Cathy has just finished unpacking the last box her parents sent her. She has made her new room her own. Sarah knocks on the door and says “all done unpacking?”

Cathy says “Yes…” Cathy pauses then says “Do I have to call you mom now?”

Sarah lets out a laugh then says “No, you still have a mother back home. You can call me Ms. Johnson or Sarah.”

Cathy says “Thanks…Sarah.”

Sarah says “Dinner will be ready in an hour.”

Cathy sets up her laptop after dinner and calls her parents just to check in for the day. They have been a little worried about her. But have started to relax now that Cathy has been checking in almost every day.

She tries brushing her tail by herself. May comes saying “Hey big sis” and climbs on Cathy’s bed.

Cathy says “Hey May.”

May says “Let me help you brush your tail.” Cathy reluctantly lets May brush her tail. Cathy flinches as May finds some knots in her undercoat. May says “Your undercoat is messy.”

Cathy says “They says it’s going to take time to train it.”

May finishes up Cathy’s tail. She then moves in front of Cathy and sits down with her back to Cathy. May says “Do mine now.”

Cathy has never brushed another’s tail. But she has been brushed enough to know some of the basics. May lets out some yelps as Cathy tries to brush her tail. May says “Not so hard.”

Cathy says “Sorry” and tries again. May yelps again.

Sarah yells “MAY! Get out here right now!” Sarah is standing in Cathy’s doorway. May gets off the bed and goes to her mother. Sarah checks on May’s tail while saying “You should know she doesn’t know how to brush other’s tails yet.”

May says “Sorry mom.”

Sarah says “Go to your room.” May heads to her room.

Cathy feels bad that she may have hurt May. Sarah can sense Cathy’s state and says “Don’t worry. No major harm. That’s why you’re going to have those special classes in school. There’s a lot of things you’re going to have to learn along with your other studies.” Sarah joins Cathy on her bed and says “Why don’t I check and clean your ears.”

Cathy gets on the floor in front of Sarah. Sarah starts working on Cathy’s ears. Cathy finds Sarah is far gentler than Sassy. Cathy then says to Sarah “Your lot gentler than Sassy.”

Sarah says “Sassy likes living on her own and doesn’t have to deal with a squirming little child almost every other night. Not to mention she must do a lot of work to clean your ears out. I’m just helping maintain them.”

Cathy says “Why does she do it? I mean help strays like me.”

Sarah says “You can ask her tomorrow.” Cathy looks up at Sarah. Sarah says “You’re going to need to look your best for your first day at your new school and Sassy is one of the best stylist in town.” Cathy smiles and lets Sarah finish up her work.

Sassy greets Cathy and Sarah as they enter her shop the next day “Hey Sarah!”

Sarah says “Hey Sassy, Cathy’s here for a cut to get ready for her first day at school.”

Sassy says to Cathy “Then come with me dearie.”

Sassy sits Cathy in her chair and starts working on Cathy’s hair. Cathy has had problems in the past with stylists who hadn’t had any experience with Kemonomimi ears. She even had her ears cut by a few of them. But Sassy is a Kemonomimi herself and is a master at working around other’s ears.

Cathy is relaxed enough to ask Sassy “Why do you help with strays. Everyone says you’re not a people person.”

Sassy says “Blame Heather and Sarah. They would bring strays to me to clean up and I got tired of seeing them in their state. So I agreed to take care of them as soon as possible to help get them in better condition. I could also do a quick health check on them while I was at it.”

Cathy says “Well I’m glad I walked into Thomson motel and Heather was there to help me.”

Sassy leans in close and says to Cathy “Who says you weren’t already on Heather’s radar when you walked into that motel?” Cathy looks at Sassy. Sassy goes back to work while saying “You’re going to learn that we are a tight community here and a new young Kemonomimi without parents is a good sign they are a stray. Think about it, Sarah and Sam go with you everywhere because we know they take care of strays. It lets the folks here know you’re new in town and are going to be hopefully part of our community.” Cathy is almost in shock at what Sassy said. She realizes that Sarah or Sam have been with her everywhere she goes and have introduced her to everyone they meet. Sassy says “Otherwise Heather would be getting calls almost every day if you went out on your own at first.”

