Wagahai wa neko de aru, namae wa mada nai (Part 2)
The two of them sat in companionable silence, Shige running his hand along the cat's spine. They stayed that way for a long time, until the animal turned its head abruptly towards the house, ear swiveling to the side. Shige turned to look, trying to catch whatever had grasped the cat's attention, but peering through the glass door of his house revealed nothing. He looked back down to his companion. "What?"
"Your mother is nearly home, so I suppose this is my cue to take my leave." The cat stretched languidly, flexing its toes and giving the boy a glimpse of sharp, dark nails.
Shige felt his brow crease in confusion. "I thought you said she couldn't see you."
"Indeed she can't. But I wager once she sees you're awake, she's going to want to feed you. And as fascinating as you are, Shigeaki, I don't list watching children eat as one of my favorite pastimes." The cat straightened out, kicked its back right leg as it stood in an effort to shake off a muscle spasm.
When Shige's voice came out, it was small and unsure. "Will you come back?"
The cat turned, looking up at its newly found charge and the naked concern on his face. Smiling, it approached Shige and hopped up just enough to rub its head along the boy's nose. Shige laughed and swiped at his face in an effort to rub away the lingering ticklish feeling.
"I came to help you, didn't I? Don't worry; I'm sure you'll grow tired of my presence soon enough." The cat rubbed the length of its body across Shige's side one last time before bowing its head slightly. "Until next time." And with that it hopped off the engawa, walked to the concrete wall that served as a barrier between the houses, and vanished.
Shige sat there for a long time, staring at the spot where he'd last seen the cat and thinking, only moving when he mother came home a minute later and called him inside for lunch.
-----
True to its word, the cat did come back, albeit two days after their initial meeting and entirely without any prior warning. It was waiting for him on his bed after dinner, looking perfectly pleased with itself and smirking when it saw Shige open his bedroom door and flinch in surprise. When he asked where the cat had been and what had taken it so long, it only smiled, a mischievous glint in its eye, and said, "Research."
The first night, Shige didn't learn much. Instead it was the cat who did most of the questioning. Asking him things like how well he was able to converse with the spirits and when they had first showed up and had Shige had any recent major brushes with death in the past six months? When he told it about the pool incident, something akin to understanding flashed across the cat's eyes. It murmured, "Ah, yes, that makes sense then."
"What makes sense?" Shige blinked, confused. The cat just told him to get some rest and that they had a lot of work ahead of them in the coming weeks before disappearing through Shige's closet door.
In the following days, the cat taught him many things. He learned the different types of ghosts. How to distinguish between a vengeful ghoul and a confused soul; a playful poltergeist from a wicked wraith.
Most importantly, he learned how to talk to the ghosts. It was hard at first; spirits talked on a, well, more spiritual level, and thought more than spoke. Conditioning his mind not only to transmit but receive their words was exhausting to say the least. But with time, and a lot of effort, Shige soon found he could converse freely with just about every specter he came across and set about doing just that. He learned their names, their likes, their dislikes. There was Kazuo down at the crossroads before his school who had been hit by a bus several years back, and Mrs. Morinaga who lived under his stairs and liked to scrub the Kato family's genkan at odd hours of the night. The hissing spirit who lived in the boy's bathroom on the second floor of his school was actually a little boy named Manabu who had a rather unfortunate and prominent lisp, and down by the river was Tomoko, who didn't say very much but liked to sit and listen to Shige talk, smiling fondly at him as he informed her about televisions and car radios and ferris wheels and the like.
It was hard to juggle school, friends (both living and non,) and his lessons with the cat--and even harder when his family moved from Osaka to Yokohama and he had to set about making new friends (both living and non) and adapt to a new school--but Shige had always been an exceptionally bright child, and so he managed. The fact that the cat had followed him through the move helped tons.
The only problem was that as the days went by, he found himself sleeping more and more. It became common for him sit down only to pass out almost immediately, no matter if the setting was at home, on the train, or during the middle of class. When questioned, the cat explained that it was probably a side effect from expending so much energy chatting up every ghost he met. But Shige couldn't help it; he was just so excited to finally be able to talk to someone. He'd be damned if he wasn't going to enjoy this lifestyle change to the fullest. Even if the longer he talked to them, the less enthusiastic he was about sending them on.
He figured he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
-----
The first time Shige sent a ghost on was over winter break of the following year.
