The Travelling Cat Chronicles

2 THE UNSENTIMENTAL FARMER

THE DAY WE set off again, music filled the silver van once more, the kind that sounds like a magician is about to whisk a dove from a hat.

Satoru said the title was ‘Necklace of Olive’. How come there was no dove in the title? If it were up to me, I’d put one in. How about calling it ‘The Special Relationship Between a Dove and a Silk Hat’?

‘It’s nice to have good weather again today, isn’t it, Nana?’

Satoru was in a great mood. All cats get sleepy when it rains, and I was wondering: does weather affect humans physically, too?

‘Going for a drive isn’t much fun if it’s not sunny.’

Ah, so it was a question of mood. Humans are so easygoing. A cat’s behaviour is controlled by real-life factors, and for strays the weather can be a matter of life and death. Our success rate in hunting changes, too.

‘We’ll take a break at the next service station.’

Unlike when we went to Kosuke’s place, the road we were taking on that day had very few places to stop. Satoru said it was called a motorway. Basically the only time the silver van stopped was when Satoru announced that we were heading to a service station.

Satoru said this was the road we had to take if we intended to travel far away, and this trip was indeed a long one. It was the previous morning that the silver van had left home. We drove along the highway all day, then stayed overnight at a place where they allow pets.

With it being such a long trip, the space in the van had been compartmentalized. So, if you’ll excuse me a second.

As I slipped off the passenger seat towards the back of the van, Satoru asked, ‘Something wrong?’ and glanced at me.

‘Ah, sorry…’

Yeah. My toilet was on the floor at the back. A new one Satoru had bought which had a hood so the litter didn’t fly all over the place.

This way, Satoru and I could go as far as we wanted in our silver van.

I thought it would be great if we could travel together like this for the rest of our lives.

‘Nana, we’re just going to pull into a service station—’

Okey-dokey, I answered vaguely, raking up the litter between my legs.

Once Satoru had parked at the service station, he pulled out my food and water bowls from the back. He placed them on the floor of the van side by side, filling one bowl with crunchies and the other with water from a plastic bottle.

‘I’m going to go to the toilet, too.’

Satoru hurriedly shut the door and strolled off. He looked like he really had to go, but he was such a good owner he had taken care of my needs first.

I was wetting my whistle with the water when I heard a tapping on the window. Not again.

I glanced behind me and then up to see a young couple, faces plastered against the glass, staring in my direction. The pair had goofy smiles.

‘A cat!’

You got that right. A cat I am. So? A cat eating his crunchies isn’t so rare a sight, is it?

‘Oh, look – it’s eating. How sweet!’

‘So sweet!’

Hey, you idiotic couple. How would you like it if somebody pointed at you while you were eating? And today happens to be a chicken-breast-and-gourmet-seafood blend.

How come cat lovers spot me every time? Whenever we take a break, they swarm around me. Pretty amazing, if you think about it.

If you guys were the ones who fed me, then I’d be as sweet to you as the quality of the food merited, but Satoru’s the one who feeds me. So let me focus on my food. Okay?

I decided to ignore them and dived back into my crunchies. With some screeches and giggles, they seemed to give up and wander away.

But only moments later I felt someone’s red-hot gaze on me. I looked up despite myself, and this time it was a scary-looking, goblin-like old man’s face plastered to the window.

Yikes! I jerked away on reflex, and the old man looked really hurt. Come on – anybody would shudder if they were suddenly confronted by that kind of face while they were having a snack. Not my fault, now, is it?

The old man looked upset but kept his face up against the window, staring at me.

‘I’m guessing you like cats?’

This from Satoru, who’d come back. The old man, a bit flustered, replied, ‘Sure is a cute little kitty.’ Cute little kitty?

I looked up and meowed. On the other side of the window, Satoru smiled and nodded.

‘Would you like to stroke him?’

‘Are you sure?’

The old man started to blush like a girl. Satoru opened the door and I clambered over to the seat. The old man reached out and I let him stroke me. His face began to glow. But just then—

‘No way! A cat!’

The shriek came from a clump of gyaru – girls with dyed-blonde hair and thick make-up – who were passing by.

‘I want to stroke it! Can we touch him after you?’

Get lost! I bared my teeth and made my fur stand on end, and the group of gyaru shrieked again: ‘Oh my god – he’s angry!’ and ran off.

‘But I wanted to give him a stroke—’ the tall one whined.

‘It’s okay. That kind of cat with those eyebrow markings isn’t that cute anyway.’

Excuse me?! This insult was so unfounded my face went into a kind of flehmen response. I curled back my upper lip and bared my front teeth like a tiger.

‘You are cute, Nana! Very cute!’ Satoru hurriedly interjected. ‘Those girls are a bit loud, and I’m sure their sense of what’s beautiful is different from most people’s. Let’s just let it go.’

‘No, he really is a cute cat,’ the old man said. ‘Nana, you said his name is?’

‘Yeah. Because his tail’s hooked into the shape of a seven.’

I didn’t think we needed to explain the origin of my name to every passing stranger, but Satoru was always so conscientious when it came to things like that.

‘Is he maybe the type that doesn’t let people touch him much?’

‘Yes, he’s very choosy about who he allows to touch him when we’re out and about.’

‘I see,’ the old man said, smiling even more broadly. Then he gave me one final lingering pat on the middle of my back and walked off.

‘Kind of unusual, isn’t it, Nana, for you to let a passer-by stroke you for so long?’

True enough. How should I put it? I was making amends – a sort of atonement. No need to analyse it any further.

The van had been driving along for a while when I next stretched up to look out of the passenger window. The sea!

‘I think you’ll like the sea, Nana.’

Until then, I’d only seen it on the TV in Satoru’s front room, which I used to watch from my blanket in the corner. To see it now for real was going to be amazing.

And it was! The sparkling, deep-green water was completely stunning, but more than that was the idea that underneath that water lurked all the delicacies that made up my gourmet seafood blend. Oops! I had started to drool at the thought of it.

‘If, like last time, you end up coming back with me, let’s stop by the sea properly.’

What? Stop by the sea? Might I be lucky enough to catch one or two of those delicacies?

The sea was soon out of sight, and I drifted off for a bit. When I lazily opened my eyes again the scenery had become tranquil and countrified. Now we were sliding past green rice paddies and broad fields like a whirligig.

‘Oh, you’re up? We’re almost there.’

Just as Satoru said, the van soon pulled up in the front yard of a farmhouse. It seemed functionally constructed, large and practical. Nearby was an annexe of sorts, and a shed. Beside it was parked a smallish truck.

I took the initiative and leapt on to the back seat, into the opened basket. I’ve learned that when you go into an unknown house, it’s best and safest to be in a place you’re used to, one where you can barricade yourself in.

Satoru opened the back door and picked up the basket with me inside.

‘Satoru Miyawaki!’

At the sound of a welcoming voice, I peered through the bars and saw a man in work clothes and a straw hat heading towards Satoru, hand held high.

‘Yoshimine, how have you been?’ Satoru’s voice was excited, too. ‘You’re looking good.’