Cathy says “Do you take care of all the strays? Even the boys?”

Sassy says “No, I deal mostly with the girls.” Sassy spins Cathy around to face a male stylist with dog ears. Sassy says “Bill takes care of the boys.”

Bill looks at Cathy and says “Danny says it keeps us safe to keep the genders separated until he can get everything in order.”

Sassy spins Cathy back around and goes back to work. Sassy says “And there are a few others that help out when more than one stray enters town.”

Cathy leaves feeling like that’s the best experience she has ever had knowing that the people involved knew her kind’s needs because they were her kind.

Cathy goes to her new school early on her first day at her new school to meet with Ms. Kayla, the principal of the school. Cathy finds out Ms. Kayla is a Nekos as well.

Ms. Kayla is walking Cathy through the halls of the school as students pass by. Cathy is stunned by the fact that every student is a Kemonomimi. Ms. Kayla says to Cathy “Now, we got your school records from your old school and lucky you don’t have to make anything up. But you will be assigned to a special homeroom in what we affectingly refer to as ‘Stray training’ or Kemonomimi Ed. It’s run by Ms. Jones.”

Cathy says “I don’t know why I have to take this class.”

Ms. Kayla says “How do you clean your ears by yourself?” Cathy stops to think. Ms. Kayla says “Too slow” before Cathy can get a word out. Ms. Kayla says “What’s the importance of brushing another’s tails?” Cathy again must stop and think about the question. Ms. Kayla says “Again, too slow. You must know these things if you are to fit into our community.” Cathy has a feeling she is in for some rough times at this school.

Ms. Kayla drops Cathy off at her homeroom before the first bell has rung. Cathy goes in and finds a desk with her name on it. The other students are gathered at the other side of the classroom talking with each other. Cathy decides to just sit at her desk.

A girl with dog ears and a short tail, walks over to Cathy and says “Hi! I’m Taffy” as her tail wags.

Cathy says “um…I’m Cathy.” Taffy leans over to rest her hands on Cathy’s desk.

Taffy says “So you’re the new stray?”

Cathy says “Yes.”

Another girl that is a Nekos walks up to them and says “Taffy, give her a break. This is her first day and your tail is going.”

Taffy stands up and says “Sorry” and seems to try and focus on not wagging her tail.

The other student says to Cathy “I’m Amber by the way” as she leans on a nearby desk.

Cathy says “Cathy, what’s wrong with Taffy wagging her tail?”

Taffy says “I did it as a child because people thought it was cute. But Inus don’t do it because it’s something a dog would do and not a human.”

Cathy kind of wants to ask more questions, but the bell rings and everyone starts getting to their seats as Ms. Jones walks in. She is a Nekos with lion ears and tail. Ms. Jones says “Good morning everyone.”

All the students respond with “Good morning Ms. Jones.”

Ms. Jones then says “Everyone take your seats.” Ms. Jones sees Cathy and says “I see we have a new student with us today.” She says to Cathy “would you like to introduce yourself.”

Cathy gets up and says “Yes”. She looks around and says “I’m Cathy.” Cathy stops and tries to think of something to say.

Ms. Jones says “That will do for now. We will have lots of time to learn more about you. You may sit.” Cathy sits down again. Ms. Jones then says to the class “Now since we have a new student, why don’t we go over brushing each other’s tails before practice. Can anyone tell Cathy why brushing our tail is so important?”

One of the students raises their hand and Ms. Jones says “Yes Mr. Bob.”

Bob says “To get rid of loose hairs.”

Ms. Jones says “Good, can anyone tell her the social aspect of brushing another’s tail.”

Taffy raises her hand and gets called on by Ms. Jones. Taffy says “It helps build bonds because it can be hard to brush your tail by yourself. So you have to trust someone else to do it for you.”

Ms. Jones says “Good, now let’s set up for some pair brushing practice. Cathy, I want you paired with Amber. You two have similar tails and bodies.”