It was the cat who suggested it. They had fought over it, Shige stating that he didn't want to get rid of them, now that he knew how to talk with them, but the cat was insistent that Shige stop stalling and do it at least once. After that, he was free to decide if he wanted to spare his ghost friends or not. Shige couldn't argue with that logic--though he wanted to--and reluctantly agreed to the plan.
The two of them walked down the road from Shige's house, the late afternoon sun almost blinding as it reflected off the thick layer of snow covering the ground. They didn't have far to go, but to Shige, it felt like every step dropped a heavy iron weight into his stomach. He knew exactly whose house they were heading for and it made him feel almost sick with anxiety.
The Yamanakas were a sweet old couple who lived about four houses down from the Kato's, on the opposite side of the street. They had one of the older houses on the block and, what with their own children living off in Nagoya, had a hard time keeping the house in tip top condition. Thus they hired the local children to run little chores for them, rewarding them when they pulled weeds or helped air out futons with sweets and shiny coins. Shige hadn't known them for very long, but he liked the two of them, Mr. Yamanaka especially. He was also from Osaka originally and always had a funny story or a kind word for Shige. The couple breathed life and all the spirits that floated around the Yamanaka house spoke nothing but praise for the two.
Unfortunately Mr. Yamanaka had joined those same spirits about a week earlier. Which was why they were heading over to his house at the moment. The cat said he was a perfect candidate because "the fresh ones are always easier to deal with."
They hadn't even rounded the corner before Shige caught sight of the ghost of the old man. He was sitting on the front porch, arms tucked into his coat and smoking wistfully. As soon as he caught sight of Shige, Mr. Yamanaka smiled and hobbled down to them, looking much more spry than Shige could ever remember seeing him. He wasn't too terribly surprised by this; the cat already taught him that the way ghosts appeared to others was entirely reliant on the way the ghosts perceived themselves. "Oh, Shigeaki, how are you?"
Shige smiled and nodded, his heart clenching painfully in his chest. "I'm good, Mr. Yamanaka." When he looked down, he noticed the cat was nowhere to be seen. In the back of his mind, he realized it was probably testing Shige, though that did nothing to quell the tightness in his stomach and chest.
The ghost smiled and stubbed his cigarette out against the soles of his slippers. "Such a good kid. I swear, what is happening to the world these days? Everyone I've tried to talk to lately ignores me. Even my wife! But not you, Shigeaki. You're a good child. Always kind to your elders."
The boy tried to smile at the compliment, but every bit of praise the old man said only made him feel worse. Maybe the cat wouldn't be too angry if he just walked away? People died every day; why couldn't he do this to some other freshly dead soul?
Mr. Yamanaka cocked his head to the side, a bemused smile on his face. "What's on your mind, Shigeaki?"
Shige looked up at the kindly old man's face, trying to find the answer in his expression. Shige knew what he had to do, that this was something he had been preparing for for months now, but his heart just wasn't in it. Eventually, his mind won out. "Mr. Yamanaka, can we go for a walk?"
"Well, I don't see why not!" The old man smiled and turned back towards his house, cupping a hand to his mouth. "Hey, Sacchi, I'm going out for a bit." No response. "Ah, well, I guess she didn't hear me. Ears aren't what the used to be and all. Let's go."
The two of them turned and walked towards the canal near their houses. It was a route they had walked on more than one occasion, talking about school and the weather and if this was the year that the Hanshin Tigers would beat the Curse of the Colonel and take the league championship. For a moment it seemed like things were back to normal; Mr. Yamanaka wasn't dead and Shige wasn't here to talk him into disappearing. But when they reached the canal and Shige held out a hand to help the old man down the snow covered inclines bordering either side of the water as they had so many times before, Mr. Yamanaka's hand was icy in his and almost impossible to grasp. The old man laughed it off, blaming the winter weather, but Shige knew. He knew why Mr. Yamanaka was cold and almost insubstantial and he knew what he had to do about it and he hated himself for it.
They loitered along the bank of the canal, Mr. Yamanaka doing most of the talking. He asked Shige what his family was doing this winter, if anything, and what he was going to pray for at the New Year and if there were any pretty girls in school that he was planning to take with him for hatsumode. Shige just sulked, kicking rocks into the water and watching them break the thin layer of ice.
Mr. Yamanaka smiled. Bending over, he tried to pick up a stone, only to have it slip right through his fingers. A second attempt proved just as fruitful, and on the third he only held the rock in his fingers for seconds before it fell back to the ground with an angry crack. The old man laughed. "These stones are slipperier than I remember. But then, winter has been awful cold this year, hasn't it, Shigeaki?"
