nebulancer | SQ Cat Day SS - 02/22/24 + 02/24/24

🐱Cat Day🐱

Shiki and his cat Sasuke sat on the outside corridor of the house.

They were sitting side-by-side, basking in the warm afternoon sunlight which felt like lukewarm water.

In the nearby garden, the wind gently blew upon the trees which rustled, and from far away, they could hear the chirps of the little birds.

It was a long-awaited and priceless return home.

Dai had been requested for the location filming in another prefecture. When their manager realized that his destination wasn’t very far away from Shiki’s hometown, he dragged Shiki out of his work room with a,

“You haven’t made a satisfactory return home recently.”

That being said, the one who physically dragged him out of his room was Dai.

“Today and tomorrow will have good weather, it looks like.

You have to get your fill of the sunlight sometime soon.”

Hearing those words, Tsubasa laughed, “He’s not laundry we have to set out to dry or anything.”

Rikka followed up with, “When Shiki’s pulled an all-nighter, he’s like a spread-out futon, so it’s... not technically wrong, I suppose?”

He’d pulled an all-nighter for work, and he had slept like the dead afterward.

Things he could have pulled off in his twenties were starting to reach their limit now that he was in his thirties.

The considerate young man briskly and diligently dressed the spacey man who allowed himself to be arranged and treated as the former saw fit. Shiki, almost unconsciously, ruffled his head.

“What?”

Dai laughed, somewhat exasperatedly, but somewhat amusedly.

“Hey~, Dai, Shiki, are you ready? Looks like you’re good.

Okay, let’s head out.”

Without a single chink in his armor since the morning, their manager Haiduki, whose high-quality suit and necktie suited him very well, called out to them. They then left the dorms.

Haiduki’s excitement levels were oddly high, and Shiki’s final memory before he drifted off was thinking, “As always, he doesn’t suit the morning.”

＊＊＊

When he regained consciousness, they were at Dai’s workplace.

It seems he had been sleeping the whole time in the car.

Haiduki laughed as he woke him up, and acting as if he were observing, they watched over Dai’s work.

Over the course of their time there, Shiki inputted interruptions of, “Dai-chan, you’re so cool~!” with Haiduki. He got mad at them.

And before he realized, he was back at his family home.

Dai and Haiduki had been captured by the neighborhood ladies.

Though the older ladies’ ages averaged around 70 years old, they acted quite adorable when faced with the dashing men with two types of differing charm.

Those same dashing men would treat whomever they were speaking to with great gentlemanly care, so the situation became a bigger and bigger deal.

The ladies had even brought over cakes and snacks for tea, as well as their home-pickled vegetables, so it looked like they were perfectly ready for a lengthy chat.

Those two wouldn’t be freed for a while.

As someone who didn’t really know why he’d been dragged out to his family home no matter how much he thought about it, Shiki had half a mind to think, “Serves you right.”

And thus now, SolidS’ leader/producer/composer Shiki was now simply Takamura Shiki, lazing around with Sasuke.

The pleasant voices of the women felt further and further away, mixing with the chirps of the wild birds. It felt comfortable.

With a coffee cup in hand, and Sasuke sprawled out beside him while purring and drifting off, he was dangerously on the verge of nodding off.

“......Phew.”

They didn’t need to exchange any words. They knew that simply having each other by their sides could provide a comfortable enough time for them both.

Shiki took a sip of his coffee and looked down at Sasuke beside him.

His eyes were squinted as thin as a thread, and he purred from the depths of his throat.

His white whiskers seemed to melt in the calm sunlight, and Shiki laughed despite himself, seeing the exquisitely peaceful scenery.

“You’re taking it easy as always, aren’t you?”

Sasuke, who heard the words directed at him, opened his eyes slightly and stared at Shiki.

It felt as if those eyes contained an unspeakable depth that was accumulated over years and months of experience.

After all, he was an aged cat who had already lived for twenty years.

Shiki thought he remembered his younger brother once mentioning that it equated to over ninety years old if he were human.

In the cat’s eyes, even Shiki might seem like nothing more than a “human brat.”

He was rather brazen and bold ever since he was a kitten, and quite the proud one at that. Shiki supposed he would live for a long time, but sure enough, he was right on the course to becoming a nekomata.

[T/N: A nekomata is a cat youkai. It’s rumored and thought that domestic house cats become nekomata and gain spirituality once they live long enough.]