The students start getting up and moving the desk out of the center. They then get mats and lay them on the floor. Amber tells Cathy “Sit beside me while facing me. Uh, which is your dominate hand?” as she sits down on the mat.

Cathy says “Right.”

Amber says “Good, sit on my left side.” Cathy sits down where Amber tells her to. Amber then says “We have to get closer.” Cathy and Amber are soon right next to each other. Amber reaches for Cathy’s tail and starts brushing it. Cathy does the same to Amber’s tail. Amber tells Cathy “Slow down a bit will you.” Cathy tries to brush slower. Cathy flinches when Amber hits a knot in her undercoat.

Cathy can feel Ms. Jones watching everyone. Ms. Jones says “Now what are some common things you should be aware of when brushing someone else’s tail?”

A student says “The undercoat is thicker and you have to be careful not to pull on the hairs when brushing.”

Ms. Jones says “Good, this is especially true for younger Kemonomimis because their tails haven’t fully grown to space out the hair follicles.” Cathy stops and thinks about May for a moment and realizes why Sarah yelled and what she was doing wrong. Cathy decides to make sure she gets this right for May’s sake.

The students retake their seats after the brushing exercise and learn more about Kemonomimi anatomy and the difference between Kemonomimis and Humans.

Cathy heads to her next class when the bell rings. Her other classes are just like her old school, but Cathy feels she can concentrate better with the fact no one is staring at her ears or tail because everyone including the teachers are Kemonomimis.

Cathy gets some food at lunch time and finds that even teen Kemonomimis form cliques. She can almost see all the old cliques from back home in her new school plus some new ones she can’t identify immediately. Cathy does find that the other strays have a table together and goes to eat with them.

Cathy heads home after school. She decides to call her parents when she gets home.

Sam asks Cathy at dinner “How was your first day at school?”

Cathy says “It was great. I learned some things and I hope I made some friends.”

Sarah says “That’s good.”

Cathy does her homework after dinner. She finishes up as May comes in and climbs on her bed. May says “How you are doing, Big Sis?”

Cathy says “I’m good.” Cathy looks at May and says “I want to show you something I learned today” as she gets up and sits on the bed behind May. Cathy takes her brush and starts brushing May’s tail. Cathy remembers what she learned and goes slowly at first to find the density of the undercoat and slowly works her way down May’s tail. Cathy is able to finish brushing May’s tail without a yelp from her.

Cathy becomes aware of the fact that Sarah is standing in the doorway. May climbs off Cathy’s bed saying “Mommy she didn’t hurt me” as she shows her tail to her mother.

Sarah says “She did a good job too. Now get to bed.” May runs off to her room. Sarah says to Cathy “I see that was the first thing you learned.”

Cathy says “yes and I now understand why you didn’t want me to brush her tail the other day.”

Sarah says “There is still a lot for you to learn.”

The next day at school, Ms. Jones says “Okay, we are going to talk about ear care today. But first we are going to do chain brushing practice today. Cathy, I want to brush Taffy’s tail. As for the others, you can form the chain in any way you like.”

Once again, the students move the desk, but this time make a large circle with the mats. Cathy sits behind Taffy and starts trying to brush her tail. She does find it hard to brush Taffy’s tail while someone else brushes her tail, but she quickly gets use to it. Taffy starts getting excited and wagging her tail. Cathy struggles to brush Taffy’s tail as it moves. Ms. Jones sits next to Cathy and says as she reaches for Taffy’s tail “Here, grab the base of her tail and give it a quick tug before holding the area just below where you want to brush.” Taffy jumps a little when Ms. Jones pulls on her tail.

Cathy says to Ms. Jones “Isn’t that mean of me to do?”

Taffy says “It’s a behavioral modification to help me stop wagging my tail.”

Ms. Jones says “It also stuns her long enough to get some work done be she starts wagging it again.”

Cathy goes back to brushing Taffy’s tail while Ms. Jones watches. Taffy starts to wag her tail again and Cathy reluctantly pulls on it to get it to stop. Cathy apologizes afterward, But Taffy doesn’t seem to mind.

