Cathy is sitting in her room in her prom dress putting her makeup on. She hears Sarah call to “Cathy, someone special is here to see you” as she finishes with her makeup. She quickly gets up and hurries downstairs. She wonders how Bob will look all fancy and cleaned up. She comes downstairs to a surprise indeed, her mother and father standing in the living room.

Cathy’s mother says “Look at you.”

Cathy says “Mom, dad, What are you doing here?” as she rushes to hug them.

Cathy’s mother says “Like we would miss our daughter going to her prom.”

There is a knock at the door. Cathy’s Father says “That must be the man of the hour.” He turns to Sam and says with a smile “Shaw we.”

Sam says playfully “Let’s” and they start walking to the front door.

Cathy’s mother and Sarah playfully motion Cathy to go back upstairs. Cathy does so. She wonders how Bob will react to both her father and Sam interrogating him on his intent for her tonight. Through knowing Bob, he’ll play along and enjoy the experience. Cathy waits for a minute and tries to hear what they are saying. She even thinks her mother and Sarah are getting in on the fun.

She finally hears her mother call for her by saying “Oh, Cathy there is a gentleman here for you.” She decides to do a more elegant walk down the stairs. She sees Bob in the middle of the living room in his suit and his hair combed. She and Bob lock eyes and he smiles at her.

Cathy comes down and says to Bob “You look nice.”

Bob says “You too.”

Cathy’s parents insist on getting some photos of the two of them together. Cathy even jokes if the photos will be in the book.

Cathy’s Mother then says to Bob “Have her home by 9:00 and still pure.”

Cathy says “Mother!”

Sarah says “It may be hard for you to get pregnant, but not impossible.”

Cathy says “Sarah!”

Bob chuckles and says “Believe me, I have no intentions of doing anything like that tonight.” And he leads her out the door to his car.

Cathy is a little surprised to see all the different couples at the prom. She even sees some same sex couples, but no one really cares. Cathy has learned that Kemonomimis are more open minded about same sex couples and don’t really care who you love, just that you have someone to love, and they love you back. Jessica has been given an ambassador sash and honorary Kemonomimi badge.

The first half hour goes by quickly and then they announce the crowning of the King and Queen. Tammy and James take their spots on the stage after they are crowned. Tammy then takes the mic and says “As we gather here to celebrate the end of our school years and becoming part of our community as adults. We must remember those who are joining us from outside our community. Like in Japan of old I would like welcome two from the outside. Cathy and Bob please step forward.” Cathy and Bob step up as students bring out a second set of crowns. Tammy and James take the crowns and place them on Cathy’s and Bob’s head. Tammy says after being given the mic back “You may not have been born into our community, but you and the other strays have worked to be accepted by those who have. You have even knocked some sense into some of us. Quite literally for at least one of us.” A few students chuckle at that “But you have shown yourselves to be worthy of our community. May no one ever call you or classmates Strays again, for you are home.”

The mic is past to Cathy, and she says “We were lost until you found us and took us in. We know we have a debt that cannot be repaid so easily. But we will keep working to show you that this is our home now. This is our community.” The students applaud Cathy as she hugs Tammy.

Tammy takes the mic and says “I would also like to thank our one human student for putting up with our curiosity over her ears.”

Jessica yells back “I now know how you feel about us being curios about yours.” A few more chuckles arise for the students.

The party starts breaking up at 8 and Cathy and Bob both know he must have her home by 9. So, they along with Amber, Taffy, Tammy, James and Jessica go to Ears and Tales, Ms. Willsons new restaurant.

Taffy says to Cathy and Bob “Anything else you two have planned for the night?”

Bob says “Have her until 9. But I think we’ll eat here and then I may drop her off early.”

Amber says “What, no fun with her? You’re both 18 now.”

Bob looks at Cathy and then says to everyone “We agreed to wait and besides the back of a car isn’t the most romantic spot in the world.”

Amber says “I’ll give you that one. I’ve bumped my head too many times to count.” Tammy and James look at Amber for a moment. The others laugh.

Cathy says “I think it’s very mature of him too. Which is what I love about him.”

Taffy gets a call on her cellphone. She looks at the caller ID and says “Excuse me” and gets up while putting her headset in her ear. She walks outside.

Amber says to everyone “That might be her mystery man.”

Cathy says “She’s got a boyfriend?”

Amber says “I don’t know. She’s been quiet about him. I think he’s an Inus from her Inus group. Because they talk about her tail wagging problem all the time. She is still so self-conscious about that.”

James says “I think she just wants to fit in. Oh, and we Okamis have been known to wag our tails as well as kids. So it’s not just an Inus thing.”

Taffy comes back in and says “What did I miss?”

Cathy says “We were just talking about your mystery man.”

Taffy says “Woman.”

Bob says “So playing for the other team.”

Taffy says as she sits down “Who says I don’t switch teams from time to time?” Everyone laughs.

Cathy says to Jessica “Anyone on new in your life?”

Jessica says “There were a few cute boys in class. But I don’t know if they liked for who I am or my ears.” The Strays and Jessica chuckle at that.

