Your nekomimi poll made me think of them lol

OHMIGOSH YEYHSYEYSYES YESSS THEYRRE SOO SOSO SUPER ADORABLE!! We NEED them!! I actually have no clue how expensive they are... I hope theyre like 25$ max.... (I bet theyre like 50$)

A nekomata is a legendary two-tailed cat yōkai (supernatural spirit) from Japanese folklore. It is born when an ordinary domestic cat grows very old, large, or long-tailed, causing its tail to split in two. Unlike playful or neutral cat spirits, nekomata are known for being malicious, intelligent, and dangerous.

Request by @ladyrosalune

"What are we going to do with this?"

A deep silence had fallen over the Nekoma High Volleyball Club.

It was scorching hot that day, so seeing the boys completely exhausted, Coach Nekomata and head coach Naoi had gone out to buy them ice cream as a surprise.

In their absence, instead of behaving themselves, the team had followed a sound coming from the court and ended up in a rather strange situation...

Now, sitting quietly in Lev's lap was an orange tabby cat. Every now and then, seemingly annoyed by Lev patting its head, it would let out a small "Miuw." but it neither moved nor tried to scratch him. It was an extremely cute little thing.

"Can't we keep it?" Lev asked excitedly. He seemed to have attached himself to the cat already.

"It probably has a family or an owner, Lev don't just jump to conclusions!" Yaku frowned and let out a deep sigh. Maybe someone could take it home, but most of the team members had huge families. As for the rest, they either had family members with allergies or parents who didn't want pets.

"But it came out of Kenma-san's bag! Even if it has a family, who knows where they are?" Pouting, Lev held the cat out toward Yaku this time. The tiny creature looked so sweet, lifting a single paw to gently touch Yaku, that no one had the heart to just abandon it.

"Why don't we take care of it here?" Inuoka suggested thoughtfully. Naturally, this offer was met only with a scowl from Yamamoto. These first years were really pushing his buttons. "What, do you think we own the school or something? Do you really think the coaches will let us keep a pet here?"

"The school's name is litterally Nekoma..." Lev said glumly. If they couldn't keep a cat at this school, where else could they?

As they kept arguing among themselves and their voices grew louder, first a sigh, then a clap was heard. "Alright, I say we look after it at the club for a little while. Just for a few days. Until we think of something better."

"If it came out of Kenma's bag, we could just give it to Kenma..." Fukunaga said quietly after Kuroo spoke, turning his gaze toward the boy playing video games.

"I don't think I can take care of it, cats are too high maintenance."

And so, Kuroo's proposal was accepted, and Lev happily spun the cat around in his arms. "Yay! This is your new home. What should we name it?"

"We're not naming it, Lev; we're only keeping it temporarily." Yaku said, giving him a light kick on the butt.

"It kinda looks like Kenma..." Kuroo chuckled. The cat had gone completely limp in Lev's arms, hanging down like a noodle with its head and legs dangling.

This remark caused Kenma to pause his game for a brief moment. After staring at the cat for a bit, he said, "It doesn't."

"It does."

"It doesn't."

"...It does."

"It doesn't."

While the two kept arguing in the corner, Yamamoto looked at the cat and said, "We could name it Tank."

"I don't want to name a tiny kitten Tank, Yamamoto-san."

"Eh, why not? It's a perfect name!"

"..."

As they were also arguing about it, Fukunaga noticed the pair approaching from a distance and called out, "Coach and Naoi-san are coming!" sending everyone into a split-second panic.

Finally, Lev came up with a brilliant solution and shoved the cat inside Yaku's jacket right before the two walked through the door. Yes, his crisis management was flawless.

"LEV!"

To keep him from moving, Kuroo threw an arm around his shoulders and shouted with exaggerated cheer, "Coach! You're back early!"

"Yeah," Nekomata said, his old eyes calmly scanning the boys. "What are you guys up to here?"

When the boys all blurted out nonsense at once mentioning practice, resting, gaming, dancing the two coaches looked at each other, chuckled softly, and shook their heads.

"Alright, alright. If you're so busy, should we save the ice cream for later?"

The moment the word "ice cream" left his mouth, a massive sparkle appeared in the boys eyes.

Ice cream.

Cold, flavorful, delicious ice cream.

A second later, only Yaku, Kai, and Fukunaga were left in the room. Everyone else had dashed off for ice cream.

Fortunately, the coach and Naoi didn't question their behavior too much and left the court right behind the running crowd.

"I'm gonna beat Lev up..." Yaku said as he sat down on the bench the moment the cat was taken off his jacket. To think he had the nerve to stuff it into someone else's jacket instead of his own... In Yaku's eyes, that kid was practically begging for a beatdown.

"What are we going to do with this?" Fukunaga asked, stroking the cat's fur as it sat in Kai's lap.