Everyone takes their seats once they are done with the brushing practice. Ms. Jose says “can anyone tell me why we need to clean our ears more often than normal humans?”

Amber raises her hand and Ms. Jones calls on her. Amber says “We have more hair near them and even in them.”

Ms. Jones says “Correct, It’s why cleaning them can be hard but important as well. Can anyone tell me why it can be hard for us to clean our ears by ourselves?”

Another student raises their hand and is called on. They says “because of the position of our ears. They are near the top of our head.”

Ms. Jones says “Correct. Now I have ‘homework’ for you tonight. When you get home, I want you to ask your co-parents to help you clean your ears by yourself. You should be supervised for the first few times until you can do it without any problems.”

The class continues with learning about their ears.

Cathy sits with the other strays at lunch. They start talking and just get to know each other. Cathy then sees Amber take out a pill case and take some pills. Cathy says to Amber “are you alright?”

Amber smiles and looks at the others then says to Cathy “Let’s just say that when the boys back home learned it was hard to get me pregnant, I became very popular and got a reputation. But they gave me something else. Now I live with those choices.” Cathy is stunned by those words and Amber says “Danny managed to get my meds for free and set me up with a family that’s understands what’s going on with me. I think the Johnsons wanted to take me in, but there were concerns over their daughter not understanding and them wanting to keep her safe.”

Cathy says “yeah, May is a sweet kid. She calls me big sis all the time.”

Cathy finishes up her homework after calling her parents. She then remembers her homeroom homework and goes to Sarah and says “uh Sarah, can you help me with something?”

Sarah says “what is it?”

Cathy says “Ms. Jones wants us to try and clean our own ears.”

Sarah says with a smile “I need to teach May as well. So we’ll do it together.”

Sarah has both May and Cathy standing in front of the mirror with the cleaning supplies in front of them. Sarah demonstrates for them while saying “You first are going to have to learn how to feel your ear out to find the earhole. You then need to move the hair out of the way and insert the Q-tip in the hole gently.” Cathy finds it’s hard to look in the mirror and find her earhole. She realizes that with all the hair that covers it also makes it hard to clean. She now understands why Sassy was so hard on her the first night and why Sarah cleans them for her. Cathy sees May is having similar problems and why she needs to learn this at her age.

Ms. Jones checks their ears the next day. Cathy gets a passing grade on them. Ms. Jones says to the class “we are going to do pair brushing practice today and you can pick your partners.” Cathy pairs up with Amber as they have similar tail and body types. Cathy does realize that it takes time to learn how to reach around someone while they do the same. Cathy flinches when Amber hits a knot on her tail’s undercoat.

Ms. Jones starts the lesson after brushing practice. Ms. Jones says “Today we are going to go over Kemonomimi types and subtypes. Can anyone name the three most common types?

Amber says “Nekos, Inus and Kitsunes.”

Ms. Jones says “Correct, and why are they named that?” as she writes the names on the board behind her.

Another student says “Because the procedure was created in Japan. So they were given Japanese names.”

Ms. Jones says “Correct, That’s why all Kemonomimi types and the name of our kind uses Japanese names. Can anyone tell why the procedure was created there in the first place.” Everyone is quiet for a moment. Ms. Jones turns to the class and says “This is part of your history. It was created because Japan was facing a population decline and was trying to find a way to boost their numbers back up or there would be no native Japanese now. They thought that their people would like to have kids with cute animal ears and tails. There was opposition to it because people thought that Kemonomimis would replace native Japanese or western culture would think all Japanese were into this fad as they called it. So, they started having natural children to offset the Kemonomimis. So, in a sense it worked out both ways. You could say we were a necessary evil for them.” Ms. Jones then says “Now why are those three types the most common types?”

Bob says “Because, Nekos were the first type of Kemonomimis, Inus were poplar type because of dogs, and Kitsunes were poplar for their Japanese origins.”

