Nekopara - ReUnion

[OUTDATED] Question

As I entered the kitchen, where Kashou was already preparing sweets for the shop's opening, I let out a loud sigh, thinking about the reason why I can't bring myself to try more directly to interact with the girls.

- "Is something wrong, Minuit?" Kashou asked me, visibly worried. I try to fake a smile as much as I could, saying

- "Nah, it's alright, nothing you have to worry about." But even I knew this fake smile wouldn't fool anyone, and certainly not Kashou, who knew me since I was a kitten. The relationship I had with him was more like a 'good friends' one than a 'owner-and-pet' one. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised, clearly showing that he did not believe me. "Can't fool you, eh?", I asked him, knowing that he did not believe me. But, instead of answering my question, he replied with another.

- "You know you can talk to me if something's wrong, you know?"

- "Yeah, I.. I know, Kashou, don't worry.." As I sat down on the same chair I sat down almost everyday to take notes of what's happening in the main room, I felt a feeling that I hadn't felt in a long time, anxiety. A deep and overwhelming feeling of anxiety. It was like I suddenly couldn't help but think of the worst outcomes possible for every single thing I do. It was like everything bad I did in my life was about to come back to me times ten.

"You're a failure."

"You shouldn't have came back."

"You betrayed them."

"They hate you."

Those were the kind of thoughts that took root in my head and that I tried, in vain, to get rid of for some time. Each time I brushed them off, they kept coming back.

"You don't belong here."

"No matter what you do, you'll never be a part of the family again."

"Their life kept going without you."

"They can replace you."

Every time I thought of this, It was taking root in my mind for a bit longer than the last time. Over, and over, and over again.

- "Minuit, are you listening ?"

I got interrupted in my thoughts by Kashou. I then realized it has been a few hours since I started thinking about all of these answers to the questions I asked myself, judging by the noise in the main room.

- "Oh, uh.. Sorry, Kashou, I dozed off for a bit."

- "I saw this. Are you sure you're alright? You seem pale." He asked me with a worried expression on his face. It was always easy to understand what he was thinking. He doesn't want me to get sick a day before my bell exam. I got up from my chair and smiled at him.

- "Don't worry, it's nothing you have to worry about. Go back to baking, the lunch rush is about to start, isn't it?" He obviously didn't know how to answer this, since on one hand, he was worried about me, and on the other hand, I was right, the lunch rush is about to start, just a peek in the main room shows that more and more customers are arriving.

After a few seconds of hesitation, the pâtissier sighed.

- "Alright, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But I'd still like you to know that I'm here if you want to talk about it." Kashou then walked away and got back to baking.

- "I will if I feel the need to. Thank you, Kashou." I smiled at him before stretching a bit, and looking at what was going on in the main room. Even if I didn't have my bell yet, I could intervene if a customer didn't act correctly, or if there was just too many customers. None of this seemed to happen for an hour or so, until I heard a whistle coming from the main room, at a table not far from the counter. But not a normal whistle. I knew this whistle. This whistle was followed by someone speaking.