As the retrial was set to commence, everyone began to speak hotly about the prospects of Tasuki’s case. TV forums and debates were made with experts discussing about the possibilities of a human and a man-cat living the normal life. Online forums and debaters crashed each other with their opinions on whether Tasuki and Chichiri should be together. Newspapers and magazines were swarming with topics, even went as far as digging through Tasuki’s past and trying to relate how his childhood could’ve affected his sexual orientation, and about how Chichiri came to be from being in a controlled secure lab where only the selected few would be put out in the market into a common pet shop who makes a meager annual income (which, of course, blew the cover of the poor vet who caused Chichiri’s half-blindness). Phone lines were off the hook and letters and emails were piled up to their noses as to giving their viewpoints whenever TV shows asked the audience to participate in the discussion or whenever the newspapers or radio stations asked the public to give their two-cents on this issue. Controlled rallies were all about the street as the animal rights supporters and the Tasuki/Chichiri supporters duel it out with their voices, slogans and banners, urging the public to hear their plea.
Now everyone, including news-hungry reporters and paparazzi, stayed vigilantly in the courthouse listening in on the news hoping to get a result out of this. A sudden long hush ensued as they watched Tasuki come into the courtroom and be led by the bailiff to the seat with Tatemo. He had changed quite a deal since his imprisonment, even though it had only been about 4 months (from the day Nuriko and the gang visited Tasuki till today, it was about one month of interviews, rallies and petition-writing); 8 more to go before he’s officially released. His hair has lost its vibrant fiery red and his skin was much paler. He looked a great deal lot thinner than the last time Nuriko and the gang saw him and it seemed as if the jumpsuit he was wearing was almost too big for him. His facial expression was that of a defeated man and couldn’t care less as to whatever happens to him or anything around him. He looked as if they could just blow up and die for all he cared; he just wanted to left alone to his thoughts. Nuriko’s heart ached to see her best friend that way.
After all formalities spoken at the beginning of trials and the entry of Judge Taiitsu-kun, the trial commenced with bringing in the previous witnesses to the stand. Chiriko stated that he realized the full consequences of producing false statements in court back then and was willing to accept any punishment incurred on him, and fully stressed that Tasuki and Chichiri’s arrest was entirely his doing out of jealousy and that Tasuki and Chichiri should be together. Tokaki and Subaru, after intricate research on their behalf, spoke that technically, in scientific and medical terms, Chichiri is 75 percent human and is supposed to be leaning towards the life of a human, not an animal who gets caged and fed and treated as a lower-life form. A person dominantly human—as stated by Tokaki—should be given just as much human rights as they would give a gay or lesbian couple, with only minor necessities of the animal kind. Subaru noted that though Chichiri’s pregnancy was a risky one, but with close monitoring and controlled medication and observation, they could not see why Chichiri should not be able to carry the child to term.
The people who were in gratitude to Tasuki and Chichiri’s services, including those from Rekka-Shin Apartment, made it to the stand to give their testimony as to why Tasuki and Chichiri should be together. Tatemo played the interview footage and revealed all those that could not appear in court due to personal reasons about the good Tasuki and Chichiri had done. When Tasuki was called up to the stand to be given a chance to defend himself, this was what he said:
“I know that I have done something terribly wrong in the eyes of the public, and I know no matter how time passes, or whether we are caught or not, we will live the life of prejudice and people would never learn to accept our love as it is. I am grateful for those who have approved of our love and done so much for us, even suffered the wrath of the rest of the world for us, and I thank them on behalf of Chiri-chan and myself. Chiri-chan and I have been through a lot. He had chosen me to be his master, a man who lived a simple life and could barely even feed himself and pay the rent, let alone support a pet. Out of everyone, even Chiriko-san who would’ve done a better job as a master than me, he decided to follow me despite my reluctance. He took me out of a life of monotony and showed me my full potential in a job that I can actually put my heart and soul into.
