CH 15.1

My name is K. My name is K. My name is K. My name is K.

K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K.

No matter how I think of it, I think my name is a bit cool.

While being simple, the fragrance of a cold city man gently wafts from it.

As I looked at the masterpiece that was nearly finished, I felt a surge of pride.

I was in the midst of writing my name. No, rather than writing my name, it was more accurate to say I was in the middle of stamping my name. Since, as stated, I was in the middle of stamping.

After dunking my front paw into the inkwell and removing it, I stamped my pawprint onto the paper. Lifting my paw off the paper, my pawprint was stamped crisply. Then, after dipping my paw in again, I stamped it immediately underneath the previous paw print. Like that, connecting pawprint and pawprint, I was writing the alphabet letter K. Just listening to the what I was doing makes it sound easy, but it definitely wasn't. It was a job that required effort and patience beyond imagination, as well as the mind of a master craftsman.

Finally, I finished my name. While looking at the alphabet letter K formed by my pawprints, I bounced in excitement. This was of the caliber that I could immediately make my debut as a calligrapher. In addition to that, my paws were shaped so perfectly. What in the world was I not good at?

Even if I couldn't write letters with a pen, if I stamped a K and show it to Sugar Prince, he would realize that this was my name. In any case, he wouldn't be able to read it because the language was different, but with just one look, one could see that it was overflowing with my charisma. After seeing this, he might even think of me as a charisma-overflowing genius cat.

By the way, it was regrettable. I ought to have printed this on clean, white paper, but as there was no paper around me and I was desperate, I stamped it on a book that was lying open.

Looking at my name stamped over the small letters, I turned my head.

There was still ink left in the inkwell… Looking at it closely, it was a shame that such a beautiful masterpiece was only stamped upon the pages of a book. Bygones were bygones, I thought it was a good idea to stamp it on a large, clean space. Yes. This time I'll stamp pawprints and use my tail as a brush. An amazingly cool masterpiece will come out of it.

Whipping my head and looking about the room, the white marble floor caught my eye. Nodding my head, I dunked my paw in the inkwell again.

Before Sugar Prince comes back from attending the morning briefing, I'll finish this and surprise him.

Splash, dip, and jump to the floor. Go to the spot and stamp.

Jump up, splash, dip into the inkwell, and jump to the floor. Stamp on the spot.

I had only done it a couple times, but I was tired. I stopped momentarily, stood, and glared up at the inkwell on the desk. This was a waste of effort. Every time I stamped, I had to go all the way up there and back down. In addition, the place I had to stamp and the ink were way too far apart. Like this, a clean and beautiful masterpiece couldn't be made.

I looked for a human to put down the inkwell, but there wasn't anyone in the bedroom. Without a choice, I decided to put it down myself. But there was a problem. I sat beside the inkwell and stared intently at it, but there was absolutely no way I could put it down gently. I tried wrapping my tail around the inkwell and lifting it, but that didn't work. Hm. There was nothing I could do but drop it on the floor, even though it may be a bit messy. It would surely spill, but that might make things easier. Instead of dipping my paw into the inkwell, I would only have to wet my paw in the spilled ink. Ah. How much of a genius was I?

I shrugged my shoulders at my geniusness and, without a hitch, threw a punch at the inkwell. The inkwell flew into the air, spraying blue water everywhere, and crashed to the floor. I was harmlessly splashed by the ink drops that fell over my head and snickered.

Wat? I'm wearing the ink now.

I haphazardly wiped at my damp head with my front paw, but damn it! I had wiped my head with the paw I had dipped in the inkwell. I shook the ink off my damp head. The ink droplets that flew everywhere got all over the room, but my head was still wet. It wouldn't be noticeable since I had black fur, but I definitely couldn't stay this dirty. I ran to the bed and rubbed my head on the sheet forcefully. After rubbing forward, backward, side to side, it felt like the wet feeling was disappearing a little. Looking at the bed it was completely covered with blue ink. Now that I look at it…I think it would look cool if the white sheets were stamped with letters.

