The next morning Kaminari approached Shinsou cautiously.
“H-hey dude… ‘sup?”
“Oh hey Kami.” Shinsou said bluntly as he pulled books out of his locker.
“Y-Yo uh, you got C/N with you today?” Kaminari asked hesitantly with a nervous back of the head scratch as he looked at Shinsou’s shirt and then in the locker, searching for you.
“Nah.” Shinsou replied with a laugh, closing his locker with books in hand. “I left the TV on for her at home and a bag of chips opened so she’ll be fine.”
“Rrrright.” Kaminari replied with a forced laugh. “Hey uh… C/N is a bit of a different cat yeah?” He asked as he fell in step with Shinsou as they headed for class.
“Yeah.” Shinsou replied with a smirk. “She’s something else alright.”
“She uh, has a lot of human traits yeah?” Kaminari said, probingly.
Shinsou laughed again. “Yeah, she won’t eat cat food, she only drinks out of a glass with a straw, gets upset if I watch her go to the toilet, sleeps with her head on the pillow… she’s so funny.” He said with a bit of a daydream look in his eye.
“Yo uh….” Kaminari said in an unsettled voice, “listen there’s a bit of talk going around about C/N…”
“There is?” Shinsou asked curiously. “What’s that?” He asked, not looking at Kaminari as they continued to walk down the hall.
“Umm well… I don’t really know how to say this dude but uh… some people think she might not actually be a cat?”
Shinsou let out a hearty laugh. “What? So she’s a goat or dog or something is she?”
“No dude, I’m serious…” Kaminari said lowly. “They’re suggesting shapeshifter.”
Shinsou laughed again but his laughter faded as he saw the serious look on Kaminari’s face.
“Shapeshifter?” He repeated, just to make sure he had heard correctly.
Kaminari nodded. “Dude, she shows a lot of human traits… what if your cat is a human… that shapeshifts into a cat.”
Shinsou’s face fell.
“Dude…” he said blankly. “Why…why would?….”
“Man, I dunno but I’m just telling you what’s been said.” Kaminari said defensively with a shrug.
“Wait but who proposed this?” Shinsou asked, looking at Kami.
“Koda did,” Kaminari replied, “he tried to use his quirk on her yesterday when you bought her in and it didn’t work. His quirk only works on actual animals, not ‘animal looking’ things or shapeshifters.”
Shinsou just stared at Kaminari for a few moments as they walked in silence together.
“Shit….” He said lowly, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.
“Dude, do you think Koda might be right?” Kaminari asked.
“I…ok this is gonna sound really weird.” Shinsou said in a suppressed voice, turning and halting Kaminari with a hand in his arm. “But I think I’ve had my suspicions about this for a while. There’s just something different about C/N and I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Fuck man, someone is living with you and you don’t even know who it is.” Kaminari said in a hushed tone.
“This is fucking freaky.” Shinsou replied. “Why would someone want to shapeshift into a cat and live with me though?”
“Dude, I don’t know but let’s see if we can come up with a way to make sure once and for all hey?” Kaminari replied.
The rest of that morning Kaminari and Shinsou were in their own worlds, deep in thought about how to expose you, that’s IF you really were a shapeshifter.
Shinsou’s mind was swirling with so many questions…
“But I’ve never seen any evidence of a human being in my apartment when I’m not there? Surely if C/N isn’t really a cat she would have to shift back to human form at some point? But when? When I’m at school? At night when I’m asleep? How long is her quirk duration? How can I figure out if she’s a cat or human?”
Meanwhile Kaminari had questions of his own…
“If Shinsou’s cat is actually a human I wonder if she’s still a chick and if she is…is she as cute as she is in human form as she is in cat form?”
………………..
At lunchtime Kaminari saw Shinsou heading out the school gates so he ran to catch up with him.
“Hey! Dude, you going home?” He called as he caught up.
“Umm, yeah I just wanted to try something out on C/N, then I’ll come back.” Shinsou said plainly.
“You gonna be ok dude?” Kaminari asked. “What if you do call her out and she turns out to be some kinda villain or something and…” his voice trailed off.
“I’ll be fine, I’m supposed to be a hero in training right?” Shinsou replied with a lopsided grin. “If I’m not back for afternoon classes send backup ok? I’ll text you my address.” He said as he turned and continued out of the gates.
Kaminari sighed as he watched Shinsou leave.
“Hope he’ll be ok…” He thought.
……………….
“C/N….you home?” Shinsou called as he entered his apartment gingerly.
He walked silently down the hallway and stopped when he saw you on the lounge. You looked up at him from where you were sprawled out and relaxed.
“Hey! You’re home already? What time is it?” You meowed at him as you turned to look at the clock. “Lunchtime?” You thought as you looked back at him.
Shinsou still hadn’t moved from the hallway and was watching you intently. Slowly he walked over and sat down next to you on the lounge, eyes still keenly trained on you.
“What’s up?” You meowed at him as you stretched. “Why you looking at me like that?”
“Hey, so uh, what you been watching on TV?” He asked you.
“Oh nothing much,” You meowed at him as you looked back at the TV. “Some random midday movie…”
“Oh! I need to take my shoes off!” Shinsou said suddenly and you looked down at his feet.
“Yeah I mean, you always usually do? Unless you’re leaving again soon?” You meowed as you looked from his shoes back to his face. He was still looking at you intently.
“Well I guess I’d better get going to my afternoon classes, just look at the time!” He said, not even looking over to where the clock was.
You looked past him and read the time. “Yeah I mean, I don’t know why you came all the way home? Unless you missed me?” You meowed. “You’ll be late if you don’t leave soon.”
Your eyes met Shinsou’s again and he had the strangest look on his face. It was then that you realized he had been looking at you the entire time you two had been ‘chatting.’
“You ok Shinsou? You’ve been staring at me this whole time? What’s wrong?” You meowed, sitting up and turning towards him, taking a step closer to him.
He backed away quickly.
“I…umm I’d better go… I’ll see you later ok?” He said hurriedly as he got up and left.
“Uh, ok? Sure, see you soon.” You meowed as you watched him rush out the door. “That was weird?” You thought then shrugged, “oh well, nevermind.”