"These two are the ones you're looking for" the man pointed over at a cage, the two identical, long fur, black cats sitting inside it.
The felines instantly started meowing, making Shinso turn in that general direction again, watching Y/n slide both of her hands inside of the cage, gently taking the two cats in her arms and resting them against her chest.

One of the two cats sat there quite content, its soft purrs rumbling against her chest, making a warm fuzzy feeling cross her.
The other clawed at her t-shirt, pulling itself up as if to escape her grasp, making its way on to her shoulder.
It stopped there, its nose resting on Y/n's hair and twitching as it sniffed, the wide pupils in its eyes narrowing to a slit.
Shinso watched as Y/n gently tried to pry it away from her shoulder and head as the owner of the shelter was too distracted by the other meowing creatures.

"Ah! You little devil" Y/n hissed under her breath as the black cat dug its nails in her shoulder to hold on to her unstable frame.

"Let me" Shinso muttered, moving over to the girl, standing behind her back as he gently tugged the creature's paw away from Y/n's shoulder, its claws unhooking from her skin.
Y/n watched with the side of her eye as Shinso lifted the cat and held it towards him, one of his big hands petting the top of its head gently, trying to calm down the feisty, small beast.

Y/n thanked him under her breath, the volume of her voice going barely over a whisper as she felt the awkwardness between them heighten. Shinso didn't reply, probably not hearing her words, or if he did he didn't give any sign of acknowledgement towards it.
Y/n looked away from his pale face, framed from the wild tufts of purple hair she found very unique.

"I wonder if he dyes it" Y/n spoke towards the cat she was holding, letting a small smile stretch across her features before slyly looking over at the boy. Sure enough his attention was on her, his hand tangled in the cat's soft fur, his eyebrow raised with a weary look.

"What?" he asked, his voice kept as monotone as he could. Shinso was certain she was talking about him, however he wasn't able to make out if it was meant to be an underlying insult or if it was general curiousity. Whichever it was, he wasn't going to let himself answer unprepared, his walls of distrust building fast and sturdy.

"I wondered if you dyed your hair or if it's your natural colour. It's rather unique, don't you think?" Y/n asked, now facing him directly. She could easily sense the uneasiness coming from him, her will to analyse his behaviour rising within her.
She found it curious how he would retract away from conversation if he felt uneasy, putting on a face of discontent and intimidation, almost like a cat arching its body and pulling its ears back to show it was on guard.

"Whether it's unique or not, I don't really care and I don't think you do either" he replied, his purple irises scanning her face for any sign of annoyance, but he was just met with a light shrug of her shoulders, her face turning back to the cat now asleep in her arms.

"Fine, don't tell me"

She turned towards the doors to go collect a cage to put the cats in, not wanting to continue a conversation with someone that couldn't seem less interested in speaking to her. Shinso watched her disappear behind the doors, his brows furrowed towards the centre. He wondered why she didn't insist, or at least tried to guess which one it was so she could express her real opinion on his hair. He was, to say the least, confused and was now starting to doubt himself rather than her. Was it possible he was making all of this up in his head? Was he possibly being a little paranoid? Had he been so used to people searching for even the smallest things to mock him by, that it was now clouding his judgement of someone that seemed genuinly interested in him? Was it possible for someone to be actually curious about him?

A small purr coming from the cat in his arms brought him back to reality.

"W-Wait! Your cat!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking as he spoke at a higher tone than he expected.
Shinso ended up speedwalking to catch up with the girl in the other room, worried she'd forgotten about the second cat and had possibly already left while he had been deep in thought.
He went through the door that separated the two rooms, his body coming face to face with the one of the girl from the cat café, his feet glueing to the spot so he wouldn't crash in to her front.

"I was worried you were planning on stealing him from me" she smiled lifting up the cage so Shinso could slide the cat in with its brother. He did so quietly, his eyes drifting down to the ground afterwards, his mind still stuck on his previous train of thoughts.
Y/n watched him as he stood still, one of his hands playing with the hem of his pant pocket, as if he didn't even realize he was pulling at the loose threads coming from it. She was unsure about his sudden change of attitude, now seemingly more vulnerable and less empty than before.
It was an opportunity she was willing to take.

"Come on, let's go" she said, grabbing his wrist as she said goodbye to the shelter owner, walking out of the place and letting the warm rays of light dance across both their figures as they stepped out.
Shinso watched her surprised, his eyes widened slightly as he let her tug her out, however his arm quickly lifted to shield his delicate eyes from the harsh sun.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his question a little more rushed than he had anticipated. He mentally slapped himself for almost seeming worried about her actions.

"I don't think you really care" she replied, mimicking his voice in a horrible way.
Shinso was about to snatch his arm away from her grip, the muscles in his face hurting from how fast they clenched at the unexpected mocking. However he refrained from his actions as Y/n turned towards him, a genuine smile on her face, showing there was supposed to be no harm done by what she had just said.

Shinso grunted quietly in reply, accepting the smile as a silent apology while the girl just kept dragging him onwards.

