Teacup's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Teacup wanted one thing: to ride on Sakura's shoulder every school day. She had a plan for it. She would climb, dig in, and hold. But today she could not even get near her. Sakura's pink hair moved through a wall of classmates, and Teacup, small and grey in her floral sweater, was stuck at the edge of the crowd. Sakura was running for the school crown. All day, students pressed close to her. They asked questions. They wanted her vote and her smile. Teacup crouched by the base of an oak desk in the classroom. She watched Sakura's shoes shift and turn. The bell on her collar hung silent. She was too far away to matter. "Vote Sakura," a girl said, pushing a flyer at everyone. "She's the real choice." Teacup crept forward. A shoe nearly stepped on her tail. She backed under the desk and waited. The crowd only grew thicker. Then a black-haired girl in a fluffy grey sweater burst through the door. Miku. She read mystery novels and noticed everything. She pushed straight past the flyer girl toward a towering stack of history books on the front table. "Move, move," Miku said. "Actually, someone shelved these wrong. Honestly, whoever did this—" She grabbed the stack. It was too tall. The books slid. The whole tower came down with a crash, spines flapping open across the floor. The crowd around Sakura scattered back from the noise. For one second, a clear path opened. Teacup did not think. She ran. Her bell rang out, bright and loud, cutting through the shocked room. Every head turned to the grey blur sprinting across the fallen books. Sakura turned too. She saw Teacup coming. Sakura crouched and held out her arm. Teacup hit it, climbed the sleeve, and dug her claws into the plaid blazer. She hauled herself up and settled on Sakura's shoulder. She pressed against her neck and held on hard. The room went quiet, then laughed. Sakura laughed too. "There she is," Sakura said. "My cat has better timing than my campaign." Miku knelt in the mess of books, cheeks red. "I didn't— the stack was already crooked," she said. "Honestly."