Mandarin Orange, Kotatsu, And A Found Cat - Chapter 6 The Occupying Cat-sama

When I came home from work one day, Mashiro was asleep on my bed.
Normally she would relax in the corner of the room or on the couch, but today, she had settled there.

And another thing that bothered me was the fact that the TV was turned off.
I always leave the TV on for Mashiro before I go to work.
If my memory serves me right, I left it on again today…

Maybe Mashiro had touched the remote control somehow and turned it off?
Which would explain why she ended up in my bed with nothing to do.

I made a few noises when I put down my bag and changed my clothes, but Mashiro showed no signs of waking up.
When I approached her to check on her, she was sleeping peacefully with her body rolled up in a comfortable position.

I wondered if this was a sign that my daily communication with Mashiro was paying off and she was getting used to my scent.
Or was it simply more comfortable than the sofa and carpet?

This bed wasn’t something I bought, but something my parents gave me as a gift for landing my job
When I told my parents that I had received a job offer and was going to start living on my own, they told me that sleep was the most important thing for me when I started working, so they bought me a very expensive bed.

The comfort was well worth the price and many times more comfortable than the one I originally had at home.
Thanks to that, I have always been able to sleep comfortably.

So, I can fully understand why Mashiro would choose to sleep on this bed. At least, I’m sure it’s more comfortable than my low-budget sofa.
Mashiro’s face softened with happiness as she was completely absorbed in her dream, and just looking at her, my fatigue was purified.

For a while, I spent my time looking at the scene and took pictures with my phone, but then I suddenly saw the time on my phone and snapped back
I had to finish my dinner and bath soon, or else I would not be able to make it in time for tomorrow morning.

I hurriedly started to prepare dinner, and on the way I remembered something important.
I have prepared Mashiro-sama’s food. But Mashiro is sleeping soundly on my bed.
I have to wake up Mashiro, who is still sleeping soundly, so we could eat together.
[TLN: Why Mashiro-sama? I don’t know.]

For the time being, I finished putting the food on the plate, but I was reluctant to wake up Mashiro, who was sleeping so happily.
I tried calling “Mashiro, time to eat,’ but she didn’t respond to that. She was really sound asleep.

I decided to go ahead and eat dinner alone.
I thought that maybe the smell of dinner would wake her up, but even that didn’t seem to be enough to beat Mashiro’s sleepiness.

In the end, Mashiro still didn’t wake up until I finished eating my dinner.
Since I had always eaten with Mashiro recently, I felt somewhat lonely.

For the time being, I left the food for Mashiro in the plate and went to finish my own things.
I washed the dishes, took a bath, brushed my teeth, and dried my hair. I’ll finish all those routines.

But when I returned to my room, Mashiro was still there.
I was very happy that she liked my bed, but I was a little worried when she didn’t wake up even now.
She seems to be conscious as she changes her position from time to time and twitches her ears, but if she continues like this, there will be another problem.

“Where would I sleep…?”

Of course, there are no other beds in this house where I live alone, and I don’t even have a futon for guests.
All that was left was the pitiful sofa, which unfortunately had not been chosen by Mashiro. I felt that the sofa was in tears.

“Well, there’s no way…”

The sofa was better than sleeping on the floor, I thought.
I took out a blanket from the wardrobe and lay down on the sofa with it. I’m going to use you today, so cheer up, sofa.

Since I had grown so big, I couldn’t fit on the sofa unless I curled myself up.
It was going to be more difficult to sleep than usual, but I didn’t mind since Mashiro was more important to my sleep right now.
In fact, I’m more than happy to see that she’s so relaxed in my bed.

This may be an optimistic interpretation of the situation, but I think this means that she has gotten closer to this place.
It was most gratifying and somewhat reassuring to know that she was able to rest anywhere without having to choose a spot for herself.

“Good night, Mashiro.”

After saying this, I turned off the lights, checked the alarm on my phone, and closed my eyes.