girlfriend or family with me, I’m just a guy.
That is why I go alone to buy women’s underwear. …Don’t report me or anything, okay?

I made up my mind and charged into the underwear department.
Naturally, the stares of the surrounding customers stung me, but I decided that I had no choice but to choose her underwear.
I don’t have time to get lost in the crowd, so I picked up three pieces each of simple fabric and design, and quickly got out of there.

Fortunately, the checkout was self-checkout, so I didn’t get attacked a second time.
I left the store as if I were running away and headed for the supermarket in the mall. Even though it was for Mashiro’s sake, I didn’t want to feel the pain in my stomach again if I could help it.

After that, I went to the supermarket in the mall and put the ingredients in my basket, looking at the note Mashiro had given me.
I didn’t have the eyes of a housewife to tell the difference between good and bad ingredients, so I just picked what looked good at a glance.

“Hey, Satou-kun?”

I had just finished putting a certain amount of items in my basket when I suddenly heard my name called out.
It was an unfamiliar voice, but the way she called my name gave me some idea of what to expect.

“Hi, Ayano-san.”
“What a coincidence, it’s been a while.”

She approached me with a soft voice, waving her hand in the air.

Her name is Ayano-san. She is the girlfriend of my colleague, Sakakibara.
She and Sakakibara have known each other since they were in high school, and now they live together.
I guess that’s why he eats Ayano-san’s homemade lunch every day.

I don’t usually get to see Ayano-san very often, maybe when the three of us, including Sakakibara, hang out.
Naturally, I’m always being shown how those two flirt with each other, but before I know it, I’ve gotten used to it.

“It’s unusual, you’re not with Sakakibara today?”
“Mmm…I really wanted to be with Sa-kun though.”

Ayano then turned around. In the direction of her gaze, there were two women standing a bit apart looking at us.
It seems that she had come to play with friends today.

“As expected, I can’t take Sa-kun with me to hang out with girls.”
“Logical choice.”

By the way, I should add that Sa-kun is Sakakibara, of all people.
She has been spending time with him since high school, and I don’t even know how many years they’ve been together.
I wish they would get married sooner, but they both seem to have their minds made up there, so I’m quietly watching them for now.

“By the way, Sato-kun, you were at the clothing store earlier, right?”
“Eh, yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
“Well, I’m sure I misjudged you, but it looked like you went into the women’s lingerie section…”
“Eh…?”

The words that Ayano-san uttered made my spine stiffen and I started to sweat uncontrollably.

“…Was I mistaken?”
“A-ahh. I-Is that so…nyanokay.”
“What is that cute bite?”

I couldn’t hide the fact that I was unexpectedly flustered, so I gave a questionable response, but Ayano-san didn’t seem to notice as she seemed to have caught on to my feline language.
I patted my chest, relieved to have avoided a social death.

Ayano-san laughed for a moment, then said, “Oh, yes, yes,” and continued.

“Sa-kun showed me a picture of Mashiro-chan!”
“Eh…Ah, yeah, Mashiro. You’ve heard from Sakakibara.”

The words made me nervous for a moment, but I guess the Mashiro she was referring to was the one she had seen when she was a cat.
It seemed that Ayano had seen the pictures I had sent to Sakakibara’s phone, and she liked them a lot.
Ayano-san shot off a machine gun talk about how cute and envious she was, then clapped her hands as if she had an idea.

“Let me and Sa-kun go to Satou-kun’s house sometime.”
“T-That’s…”
“No?”
“No, well…it’s not like you can’t.”

Of course, I can’t let you see Mashiro in human form, but as long as she’s in cat form, it should be fine.
But the question was, would Mashiro agree to it?
It seems that reverting to cat form was easy, but I’m still a little nervous about letting Mashiro meet strangers.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get Mashiro to meet a stranger yet. So give me a little more time.”
“I see. Well, I guess that’s just the way it is.”
“I’m sorry.”

I apologize to her for the disappointing look on her face.
I feel guilty for deceiving and lying, as well as for failing to meet her expectations.

“Well, I’ll see you soon. I’ll be waiting for Mashiro-chan’s new photos~”
“Yeah. I’ll send them to Sakakibara again.”

She quickly regained her energy and returned to her friend waiting behind her, waving her hands in the air.

This time, I managed to cover up Mashiro, but I don’t think I can keep lying to her like this.
It would be better if I could talk about the incident in some kind of amicable way…

With this vague idea in mind, I continued my shopping.