"Let's put it back in the bag for now. We can leave it slightly unzipped so it can breathe."

You see, these kids didn't really have a "Kita" figure to keep them in check. Naturally, with their minds already consumed by thoughts of ice cream, all three of them agreed to this plan, put the cat back into Kenma's bag, and rushed off to catch up with the rest of the group...

***

"Ah, nothing beats ice cream!"

Having recharged their energy, the group returned to the court. Just as they seemed to remember the little problem they had to deal with, Lev tilted his head in curiosity and asked, "Yaku-san, what did you do with the cat?"

"You're only asking that now, you idiot?!" Yaku smacked him in the waist and rolled his eyes. "We put it back in the bag; we couldn't think of anything else."

Kenma clearly didn't like the sound of this, as he glared at them miserably and muttered, "Why does it always have to be my bag?.."

"Because it came out of your bag in the first place."

Knowing he didn't have the energy to deal with them, Kenma let out a deep sigh and headed over to the water bottles. Looks like today was going to be one of those days...

As he was drinking his water, his eyes drifted slightly toward the bags, and he slowly straightened up at what he noticed.

Unless Yaku and the others had mixed up the bags...

This was definitely not normal.

He bent down among the scattered bags and found his own; his towel and spare clothes were strewn across the floor.

But the real scary part was, the cat was gone.

He raised his head and turned to the others. He was about to call out to Fukunaga to ask how they had left the cat in the bag, but a faint "Miuw!" had already caught everyone's attention.

"Kenma-san! Did you lose the cat?" Lev's eyes widened in fear and disappointment, making Kenma let out a deep sigh. He really didn't know what to do with this kid. "No. It left on its own."

"But I can still hear its-"

"Quit slacking off and get back to practice, come on!"

Hearing Naoi's voice, they all let out a heavy sigh. "Man, I wish we had a manager..." Yamamoto said right at that moment. "A cute, sweet girl who'd say, 'Do your best senpai, I'll go look for the cat!'"

"Are you really asking for one just because of the cat?" Yaku asked, giving him an incredulous look. Then he patted Yamamoto's back and headed toward the court. "It's around here somewhere. We'll look for it after practice."

Lev called after him, "But what if one of the balls hits it?.." Since no one paid him any mind, he just stood there staring glumly at the floor until Kai rested a hand on his shoulder. "We'll check outside the court during breaks. It'll be fine."

They didn't have much of a choice anyway. So as Lev trudged glumly onto the court, Kai simply chuckled and gave him a gentle nudge by the shoulder.

***

​"Lev! Focus on the game a bit more!"

​Naoi shouted from the sidelines as he sat down next to the coach. "He always seems like his head is somewhere else."

​Nekomata could have actually said that this was just normal Lev. But his eyes were narrowed and his brows were furrowed as he watched the boy. Lev's constant glancing around as if he had lost something certainly hadn't escaped his notice.

​And Nekomata's reaction, of course, hadn't escaped Kuroo's notice either. "Calm down a bit. We said we weren't going to let the coach notice."

​"I'm sorry, Kuroo-san." As Lev glumly turned his eyes back to the ball, a shout echoed from the right side, coming from Shibayama, who was receiving balls next to Yaku.

​"WIAH-"

​As everyone turned to look in that direction, Yaku quickly smacked the boy on the head and laughed, "No problem! He just got distracted when the ball rolled by."

​No, the thing rolling wasn't a ball.

​It was the cat in the corner, hopping around and swatting at two or three volleyballs.

​The group's eyes widened in horror. If Naoi or the coach turned in that direction, seeing the cat was inevitable...

​"What are we going to do?" Lev whispered. Left to his own devices, he looked like he was about to bolt right over which was, indeed, a terrifying prospect.

​"What if we pretend to miss a hit and go grab it?" Inuoka suggested.

​"That could work..." They all said, turning to Lev at the same time.

​He was the only one whose spikes were still erratic.

​And being forced to rely on Lev in such a risky situation was far from comforting...

​But the fact that he virtually beamed and declared, "Leave it to me!" showing he was at least enthusiastic gave them a tiny bit of reassurance.

​So no one objected, Kenma tossed a classic toss just like always, and Lev put all his power into a spike that sent the ball flying right toward where the cat was.

​Actually, that part was pretty impressive too.

​After all, he could finally hit the ball wherever he wanted.

​The only problem was the cat, who panicked at the loud sound of the ball slamming down and bolted in the opposite direction.

​"DON'T HIT IT THAT HARD, LEV!"

​Lev slapped the back of his neck and turned to the others. The plan had failed.

​And it had failed so badly that the cat had started sprinting right toward where Nekomata and Naoi were sitting.

​"LEV!" Kuroo yelled from behind him. Seriously, this kid was nothing but trouble.

​Lucky for him, they loved him.

