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NINA Scaglione had been reborn in this world with the memories of a Japanese person. The world was an imitation of the European world set in the Middle Ages.
This sort of story setup typically meant Nina was destined for a fateful encounter with a prince or perhaps to embark on a thrilling adventure, but she had absolutely none of that. She was reborn as a simple commoner with absolutely no connections to swords, magic, or princes.
No Japanese person could ever have the ivory color hair she did, and her pale coral eyes seemed a bit otherworldly, but that didn’t mean anything special happened to her. And just because she wasn’t living in Japan didn’t mean her life was all that different or exciting.
Her father died when she was younger, and her mother was bedridden with illness, which meant Nina spent her days earning a living for them at part-time jobs. In a way, this life was far harsher than living in Japan since there were no social support systems or health insurance.
Her reality was that of a life simply continuing, plodding forward with no dreams and no mercy.
Yeah, reality, she thought. That was why there was no way something as fantastical as a talking cat appearing at her bedroom window was actually happening.
She stared at the cat like she was trying to correct a fault in her vision, but the white cat really was there in her window.
The window was cracked open, letting the night breeze slip through and rustle the moss-green curtains. As the cloth swayed back and forth, it sometimes brushed the cat’s tail, which would whip back and forth to push away the fabric. It was so adorable that Nina couldn’t stop herself from staring.
The cat’s mouth moved. It looked like it said, “Good evening.” Wait. Maybe she actually heard it say that. But what was with this weird offer the cat had brought? It made absolutely no sense.
Opinions were surely divided on whether cats could understand what people said. Still, the vast majority of people would agree that cats did not, in fact, produce correctly pronounced human language. Apparently, she wasn’t just seeing things; she was hearing them as well.
It was clearly shocking and must’ve manifested from her working non-stop several days in a row at her part-time jobs.
“So…what? Are you the messenger from a god or something?” asked Nina, sitting on the edge of her bed, not feeling like sleeping at all anymore. She did have a chair in her room, but she couldn’t be bothered to move at this point.
The cat slipped into her room through the window and plopped onto the chair instead. The incredible white cat with its soft, fluffy fur waved its tail back and forth as it talked to her.
Not only was it a weird situation, seeing as a talking cat was in her room, but Nina couldn’t decide if the weirdness was created by the cat itself or her head. She might even be asleep already and just enjoying an encounter with a cat in her dreams. Lately, she’d been so busy with work and didn’t have much time to interact with the free-roaming cats. Perhaps she lacked vitamin cat, which was the reason for these dreams or hallucinations or whatever.
She had heard that insufficient amounts of nutrition could cause illness. Now, she knew insufficient amounts of cats could cause hallucinations.
This new piece of useless information didn’t matter right now, however. She didn’t often get the opportunity to talk to a cat in the same language.
Unless…meowing at the street cats counted.
“That is one way of looking at it,” said the cat. “I also know you were reborn into this world. That’s why I’m here.”
The cat’s mouth motions synced perfectly with the sober appeal coming from its lips, making it hard to believe it really could be anything but a talking cat. Seemed like you got higher quality hallucinations the more fatigue you had piled up.
Nina’s deeply ingrained love of cats was also at play because this white messenger of the gods had the most beautiful fur. A really great choice for a hallucination, if she might say so herself.
Black and tabby cats were both great, of course, but a pure white cat was a rare and valuable sight to Nina since she mostly spent her time fussing over cats without owners. Usually, a cat like that would have dirtied paws, but this one didn’t have the slightest tinge of discoloration.
On top of its dazzling white fur was its long, slender tail and its mismatched eyes of blue and gold. This was a cat of luxury jam-packed with all of Nina’s dreams and desires.
If you’re going to hallucinate, you can’t choose anything but this beauty of a cat, can you?
Nina reached out and scratched under the cat’s chin, but it didn’t react.
Hm.
Well, it was the messenger of a god. Maybe standard cat-petting procedures weren’t going to cut it. She must be going all in on the details despite it being her own hallucination.
Anyway. For the moment, she was enjoying the fur on the cat’s back while she considered how to approach petting it next.
“Pardon me, but…what are you doing?” asked the cat.
“What do you mean? If there’s a cat, you give it attention. That’s like a fundamental rule of human life.”
Nina loved cats.
If there was a cat on the side of the road, there was no way she wouldn’t talk to it, and she, of course, wanted to pet it too. Soft fur, smooth to the touch, eyes like gems, beautiful legs, adorable mannerisms, aloof attitude. Every part of a cat was incredible. She was rewarded regardless of whether they came over in a good mood and rubbed against her leg or they were in a bad mood and smacked her hand away.
That was how obsessed Nina was with them, meaning this white cat was quite the gorgeous animal in her eyes.
“Next, let me squish your toesies,” she expressed.
“Uh, no. We’re in the middle of a conversation.”
“Let me tickle you between your toe beans. Oh, then I want to stroke the short, fuzzy fur on your back feet.” Nina let her heart take the lead as she petted the cat how she wanted, but it slipped out of her hands and ran away.
Ooooh, he’s so graceful!
“Would you please listen to what I’m saying?” demanded the cat. “I would like you to become a heroine.”
“Huh… Considering this is my hallucination, you’re really into this fantasy-themed stuff.”
“This isn’t a hallucination. This is real. There was a Lucky Reincarnation Raffle where the winner could live their chosen reincarnated life.” This sounded even more detached from reality than Nina expected a hallucination to be, but the white cat looked serious.
Nina thought that name was so unimaginative that it pushed the limits of boring. However, maybe something good was really going to happen after being reborn. “All right, then heal my mom,” she stated.
Nina’s mother suffered from an illness, and the doctor had already told them she didn’t have much longer left to live. She was still just about able to continue her day-to-day life, but there was no telling when her body would suddenly deteriorate.
The cost of the medicine that lessened her pain was also nothing to sneeze at, so even if this raffle thing sounded fishy, Nina was going to cling to whatever lifelines someone threw her way. She would do anything if it meant her mom would live for one day longer if it meant she wouldn’t suffer as much.