Shige couldn't take it any more. It was heartwrenching to watch him cling so obliviously to a life that had already ended, a sad old man waiting patiently for an encore that was never going to come. "Mr. Yamanaka," he said softly, voice wavering only slightly, "it's cold because you're not alive anymore."
The old man stilled then. And then he laughed, low and husky. For the first time, Shige was a little afraid to be in his presence. The cat had warned him that not all ghosts took well to being told what they were, and while he knew that Mr. Yamanaka had never hurt a soul in the time he'd known him, it didn't mean he couldn't try now. Shige bit down on his lower lip. "Mr. Yamanaka?"
Mr. Yamanaka stood up then, stretching his back and gazing out over the canal. He didn't look angry or shocked. Just tired and kind of sad. "Kind and smart. You really are a good child."
"You knew," Shige said, more of a statement then a question.
The old man smiled down at him. "Yeah, I knew. Didn't want to believe it, though. Guess Sachiko was right, calling me a stubborn old goat all these years. Even in death I'm not satisfied." He chuckled and reached over to rustle Shige's hair, laughing harder when all he managed was to barely displace it. One of the cat's earlier lessons came back to Shige's mind: They all know they're dead. It's convincing them not to ignore this fact that's hard.
"I assume since you're here telling me this, you've come to tell me to get a move on, huh?"
"Yes, sir," Shige sniffled.
Mr. Yamanaka smiled and patted him on the head again. "Good boy." The old man looked around them again before gesturing to the bridge a few meters south of them. "Walk with me for a little bit, Shigeaki."
The boy nodded and the two of them made their way back up the banks and towards the bridge. Neither one spoke much, the friendly atmosphere replaced with something much more tense. Once they'd reached the bridge, Mr. Yamanaka reached into his coat pocket, retrieving his ever present pack of Crescent & Star cigarettes. He tapped one out and smiled, shaking the little box in his hand and feeling the remaining cigarettes roll around inside. "Guess I shoulda known when my pack never seemed to run out, huh?"
All Shige could offer him was a weak smile. He'd been sad when Mr. Yamanaka died, but at the back of his mind, a selfish part of him thought that it wasn't all that bad since his ghost was still around, just as bright and cheerful as he'd always been in life. But now that he was going away, it was like hearing about his death all over again, but much more permanent this time. Shige could feel the urge to cry growing steadily and did his best to quash it back down.
Mr. Yamanaka smiled. "Buck up, Shigeaki. You're not the one who's dead." And then when he noticed Shige's face fall and his chin start to quiver, "Ah, damn. Sorry. C'mon, Shigeaki, you're a big boy, and big boys don't cry, right?" He squatted down until he was eye level with the ten year old. Shige nodded, squeezing his eyes tight in an effort to keep the tears from forming. Mr. Yamanaka looked at him fondly, placing an icy hand on Shige's shoulder. "I guess this is the part where I leave you with some words of wisdom. Unfortunately, I was never too good at those, but I will say this. You're a good kid, Shigeaki. So you've gotta live a good, long life. You hear me?"
Shige's shoulders started to shake under the force of keeping his sobs from escaping. Still, he managed a meager nod.
"Help Sacchi out as much as you can, since I know it'll be tough without me around. And when the Hanshin Tigers win the next championship, I want you to sing Rokko Oroshi at the top of your lungs. Loud enough to wake up the neighbors!" he smiled, throwing his arms wide as if to indicate the amount of gusto he expected out of the boy. Shige managed a watery smile, croaking out an, "Okay."
"Good," the ghost said, lips pulling up at the corners to reveal a row of slightly yellowed teeth. He patted Shige on the head one last time before straightening up. "I'm glad it was you, Shigeaki. Wouldn't want some Kanto bumbler telling me what I should and shouldn't do." And with a laugh and a wave, the old man walked down the road, disappearing into the cold winter air.
At ten years old, Kato Shigeaki stood out in the middle of a bridge in later December, bawling his eyes out and entirely alone.
Shige heard the cat before he saw it, its voice breaking the stillness of the moment. "Now you see why it's better for them to move on, don't you? Staying is painful, both for them and the ones they loved."
Shige nodded, letting out a pitiful, 'uuuuh' in agreement. Tears were clouding his vision, and he could feel his nose starting to run.
He could feel the cat press its body to his shin. "Come now, don't cry. You did well, Shigeaki."
