Across from the Yokohama Ferris wheel, on the twentieth floor of a high-rise, sat a cat café overlooking the city.
Asou Akiya and Randou were there to admire the night view.
Compared to Asou Akiya—who was warmly welcomed by the cats, to the point that his knees, thighs, and even shoulders seemed to sprout cats like some sort of feline habitat—Randou's reaction was markedly restrained. His demeanor was cool and distant, mirroring that of a proud, aloof ragdoll cat sprawled lazily in its nest, radiating an air of elegant indifference.
When Asou Akiya heard Randou sneeze for the second time, he immediately handed him a napkin without a word.
Randou covered his nose and said in a muffled voice, "Akiya, the smell of cats is too strong."
The café kept nearly twenty cats. Its hygiene was impeccable. The floors were polished to a shine, ventilation was excellent, and there was no visible mess anywhere. Unfortunately, Randou was a Frenchman with extraordinarily sharp senses. The moment he stepped into the café, he sensed trouble. He felt as though he were being engulfed by layers upon layers of feline scent, with an elusive yet unmistakable odor from the litter boxes mixed in.
That smell… was more than he could endure.
"I'm sorry, Randou." Asou Akiya clasped his hands together apologetically toward his lover. He had made the reservation on his own initiative, without fully considering this possibility.
"It's all right," Randou replied, not daring to touch his coffee cup for fear that stray cat hair might drift into it.
"I wanted to talk to you about something," Asou Akiya said, a trace of helplessness in his voice, "but it ended up like this. I guess it's a bit of a failure."
He stood up, walked over to the café's young proprietress, and paid an extra fee, asking her to put all the cats that were roaming freely back into their enclosures.
The cats' affection toward Asou Akiya: -10
In the end, only one remained in the café—a twenty-kilogram, seal-like, bicolor ragdoll cat.
Asou Akiya picked it up separately, ignoring its clear desire to escape, and returned to their seat by the floor-to-ceiling window.
Randou's breathing finally steadied. He reached out curiously and stroked the beautiful cat, whose appearance fit his aesthetic perfectly. "So," he asked gently, "what did you want to talk to me about, Akiya?"
The ragdoll cat looked aloof and untouchable at first glance, radiating the cool pride of a creature convinced it ruled the world, yet after struggling halfheartedly for a moment, it quickly surrendered.
It lay nestled between Asou Akiya's arms.
Asou Akiya reached out and scratched gently beneath the cat's chin. "Ah, well… you remember that little kitten I mentioned before, right? The one I ran into last time?"
Randou nodded, treating the word "kitten" as though it were purely literal and definitely not referring to a human being. "Go on," he said lightly. "Was it good-looking?"
At that question, Asou Akiya broke into a cold sweat. "It was very cute," he admitted honestly. "It recently lost its parents and has been wandering around Yokohama all on its own. It has green eyes, and its fur is pitch-black and glossy, though it's gotten dusty from running around everywhere. It's restless, loves to explore, and overall… it's a very smart and lively little cat."
Randou shot him a glance that clearly said, continue.
Asou Akiya lifted the ragdoll cat in his arms slightly, as if attempting to sell its looks along with his story, lowering his guard and pressing on. "I made a bet with that kitten. If it could support itself for two months without relying on anyone else, I promised I would help it find a long-term owner… or else…"
Randou smoothly picked up where he left off. "Adopt it?"
Asou Akiya fell silent, visibly awkward.
Only after making the bet had it dawned on him that he had forgotten to discuss the matter with Randou first. No matter how well-intentioned his actions were, there was an undeniable hint of disrespect in making such a decision alone.
This home did not belong to Asou Akiya by himself.
"Black hair, green eyes," Randou murmured thoughtfully as he studied Asou Akiya. His own eyes shimmered with a golden-green hue, while Asou Akiya's hair and eyes were both black. In a calm, unhurried tone, he asked, "A mixed breed, or a Japanese one?"
"Japanese," Asou Akiya replied quickly, afraid of being misunderstood. "It's a kitten that lives in the sunlight, the kind that could easily be led astray. I don't want to drag it into the shadows. But just in case—no matter how unlikely—I felt I needed to tell you."
Randou considered him for a moment before replying evenly, "Do as you like."
Asou Akiya froze, convinced he had misheard. He blinked rapidly. "Randou… you agree?"
With unhurried elegance, Randou lifted a finger and pointed at the ragdoll cat nestled in Asou Akiya's arms, the cat currently acting spoiled and clingy. His tone was cool and detached as he said, "As long as it doesn't look like this."
The ragdoll cat responded immediately, stretching lazily and letting out a soft, drawn-out, "Meow—"
For a moment, Asou Akiya completely failed to grasp what his boyfriend meant.
Seeing him turn foolish at such a critical moment, Randou turned his head away, pretending to admire Yokohama's nighttime cityscape beyond the glass, the glittering lights reflecting faintly in his eyes.
"I don't like cats that are good-looking," he added calmly, "especially ones with blue eyes."
"..."
Asou Akiya froze on the spot.
At that instant, he felt as though he had picked up the wrong cat and somehow implicated an entirely different orange one instead. My child, he thought miserably, Dad is so sorry.
He made one last, feeble attempt to salvage the situation. "Randou, blue eyes are beautiful too, you know. They're like the color of the sea."
Randou snapped his head back in shock, the words bursting out of him before he could stop them.
"How many cats are you keeping outside?!"
That was that.
The topic was forcibly terminated on the spot.
Asou Akiya released the ragdoll cat, which had been petted into a state of bliss and left reluctantly, glancing back again and again. Both men composed their expressions, as though the tense exchange from moments earlier had never happened. Asou Akiya pulled over a chair and sat beside Randou, reaching out to take his hand, only for Randou to reply coolly, "Hands that have touched cats are not allowed to dirty my gloves."
