In spite of the daily influx of visitors coming to admire the temple and its garden, Goutoku-ji was generally peaceful. Thus, the sudden hissing and spitting reverberating from the maple trees on a sunny autumn afternoon attracted all the more attention.
"Lemme go!" Mike swatted at Hayami, but that in turn gave Yuki enough time to grab her other paw. "I said I don't wanna do this!"
"You'll change your mind once it's done!" Yuki tugged at Mike as though trying to tear the limb out of its socket. "Just stay still and work with us!"
Mike hissed. Knowing Hayami was the weaker link of the two, she relaxed just long enough to give them a false sense of security, then lunged forward. She barrelled head-first into Hayami and toppled over with her, but that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was that both Hayami and Yuki had let go.
Landing on her feet, Mike quickly scrambled upright. She was just about to bolt towards the graveyard when a voice rang out.
"What's going on here?"
The three of them froze as Sayuri hurried up the stone path. Though they were all from the same litter, Sayuri was the eldest and liked to make a production about being an authority figure.
She halted in the middle of the path and folded her arms. "What is all this commotion about?"
"They started it," Mike spat before Yuki or Hayami could speak, not caring if she sounded petulant. "They're tryin' to make me dye my fur again."
Sayuri sighed. "This again?" Instead of the younger kittens, she directed her frown at Mike. "You already know what I'm going to say."
"But you're gonna say it anyway," Mike muttered.
"Why don't you let them do it? They're only trying to help you."
Called it. "Holdin' me down an' tryin' to pour dye over me ain't helpin'!"
"It would be if you quit being stupid about this." Sayuri sighed and wiped an imaginary speck of dirt off her own, dazzlingly white fur. "Why do you have to be so difficult about something so simple?"
"Because for the hundredth time, I don't wanna dye my fur!"
Yuki and Hayami looked at each other as if Mike had shifted into speaking a foreign language. Sayuri, meanwhile, continued to busy herself with her grooming. "You keep saying that. Do you honestly think anyone's going to believe that you'd rather be an ugly muddled cat instead of a proper Goutoku-ji maneki-neko?"
It was far from the first time Mike had heard similar words from her sister. They still felt like a bite.
Sayuri nodded at Yuki and Hayami. "Good try. Next time, wait until she's asleep."
Mike flashed her claws and snarled, revealing the full extent of her teeth. "Just try it. I'm gonna scratch your eyes out if you ever touch me again."
She whirled around and stalked off towards the shade of the trees, ignoring her sisters' jeers and threats. There were plenty of hidden nooks at Goutoku-ji for her to stew in peace.
She'd have to find a comfortable one. After all, she couldn't sleep in her usual spot while the freshly made batch of dye was at hand.
Mike loafed by at the edge of the graveyard, enjoying the evening sunlight filtering through the maple leaves. Half illuminated and half in shadow, her fur shone in twice as many colours as usual. She tried to count them all, but soon lost track and settled back down to relax.
"Mike."
An unpleasant trill ran through her gut. She sat up.
Hayami was always praised for her beauty, but in truth, she couldn't hold a candle to their mother, the only maneki-neko at the temple who could bring forth a life-changing fortune with a single turn of her claw. Even now, just standing there in the shade, her fur glittered with residual good fortune and magical pallor. Her eyes were as pale as the rest of her, a silver so light it bordered on white. Mike knew that even if she lived for a thousand years, she would always feel like a kitten next to her mother.
She definitely felt like one now as her mother fixed her with a quiet look. "Sayuri told me that you have once again fought with your sisters."
Mike said nothing. She spotted a pebble on the path and began toying with it, turning her back to her mother.
"Answer when I speak to you, Mike."
Mike slammed her paw across the pebble. "Yeah."
"I needn't ask what your fight was about." Her mother sighed. "Why must you always be so stubborn?"
"Why is it only me who gets accused of bein' stubborn? Everyone else's just as stubborn about wantin' me to dye my fur."
"That is because they are in the right."
"But why?" Mike gestured at the maple branches above them. Most of the leaves had already turned a vivid red, but there was more than enough yellow and green to form a pleasant motley of shades. "The leaves have all kinds of different colours. Why's that right for them, but wrong for me?"
"And are you a leaf?" Her mother shook her head. "The maneki-neko of Goutoku-ji have white fur. It is as simple as that."
"It's not like it's a written rule. I'll just be the first calico one."
A gust of wind rushed through the trees, momentarily recasting the dabbles of sunlight on Mike and her mother.
Her mother sighed once more. "I regret that I must say this, but you leave me with little choice. I have made excuses on our behalf in the past, but there is a limit to how much longer I can protect you. If you won't fall in line and behave as a proper maneki-neko should, it is only a time until you are banished from the temple."
Fear ran through Mike's spine. "What?"
"I'm serious, Mike. Did you truly think you would face no consequences for your stubbornness? However, I do not think it's too late. If you behave more politely, the elders will be more likely to allow your stay." A ray of light struck the elder cat's eyes, painting them a blinding white. "You cannot help having been born as you are, any more than I can be blamed for birthing you. All we ask is the courtesy that you do your best to fit in instead of flaunting your faults."
Mike could only stare. A cat had gotten her tongue.
Finally, when her mother refused to budge, she began to laugh. Laughter was better than tears. Even if what she felt was a close cousin to despair.
Her mother watched her, as silent and immobile as a figurine.
And as Mike kept laughing, hollower by the moment, something dawned within her and made her fall silent. Yes, she had been driven into a corner. She was left with no options that wouldn't wound her.
But maybe she could take a few licks.
"I get it. You all think I should be someone else." Though Mike could no longer laugh, she kept smiling. She looked up at the leaves. "But you know what? I wanna be me. I like bein' a calico. I like my spots and stripes, and I like counting all my different colours. I like bein' me. And if you an' Sis an' Yuki an' Hayami an' all the rest can't see it, then I can't help you."
Before her mother could turn her forbidding expression into words, Mike continued. "And that's why I'm thinkin' that maybe it'll be fine. That maybe I should leave. I'm never gonna fit in here anyway."
Her mother was silent for a long while. "And what about your training?"
Mike chuckled. "It ain't going anywhere as it is."
"That is only due to your lack of concentration." Her mother shook her head. "It is due to my negligence that you have such a distorted view of the world. Do you truly think the world outside the temple will look kindly upon a disobedient kitten who cannot even beckon correctly?"
Mike grabbed her tail. She stroked the sleek fur and watched its mottled pattern — blue, cream, and gold — change beneath her touch.
"I think it will," she finally said, letting go and turning to face her mother. "I think there's somewhere I belong, some place where I fit just right. And one day, I'm gonna find it."
Her mother shook her head, but when she next looked at Mike, her eyes shone with emerging tears. Somehow, that hurt more than anything that had preceded it. "For your sake, I hope you are right."
Mike looked away, trying not to feel the sting of sorrow in her own eyes. It only abated when after a long while, her mother left without a word.
Mike looked up at the leaves, pressing their hue into memory. She would miss some things about living at the temple. The cosy, airy places to nap and play in. The beauty of the garden in all four seasons. The quiet, blessed moments when the others had forgotten she didn't quite match them.
But there was more to the world than the temple. Fun things. Exciting things. Beauty and wonder just waiting for a lucky kitten to find them.
And when the elder cats gathered together and the decision was finally made a month later, Mike shed but one tear. That done, she said goodbye to her mother and sisters and left the temple with her head held high and a smile on her lips.
Why would she do anything but smile? After all, the world was waiting for her. Her, the little cat of great fortune.