​Well, was love going to save this situation? Absolutely not. So as punishment, he was going to clean the entire court by himself once all of this was over.

​"Kenma, go pretend to drink water or something and get that cat."

​"Why me?.." Kenma turned to Kuroo with a slight frown. His voice was calm as usual, but it was clear he didn't want to do it. "I'm not good with animals."

​"You always try to slack off anyway, so they won't suspect a thing. Go on."

​"Wouldn't I draw more attention then, since they already think I'm slacking off?"

​"Come on, move, there's no time."

​Kenma let out a deep sigh and headed toward the benches to get some water. Practicing was hard, the weather was hot, and practicing when it was hot was even harder. Plus, there was the cat. The cat was hard too.

​At least he was lucky today that neither Nekomata nor Naoi said anything to him. That allowed him to drink his water, which made him slightly happy, while extending his hand toward the cat cowering in the corner.

​I mean, what more could he do? He had no idea how to get along with a cat.

​Seeing his extremely eager attitude, the cat just stared at his hand, completely clueless about what it was supposed to do, and patted Kenma's hand a few times with its paws.

​Kenma turned his head back slightly, basically trying to signal it's not working. From behind, Yamamoto coughed softly and gestured for him to pick it up with his hands, as if saying, "Why would the animal just come to your hand on its own?"

​Come to think of it, it had gone straight to Lev.

​Lev was a weird kid.

​He let out a deep sigh, and when he turned back around, the cat was nowhere to be seen. Panicking, he snapped his head up so fast that he hit his head on the bench.

​"Kenma, stop slacking off," Naoi said, clicking his tongue as the noise drew his attention over.

​"Okay..." But Kenma's eyes remained glued to the same spot for a moment longer. Where on earth could a cat have gone in such a short amount of time?

​"Oh, no..."

​The answer to his question came from Fukunaga, who was standing in the corner.

​Don't ask how, but in the blink of an eye, the cat had started climbing up the wall.

​Yep, right up the padded wall of the volleyball court.

​"WHY..." Yamamoto whimpered in pain, though he had to quickly lower his head when he met the coach's stern glare.

​"What is wrong with you guys today?"

​Naoi crossed his arms and scowled, completely unable to make sense of the team's behavior.

​"Must be the heat, I guess," Kuroo said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the rest of the team.

​"Mhm, totally."

​"Yeah, definitely the heat."

​They had to get that cat down from there somehow.

​As luck would have it, while the coaches were distracted watching the others, Lev used his massive 190 cm frame to sneak along the wall toward the cat. At least he was tall; if he managed not to scare it this time, he could actually reach it.

​Seeing what Lev was doing made the boys hold their breath for a moment. They were standing right behind Nekomata and Naoi. If they got caught now, they wouldn't just be punished for bringing a cat inside they'd definitely get wrecked for hiding it too.

​"You guys aren't feeling sick, are you?" Naoi asked, tilting his head. "Don't I always tell you to try not to get sick before tournaments?"

​"Come on, come on..." Lev whispered, reaching out to the cat while their attention was still elsewhere. Catching it was one thing, but he had absolutely no idea what he would do if it made any sound.

​"MİUW." Right at that moment, his fear came true, and the cat let out a sharp cry before dropping into Lev's arms just as it was about to fall.

​"What's going on over there?" Seeing Nekomata stand up, Lev panicked, let out a yell that sounded suspiciously like a meow, and blurted, "I think I hit my head!"

​What he failed to realize was that this would draw even more attention.

​"Your head? What were you even doing over there?" As Naoi grabbed an ice pack and approached him, Lev's terrified eyes turned back toward the group.

​He was silently pleading if they didn't do something, they were doomed with that cat in his arms.

​"I'm fine, Naoi-san! No need for ice. My nose is just bleeding, I'll go take care of it and be right back!"

​"If your nose is bleeding, then stop running around!" Naoi called out, but he couldn't stop him. Nekomata ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh. "Kenma, go bring Lev back."

​"Why me?"

He didn't even know how many times he'd been asked to do something today, and his patience was running paper-thin. Poor guy, everything always fell on him.

Yet resigned to his fate once again, unable to stand up to the coach Nekomata, he dragged his feet and followed Lev toward the changing rooms.

The fact that the kid went to the changing room instead of the bathroom on the pretext of a nosebleed was a whole other issue, of course, but luckily Nekomata wasn't pressing the issue too hard today.

"Lev." He said, poking his head inside. But the instant he looked in, he pulled back.

This couldn't be happening.

There was no way this had happened in just one single minute.

"KENMA-SAN!" Hearing the desperate scream followed by loud banging on the door made his skin crawl. Frankly, he didn't even want to open that door.

Eventually, the noise died down, the banging grew weaker, and then stopped altogether...

Which, unfortunately, wasn't a reassuring sign either.