“After Chiriko-san took away my Chiri-chan, I truly felt the meaning of being lonely and I had to admit, I have Chiriko-san to thank for awakening my true feelings for Chiri-chan. Without him, I am nothing. Without him, I wouldn’t have known such great friends and so many wonderful people who had stepped into my life whether I knew it or not. Without him, I would’ve still been in that apartment living out my bachelor days carefree, find a lover and get married and live the average Japanese life of a salary-man. That is not what I want. That is not what I desire. Chiri-chan helped me realized that, and I am not ashamed or regretful to say that we have loved each other deeper than any human being could ever love another, and I was very, very happy while it lasted.
“I wish I could say that I apologize for offending everyone in this room for doing what I did to Chiri-chan and I wish could say that I am sorry for all the things that I have done and what atrocity I have created towards the society’s eye, but I can’t. I have no desire to apologize for this sort of prejudice. I can only say sorry that you cannot understand our feelings and see through how we feel for each other and how it feels to be torn apart from the one you truly love, and that you fail to believe that true love transcends everything. I can only apologize for your narrow-mindedness and your insistence to break us up and kill my kittens.
“I just have two questions to ask: Regardless if you love a human or not, what if the same time as I’m going through happen to you? What would you do at my place?”
After Tasuki’s defense statement, both Tatemo and the prosecutor did their best to rival out each other with their lawyer expertise, and the juries’ faces seemed to be at wits’ end as to who to side on, although some of them seemed to be already choosing which side they wish to be on. Before they knew it, after all testimonials given and witnesses questioned, it had been almost 2 weeks since the retrial first started.
“This ends the retrial of Tasuki’s case of sexual bestiality conduct,” Judge Taiitsu-kun looked as if she heaved a sigh of relief that this case is almost over. “The juries will be given 48 hours to make their verdict. We will return to this court at 1.30pm sharp to read their verdict. The court is adjourned.”
--:--
He paced round and round in his cage trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Was it the cramps? Was it nausea? Was it that he needed to go pee? Was it all three? Was it that Illust-chan, the only person he trusted, betrayed him by feeding him with poison and it has now come to effect?
His questions were answered when he felt some sort of twang of pain in his round belly. It didn’t really hurt very badly, more like an intense pressure, but deep down inside, his instincts told him the worse. The feeling of needing to bear down confirmed it even more.
He was going into labour.
No! he thought. He couldn’t afford to go into labour! He can’t go into labour! He knew he was due anytime soon, but this was the last place he wanted to have his beloved’s kittens. Those workers would have his kittens terminated, and he would forever be separated from his Tasu-sama. No, he had to hold it in!
Easier said than done.
“Kuso…I know I left it somewhere here…”
Chichiri’s squinted eyes of pain shot open as he heard the familiar voice outside. Holding his pain, he peeked out to see Illust-chan looking worriedly everywhere. She must’ve lost her choker again. During his months in the shelter, he had noticed and studied a lot of interesting things on his caretaker while giving her the cold shoulder treatment. One thing was that she had just started working in the shelter the same time Chichiri was brought in, and the other thing was her choker that she religiously wore almost every single waking moment of her life. It was a beautiful dark red tied into a big butterfly-shaped bow and a cute little bell dangling just right under her throat. In one of her babblings, Chichiri remembered her telling him that it was a gift from her boyfriend who was currently working in Denmark, like a pre-wedding band before he returns to officially marry her. No matter how many times her colleagues told her that it was unprofessional to wear such accessories in an office, she would not budge. She refused to take it off and had threatened to leave work, only to be coaxed back because Chichiri would want no one but her to be treated. She was like a real life neko girl with that choker, minus the neko ears and tail, that is. She would take it off whenever she was involved in big scale operations and whatnot, but she would always put it back on afterwards, although she would occasionally forget and start looking for it frantically, just like what she was doing right now.
“Ah! Gotcha!”