‘I work outdoors all the time, so your body naturally gets strong. Haven’t you become a little thinner?’

‘Have I? Guess it’s the unhealthy city lifestyle.’

The two of them clapped each other on the back and headed towards the main house.

‘Did you have any trouble finding my place?’

‘No, the sat-nav made it easy.’

‘Still, I didn’t think you’d come all this way from Tokyo by car. Flying would have been faster, and cheaper. Going by road must have been a bit pricey?’

Absolutely. You have the tolls on the motorway, service stations, the pet-friendly little hotel we stayed in last night. By the time we got here, Satoru had opened his wallet several times.

‘But if I had flown, then Nana would have been stored in the luggage hold, which is dark and noisy. One time, I took another cat on a plane and it was terrified for the entire day after we landed. Cats can’t understand why they’re in a situation like that, and I’d feel bad if Nana had to go through it.’

Okay, I might be terrified, but I’m a little offended that he’d think that Hachi could make it, but I couldn’t. Surely I’m more intrepid than Hachi. After all, until I was an adult, I survived as a stray on the streets.

Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about all the money you’ve spent on this trip.

Inside the main house, Yoshimine showed us into the living room. Satoru placed my basket in a corner and opened the door.

Yoshimine was crouching in front of my basket.

‘Mind if I take a look at Nana?’ he said, peering in.

‘Sure, but it might take a bit of time for him to feel comfortable enough to come out.’

‘No problem.’

What do you mean, no problem? I tilted my head in puzzlement and, just at that instant, a thick arm shot into the cage.

Hey, what—?

The fat arm grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and, without so much as a by-your-leave, dragged me out, then dangled me high up in the air.

Wh-wha-what the hell do you think you’re doing, you barbarian!

‘Good! He’s a proper cat.’

What the hell do you mean by that?

‘Hey!’

Satoru, horrified, gave Yoshimine a healthy shove in the back. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

‘I just wanted to make sure he’s a real cat,’ Yoshimine explained, holding me against him with his thick arm. I tried to kick myself free, but that thick arm just took my kicks and didn’t budge an inch.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Look, you hold him like this, see?’

‘Don’t hold him like that!’

‘If his back legs fold up when you do this, it means he’s a real cat.’

Let me go! I put my legs together and kicked off against Yoshimine’s arm, flopping around like a salmon. Finally, I was able to break free.

I twisted my body around and landed perfectly on my four paws. Keeping my belly low to the ground, I turned to meet Yoshimine’s eye, and he said, ‘Whoa!’ and clapped his hands.

‘One fine cat you’ve got here. Well coordinated, and smart, too. An outstanding cat. I underestimated him.’

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

That can’t be true. Of course I’m well bred, but still. Satoru interrupted, in sync with me: ‘But still – that’s not the point!’ Great minds think alike. ‘Why did you grab Nana by the neck like that? It startled him!’

‘The reason is, I found a stray recently that isn’t a real cat. If Nana turned out to be like that one, there wouldn’t be much point, from a farmer’s perspective, in having him. So I just wanted to check him out.’

This unpleasant guy came over to try to play with my tail, which I was waving slowly to show my displeasure.

I spun around, only to find an orange tabby male kitten beside me. He’d appeared out of nowhere and was meowing and trying to cling to my hooked tail. What a pain.

Yoshimine grabbed the kitten by the scruff of the neck and picked him up. The kitten’s legs drooped down in a line.

‘This one isn’t a real cat. See?’

True, this kitten didn’t seem equipped with the natural abilities of most cats. He was the kind – like Hachi – that would never catch a mouse. Even if he could hone his skills through training, he would never be a true hunter like me.

‘He’s still just a kitten, you shouldn’t treat him so roughly…’

Satoru reached his hand out, fluttering it in the air in a stop that gesture. Yoshimine thrust the kitten at him.

‘Here. Feel free to stroke him, if you like.’

‘I’d love to.’

Satoru was a dyed-in-the-wool cat lover, like I said. Go ahead and get all lovey-dovey with that kitten. See if I care.

IT HAD BEEN a long time since Yoshimine had received an email from his former junior-high classmate Satoru Miyawaki.

He had just been thinking about him when the email arrived.

After a few quick words to bring him up to date, Satoru issued his request.

I know this is a bit sudden, but could you take my cat for me?

He’s really precious to me, he went on, but unavoidable circumstances make it impossible for me to keep him, and I’m looking for someone to adopt him.

There were two things Yoshimine could read in this message.

One was that his cat-devoted friend had once more found a cat he loved, and two, that once again he was having to part ways with it.

When it came to cats, Daigo Yoshimine could take them or leave them. If there was one in the house, he’d notice it and look after it, but he wasn’t passionate enough about them to adopt one himself. He felt the same way about dogs and birds.

But having a cat on a farm did have its advantages. On farms, mice inevitably caused damage, and a cat was a pretty good means of control.

He tapped out a reply.

I don’t think I’d look after a cat the way you do – I treat them like cats, not like pets – but if you’re okay with that, I’d be happy to take him off your hands. If you can’t find anyone else, then let me know. Rest assured, I’ll make sure he’s looked after.

Satoru wrote back thanking him. I’ve promised to show him to one other person first, he said, but if that doesn’t work out, I’ll be counting on you.

A month later, Satoru wrote back again, asking if he could bring the cat over for Yoshimine to meet.

And, by coincidence, it was during this time that Yoshimine happened to find the kitten.

‘I was driving down the highway in my truck when I saw him lying by the side of the road like a limp dishrag. I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if I had just left him there.’

‘I see…’

Satoru seemed to melt with the orange tabby kitten on his lap. Cat lovers have a special place in their hearts for kittens.

‘You did a good job bringing up this teeny guy. Was it hard?’

‘I needed the vet a few times. But there’re other folk in the neighbourhood who have cats, and plenty of people ready to give advice.’

Because it was the countryside, people weren’t all that particular about the way they brought cats up.

‘It was a lot easier once he started eating cat food.’

Satoru burst out laughing. ‘I’m trying to imagine you feeding a kitten milk from a bottle. You’re lucky, aren’t you,’ Satoru said to the kitten, tickling him vigorously under the chin, ‘to be taken in by such a kind owner?’

‘I’m not that kind. I was hoping he’d catch a mouse or two around the place, but he’s not a real cat and I feel a bit let down.’

‘So, now that he’s recovered, are you going to throw him out of the house?’

Yoshimine looked put out by Satoru’s teasing tone.

Satoru stroked the kitten in his lap in contented silence. Then he said, ‘I get it now. That’s why you were asking whether Nana was a real cat or not.’

‘If I bring up two of them and they’re both useless, then all that cat food is a total waste.’

‘I knew you wouldn’t turn Nana down.’

‘Well, I can’t exactly refuse a guest who’s driven all the way here from Tokyo just for a cat.’

‘I get it,’ Satoru responded, as if he didn’t really accept this explanation.

‘By the way, what’s the kitten’s name?’

‘Chatran.’

‘That’s pretty silly.’

‘Is it?’

Yoshimine had asked around the neighbours who owned cats, and one person had said, ‘An orange tabby? That reminds me of Chatran.’ He liked the name and decided to use it.

