There was no one home, so after putting my backpack in my room, I decided to head right back out. I made sure to lock the apartment, then took the elevator from the eleventh floor down to the first, waited for the automatic doors to open, and headed outside.
As I walked through the glass doors, I saw a friend walking nearby. She always took the opportunity to loiter around our building about the time I headed home from school. Our building was a great deal larger than the surrounding structures, so it was easy enough to find, even for her.
I offered her a greeting.
“Salutations!”
Although she knew I was there, she made a face as though she had just noticed me.
“Meow!”
“You’ll never become an actress with that kind of blatant performance.”
“Meow.”
As always, she walked in exactly the direction I was intending, her cropped tail bobbing to-and-fro. Even my tiny footsteps outpaced her, and I was quickly able to catch up. I gave a haughty laugh, gloating over my victory, and she whipped her head away. Honestly, what a charmless girl.
As we walked toward our destination, I told my little friend about what had happened today. “It was really ridiculous!”
“Meow.”
“There are some serious incompatibilities in different people’s ways of thinking. Is it the same in the cat world?”
“Meow.”
“That’s true. It’s difficult for different creatures to fully understand each other.”
“Meow,” she said again, disinterested.
She never seemed very engaged with what I had to say. My daily worries probably had no relevance to a cat, but it was a bit rude.
Still, there was nothing I could do about it, so I decided to sing a song. Something that she could enjoy as well. The only two things that drew the attention of my cheeky little friend were milk and the sound of my song. What a luxurious life she led.
I began to sing my favorite tune. “Happiness won’t cooome wandering my way sooo…”
“Meow meow!”
“Thaaaaat’s why I set ouuut to find it todaaay!”
Although she pretended not to be interested, the tone of her meowing was more inflected than usual. She had such a lovely singing voice. Although she was never forthcoming, I’m sure she had all the boy cats flocking to her with a beautiful voice like that.
As the two of us walked along the quiet road, singing together, the path dead-ended at the banks of a wide river. We climbed the stairs up the embankment. There were no large buildings around, and the wind was forceful. It felt wonderful blowing through my hair. The next town over sat on the opposite bank, and I smelled something slightly foreign.
This embankment was a popular place for children to play, but I had no interest in that. Miss Bobtail showed some interest in a ball rolling along the embankment, but there was no ball that interested her more than a bowl of cream.
We continued along the path beside the river, singing. As we walked, we greeted those we passed. We walked by the old man sitting on some cardboard, and an old woman whom we saw often down at the shopping arcade gave me candy. Eventually, our destination came into view: a cream-colored two-story apartment building. It sat in front of us like a large square buttercream cake. We descended the stairs down from the embankment and approached it.
We trotted into the apartment, Miss Bobtail being careful not to make too much noise. Climbing the stairs a step ahead of me, she mewled at the apartment door at the end of the second floor. I had told her to be quiet, but she was often quick to forget things like that. She was not as clever as me.
I strode elegantly up to the door and pushed the button that Miss Bobtail was not tall enough to reach. A few seconds later, I heard the doorbell ringing within. Before I could even spot the ant crawling over my foot, the door opened.
Inside stood a lovely young woman wearing a T-shirt and long trousers, as she always did. Her hair was a bit more unkempt, and she seemed more tired than usual.
“Hello!” I said.
“Hello there. You’re in good spirits today, little miss.”
“Yes, I’m doing well. Are you not feeling well today, Skank-san?”
“No, I’m fine. I just only woke up.”
“But it’s already after three o’clock!”
“There are some people for whom three o’clock is the morning. I’m one of them.”
“Are there others?”
“Americans, anyway.”
I began to giggle at the absurdity of her casual reply. Perhaps following my lead, she began to laugh too, scratching at her neck.
“C’mon in,” she said. “I’m sure Miss Kitty is hungry, too.”
I shed my shoes and entered Skank-san’s home, but Miss Bobtail lingered outside. What a wicked girl she was, to only behave herself at a time like this.
Skank-san poured some milk into an old dish and took it outside to offer it to my friend, then shut the door and handed me a bottle of Yakult. I sipped the drink, and watched as Skank-san fixed her bedhead.
I usually came here to play on school days. Skank-san was an adult, which meant she was busy, and there were plenty of times that she was not here when I arrived. But when she was here, she always gave me a Yakult, and sometimes some ice cream. Miss Bobtail knew of Skank-san’s kindness as well, and so always followed me, looking forward to her saucer of milk.
Skank-san opened the window and took a sandwich from the fridge, then sat down upon her unmade bed. I took a place at the round table in the center of the room, savoring my Yakult.
“So how was school today, little miss?”