Leda stopped, her head snapping towards the direction of rustling bushes. She just managed to see a cat’s tail disappearing into the bushes. “So you do have a cat,” she smiled to herself, then added: “Neko da.” She’d heard the meowing at night outside her room, and the servants explained there was a cat living in the garden Bennosuke had forbidden them from chasing away. But until now, she’d seen no physical evidence that it existed. “You’re not getting away without a proper introduction!”

         She jumped from the raised walkway unto the soft dirt of the garden floor. A shriek of alarm followed her, Tsukihana horrified that she would walk on the ground without her wooden geta &...

Please subscribe to keep reading.