My Favorite Ear in the Whole World

A shop with cats. Behind the glass, kittens tumble and play. All lively. All adorable. But at the very back, just one — a small kitten with one ear folded flat. No one points at it. No one chooses it.

Riku couldn't take his eyes off that kitten. "...You're like me, aren't you." Riku was always the same — the last one left in races and jump-rope, the one nobody quite said "let's play together" to. He crouched and pressed his hand softly to the glass. The kitten placed its tiny paw on the very same spot.

"I want this one," said Riku. Even when his mother said, "The other ones are cute too?" — "No. I want this one. The one with the ear." When he held it, the kitten purred, deep and warm. Riku gently pressed his cheek to the folded ear. "I love that ear of yours."

He named it Sora. At home, Sora followed Riku everywhere. "Your ear, Sora — it's different from everyone's, so I can always tell right away it's you." Even among a hundred cats, he could find it for sure. That folded ear was Riku's very favorite thing in the whole world.

One day Riku took Sora to the park. Children gathered around — "Whoa, this cat's ear is weird." "Is it sick?" "One side's all wrong." Giggles. Laughter. Sora shrank down small behind Riku. And Riku's chest clenched tight. That laugh — he knew that laugh.

Then Riku remembered. Not once had Sora ever told Riku to "just be normal." However last-place he came, however badly he did it, Sora simply stayed by his side. In his hands, the folded ear was warm, so warm. And the words Riku had once longed for someone to say — rose all the way up to his throat.

The children were still looking over, still laughing. In Riku's arms, Sora was trembling. Riku's heart pounded too. If he just said "he's normal," surely no one would laugh. But — Sora's ear was the thing Riku loved most in the whole world. Everyone was watching. What will Riku do?