The Dog and Cat's Place to Go Home to

The Dog and Cat's Place to Go Home to is the third chapter of K -Count Down-.

Summary
Kuroh Yatogami sits on a building's rooftop, thinking to himself that Yashiro Isana is alive, and remembers the marble - meant to be a good luck charm - that Anna Kushina gave him and Neko at the end of the events of the Mihashira Tower Incident. In that marble, Kuroh, Neko, and Kukuri Yukizome see Yashiro's silohuette, thus confirming that Yashiro is alive.

Kuroh asks aloud why Yashiro has not shown himself to them when Neko calls out his name and hugs him from behind energetically. She tells Kuroh that they should get to looking for Yashiro once more, and Kuroh explains that he was just now beginning to collect his thoughts. Neko asks what there is to think about now that they know where Yashiro is, but Kuroh points out that they only saw his figure in the marble for a brief moment, so there's no way to know where he is. Neko, however, declares that she noticed clouds in the image, therefore Yashiro must be up in the sky, so that's where they should look. When Kuroh questions her certainty, Neko elaborates that she noticed 'cloud-like things', something Kuroh criticises as vague reasoning.

Neko suddenly calms down, and asks why Kuroh has not wanted to look for Yashiro after they finally had a lead, to which Kuroh explains that Yashiro probably has his own reasons for not meeting up with them, and asks if searching so blindly for him is the right thing. This greatly irritates Neko, and she questions if Kuroh really wants to meet Yashiro. Kuroh doesn't respond to her question, and only points out that they can't really search for him in the sky. Neko recalls her and Shiro floating in the sky with his parasol from the events of Adolf•K•Weismann, and attempts to mimic the scenario, however she starts to fall after jumping off the building's rootop. Kuroh panics and jumps for her, and catches her before she hits the ground. Neko is puzzled by the attempt failing, and Kuroh scolds her, telling her not to do something like that again. Neko tells him that she just wanted to look for Yashiro, and Kuroh snaps, saying the effort is useless.

Neko calls him stupid, transforming into a cat and running off, leaving Kuroh on his own to return to the Ashinaka High School dorm once occupied by Yashiro, where both he and Neko now reside. Kukuri walks into the dorm, greeting him while he's in the midst of cooking, and asks where Neko is. Kuroh says that he doesn't know, and Kukuri asks if they had a fight abut Yashiro, which startles Kuroh. Kukuri further notes that they have been acting odd ever since they saw Yashiro in the marble, but Kuroh dismisses her worry and says Neko just went off on her own. Kukuri admits she knows nothing about Yashiro, but he is still important to Neko and Kuroh, and she wants them to reunite with him together, because it'd be sad if they split up before then. If Neko and Kuroh got into a fight, Kuroh should go find her. Kuroh says that she is right, but he doesn't know where to start looking for her. Kukuri asks if he has any idea of where she might go, and Kuroh recalls her stating that they'll look for Yashiro in the sky, and mutters so. Kukuri suggests the airport or heliport, and Kuroh realises that it's possible she went to Scepter 4's heliport.

The setting changes to Scepter 4's heliport, where Kuroh stays hidden and mutters about the first instance of Neko and a helicopter from Kindling. He doubts Neko could operate a helicopter on her own, and soon after saying so, Saruhiko draws his sabre on him, asking why Kuroh is trespassing on Scepter 4 property and what his business is. Kuroh apologises, and tells him that Neko has disappeared, and asks if Saruhiko has seen her. Saruhiko says he doesn't know. Kuroh further takes accountability for violating Protocol 121, but Saruhiko says he doesn't have the time to arrest someone who's simply looking for 'lost cat', but her powers are a nuisance and Kuroh needs to keep her under control. Kuroh says that Neko is an unrestricted, independent person who, once she puts her mind to something, is difficult to dissuade, and on top of that, Kuroh himself is unsure if he's doing the right thing. Saruhiko asks what he's talking about, but quickly loses interest and tells Kuroh not to tell it once Kuroh says it's a long story.

Just then, Kuroh and Saruhiko spot Neko, still a cat, walking past them. Kuroh yells Neko's name, and Neko is very startled. Saruhiko yells at them to not fight each other on another King's Domain, and Kuroh yells at Neko to not cause trouble for another King. Neko panics, and creates an illusion of multiple duplicates of her feline self. Kuroh remains calm, and says it's possible to find the right one through focusing, Neko, however, overhears and thus changes the cats into her human, naked form. This moritifies both Kuroh and Saruhiko, and the latter yells at Kuroh to hurry up with destroying Neko's illusions. Kuroh, however, is completely frozen, stuttering over the indecent images, and falls to his knees covering his eyes, calling himself immature.

