Private Finished I'm Vlad to See You Again

Going out to a café felt a little much just to receive a hat from Shiro, but Konpeitō didn't have the right to be picky. He was so busy with donating, TWIS, and now his new work schedule, if he cut out his social life he would lose his mind. Hanging out with someone he liked was the change of pace he needed. Also, who could resist free stuff? It was only right to be polite when receiving something for free.

The café was pastel goth-themed that was getting more traction as Halloween neared. In general, it was popular with the goth crowd and served food for people-eaters. It was one of Kon's favorites, and it shared enough of Shiro's aesthetic that he figured she would appreciate it. He already had food set in front of him. A parfait with strawberry, blueberries, and graham crackers sprinkled on it. Next to it was some cookies with spider-webbing frosting. When he saw Shiro, he waved her over with a spoon in his mouth.

Kon had spotted Shiro outside and ended up confused. Was she wearing sunglasses? In this fall weather? And what was with that hop? Completely un-catlike. An embarrassment to her people, he joked to himself. Despite starting off on a weird note, Shiro seemed fine enough once in the shop, other than ordering strong coffee.

"Don't go overboard there. Wouldn't like you to drop dead from coffee overdose." he joked, trying to hide genuine concern with a humorous tone.

"Anyway, what else am I supposed to do in a café? If I waited around too long without ordering, I'd make the staff anxious." He chuckled and took a bite out of his cookie. After swallowing, he continued. "Yeah, I like this place. I've been too busy to come around here regularly. I got promoted at work, so I've been in overdrive mode." His colors slowly brightened when he mentioned that.

There was one other thing he found odd about Shiro, which he chalked up to his excitement over his schedule change: her smell. She didn't smell... right. But a lot of people didn't always have the same smell. Their natural smell was usually recognizable under the soap and perfume they would put on, but things changed. That might have been what was happening to Shiro. Puberty could do weird things too.

Kon jokingly rolled his eyes at Shiro's speech about the wonders of caffeine. He wasn't her parent. He wasn't going to lecture her. It wasn't a big deal to him anyway, just something small to tease her about.

Or maybe it should be a bigger deal. Shiro was talking about his promotion, but Konpeitō was frowning. "Shiro... are you okay? Your eyes. They're red. If this was a bad day to call you out, I could have rescheduled."

While talking about her eyes, his eyes focused on her mouth. Were her teeth sharper? He squinted, not caring if he was looking weird to Shiro. She was a cat, and cats had sharp canines. Nevertheless, Shiro seemed different in small ways. What was ignorable and what wasn't? While thinking, his body's colors dulled back to normal.

The joke didn't exactly fly over Kon's head. It was more like he picked it up and threw it over his shoulder. A mixture of a concerned and annoyed frown replaced his usual cheery exterior.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't meet my concerns with a joke," he said sternly. Shiro was a child. He understood that. But it'd be a lie to say that Konpeitō cared. His years on the internet made him think that if kids wanted to hang out with adults, they needed to accept how adults acted.

"And I'm not sure. You've been... different since I've seen you. You're wearing sunglasses outside, you almost fell before entering here, and your eyes are red. That could be the migraine, sure. But I swear your teeth are sharper and... don't take this the wrong way, but you smell... off."

Was he overstepping his boundaries? An adult commenting on a kid's smell was definitely weird. For all he knew, this was a migraine paired with weird puberty stuff and he was outing Shiro on something she might be insecure about. If she wasn't insecure now, he worried he would contribute to future insecurities.

Kon still didn't look reassured, but he suspected Shiro was trying to reassure herself more. He pushed a napkin towards her to clean up the blood.

"Maybe. You should go to the nurse at school. Or talk to your power training teacher. I bet they'll know the potentials of your powers much better than you or me."

He sighed and leaned back in the chair. "I'm not sure how similar our shifting is. How complicated is yours? I know I have some cosmetic changes based on my emotions, but rarely anything substantial. Scent changing is on the more difficult side of shifting for me. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be considered there." All of this was to rationalize things for himself, though he was still talking to Shiro, somewhat.