Splish splash, my four paws in the ink puddled on the floor, splish splash, I wet my tail too. Then I stamped a large K onto the marble floor. I didn't worry about the ink still remaining on my paws. Since I can just jump on the bed and stamp randomly. With the feeling that I had become a performance artist, I unveiled my talent.

"B-Butterfly!"

I tilted my head at the sound of Julia's shout.

Hm. What?

Julia stood next to me and was on the verge of tears. Seeing as she wasn't able to stamp her feet and be restless, it was as if she had seen something frightening. Looking at Julia smartly, I looked down at the place her gaze was lingering.

Huh? When did I roll around in the ink puddle?

My body was completely soaked in ink. After some thought, I remembered. After finishing writing the letters, it was so fun when I stamped my signature with my body. Looking around the room, large K's and my side, front, and butt shapes were scattered everywhere. Looking at my profile signature, it looked exactly like the Puma sneakers logo. It was quite cool.

Nyaang—crying like that at Julia, I bragged about my masterpiece. But it seemed that Julia didn't like it at all. Tears dripping, she yelled for the other maids. I tilted my head at the girls who cried out with blue faces as soon as they entered the room.

Wat. Why are you cryinggg?

"What do we do? Sob."

The maids cried while wringing their hands. Their expressions looked as if they had lost their souls. Alarmed at the wailing of the maids, the servants came running in. And even the servants lost themselves. My mood had been a bit startled, so I slowly looked about the room. To me, it only looked cool, but to the humans, it seemed like it was not so.

"Hurry up and try to clean it. Quickly."

The head servant, who looked lost for a long time suddenly flashed his eyes and gave the pressing order. I was sniffing my nose, when the sight of  the scattering humans alarmed me. How dare they.  Trying to clean up the masterpiece I put my heart and soul into!

Hisss—hiss—!

Hey! This is my name! Get away!

I manlily threw myself about in fury, but somehow it didn't have any effect. The eyes of the maid who had been crying feebly until a little while ago flashed frighteningly. I desperately hissed at the humans who were removing the sheets and wiping the floor. But even with this, no one was scared of me.

These guys. What the heck. They're a bit scary.

Avoiding the crazily flying brooms and rags, I was forced in the corner of the room. Staying where I was, I felt as if I was going to be swept away by the brooms or wiped away by the rags.

My name stamped largely on the white marble was being erased. After wiping and wiping and wiping and wiping with the rags, it didn't come off at all, so they sprayed a poisonous smelling liquid and rubbed it like crazy. Unable to win over the humans' frightening tenacity, my pawprint masterpiece was wiped away.

The sheet was removed and disappeared, and even the ink puddle was cleaned away. With a tragic heart, I watched over the scene. Jerks. I won't play with you guys anymore. Hmph.

I snorted at the humans who were completely dedicated to cleaning and began walking out of the room. Walking with a sore heart, I turned to look back and saw that pawprints were stamped on the path I had come. Thinking of the humans who would suffer erasing it, I snickered.

Walking out in the garden, I found that the smell coming from my body was horrendous. Licking my front paw, blegh, I could only taste ink. I looked all over my body. Because my fur was black, it wasn't very noticeable, but in the sunlight, it shined as if it was greasy. This wouldn't do. I had to take a bath soon.

Looking about my surroundings, I found a suitable spot. It was a grand fountain in the middle of the Crown Prince's palace garden. It was always flowing with pristine water, so it was just what I was looking for to bathe my body.

First, I could bathe quickly here, and when Sugar Prince comes, I can take a bath together with him again. Since I was so absorbed in my work, I worked up a sweat, so I'll take a swim too.

I pounced onto the fountain and dipped one paw in the water. It was a bit cold, but it wasn't unbearable. I stirred away the ink that spread out lazily in the water as soon as I dipped my paw in and jumped into the water all at once.

Finally! QAQ I let my senioritis go too far, and didn't study for a quiz so now I have to work my butt off…expect slower chapters until I get that A and convince my parents I haven't suddenly become a delinquent… T.T I've also dug a very deep reading hole for myself…in addition to starting a new route in my favorite mobile otome game (Ikemen Sengoku has A+ art and story!). Needless to say, my life will be in pieces until I graduate in June.