“What the heck are you doing there?!” Toi, who kept his fingers threaded with Sara-Kazuki’s this whole time as the latter fussed over the feline’s well-being, was becoming increasingly fed up. “Hey, fat cat! You wait right there, I’m going to go over there and snatch you up!”
The cat jumped up, as if sensing Toi’s hostility, the snot bubble giving an audible pop as it burst. “M-mreow?!” Seeming to forget just how high up she was, she leaped off the edge of the roof—and began to plummet tens of meters to the ground below.
“Nyantaro!” cried Kazuki.
The inevitable tragedy flashed through both boys’ minds. But, mere inches from the ground, Nyantaro’s body suddenly froze. The next moment, she began rotating in circles as she levitated off toward the Azuma Bridge. It was just like what happened with the boxes the previous night.
“Could this be…?” began Toi.
“No way…” added Kazuki.
Suddenly they heard Keppi’s voice behind them. “This is the work of those Kappa Zombies, ribbit!”
“Kazuki! Are you all right?!” Enta blurted.
The other boy was dressed in a ninja bee outfit as well, holding hands with Keppi, who was dressed as a Japanese courtesan.
Fwooosh…
A sudden gust of wind carried off Keppi’s kimono singlet. The Kappa Crown Prince was left balancing on a couple of bamboo stilts with only his gaudy make-up still intact, his chest puffed out to resemble a woman’s.
Sara-Kazuki was shocked into speechlessness until the sound of an incoming message brought him back to his senses. It was an SOS from Haruka.
Harukappa: Sara-chan, big trouble! Nyantaro has gone missing!
“Haruka’s asking for help!” he said.
Toi stared in the direction they’d last seen the tubby feline flying, and venomously spat, “I need that weed so I can make money!”
“You can fix everything by becoming kappa and extracting the Kappa Zombie’s shirikodama, ribbit.”
“No, we can’t!” said Enta. “Kuji! Don’t get any closer to Kazuki!”
“Enta…?”
Enta turned to his confused friend and explained, “Listen to me, Kazuki, that punk was carrying this kind of dangerous weapon around!” He held out a worn Tokarev TT-33. It was unmistakably Toi’s gun.
“Bastard, where the heck did you… Just give it back!”
“No way!” Enta snapped back.
“That’s not something you should be carrying,” Toi warned.
“Like I care! Anyway, get away from Kazuki!”
“Everyone…” Kazuki began, breaking the silence he maintained while the others argued. “We all have things we can’t talk about. I want to save Nyantaro, for Haruka’s sake. And I need Kuji to be able to do that!” He looked Enta straight in the eye, giving the latter no choice but to bite his tongue.
Kazuki willingly bent his butt toward Keppi and braced himself as the kappa-like creature took the plunge.
“Desiiiiiire…Extraaaaction!”
A rickshaw went flying down a street, whizzing by shop fronts and a Shinto shrine.
“Let’s combine our dishtopian strength and plate this zombie, ribbit!”
“So I guess we’re doing the shirikodama relay again,” Kappa-Enta mumbled.
Kappa-Toi ignored him in favor of asking, “Are we gonna have our secrets revealed like last time?”
“Battle always entails risks, ribbit.”
“No matter what happens, I will save Nyantaro!” declared Kappa-Kazuki.
“Kappature it!”
Cats were the object of this zombie’s desire. A desire, Kazuki discovered once he extracted the shirikodama, born from rejection when the man’s cat-crazy girlfriend became so obsessed with felines that she chose them over him.
I want to be a cat. He could hear the man’s inner thoughts. I’m so jealous. I wish she’d play with me, too…
Kazuki could feel the man’s satisfaction as he fantasized about wearing a suit made of cat fur, sleeping peacefully on his girlfriend’s lap, lost in a world of dreams.
“So that’s it. You wanted the person you cared about to love you. That’s why you collected all of that cat fur, so you could become a cat yourself.”
“Oh no, you found me-owt!”
“Saraaa!”
“Saraaa!”
“Saraaa!”
And then all together, “Sarazanmai!”
They were familiar enough with the process on this, their second time, that they spent only a few moments drifting in the waves of pleasure. And almost immediately afterward, Keppi’s voice echoed.
“Leaking.”
Kazuki had been the one to pluck out the shirikodama, so once again it was his secret being leaked. He had mentally prepared himself for the possibility, which did little to make the situation more palatable.
The three shared the same mental image of the Yasaka household’s living room. On the television, a couple of adorable kittens were playing with each other. Haruka watched them eagerly, while Kazuki sat beside the other boy with a look of disinterest on his face.
“Aww, they’re so cute…I hope we can have a cat someday.”