‘Since that movie The Adventures of Chatran came out, it’s become a bit of a cliché to call an orange tabby Chatran.’

‘Hmm. I didn’t know that.’

And this Chatran with the silly name recognized a real cat lover and was fully relaxing in Satoru’s lap, stretching his paw on to Satoru’s cheek.

‘This brings back memories. I used to have a cat who did this.’

Satoru never named this cat he used to have to Yoshimine. He felt that if he spoke its name aloud, all the pent-up affection and sadness would break his heart again.

And even someone who knows nothing about the universal benefit of cats could understand that.

YOSHIMINE HAD TRANSFERRED into the junior high school in the spring of his second year.

‘This is Daigo Yoshimine, who will be joining us as your new classmate.’

The form teacher was a striking woman who’d won some Miss Something-or-other contest back in college, but Yoshimine had disliked her from the start.

When she explained to the class, in great detail, why he had moved to their school, she made it sound very close and intimate and oozed sympathy.

He had gritted his teeth and let her words wash over him, but what he couldn’t fend off was the timing.

‘Yoshimine-kun’s parents are busy with their jobs, so he’s transferred here and will be staying with his grandmother. We should all admire him, for enduring the loneliness of being away from his parents. I’d like you all to be friends with him.’

He understood then that her overly intimate manner was because she felt sorry for him. And, deep down, that disgusted him.

Even to an immature class of junior-high-school students with little worldly experience, it was crystal clear that this was the worst possible way to introduce a new student to his classmates.

‘Yoshimine-kun, why don’t you say a few words?’

Yoshimine turned to face the teacher. ‘Why did you tell everyone about my family like that without my permission? I never asked you to.’

A murmur rippled through the classroom. The teacher was taken aback, her smile faltering. ‘I – I thought it would help you settle in.’

‘No, in fact it makes me uncomfortable. I want people to be friends with me without my family being a part of it.’

‘I understand, but the thing is…’ the teacher mumbled. There was no way this was going to turn out well.

Yoshimine turned to face the other students.

‘Hi. I’m Daigo Yoshimine. There’s nothing special about my family, so I hope we can just get along like anybody else.’

A deathly hush descended on the classroom. Right from the start, he’d put them off.

As for his form teacher, she looked on the verge of tears.

‘Where do you want me to sit?’

Just then the bell went, signalling the end of form time, and the teacher left the classroom in a hurry.

‘Just sit down on any empty chair.’

It was Satoru who said this, pointing to some seats at the back.

First period was over, and while his other classmates eyed the new boy warily, keeping their distance, Satoru approached him without hesitation.

The next class was science. Yoshimine gathered his textbooks and left the classroom, with Satoru leading the way.

‘Listen.’ Something was bothering Yoshimine, and he had to ask. ‘Are you being nice to me just because of what the teacher said?’

‘Not at all,’ Satoru replied. ‘I thought it was all pretty childish. On both parts.’

‘You mean me, too?’

‘That teacher likes to be super-kind to kids who have issues going on at home. She doesn’t mean any harm by it.’

Something about the way he said this – the desire to be kind and mean no harm – made Yoshimine feel he had something in common with Satoru, a kind of connection.

‘Right after I entered this school, in freshman year, she did the same thing to me, so I get where you’re coming from. When I was in elementary school, my parents died in a car accident and now I live with my aunt. But that doesn’t mean I want to go out of my way to tell everybody in class about it.’

The circumstances Satoru had so casually mentioned were so much more serious than Yoshimine’s. So surely the teacher must have put on an even more annoying display of concern.

‘But you don’t need to complain about every little thing. Just take it as it comes, be grown-up about it.’

A little too philosophical, aren’t you, for a second-year junior high schooler? Yoshimine thought, but what Satoru said made sense, so he didn’t argue.

‘Still,’ Satoru said with a grin. ‘To tell you the truth, I felt good when you said that. Back when I started school, I wanted to say what you actually did say.’

Yoshimine changed the subject.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Satoru Miyawaki. Nice to meet you.’

He didn’t have to say anything like Let’s hang out, for by this time they were already friends.

From day one, Yoshimine hadn’t got on with his classmates or his form teacher, but being friends with Satoru made life at school go more smoothly.

Satoru had also apparently straightened things out with the teacher. Yoshimine had no idea how he had won her over, but one day she stopped him in the corridor and tearfully apologized.

‘I’m so sorry, Yoshimine-kun. I didn’t understand how badly you were feeling.’

Yoshimine felt as if some huge misunderstanding was about to occur, but it was too much trouble to explain things, so, following the advice to be grown-up about it, he ended the encounter with a quick ‘It’s okay.’

‘Don’t worry, Yoshimine-kun,’ his teacher added. ‘I won’t mention your family situation again.’

So it seemed there was still some major misunderstanding about his family situation, which only Satoru correctly grasped.

‘My parents,’ Yoshimine had explained to him, ‘both work really hard and love their jobs too much.’

His father was in R&D at a top electronics company, while his mother worked in foreign investment for a multinational trading company. They were hardly ever at home, and Yoshimine often went days without seeing them.

‘Since spring, they’ve both become even busier, and they can’t seem to find any time for their family. Including me.’

His parents had tried to offload responsibility for their son on to his older brother, and their preoccupation with work had quickly led to total neglect of the household.

‘So they decided to send me to live with my grandmother on my father’s side until things settled down.’

But he didn’t think it was a big deal, so he found it embarrassing when his teacher went all gushy over how sad he must be. Because there are lots of kids with much tougher backgrounds. Take Satoru, for instance.

‘Hey, Yoshimine.’ A classmate called out to him from the corridor, putting an end to their conversation. ‘You interested in joining the judo club?’

‘Nope.’

The classmate’s shoulders drooped in disappointment, though he didn’t stop trying, dangling the possibility of him being a regular on the team. ‘So – what do you say?’ he asked.

‘I say no thanks,’ Yoshimine replied.

With his sturdy build, he was continually being invited to join the school sports teams, but Yoshimine turned them all down.

‘Aren’t you into school clubs?’ Satoru asked.

‘I don’t like sports much,’ he replied. He certainly had an athletic physique, but he disliked games with too many rules.

‘What about other kinds of clubs?’

‘If there was a gardening club I might join.’

His grandmother’s family were farmers and he had always enjoyed digging in the soil. His grandfather had passed away a few years before, and his grandmother had only just been managing to keep the family plots going, so Yoshimine had been pitching in.

‘There’s a greenhouse in the corner of the school grounds. I wonder if anyone’s using it.’

The greenhouse had been on Yoshimine’s mind ever since he had transferred to the school.

‘I’ve never even thought about it. You interested?’ Satoru asked.

‘My grandmother’s crops are all outdoors. I’ve never worked in a greenhouse.’

‘You really are into farming, aren’t you?’

Yoshimine thought that was the end of the matter, but Satoru brought it up again later.

‘I looked into the gardening club thing. They stopped a few years ago, because membership numbers fell. But if you’re interested, the science teacher said he’d run it, even if it’s just the two of us. And we can use the greenhouse.’

Two things surprised Yoshimine. One, that Satoru had actually looked into it. And two, that he was planning to take part himself.

‘You want to be in the club, too?’ Yoshimine asked.

‘I’d like to give it a try.’

‘But you’re not into gardening or anything like that, are you?’

‘I wouldn’t say I’m not interested. I just haven’t had anything to do with it up till now. I’ve never known any farmers.’

‘Really? Nobody? Not even, like, your grandfather or your grandmother?’

A total city boy, Yoshimine thought, but Satoru waved a dismissive hand.

‘It’s not that,’ he said. ‘My parents didn’t have much to do with their relatives. My grandparents on my mother’s side died when she was still young, and my father didn’t seem to get on with his parents that well. The first time I met them was at my parents’ funeral, and we didn’t talk much.’

Yoshimine understood now why Satoru’s aunt had taken him in. If your parents died and your grandparents were in good health, it’s likely that’s where you’d go. Pretty unusual for a single woman to take a young boy in.

‘I reckoned this might be my only chance to give it a go,’ Satoru said, laughing. ‘I’ve dreamed about living the country life. Like in Miyazaki’s film My Neighbour Totoro, do you know it?’

And so the two of them revived the gardening club. Yoshimine’s grandmother also invited Satoru over to their home to experience life on a working farm.

Satoru was a latchkey kid, since his aunt worked all day, so he began to go over to Yoshimine’s home, and sometimes stayed over for the weekend.

‘I hope you will be good friends,’ Yoshimine’s grandmother said to Satoru – what grandmothers typically say when other children come to play. ‘I always wonder if Daigo – she called him by his first name – ‘is getting on with the other children at school. I hope he isn’t being bullied.’

‘I wouldn’t worry about that. I don’t think there’s any chance Yoshimine would ever be bullied.’

‘What d’ya mean?’ Yoshimine said, poking him in the ribs.

‘You know exactly what I mean,’ Satoru said, poking him back.

His grandmother, who had been worried that Yoshimine might not make any friends in his new school, was overjoyed when he brought Satoru home. Very soon, she started calling him Satoru-chan.

‘Shall I buy a video game or something you can play with Satoru-chan?’

She asked this because she was concerned that he might be getting bored, always helping out in the fields.

‘I already have some,’ Yoshimine replied, ‘and so does Satoru.’

Satoru genuinely enjoyed helping out in the fields – it was a kind of pastoral hobby.

‘We’re doing the gardening club at school together, too, and I think he really likes farm work,’ Yoshimine explained to his grandmother.

‘Really? Then that’s fine,’ his grandmother responded. ‘At any rate, you’ve made a good friend here. So I won’t worry about you.’

His grandmother didn’t just say this once, but at every opportunity. As if reassuring herself.

‘I guess Grandma still sees me as a little kid,’ Yoshimine said, a trifle embarrassed.

With Satoru being so good-natured, and her grandson’s best friend to boot, Yoshimine’s grandmother fussed over him, and Satoru grew very attached to her.

‘You’re lucky,’ he told Yoshimine. ‘I wish I had a grandmother like yours.’

He’d never been close to his grandparents, and seemed to enjoy having a relationship with an elderly person.

‘If you’re okay with an old woman like me,’ Yoshimine’s grandmother told him, ‘then consider this like your own grandmother’s house.’

Yoshimine never teased his friend about his obvious envy of his grandmother. He knew that Satoru tended to keep his distance from his aunt and had no other relatives he could become close to.

‘Come over any time. My grandmother likes you a lot, too.’

One afternoon, during class, Yoshimine was feeling uncomfortably hot. He glanced out of the window and saw heat shimmering up from the ground. It was the time of year when the temperature was often over thirty degrees.

He suddenly pushed his chair back and stood up, causing a stir of excitement in the class.

‘Yoshimine! What do you think you’re doing?’ his teacher scolded.

‘Nothing,’ Yoshimine said casually, and walked out of the classroom.

‘Hey!’

At times like these, it was Satoru’s role to step in.

‘What do you mean, nothing?’ he called.

‘I’ll be right back.’

It was Satoru, not their teacher, who ran out of the classroom after him.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked Yoshimine, when he finally caught up with him.

‘The greenhouse. I forgot to open the vent this morning. It’s so hot now, the plants are going to boil.’

Inside the greenhouse, they were growing tomatoes and other vegetables, as well as tending some orchids, a hobby of the science teacher. Tomatoes don’t do well in the rain so the roofed-in environment was perfect for them, but this region generally had a temperate climate and when it got too hot in the summer they suffered.

‘Why not wait until break? It’s only another thirty minutes.’

‘But it’s the hottest time of the day. We have to cool it down as soon as we can.’

‘You could have pretended you had to go to the bathroom or something! It’ll be your fault if they close down our club.’

‘Then you go and explain.’

‘Jeez,’ Satoru muttered, and made his way back to the classroom.

‘Yoshimine’s been attacked by guerrillas!’

Satoru’s report had the classroom in uproar.

Though Yoshimine threw the class into chaos on such occasions, before the summer vacation they got a bumper crop of tomatoes and other vegetables and were able to save their teacher’s orchids as well.

When he was sharing out the vegetables with Satoru and the teacher, Yoshimine ended up taking a portion of tomatoes that was a little larger than the others. Yoshimine’s grandmother’s outdoor-grown tomato plants had been hit hard by the long rainy season and hadn’t yielded quite what she’d hoped.

‘Take more. There are just the two of us in our house, so I don’t need so many,’ Satoru said, and Yoshimine burst out laughing. There were only two in Yoshimine’s home, too, and one of them was extremely old. Satoru had a comeback for that: ‘But you eat much more than I do.’

In the space of one semester, Satoru had learned a lot about farming, and had picked up on the fact that Yoshimine wanted to grow greenhouse tomatoes as a sort of insurance policy against his grandmother’s tomatoes failing. Grateful, Yoshimine went ahead and took three or four extra, dropping them happily into his bucket.

‘I’m going back home the first week of the summer holiday,’ Yoshimine said.

‘I get it,’ Satoru answered instantly. ‘I’ll take care of the greenhouse while you’re gone.’

Their first crop was in already, but there were a lot more that would ripen later.

‘This is the first time you’ve been home since you came to this school, isn’t it? Hope it goes okay.’

Satoru understood the situation, which is why he didn’t just say, Oh, that’s nice. Yoshimine’s parents weren’t taking any time off work to see their son; he was just putting in a token appearance. ‘If they ripen while you’re away, I’ll take some tomatoes over to your grandmother’s.’

Yoshimine’s grandmother gave him a lift to the airport in her little van, and he flew back to Tokyo.

Nobody was there to meet him at Haneda airport.

He boarded the airport shuttle for the ride home, to a condo in a residential suburb. After a whole semester at his grandmother’s, the apartment seemed even smaller and more cramped than before.

His parents were as preoccupied as ever.

About three days after Yoshimine had arrived home, both his parents, surprisingly, came home from work early. His mother cooked them dinner, a rare thing, and the three of them sat down together to eat.

After dinner, his mother made them tea. The whole thing had Yoshimine confused.

His father, seated opposite him at the dining table, spoke first, a serious look on his face.

‘We have something important to tell you.’

His mother came over and sat down next to his father. This couldn’t be good.

‘The thing is, Mum and I have decided to get divorced.’

Ah – just as I thought, Yoshimine said to himself.

He had known that someday it would come to this.

‘Daigo, do you want to come and live with me, or your mother?’

He looked at his parents’ expressions and was forced to confront a reality he couldn’t avoid.

His parents waited expectantly, each hoping he would choose the other.

‘I’m sorry.’ He was finally able to squeeze out the words. ‘I can’t decide right now. I want to think about it a little more.’

His parents were clearly relieved that they wouldn’t have to deal with the problem straight away.

‘Can I go back to Grandma’s place tomorrow?’

Confronted with the fact that neither parent wanted him, he no longer had any idea how he was supposed to behave.

Naturally, they didn’t stop him, and he flew back the following day. The airline took good care of unaccompanied children, and he was actually grateful that his parents weren’t there to see him off.

His grandmother came to pick him up at the airport and drove him briskly back home in her small van.

‘Mum and Dad said they’re getting divorced.’

‘Is that right?’ his grandmother replied.

‘I don’t know which one I should live with.’

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter, because you can live with me.’

Yoshimine felt a huge lump in his throat.

‘You have a good friend here, too, Daigo, so it’s all okay.’ You have a good friend here. It’s all okay, his grandmother murmured, over and over, as if reassuring herself.

His grandmother had known what was going to happen from the moment her grandson had first come to live with her.

The lump in Yoshimine’s throat grew bigger and by the time they arrived home, it had started to hurt.

‘I’m going to run over to school.’

He changed into his uniform. Even in the holidays, they weren’t allowed at the school unless they were wearing it.

‘Why don’t you wait until a bit later? It’s the hottest time of day now.’

‘I’m worried about the greenhouse.’

Shaking off his grandmother’s objections, Yoshimine rode his bike to the junior high. As he pumped the pedals he felt the lump in his throat sink to the pit of his stomach.

Satoru’s bike was parked in the bicycle racks.

Inside the greenhouse, Yoshimine found him happily plucking tomatoes and cucumbers.

‘Hey.’

As Yoshimine stood in the doorway to the greenhouse, Satoru let out a funny-sounding ‘What the—? Weren’t you supposed to come back a little later?’

‘Yeah, stuff happened.’

They washed the vegetables in the sink, and in the shade of the school building Yoshimine told Satoru what had happened. Out of the corner of his eye, Yoshimine watched the baseball team doing fielding practice in the shimmering heatwaves radiating from the schoolyard.

‘When they left me with Grandma, I didn’t think anything major was going on, since my parents had always kind of left me to my own devices. But it’s turned out to be a big deal.’

So the form teacher’s sympathy was justified, after all.

‘They were planning to get divorced all along. And they wanted me to understand that. I’m such an idiot.’

Satoru had been listening in silence, but now he broke in. ‘That’s not true,’ he countered. ‘You were just trying not to think about it.’

Yoshimine felt that lump in his throat again. Get over it, he urged himself.

Daigo never gives us any trouble, and that makes things so much easier.

If I had been a bad kid who did give them a hard time, then what would have happened?

Ever since he was little, he had known his parents were both overly fond of their jobs and weren’t particularly interested in him. Which is why he tried his best to be the kind of child who wouldn’t require too much of their time and effort, the kind who wouldn’t get under their feet.

Being a kid who never gave his parents any trouble would at least stop them being in a bad mood and keep things settled on the home front. In that way, Yoshimine, who was always the one holding the fort, could breathe easy.

And the few times that the whole family was together, things did go smoothly. But maybe all he’d done was to prioritize what was easy in the short term.

There’s a proverb that says a child is the glue that keeps a husband and wife together. A child who was never any trouble might keep things peaceful from day to day, but when push came to shove, that child would finally come unstuck.

Maybe the kind of kid who needed more parental affection and made trouble would have been the glue that would have held their marriage together.

Enough.

Yoshimine shook his head hard to put a stop to the thoughts spinning around in it. There’s no use thinking about something that can’t be undone. It’ll just let this lump grow bigger. It’s already pretty big.

‘Still,’ he said aloud. ‘Parents get divorced all the time.’

He tried to say it casually, but the tail end of his words wavered.

‘You had it a lot harder than me, didn’t you, Satoru?’

‘But I never once experienced my parents acting like I was a nuisance, because they were gone.’

There was nothing Yoshimine could say to that. The lump in his throat burst at long last.

When his sobbing finally subsided, Satoru asked, ‘Want one?’ and held out in his soiled fingers a luscious red tomato.

REALLY, NOW, I thought, looking at Satoru.

I was out of the basket. Not sure why, but Satoru had left the door open, telling me to come out whenever I felt comfortable, but the thought of that tabby kitten with the stupid name, Chatran, invading my space was unbearable, truth be told.

Hey, tabby. You know your owner was abandoned by his parents, too. But the tabby was so engrossed in playing with his toy mouse he didn’t hear me. When are you going to realize how pointless it is to play with a fake mouse, eh?

Having a decent conversation with an itty-bitty kitten this young was out of the question. He was of the age when he’d eat, leap around a bit, then suddenly flop down asleep in the middle of whatever he was doing, as if his batteries had run down.

Even when he was in the middle of saying something, if a breeze made the curtain flutter he would drop everything and leap at it. Was I that silly when I was his age? I think I had a bit more sense than that. Well, cats mature emotionally at different rates. I felt sorry for the poor kid, compared to a rare, wise cat such as myself.

Stitching together his fragmented history, I gathered that this orange tabby was the runt of the litter, and when his mother had moved home, he hadn’t been able to keep up and got left behind.

A fact of life in the feline world. Kittens that are awkward to bring up, or slow, are easily abandoned. No matter how hard she tries, a mother cat has only so much milk, and she won’t waste any on a lethargic kitten.

One of my siblings was like that. Overshadowed by the rest of us, it was the kind of kitten you were never sure was there or not, and one day we suddenly noticed it was gone, as if it had never existed.

This orange tabby was on the small side for his age; to be honest, not the type you’d expect to make it in life. Yoshimine had done a great job bringing him up. And despite him being the ill-mannered kind who’d grab you by the scruff of the neck the first time he met you, Yoshimine hadn’t just looked the other way when a troublesome kitten turned up, so it was clear to me he was an individual who had a lot of love to give.

Even people who are big and strong are sometimes thrown in the gutter. If he’d been a cat, Yoshimine would have been the top priority in the litter.

Okay, be that as it may…

You probably shouldn’t have made it, little kitty, yet you’ve been given a new lease of life, so shouldn’t you show some gratitude to Yoshimine for that? Yes, you. I’m talking to you.

The orange tabby looked as though he was listening for a moment, but then, clearly not getting what I was saying, he started to play around with my tail. Hmm. Guess I’ll have to simplify this a bit.

Tell me, do you like Yoshimine?

I seemed to have got through. As he chewed on my tail, he nodded. Hey, that hurt. I flipped my tail up.

If you like Yoshimine, don’t you want to make him happy?

The orange tabby grabbed my tail again and recommenced chomping with his mini jaws.

I told you, that hurts! I flipped it up again.

You do know Yoshimine wants cats to catch mice for him, don’t you? So, if you can become a real cat who can catch mice, I’m sure Yoshimine will be very pleased.

The orange tabby stopped his chomping for a moment. I seemed to have struck a chord.

But the way you’re behaving, forget it. You’re useless. You couldn’t even catch a lizard, let alone a mouse.

Okay, what if I teach you the basics of hunting? And not just hunting, but train you to hold your own in a fight with other cats. Yoshimine will be worried if you lose every scrap.

Putting everything in simple terms like this, I think I got through to the kitten. He sat up straight and asked me to teach him. Good. In the cat world, good manners are a must.

I was about to lead the orange tabby into an Intro to Hunting when Satoru said, ‘Oh! Look, Yoshimine. They’ve started playing together.’

‘Aren’t they fighting?’

‘No, Nana’s going easy on him.’

This isn’t a game, folks, I’m teaching. Whatever.

‘If they carry on together like this, maybe I can convince you to keep Nana for me.’

Well, I’m doing my thing here, so you chaps keep doing whatever you’re doing. Don’t mind us.

Satoru watched as the orange tabby pounced on the toy mouse the way I taught him to, and his eyes narrowed into a smile.

‘He’s so excitable, just like the cat I used to have years ago.’

You’re right about that. When he’s supposed to crouch quietly and blend in, he madly waves his tail around instead. I stretch my tail out smoothly, but this little kitten waves his around like a helicopter. And when he crouches down ready to pounce, he keeps his body way too high off the ground.

‘What was Nana like when he was little?’

‘I found him when he was a grown cat, so I don’t know what sort of kitten he was. I wish I could have known him then. I’m sure he was adorable.’

You’re right there. My level of cuteness when I was a kitten was such that passers-by vied for the privilege of leaving me a little something to eat.

‘Now that you mention it…’ Yoshimine said, as if suddenly remembering something, ‘did you see that cat you adopted ever again?’

‘Unfortunately, no. It died when I was in high school.’

‘I see,’ Yoshimine said, his voice respectfully mournful.

‘I wish you could have seen him. Sorry about that. But I really didn’t want the word to get back to my aunt.’

Whoa there, Satoru. What on earth are you hinting at here?

I ordered the orange tabby to run through the exercises I’d taught him on his own, and turned my attention to Satoru and Yoshimine’s conversation.

YOSHIMINE’S PARENTS’ DIVORCE went through without a hitch, his father getting custody of their son. This was because Yoshimine wanted to live with his grandmother. It also meant he could avoid the inconvenience of changing his last name.

As if they had been set free, both his parents went off on overseas postings, and appeared to be doing well. And, as ever, Yoshimine found that living with his grandmother suited him down to the ground.

A year passed and, during the first semester of their last year in junior high, the class went on a school trip to Fukuoka.

Yoshimine realized that something was bothering Satoru only after he’d found out what had happened on a previous school trip – that Satoru’s parents had died in an accident.

Satoru had looked glum from the moment they departed. On their first day in Fukuoka, when they had some free time, he was uncharacteristically quiet, even though he was with his usual group of friends.

Yoshimine was concerned that the trip had tapped into depressing memories, but with all the other students around it was hard to find an opportunity to talk to him about it.

After dinner, when they were browsing through the souvenir shop in the hotel, he finally found his chance.

‘Are you okay?’

Satoru looked worried. He glanced up at Yoshimine and said in a low voice, ‘I was wondering if I can get to Kokura.’

From Hakata Station in Fukuoka to Kokura was about twenty minutes by the Shinkansen train. So of course it was possible. But only if they weren’t on a school trip. Which they were.

Always alert to the dangers of the students wandering off, the teachers chaperoning the trip had set up a tight surveillance system. The daily activities were scheduled to the minute. After checking into the hotel, it was strictly forbidden for students to go out on their own. A teacher was always stationed at the hotel entrance. If a student were to try to slip out to have fun at night, there was a very real risk that they might be sent home.

So for Satoru to go to Kokura on his own was, in the circumstances, not an option. Yet the obedient, sharp-witted Satoru wouldn’t have said such a thing unless he had a very good reason.

‘How come?’ Yoshimine asked.

So Satoru told him.

It had to do with the cat he’d had back when his parents were still alive. When they died and his aunt took him in, he’d had to give up the cat, and relatives in Kokura had adopted it.

‘My aunt’s always so busy I can’t ask her to take me to Kokura just to see the cat… So I was wondering if, when we have a free moment during the day, I could slip away and go there to visit it.’

‘Do you really want to see the cat that much?’

‘He’s family,’ Satoru replied.

‘I see,’ Yoshimine said, folding his arms. He’d never had a pet himself, and had no particular fondness for cats.

But for Satoru, that cat was something he and his parents had all loved, the one remaining family member from that happy time they shared before his parents died. It all made perfect sense.

Okay, then.

So it’s just a cat, but it is, after all, a cat. For his friend, the one and only cat in the world.

‘Let’s do it.’

But then Satoru hesitated. ‘Yeah, but…’ He trembled.

‘We have three hours till lights-out. You know your relatives’ address, don’t you?’

It turned out to be in an apartment building not far from Kokura Station.

‘If we skip having a bath, we’ll have plenty of time. But you won’t have a cent left to buy anything afterwards.’

A round trip to Kokura would cost several thousand yen.

‘We can’t tell anyone in our group. If they knew, then they could get into trouble, too. When it’s time to go for a bath, we’ll tell them we’ll be down in a minute, and then we’ll make our getaway.’

‘I’ll go on my own. I don’t want anyone else to get mixed up in this.’

‘Come on, mate. I’m your best friend.’ And with that, Yoshimine slapped him on the back.

They hadn’t been allowed to bring any clothes other than their school uniform and pyjamas, so the choice was between those. They’d both brought jerseys to wear in bed, so they opted for those, since they wouldn’t stand out as much as school shirts and blazers.

When it came to their turn to go down to the bath, they pretended to need more time to get ready for it.

They waited three minutes, then left their room. They avoided the main entrance, because of the teacher standing guard, and headed straight to the emergency exit they had scouted out earlier. The doorknob on the fire exit had a plastic safety cover, which made it obvious if anyone used the door. If a teacher found the cover missing, there would be an immediate roll call.

‘What should we do?’ Satoru asked anxiously. ‘The teachers will check this when they make their rounds.’

‘We go up,’ Yoshimine said, yanking him over to the lifts. ‘If we rip that cover off a door on another floor, they won’t notice.’

In order to isolate the noisy students from the other guests, all their rooms were adjacent. If they ripped the cover off the knob on a floor where only regular guests were staying, it was possible it would go undetected.