Ms. Jones says “That’s correct. Did you know some Nekos families in Japan are now up to their fifth and sixth Generations?” The class is silent. Ms. Jones turns to the class and says “I want you to do the math. Let’s say baring teen mothers, there is a 20 year gap between Generations. That means that some of those families are now almost a hundred years old. Some have great grandparents that were Kemonomimis and have never met their Human kin. You are first in your line and may one day be a grandparent to a Kemonomimi child.” Cathy along with the others are hit by that thought at that moment.

Amber says “Is anyone related to the first Kemonomimi?”

Ms. Jones says “The only child of the first Kemonomimi went into hiding at her mother’s request and we don’t know if she had any kids. So there are rumors of a lost heir to that family line. We just don’t have a way to find out.” Ms. Jones then says “Can anyone name a rare type of Kemonomimi?”

The students struggle to come up with an answer. Cathy then remembers a type and says “Kumas!”

Ms. Jones says “Very good Cathy. You remembered Danny’s type. Any others?” As she writes it the board behind her.

One student then says “Okamis?”

Ms. Jones says “Sassy’s type.”

Another student says “Tanukis”

Ms. Jones says “We don’t have one of those in town and don’t get them mixed up with Aligmas. Any others”

Cathy ask Ms. Jones “Why do we need to know this?” The other students look at her.

Ms. Jones turns to Cathy and says “Good question. First off knowing the types will help you understand the diverse nature of Kemonomimis and not be surprised if you see a rare type. Rare types can feel pressures that you as a common type won’t feel. It comes down to understanding genetics. It’s true that Humans and Kemonomimis cannot have children unless genetic modifications are done, But did you known it can be hard for Kemonomimis of different types to have children? Many of the children of two different types will have deformed ears and tails. Some are even sterile, in effect ending their line. So many mixed-type couples will look for sperm donors or surrogates to reduce the odds defects in their child. Rare types must be extra careful of who they choose because they may be related and are at risk of inbreeding birth defects. It’s why we are happy to hear of a new rare type being born and are pushing for more of them be born to help stabilize some of the rare types’ gene pools, and that is also why a rare type can feel pressured to produce a child to help build their gene pool up.”

Cathy feels bad for the rare types at that moment.

Ms. Jones says “How about we switch to subtypes? Can anyone name some of the Nekos subtypes?”

Taffy says “Well there’s the many house cat subtypes. Pretty much any breed of house cat has a Nekos subtype.”

Ms. Jones says “any rare subtypes?” as she writes on the board. The students try to think of one. Ms. Jones stops writing and turns to the class as she points to her own ears.

Amber says “Oh, Lion subtype or the big cat subtypes.”

Ms. Jones goes back to writing while saying “The proper name for my subtype is Raions. There have been discussions of splitting the Nekos type into two types; House Nekos and Wild Nekos, or reclassifying some of the subtypes into types.” Ms. Jones finishes her writing and says to the class “Your ‘Homework’ assignment today is to see how many types and subtypes you can identify in the student body at this school. You can work together if you like.”

Cathy and the other strays decide to use their lunch break to try to identify all the different Kemonomimi types and subtypes at the school. One of the female students with fox ears notices them looking around and walks over to their table and says “What are you strays doing?”

Amber says “Homework. We were asked to identify Kemonomimi types and subtypes at this school.”

The student says “Well as you can clearly see, I’m a Kitsune and my subtype is Red fox, and my name is Tammy if that matters. Which it should.” Cathy thinks she hears Tammy mutter “Strays” as she walks away.

Amber says “Well she sounds all high and mighty.”

Cathy watches as Tammy joins a group of Kitsunes girls. Cathy has a feeling that the culture connection to their type has gone to Tammy and the other Kitsunes heads. She hopes the stray Kitsunes don’t get that way as well.

Cathy is still trying to identify the different types over the weekend while shopping with the Johnsons. Sarah says to Cathy “What are you doing?”

Cathy says “Ms. Jones wants us to try and identify types and subtypes. Still don’t know why. I mean I get that I need to know it. But she has been hard on us to be able to identify them on sight.”

