Hiro Arikawa - The Travelling Cat Chronicles

This way, Satoru and I could go as far as we wanted in our silver van.

I thought it would be great if we could travel together like this for the rest of our lives.

‘Nana, we’re just going to pull into a service station—’

Okey-dokey, I answered vaguely, raking up the litter between my legs.

Once Satoru had parked at the service station, he pulled out my food and water bowls from the back. He placed them on the floor of the van side by side, filling one bowl with crunchies and the other with water from a plastic bottle.

‘I’m going to go to the toilet, too.’

Satoru hurriedly shut the door and strolled off. He looked like he really had to go, but he was such a good owner he had taken care of my needs first.

I was wetting my whistle with the water when I heard a tapping on the window. Not again .

I glanced behind me and then up to see a young couple, faces plastered against the glass, staring in my direction. The pair had goofy smiles.

‘A cat!’

You got that right. A cat I am. So? A cat eating his crunchies isn’t so rare a sight, is it?

‘Oh, look – it’s eating. How sweet!’

‘So sweet!’

Hey, you idiotic couple. How would you like it if somebody pointed at you while you were eating? And today happens to be a chicken-breast-and-gourmet-seafood blend.

How come cat lovers spot me every time? Whenever we take a break, they swarm around me. Pretty amazing, if you think about it.

If you guys were the ones who fed me, then I’d be as sweet to you as the quality of the food merited, but Satoru’s the one who feeds me. So let me focus on my food. Okay?

I decided to ignore them and dived back into my crunchies. With some screeches and giggles, they seemed to give up and wander away.

But only moments later I felt someone’s red-hot gaze on me. I looked up despite myself, and this time it was a scary-looking, goblin-like old man’s face plastered to the window.

Yikes! I jerked away on reflex, and the old man looked really hurt. Come on – anybody would shudder if they were suddenly confronted by that kind of face while they were having a snack. Not my fault, now, is it?

The old man looked upset but kept his face up against the window, staring at me.

‘I’m guessing you like cats?’

This from Satoru, who’d come back. The old man, a bit flustered, replied, ‘Sure is a cute little kitty.’ Cute little kitty?

I looked up and meowed. On the other side of the window, Satoru smiled and nodded.

‘Would you like to stroke him?’

‘Are you sure?’

The old man started to blush like a girl. Satoru opened the door and I clambered over to the seat. The old man reached out and I let him stroke me. His face began to glow. But just then—

‘No way! A cat!’

The shriek came from a clump of gyaru – girls with dyed-blonde hair and thick make-up – who were passing by.

‘I want to stroke it! Can we touch him after you?’

Get lost! I bared my teeth and made my fur stand on end, and the group of gyaru shrieked again: ‘Oh my god – he’s angry!’ and ran off.

‘But I wanted to give him a stroke—’ the tall one whined.

‘It’s okay. That kind of cat with those eyebrow markings isn’t that cute anyway.’

Excuse me?! This insult was so unfounded my face went into a kind of flehmen response. I curled back my upper lip and bared my front teeth like a tiger.

‘You are cute, Nana! Very cute!’ Satoru hurriedly interjected. ‘Those girls are a bit loud, and I’m sure their sense of what’s beautiful is different from most people’s. Let’s just let it go.’

‘No, he really is a cute cat,’ the old man said. ‘Nana, you said his name is?’

‘Yeah. Because his tail’s hooked into the shape of a seven.’

I didn’t think we needed to explain the origin of my name to every passing stranger, but Satoru was always so conscientious when it came to things like that.

‘Is he maybe the type that doesn’t let people touch him much?’

‘Yes, he’s very choosy about who he allows to touch him when we’re out and about.’

‘I see,’ the old man said, smiling even more broadly. Then he gave me one final lingering pat on the middle of my back and walked off.

‘Kind of unusual, isn’t it, Nana, for you to let a passer-by stroke you for so long?’

True enough. How should I put it? I was making amends – a sort of atonement. No need to analyse it any further.

The van had been driving along for a while when I next stretched up to look out of the passenger window. The sea!

‘I think you’ll like the sea, Nana.’

Until then, I’d only seen it on the TV in Satoru’s front room, which I used to watch from my blanket in the corner. To see it now for real was going to be amazing.

And it was! The sparkling, deep-green water was completely stunning, but more than that was the idea that underneath that water lurked all the delicacies that made up my gourmet seafood blend. Oops! I had started to drool at the thought of it.

‘If, like last time, you end up coming back with me, let’s stop by the sea properly.’

What? Stop by the sea? Might I be lucky enough to catch one or two of those delicacies?

The sea was soon out of sight, and I drifted off for a bit. When I lazily opened my eyes again the scenery had become tranquil and countrified. Now we were sliding past green rice paddies and broad fields like a whirligig.

‘Oh, you’re up? We’re almost there.’

Just as Satoru said, the van soon pulled up in the front yard of a farmhouse. It seemed functionally constructed, large and practical. Nearby was an annexe of sorts, and a shed. Beside it was parked a smallish truck.

I took the initiative and leapt on to the back seat, into the opened basket. I’ve learned that when you go into an unknown house, it’s best and safest to be in a place you’re used to, one where you can barricade yourself in.

Satoru opened the back door and picked up the basket with me inside.

‘Satoru Miyawaki!’

At the sound of a welcoming voice, I peered through the bars and saw a man in work clothes and a straw hat heading towards Satoru, hand held high.

‘Yoshimine, how have you been?’ Satoru’s voice was excited, too. ‘You’re looking good.’

‘I work outdoors all the time, so your body naturally gets strong. Haven’t you become a little thinner?’

‘Have I? Guess it’s the unhealthy city lifestyle.’

The two of them clapped each other on the back and headed towards the main house.

‘Did you have any trouble finding my place?’

‘No, the sat-nav made it easy.’

‘Still, I didn’t think you’d come all this way from Tokyo by car. Flying would have been faster, and cheaper. Going by road must have been a bit pricey?’

Absolutely. You have the tolls on the motorway, service stations, the pet-friendly little hotel we stayed in last night. By the time we got here, Satoru had opened his wallet several times.

‘But if I had flown, then Nana would have been stored in the luggage hold, which is dark and noisy. One time, I took another cat on a plane and it was terrified for the entire day after we landed. Cats can’t understand why they’re in a situation like that, and I’d feel bad if Nana had to go through it.’

Okay, I might be terrified, but I’m a little offended that he’d think that Hachi could make it, but I couldn’t. Surely I’m more intrepid than Hachi. After all, until I was an adult, I survived as a stray on the streets.

Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about all the money you’ve spent on this trip.

Inside the main house, Yoshimine showed us into the living room. Satoru placed my basket in a corner and opened the door.