“Tanji, this is Mia.” Michael presented his roommate with the small creature, carefully cupping her in his palm. “She will be our new guest.” 

Tanji looked up from the old television set, lazily flipping over to her back before standing up. Her ears perked up as she noticed the fragile form currently taking a shy glance at her. 

“Hello!” Mia finally forced herself to speak, bowing down in front of the cat woman. “I am pleased to meet your master!” She shut her eyes, bowing even deeper. 

“I am not her master.” He dismissed. His “pet” was already laughing at the notion. “And I am not yours either." He said, turning towards Mia."Tanji, Mia is a girl from one of the clubs. She was a…dancer.”

A shadow loomed over Mia as Tanji approached, sniffing her. As she often did, Mia stood there paralyzed, glancing at Mike as if expecting him to do something. 

“Umm…” It looked like Tanji wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words in english.

Seeing her struggle, Mike took out his phone, opening the translator app. In her hands, the small screen appeared like a tablet. “Write what you want to say here, okay?”

After several loud taps against the glass, a text-to-speech sound rang across the room. “WHORE.” Tanji laughed while both Mike and Mia remained flabbergasted. “WHORE. WHORE. WHORE. WHORE.” She was spamming the audio button, with the same artificial voice repeating the phrase. 

Mia began tearing up again, with Mike quickly snatching away the phone. “Not funny.”

The man stood up, walking over to the fridge. “Empty again, damn.” He stared into the familiar icy wasteland. “I am heading out to get something to eat.” It was good that all the women he picked up so far could easily fit into a shoebox since his wallet could likely not afford bigger appetites. That being said, Tanji was already eating for a full person despite being less than a half of one. He hoped that Mia was a bit more reserved. “Tan-Tan, Mia is only with us until I manage to contact her owner. Just be nice, play nice, whatever-” 

Oddly enough, there was no sound of the mouse declaring that she wanted to stay with him forever. Looking back, he noticed that Mia was missing. Only Tanji was sitting on the bed now, twiddling her thumbs. She did a very poor job of looking innocent, Her cheeks were puffed as if she was holding a large candy in them, and Mike could see something round swapping places between them - left, right, left, right. 

“Tanji…where is Mia…” 

The Neko looked up, a large bead of sweat forming on her forehead. 

“Tanji…did you…”

Mia felt herself being thrown around from cheek to cheek, her entire body coated in a thick layer of spit. The rough surface of Tanji's tongue grazed against her body, overwhelming the woman. From every direction, the muscles of the cat’s mouth pressed against her, squeezing Mia’s entire body. It was warm in here - the air feeling stale. As Tanji was keeping her mouth closed, the poor mouse could feel herself slowly beginning to asphyxiate. The only thing saving her from being eaten was the fact that the nekomimi liked playing with her food. 

Not wasting any time, Mike ran up to the cat woman, just in time to see her gracefully leap away atop his old TV set - the box still blaring out information about the weather. 

“GET BACK HERE!” He shouted, pouncing at Tanji. As always, the cat was quicker, now jumping over to the counter. Mia could feel herself slipping deeper, her legs now dangling above her gullet. She did her best to hold on, but she was soaked. 

Tanji stopped, feeling something lodged in her throat. This was not what she planned. She could feel herself choking on the fresh food, but still kept her mouth closed so as to not allow the fresh meat to run away. 

This was his chance. Running up behind the cat girl, Mike lifted her plump little form, placing her in a Heimlich maneuver. In many ways, it was like wrestling with the oversized teddy bear he had as a child.

Like a wet, slippery missile, Mia was flung across the room. She hit her head against the wall, falling down onto the bed’s pillow. Mike carefully lowered Tanji’s body before running over to her, picking up the battered mouse. Although dazed, she was still conscious - just barely.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!” He walked over to Tanji, seeing her spread on the floor with her belly up.

“Hungry…” She whispered as if that was any excuse. 

“I will get you your damn food." He glared. "I am leaving.” Michael pocketed the little woman into his bag after wrapping her in a napkin, hoping to at least get some of the saliva off her. “Don’t leave the apartment. If Miss Chen comes, don’t say anything.” His voice sounded angrier than usual. Trying to eat someone was hardly appropriate. He just hoped that Mia would take it well (who was he kidding, of course she wouldn’t).

He shut the door behind him, leaving the Neko to watch the news by herself. 

A few hours later, Michael left the pet store. Having just purchased some food for Tanji and Mia, he noticed his own stomach rumbling. It was good that his parents sent him some extra cash since there was a pizza place around the corner. And just 15 minutes later, he was out on the street again - a warm pie in his hands. 

“I just hope they eat the food I got them.” He looked towards the cans. “Otherwise, I have the feeling that the two will devour the pizza without me.” The clerk was very vague about whether the animal girls ate actual animal food, and it was not like Mike knew any better

Up the street, Michael saw people stampeding in his general direction. It was like watching a pack of wild animals move past him, with people knocking over stuff in the narrow city street. “What is it now?” He tried looking towards the source, a sea of heads washing past him. “Is there some kind of deal going on?” Although he said it as a joke, a deal this good demanded his attention. But what he saw chasing those people was not a deal, but a creature. 

An 8 ft tall behemoth was rapidly approaching him. It must have been one of those creatures; the same type he saw in the club. This one was slightly smaller and had a different idea of what “crushing his head” entailed. 2 canine ears flapped in the wind, matching her long, black braided hair. Her eyes were amber, with the pupils contracting to almost a needle-sized point. She had a bright yellow collar with a bone charm around her neck made from some type of resistant material considering it hadn't snapped during the rampage. A similar substance was likely used in the creation of her white sports bra - the poor thing was working overtime, preventing her goods from spilling out for the public to see. 

From his point of view, she looked less like a woman and more like a dog-shaped bulldozer. 

She turned to Michael, scrunching her nose. “I CAN SMELL THE BITCH ON YOU. WHERE IS SHE?” The woman growled, presenting her ivory-white teeth. "WHERE IS THAT FELINE FUCK!"

His fight-or-flight response kicked in. Fortunately, he always picked flight, with the man running down the nearly empty streets for his life -  pizza raised above his head with the same attention mothers give to their newborns. After having recovered slightly a few minutes ago, Mia's face lost all its color again as the mouse was thrown around the bag's interior like some loose change. 

“Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!” Her large feet continued thudding against the concrete in the distance, signifying that she was getting closer. Michael continued running, taking a left and squeezing his way through a narrow alleyway. She thrashed at him, not falling too far behind. Her large size made it difficult for her to squeeze through, buying him some time. Looking back, Michael could see her muscular arms pressing against the brick walls, leaving small dents in them as she huddled her way across. 

The man caught his breath, adrenaline still swirling through his brain. A black car slowly rolled its way in front of him. Michael tried peeking inside, but the tainted window prevented him from taking a proper look. He knocked on the car’s door, looking back as the amazonian wolf was on the edge of reaching the street. “You gotta get out of here. There is this woman-” Before he could even finish, 2 men dressed in red business suits exited the vehicle, forcing him inside. 

The inside of the car was warmed, with the comfortable seats and darkened light really setting the atmosphere. It was a shame that Mike could not appreciate it. 

“Listen, you don’t want my kidneys! I eat a lot of salt!” He assumed a defensive position, carefully settling himself across the entourage on the leather car seat. 

There was a moment of silence as the passengers stared at each other. 

A shape moved in the shadows, pointing towards a collection of soda cans. “Those are mine. You can have a cup of water from the mini-fridge.”