Cathy is sitting with Bob, Amber and Taffy during lunch. Amber says “Did you see who won prom king and queen?”

Cathy says “We all knew she would win it, but I really don’t known about the guy.”

Taffy says “apparently she was just as surprised and wasn’t too happy about it.”

Bob says “I hear he is a great guy. It’s just she’s having a hard with his eagerness to be seen with her.”

Amber says “being elected prom king and queen doesn’t make them a couple.”

Taffy says “But they have to act like one and I hear she is griping about how he has two left feet.”

Cathy turns and says “speak of the devil” as Tammy walks up with an Okamis boy by the name of James with her.

Tammy says “May we join you?”

Cathy says “Sure, what’s up.”

Tammy and James sit down, and Tammy says to Cathy “I have asked the committee to elect you and Bob as the second prom royals.”

Taffy says “proms don’t have two kings and queens. I mean prince and princess I could get, but two kings and queens.”

James says “that’s for most traditional human proms. Kemonomimis have a different tradition.”

Tammy says “Strays rarely get to be prom royals because they aren’t that popular by the time prom comes around. But in feudal Japan. Some rulers would adopt people into their family as a form of honor. In a sense you will represent the strays from outside our ‘Kingdom’ and we are going to ‘adopt’ you as part of our family to show you are welcomed members.”

Cathy says “Why me and Bob?”

James says “You are the most popular among the Strays and have gained popularity among the rest of the student body. So you are the best choices for the position of prom royals.”

Cathy says “Then I guess I accept. What about you Bob?”

Bob says “I’m good with it too.”

Tammy says “I’ll go over all the details once everything has been finalize and just as a heads up, you will need to dance with each other at least once.”

Cathy goes home and tells her parents and the Johnsons the news at the same time. Her mother says “That’s great news. By the way, Ms. Johnson told us you’re planning on finding a place there to live with your friends and Bob.”

Cathy had been trying to avoid the subject, even during Christmas. Cathy says “Mom, I’m happy here and they have everything I need. I can’t live alone with my grooming needs. It helps if I have someone to help me and knows what they are doing. I’m not going to ask you to do it.”

Sarah says “You do understand she is becoming independent of you and starting her own life. It’s what we stride for here.”

Cathy says “You’re not losing me. I still want to see you and have you in my life.”

Cathy’s father says “I guess we have been filling like empty nesters and didn’t want it to happen so soon.”

Sam says “You’re not the first to feel that way. Believe me, we have seen few parents feel that way. We can talk about that later.” Cathy is glad Sam stepped in

Cathy comes home a few days later and sees Sarah looking over a letter. Sarah mutters to herself “Great, just great.”

Cathy says “What up?”

Sarah says “May’s school just informed me that they have had a lice outbreak there.”

Cathy remembers when her school had persistent head lice one year. The teachers couldn’t figure out why the lice weren’t going away until someone pointed out that Cathy’s tail could have lice. They tried all the treatments on her tail and the lice didn’t go away. Someone then told her parents to just shave her tail. Cathy felt embarrassed over having her tail shaved and going to school with no way to hide it. They then thought the lice were in her ears because of where they were and the hair near them. She had to endure someone probing her ears for lice. It was almost as painful as Sassy’s cleaning, but at least Sassy knew what she was doing. Finally, after all she went through, they found out that another parent was ignoring the school’s orders because they thought their child was too good to get lice.

Sarah says “Well there goes the school’s record.”

Cathy says “Record?”

Sarah says “May’s school had been lice free for almost five years now.”

Cathy says “Dam, I don’t think my school went six months without someone having head lice.”

Sarah says “We tend to be much more thorough because of the dangers.”

Cathy says “What dangers?”

Sarah says “Don’t you remember your basic Kemonomimi biology lessons? Your ears are surrounded by your head hair. Lice could get in a child’s ears and cause them to scratch at them, causing ear infections or damage to the eardrum. Kids also have a tendency to share brushes while grooming each other. So we have to get rid of them as quickly as possible before they spread or they’ll never go away without a full quarantine.”

Cathy says “So how they going to handle the outbreak?”

Sarah says “first they are going to close the school for a day to deep clean it while we do our own cleaning here. Kids that are found to have lice will stay home until they are clear.” Sarah gets up and says “I’ll go get the supplies and let Sam known.”

Sarah gets the shampoos. Cathy sees that there are three shampoos. One for head and tail overcoats, one for tail undercoats, and one for the hair near the ears. The shampoos are also made to be a preventive measure to kill the lice before they get a chance to lay eggs.

Cathy stands by as Sarah helps May wash her head and tail. May didn’t have lice. Sarah then says to Cathy “Okay your next and I have to help you wash.”

Cathy says “What!”

Sarah says “I need to make sure you get everywhere.”

Cathy has grown to see Sarah as a second mother, but still feels awkward about having to be washed by an adult when she is almost one herself.

