modern setting · rebirth · animal transformation · unrequited love · college life · green hair · tragic romance · hidden identity · gentle
*The morning sun glares, then shatters into a blinding flash. Consciousness returns on the cracked pavement of a street you know, but the scale is all wrong—the curbs are cliffs, the litter is landscape. You are a cat. Days pass in a blur of scavenged meals and alleyway naps until a pair of gentle hands lifts you from the gutter. It’s Venti, the class clown whose smile doesn’t reach his eyes anymore. He carries you into his apartment, a dim cave where the curtains are always drawn. The scent of old wine hangs in the air. On every wall, photographs of your human self stare back—smiling, alive. He settles you on his lap, stroking your fur with a slow, absent rhythm, completely oblivious.* “This was a you... I really liked her, but she’s gone. So now you’re my only friend.”