The Fourteen Years I Spent as a Cat

Chapter 9: Please, until we part...

After that, I welcomed my 14th Spring.

Due to Noguchi having a sudden job transfer, we haven’t been able to see the girly since she brought her child over.

It was today, the start of April, that I first heard that they were about to come back.

“Yuumi-chan is already 3 years old, right?”

“Yes, they grow so fast.”

You’re acting exactly like an old man would, I grumble at the man sitting on the sofa. I yawn slightly on the man’s lap, and curled up into a ball.

It’s already been 14 years since I met the man, and came to this house.

My body has already deteriorated, to the point where even walking was a pain, and I was moving at a snail’s pace to meals and the toilet.

Maybe my eyes were also turning bad, as the clouds from across the veranda seemed somewhat dim lately. Perhaps the fact that my hearing hasn’t suffered any form of loss was my only saving grace.

I have aged considerably in these 14 years.

I was born quite a bit later than the family, and also aged at a pace much faster than theirs.

This was something they knew. In the last three years, the man had left all the doors in the house, including the one to his study opened.

I could come in and out, and even I knew that it was so that we could spend as much time together as possible. Which is why, I let the two of them spoil me to their delight, and felt the warmth of their actions.

The man and woman who had been sitting across from each other, were now sitting on the same sofa, constantly pet me, who was in between the two.

“It’s nice we got an apartment. There are no stairs or any other floors.”

“Ahh, yeah.”

The woman was stroking my head, and the man, my backside.

I don’t have long left. I just knew instinctively. I probably won’t be able to make it passed Spring.

When can I see the girly?

I ask the man. The man continued to pet me for a short while, not answering me.

“Speaking of which, it seems like Yuuka should be coming home soon. She said that she bought an apartment nearby. And that she would come visit us as soon as possible.”

The woman smiles, and the man replies with a happy “Is that so”, then looks at me.

“Isn’t that great, Kuro? It’s been three years, so maybe we’ll be surprised? Yuumi-chan has probably grown up quite a bit after all.”

I see, I look forward to that.

I say to myself, and slowly closed my eyes.

I looked forward to being able to meet the girlies again, from the bottom of my heart.

Every second, every minute that passed, felt like it was too slow, but this is the fate of this body. No matter what I wish for, the day we part is right there in front of us.

“Kuro-chan, Kuro…”

The woman calls out to me, as she strokes my head.

Hearing something strange from her tone, I look up and see that tears had gathered within the woman’s pupils.

“Please, I’m begging you, stay healthy. We’ll always be by your side. Okay?”

Ahh, yea, I know.

Thank you for loving me. I feel very proud to be able to be a part of your family.

As my throat grew hoarse and my eyes softened, the man continued.

“Kuro, you don’t have to worry about a thing. We’ll always be by your side after all.”

The man smiles calmly at me, but his voice was shaking.

I let out a charming “Meo~w”. I thought that it would be fine as long as I looked healthy and energetic.

However, just moving my head up to look at them was incredibly tiring, and I somehow found myself naturally curled up into a ball again.

Suddenly, the woman bursts into tears and the man brought the woman’s shoulders over to his, hugging her.

“Come on, don’t cry. You’re in front of Kuro.”

“But, dear… Kuro-chan, she cries out at night. Constantly, with such a feeble voice. No matter how much I pet her, hug her, she cries out all night in her sleep, like she doesn’t want to leave… in such a weak voice…”

The woman’s sobs continue, and I realised why I was feeling so incredibly tired recently.

It seems that my feelings about leaving them manifested itself in my sleep talk.

Most likely my feelings about not wanting to leave this home, was something that the me from 14 years ago could never have imagined.

I’m not sad, I’m not lonely. I’m already completely satisfied, and have received their love.

I was able to meet this wonderful family, this wonderful girly. And even that girly’s child.

It’s just that I wanted to meet the two girlies before I died.

Suddenly I felt that it was hard to breathe, and my claws came out as I sat on the man’s lap.

My heart was beating quickly, and a chill made all my fur stand. The vision in front of me falls apart, and at the same time, all the strength in my body leaves me.

“KURO!”

The man shouts. Only my hearing, was still working.

I tried to stand up, but for some reason I couldn’t gather any strength from anywhere.

I continue breathing faintly, before finally looking up at the two. My vision had blurred even more slightly, but my consciousness was still barely working.

No, not yet.

I look at the old, used cushion across the woman, and stood up, trying to stretch my arms outwards.

I can’t go anywhere, until the girly comes back.

“Kuro-chan, hic, this?”

Opening her tear-filled eyes, the woman hurriedly picks up the cushion. And then placed it in between the man and me.

The man carries me up, and lays me down on the cushion. I could smell a familiar and nostalgic scent; this was my cushion.

I had thought that it was so big in the past, but now it had become so small that my hands and feet were sticking out.

Please, I’m begging you. Let me meet that child before I leave.

I plead, not to anyone in particular. The man stands up in a panic, and I could see him call someone.

The woman strokes my back as she cries. Whilst constantly, constantly, saying my name.

I didn’t even have enough strength to let my claws out, laying on the cushion that had a few scratches on it. I concentrate on the sound of the woman saying “Kuro”, and tried my absolute hardest to keep my existence attached to this world.

I can’t leave just yet. Not until I see the girly and her little girly.

I wanted to live so much that I even frightened myself.