Ficorpio
Chapter 1
After a car hit me and a stray cat at the same time, we both awakened supernatural abilities.
The cat could see the future. I could understand cat speech.
“Tomorrow’s cat food is going to be a little stale. Stir-fry it in a pan before you bring it to me, please. Thanksies.”
When the cat lifted one paw and made yet another prediction, I finally rolled my eyes.
Why were all its predictions so useless?
Halfway through its meal, the cat suddenly bolted.
It wrapped itself around the legs of a woman in sharply pressed trousers and let out a stream of frantic meows.
“Hurry! She’s your future wife! Go court her!”
I froze, then slowly looked up.
Standing before me was the Ice-Cold Professor of our department—the most demanding and least approachable professor on campus.
I stood there stiffly, watching the cat’s claws cling to Professor Sterling’s tailored trousers and pull loose several threads.
My whole body went numb.
I was doomed.
Those trousers looked expensive. Even if I spent every cent of my living expenses for the next six months, I probably couldn’t afford to replace them.
Professor Sterling looked down at the cat. Her face revealed nothing.
Calico tipped back its head and let out another loud yowl.
“Come on! You two are going to fall madly in love!”
Me: “…”
I hurried over. To keep the cat from causing any more damage to the trousers, I lowered my voice and whispered into its ear.
“If you don’t get down right now, there won’t be any freeze-dried treats tomorrow!”
The instant I finished speaking, Calico retracted its claws like a toy that had been switched off. Its entire body dropped to the ground.
At last, a flicker of surprise crossed the Ice-Cold Professor’s expression as she looked at me.
“It listens to you.”
I quickly bent forward in apology.
“I’m sorry, Professor Sterling. It was hit by a car recently, so it may have sustained some brain damage.”
She adjusted her glasses. Her gaze swept over me, dropped to the cat, then returned to my face.
“Is it yours?”
“No. It’s just one of the campus cats. I’ve fed it a few times, so it’s gotten used to me.”
Professor Evelyn Sterling was the instructor for my major courses, and she had become famous among the students almost as soon as she arrived on campus.
She was young and beautiful, which led some people to joke that they must have done something wonderful in a past life to deserve taking a class taught by such a gorgeous professor.
They stopped laughing soon enough.
Chapter 2
Once the semester began, no one was allowed to be late, leave early, or skip Professor Sterling’s class. Her strictness and dedication became just as well-known as her looks, and before long, she was someone everyone was terrified of crossing.
The harder the students had laughed at first, the worse they cried later.
I was no exception. Even after taking her classes for three years, I was still afraid of the Ice-Cold Professor.
“Goodbye, Professor!”
I scooped up the cat, gave Evelyn Sterling another hurried bow, and ran.
I didn’t stop until I reached the small grove behind the science building. Only then did I set the cat down and lean against a tree, gasping for breath.
Calico flicked her tail in annoyance, then sat down and began licking the fur I had mussed.
“Why did you run? I wasn’t finished.”
“Shut up.” Still trying to catch my breath, I glared at her. “You can eat whatever you want, but you can’t just say whatever you want.”
“I wasn’t making anything up.”
After finishing her fur, she began licking her paws. Without even looking up, she started washing her face.
“That’s exactly what I saw. She even kissed you.”
I fell silent.
The image sprang into my mind, and heat rushed to my face.
“…What would a cat like you know about kissing?”
“I’ve seen it. You think I don’t understand how you two-legged beasts court each other?”
She lifted her head and gave me a disdainful look.
“How many couples have I seen kissing beneath the walls and among the trees every day? You two are even clingier than they are!”
“That’s enough. You’re seriously sick.”
I hadn’t taken her seriously at all. I stood up, brushed the dirt from my pants, then pulled half a bag of freeze-dried treats from my backpack and poured them onto the ground.
“Same place tomorrow.”
The moment Calico saw the treats, she forgot everything else. She buried her head in the pile and devoured them, completely ignoring what I had said. A little grunt was her only response.
The next morning, I had Professor Sterling’s Animal Behavior class.
As usual, I sat in an inconspicuous corner, listening to the lecture while taking notes.
She was wearing a light-gray blouse, the sleeves rolled up to reveal her slender forearms. Her hair was tied carelessly at the nape of her neck.
Everyone agreed that Evelyn Sterling was brutally strict, but they also agreed that her expertise was impeccable. Her academic background was so impressive that the rest of us could barely hope to measure up. She was one of the university’s most sought-after professors.
But…
For some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was looking in my direction more often than usual.
Chapter 3
Several times, our eyes met. By the end of the class, I was so tense I hardly dared relax for even a second.
At last, the bell rang. The classroom erupted into noise, and I let out a quiet breath as I closed my notebook. I had just stood up when someone let out a cry.
“Whoa! There’s a cat!”
My brow twitched. I followed everyone’s gaze and saw a calico cat swagger into the room, her tail held straight up as she marched toward me without looking left or right.
The classroom fell silent for a moment.
Every eye followed her, then landed on me.
Calico opened her mouth and let out a loud yowl.
But what I heard was—
“Two-Legged Beast! I’m here to help you with your courtship!”
I froze in my seat, my face instantly burning red.
Calico trotted between the desks under everyone’s watchful eyes and came straight to me. Then she began rubbing her head insistently against my arm.
My roommate leaned over. “Wow. You rescued her once, and now she’s decided you’re hers?”
With countless eyes turning toward me, I gave an awkward laugh.
A few people reached out to pet her, but she impatiently dodged them and continued bumping her head against my arm.
“Go on, take your chance! She’s right there at the lectern. Hurry up and court her!”
I pretended not to hear a thing and began gathering my belongings.
Apparently, Professor Sterling had noticed the commotion. At some point, she had stopped what she was doing.
When I looked up, I met her eyes.
After a brief pause, she closed the lesson plan in her hands.
“Claire Bennett, come to my office with me.”
My roommate gave me a sympathetic look, then fled without looking back.
“Good luck. I’m out of here.”
I looked down at Calico, who was still rubbing against my legs, and suddenly felt a little suspicious.
“Why are you so invested in this?”
The cat froze mid-nuzzle. Then, with remarkable speed, it turned around and began licking the fur along its back.
“…I just care about my rescuer.”
I narrowed my eyes at the back of Calico’s head as it busily groomed itself.
There was something seriously strange about this cat.
But I didn’t have time to think about it. Professor Sterling had already left the classroom, so I grabbed my bag and hurried after her.
She walked ahead of me down the hall while I followed with my head lowered, trying to figure out why she wanted me in her office.
Had she caught me spacing out during class?
Or had my last assignment failed to meet her standards?