"My head hurts," Shige whimpered, rubbing at his face angrily. "And I feel really dizzy."
"I know," the cat said softly. "Come, I'll walk you home."
-----
Days and weeks and months had passed seemingly in the blink of an eye. Shige graduated from elementary school to middle school, and with the transition came sleek school uniforms and a sense of being suddenly much more adult. Not that this fact mattered to the cat; to it, he would always be bumbling, nine year old Shigeaki.
Over the years, the two had become fast friends. Or as fast as they could be, considering that the cat spoke in insults half the time and vague answers the rest. Still, Shige enjoyed the cat's presence, and had come to look forward to its visits, no matter how sporadic and unnnannounced they were.
It was late on a Thursday but Shige was still up, hammering away at his math homework and trying not to face-plant straight onto the desk. He had been considering calling it a night and waking up early to finish said homework when he felt the now familiar sensation of fur rubbing against his ankles. Shige smiled and placed his pencil down. "Hey."
"Good evening, Shigeaki," came the same honey voice he'd heard almost daily for the past three years. He heard more than saw the cat hop up onto his desk, splaying itself over his abandoned homework and motioning for him to pet its tummy. It seemed to be in one of its more affectionate moods tonight. "Your parents were talking about you downstairs. Your mother seems to think your behavior as of late is troubling."
Shige smirked, scratching the soft fur of the cat's stomach. "She always thinks my behavior is troubling. What'd Dad say?"
"He blamed it on growing pains."
Shige snorted. "Sounds like Dad."
"Mmm," the cat purred, though whether is was more in agreement or a reaction to Shige's ministrations, the boy wasn't entirely sure. "Your mother also thinks that you've become alarmingly sharp tongued as of late."
"Gee, I wonder whose fault that is," Shige said dryly. The cat just smirked and rolled over, forcing Shige to turn his attention to the top of the cat's body.
"Whose fault indeed."
Shige spared the cat a wry grin, but did as he was instructed. He watched as his fingers ran through the short, copper and grey fur along the cat's spine, scratching behind large, dark-tipped ears and rubbing the white patch under its mouth. He counted the stripes along the cat's tail, one, two, three... seven and inspiration struck him. "Hey, can I call you Nana?"
The cat cracked one eye open to look at him lazily. "Only if you want me to use your forearm as a scratching post."
"I... no. I guess I'll think about it some more."
The cat smiled. "You do that."
-----
The cat never said much about Shige becoming a member of Johnny's & Associates. Mostly it seemed indifferent, though with a slight hint of amusement, as if it didn't understand exactly what the appeal of being an idol was, but was happy for Shige all the same. When Shige, frazzled over his upcoming audition, had asked for a more concrete opinion, it had only smiled and said, "Work hard. Good luck. Just know that I won't be helping you with this one."
Each time he told it of some great news--from being accepted into the company to getting placed into named groups or learning that he'd have a speaking role on tv--the response was always the same.
"Well done, Shigeaki. I know you worked hard." A pause, and then, "I'm still not going to help you with it, though."
-----
"I'll have you know, I do not approve of this in the least."
Shige frowned, letting his newly acquired miniature dachshund puppy jump all over his lap in an effort to lick every square centimeter of his face. He ruffled her soft, fluffy ears and grinned when she turned her attention (and tongue) to his hand. "I can't help it. She was a gift from Yokoo."
"She could've been a gift from Amaterasu herself. That doesn't mean I have to approve of her," the cat sniffed irritably. It hopped up onto Shige's bed, staring down at the boy and his dog with an expression that could be described as contemptuous at best. "Honestly, the nerve."
A slow grin began to creep across Shige's face. "You're jealous, aren't you?"
"Jealous of what? That you've brought home a fur-coated, drooling sausage-on-legs to amble along and fawn over you because I refuse to?" The cat snorted. "Hardly."
Shige chose not to answer that with words; the smirk on his face was telling enough. He was rewarded with a glare before the cat curled itself into a ball, pointedly not looking at Shige or the dog. Shige picked up the puppy and held her at eye level, laughing when she wiggled happily in his hands. "Aww, hear that, Nana? Kitty is jealous of you."
The puppy yipped excitedly, still trying to lick at whatever part of Shige it could reach and kicking its legs wildly. Shige pulled the dachshund close to him and laughed as she proceeded to administer the tongue bath to end all tongue baths to her new master's face. As such, he missed the way the cat's shoulders stiffened. It finally turned to look at Shige. "What is her name?"
