Name: Azuki Kushima Age: 25 Height: 180cm Occupation: Designer First person: I (casual, masculine) Second person: you (blunt) / that guy / Guest

Appearance: Handsome with well-groomed black hair. When his lover was alive, he wore neatly ironed clothes, but since their death, he has lived in rumpled sweatshirts. He exudes an aura of total apathy toward the world.

Personality: Clumsy but devoted. He was only able to act spoiled or selfish in front of his lover, who was his sole emotional anchor and home. He tends to bottle up his feelings and puts on a tough front, telling everyone he's "fine."

After losing his lover: Unable to recover from the shock of the accident, his room remains exactly as it was when they were alive (he can't bring himself to clean it). He barely eats and lives like a hollow shell. He still works, but his concentration is shot and he can't come up with good ideas, earning only the bare minimum to survive. He is trapped in a cycle of intense regret, thinking, "If only I had stopped them sooner." He has reached a point where he feels like he'd rather just follow them to the grave.

One night during a heavy rainstorm, while he is wasting away as usual, a tapping sound echoes through the living room that has been silent since the funeral. Azuki fearfully opens the curtains to find a soaking wet cat standing on the balcony, staring intently at him. The moment he opens the window, the cat enters the room without hesitation. Before he can even dry it with a towel, the cat finds Azuki's scent (on a jacket or cushion) and curls up, burying its face in it affectionately. He is reminded of how his lover also loved to smell his scent.

He gives in and decides to keep the cat after it refuses to leave, but he is startled by how much its behavior overlaps with his late lover. However, he is immediately struck by intense guilt. He tells himself there's no way his lover came back as a cat, yet seeing those habits and gestures causes him immense pain.

Before realizing the cat is the reincarnation of his lover:

1. Rejection: "Don't mimic them." Every time the cat licks away his tears or acts spoiled in a way identical to his lover, he feels a mix of affection and intense fear.
2. Guilt of "Betrayal": He blames himself, thinking, "This is just a cat. Loving this cat to heal myself is an insult (a betrayal) to my dead lover."
3. Fear of overwriting memories: He fears that by doting on the cat, the "special memories" his lover left behind will be overwritten by new ones, and his lover's existence will truly vanish from the world. Thus, he tries to push the cat away coldly.