With a heavy sigh, Kenma reluctantly opened the door, only to let out a gasp at the sight before him: "LEV!"

If a tiny cat could take down a 190 cm guy like this, what on earth would it do to anyone else?

Jokes aside, Lev was genuinely lying on the floor, and the cat was nowhere to be seen. The scene that had caused Kenma to back out earlier was still fully intact.

Shelves, lockers, posters... Everything was trashed; half of it was strewn across the floor.

And all of this had happened in literally sixty seconds.

"I couldn't catch him, Kenma-san..." Lev whimpered, opening his eyes slightly. He grabbed Kenma's wrist in dramatic fashion and added, "I tried everything..."

"Do you really need to hold my wrist?" Even while frowning, Kenma asked in his usual flat tone, and once Lev let go, he looked around the room.

This was a legitimate problem.

"We need to clean this up." He muttered. It would be a lifesaver if they could fix it before the coach or Naoi came to check on them.

"We need to find the cat, too."

"If we just leave it alone, won't it come out eventually?"

"Kenma-san... You don't understand." Lev looked around with a tearful expression. The cat was tiny; if it didn't come out on its own, it might starve. They couldn't just leave it like this.

"Puf." Kenma sighed. He stood up and began inspecting his surroundings. Maybe it was hiding between the shelves...

Seeing him move, Lev got up too and resumed his search, making weird "psst psst" noises again.

Five minutes later, however, they still had absolutely nothing to show for it.

"This is pointless."

"No, it's not! It has to be around here somewhere."

"I think we should clean u-"

"What are you two doing?" Kuroo burst through the door, eyes narrowed as he glared at them. "The coach is starting to get suspiciou- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS ROOM?!"

"The cat's gone."

"Again?" Kuroo let out a long sigh and leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. "We'll deal with it later. Let's just lock the room and get out for now."

"But..."

"Lev, if you're actively asking for extra punishment, I'd appreciate it if you just said so directly."

"No..."

"Good. Then we're leaving."

Having no other choice, Lev reluctantly stepped out of the room, whispered to the cat that they'd be back later, and locked the door behind them.

He just hoped it could hold out for another hour or two until practice ended.

***

"I'm exhausted..."

Finally, the day came to an end, and once Nekomata dismissed them, the team was free to go.

As they headed off in high spirits to change their clothes, the little troublemaker they had completely forgotten about decided to make its presence known.

"What on earth happened in here?!"

"Ah, there was the cat." Kenma said, as if only just remembering. "It's probably still here."

"Well, there's no way out, so where else would it go?" Kuroo said. He placed his hands on his hips and let out a deep breath. "Let's find the cat first, then we'll clean up the mess."

"Alright-"

And just like that, everyone scattered to search their own corner. At one point, Lev was checking inside the light fixtures; Yaku went as far as prying up the floorboards. Yamamoto, thinking it might be trapped behind the lockers, pushed them around, turning the room into absolute chaos.

And still, no cat.

"What are we gonna do?" Shibayama asked, holding his head in his hands.

"Kenma-san, why did you even bring it in here?"

"Me?!" Kenma turned his glaring eyes toward Lev. Seriously, how many more times he'll have to deal with these?

He took a step toward Lev, but Kai placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Let's put some cat food in the corner and leave it. It'll come out when it gets hungry. We can check back in the morning." He suggested.

Everyone stared at Kai with glowing, hopeful eyes.

Since none of them had cat food on them, they needed to hit a convenience store first, so they headed for the exit.

Of course, none of them expected to find Coach Nekomata and Naoi standing right outside the door.

"Oh, Coach!" Yamamoto squeaked nervously as he pulled the door open. "Is something wrong?"

He really shouldn't have swung the door wide open.

"What in the world happened to this place?!" Naoi's jaw dropped in utter shock. A second later, he turned to the boys with a scowl. "You teenagers..."

None of them were in a position to absorb Naoi's scolding right now, though. Their attention was completely fixed on the tiny kitten sleeping peacefully in Nekomata's arms.

Yep, it was undeniably the cat they had been frantically searching for.

"We found this little rascal just a bit ago," Nekomata said, noticing them staring at the kitten. "Adorable, isn't it? I was thinking we could get permission from the school and build a little shelter for it by the club entrance."

"..."

What on earth had they been busting their backs for all day?!

"We're heading out now. Make sure you clean this entire place back to how it was and lock the door behind you."

Nekomata didn't yell like Naoi, but somehow, his calm words carried an even heavier weight.

"Yes, Coach..."

So, completely exhausted, they all dragged their feet back into the room and set to work, putting every single thing back in its place.

The good news? From that day on, they had a little cat waiting by the door to greet them every single day.

The achievements I have so far. Also, I unlocked Nekomata's buffs since I'm close to her getting an M6 Neko.

AND GUESS WHAT?! I GOT REMIELLE!!!