The matcha latte fell out of my hands again, but this time I let it roll to the ground. "The- The what now?"

"The birth control department," Auri repeated nonchalantly. "A department to stop people from having babies so much."

"You- You guys have a whole department for that?"

"Why, of course! It's a super important department, but it's always so underfunded."

I was astounded. First, a burrowing department, now, a birth control department. I was beginning to question just how large the wererabbit government was.

Sensing my disbelief, Auri explained, "It's a big problem we have here, I'm serious! Listen, every time a female wererabbit gets pregnant, an average of ten new babies are born. Ten, Bodie, ten! And some of us can give birth like, ten times a year too if they do it in their animal form. I don't know why anybody would want to do that to themselves, but some people do. And that's ten times ten, one hundred babies a year if someone is crazy enough. One hundred, Bodie! No wonder our population is exploding. We need more birth control."

I blinked. I had never been so dumbfounded in my life. "Why... Why can't people just not have sex?"

Auri let out a sharp gasp. "Bodie! You can't tell people not to have sex. That's crazy!"

"Oh, why not?"

This time, it was Auri's turn to be dumbfounded. "Oh, well, I mean... Have you... never had sex?"

"Uh..." I was not about to admit my virginity to a woman I just met. "Could- Could we not talk about this?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Auri shook her hands around, her face flushed a faint pink. "I- I understand. Some wereanimals are asexual, and I get it! Like, I once knew a werekomodo dragon. She was, like, not into sex at all. And that's fine! I'm sorry that I assumed, Bodie."

"Oh, no, I'm- I'm not... N- Never mind, go on..."

"But anyway, my point is, it's not possible to tell wererabbits to stop having sex. We love sex! I mean, back when I was dating, I had sex about three times a day. Of course, it differs from person to person. Like, for example," —She motioned over to the cafe counter with her head.— "the two owners of the cafe over there, they are siblings, and I've dated both of them. Selena was hyperactive and wanted five times a day or more. It's honestly why we broke up, otherwise, she's kind of perfect, to be honest. Josh was a lot more compatible with me on that front, but he's a lazy slob at home, so I got annoyed and ended things with him."

"Oh..." Auri's rambling words streamed into me, but my mind latched onto that one sentence. Did she just say that... she had been dating? So did that mean she was single?

Also, why did my mind latch onto that sentence in particular?

"Ah, why am I telling you so much?" Auri shook her head. The tiny flush in her cheeks had deepened in color. "Sorry, but I hope I manage to convince you that the real problem we need to face is that we need to stop people from getting pregnant so much! We not only need free birth control for everyone, but we should have the budget to pay people to take family planning lessons or something."

"I mean, I don't disagree with you..." I mumbled, shuddering at the memory of being swarmed over by a sea of wererabbits. "It does sound like a good thing to do in general."

"Right?" Auri sat up eagerly. "I'm so happy you think that. And honestly, I think everyone will agree to this—we just need the budget. We need to pressure the council a bit more, so they can funnel more funds into this. And I was thinking," —A small smile tugged at her lips, and her eyes seemed to glimmer.— "I was thinking maybe you could show your support on this? With the support of the werewolves, and maybe even the other bigger wereanimals, the council is more likely to listen."

I felt my knees retreat towards my body. Once again, Auri was asking me for help, except this time, it was not something I could help with. I was not the Alpha yet; I couldn't make decisions like these.

And I also needed to achieve my task.

"Auri, I- I like your ideas. But what you're suggesting is a long-term solution. We... need a short-term solution too, a stop-gap measure or some sort, or the other wereanimals will not be happy."

Auri slumped on the table, clasping her hands together. "I can't do that, Bodie. There're homeless wererabbits out there. Children are living in septuple bunk beds. That's seven beds stacked on top of one another. Seven! This would solve so many problems, Bodie, so many."

I suppressed a groan as I met her eyes—those large, round eyes that made my heart melt. It was so unfair how a person who was this adorable could have eyes like that.

My father's task for me was supposed to be easy, but this was the most difficult thing I ever had to do.

Using every bit of my energy, I forced myself to shake my head. "My hands are tied, Auri. I- I need at least some kind of compromise on your end. I'm... I'm sorry."

Auri nodded as she leaned back on her chair. She finished the rest of her drink and gave me a wistful smile. "I understand. How about this? Come with me, and let me show you what we've done so far. Maybe you'll understand it a bit more."

She hopped out from her seat and straightened her dress with her hands. "Follow me."

Slowly and carefully, I got up from my awkward sitting position. I picked up the fallen matcha latte from the floor before following Auri out of the cafe. I did not kick any furniture away, or stomp on someone on the way out, which was the only win I managed to get out of this cafe meetup.