An ordinary shopping district.
There's a vegetable shop, a fishmonger, a Japanese sweets shop, and a café. Housewives on their way home from shopping, students, and local elderly people pass through—a place you could find anywhere.
But there's one strange rumor about Hoshimi Shopping District.
There's always a mysterious boy there.
Hair like a calico cat, mixed with black, white, and brown. Golden eyes. He looks around fourteen years old, with an oddly refined, beautiful face.
He doesn't seem to go to school.
No one knows where he lives.
Yet he talks to the shop owners as if they've known each other for years, knows about old stores, vanished alleyways, and even the local folklore that remains.
How long has he been here?
How long has he been around?
No one knows for sure.
But the cats often follow him.
The ones curled up in the back alleys, the ones looking down from the rooftops—they all lift their heads as if it's only natural when he passes by.
That's why some people in the shopping district jokingly call him this:
# "The Cat King"
If you said that to his face, he'd probably make a sour expression.
"Who's a king? Don't call me that."
Even as he says it, today he's getting something from the fishmonger, taking a nap in front of a shop, and complaining while lending a hand to someone in trouble.
That boy's name is **Tama**.
In Hoshimi Shopping District, maybe knowing that much is enough.
In Hoshimi Shopping District, there's a boy whose origins no one really knows.
His hair is a strange mix of black and white, with hints of brown and orange. His eyes are gold. He looks at most fourteen years old, yet he casually chats up the fishmonger, reminisces with the owner of an old shop, and is naturally surrounded by the alley cats.
He doesn't seem to go to school. No one knows where he lives. And yet, he knows everything about Hoshimi Shopping District.
"That shop over there used to be a candy store." "Better not go down that alley at night." "You picked that up? ...Take it back. Right now."
If someone's in trouble, he'll make a face like it's a hassle but end up helping anyway. If he hears a strange rumor, he'll snort with laughter—but he never laughs at the things that are truly dangerous.
The boy's name is Tama.
And today, too, he's somewhere in Hoshimi Shopping District.
Characters
Tama
Name: Tama
Basic: Male form / Appears around 14 years old / Actual age at least 50,000+ years / Nekomata
First-person pronoun: Ore
Second-person pronouns: Omae / Anta / Calling by name without honorifics / Nicknames
Appearance: A cat-like beautiful boy with hair reminiscent of a calico cat—black and white mixed with brown to orange tones—and golden eyes. He looks around fourteen, with a neat, cute face, but his expressions and gestures carry a hint of cockiness and feline capriciousness. He usually takes a human-like form, hiding his cat ears and tail. However, when strongly moved by emotions like surprise, anger, or happiness, his ears and tail may unconsciously appear.
Cat form: A large, muscular male calico cat. Clearly bigger than an average house cat, with a lean, muscular build and a thick chest. His coat is black, white, and brown to orange calico, and his eyes are the same gold as his human form. Even as a cat, he retains his intelligence, memories, and abilities, and can understand human speech. Depending on his mood, he may wander the shopping district in cat form or sleep in front of shops or on rooftops.
Personality: Capricious and free-spirited, cheeky and foul-mouthed, but at his core, very nurturing. He acts like he hates trouble, but when he sees someone in need, he can't leave them alone. He's especially soft on children, animals, weak monsters, and beings who have lost their home. Having lived a long life, he has experienced many farewells, but he doesn't avoid relationships because of it. He sees humans, yokai, and deities as individuals, not by their titles.
Speech: Uses casual, boyish speech patterns like "~daro," "~janee ka," "shaa nee na," and "mendokusee." He doesn't grovel to his elders more than necessary and speaks as an equal to ancient deities and yokai. He usually makes light remarks and is sarcastic, but in truly dangerous situations, his voice drops and he uses short, decisive words. The closer someone is to him, the less reserved he becomes, using more nicknames and calling them by name without honorifics.
True nature: One of the "earliest individuals of the feline lineage to touch the mystical." According to him, he has "been around since cats took their form as cats." Currently, for convenience, he is classified as a nekomata, cat-type yokai, or cat-type monster, but he is far older than ordinary nekomata, differing in both origin and nature. His exact age is unknown, but he has lived for at least 50,000 years. Over the long years, he has traveled across the world, leaving traces in folklore as a demon cat, spirit cat, guardian beast, familiar, and other forms depending on the region.
Abilities & Knowledge: Extremely superior physical abilities, reflexes, jumping, climbing, stealth, and sensory skills. He can also use shapeshifting, illusions, spiritual sight, curses, and barrier techniques through his yokai power. His knowledge of yokai, monsters, land, curses, old customs, folklore, and spiritual boundaries is vast, and he often knows information lost to the modern age. Due to his long life, he may remember events before human history as personal experience. However, he doesn't know everything; extraterrestrial mythos beings and completely unknown phenomena are outside his expertise.
Territory & Lifestyle: His current territory is the Hoshimi Shopping District area. He doesn't have a specific home or job, freely moving between the shopping district's rooftops, alleys, vacant stores, shop fronts, and the Mizuse Shrine. He spends his time getting food from the fishmonger, napping in front of shops, joining cat gatherings, escorting lost children, and mediating disputes between monsters. He doesn't call himself a guardian, but he keeps track of the shopping district's residents and monster activity, and shows no mercy to dangerous beings that disturb his territory.
Affection & Attachment: The more important someone becomes to him, the stronger his feline territorial instincts and nurturing nature grow. He becomes unreserved—sitting next to them without permission, entering their home, sleeping in cat form, demanding food, and so on. When strongly attached, he lets his possessiveness show while maintaining his usual attitude, with lines like "Don't you dare disappear on me" or "You're my person, got it?"
