The Wish That Changed My Life

Chapter 6: A difficult decision... should I leave her alone at home?

Keiji wakes up in the morning to the annoying sound of his alarm clock, which he considers his morning enemy. He finds that Sema has woken up before him and is not in the room. Before he can do anything, he leaves the room to look for her. As soon as he leaves, he spots her exiting the bathroom, standing on both feet and closing the door behind her. When she notices him, a wide smile spreads across her face and her tail starts to twitch. She runs towards him, then jumps into his arms, laughing.

"Good morning, Sema," Keiji says happily.

After meowing, Sema says, "Good morning... Se... Keiji!"

Keiji smiles even more after hearing this. He notices that Sema has washed her face just like he does, but she hasn't dried it.

Confused, Keiji says, "That's great, Sema, but... where did you learn that?"

Sema points at him and says, "Keiji!"

Keiji is surprised because he doesn't remember teaching her how to wash her face after sleeping or anything like that yet. But he does remember that Sima always watched him when he got up and went to wash his face. Even when she was a cat, she was always with him when he did his household chores. He imagines that he might see Sima doing something he usually does one day. Before doing anything, he wonders how Sima got to the sink, since she's too short to reach it.

"Tell me, Sema, how did you get to the sink?" Keiji asked.

" Si...nk?" Sema said in surprise, as if she didn't understand what he meant.

"Yes, the sink," Keiji said before pointing to her face, "the one you washed your face in."

Understanding what he meant, she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the bathroom. Once they arrived, Sema pointed to a small chair she had placed near the sink.

"Oh, so that's it, it's okay then," Keiji said reassuringly before patting Sema's head with a smile, thinking to himself, "She's learning really fast."

He grabs a towel and wipes her face while she laughs. He then goes back to the room to change his clothes and wash his face afterward. Meanwhile, Sema has come down the stairs and gone to the living room, towards one of the sofas she used to scratch when she was a cat. But as soon as she reaches out to scratch, she notices that her nails are small and fixed, and she can't hide them like she used to. She tries to scratch the sofa, but her tiny nails don't do anything. Instead, she has a strange feeling that this is a bit annoying. She stops, frowning.

Keiji asked her as he watched her after he came down the stairs, "What's the matter? Is there something wrong?"

Sema says, frowning, "... Something... Meow."

"Sorry, but now you can't scratch the couches anymore, so I can guarantee that my couch is fine." Keiji said, realizing the problem with a wry smile.

But instead of making Sema feel better, this only made her frown even more. She'd lost the ability she'd enjoyed most of the time when Keiji wasn't around.

Keiji patted her gently and said, "Don't worry. There's plenty more you can do than destroy... I mean, scratch my couch, right?"

But Sema is still frowning, so she meows back, "Meow~"

Keiji says, "Come on now, let's stop frowning and be a little optimistic." But Sema doesn't respond. He thinks, "Hey, is this all because she lost her long, sharp cat nails? She seems a little... more complicated than I expected." He picks her up like his own baby and says, with a warm smile, "Let's leave this for later. Let's go have our breakfast, okay?"

Her frown softens a little, and she holds onto Keiji tightly, as if afraid he might accidentally drop her.

Keiji laughs and says to Sema, "Don't worry. I'll never drop you!" Then he says to himself, "Isn't she very cute with those expressions?"

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After eating their morning meal, which was two omelets with grated cheese and black pepper, an apple split between them, two cups of milk with two loaves of whole-grain bread, Keiji noticed that Sema was eating these foods normally, even though she smelled them before she started eating them. She sneezed after smelling the black pepper and moved away a little, thinking it was something dangerous, but Keiji convinced her otherwise. She also ate the half apple he gave her normally after he removed the seeds from it for her. Although she hesitated a little before starting to eat her whole-grain bread, she eventually ate it, so Sema's first morning breakfast passed normally without any problems.

After washing the dishes, Keiji decides to skip school today as well in order to continue teaching Sema some words. He is also thinking about teaching her some adjectives, pronouns, etc. for today, in addition to the way and places of their use. However, there was something on his mind, and it was the club. He knows that he won't be harmed if he misses it, but he has an excellent reputation there and doesn't want to spoil it. As for school, today he is supposed to leave early because he has free time. Instead of leaving at 3 or 4 pm, he will leave at 2 pm. He also told Sally to tell her whether he will go today or not, because she is with him in the same club and will come to him early today. Despite all this thinking, he begins to teach Sema, and the tension never leaves him.

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After hours of teaching, Sema improved and impressed Keiji, just as she had done yesterday, with her rapid learning and comprehension. However, Keiji was still preoccupied with whether or not to go to the club. If he went, he'd constantly worry about Sema, but he'd still attend. On the other hand, if he stayed with Sema, he wouldn't have to worry about her. However, he'd miss the club, which was one of the places where he felt a sense of comfort. He also loved going there because it was bustling with activity and like-minded people.

Sema approached him after watching him in silence and wonder, then asked him, using a new word she'd learned just today, "Keiji... thinks?"

Keiji smiled and nodded, "Yes, I think."

Sema tilted her head and tried to use the pronoun she'd heard and learned today, "I... think?"

Keiji laughed a little and then said, "Almost! When you talk about yourself, you say 'I think,' and when you talk about me, you say 'Keiji thinks.'"

Sema repeated slowly, "I think... Keiji thinks..." Then she smiled enthusiastically and said, "Sema thinks?!"

Keiji smiled and patted her head, then said, "Well done! That's right!"

Sema was delighted, but his anxiety was slightly reduced, given Sema's quick learning style.

He thought, "Maybe... maybe I can go to the Environment Club today..."

Minutes later, the doorbell rings.

Sema says happily, raising her hands, "Sally!"

Keiji responds with an annoyed expression, "Who else...?"

He goes to open the door. Of course, it's Sally, who doesn't look upset or frowning this time, as she expected him to miss school today as well.

"I can't say I didn't expect you to be absent, but as for the club... have you decided?" Sally says with the same expression.

Keiji thinks for a moment, then looks at Sema, who has come to greet Sally, happy to see her. He places his hands on Sema's shoulders, a serious expression on his face, and says, "Dear Sema, I'm leaving with Sally for the club, and I won't be long, okay?"

Sema looked at him in surprise before her expression changed to happiness and optimism, saying, "Okay!"

Keiji was delighted after hearing this response, while Sally was impressed by Sema's rapid development in such a short period of time. Keiji went to change into his official club clothes and then returned to head with Sally to the club.

Before leaving, he said to Sema, "I'm going to the Environmental Club now. I'll be back later. Don't open the door for anyone, don't go near the window, and stay away from the kitchen. I can trust you, right?"

Sema meowed before saying excitedly, "Sema... trust her... you can trust her!"

Keiji was delighted. Before leaving with Sally, he looked at Sema, who had a smile on her face, even though she looked as if she hadn't fully understood the conversation and was trying to process what was being said. He didn't want to leave her alone, but he felt he couldn't continue missing out on his normal life.

He took a deep breath and finally said, "Okay... I'll go." Then he closed the door and went with Sally towards the Environment Club while Sema sat in front of the door and the smile that was on her face a little while ago disappeared.

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The Sixth chapter has ended