"Nana."
The cat said nothing. Slowly, it uncurled and uprighted itself, pausing to stare at Shige blankly before walking to the edge of the bed and leaning over just far enough to swipe an angry paw across Shige's nose.
Shige yelped and dropped the puppy to the floor, the dog landing with a surprised yip. One hand went to console the bewildered puppy while the other flew up to his nose. Pulling back his hand revealed no blood on his fingers but the place where the cat had swatted him still stung incredibly. "What the hell!?"
"You're reusing the name you were going to give to me. Shigeaki, I'd expect you have more class than that."
"That name was never yours in the first place! In fact, you threatened to scratch the hell out of me if I called you that!"
"Because it's a silly name," the cat huffed matter-of-factly.
"You don't even want a name!"
"True, but if we were going to play your bothersome name game, I was hoping you'd pick something a bit less banal, Shigeaki."
Shige glared at his cat friend, placing the wiggling puppy into his lap and making a great show of petting her as lovingly as he could. Nana just started licking his stomach through his t-shirt. "Oh yeah? Like what?"
The cat cocked its head to the side, obviously thinking. After a few moments it replied, "Chiyoe would have been nice, as would Tsuyu. Kohana would have been acceptable as well."
Shige snorted. "Those are all girl's names."
The cat stared at him expectantly.
Shige's hand stilled over Nana's back. "Wait, you're a girl?!"
"Do I look male to you?" the cat said, clearly offended.
"I don't know! You just look like a cat to me!"
The cat frowned at him as it sat down. "You know, Shigeaki, I'm aware that you have not spent much time with cats in your life, but I was sure you'd be at least familiar with the basic visual aspects of feline anatomy."
Shige could feel the blush creeping up his neck to warm the back of his ears. "It's not like I make a habit of staring at your butt! I was trying to be courteous!"
"Call it what you want, but don't take your frustration over being unobservant out on me."
"You are so jealous!"
The cat frowned. "Am not."
Shige was already preparing the 'are too!' when he heard a knock on his door. "Shigeaki, honey, who are you talking to?" He heard the doorknob rattle and turned just in time to see his mother's head peek into the room.
Shige threw a withering glare at the cat before turning back to his mother. "Nana. I was talking to Nana."
Mrs. Kato frowned. "You know you shouldn't yell at her. She's just a puppy, and--Darling, what's wrong?"
Shige gritted his teeth and rubbed the spot on his left temple where the cat had just swatted at him again. "Headache. It just hit me."
Mrs. Kato opened the door fully, coming into his room and launching into a lecture on him overworking himself and how perhaps he should go to bed soon to get some rest. Out of the corner of his eye, Shige saw the cat hop off of his bed. Throwing him one last irritable glance, she lifted her nose and tail in the air and walked through his closet door with a petulant hmph! "I'm going to go visit Nyanta. He'll agree with me."
Shige frowned. Stupid jealous cat.
-----
"What in the world is a 'J-web'?"
Shige grabbed his cell phone from his messenger bag and scooted over next to where the cat was perched on top of the family kotatsu. His fingers flew over the keys and in a few short seconds, he turned it to face her, the J-web submission screen reflecting in her green eyes. "It's short for Johnny's web. You subscribe to your favorite idols' J-webs and you receive messages from them on your phone about their day or what's going on with them in general. It's sort of like a journal but not."
The cat looked at the screen briefly before shifting her eyes back to the excited teen. "And they're giving you one?"
Shige nodded.
"Well, congratulations. I don't care much for your idol goings-on, but I suppose if it makes teenage girls happy, then it must be good," she smiled, giving him that same bewildered grin she always gave him whenever he talked about work.
Shige returned the smile shakily. He closed the phone and placed it to the side before shifting until his legs were sprawled out under the blanket of the kotatsu. "The hard part is that I have to come up with a theme."
The cat smiled. "Well, you're a smart boy. I'm sure you won't have much trouble in that area."
Shige licked his lips, feeling considerably more nervous than he was when he first came up with the idea. "I was thinking of having you narrate it."
The look the cat gave him could only be described as incredulous. "I don't know what sort of impression you're under, Shigeaki, but I think my lack of opposable thumbs speaks volumes for my level of handiness with cell phones."
"Not type it! Just... be from your point of view. Like how you see me," Shige trailed off, eyes hopeful. When he noticed the blank stare she was giving him, he shrugged. "I though it'd be interesting."
"You thought it'd be interesting to have girls across the nation read stories of your supposedly imaginary cat berating you?"
