Chapter 2

**A Cornered Rat Will Even Bite a Rat** (窮鼠、子を噛む, *Kyūso, nekuni o kamu*) is the 2nd chapter of Urami Koi, Koi, Urami Koi.

## Summary

Kyoichi and Natsuho try to find Natsuho's way to home.

## Long Summary

At the beginning of the chapter, an explanation of the two different kinds of youkai is given as well as the chapter overview of chapter 1. There are youkai that coexist with humans and those that are against doing so. The chapter starts off with Natsuho being flustered and lost as to where she is while Kyoichi is watching her. Natsuho freaks out when she sees a group of people around the corner of a street and tries to avoid them. Kyoichi rethinks about how she was after his life.

A flashback occurs, showing that Natsuho doesn't know if she could go back home. Kyoichi tries to figure out a solution, and Natsuho's issue is staying with someone, Kyoichi, who kissed her. She gets embarrassed and transforms into a cat, complaining about the things that happens to her as of recent. This leads to Natsuho scratching Kyoichi's wall out of stress, and then she asks if Ayaka is come over in a nervous tone. Kyoichi took note that she is terrified of Ayaka due to the amount of contact she does with her. Kyoichi wonders what Ayaka is doing, leading to a flashback of what Ayaka is doing.

Ayaka is shown heavily breathing and visibly tired of hunting Ogres. Sana comes and strikes the Ogre down completely with a sword. Sana chastises Ayaka for being lax on the battefield and asks her to take yokai extermination more seriously. As they continued to talk, Sana saw the noticeably large yokai that was taken down by Ayaka, which impressed Sana. Lost in her thoughts, Ayaka asks Sana as to why she lied to her, but Sana quickly denies that she lied, nervously. Sana stresses out about the recent events that happened between Kyoichi and the Hateful Cat (Natsuho). Ayaka assumes that Sana didn't want to answer her phone in the restroom.

The flashback ends and Natsuho becomes exhausted after trying to find her way through the town (foreign land to her). While trying to find her home, Kyoichi asks her if she remembers which jurisdiction her family comes from, and he further explains the set up of Twelve Town and the Twelve Familes. Because they were searching for her home for quite a while, Kyoichi offers Natsuho food to take a break. She tries to deny him, but her stomach growled at the moment. Natsuho tries a new flavor drink, and when she took a sip of the drink, Kyoichi told her that it was his drink, not hers. She tries to give the drink back to Kyoichi, but he tells her that if he were to drink it, that would be an indirect kiss. She took the straw and the lid off the cup and gave the drink to Kyoichi.

After that, Kyoichi goes to the restroom, leaving Natsuho on a bench. When he comes out of the bathroom, he notices that two guys were standing in front of her and saw that she was visibly nervous. Kyoichi goes over to Natsuho and tells the guys that she's with him, and they walk away. Natsuho over hears the conversation the two guys have as they walk away and heard about Kyoichi being a failure, despite being the head of the Nekuni Family. This prompted her to as him about it, but he told her that he's used to being called that. He goes on to say that he did not inherit special abilities despite being the head of his clan. They continue searching, and Natsuho continues to think about this. As they walk, Kyoichi stops her and points to a trap, and she tries to stop Kyoichi for falling into the trap. He tells her that he's curious and wants to trigger it since it's a trap. Because they were taking too long, Taromaru comes out of the grass and throws a pie in Kyoichi's face. He proceeds to run off with Hana while Kyoichi comes to chase them on to a bridge. Taromaru slips on the bridge's fencing, so Kyoichi tries to catch him before he falls. Natsuho came in swiftly and catches Hana and Kyoichi with her hands while hanging on to Taromaru with her mouth on his yukata. They land on the ground with Taromaru landing head first. Natsuho feels weird after saving them, thinking it is because she took an interest in Kyoichi. Hana points out Natsuho's cat ears, and Hana nonchalantly says it's the Hateful Cat. Natsuho believes that they would be cautious of her, but instead, they are impressed by how high she jumped. She gets embarrassed and transforms into her cat form, which ends up impressing them more instead of scaring them.

They walk away, and Natsuho regrets letting herself get smothered again. She catches him smiling and recalls that he asked to bear her hatred. She continues to ask if he has another goal in asking her to do that. He tells her that there's someone that he wants to kick the bucket because he does not like the way that guy is managing his family. However, he knows that he can't do anything about it due to his lack of powers. He continues to say that the reason why he asked her to bear her hatred for him was to gain equals term with that guy in the least. Natsuho is shocked that Kyoichi has that kind of hate in him.

Ayaka shows up panting and asks who the girl next to him is. As a cover up, he tells her that he was just giving directions to her. Before leaving, Natsuho whispers to Kyoichi that she is going to his house. Ayaka comments on how Natsuho was cute, becoming flustered. Ayaka tells Kyoichi why she's here and states that she's there to pick him up and to take him to the Nekuni Family main house. While walking around the house, he spots Sen Inuhara, who is Sana's older sister. She greets him and thanks Ayaka for looking after Sana. She tells him that Goichi is waiting for him in the house. Goichi greets Kyoichi rudely, which causes Kyoichi's temper to go up. Ayaka is left with Sen in awkward silence.

It is revealed that Goichi is Kyoichi's grandfather. Goichi questions Kyoichi as to why the Hateful Cat is alive, and he adds that he knows that Kyoichi encountered the Hateful Cat a couple days ago. He asked Kyoichi if he let it go or made a soft decision. Kyoichi tells him that he's right, and Goichi wants Kyoichi to tell him next time so that they can kill the Hateful Cat. He goes on and calls Kyoichi a cornered rat. Kyoichi talks back and tells him that he despises him. Goichi let out a laugh and remarked how Kyoichi learned to talk back. He gets up and uses Execution of Enforcement on Kyoichi, forcing him to lower his head. Kyoichi is unable to move because of this. Goichi puts his hand on Kyoichi's head and reminds him of his failure and what he couldn't do. Ayaka sees this and tries to barge in, but she is stopped by Sen who threatens to cut her down. Goichi thinks aloud, thinking that Kyoichi should be ordered to kill the cat.

At the end of the chapter, Natsuho is seen looking for her home through an alley, though she is still lost. She tries to leave, but a barrier prevents her from doing so. She hears the voice of someone and turns around to see a guy standing a good distance behind her. On reflex, Natsuho tries to hide herself. He tells her that the path that he taught her is blocked.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Natsuho Nekogazaki
* Kyoichi Nekuni
* Ayaka Ushigura
* Sana Inuhara
* Taromaru Kawarashi
* Hana Zawarashi
* Goichi Nekuni
* Sen Inuhara
* Toya Itachizuka