I sat up, rubbing my head. Looking around, I had to blink a few times until my eyes adjusted to the bright room. On my right was a smooth, pure white wall. Around me was a small room. One door in a corner suggested a closet, another looked like an exit. There was a small vanity and chest of draws. Looking down, I was sitting in a bed held to the wall by chains, with an extremely thin and painful spring matress but very comfortable, thick white sheets. Standing up, I tiptoed across the cold tile floor to the exit. Reaching for the handle, it barely turned before stopping. Locked.
A sudden dizzy spell caught me off guard, and I sat quickly in the chair next to the vanity. Where was I? No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't seem to remember anything from before I woke up. Not even my own name! What was happening here?
Looking in the mirror, I studied myself. Silver hair wisped out of my head, stopping at about my neck. Two silver ears with white tips poked out of the hair, and my eyes had slitted pupils and were colored colored blue, but they faded into a gold. Waving behind me was a silver tail that curled like a spring, with a fluffy white tip. Around my neck was a silver collar, with a white button that showed the numbers "431" on it. I wore a gray jump suit, tight fitting around the chest and butt. On the chest was a red strip of fabric, with the word "Kat" stitched into it.
There was the sound of keys, and then the door opened.
"Oh! You're awake!" said a pleasant voice. A woman with wavey brown hair in a lab coat stood in the door smiling. "How do you feel?"
"I-I don't know. I'm confused. Where am I?" I asked. My own voice was rather strange. Almost like a "meow".
"Oh, dear. You don't remember anything, do you Kat?" she asked. There was that word. From the context, it sounded like my name. I shook my head in responce. "Well, we found you passed out outside the lab. Sorry for the inconvenience, but all we had were rooms automatic locking doors, but we gave you the best of what we have!"
"Ah," was all I could say.
"Would you like to take a walk?" she asked, motioning towards the door. Thinking for a moment, my tight muscles gave the answer.
"Sure." She smiled, then lead me out of the room. We walked down a brightly lit halway, and many doors that looked a lot like the one to my room.
"You see, many Gijinka come to us, in search of help. It seems like we have one of every type!" she laughed. "Recently, though, something has been wiping their memmories. We're not sure why, but those Gijinka turn up at our door. Enough talk from me, though. I'll introduce you to the professor!" she pulled some keys and opened a different door from the rest.
We walked into a brightly lit room, cylindrical in shape. The ceiling rose high above us, and several, what I assumed were "Gijinka" like me, due to the strange tails, wings, and other features, were standing around, talking. A man in a white lab coat was the only one mingling with them that seemed out of place.
"Kat, I'd like to introduce you to Professor Maple," she said.
