The white kitten looks me straight in the eye.
“Meow,” it answers.
“You’re so cute!”
What a brave little kitty!
Beside me, Souta is smiling, too.
“Want to become my cat?” I ask without thinking.
“Yes.”
“Huh?”
It answered me. Its marble-like yellow eyes stare into mine. A moment ago, it was skin and bones, but now it is as plump as a little rice cake. Its ears are standing up straight. The wind chime tinkles, as if it had forgotten to until just now. The kitten’s furry little mouth opens.
“Suzume nice. I like her.”
Its voice falters like that of a young child, but the cat just talked. A humanlike will saturates its yellow eyes. They shift to Souta and narrow.
“You. In my way.”
“!”
I hear a clatter. Glancing around reflexively, I see that the chair Souta was sitting on has toppled over. Just the chair.
“Wait, what?”
He’s gone. Souta was here just a second ago. The white cat is sitting perfectly still on the windowsill. It looks like it’s smiling, and I feel goose bumps crawl over my skin, and then— Clatter. Something is moving around at my feet. The chair’s on its back. Something is not right. Clatter.
“…?”
The front left leg of the wooden chair is broken off, so it only has three legs. One of the remaining legs appears to be waving. The movement is enough to flip the chair from its back onto its side. Two legs kick the floor, and it rights itself.
“Huh…?”
Struggling to retain its balance, it stares at me with its two eyes. Right—the chair has always had a pair of eyes carved into the backrest. It bends its face down as if to check the condition of its body.
“What the hell is…?” the chair says in a low, soft voice.
“No way!!” I shout despite myself. “S-Souta…?”
“Suzume…what happened to me…?”
Just then, the chair loses its balance and topples forward. But it catches itself by kicking out its front leg. It spins around from the force of the kick, thrashing its three legs frantically. It sounds like someone is tap-dancing in my room. Finally, it stops moving and takes in the cat on the windowsill.
“Did you do this?!” the chair—I mean Souta—shouts, growing angry. The kitten leaps nimbly out the window.
“No!” I shout as the chair runs to the window. It scrambles up, using a bookshelf for a ladder, and leaps out after the cat.
“Wait, wait!” I yell. We’re on the second floor! I can hear Souta scream. I lean out the window in a panic. The chair is sliding down the roof. It tumbles onto some laundry hanging in the garden to dry, then disappears. A second later, it bursts out from under a sheet. The cat is already running across the road, and chasing it, the chair leaps into the narrow street. A passing car honks in surprise.
“No way!”
I have to go after it, I think, then wonder if I’m crazy a second later. All the fear, confusion, and chills I felt earlier surge back. A worm that causes earthquakes? A talking cat and a running chair? This stuff has nothing to do with me. Obviously, it would be better not to get involved. I’m not a part of that world, I think, not knowing exactly what I mean. I think of Tamaki and Aya and Mami.
But we were the only ones who could see it.
I grab Souta’s key from the floor where it fell and bolt out of my room. I probably hesitated for only a second. By the time I’m running down the stairs, I’ve forgotten I hesitated at all.
“Suzume!”
“Tamaki!”
I run into Tamaki in the entryway.
“Sorry, I have to go!” I say, shooting past her.
“Go where?” she asks, grabbing my arm. “I came back because I was worried about you!”
“You did?”
“The earthquake! You wouldn’t answer your phone, so—”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t notice you called! I’m fine!”
At this rate, I’ll lose them. Brushing off Tamaki’s hand, I fly into the road. Her shouts fade behind me.
I run down the hill after Souta and the cat, and I eventually catch sight of them. Souta is half falling down the hill, his legs a tangle. Beyond him, a girl and boy in junior high uniforms are climbing the hill. The chair tumbles forward and slides noisily down the slope, then skids to a stop in front of them.
“Whoa!”
“What is that?”
“A chair?”
Souta quickly rights himself, but he must be off-balance, because he’s tottering in circles. The junior high kids are shrieking in fear at the strange object circling them. Finally pointing himself in the right direction, Souta moves away and starts hurtling down the hill once more.
“Sorry!” I shout as I blast past the students, who are snapping pictures of the chair with their phones. I can hear the storm of shutter clicks behind me. Damn, they’re getting me, too. This won’t be on social media, right? Ahead of Souta, I can make out the cat and, beyond that, the port.
The flock of seagulls that hangs out at the port like a gang of kids in front of a convenience store takes flight. The white cat runs past the spot they’ve vacated, followed by the chair, and then by me a minute later.
“Hey, Suzume!” a deep voice calls out.
“Huh?!”
On the next wharf over, across a strip of sea, Minoru is waving enthusiastically at me. He’s a coworker of Tamaki’s who has had an obvious, unrequited crush on her for years. He seems to be in the middle of lifting some cargo off a fishing boat. He’s a good guy, so I don’t dislike him, but…
“What’s wrong?”
There’s no way I can answer his question right now. The ferry boarding area at the port is a set of bare steel stairs, and some men who look like truck drivers are walking noisily up and down them. The cat weaves between their feet with Souta at its heels. Surprised, the truck drivers cry out. “What the—?”
“You’re kidding me!” I mutter as I frantically scramble after them. “Excuse me! Sorry!”
All I can do is apologize and push past the men as I run up the ramp onto the ferry.
“We apologize for the wait,” the captain is saying over the intercom. “The earthquake earlier this afternoon delayed our departure, but we have completed our safety inspection and will be departing shortly.”
The horn I always hear in the distance blows so loudly I can feel it in my eardrums. Then the ferry moves slowly away from the port like the slanting beams of the afternoon sun are pushing it along. The cat, the chair, and I are all on board.