[ he's not going to rub salt into the wound and provoke her even further. makoto obligingly retreats a few steps further, like placing a few inches of distance between them would be enough to dismiss their current predicament as a non-issue. ]

Well, he was in the backroom earlier ... or he should've been, at least ... my friend usually looks after him during my work shifts, but he hasn't been around lately.

[ good choice of words. as a cat-lover, he's horribly biased and would've likely clutched at his metaphorical pearls trying to come up with excuses for why she was inconvertibly wrong and misguided, but instead he just dejectedly hangs his head, exhaling shortly. ]

All the candy here is wrapped, so I figured there wouldn't be any problems if I took him with me just for today.

I'm sorry. Is there any way I can make it up to you?