Primals (Reverse Harem 1)

every now and then with wonder, her lips curving up into a smile or parting to let out a gasp.

Strange, I think as I scratch my chin, there doesn’t seem to be anything special about her.

By that, I mean there’s nothing non-human about her. She looks like a human, and without much fashion sense at that. She smells like a human, though maybe in need of a shower. She’s even gullible like a human, like a kid. I just told her that I was a graduate student with a project that required showing a foreigner around for a day and she eagerly went with me. If I had the same dark intentions as the ones I sensed off the Cat that was following her back in Saitama, she’d be dead.

As it is, my intentions are more of a curious nature. I was there the night they cornered Noboru. Stupid Cat. I saw this Clarissa with a Wolf and a Bear. Very curious. I also heard something about artificial primals and given the circumstances, I suspect she’s one.

I just don’t know which primal she’s an artificial copy of. Cat? Bear? Wolf? Rodent? Deer? Bat?

So I intend to find out by playing a little game.

I love games.

As the train stops at the next station and the doors slide open, I call her name.

“Clarissa!”

She follows me out the train, stepping onto the platform in a lively manner.

“That was fun,” she says, smiling. “So, where are we going, Toshi?”

I grin. “I have a few places in mind.”

AOYAMA CEMETERY. GOTOKUJI. Akihabara. The Tokyo Snake Center. The Imperial Palace. Tsukiji Fish Market.

I can’t believe we’ve managed to visit all those in one day. Now, we’re at our last stop – Tokyo Tower.

And still, I haven’t figured out what race Clarissa belongs to.

She doesn’t seem to talk to the dead. She seems to like cats. She’s not scared of snakes. She doesn’t mind open spaces or closed spaces like that karaoke room or crowds or flashing lights. She likes seafood but doesn’t drool over it like I do.

What she does mind are loud music and that natto shop but then, most of us hate that because of our keen sense of hearing and smell. It doesn’t exactly narrow down the list. Besides, even many humans tend not to like those.

For all I know, she might just be an ordinary human, a fact I should find incredibly boring. I took her on this expedition expecting a little fun and so far things have been...well, at least not that ordinary. In the past few hours that I’ve accompanied her around the city, heard her laughter and gasps, answered her numerous questions or simply watched her as her face went from shock to awe to excitement to joy to confusion to disgust to loneliness as she took in every experience, I have to admit I find her fascinating.

And I’ve watched a lot of humans. We Cats make a habit of it. With most, we get bored. Easily.

Today, there was never a boring moment.

“The views from here are so amazing,” she gasps, her eyes fixed on the horizon. “Come see.”

She crooks a hand at me, but I shake my head. “It’s okay. Just enjoy.”

She nods, turning her head back to the scenery. “Right. You’ve seen the views already. You’ve probably been here so many times.”

“More times than I can count,” I confess. “It’s one of my favorite spots in Tokyo, next to the Tsukiji Market that is.”

“So, you’ve lived here in Japan all your life?”

“I’ve traveled before...”

“That’s why you’re good in English.”

“That helped, as well as Hollywood movies.”

She turns to me with raised eyebrows. “Really?”

I nod. “But Japan is my home.”