Pets were prohibited in the condominium where Kazuki and his family lived.
“A cat, hm…” Kazuki eyed his little brother and the television as he concocted a plan in his mind.
The scene changed, revealing a luxurious home with an expansive lawn. Kazuki stood in front of the mansion, his gaze focused on a gaudily dressed Nyantaro.
“Yasaka and that fat cat? What’s he doing?” Toi’s suspicions were soon answered.
Kazuki approached the terrace where Nyantaro (actually called Elizabeth at the time) was sunbathing. He snatched up the feline, and then ran for his life. A few days later, as Haruka sat at the river’s edge, Kazuki approached him with the cat in his arms.
“Look, it’s one of the local strays! Her name is Nyantaro.”
“Oh wow! So cute!!”
The cat now had a small chunk missing from one of its ears, usually a clear indicator of a stray. The one on Nyantaro, however, was something Kazuki had done himself.
“Kazuki, you stole someone’s cat and forced it to become a stray?!” Enta’s voice trembled with emotion, shocked by Nyantaro’s secret origin.
“That’s right,” Kazuki admitted. “I did it to make Haruka happy!”
“Desire Extraction!”
As the Desire Field dissipated across town, the two police officers, Reo and Mabu, were riding an elevator deep inside their underground lair.
“It appears we have some meddlers.” Mabu held a familiar photograph in his hand—the one with Nekoyama at the scene of the crime. As they watched, the man disappeared from the picture.
Reo quirked a brow and said softly, “Let’s hurry. Only those who can connect to their desires have the ability to grasp the future in their hands.”
The elevator soared endlessly upward, giving off an eerie hum as it went.
Back at the Kappa Plaza, Nyantaro was safe and sound—perched atop the cement statue stand and straining over her makeshift litter box. Apparently, she hadn’t found the opportunity to relieve herself amid the day’s adventures. Cats were naturally prone to constipation, especially overweight ones like Nyantaro. In front of the feline, an awkward silence settled between Enta and Kazuki, the latter holding a plate he’d just received from Keppi.
“Um, hey. I get that Haruka is really important to you, but it seems kinda wrong to steal someone’s cat. I feel bad for Nyantaro, too, considering you injured her when you—gwah?!” Enta went flailing forward after being kicked from behind. “What the heck?!” He looked up and found himself staring down the barrel of a lead-colored gun.
Toi held the weapon, a plastic bag dangling from his gun hand and a box in the other. “Someone steals from you, you take back what’s yours. And I’m taking this bag of weed.”
The contents of said bag were likely the cause of Nyantaro’s constipation.
Toi threw the box at Enta, who was still frozen from having a gun turned on him.
“Hey, this is mine!” Inside was the friendship bracelet Enta purchased. He mistakenly switched boxes with Toi during all the commotion the night before.
“Just be glad I didn’t toss it,” Toi huffed. Next, he turned his gun on Kazuki. “Now hand over that plate.”
“No!”
Having anticipated that answer, Toi quietly said, “You and I aren’t so different. We’re the kind of people who’ll do anything to get what we want.”
The accuracy of that statement struck Kazuki speechless, but Enta cut in to cover for him. “Kazuki wants to use that plate for his little brother! He’s not like you!”
“Ah yes, I forgot to mention something, ribbit.” Keppi interrupted once again, standing atop his bamboo stilts as he said, “The plate I bestowed upon you this time is a silver Wishing Plate. You’ll require five of these in order to have your wish granted, ribbit.”
“What the?! You could’ve told us that sooner!” seethed Enta.
Toi dropped his gun and turned to walk away. “I’ll get the next one.”
Kazuki had a bitter look on his face as he watched the other boy leave. “Still, for Haruka’s sake, I have to…”
Sara-Kazuki and Nyantaro sat together at the edge of the Sumida River. He had the chat window open on his phone, having just sent his selfie with the feline a few moments ago.
“Phew. I managed to finish today’s mission.”
So much had happened that day. Kazuki was exhausted from all of the running around.
His phone rang with a bing as Haruka’s reply came in.
Harukappa: Nyantaro! I’m glad she’s safe!
Harukappa: I just knew it. Your selfies really do bring good luck!
“I’m so glad it’s over.” Kazuki sighed with relief, and a strong wave of exhaustion washed over him. Nyantaro was snoozing away next to him, so maybe he could grab a few winks as well. Sara-Kazuki shut his eyes as the gentle trickle of river water lulled him into a deep sleep.
At the water’s edge, beneath the glistening night sky, a dark shadow appeared over the sleeping Kazuki. Nyantaro woke, sensing their presence. “Mreow?”
The feline’s round cat eyes watched as Enta leaned down to plant a kiss on the unconscious Kazuki.