“Why? It’s a dump anyway.” She asked, looking down at her waste-disposal areas.

“And that’s why you can’t make it any worse!” The landlord snapped before checking her phone. “Sorry, I have to go.”

The catgirl smiled as the landlord slammed the door on her way out, folded her arms, and leaned against a wall on the floor lazily.

“Sure, I won’t go on the floor…maybe.” She chuckled.

Mike felt his heart drop to his stomach, then up to his brain before settling back in its rightful place. After remembering he wasn’t a cartoon character, he started panicking and rushed to stuff all his things in a tiny suitcase even though he would never be able to fit everything in there.

The catgirl shamelessly farted loudly, then her stomach grumbled.

“Wonder if there’s any grub in here.” She remarked, making her way for the kitchen.

Mike was trying to squeeze the suitcase shut with a messy fraction of his stuff inside when the door swung open and he was left staring at his new roommate. As terrified as he was, Mike couldn’t help but admire just how hot, albeit ungraceful, this catgirl really was.

“P-please don’t me…” He whimpered, that being all he could manage to get out.

The catgirl stared at him for a second, then casually reached her hand inside and grabbed a fistful of his food stores instead, popping it in her mouth sloppily before lounging on the floor and chewing rudely.

“Ha, chase a mouseboy when there’s piles of stationary food sitting around?” She asked lazily with her mouth full. “GULP! Too much effort.”

Mike watched this hot, hungry monster devour his hard-earned food stores rapidly like it was just casual snacking, but didn’t dare object, just grateful HE wasn’t joining it on its way to her noisy stomach.

Mike mumbled fearfully for words, then noticed to his horror that he was still wearing only underwear, blushing deeply as he covered his bulge. It sure didn’t help his embarrassment when the catgirl suddenly decided to pull down her pants and chuck them across the room, leaving her underwear exposed as well.

“BURP! I fucking HATE wearing pants.” She stated, rolling her eyes as she popped a new handful of Mike’s stores in her mouth. “So, you’re my roommate, right?”

Mike cowered shyly and fearfully, struggling to answer.

“N-no…y-YES! I MEAN YES!” He shouted.

“Oh, good! GULP! This means I’ll have to work even less.” The catgirl responded, popping yet another handful in her mouth.

“GAH! WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?! I’M JUST A LITTLE MOUSEBOY! HOW CAN SHE EXPECT ME TO BRING IN A SALARY OF HUMAN MONEY?!” Mike thought.

“BURP! You know, this stuff ain’t bad.” The catgirl stated, reaching for another handful, only to realize she had just swallowed the last bite.

Her stomach rumbled seconds later.

“You got more?” She asked casually.

Mike froze.

“She ate all my food in one sitting and her stomach hasn’t even stopped growling? She’s not fat and clearly lazy, so where does it even go?” He asked himself.

“Should be somewhere in the huge pile of shit I lay before bed tonight.” The catgirl answered shamelessly.

Mike just realized he had been speaking out loud, swiftly clasping his hands over his mouth. Then, the catgirl farted again, the kitchen floor her butt was pressed against only amplifying the sound.

“Speaking of shits, I think I use one right now…but then I’d be even hungrier. What a drag.” She sighed.

She then unempathetically reached her hand towards Mike, nearly scaring him to death before putting in a handshake position.

“So, I guess we should introduce ourselves and all that crap. I’m Katie. How about you?” She asked.

Mike swallowed hard but calmed down a bit as he forced himself to shyly shake her hand. Or rather, the tip of her index finger, which was the most of his tiny hands could do.

“M-M-Mike.” He replied.

Katie’s stomach grumbled again, then to Mike’s horror; she grabbed a handful of his comic book collection.

“Say, Mike, don’t they say that in desperate times, you can eat paper?” She asked, bringing to her mouth.

Mike truly believed you could only feel like you had a heart attack so many times before you actually collapsed dead, but that didn’t stop him.

“S-STOP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW VALUABLE MY COLLECTION IS! IT TOOK ME YEARS-!” He yelled desperately, only for Katie to cup her hand over her mouth and let the books fall in.

“GULP! Valuable? They’re all about to be one of my turds. And don’t blame me for how you’ve wasted your life.” Katie chuckled as she grabbed another handful.

