Another World Fluffy Cafe

Chapter 16: Welcome back!

“Huh? What is this!?”

While Taichi was absorbed in building a cat tower, the door suddenly opened. He turned to see a surprised girl standing there.

“Himeri!”

“I was so shocked! There’s something unfamiliar here, and so many forest cats!”

The girl scanning the room was Himeri. She had long pink hair tied into two low buns with ribbons. Her large yellow eyes were wide open, giving her a very cute appearance. As a magic-based adventurer, she wore a light blue dress and a white robe, with the fluffy café’s apron over it.

“But then again, it’s nothing new for you to be out of the ordinary, Taichi.”

“Uh, I don’t think that’s true…”

“Oh, it definitely is. Anyway, welcome back!”

“Yeah, I’m home.”

Himeri stuck out her tongue and smiled, realizing she had been too overwhelmed by the scene in the store when she first came in.

What had surprised her was the large cat tower Taichi had built. It was installed in the corner of the store and reached all the way to the ceiling. Like the smaller cat tower, this one also had a forest theme. In addition to leaves and flowers, it had small mouse toys attached for the forest cats to play with. There were about six levels of platforms leading to the top, and at the very peak, a bridge connected it to another cat tower he had built beside it.

“This is a setup for the forest cats to play.”

Taichi explained the cat tower and demonstrated how it worked by playing with a cat toy. Sakura quickly approached and, with her tiny paws, eagerly played with the toy, making happy ‘myaa, myaa’ sounds.

Seeing this, Himeri couldn’t resist wanting to join in. Her eyes sparkled as she reached out her hand.

“I want to play too! I want to play with the forest cats!”

“Of course. We have plenty of cat toys and balls, and there are ten forest cats, so go ahead.”

In fact, there were almost not enough people to play with them all.

(We have to make sure they don’t get stressed from lack of playtime.)

Since they were a group, they would likely play with each other.

(But… I also just really want to play with them myself.)

As Taichi handed the cat toy to Himeri, Cerberus suddenly charged in from behind, shouting, “We want to play too!”

“Whoa!”

“Let’s play!”

“We were good while you were gone!”

“…I wanna play.”

Not only were Cerberus’s cute eyes pleading, but there was also a Berry Rabbit behind them. It seemed everyone wanted to play with Taichi. He had intended to talk with Himeri and then get some sleep, but that plan was now off.

Running a café, it wasn’t good to be up all night. He figured it was better to work hard until evening and get to bed early.

“Alright, let’s play!”

“Yayyy!”

“Miyaa!”

And so, today became a day of playing with everyone.

The sound of Himeri using the cat toy echoed through the air. Sakura and Kaede, the two smallest cats at around 20 centimeters each, eagerly pounced on it. These two were not only the smallest but also the closest friends.

“Wow, what amazing jumping power!”

When Himeri raised the cat toy, Sakura and Kaede jumped. They twisted in mid-air and landed gracefully. As expected, their agility was impressive.

“Myaa!”

“Myau!”

After chasing the toy with all their might, the two cats retreated to a distance, taking a stance as if hunting prey. Then, they waited for the perfect moment and… pounced!

“Myaa!”

“Whoa!”

Himeri elegantly dodged their leaps with her skilled cat toy handling, making sure they had plenty of fun.

(Wait, is Himeri better at playing with the cats than I am?)

She had excellent wrist control, and her petite frame seemed perfect for working the cat toy. She probably had a natural talent for it.

Just as Taichi was admiring her skill, he heard, “Taichi!” Cerberus had brought back the ball he had thrown earlier. Since Cerberus had three heads, Taichi had thrown three balls. Two of them were yarn balls with bells inside. It seemed that the delay in returning was because they couldn’t decide who would get the ones with the bells.

Taichi accepted the three balls from Cerberus and threw them toward the wall. The light chime of the bells rang as the balls rolled away. Cerberus eagerly chased them, picking them up with their mouths. This time, they returned quickly without any arguments over the bell-filled balls.

“Wow, that was fast!”

“Hehe, see how great we are?”

“That was a piece of cake!”

“I got it perfectly!”

The three heads of Cerberus beamed with pride.

“Hmm… isn’t it a bit cramped here?” Taichi muttered while catching the balls again.

He hadn’t thought much of it before, but with ten new forest cats, it was becoming harder to move around during ball games.

(Maybe I should make a play area in the backyard?)

Like a mini dog park.

“Alright, let’s give it a try!”

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s happening?”

Cerberus tilted their heads, wondering if the playtime was over. It was starting to feel a bit cramped for them in the store too.

(Well, there’s no real limit to how much space Cerberus might need…)

As Taichi pondered, Himeri spoke up.

“Taichi, it’s almost opening time. You haven’t registered the forest cats with the Tamer Guild yet, right?”

“Oh, right.”

When working with familiars involving people, it’s necessary to register with the Tamer Guild.

“I’ll take the forest cats and head to the guild for a bit. Can I leave the store in your hands?”

“Of course. Have a safe trip.”

“Thanks, I’m off.”

Taichi promised the disappointed Cerberus he’d play with them later, and he headed to the Tamer Guild with the ten forest cats in tow.