The Beginning

The Beginning is the first chapter of The Two Cats and was published on September 25, 2018.

The chapter starts out as a flashback of Mariko leaving for the Paitocan Military, and fast forwards to 2023 on the Anniversary of Mariko leaving, as Expi wakes up to Mariko having bad feelings about herself.

Mariko's Departure
The story starts out in 2019, after Expi and Mariko have graduated from high school. Expi is running to Mariko's house, and manages to see her and chat with her one last time before she leaves for the Paitocan Military as Expi goes to college. Expi expresses how worried she is for Mariko, but Mariko makes her feel better by saying she'll be just fine. Mariko then gets into her mom's car and leaves.

Anniversary of Mariko leaving
In 2023, Expi and Mariko now live with each other in an apartment in the city of Anibi. Expi gets up, and greets Mariko as she gets up. As Expi gets ready and makes breakfast for the two of them, Mariko realizes what date it is and begins to feel bad about herself once again and is put in a bad mood for the rest of the morning as Expi makes them breakfast and watches TV. At the end of Expi's show, Expi and Mariko get into a small argument about Mariko's past, before Mariko runs into her rooms and locks the door.

Trivia

 * This chapter was rewritten multiple times, as the overall direction of the series was changed multiple times in the span of planning.
 * The chapter was edited on July 22, 2019 due to ExpitheCat noticing an error that involved Expi asking Mariko if she wanted iced coffee twice, with Mariko giving different answers each time.
 * The start of the chapter is tied into by a later chapter, Cat-uation, which gives context for Mariko joining the Paitocan Military.