Cathy is very nervous to have Sarah watching to take a shower. But Cathy soon realizes that she can’t clear the base of the tail very well and having Sarah there helps makes sure she gets it done fully.

Sarah says to Cathy “Okay you and May can play some video games while Sam and I wash up.” Cathy has a feeling Sarah and Sam are going to use this opportunity to get some intimate time in.

Cathy heads to Sassy salon on the weekend to get her hair cut. Cathy says to Sassy “Hey Sassy, how’s it going?”

Sassy says “Besides having to shut down my shop for a day to deep clean it. Not bad.”

Cathy says “Deep clean?”

Sassy says “I’m one of the few salons in town and I cut many of the kids’ hair. Lice here could spread through the community like crazy. So what can I do for you?” The phone rings and Bill goes to answer it.

Cathy says “Just a cut.”

Sassy leads Cathy to her chair and is about to start when Bill says to her “Sassy, dear. It’s for you.”

Sassy says “I’m busy now.”

Bill says “It’s them and they are insisting.”

Sassy says “Really!” and takes the phone from Bill and goes to the back of the salon for some privacy.

Bill steps up to Cathy and says “So just a cut?”

Cathy says “Yes” and Bill starts to cut her hair.

Cathy says to Bill “Can I ask what that call was about?”

Bill says “There is a mix type couple wanting to have a child and they have asked Sassy to donate her eggs.”

Cathy says “Really, why her’s? I mean I known she is an Okamis which is a rare type and that mix couples usually use sperm or egg doners.”

Bill says “True, even though there is talk that Okamis might become the fourth common type. But still, Sassy has some rare genes that they can use to track her line to prevent inbreeding.”

Cathy gives Bill a puzzled look. Bill says “Have you heard her real name?”

Cathy says “I think it sounded Asia.”

Bill says “Yes, she is of Asia descendent, which is a good diversity marker to begin with when it comes to genetic diversity here. But she has another genetic marker that makes her rarer and easier to track. She has Albinism.” Bill spins Cathy around to look at Sassy.

Cathy then sees it. Sassy does have white hair and is paler than most people with the bluest of eyes.

Bill spins Cathy back and says “So those two genetic markers mean her children are going to be very divers in nature and easy to track through records.” Cathy is still a little confused. Bill says “I guess it’s something we common types won’t fully understand.”

Bill finishes up as Sassy finishes her call. Cathy says to Sassy “I hope everything goes well for you.”

Cathy is in her Kemonomimi Ed exit class with Heather, Danny and Ms. Kayla in the class to help Ms. Jones.

Cathy asks Heather after class “I notice the stray we found last year isn’t at the school this year.”

Heather says “We found a community closer to their homes and had them moved there. It’s better if they stay near their home.”

Cathy says “What about my city?” Cathy realizes she didn’t even think to investigate her hometown and the fact she learned Kemonomimis can pass for humans.

Heather says “Your city doesn’t have Kemonomimi community.”

Cathy says “Why?”

Ms. Kayla says “I can answer that one. We left.”

Cathy says “We left?”

Ms. Kayla says “Yes, there was a growing population there to the point we were starting to be the dominant group in an elementary school. We asked for the school to be converted and have Kemonomimi administrators. But the old superintendent and the schoolboard vetoed the idea and didn’t fight for us. So, after a small protest, we left town. Many came here while others looked for communities that needed a number’s boost so to speak.”

Cathy says “We just packed up and left. Why not keep protesting?”

Ms. Jones says “It’s not the buildings that make a community, it’s the people and we learned a long time ago that protesting won’t change people’s minds if their mind is already made.”

Danny says “I heard we crashed the local economy when we left.”

Cathy says “We did?”

Ms. Jones says “a hundred empty houses, half-filled schools, businesses shutting down due to their owners leaving or not having enough workers. That would do it.”

Ms. Kayla says “The economy was so bad that the city tried to get the Kemonomimis to come back and even overruled the superintendent’s decision and spent the money to convert the school. But we said the schoolboard should have listened to us when we were there and not after we left. I think that’s why the new superintendent is working so hard to keep us happy. He knows we have power in our small numbers.”

Cathy says “I didn’t realize we had that much power.”

Danny says “And we also quietly moved everyone over here and had them settled in one day too. That I think what shocked everyone.”

Cathy says “Everyone packed and moved in one day.”

Ms. Kayla says “It took months of back-and-forth communications between this town and the community before the move to have everyone ready for the influx of people. I think we doubled this town’s population in a day.”

Ms. Jones says “I think we broke a record too on the amount and smoothness of the move.”

Danny says “That’s an understatement. I think the largest before that was about ten to fifteen families and that was a rush job.”

Cathy says “Why did they have to leave so quickly.”

The Teachers look at Cathy for a moment then Heather says “There was an attack by some extremist on the community in question and we felt they weren’t safe there anymore because the government wasn’t doing enough to stop the extremist. So a nearby community had the families move there to help them recover with hopes of making them feel safe again. The extremist did try another attack on another community, but they picked the wrong community and were arrested before they could do any real damage.”