“N-NO!” Mike shouted, trying to run after them, but clumsily tripping and falling instead, his glasses skidding across the floor.

“You care about your nerdy crap that much?” Katie chuckled harder, picking him up as he put his glasses back on and holding him up to her mouth, her rancid breath assaulting his nose, being about ten times worse than the catgirl who tried to eat him last night. “Well, my nasty gut needs something to eat, so would you be willing to help fill it instead?”

A shiver ran down Mike’s spine.

“Ha, you’re pathetic.” Katie chuckled, noticing him on the verge of throwing up. “That smell will be a hundred times worse at the bottom of my throat.”

“W-would you digest me?” Mike mumbled weakly.

Katie paused, then slowly started laughing, dropping her handful of comics, and standing back up.

“You’d jump through the gates of Hell over a pile of old comics? Grow up and learn some priorities; you’ll live longer.” She laughed, reaching down her panties to retrieve the first handful of comics she grabbed; having only pretended to eat them before placing them safely back in Mike’s cupboard.

Mike was at a loss for words despite his massive relief.

“D-DON’T EVEN JOKE ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!” He finally snapped, pounding pathetically on Katie’s fist as she stretched and yawned dismissively.

“Alright, let’s go to the grocery store.” She decided with an eyeroll.

“P-PROMISE YOU’LL N-NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!” Mike commanded nervously.

“Meh, I don’t like making promises. They’re a drag.” Katie responded teasingly.

*

Mike’s apartment was no longer his, but a catgirl’s whom he only just met. Would he end up as a friend? A pet? A slave? …A turd in her kitty box? Perhaps at some other specific point on the spectrum of his possible fates? Nonetheless, his wellbeing, possessions, and even his life were now completely at her mercy. And as practical as it may seem for a tiny mouseboy or mousegirl to have accepted such helplessness long ago, Mike simply couldn’t live with that.

“No matter what she’s like, I could never feel comfortable with someone who could instantly decide to ruin or end my life without consequence.” Mike thought, sighing. “I suppose there’s a reason why intelligent people tend to be less happy: Because we know too much about the cruel realties of the world and cannot experience the bliss of false security.”

“Okay, if I buy you some cheese or something, will you forget that stupid comic book joke?” Katie asked with annoyance.

Mike sighed again but didn’t respond.

“A-all those… (GULP!) …p-papers a-about catgirls pretending to be kind to mice for weeks, months or even longer before finally killing or enslaving them…” He continued thinking, swallowing hard. “The human in catgirls may give them a partial ability to place reason and morality above their basic instincts, but that doesn’t erase the instincts, so why should I expect her to resist for the sake of a helpless little mouseboy like me? I-in a-all probability, the combination of her cat instincts and human intelligence will just make her want to toy with her prey in a much longer and more complex way than a real cat. Just like all the others…”

Katie smiled naughtily, as she was in thought too.

“I can feel him trembling in my hands.” She thought. “Little does he know that I save my strength for humans and other catgirls who make my life a drag, not some little runt quietly living in my cupboard.”

Katie’s belly then rumbled again, and she started rubbing it with one of her hands.

“But I guess I could use a little nerd to shit out; I just set my old snack slave free after she wouldn’t stop WHINING about our little agreement. She was supposed to be my snack slave for nine years to make up for waking me up from my afternoon nap, but no! “Wah, it’s too nasty in your stomach!” “Wah, you’ve eaten me almost every day for the past five years!” Like, didn’t she realize that she was a snack SLAVE? That means I get to eat you WHENEVER I want. The only thing in my life that annoyed me more is when she THANKED me for releasing her. I released her because I couldn’t stand the racket she made in my gut, not because I felt sorry for that stupid baby. I ordered her to be my snack slave for nine years and she only did five. I like to imagine she’s out there somewhere, sobbing furiously over how selfish she is.”

Mike looked up at Katie shyly and shielded his face fearfully when he saw her smiling, which only widened her smile.

“No matter. Not like she was perfect anyway; they say the easiest prey a catgirl can get is a snack slave, but even with her, I had to go through all the WORK of not only walking to a cage, but also UNLOCKING it every time I wanted a snack.” She thought, licking her lips. “But you, you won’t need a cage. Because you’ll simply hop in my mouth whenever I call your name.”