Fed up, Saruhiko throws his knives at the illusions, and Kuroh tells her he might hurt Neko, to which Saruhiko says that doing such will merely destroy the illusions, not kill her, although, he says so with a low “Maybe” to himself. Kuroh demands he be more careful, and what follows is him using the Kotowari to deflect the knives from potentially harming the real Neko. In the aftermath, Kuroh staggers away holding Kotowari, and it turns out Neko got away in the end. In a flashback, Saruhiko says he won't hesitate to arrest Kuroh if something similar happens again, and he shouldn't cause trouble for others if he plans on splitting up from Neko. In the present, Kuroh tells himself he doesn't intend on splitting up with her, and runs into Anna and Misaki Yata.

Anna asks what's wrong, and Kuroh asks if either of them have seen Neko. Concerned, Yata asks if something happened to her, and Kuroh explains that they got into a fight, and now he's looking for her. He tells Anna about seeing Yashiro's figure in the marble she gave them, and how Neko is relying on that to find Yashiro. Anna tells him that the marble can only connect them to the person they miss, that being Yashiro, and she cannot do anything else. Kuroh clenches his fist, but admits that he understands. Anna asks if Kuroh plans on searching for Yashiro with Neko, but Kuroh says that he cannot decide if it's right to continue looking for Shiro. Yata comments that Kuroh is annoying, and that he should do what he wants to do,rather than what he thinks he should do. This resonantes with Kuroh, and he thinks to himself, acknowledging that his and Neko's goal are the same, and that Yashiro is alive. Anna tells him that she thinks he should tell Neko what he wants to do, to which Kuroh is in agreement with, and he has to find her quickly. Then, Anna points out she knows where Neko is, and she uses the marble to find Neko, saying she's on a vehicle and moving. Yata pulls up a map, and says her destination is likely the International Airport.

Yata wonders aloud why she wants to go to the airport, and, remembering his conversation with Kukuri, Kuroh realises why, and runs off to meet Neko, calling out that he owes Anna and Yata. Yata calls out to him not to split up with Neko, and Kuroh assures him he won't.

At the airport, Kuroh yells about how Neko plans on using a plane to find Yashiro. He imagines the scenario, where Neko hijacks a plane, headlines are released, and she is arrested by Scepter 4, and he notes that it's entirely possible for airport security to be useless in the face of her perceptive manipulations. Meanwhile, Neko, in her cat form, wanders around the airport's crowd, and the intercom calls out her name, saying that Yashiro is waiting for her. The woman over the intercom asks if this is really okay, and Kuroh says it is. He hears Neko, excited and in her original form, yelling for Yashiro, jumping around and looking for him. Kuroh grabs her by her coat, and Neko struggles, asking him where Yashiro is. Kuroh pleads for Neko to listen to him and for them to talk, but Neko, angry Kuroh tricked her and still over the previous argument, accuses Kuroh of not caring about finding Yashiro anymore. She turns into a cat and runs away from Kuroh, who is unable to follow her due to security demanding he show a ticket.

Onboard the plane, Neko says the she doesn't care about Kuroh anymore, and she'll find Yashiro on her own. The plane is about to depart, but those aboard feel a sudden tension from behind, and Kuroh is seen using his spatial hand to grab onto and board the train himself, and Neko sees him opening the plane door. Kuroh begs for Neko to hear him out, and declares that Yashiro is alive, and he'll wait and protect what's important to Yashiro, so it'll be a problem if Neko isn't there when he returns. Neko stands up and approaches him, and Kuroh points out they're Yashiro's only Clansmen, and they'll wait for him together.

Plane attendants, meanwhile, panic and suspect them of hijacking, furthermore so when they notice Kuroh's sword. Kuroh tries to explain, but the scene changes to them after they've escaped.

They walk together on the street, but Neko stops and asks if it's true that they will no longer look for Yashiro. Kuroh assures that, if they have a lead, they'll search for him, but in the meantime, they they should stop looking around randomly because of &lt;jungle&gt;'s increasing threat, so they should concentrate on protecting the place Yashiro will return to. Neko looks down, wondering if Yashiro really will come back, but Kuroh confidently says he will. This cheers Neko up, and agrees with him, saying, “Because Shiro is our Shiro!”

At the dorm, Neko sits down at the table with the marble, smiling to herself and asking Yashiro to return soon. Kuroh calls for her from the kitchen, and asks her to help him cook.

At the end of the chapter, Yashiro is seen from the marble once more, and changes to his whereabouts. To himself, he tells Daikaku Kokujōji, Klaudia Weismann, Neko, and Kuroh, that he will fulfill his duty, and tells them to wait.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * 1) Kuroh Yatogami
 * 2) Anna Kushina
 * 3) Neko
 * 4) Kukuri Yukizome
 * 5) Yashiro Isana
 * 6) Saruhiko Fushimi
 * 7) Reisi Munakata
 * 8) Misaki Yata