However, Shiki thought that was fine as well.

Living comfortably, capriciously, freely, and proudly.

He’d be loved because he was such a creature.

“Live long, you hear?”

Shiki pet his head saying that, and the cat pleasantly purred.

Holidays like this might not be bad once in a while.

# Cat Day

# SolidS

Tsubasa: We’re on the move in the train. Sorry it’s basically stream-of-consciousness, but here’s something for you-meow ♪🐱

# I’d be totally cute if I turned into a cat, too

# Cat Day

“Isn’t it this one?”

“No~, personally, I feel like this one suits him better...”

“? What suits who better?”

“!!??!?”

📢＜When we were about to write a QUELL story about which cat resembled Shu better, time ran out

Eichi 📢＜ If we receive replies from you about which cats resemble QUELL members most, we’ll chat a whole storm about it tomorrow~!

Ichiru 📢＜ Look for Shu-cats, Eichi-cats, Issei-cats, and Ichiru-cats!!!

※Please reply with cats that you have taken pictures of yourself

# Look for QUELLcats

# Cat Day

🐱Cat Day🐱

Eichi: QUELL-cat sightings that we’ve graciously received from you all~~🐱🐾

So~~ cuuute~~! Thank you very much!

Issei: Okay, on the count of three, let’s meow in thanks. One, two—

Everyone: Meow~😸♪

Issei: To summarize... much of the information we received had Ichiru-like cats, so by the collective consensus of QUELL and QUELL fans, we have decided that Ichiru is a cat.

Ichiru: Ayo.

Shu: Well, Ichiru... is, indeed, a cat.

Eichi: For sure!

Ichiru: Ayo.

Issei: Ichiru’s personality has comparatively doglike sides to him, but I get the feeling that, as a whole, there’s more catlike parts to him.

Ichiru: Huh~? You really think so?

Eichi: You seem like the type to be competitive and leap around being mischievous. (laughs)

Shu: A pitch black cat that suits wearing a red collar, I guess?

Eichi: Yeah, like that!

Issei: If an Ichiru-cat really existed, I’d definitely dote on him.

Eichi: Me too. And then I’d cuddle him too much, so he’d go, “HISS!!”

Ichiru: Yeah, I think that’d happen too.

Eichi: Meanwhile, I... even the staff members tend to tell me that I’m more doglike than catlike. Personally, I think so too...... But if I had to be a cat, I’d be a huge one.

Issei: I get it. (laughs)

Shu: I’d want Eichi-cat to be one I can fluff up even in the summer and the winter.

Ichiru: I get it. (laughing) Like the type you can plunge your hand right into.

Shu: I want him to sleep with his belly facing the sky, sleeping in a way that hints he’s forgotten his wild instincts.

Issei: ......I think he sleeps that way pretty often even now, as a human.

Eichi: Isse, don’t let the cat out of the bag like that. (laughing)

Ichiru: Issei’d be one of those cats that are real pretty~. I don’t think you give off the long-furred vibes? Probably short-haired and smooth’n slick. Slick.

Eichi: Isse-cat would quietly and easily slip through a narrow space. Icchi-cat would try to head to the same place, get caught on something, and cause a huge fuss...... Oh, it’s already too cute...

Ichiru: That’s some efficiency. You’re getting happy by just imagining something.

Issei: Shu... wouldn’t give off the atmosphere of being a Japanese cat. He’s not a traditional cat. More like a high-class, western cat.

Ichiru: I think he’d have a really stupid-long name!

Eichi: Even though he’s a cat, he’d know nothing of how cats stoop like hunchbacks! His posture would be smooth and perfect, sitting prettily!

Issei: He’d always be ready for a brushing, and when you touch him, you’d reach your hand out as if asking for his permission, like, “Excuse me...”

Eichi: Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Ichiru: It’d probably be hard to give him cat food as is. (laughs) You’d have to open an expensive meal package, pour it out onto the dish, and then offer it up to him. Or else it won’t work.

Eichi: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!!!

Shu: ......Though I’d look that way, I’d be surprisingly friendly and hungry for attention, so I’d like it if you doted on me...

Eichi: What’s wrong, Shu~? You must be putting your cuteness on full display to ask for attention today, huh!

Ichiru: I guess that is cute?

Issei: Ahaha.

# Cat Talk

# Cat Day