He saw Illust-chan picking up her choker that was left somewhere near the medicine cabinet and gleefully tied it back around her neck, fixing it into that perfect big butterfly-shaped bow. He wanted to call out, but hesitated. What if Illust-chan was still untrustworthy as he suspected? What if what she said about helping him getting out of this hellish shelter house was a lie? What if she takes him straight away to the head vet and forces him to give birth before assisting the head vet to kill his kittens? What if…
Chichiri bit back a yelp as he felt the pressure getting even stronger to the point where it actually felt very painful. He could feel a lump starting to grow between his legs and his thighs were sticky with the water that has broken and began to leak out of his vaginal opening Tokaki had mentioned when his pregnancy was first diagnosed. He gripped the railings of his cage to support himself while clutching his belly with the other, trying to breathe to slow down the pain. Each time he breathe, the water began to leak even more and was flowing out like a faucet left running, staining the floor of the cage he was leaning on.
Illust-chan was totally oblivious of what’s going on. She briefly looked around—not really looking, actually—to see if everything was in order before making her way out of the door. She’s leaving! he thought. She’s going to leave and he will have to give birth in a stinking, rickety cold cage! No, this is not what he want his kittens to be in! This is not where he wants his kittens to have its first breath of air in! Screw whatever ‘what if-s’ he had in his head! He needed help now!
Illust-chan was now going to close the door and lock it.
No time for pride.
It’s now or never.
“I…Illus…sama…”
Illust-chan stopped at her tracks, looking around warily, wondering where the voice came from.
“I…llus…sama…” Chichiri struggled to call her louder, the pressure making him double over.
“Da…Dare? Dare ka? Jodan ja nai yo! I know karate and I’m not afraid to use it.”
Chichiri couldn’t hold on to the pain any longer. He crashed against the door of his cage and whimpered, clutching his round belly tightly. That caught Illust-chan’s attention as she quickly made a mad dash towards his cage. She gasped when she saw Chichiri’s condition.
“Oh my God, kitty cat! You’re in labour!”
She quickly opened the cage and carried Chichiri out and placed him onto the surgery table. Looking around to see if there was anyone looking, she quickly fished out her cell phone and dialed a number, all the while holding onto Chichiri’s hand tightly, using her gestures to give him moral support. In the midst of trying to hold the pain, Chichiri could catch bits and pieces of the conversation.
“Hai…Hai…He’s in labour now…Probably about fully dilated…Of all days, why must the hearing…Alright, I’ll see what I can do…Daijobu, ji-san, I got it covered…Hai…”
“What’s going on here? Closing hours and you’re still here?”
Illust-chan and Chichiri’s breath simultaneously hitched as they saw the head vet coming in, wiping his blood-stained hands, obviously just finished performing a surgery at the other room. Luckily Illust-chan had stashed her cell phone just in time before he was able to see or hear what she was doing. He didn’t need to look twice to be able to recognize what Chichiri’s predicament was.
“My, my, it’s time, isn’t it?” the head vet said in a rather cold yet anticipated tone. “Guess this must be our lucky day, eh, newbie?”
“Um, uh, you can’t! You can’t perform the delivery now!” Illust-chan suddenly blurted out without realizing what she just said.
“And why not, pray tell, newbie?” the head vet looked at her suspiciously.
“A…Anno…” Illust-chan stumbled to come up with an excuse, then lit up and said, “Ne, matte yo, shachou, you wouldn’t want to do this without an audience, do you?”
“An audience? What do you mean?” the head vet raised an eyebrow.
“Sa, anno…You do know that it’s not exactly a secret that no one in this facility likes this kitty cat, and they would love nothing but to see you perform the termination of its kittens. Besides, isn’t it a life long dream of yours to do a big favour for animal kind?”
Chichiri tensed at Illust-chan. What was she trying to do?
“Hmm…” the head vet rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“Besides, I heard that if you bring in the press to witness this auspicious moment every animal rights activists have been waiting for, you actually earn a 10 percent commission.”
The head vet thought for a while before grinning and said, “Very well, newbie. For once you’re doing something useful around here. Go and make the necessary arrangements, starting with the press.”
“Yada, yada, shachou. You do the honours. I’ll stay here and watch the kitty cat, just in case he tries to run away.”
“How could he be running away with a pain in his gut?”
