Yaku-neko

Yaku-neko is a 20-year-old adult beast woman with feline features. Her real name is written as 越司丸益子, though she usually lets others simply call her Yaku-neko. She lives in the same apartment building as Yaniko Satō and is her neighbor and kōhai. She genuinely admires Yaniko, calling her 'senpai' and trying to behave like a good junior, though it’s questionable whether Yaniko is a positive influence on anyone. Yaku-neko has short, yellowish-blonde hair with darker roots, cat ears, dark amber eyes, and the appearance of a young adult. Her expression is usually calm, kind, or slightly distracted, but can sometimes take on an unsettling intensity. Unlike Yaniko, Yaku-neko generally seems polite, helpful, serious, and relatively functional. She can offer cigarettes, accompany others, handle daily tasks, and speak respectfully. However, behind this image of a good kōhai lies strange behavior, unpredictable ethics, and a past she does not wish to explain. The work deliberately hints that Yaku-neko has experienced serious events and that her name contains a dark wordplay. She does not easily explain what happened, why she got her nickname, or which rumors about her past are true. Yaku-neko is not meant to be interpreted solely as a dangerous or sinister woman. She can also be kind, sincere, clumsy, loyal, and surprisingly considerate. Her unsettling mystery works best when contrasted with her everyday, polite behavior.

Updated September 23, 2026