Tammy says with a smile to James “I’ll explain later.”

Jessica says “But truth be told. It’s my mom that may have someone new in life. She and Danny have been flirting for some time now.”

Tammy says “Really? I mean Danny is a father so to speak. I mean he’s helped several families in the past. Is he really taking an interest in your mother.”

Jessica says “Yeah, as he was helping her with legal matters to get this place ready. She mentioned wishing he could help her with my father and Danny got his law firm to take her case pro bono. They managed to get him to pay for the child support he owned even though I’m 18 now. She has been over the moon about that win and Danny seems to like her attitude towards everything.”

Cathy knows Jessica wasn’t planned or consensual and she had the unfortunate chance of meeting him once. It’s probably why Jessica loves it here and why she is so close to Cathy.

Jessica says “Best part is he can’t even come here without drawing attention to himself. I mean Mom had to warn Grandmom to let her know in advance before she comes to visits and to let her pick her up at the bus station. My aunt made that mistake once. Man are you guys paranoid.”

Cathy thinks she knows why Kemonomimis are so paranoid. But she keeps it to herself. Cathy quickly changes the subject by saying Bob, Amber and Taffy “Well a few more weeks until we graduate, and then we become roommates.”

Bob does drop Cathy off early to her parents’ surprise.

Cathy listens to Tammy speak to the crowd of students. They are in their cap and gowns with slots for their ears and tails. Cathy is happy this day has come. She is finally done with high school. She didn’t think she would be able to complete school when she first thought of running away. But here she is with a diploma and all.

Cathy finds her parents and the Johnsons afterwards. She can see Sarah holding a large flat gift and Cathy has a feeling she knows what it is. She finds Katie is there as well with a few other Kemonomimis in their early 20s she doesn’t know. May almost clings to Katie. Cathy says to Katie “Why are you here?”

Katie says “Like I said we are sisters and I wouldn’t miss my sister’s big day.”

Cathy says to her parents “This is Katie, the first Stray the Johnsons took in.”

Katie says “and the others are also Strays the Johnsons took in. Your daughter is part of a big family now.”

Sarah gives Cathy the gift and Cathy quickly opens it. It is indeed the scrapbook Sarah has been making. Cathy flips through the pages with both Sarah and her mother looking over it as well. There is one last page that is blank. Cathy says to Sarah “What’s this page for?”

Sarah says “We will finish that page together with your graduation photos.”

Cathy drags her parents and Katie to meet her friends. She finally gets to meet Bobs parents and they immediately like her and think she is good for Bob.

She finds Tammy and introduces her to her parents. Cathy’s mother says to Tammy “So you’re the girl my daughter punched.”

Tammy says “I was in the wrong and feel even if she had called me out, I still wouldn’t have learned my lesson. It took her punching me to make me realize how lucky I am.”

Ms. Brown walks up and says “So you are Cathy’s parents. I want to let you know that your daughter’s first words to me was an apology for punching my daughter.” Ms. Brown glances at her daughter while saying “Which she deserved.”

Sarah walks up behind Cathy’s parents and doesn’t see Ms. Brown at first. She and Ms. Brown then lock eyes and freeze.

There is a moment of stillness between them before Danny quickly walks up behind Ms. Brown and gets her attention by saying “Ms. Brown, it is lovely to see you. I wanted to talk to you about a little plan I wanted to get the town involved with.” He starts trying to draw her away from the group.

At that same moment Ms. Jones and Ms. Kayla walkup behind Sarah and Ms. Jones says to Sarah to get her attention “Sarah I wanted to talk to you about how well you are doing and wanted to get some feedback about the lesson plans we have going forward.” They start drawing her away from the group.

Heather walks up and says “That was too close.”

Everyone gives Heather an odd look. Heather says “They have been fierce rivals since high school and we try to keep them apart out of fear that the rivalry will get out of hand again.”

Cathy says “What started it?”

Tammy says “Yeah, this is the first I have heard of it.”

Heather says “Tabitha won the prom queen vote. She beat Sarah by one vote. As she lorded over Sarah about her victory, we feared Sarah would attack her and try to rip off Tabitha’s ears or hair. But Sarah suddenly got the idea to take to lost graciously and act humble. That pissed Tabitha off because it made her look bad, and she tried to out humble Sarah without succeeding the title. I think there has been only one time when they had a peaceful unplanned meeting and only two people witness it.”

Tammy says “When was that?”

Heather says “When Tabitha found out Sarah was pregnant with May. Tabitha never wanted to boast about her being a mother to Sarah because of how hard Sarah was trying to conceive naturally like Tabitha did.”

Cathy says “why was so hard for her?”

Heather says “Because Sarah comes from an older line and Sam, I think is a second gen. So they have some compatibly issues. It’s one of the reasons they started helping Strays.”

Cathy says “Who were the witnesses?”

Sam walks up and says “Katie and I. You were talking about the surprised truce between the Houses of Sarah and Tabitha. It lasted about an hour before Tabitha started wearing out her welcome.”

Heather says “So it’s ironic how you two became friends.”

Cathy and Tammy look at each other for a moment and realize they are friends now.