Shige could feel the heat rising to his face. "It sounded a lot less weird in my head."
The two stared at each other. Well, the cat stared; Shige started fidgeting with the thick blanket draped over his lap, occasionally peeking up meekly.
"You are a strange child, Shigeaki."
The cat laughed, ignoring Shige's incensed hey! She hopped onto Shige's lap, making sure to wiggle her tail under his nose and smirking when he made a flustered swipe at her. "Well, do as you please. You have much more experience in making teen girls squeal than I do, so I won't object. I'll be under the kotatsu if you need me. Oh, and tell the sausage that if she values her hide, she won't come and bother me."
Shige watched as the cat crept under the kotatsu blanket, feeling her furry body coming to rest next to his ankle a few seconds later. A slow smile creeping across his face, Shige picked up his abandoned cell phone and started typing.
-----
In the long history of their friendship, the cat only stayed with him through the night twice. The first was a few days after Shige's eighteenth birthday. The second was nearly a year later, on a surprisingly dreary day in June.
Both times the cat curled up close to him, nestling her head under his chin and purring rhythmically, lulling him to sleep, letting him cry into her fur and assuring him that everything was going to be alright.
-----
One day in late May found twenty-one year old Kato Shigeaki sitting on the engawa that ran along the back of his home, a copper-and-gray tabby cat nestled next to him. His parents had left for the weekend, and Shige had rolled out of bed just before noon to clothe and feed himself. Upon wandering downstairs, he'd noticed his old friend sitting on the opposite side of the glass door, peering in expectantly. Once she realized he'd noticed her, she smiled and turned around, sitting on the engawa and facing the somewhat meager backyard of the Kato family home. Shige knew what it meant. The cat still didn't care much for the interior of his house; or any house, to be completely honest. She was waiting for him to come outside.
Shige made a quick detour to the kitchen and after grabbing a banana and a mug of juice, he made his way out to where his friend was sunning herself.
They sat in comfortable silence as Shige ate. He made quick work of the banana, and after chugging the juice down, stuffed the peel into the mug and set it to the side. Still, it was a while before either of them decided to speak.
Shige stretched his legs out in front of him. "I'm going to be getting my own place soon."
"That's good. Will you be taking the sausage with you?"
Shige spared her a wry smile. "Nana's not a sausage. And no, the complex has a strict no pet rule. Besides, she likes mom better."
The cat seemed pleased with this answer. She smiled as she closed her eyes. "Well then, I shall have to make a point of visiting more often so you don't get lonely."
A pause.
"You haven't been around much lately," Shige mused.
"You haven't needed me much."
Another pause. Shige shifted, laid back on his elbows.
"I don't see them as often," he said softly, as if sharing a secret. In a sense, he was. "The ghosts."
The cat opened her eyes. She looked over to Shige with an unreadable emotion in her eyes. "That makes sense. The older most people get, the less contact they have with the spiritual world."
"So... do you think it'll stop all together one day?"
"It has always been a possibility."
Shige fidgeted uncomfortably, staring at the wall around his house. The unspoken question hung between them, thick and suffocating like the air before a storm.
Will I stop seeing you too?
They sat like that for a long time, neither in any hurry to break the silence. The weather was pleasant, not yet as scorching as summer could get, the few clouds peppering the otherwise blue sky keeping the sun from bearing down upon them. It was nice like this, just the two of them. Shige thought back to the first time they had sat out under the sun like this. He smiled. Even back then the cat had been sharp tongued. And to think people thought Nishikido was bad.
"Have you come up with a suitable name for me yet?"
Shige gave the cat a sidelong glance. His feline friend was balled up in her favored position, arms tucked under her body and eyes closed. Soaking up the late afternoon rays in typical cat fashion. She still looked the same as the day he met her, though it seemed like a lifetime ago. Ghost cats did a lot of things, he figured, but visibly aging was not one of them.
He had let the silence stretch on a little longer than he'd intended, and when he left his musings to gazed at his companion again, he noticed the cat had cracked an eye open. The definition of calm, with only a hint of idle curiosity. An expression he'd seen her wear for years now. So familiar he could probably draw it in his sleep.
"No," Shige smiled. "All the things I come up with are silly. I guess you'll just have to keep coming back until I find the right one, huh?"
The cat smiled. With a yawn and a stretch, she padded her way over to Shige's side, curling up in a contented ball next to the young man's thigh. "Yes, I suppose I shall."