HSHK Chapter 26

The Cursed Cat Ears is the twenty-sixth chapter of the spin-off Houkago Shounen Hanako-kun. It was released alongside Chapter 107 of Houkago Shounen Hanako-kun

Summary
The Chapter begins with Hanako barging in Tsuchigomori's room with a joyful expression on his face as he tells him that the Cursed Cat Ears that he brought is finally here. The Cursed Cat Ears are described as an object that will turn whoever wears it into a cat. Then Hanako explains his reasons for bringing it with him: If he wears it, then all kinds of "erotic" (In Hanako's terms) stuff will happen to him, and he imagines Nene Yashiro seeing his cat form, and then carrying and patting him as he says this.

Tsuchigomori asks Hanako to wait, and then takes the Cursed Cat Ears from him. He holds it near his head, and then warns Hanako that if he keeps doing this, then something might happen. But before he could finish what he was saying, a sleeping Mokke rolls into the Cursed Cat Ears Tsuchigomori was holding, and both Mokke and Cursed Cat Ears fall into Tsuchigomori's head. This turned Tsuchigomori into a cat.

Hanako holds the now-cat Tsuchigomori in his arms, amused that the Cursed Cat Ears really worked, as Tsuchigomori struggles to free himself, while trying to tell Hanako to "turn him back this instant". Unfortunately for Tsuchigomori, all that he can say are meows. Hanako seems to understand him, however, and tells him that he will eventually return back to normal, and once that happens, it would be Hanako's turn to become a cat. Hanako then gets something out of his pocket, only to find out that he has no idea in how to turn Tsuchigomori back to normal, which makes him angry at Hanako for doing so.

Tsuchigomori mentally question on how would Hanako turn him back to normal, or if he has any idea how. Hanako, on the other hand, is worried that if Tsuchigomori remains a cat, he would be the one in Yashiro's arms instead, which makes Tsuchigomori say "As if!". Hanako takes out a knife, and Tsuchigomori runs away from him for it.

As Tsuchigomori is running, he figures out that only he would be the one to find a cure to his predicament. Unfortunately for him, he runs into a place filled with students that look at him. Eventually, he is picked up by none other than Nene Yashiro, who finds him cute. Aoi Akane, meanwhile is looking at Tsuchigomori, and wondering if he's lost. Tsuchigomori looks at Yashiro's eyes, being familiar with her as the assistant of Hanako. But unfortunately for him, she merely interpreted that as stating at her for so long, and so she giggles and blushes at him. Yashiro then asks Aoi if she would want to hold him, to which she says no, because cats tend to stay away from her, to which Yashiro replied that it's ok for Aoi to touch the cat because he's a good kitty. Shen the dresses Tsuchigomori in nice cat clothes and plays with his paws, all the while Tsuchigomori is feeling embarrassed about all this. Because of that, he quickly runs away from her grasp.

As he continues to find a way to cure himself, he decides to avoid the female students due to their tendency to pat, pet and play with him when they see him. He then sees Yako in her Fox form. Tsuchigomori figures that since Yako transforms between human and fox form like it's second nature to her, she may have a way to fix him back. But before he could ask her, Yako chomped on his head. Tsuchigomori had to walk away as Yako screams at him to "get off her turf", which shocks a passing-by Nagisa.

From there, more misfortune awaits Tsuchigomori, as Kou Minamoto attempts to feed him with cat food and his brother Teru Minamoto sees him as a perfect cat to make a skin for his shamisen, which leads him to mentally cry out desperately "Save me!". And eventually, he ends up on the same porch as one Sousuke Mitsuba.

Mitsuba sees Tsuchigomori, and then stares at him. Tsuchigomori quickly figures that Mitsuba is No.3, and Mitsuba on the other hand, is surprised that the "cat" can see him. However, Tsuchigomori decides to leave Mitsuba because he thinks that he couldn't help him. But before he could fully leave, Mitsuba tells him that he had a fight with Tsukasa Yugi, and couldn't go back to the Broadcasting Club Room just yet. He asks Tsuchigomori if he can stay with him for a bit longer, so that he won't be lonely. Feeling pity for Mitsuba, Tsuchigomori slowly returns back to him, and then Mitsuba's face brightens up since he had returned. He asked if he came back to comfort him, and then thanked him while calling him "Vivian", which leads Tsuchigomori to wonder who is Vivian.

Mitsuba then decides that he'll keep him, and asks him if he wishes to become a ghost cat and live with Mitsuba. This greatly shocks Tsuchigomori so much that he is restored back to normal, while being carried by Mitsuba. Mitsuba angrily yells at the now-restored Tsuchigomori, and calls him a pervert, with Tsuchigomori defending himself by saying that Mitsuba had it all wrong, and the chapter ends with a fact that the Cursed Cat Ear's effect only lasts half a day (Or 12 hours).

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Hanako
 * Tsuchigomori
 * Yashiro Nene (Imagination, appears in story)
 * Mokke (Cameo)
 * Akane Aoi
 * Yako
 * Nagisa (Cameo)
 * Minamoto Kou (Cameo)
 * Minamoto Teru (Cameo)
 * Mitsuba Sousuke
 * Yugi Tsukasa (Mentioned)

Trivia

 * The chapter was released almost two years after the previous chapter (HSHK Chapter 25) was released.
 * The chapter is possibly a little nod and reference to the Bakeneko Ryokan Hanakotei event that ended a month ago.