“You don’t know him as much as I do, shachou. You did, after all, assign him to me.”
“Hmm, good point. Then keep an eye on him. I’ll go make the calls.”
Illust-chan held her breath and waited for the head vet to step out of the room completely before heaving a sigh of relief and quickly rummaged through the drawers. She took out a reasonably big blanket and wrapped it around Chichiri, covering him as much as possible, then cradled him in his arms, peeked out of the door to make sure the coast was clear before tip-toeing out of the room and heading out towards the back door as quietly as possible.
“That was close, kitty cat,” Illust-chan said as she quickly settled Chichiri into the back seat of her four-wheel drive and jumped onto the driver seat, starting the car while looking warily around to see that they were not busted yet.
Chichiri whimpered in pain, the pressure increasing the size of the lump between his legs. He couldn’t hold on much longer.
“Don’t worry, kitty cat. Hang in there. Illuscia Nester Himawari always keeps her promises.”
--:--
“Have you reached the verdict?”“We have, Your Honour.”
The moment of truth had finally arrived as everyone returned to the courtroom 2 days later to hear the juries make their final conviction as to Tasuki’s upcoming fate. Those who were outside the court building protesting and out-rallying each other in their groups were silent for once so as not to miss any bit of the announcement made in the courtroom through the connecting cable from the cameraman stationed inside the court room to capture everything live, which was then broadcasted through a portable TV connected to big speakers for everyone to hear. Everyone was at the edge of their seats and on the tip of their toes, with Tasuki sitting beside Tatemo looking resigned, calm and collected, ready to face anything thrown at him. Tokaki and Subaru, the husband and wife vet couldn’t come because they had to tend to their clinic, but the rest of Tasuki’s friends, including all residents and ex-residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment and Nuriko and the gang, were there having their fingers and probably their toes crossed.
“May the defendant please rise.”
Tasuki, with a little encouragement from Tatemo and Nuriko at the audience seat, stood up, his handcuffs clinked as he went.
“What is your verdict?” Judge Taiitsu-kun turned to the juries.
“For bestiality conduct, we find the defendant…”
Everyone held their breaths.
“Not guilty.”
Everyone gasped for a moment, not knowing how to react. Tasuki’s eyes widened, for the first time showing a glimmer of hope.
“For impregnating a house pet, we find the defendant…not guilty.”
This time everyone cheered and clapped (well, those who supported Tasuki, anyway) and Nuriko and the gang reached over to hug Tasuki like there was no tomorrow, while the animal activists either protested loudly against this verdict or just stomped out of the courtroom disappointed. Those outside the courtroom getting the broadcasted hearing also had almost the exact same reaction as those in the courtroom, with the Tasuki-Chichiri supporters cheering, clapping, whooping, jumping and hugging each other with joy and jeering at the animal activists group while the animal activists showed them the middle finger, protested loudly and booing at both the result read and at the Tasuki-Chichiri supporters. Tasuki was overwhelmed with relief and unspeakable emotions that he allowed himself to be manhandled while silent tears of joy trickled down his cheeks. He found it hard to believe that his nightmare was finally over and soon he would be reunited with his beloved. Only when the judge banged the platform with her hammer then the commotion died down a little.
“Order, everyone, order in the court!” Judge Taiitsu-kun warned. “The defendant Tasuki has been found not guilty of all charges. His sentence will be terminated and Chichiri will be returned to his possession. Mr. Tasuki, you and your man-cat are free to go.”
Tasuki finally smiled in bliss as he returned the hug of everyone who gave him, and for the first time, gratefully and happily shook hands with Chiriko for doing such a great deed for him. Chiriko accepted his thanks and from the others with a genuine smile and a warm fuzzy feeling in his gut that he had not had in years.
Just when they were celebrating their good fortune, Tatemo’s cell phone rang. He answered and his face immediately changed from happy to shock as he heard the news from the other line. He hurriedly hung up and alerted everyone.
“I got a call from Tokaki and Subaru. Chichiri is in labour. We have to go to their vet now.”
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