Sarah asks May “How many types to do you see?”

May looks around and starts naming not only the types but the subtypes as well of everyone she can see. Cathy is surprised by how well May does and how quickly she can identify them.

Sarah says to Cathy “May started learning the types and subtypes when she started preschool. The children ask about each other’s types and subtypes. The school has made it part of their curriculum. You are behind her in knowing how to quickly identify types and subtypes. So Ms. Jones is trying to catch you up so you can blend in better here.”

Cathy doubles down on being able to quickly identify types and subtypes as she doesn’t want any elementary school student to beat her.

Cathy’s work at identifying types and subtypes pays off next week at school. Then one day Ms. Jones says to the class “I’ve talked it over with your teachers. Tomorrow you will be going on a field trip. Your teachers will give you tomorrow’s assignments today so you can work on them tonight.”

Amber says “Where are we going?”

Ms. Jones says “It’s sort of a surprise.”

Cathy gets all of her assignments and works hard on some of them that night.

The strays load up on a school bus the next day. Cathy and the others don’t know what to expect when they pull into a nearby elementary school.

Ms. Jones has everyone get out and watch the children play. Cathy is confused until she notices that some of the children are brushing each other’s tails. She can see children playing tag with a rule of no grabbing tails. Cathy wishes the kids back home didn’t grab her tail when they played when she was younger. She can still remember how much it hurt to have someone pull on her tail.

Cathy then spots one child in particular and the child spots her almost imminently afterwards.

May comes running over to Cathy yelling “Big Sis!”

Cathy kneels down to greet May and says “Hey May, I’m on a field trip, so I can’t play with you right now.”

May turns to the rest of the class and says “You’re all strays? We hope you will like it here and stay with us.” Cathy looks at her classmates and sees they are all just staring at May with the same look on their faces. Cathy then realizes that she is one of the few students whose host parents has a child of their own and this may be the first time they have seen another young Kemonomimi this close other than themselves in pictures or a mirror.

Ms. Jones says to May “Why don’t you run along and let your Big Sis Cathy get back to what she was doing?”

May says “Okay” she turns to the class “It was nice seeing you.” And runs off.

Ms. Jones says “The reason you are here is to get over the shock of seeing young Kemonomimis. As you can guess, almost all the children playing here were conceived naturally, where you were modified before you were born. You can see the diverse nature of the children here and probably can see some rare types in the mix.” Ms. Jones continues her lesson on identifying types and subtypes while everyone watches the kids play. They return to school afterwards and finish out their day.

Sarah says to Cathy when she gets home “How was school today?”

Cathy says “It was fine.”

Sarah says “I got both a notice about your field trip and May’s school getting a visit from your class.”

Cathy says “Yeah, I didn’t know how to say I saw May today on our field trip without it sounding weird.”

Sarah says “That’s why you are living with us and going to those classes.”

Cathy video chats with her parents before dinner to tell them about her field trip. Her mother says “Why didn’t we get a notice about your field trip?”

Cathy is stunned for a moment as she tries to think of an answer when Sam says “You remember that co-parenting agreement you signed with us? It also gives us permission to sign off on school trips as Cathy’s legal guardians.” Cathy turns around to see Sam standing in the doorway to her room. Sam walks in and up to the laptop so her parents can see him better and says “We know what these field trips are for and why. Many Gen 1s have never seen another Kemonomimi child other than themselves. We are one of the few families with a child of our own that takes in strays. Sorry, we should have let you know about the field trip beforehand.”

Cathy mother says “After spending time with you and your wife. I trust you with our daughter and would let us know what’s going on in her life.”

Sam says “Oh, believe me, you will know. It’s why she is doing this right now so you can check on her wellbeing.” Sam turns to Cathy and says “By the way, I came here to let you know dinner will be ready soon.”

Cathy says “Thanks.”

Sam says to Cathy’s mother “I’ll leave you alone now. We usually let these chat’s stay private so you can have some alone time with your daughter.”

Cathy mother says “I appreciated that.” Sam leaves.