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Yeah, sure. I'm in front of the waiting room of the psychiatric ward. See you soon!

[ He'll hang up and wait for Kido... ]

[ It'll take a couple minutes to get down there, most of which was spent herding cats because Kido doesn't trust them to follow after her like Terry's do. One of the nurses gave her two cloth bags to use as cat carriers for the time being so they don't run around and cause trouble in a hospital, so that's what Kido tows them down with, glad that they're still tiny kittens and not full grown cats.

When Kido gets down to the ward, she hands Terry one of the bags full of cat. Shh, they're sleeping inside. ]

[ He's about to greet her when he sees her, until he sees... a bag? He peeks inside to find the kittens there and has a look of realization across his face that he shouldn't be so loud. ]

Should we drop them off first?

[ Kitten sleep more than half the day already, so they'll nod off again even if they're roused; they're pretty forgiving, seeing as Kido doesn't really bother keeping her voice down at all. Having one hand free means she can cradle the bag with the two kittens in her arms instead of having them hang by her side. ]

Yeah, we probably should. Hopefully Ami's around and willing to look after them. Did everything go okay?

Yeah, it went okay. I'd say it was a productive session... mostly anyway. I didn't really feel connected with the therapist. I dunno if that's normal or not.

[ But then, he's not human and the people here just handwave whatever seems weird, so... ]

I wouldn't know either... but as long as it's productive, that's a good thing.

[ She doesn't ask any further questions, after looking Terry over and deciding that he seems just fine. Talking about your problems sounds exhausting, so instead of putting Terry through an extended therapy session the entire way home, Kido points to the five kittens and names them one by one: ]

This is Saki, Kouji, Ren... And these two are Hana-chan, and Aiko.

[ This is how she spent her hour alone, and also she cannot tell any of the five kittens apart yet, so their names are interchangeable until she can, haha. ]

[ Honestly, Terry would have to do pinpointing to tell them apart too. There doesn't seem to be any real difference between the kittens other than how they act. They're technically strays, so it doesn't feel right that they get collars. ]

Those are cute names, Kido... you picked well. But why does one have an honorific while the others don't?

[ ... ]

Is that the one that was really friendly to you?

[ I love that Terry respects his cats' freedoms and lets them be friendly strays, while Mondo is dedicated to building his cats their own beds and getting each a cute collar with studs or ties. ]

Yeah. ...I think.

[ They're all asleep so she can't tell haha but if they were awake, it's the one that bumped her hand first for pets and that's deserving of an honorific. ]

Anyways, Hana-chan is Hana-chan for the same reason you're T-chan.

[ Because it just is, don't question it, Terry. Hana-chan is somehow cuter than just plain Hana, or something. ]

[ It looks like he's come to an understanding of that. He hasn't used honorifics for anyone unless he's forced to at work, so it's been another cultural shift for him. ]

I get it. That's cute though, isn't it? A flower with a flower. It suits you.

[ It's cute and the name suits the kitten, but Kido doesn't really feel that the same applies her, glaring at Terry instead of giving him a proper response, mumbling something about kittens being cute by default, but also that they're Terry's cats and he's responsible, although she'll help him out.

Just not now, because she holds the second bag out for him to take. It's punishment for being embarrassing, even though Terry can handle a couple extra pounds of kitten with no problem. ]

[ At least she knows that he's completely sober this time and not under any other influence when he says such sappy things to her. Terry takes the second bag of kittens, still smiling. ]

If you combine the names, you'd probably get something like "Hanami" and I'm sure you can spell that like "beautiful flower".

[ Maybe his therapist drugged him, she doesn't know!! ]

I guess... Why would you combine the names, though? What's the point?

Because they do that with small groups of pairs, don't they?

[ His logic here is that meshing names is cute anyway, so why not. ]

It's fun making up names... [ If it's not as important, as... say, the hirajiro mystery gang. ]

You mean pairing names, like for your fanfiction.

[ That's a thing she knows of, but not any other time you'd mash two names together, especially not a person's and a cat's ]

I told you I don't write those!

[ KIDO....... this is going to be recurring thing, isn't it? ]

... And what's a pairing name?

[ Yeah ]

A pairing name is sort of what you did, splicing two people's names together, so you can refer to them by one name instead of two. So, for Souji and Minato, it would be something like... MinaSou?

[ Would Kido know any of this, I don't know, but Mary is into this sort of thing so I'd imagine it's been mentioned at one point or another ]

[ naruhodo

He learns new things every day. ]

They sound like new names. Like... actual names.

[ please don't naruhodo this, Terry... ]

That's the point. Anyways, let's not talk about them anymore. It's kind of weird.

[ It edges too close to real person fanfiction and she doesn't want to go there ]

[ He's been saying that he doesn't like doing that kind of stuff, Kido! AAAAAAaaaaaa ]

Okay.

[ At least the house is right there. ]

Let me drop the cats off and we can go to an arcade.

[ There's "doesn't like" and "doesn't do," which one's the truth ]

Sure, I'll wait outside.

[ The arcade's a surprising choice- but at the same time, it's a very normal one. She suposses that's what people do when they hang out, stop by the arcade after school and stuff, but there were always games back home if they felt like playing anything, so she rarely ever goes outside to an actual arcade. ]

[ You know the truth... is in your heart...

Terry goes into the house and comes back out shortly after. It's time to get a normal slice of the normal life, Kido. ]

Let's go!

[ ... With one of the most abnormal guys here. ]

[ My heart is full of concern for Terry all the time

Kido breathes a laugh when Terry comes out acting like a little kid, and she holds her hand to him. ]

Someone's excited. But let's take our time and walk, instead of zooming straight there.

[ Because that would be an immediate end to a normal slice of the normal life, if Terry were to pick her up and run 80mph to the arcade, please don't ruin this ]

[ Terry immediately holds Kido's hand and swings it a little on their way to the arcade. They're walking in normal speeds, like she requested. ]

Of course I'd be excited! Why wouldn't I be?

Most people don't get this excited unless they've never been to an arcade before, or they're five.

[ She's going to assume he's been to one before, not like with the festivals where he was so excited to go to every one of them, even if they all turned out to be pretty similar in the end. ]

You're calling me five...

[ Even the one time he looked like a kid, he didn't look THAT young... and yet... ]

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