The streets were filled with people taking advantage of the nice weather, the summer days coming upon them. They days had been progressively getting shorter, it being close to August, but the bright sun still held on tight as it would start setting after seven o'clock every night. The sky was a bright blue, no clouds in sight as the two teens found their way in between the people filing up and down the various pavements.
A few curious strangers would give them a look, the odd pairing with the meowing cage hanging from the girl's hand catching their attention with ease, yet Shinso didn't fail to notice her complete obliviousness to the stares and possible judgement. He wondered if she even cared at all what others thought about her, in fact he was fairly certain that she didn't.

He watched as her fingers slipped further down his wrist as she pulled him through the people, her hand now grasping the bottom part of his palm. Shinso trailed his eyes up her arm to her shoulders, neck and back of the head, her hair bobbing with her every step.

"We're here" she said all of a sudden, coming to a stop and almost causing Shinso to crash in to her again.
Y/n turned around as she dropped her grip on him, her gaze studying his face as he looked up at the building. She noticed his sharp jaw, his purple irises seeming almost lilac under the bright light of the sun. She didn't hide the fact that she really liked the colour of his hair and eyes from herself, making a mental note to tell him she really liked it, but not right now because she had a hunch he probably wouldn't believe her. And for some reason she felt like working to gain his trust. Maybe it was her subconscious attraction to "difficult" people or maybe it was just her willingness to make a new friend, she couldn't quite tell just yet.

"The vet?" Shinso's rhetorical question making Y/n focus back on the task at hand.

⚇

"Ah, Y/n! You're here!" the cheerful voice from the woman behind the counter greeted both Y/n and Shinso as they walked through the familiar door with the light chime of a bell.

"I brought them" Y/n smiled, nudging the cage forward. Kaori's face lightened up at the sight of the new collected pets, rushing around the corner and crouching down in front of the cage. She would always do this. She'd never want to know what the cats were like aesthetic wise, so it would be a surprise when Y/n would eventually bring them in.

"I'm guessing they have some Black Persian in them, but they're not purebreeds" Shinso said, his gaze following Kaori silently as she moved around. He stood a step behind Y/n, not wanting to intrude too much as this was Y/n's professional environment, however he couldn't help giving out that information before Y/n could, surprising her. The vet hadn't spoken to Shinso about the cats as only Y/n had gone in with them, so he must have figured it out on his own accord.

"You know your cats" Y/n chuckled, handing over the cage to Kaori.

"Thank you Y/n and-" Kaori went silent as she waited for the boy to tell her his name.

"Shinso, Hitoshi Shinso" he said, giving her a small nod, his usual stoic expression adorning his face.

"Shinso, very well" Kaori breathed, lifting up the cage, her heart fluttering at the sound of meows coming from it.

"Alright, Y/n, thank you again and I'll see you on Monday. Shinso, thank you again too and please make sure Y/n gets back home safely" Kaori said, her gaze flickering over from one teen to the other, a curious spark appearing in her eyes. She had noticed this boy in the café a few times recently, only now appearing and coming in rather often. He would always sit in what Kaori knew was Y/n's favourite spot and now here he was, appearing out of the blue again.

"See you on Monday" Y/n waved, Shinso following close behind her after giving Kaori a small, polite bow.
It had been a little less awkward since the vet's, the two of them falling in to more comfortable silences now, their short conversations becoming a little less forced. Both Y/n and Shinso were testing the other one out, without each other knowing, one to see how far she could push her conversations before the boy would start becoming tense and not giving proper answers, the other giving the girl every opportunity to dig out something she could use against him, risking his dignity and all.
Yet neither of them seemed to fail the other's small experiment, maybe too engrossed in their own to notice the little mind games they were playing with each other.

"I didn't take you for a cat nerd Shinso, but I'm not that surprised if I have to be honest" Y/n commented, the two strolling down the pavement, a fair distance between them.

"I like cats" he shrugged his shoulders, keeping his gaze forward, but keeping an eye on her with his peripheral vision.

"You act like one too" Y/n commented, tapping her chin with her index finger. Shinso stopped in his place, his mouth opening to reply but no voice coming out. He didn't know what she meant, but he wondered if this was one of her hidden compliments or not.
However, before he could ask, Y/n pointed over at the door to her left, looking up at the grey apartment complex.

"That's me"

Shinso looked up, noting the dull colour of the building and the wilting flowers on most of the balconies. There were cracks creeping upwards and sideways in the building, making the whole complex even sadder than it already was.

"I know, it's not much" Y/n chuckled sheepishly, feeling a twinge of embarrassment from showing this acquaintance her living space. Her gaze fell to the ground as she fumbled with her keys in her pocket, trying to pick out the right one. She walked up the steps, firmly inserting the found key before turning around and shyly looking up at Shinso.
The boy could tell she felt embarrassed and for a moment, the smallest wave of empathy passed him.

"It's natural" he said, out of the blue, beating Y/n at saying her fairwells to the violet haired boy.

"What?"

"My hair, it's natural" Shinso repeated.

He watched her smile, her key turning in the lock and making the door set ajar. Her body stopped in the doorframe, her face slowly turning towards the boy.

"Goodbye Shinso"