Chikage Utsuki/Promise of Blooming

Let's Play! Real Life Gacha: Chikage's Turn

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Chikage	......
Juza	......
Cat	Nya~ Nya~
Chikage & Juza	............
Chikage	(Haa.... what kind of situation did I get myself into?)
	*Flashback*
Chikage	(... So, these are our 3 candidates. This one’s for convenience, these two for design.)
Co-worker	Utsuki-san, that’s a miscellaneous goods catalog from that one company.... Were you in charge of that project?
Chikage	No, that’s not the case.
Co-worker	Perhaps~ Is it a gift for her?
Chikage	(Gift, of course... how could I forget that it’s almost that time of year again.)
	(Director, I’m sorry to get you involved like this again.)
Chikage	... Her? I already know her taste well, so it’s easy to pick.
	By the way, did you need me for something?
Co-worker	I was thinking of passing this document to you.
Chikage	Oh, thank you. Then I’ll finish up soon. Thank you for your hard work.
Co-worker	Thank you for your hard work as well.
Izumi Chikage-san, good work today!
Izumi Tonight, I made Dhal Curry with garam masala spices for dinner.
Izumi It’s my new masterpiece, so please let me know what you think when you eat it!
Chikage	Fuu... If it’s really a gift for the director, I don’t need to worry about that.
Chikage	—— Hm?
	........
Juza	Ah, Chikage-san.
Chikage	Hey, Juza. Just returned from your workshop?
Juza	Nah... There was a store in the next town over that sold cat cookies, I wanted to eat a box of them, so I went there...
	There was a lot of girls and the cat cookies in the shop looked great... When I was struggling to get in, they were already sold out.
Chikage	I see.
	Cat cookies, huh? Cats are pretty popular after all, I’m not good at that type of stuff.
Juza	Do you not like animals?
Chikage	Ah... I’m not really fluent in animal language to communicate with them, especially small animals like cats, I don’t know how to handle them.
Juza	That’s rough, buddy.
Chikage	Speaking of, I was thinking of gifting a keychain with a cat motif as a safe bet.
Juza	Ah... Is it for the keychain exchange thing?”
Chikage	Most people end up dropping their keys, so everyone’s using capsules to exchange keychains... even then, it’s already obvious who bought it.
Juza	Chikage-san, you never seem to lose your keys though.
Chikage	Well, I’ve never lost a key before.
Chikage	..........
Juza	What is it?
Chikage	......... I had a hunch, but I feel like something is following me.
Juza	........ Is it someone suspicious?
Chikage	No—— might just be a misunderstanding, it was just a feeling.
Cat	Nya~
Chikage	...........
Juza	S’just a cat.
Chikage	Yep. Just a cat.
Chikage	Is it a stray? There’s no collar.
Cat	Nya~, Nyanya~.
Chikage	(It kinda sounds like it’s trying to tell me something...)
	*End of Flashback*
Chikage	...... sigh.
Juza	Sorry. I don’t understand cat tongue.
Chikage	Let’s go home and talk to Misumi for the time being.
Juza	Aight.
Cat	Nya~
Chikage	...........
Juza	....... Hey cat, you’re always on Chikage-san's tail.
Chikage	.... Well, it looks harmless enough. Can’t be helped, let’s just take it with us.

Cat	Nyan, nya~
Misumi	Hmmm, I see~
	Cat-san accidentally hopped onto the back of a truck, it’s a long way from home and it got lost.
Juza	S’that so.
Misumi	It came across you guys and wanted to let you guys know, so it followed you~
Cat	Nyaaaan.
Chikage	Haa... why did it have to be me....
Misumi	Chikage’s loved by animals~
Yuki	He’s not even good with them.
Izumi	If it got lost, we should take it to the owner as soon as possible.
Chikage	By the way, how would we even know who this owner is.
Izumi	That’s where you come in, Chikage-san.
Chikage	.......... Of course.
	However, I’ve never searched for a lost cat’s home before.
Cat	Nyaa, nya nyaa~
Misumi	Cat-san’s home is full of girls and the place smells sweet!
Juza	Girls and a sweet smell...
Yuki	Vague hints as expected.
Izumi	Hmmm....
Juza	No... it’s a hit or miss but, I have an idea...
Juza	Almost there.
Cat	!
Izumi	Oh, cat-chan went straight to that storefront....
Chikage	Is that the cat cookie shop that you went to, Juza?
Juza	Yeah.
Cat	Nya~!
Man	! Marron!!
	You’re alright...! I've looking everywhere for you.
Chikage	Juza’s guess was correct.
Juza	I just came here today after all, I’m glad I got it right.
Man	You guys brought me back my Marron. Thank you so much!
	I was planning to go to the vet to put a microchip in Marron just in case my cat here got lost.
	Marron ran away recklessly because of that...
Chikage	.........
Izumi	Is that so. I’m glad we bought your cat back to you safely.
Man	I’m very thankful to you guys!
Cat	Nya~n.
Izumi	The owner looked really happy, he kept thanking us the entire time.
Chikage	We even got some cookies.
	Director, Juza, take mine away please.
Izumi	All the credit goes to Juza-kun, so I’ll give it all to him. You and Muku-kun can eat it together.
Juza	If that’s alright with you. Thanks.
	....... Anyway, that owner also wore glasses.
Chikage	Ah. So that’s why it followed me.
	I’m sure there were plenty of guys with glasses.
	Really, why me of all people.
Juza	But thanks to that, the cat returned safely,
	That's some intuition, following Chikage-san was the right answer.
Izumi	Fufu, sure is.
Chikage	Well, I guess so.
	Thanks to that, I also got to decide which keychain I’ll put in the capsule.
Izumi	Really now?
Chikage	....... This.
Juza	It sure is stylish.
	..... Is this a keychain?
Chikage	It’s a key finder. If you attach it to a key, even if you don’t have the finder, you can detect it with your smartphone.
	Actually, it’s better not to lose it in the first place, if you lose it, it might as well stay lost.
	A key doesn’t come back to you like a dog or cat would.
	However, it’s also extremely careless to write your address on a key.
	So, when you do end up dropping it. You can just focus on getting it back.
	Although the design is far from how cute the world thinks cats are, it’s at least convenient.
Izumi	It’s definitely practical!
Juza	S’a lot like Chikage-san.
Chikage	Looks like it’s my turn.
Citron	Oh~! It is a cute cat keychain dayo!
Chikage	........ and I thought I was finally free.
Tsuzuru	There’s a relatively large amount of cat lovers in the company and the only person who got the keychain doesn’t even like them...
Itaru	Deserved.
Citron	Dessert!
Itaru	You’ve got a plethora of rabbit fanmerch in the room, would’ve matched if you got a rabbit instead of a cat.
Chikage	What’s with all this sass. I don’t even like rabbits either.
Sakuya	Hmmm....
Citron	Sakuya, what’s wrong?
Sakuya	I feel like I’ve seen this cat keychain before somewhere....
	Oh, that’s right. There was a kid from my part-time job! I think we were talking about the Sayaneko series.
Masumi	...... Just searched it up. Found it.
Tsuzuru	This cat seems to be a character who’s strong, worrisome, and loves their home...
Chikage	Loves home, huh....
	I see, I guess it’s kind of like me.
Masumi	Not what I’d exactly call birds of a feather.
Chikage	Well, I already have it, might as well keep it.
Citron	Then, I’ll put the cat keychain on Chikage’s key right away~!
Itaru	Striking while the iron’s hot.
Chikage	Yeah sorry. No can do.

adriemori