But He's a Cat!

[Updated whenever I get around to it. I'm mainly working on the paid story next door. I'll come back to this after I finish that one.]

Zhu Jianong's childhood friend is clingy, always following her around and never leaving her side, but he keeps a sour look on his face and acts like he's the hottest thing around.

"What do you even want?"

she asked helplessly.

Her nineteen-year-old childhood friend shoved his hands into his pockets, raised his chin, and stammered, "I... If you need a boyfriend, I guess I could be your boyfriend."

Twenty-three-year-old Zhu Jianong: "..."

"Sorry," she said, trying to let him down gently. "I don't like younger guys."

Her childhood friend's face stiffened, and he stared down at her in disbelief.

Once he realized she was serious, her childhood friend turned and walked away, heartbroken.

"Hey, wait!"

Looking at his retreating figure, Zhu Jianong hurriedly called out to him, stammering, "Y-you've grown a tail?"

Her childhood friend glanced at the long tail drooping behind him, then gave up trying to hide it. A cloud of smoke rose from his body, and he shrank and shrank until he turned into...a gorgeous tabby cat?

The little tabby sauntered over, swishing its tail gently. Its cute face was full of stubbornness. "Now that you know my secret, you have to be my girlfriend."

Zhu Jianong felt dizzy.

She really wanted to firmly refuse him, but he was a kitty!

(1v1, both leads are virgins)

(Blurb written on 20220620)

[Preorder: What Should I Do When My Three Childhood Friends Take Turns Turning into My Body Pillows? Please add it to your favorites~]

Xi Lu thought she should go see a psychiatrist.

For three nights in a row, she thought her body pillow had come to life. Each night, it claimed to be one of her three childhood friends and said all kinds of outlandish things.

She felt like this might be urgent and that she needed to make an appointment immediately.

Unfortunately, when Xi Lu went to a psychiatric hospital, her boyfriend's childhood friend happened to see her. She pulled a whole stunt, spreading the news around campus that Xi Lu was crazy, then showed up with her boyfriend to check on her.

Exhausted after a whole day of people pointing at her, Xi Lu went home. After taking her medicine, she realized she still didn't feel any better.

Pillow Number One bounced angrily up and down on the sofa. "Break up with him already, Lulu! Damn that couple! Once I get free of the plot, I'll make them pay for you right away!"

Xi Lu hesitated. "Is my subconscious telling me that I should break up with him...?"

"Break up."

Pillow Number Two bent its two feet around, barely managing to cross its chubby pointed ends, like a domineering CEO deep in thought.

"I've already told you we're reborn. You and he won't have a happy ending. He and his childhood friend will have a passionate, tragic romance, and you'll just be a tool they use to torment each other. In the end, you'll even die in a car crash because of them."

Xi Lu stared at it, dazed. "So cute... Was this pillow always this cute?"

"Lulu, be good."

Pillow Number Three bounced over gently and stuck itself to her head, patting her gently. "We can't break free of the plot for now, and we can't control our actions. We can only briefly possess your pillows to talk to you. This isn't a hallucination."

Xi Lu: "Mm..."

Xi Lu pulled the pillow off her head, turned around, washed up, and went to bed. "I just took my medicine. Let's see if it works tomorrow."

She casually grabbed a pillow, hugged it like an octopus, and prepared to sleep.

But the pillow in her arms first turned bright red, then grew hot as if it had been boiled. Next, it turned into a man so shy that smoke seemed to be rising from his cheeks. The other two pillows pounced on him jealously, trying to smother him to death.

"...A person just appeared out of nowhere?"

Xi Lu was genuinely a little scared now. "If this is real, it sounds even more terrifying than being mentally ill..."

Theme: Love can cross species boundaries