Asou Akiya smiled, his emotional intelligence kicking in at full throttle. "I'll buy you a brand-new pair of gloves. Just let me hold your hand for a moment. I love you."
Randou let out a soft snort, and the sharp edge of his temperament finally melted away, loosening into something gentler.
Amid the dazzling splendor of the night, the lights of the Ferris wheel were the most captivating of all, their glow reflected clearly in the depths of both their eyes.
Everything looked unbearably beautiful.
The darkness concealed the crimes and chaos lurking beneath that brilliance, hiding them away for the time being.
Asou Akiya gazed at Randou's profile, and at the world of Bungo Stray Dogs as it had been thirteen years before the first season. Thirteen years from now, they would step into middle age, becoming figures of the same generation as Mori Ougai; by then, the future would belong to children younger than them.
Who would remember them then?
Who would carve into memory the finest versions of their youth, their faces at their most radiant, their fleeting elegance and spirit?
"Randou," Asou Akiya said quietly, "I want to commemorate the time we've spent together."
"Commemorate it how?" Randou asked. "By taking photos?"
He did not fully understand this sudden wave of sentimentality, but his sensitive nature allowed him to catch the faint trace of loneliness in Akiya's eyes. In his own way, Randou tried to comfort him—time flows on relentlessly, and no one can reclaim what has passed; all they can do is cherish the present moment.
"Taking photos is one way," Asou Akiya replied, straightening as he pulled himself together, "but I want to do something bigger."
He raised his hand and pointed toward the Ferris wheel. This amusement landmark was second only to the Port Mafia headquarters as one of Yokohama's most iconic structures.
"Randou!"
"Tonight, I want the lovers of Yokohama to remember our era!"
Asou Akiya spoke with unrestrained confidence, as if commanding the winds themselves, his posture bold and unbridled.
Randou: "???"
Asou Akiya couldn't help himself. He reached out and gently brushed aside Randou's long hair, leaning closer to look at the lover he cherished so deeply. Even Randou's confusion was adorable to him, and in those eyes lay a trust as pure and unblemished as white light itself.
"We've been together for one year," Akiya said softly, his voice carrying an almost reckless warmth, "so the Ferris wheel will offer free admission for one whole day. When we've been together for two years, it'll be free for two days. And when many more years have passed, I'll make sure that every young person who rides that Ferris wheel knows this love story of ours—so much so that they'll be jealous enough to bite their tongues in envy."
Randou burst out laughing. "So this is the method you came up with?"
He did not comment on how much money it would cost. Instead, Randou found himself fully agreeing with the idea, his smile radiant, happiness spilling out of him without restraint.
Only those who are confident in themselves dare to make promises about the future.
"Then you'd better earn a lot more money," Randou said lightly, leaning closer. "Be careful, Akiya, or I'll bankrupt you."
He closed the distance between them, pressing his lips against Akiya's.
Love was such a joyous thing. The one who tried to please their lover overflowed with tenderness, and the one being indulged felt equally delighted. This was a kind of emotion that no amount of money in the world could ever buy back. In that fleeting instant, Randou forgot the meaning of the past, forgot the missions that might exist—or might not—and chose what his French compatriots loved most of all:
A strike.
The owner of the cat café watched the two of them, already feeling envious before she could even glimpse their future.
She bent down to pick up the ragdoll cat that wandered over, silently running the numbers in her head.
"So rich…"
If love were ever to fall apart, then there could only be one reason for it—
They'd run out of money.
…
Being in love was wonderful, but the moment Randou returned home, he made a beeline straight for the bathroom and focused intensely on washing his hair.
After all, his hair had been touched by Akiya's hands—
Hands that had just been petting cats!
After carefully washing and sanitizing his hands, Asou Akiya worked up a rich lather for him, standing behind Randou as he gently massaged the foam in. With deft fingers, he even shaped two little white cat ears out of bubbles on the top of Randou's head. Randou lifted his chin slightly and, through the mirror, caught sight of the fluffy shapes perched there.
"Akiya," he said, half-amused, half-exasperated, "you really are a hopeless cat fanatic."
"The one I'm most obsessed with," Akiya replied without hesitation, his tone sweet and utterly shameless, "is this cat right here. You're the cutest long-haired cat in the entire world."
It was as if tiny pink flowers were drifting through the air around him.
Randou tilted his head. "Are you implying that I'm still missing a cat's tail?"
Akiya's eyes widened in shock.
This Frenchman…!
Randou rinsed the shampoo from his hair, letting the foam wash away, and instead of reaching for a towel, he calmly unbuttoned his shirt. The clothes he had worn outside were tossed casually into the laundry basket nearby.
"The best way to commemorate love," he said lightly, his voice carrying a dangerous calm, "isn't it to leave marks on my body?"
"As for something like a cat's tail—"
"You can just make a phone call and buy one," Randou finished matter-of-factly.
He cupped his boyfriend's face, the excitement Akiya was clearly struggling to suppress written all over his expression, and silently committed every reaction, every impulse, to memory. When he had awakened from the blank void of lost memories, the first person he saw upon opening his eyes had been Asou Akiya, the emptiness in his heart filled completely by being loved.
"Akiya," Randou asked softly, gazing at him, "now that we've been together for two years… do you love me a little more than before?"
I'm not lying to you.
And you mustn't lie to me either, Akiya.
In this world, I have only you left; my entire world is nothing but you.
...
A Season in Hell: Once, if my memory serves me well, my life was a banquet where every heart revealed itself, where every wine flowed.
— Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud