Eclipse

🌸🍭chapter 19 🎧🌸

As she climbed the stairs, the familiar sight of a cat awaited her. As always, it waited by her door, meowing for her to let it in. Sakura unlocked the door, allowing the cat to enter first before stepping inside herself. She removed her shoes and placed them neatly to the side.

As she stepped forward, she felt her balance slip, instinctively grabbing the wall to steady herself. Looking down, she saw the source of the trouble: a wet patch on the floor.

"I'm pretty sure this wasn’t here this morning," Sakura murmured. Kneeling to inspect the area, she realized it was water. Her eyes then traced the small leak above, where water seemed to have dripped down onto the floor.

Sighing, she wondered whether she should contact the landlord or simply place a container to prevent the water from further soaking into the old floorboards. Her mind briefly wandered back to her first meeting with him, when he had been talking to an elderly woman on the first floor about a broken window. She’d noticed the window a few times herself, and now, in her own room, she had a broken window too—one that still hadn't been fixed, despite the tenant's repeated requests.

Opting to use a container for the time being, Sakura stepped around the wet patch and moved to the small kitchen counter. She grabbed an empty container that had once held leftovers and set it on the floor. The soft sound of water hitting the container echoed through the room.

Sakura went through her usual routine, slipping into her comfy clothes, checking the laundry, and folding it neatly before adding it to the small stack of her other clothes. She readjusted the cardboard on the window—her makeshift solution for the draft—and then pulled out the last two pre-prepared meals, setting them on the table to heat up later. The cat, ever present, played with her feet whenever she walked past the little mat by the door.

She chuckled softly, bending down every so often to scratch the cat's chin and ears, giving it a quick bit of affection before moving on with her tasks. Once she finished tidying up, shifting a few books and tables to create more space, her eyes caught sight of the damp wall next to them. She checked carefully, making sure no mold had started creeping up.

"Seriously, why do you keep coming back here? Do you really not have anyone else?" she murmured, looking at the cat as she placed the containers on the makeshift stove. She sank into a chair, resting her head in her hand, gazing at the cat, which meowed at her.

As if in response to her unspoken question, the cat walked over, using its paws to scratch at its neck. Sakura noticed the faint outline of where a collar used to be, now long gone or perhaps worn out.

"If you keep showing up, people are going to think you’re mine," she said with a smile, scratching its head gently. Her fingers worked through its fur like dough, soft and comforting, and the cat responded with a contented purr, meowing as if to agree.

After finishing her meal, Sakura settled into her usual night routine, reviewing the lessons sent to her email, making sure she had a firm grasp on the material before heading to bed. The cat, as always, curled up beside her, its eyes never straying far from the room.

But tonight was different. As she drifted into a light sleep, the cat’s fur began to rise, its gaze fixed on the door. The unmistakable sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway, drawing nearer until they stopped just outside her door. The cat’s low growls filled the silence, its muscles tensing as the footsteps lingered, closer than before. Beneath the door, two lines of shadow stretched out from the flickering light of the streetlamp.

In her dreamlike haze, Sakura frowned, feeling an inexplicable chill brush across her skin. Then, just as suddenly, the footsteps retreated, fading into the distance. The cat continued to watch the door, alert, until its fur slowly settled back down. It circled Sakura’s side, then curled up beside her, letting out a soft yawn before drifting off into sleep.