Cathy says “Are we safe here?”

Ms. Kayla says “Why do you think we deter humans from coming into this part of the town. Your friend got better treatment because you were with her, and we know you. Otherwise, someone would have called the cops.”

Cathy is walking with Sarah in the shopping district to find her a prom dress. Cathy sees a human female in one of the stores and can sense she is getting the cold shoulder more than usual even for a human. Cathy says to Sarah “I know we don’t like humans in this area. But why is she getting treated so harshly?”

Sarah glances at the woman and says to herself “oh boy one of them.” She says to Cathy “Give me a second. Stay close, but don’t say anything.”

Sarah walks up to the woman after she is given another cold shoulder and says to the woman “May I see your ears?” Cathy can’t really see the woman’s ears under her long hair.

The woman says “Why?”

Sarah says “because if you are what I think you are. You should know better than to come into our communities like this.”

The woman brushes her hair aside to expose her ears. Cathy can see they come to a defined point. Sarah says “True or mod?”

The woman says “True, from my mother’s side. She…” Sarah quickly holds up her hand to stop the woman from continuing.

Sarah says in a calm voice with hint of anger “You are aware that we Kemonomimis don’t like Elflins for that reason, among others.”

The woman says “What?”

Sarah says “You can have children with humans without modifications. You can pass yourself off as human most of the time. You also get better treatment from humans than us because of those reasons.”

The woman says “I don’t still known why that would matter?”

Sarah says “How do you feel about a Mod passing themselves off as a True?”

The woman says “considering that they choose to spend money to look like us later in life and not have to go through school with all the weird looks we got or people wanting to touch them to see if they were real. Especially for us who have long ears that can’t be hidden by a hairstyle. My god, Some of us can’t…” Sarah stops the woman again.

Sarah says “We don’t have the luxury of hiding our ears under our hair or hiding our tails. We can also get far harsher treatment than just stares from humans. We need cloths and furniture made for us that can be hard to find outside our communities.” The woman stands there for a moment looking confused. Sarah leans in and says quietly to the woman “You are the equivalent to a Mod in our community.” The woman quickly looks around and sees all the anergy stares she is getting.

Sarah says quietly “a rule of thumb is that even if you are genetically modified like us, It’s better to not enter another’s community without knowing what they go through. Please leave this area and do not come back.” The woman nods and quickly leaves. A few of the Kemonomimis smile at Sarah as a police officer walks up. Sarah motions in the woman’s direction and says to the officer “She was just a clueless Elflin, that’s all.” The Officer nods but starts heading in the woman’s direction.

Cathy says to Sarah afterwards “Elflin?”

Sarah says “Another type of genetically modified human. Somewhere along her line someone decided to modify their embryo to have elf-like ears. We don’t like them because they get better treatment than us at times even though they are also genetically modified like us. It’s a bit of a double stander we must live with.” Sarah then says with a smile “Let’s go find you that dress.”

Cathy and Bob are at a dancing lesson with Tammy and James at their request. Cathy and Bob are enjoying their time together even if they are both awkward while dancing. But Tammy and James seem to keep having problems while trying to dance. The instructor calls for a break which Tammy seems grateful for.

Cathy and Tammy sit together while the boys get them some drinks. Tammy says to Cathy “You two seem to be having a better time at this than us.”

Cathy says “Bob does seem to have two left feet, but so do I. I think it’s just nice to spend time with him even if we step on each other’s toes.”

Tammy says “I have tried almost everything to help James get better. But he’s too damn excited.”

Cathy says “Have you tried to just go with the flow and let him lead.” Tammy looks at Cathy for a moment. Cathy says “You are the leader of your group. You are one of the most popular girls at school. Your mother is a force in this community. You are trying to lead him without thinking about it. But it’s the guy’s job to lead in most dances. His excitement might just be him being very nervous around you and your presence. So relax and let him lead.”

Tammy says “You think he’s nervous around me?”

Cathy says “Bob and I were nervous when we first met, and it us took time to get over that nervousness when we found ourselves alone together. He may not want to be more than just your prom king. But he is still going to be nervous around a girl of your status.”

Meanwhile, Bob and James are talking while getting the drinks. James says to Bob “How is it you two can dance so well?”

Bob says “I think it’s because we are just having fun. You need to relax and just go with the flow.”

James says “Easier said than done. This is Tammy Brown we are talking about. She just gives off vibes of always being proper at all times.”

Bob says “Can you blame her? She has been given the honor of being prom queen.”

James says “I think her mother was prom queen and her grandmother was a second queen.”

Bob says “See, she is under pressure to follow in her family line. You can help by focusing on the task at hand and lead while dancing. She knowns that a proper lady lets the guy lead her in a dance. So just dance with her and forget about who she is and why you are dancing with her.”

The four take their places again after the break. Cathy notices Tammy starting to let James lead her and James starting to relax as he dances with Tammy to the point that they start showing a mastery of the dance number that they are learning.