Chapter 365: The Kittens Are Born
After dinner, Haruno didn't stay long—she drove back to campus.
The moment she left, Yukino let out a sigh of relief.
Sitting beside her, Utaha chuckled.
"What's this? Worried your sister would stir up trouble?"
Yukino nodded without hesitation.
"Exactly. You know my sister's personality too, senpai. If I'm not careful, I might walk right into one of her traps. Normally it doesn't matter, but tonight is too important. I can't let her cause a mess."
Haruno's personality, huh…
On the side, Ichin—typing away at his laptop while working on a project plan—thought Yukino was worrying too much. Haruno wasn't the same as before. She wouldn't do something to genuinely upset Yukino, especially not at a time like this.
By nine o'clock, Sesame still showed no signs of giving birth. But Ichin could tell the little cat was uneasy—likely, it wouldn't be much longer.
Since everyone had already bathed, he looked at them and said,
"Let's not keep crowding around her. We might just be making Sesame nervous. We've got the camera anyway—let's go back to the bedrooms and watch from there."
Yukino nodded.
"You're right. Come on, Eriri, let's go to the bedroom. You can play games there too."
"No problem." Eriri packed up her Switch and followed Yukino. Ichin and Utaha dimmed the living room lights, then headed to the guest room.
In the guest room, Ichin set his laptop on the desk to keep working, while Utaha connected her tablet to Yukino's security cameras. She sat on the bed, the tablet beside her, idly scrolling her phone.
"Ichin-kun, when do you think Sesame will give birth?"
"Probably soon. If it didn't happen during the day, it'll usually be at night." Ichin kept typing as he spoke. "If you get sleepy, just go to bed. I don't have class tomorrow morning, so I can stay up."
"Mm, I know." Utaha nodded, then pulled up a comedy video with her headphones. "But if I fall asleep and Sesame starts, you'd better wake me up!"
Ichin gave her an OK gesture and returned to his work.
The room gradually grew quiet.
By past eleven, sleepiness overtook Utaha. She washed up, slipped into bed, and soon drifted off.
Ichin, still full of energy, pulled the tablet closer and kept writing.
The Dark Souls project plan was no small task—worldbuilding, combat system, map design, plus his own ideas—all needed to be laid out.
Since Dark Souls had three main entries, Ichin planned to start by remaking the third. The DLCs, Painted World and Ringed City, he would still release as expansions.
If sales went well, he'd continue with Dark Souls I next—though adjusted for modern standards, fixing design flaws like those absurdly long run-backs. Dying once shouldn't mean running "three thousand six hundred li."
Eventually, he turned off the ceiling light, leaving only the desk lamp on, working until past 1 a.m.
Finishing part of the system design, he finally leaned back, massaging his temples. His eyes drifted toward the tablet—
And froze.
They were here.
Even though the lighting was dim, he could clearly see—inside the big nesting box, along with Sesame, were several tiny squirming shapes.
Without hesitation, Ichin grabbed his phone and called Yukino's room, flicking on the light to wake Utaha.
The call connected instantly. Yukino's anxious voice came through:
"Senpai, I saw it—she's giving birth!"
"Mm, stay calm." Ichin soothed her quickly.
"Everything looks stable so far. Don't rush in and scare her. Is Eriri still awake?"
"I'm awake!" Eriri's voice chimed in. "I never even slept—I've been gaming. But Yukino fell asleep, and your call woke her up."
By then, Utaha had sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Ichin… gave birth?"
"Yeah, the cat gave birth—not me. You're still half-asleep."
He pinched her cheek lightly with a grin.
"Come on, let's go check."
Utaha blinked, finally fully awake, and hurried after him as they left the guest room.
Opening the door, they met Yukino and Eriri coming out of the master bedroom at the same time.
Ichin motioned for silence, then whispered to Yukino,
"Get the iodine I told you to prepare earlier. And towels and cotton swabs."
She nodded, heading to the storage room to fetch a small bottle of iodine, then the bathroom for a clean towel, cotton swabs, and a pack of medical gloves.
The four of them quietly moved to the living room.
Peppa and Mochi were both awake now. Seeing their humans, they leapt down from the cat tree, meowing loudly—not in protest, but almost as if urging them to help.
Ichin handed the two cats to Eriri, then switched on the living room light and told Utaha to start recording with her phone.
"Let's go."
He drew back the curtain on the nesting box. Inside, nestled against Sesame's belly, were four tiny kittens wriggling restlessly.
Four little ones—one snow-white like their mother, one orange like their father, and two mostly white but marked with orange and black on their heads and tails.
"Mm, good mix of colors."
Nodding, Ichin pulled on gloves, then guided Yukino in drying the kittens. He gently stroked Sesame's head, confirming the new mother was calm, then pressed lightly on her belly to make sure no more kittens remained inside. Only then did he help Yukino cut and clean the umbilical cords.
After ten minutes of careful work, the four kittens were cleaned and returned to their mother's belly.
They were newborns—far too fragile to be held or played with.
Holding Peppa and Mochi in her arms, Eriri's eyes went wide with excitement as she stared at the tiny creatures.
"So these are newborn kittens… they're adorable!"
Utaha smiled as she filmed, capturing the precious moment.
*
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