The hotel rooms started on the fifth floor, and they’d heard that students on school trips were always housed on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors. When they got out at the eighth floor the hallway was so quiet they couldn’t believe how peaceful the hotel could be.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

They yanked off the safety cover, pulled open the heavy fire door and hurtled down the stairs. Exiting on the ground floor, they reached a service entrance, through which they headed, trying to look nonchalant. Suddenly, a voice called out from behind them, ‘You there!’

Startled, they turned around and saw a hotel employee.

‘Aren’t you students on a school trip?’

Oh god, Yoshimine thought. The hotel employees must have been warned to keep an eye out for escapees.

‘No, actually we’re not!’ Yoshimine shot back, starting for the door.

‘Hold it right there!’ the man shouted, heading after him.

‘Run for it!’

Yoshimine darted off, Satoru chasing after him.

‘Somebody stop those boys!’

The employee’s shouts immediately led to more obstacles being put in their way, but, running this way and that, trying to avoid all the people who were joining the pursuit, they finally came to the hotel’s main entrance.

Standing guard was the form teacher Yoshimine had met on his first day – the pretty woman who’d been so sympathetic.

‘Yoshimine-kun! Satoru-kun! What are you doing?’

Satoru thought Yoshimine might give up at this point, but when Yoshimine shouted, ‘Let’s go for it. Sod the consequences!’ he sped up with his friend. The teacher raised her arms to stop them, but they slipped past her and leapt on to the crowded pavement outside the hotel, laughing all the way.

They might as well have used the main entrance to start with.

They kept on running, to shake off any pursuers, and Satoru shouted breathlessly at his friend, ‘Listen! Tell people I went out ’cause I was dying to go out at night and have some fun.’

‘Okay.’

As they made their way down unfamiliar streets, they asked for directions, and in about twenty minutes they had arrived at Hakata Station.

They were at the window for train tickets to Kokura when they heard someone calling from behind them.

‘Hey! You boys!’ It was a PE teacher, one of the chaperones.

They were escorted back to the hotel, called into one of the rooms where the teachers were staying and firmly scolded.

‘Where on earth did you think you were going?’

They hadn’t agreed on a story beforehand and weren’t sure how to get through this. They glanced at each other, wondering who should go first.

‘Satoru-kun.’ This from the kindly teacher. ‘Maybe being on a school trip was hard on you?’

Oh, the beautiful teacher, Miss Empathy. Well just stop it, Yoshimine thought. Drop the sympathy. Don’t try to protect Satoru by bringing that up.

‘No, that’s not it,’ Satoru replied in an even voice, though his face had turned pale. ‘I just wanted to get out and have fun in the town. That’s all.’

‘Don’t lie to me. I know you’re not that kind of boy.’

Yoshimine nearly burst out laughing. What do you know about Satoru, Teacher?

Tell people I went out ’cause I was dying to go out at night and have some fun. Satoru didn’t want anyone to know he was trying to get to Kokura to see a cat.

‘Satoru, I’m sorry. I’ve had enough.’

Yoshimine looked as though he was about to give up. The teachers’ attention turned to him.

‘It’s my fault, ma’am. I was dying to eat some Nagahama ramen. And I was asking for directions at the station.

‘Thing is,’ he went on, ‘I had ramen at an outdoor stall once in Tenjin with my parents, back before they got divorced. Since we weren’t far from there, I remembered my parents and memories of those good times. Satoru just tagged along with me.’

Their circumstances were different, but both boys were no longer with their parents. That was justification enough – two lonely boys wanting to cheer each other up.

‘Yoshimine…’ Satoru was about to say something, but Yoshimine cut him off. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. He needed his friend to keep quiet if he really didn’t want the world to know about his precious cat.

The teachers remained silent and stern, but they were clearly uncertain how to proceed.

‘I understand how you feel, but rules are rules. You can’t just go off on your own during a school trip,’ said the PE teacher sourly.

They should have just bowed their heads and apologized then and there. Both of their guardians were contacted and, as an example to the rest of the students, their punishment was to sit in the hallway, in uncomfortable formal seiza style, legs tucked under them, until late in the evening.

As soon as he got home from the trip, Yoshimine asked his grandmother a favour.

‘Grandma, please, there’s something I really, really need to ask of you.’

He wanted his grandmother to call Satoru’s aunt to apologize. To apologize for getting Satoru mixed up in all this.

His grandmother knew her grandson had never been to Tenjin with his parents, but she did as requested, no questions asked.

‘I’m so sorry that Satoru-chan got yelled at because of what Daigo did.’

Satoru’s aunt seemed embarrassed. ‘I’m the one who should apologize,’ she said. ‘Yoshimine-kun wanted to abandon the idea but, apparently, Satoru dragged him along.’

So that was how Satoru had explained things at home.

‘I know you two wouldn’t break the rules without a very good reason,’ Yoshimine’s grandmother said later to him.

He felt choked.

This kind and considerate grandmother died some ten years ago, at a ripe old age.

Satoru had moved away when he graduated from junior high, but Yoshimine had continued to write to him, and when he told him of his grandmother’s passing Satoru had come a long way to attend the funeral.

When he was thanked for attending, Satoru smiled. ‘She was my grandmother, too, wasn’t she?’ he said. Yoshimine nodded, his eyes filling with tears.

His father, who was in charge of the funeral, had no intention of taking over the farm, and placed the house and its land in the care of nearby relatives, who had already got used to farming the fields and rice paddies when Yoshimine’s grandmother was no longer able to.

Yoshimine had proposed that he take over the farm, but was persuaded otherwise. Apparently, the farm wouldn’t make him much money and it would cause him a lot of trouble when it came to finding a wife.

‘Well, as my relatives predicted, no marriage prospects so far,’ Yoshimine told Satoru now.

‘Well, if I were a woman, I would definitely be interested,’ Satoru said.

‘If you know any women who share your values, be sure to introduce me to them.’

Smiling, Yoshimine poured more shochu into his glass. Now that they had checked the fields for the evening, it was time for a couple of drinks with dinner.

Satoru had some beer with his, but later drank only barley tea. He had never been much of a drinker, and had recently become even less able to hold his liquor.

‘I was hoping that before I leave tomorrow, I might pay a visit to your grandmother’s grave,’ he said.

The grave was in the hills behind the house. In Yoshimine’s small truck, it would take less than five minutes to get there.

To celebrate his friend’s visit, Yoshimine had planned to stay up late with him, but with an early-to-bed-early-to-rise habit drilled into him, he didn’t even make it to midnight.

SATORU AND YOSHIMINE went out first thing in the morning in Yoshimine’s truck, talking as they drove about the night before.

Perfect, I thought. I have my own little something to take care of while they’re gone.

Hey, orange tabby. Yes. You.

You remember what I taught you yesterday, don’t you? We’re going to go over how to handle yourself in a fight.

I crinkled up my nose and flattened my ears back. Okay, when you see an angry cat like this, what do you do?

The orange tabby followed suit, crinkling up his nose, laying his ears back, arching his back and making the fur on his back and tail stand on end.

Excellent. Well done.

Now, the final test. When I make an angry face, instantly strike a fighting pose. Impress Yoshimine. Listen, we need to have this nailed before I leave. So keep on your toes.

