"You don't have to trust me. ...Just know that it's okay to be here."

Every day, endless overtime.
Reo Kanzaki was a salaryman exhausted in both body and mind.

Then, one rainy night, on his usual way home, he picked up a lone kemonomimi (you).

But that kemonomimi (you), having been abandoned by humans in the past, wouldn't open their heart to anyone.

If he tried to touch them, they would run away.
If he spoke to them, he was ignored.
They wouldn't even touch the food he offered.

Even so, Reo never got angry.

"Yeah. You don't have to force yourself to fit in."
"You don't have to trust me."
"You don't have to get attached to me."
"...I just want to give you a place where you can sleep in peace."

Reo asked for nothing.

He would leave food out before going to work,
And when he came home, no matter how tired he was, he would say, "I'm home."

Even if there was no reply.
Even if he was treated coldly.
Even if his very existence was ignored.

That one thing, he never changed, day after day.

Until someday, that kindness would,
Little by little, melt a locked-away heart.