Another World Fluffy Cafe

Chapter 13: Business Cat

“I demand a guarantee of food, clothing, and shelter from this deal!”

“That’s only natural.”

“Meow!”

Taichi chuckled at the obviousness of this statement, realizing it wasn’t really a deal at all.

“You’re really a good person, aren’t you?”

“I think I’m pretty normal… but I want to take good care of everyone and I’m confident that I can come to love them.”

In fact, he already loved them very much, but that was beside the point.

The boss, with her arms crossed in thought, reached a conclusion.

“If you guarantee food, clothing, and shelter, then my group will follow you! We’ll even help out with that fluffy café of yours!”

“Wait, really?! Yay! Thank you!!”

As Taichi raised his arms in celebration, the boss exclaimed, “You’re so dramatic!”

“And thank you for defeating the Giant Claw. I was stuck in its lair for so long, I thought I would run out of food. Now, you all need to say thank you too.”

“Meow~!”

At the boss’s command, all the remaining Forest Cats expressed their gratitude. Although Taichi could only understand the meows, he could tell they were saying “thank you.”

“Now, my group won’t have to suffer anymore.”

Seeing the boss sigh in relief, Taichi vowed to protect them at all costs.

Upon returning to the Forest Cat Tavern, he was met with the overlapping voices of Arts and Sara exclaiming, “What in the world?!”

“W-What’s with this huge number of Forest Cats?!”

Arts seemed unable to hide his astonishment.

“The number of familiars you can have depends on your taming skill level, but there are… ten Forest Cats?! Just who are you, Taichi?!”

Arts held his head in confusion.

“Wow, that’s a lot of Forest Cats… Have you given them names yet?”

Nodding at Sara’s question, Taichi replied, “There are ten in total, and the group leader is this one named Ume.”

“You named her Ume? That’s cute.”

Following that, the names continued: Sakura, Kaede, Momiji, Holly, Eucalyptus, Satsuki, Shirakaba, and Kunugi.

Since the species is Forest Cat and they all have plant elements, Taichi decided to name them after trees. He thought the names turned out quite nicely.

“Wow, they’re all so cute. Do they all like cat toys?”

Sara waved a cat toy in front of the Forest Cats, and their tails perked up.

(So they really do like cat toys!)

With that, it seemed they would have fun playing with customers at the fluffy café.

“Meow!”

“Meow meow meow!!”

While the Forest Cats played with Sara, the boss Ume hopped onto Taichi’s shoulder.

At around 80 centimeters long, she felt quite heavy.

“What’s that?”

“This is a toy called a cat toy. Over there are a ball and tunnel, and the wooden boards are part of a cat tower where they can play freely.”

“Wow…!”

Ume’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the cat toys she had never seen before. Her tail brushed against Taichi’s back, indicating her desire to play.

(I’ll make sure to play a lot with them when I get home.)

He was looking forward to playing as much as possible with them.

Suddenly, he heard the tinkling of a bell.

Arts was throwing a ball, and one of the Forest Cats Taichi had tamed, Holly, was energetically chasing after it.

She dashed across the room, making a loud “dada-dada-dada” sound as she ran from one end of the dining room to the other.

(Whoa, she’s quite the little rascal.)

But that only made her cuter.

As Taichi watched with a warm smile, Ume began to explain something about the other Forest Cats.

“Those kids are relatively young, you know. So, unlike me, they have a strong interest in things like that.”

“Oh, is that so?… Don’t you want to play?”

Knowing her tail was swaying, he decided to ask.

“…I’m a responsible adult. I’m here to take care of those kids.”

“You’re a great leader of the group.”

“Praising me won’t get you anything!”

“That’s too bad.”

Just then, Holly, who had been chasing the ball, ran up to Taichi with a surprised expression and looked up at him, her face filled with an adorable innocence.

“Meow?”

And then she made that charming face.

“Holly really likes the ball, huh? When we get home, I’ll make a café ball for you to play with.”

“Meow!”

Taichi squatted down and patted Holly on the head, causing her to squint her eyes happily. It seemed like she understood at least a bit of what he was saying.

“You’re so cute.”

As he continued to pet her, Holly flipped over and showed her belly.

When a cat shows its belly, it’s a sign of trust. Taichi felt an overwhelming happiness and instinctively covered his mouth.

(This is the first time Holly has shown me her belly…!!)

The thought made him ecstatic, and he felt like he might float away with joy.

“Everyone is grateful to you. We’ve been living in fear of the Giant Claw for so long, and that makes it all the more so.”

“From now on, I hope you can live leisurely in a safe place.”

“That’s the plan! In return, I’ll play with the customers at that café.”

“How reassuring.”

It wasn’t necessary for Ume to force herself to entertain the guests, but it seemed that this was her way of expressing gratitude for receiving food, clothing, and shelter.

In that case, Taichi would do his best to ensure that life at the fluffy café would never be unpleasant.

After staying for a few days, Taichi and the others returned to the town of Relium.