The orange tabby was full of spirit. Just then, Satoru and Yoshimine came back.

Timing it perfectly, so they were just coming into the room, I signalled to the orange tabby to adopt a fighting stance.

The kitten puffed up the fur all over his body like an exploding ball of wool. He was determined to show Yoshimine his best stance.

‘What the—?!’ Satoru sounded totally confused. ‘They were getting on so well yesterday. I wonder what’s happened all of a sudden.’

Who knows? Kittens are pretty impulsive. Perhaps he changed his mind?

‘Maybe he’s already forgotten about yesterday.’ Yoshimine looked puzzled, too.

‘Well, let’s see how it goes for a while. He might just be in a bad mood.’

Satoru was planning to leave in the morning, but held off until the afternoon. He tried out a few things, including putting the kitten and me in separate rooms for a while.

Unfortunately the kitten continued performing until we left. Every time I urged him on, he took up his best fighting pose. He was really into it, for a kitten. If he kept this up, he might actually make something of himself.

‘Why don’t you leave Nana here and see how it goes? Give him a few days and they might get used to each other,’ suggested Yoshimine when he got back from his morning farm chores.

‘I don’t think so,’ Satoru said doubtfully. ‘Nana got furious and hid in his basket, so it doesn’t look promising. It’s too bad, but if they don’t get on, forcing them to be together is sort of cruel.’

‘Really? That’s too bad. He’s such a good cat.’

Yoshimine, I don’t dislike you, so don’t think badly of me, okay?

But I’m still not ready to leave that silver van for good.

Satoru still seemed a bit sad about the whole thing, but with the little orange tabby looking so angry, wearing that ominous look, he finally gave up on the idea. Holding my basket to his chest, he climbed into the silver van.

‘It really is a shame.’

‘You say that, but you look pretty happy about the whole thing.’

To Yoshimine’s teasing, Satoru gave only a ‘Hmm’ in reply. His remark seemed to have hit the nail on the head. ‘Well…’ he went on, ‘it’s true I’m going to find it hard to part with Nana.’

‘If you like him so much, why do you have to give him away?’

Oh. You threw that pitch right down the middle, didn’t you, Yoshimine? A straight pitch, just like when you stuck your hand inside my basket when we first met.

Satoru looked perplexed and didn’t reply.

‘Never mind,’ Yoshimine said, not pressing the point. ‘If you ever have any trouble, come round, okay? I may not have any marriage prospects or savings, but one thing is certain – farmers never lack for food.’

‘But you see how Chatran and Nana are.’

‘They’re not going to kill each other, and if it comes to that, we can just force them to live together even if they don’t want to. They’re just animals, you really don’t need to worry so much about whether they get on.’

‘That’s absurd. When animals are under too much stress, their fur can fall out.’

‘If it really doesn’t work out, then I’ll set it up so you can stay in one of the unoccupied houses in the village. People are afraid their houses will deteriorate so they want someone to live in them. The village is doing its best to attract young people to come here from the city, too.’

‘Thank you.’ Satoru smiled, but his voice was still a bit shaky. ‘If I really can’t find a solution, then I’ll definitely take you up on that.’

‘Good. I’ll look forward to it.’

Satoru and Yoshimine shook hands firmly.

‘Thank you for everything. I’m pleased I was able to pay a visit to your grandmother’s grave.’

He got into the van, but just before he started the engine Satoru said, ‘Oh, that’s right,’ and rolled down the window. ‘Yoshimine, do you remember the name of that cat I used to have?’

Yoshimine shook his head.

‘He was called Hachi. He looked just like Nana, right down to the marks on his face like the Chinese character for eight. And Nana got his name because his tail looks like the character for seven.’

Yoshimine burst out laughing. ‘You said Chatran’s name was kind of corny, but the names you come up with are cheesy, too.’

‘One names them according to the way they look, and the other is into clichés. I’d say it’s a tie.’

Satoru beeped his horn lightly and drove off down the lane.

‘You shouldn’t act up like that, Nana, getting all upset over a little kitten.’

Ahem. You said you were going to leave me there, but do you really think that’s gonna fly?

‘I am a little relieved, though. That we can go home together.’

This I already knew.

‘Like I promised, do you want to stop by the sea on the way back?’

Sounds great! I wonder how many of the delicacies in my usual gourmet seafood blend are really in there?

So the silver van headed towards the beach. Too much bother to stay in the basket, so I balanced on Satoru’s lap as we bumped down the rough lane towards the sea.

When we got out of the van, Satoru scooped me up and hoofed it down the slope that led to the shore, but me, I clung on for dear life.

‘Hey, Nana. What are you doing with your claws? It hurts!’

No way. No. Way. What is that rushing sound? I’ve never heard anything like it! What is it, that monstrous roar?

And there it was. The sea – spread out before my very eyes. An endless expanse of water rolling relentlessly towards us.

‘Look, Nana. The sea. Aren’t the waves fabulous?’

Fabulous!? What are you talking about? How optimistic humans can be, to think that this enormous mass of rolling water, this soaring energy – is fabulous!? I don’t know about humans, but if any cat got caught up in it, that would be the end of it, for sure!

‘Let’s go down by the water’s edge.’

NO. WAY.

‘Nana! Ouch! That hurts!’

I slipped out of Satoru’s arms, struggled to grasp higher ground, and leapt right up on top of his head, where, I have to admit, there wasn’t much hair.

‘Your claws! Nana, don’t scratch me with your claws!’

This is no good. I need a safer place than Satoru’s head! Humph!

I pushed off and landed on all fours on the ground. Then, scuttling as fast as I could, I dashed in the opposite direction from the shoreline.

‘Nana!’

I ran straight up on to a nearby bluff and settled down at the base of a pine tree growing at an angle from the bare rock.

‘Why do you have to go all the way up there? Come down here!’

Not gonna happen. If I’m not careful, I’ll get swept away by a wave and die!

‘Come on down from there, Nana. It’s too hard for me to climb up!’

In the end, Satoru, with great care and awkwardness, clambered up the bluff to rescue me.

From my first experience of the sea, I learned a valuable lesson.

The sea is where you go to reminisce when you are far away from home.

Delicacies of the sea are not something cats should catch by themselves. It’s quite acceptable to allow humans to prepare them for us.

‘My scalp is full of scratches. It’s going to sting when I shampoo, that’s for sure.’

Satoru muttered a couple more complaints, but then gave a little chuckle.

‘But you know, I never imagined you’d be that afraid of the sea. I’ve seen a side of you I’ve never witnessed before, but it’s good to know you don’t like it.’

I do like it, viewed from a distance. The sea, that is.

The van drove smoothly along the shoreline. I gazed at the glittering dark-blue water, my tail happily raised to the sky.

Until then, my life had been limited to the modest territory of Satoru’s apartment and a small area around it. A decent-sized territory for a cat, really, but pretty modest compared to the vastness of this world.

A cat could never see all the sights the world has to offer in one lifetime. There’s just so much out there.

Satoru?

Since we had embarked on our journey, I’d seen the town where you spent your childhood. And a farming village. And the sea.

I wondered what new scenes we would see together before this journey was over.