Once upon a time, there was a black-furred catgirl drawing a circle on the ground with a stick. Let's call her 'Blacky'.
Her cute black cat ears and her cute tail made one want to hug her tightly along with her beautiful innocent face.
"Hey! What are you doing?" an orange-furred catgirl called out to her. Let's call this one 'Orange'.
She had the same cat ears and cattail, but they were orange. She looked cute and cuddly.
She walked towards her with a confused expression on her face.
"I'm drawing the sun. It's beautiful," Blacky replied.
"Really? The sun is boring. Come on, let's play! The others are waiting for you!"
"I don't want to! Come sit with me. I can't draw a perfect circle," Blacky said as she pulled Orange to her side.
Orange looked at the wobbly circle on the ground. It was a poorly drawn circle.
"Jeez. Why are you so bad at drawing a circle? Do it like this."
Orange demonstrated her ability and drew a circle using her finger.
"Ahh! It also looks bad!" Orange exclaimed in annoyance.
Meanwhile, Blacky watched her with an opened mouth. Her eyes were focused on Orange's movements as she tried to learn from her.
Orange grabbed the stick from Blacky's hand and used it to draw her own circles. She failed each and every time, but she would try again and again.
● ● ●
"Orange, I think you're gonna break the stick…" Blacky said apprehensively. Orange had been aggressively using the stick to draw circles on the ground for more than an hour now.
"Ughh! This is annoying!" Orange shouted in annoyance as she stood up. Her tail stood straight as if to tell everyone how angry she was.
The next day.
"What are you doing again?" Orange asked as she stood behind Blacky.
"I'm drawing a mouse this time since drawing the sun is too hard," Blacky replied.
"Ehh? Really? Can I draw it too?" Orange asked with interest visible in her eyes.
"Sure!"
Orange grabbed the stick from Blacky's hand without any care for her emotion and started drawing on the ground.
"You know, why don't we just draw? I think this is more fun, nyahehe," Orange said to Blacky.
"Really?"
Blacky's eyes brightened in excitement.
"Nyaa! Let's be best friends!"
"Nyaa!"
…
By the time Amene finished telling the story, tears were falling from her eyes uncontrollably.
'I can't believe I forgot our past… It's been so long that I forgot… Why..?' Amene thought in anguish.
"Are you okay?" Lawrend asked her in worry.
"Y-Yes. Something just got into my eye," Amene replied with a sloppy excuse. Lawrend could immediately tell that she was lying.
"Who were they? They seem really innocent and cute."
"You hadn't realized?" Amene asked in surprise.
"I have an idea. Was she really like that before?"
"Mm. Grape used to like drawing things around her. She's a natural artist," Amene replied.
"Were you the Orange catgirl?"
"Yes. That's how I became close to her. She became more than my playmate."
"*Sigh*"
Lawrend released a sigh. He looked upwards at the ceiling in thought.
"I have a hard time believing that those two were the two of you. I guess that's a maturity to you," Lawrend said.
Amene became a hunter with her bow skills and Grape became a prostitute… How did the careers of the two innocent catgirls become so different from each other?
Lawrend knew the answer. If Grape had stayed in the tribe, she would have likely become a hunter like Amene. But alas, she was kidnapped and enslaved to prostitution.
"Master, I think you know the answer now. Please listen to Grape with all of your heart," Amene said to him softly.
"...Alright. I promise you," Lawrend replied.
She then helped him wash himself quickly.
After that, Lawrend exited the bathroom with his new clothes from his storage ring. He looked at his women in the room. They were all sitting on the bed and observing him.
"Don't worry. I won't disappoint any of you," Lawrend said with a smile before he turned around and left the room.
He headed towards the room beside this one. Its door was left slightly open, and Lawrend walked inside.
"Master, what did Sister Amene tell you?" Grape asked.
She was wearing a white towel around her body. It contrasted with her black cat ears and black cat tail.
"Your past," Lawrend answered.
"What? I never told her!" Grape exclaimed in shock.
"What do you mean?"
"I never told her what happened to me in the inn."
"Do you want to draw the sun?" Lawrend ignored her and asked.
"Huh? No. Master, how did she know what happened?"
"Do you want to draw a mouse instead since drawing a perfect circle is hard?" Lawrend asked her with a knowing smile on his face.
"What are you… No, way… I-I remember now…"
Grape widened her eyes in astonishment. At first, she was confused, now, she could understand what Lawrend was getting at.
"Did you two not remember that the two of you used to do that?" Lawrend asked in confusion.
From what he's seen, they were really close with each other. It's hard to think that they didn't remember how close they were when they were still kids.
"I only remember her as a playmate. We got close together because we are from the same tribe, and we're the only catgirls in here right now…" Grape replied.
She was still in a daze. If only she knew, then she would have told Amene everything that happened to her. She would cry a whole night just to tell her how much pain she went through.
"It's alright."
Lawrend sat beside her on the bed and embraced her.
"Master…"
Grape embraced him back in surprise.
"You can tell me everything. I'll listen to you," Lawrend said to her solemnly. His eyes told Grape to trust him. It was reassuring and cool-looking.
"When I was kidnapped…"
And so, Grape started explaining to him everything that happened to her after she got kidnapped. Every pain, every sorrow, and every tear.. She told him all.