Hiro Arikawa - The Travelling Cat Chronicles

Satoru, wheeling himself in his wheelchair, was coming out of the front door.

Tail straight up, I scampered over to him. His face broke into a tearful smile. Then he said, ‘You need to go home now.’

You know what’ll happen if you try to catch me, don’t you? I’ll scratch you – up and down and all over – until you look like they could play checkers on your face.

Satoru could see I was wary, and said, ‘I give up.’ Turns out, when I escaped from Noriko, they had totally freaked out. Satoru was apparently so shocked when he heard I’d run away he broke out in a fever.

Noriko looked for me every day on the streets but, naturally, I was too stealthy for the likes of her to find me.

A few days passed, and when I turned up again in front of Satoru, despondently sitting on the terrace, boy was he surprised! His jaw dropped so far he looked like Donald Duck.

See? Didn’t I tell you I’d stay with you to the end?

Satoru reached out from his wheelchair to grab me. I flailed around like a freshly caught salmon and slipped out of his grasp.

When I looked up at him from a safe spot on the floor a few yards away, Satoru’s face looked like that of a child on the verge of tears.

‘Nana, you’re being foolish,’ he said. ‘You came to say hello, didn’t you?’

I am Satoru’s one and only cat. And Satoru is my one and only pal.

And a proud cat like me wasn’t about to abandon his pal. If living as a stray was what it took to be Satoru’s cat to the very end, then bring it on.

When Noriko heard the news from Satoru, she huffed and puffed and jumped in her car. I’m not sure where she found it, but she brought over a huge cage used to trap animals, left it in the garage and went back home. As if I would be stupid enough to get caught in a contraption like that!

For a while, I couldn’t trust the hospital staff either. Apparently acting on instructions from Noriko and Satoru, they tried to coax me over, with the sole intention of capturing me.

They saw me appear whenever Satoru happened to be on the terrace, only to leave as soon as he went inside, so I think they finally understood.

After that, I became Satoru’s commuting cat.

On days when it wasn’t snowing, Satoru would come outside for a short while, and we’d spend some precious moments together. I chewed on the crunchies and chicken breast he brought me and curled up tightly in his lap.

Satoru would tickle me behind my ears and under my chin, and I’d purr for him.

Just like when we first met.

‘Mr Miyawaki?’

The nurse was calling him back inside. She was about the same age as Noriko, but quite a bit rounder.

‘Okay. I’ll be in soon.’

Satoru held me tightly to his body. Whenever we parted, he would always give me a huge hug. I could tell from the way his thin arms clung around me that this might be the last time.

I licked Satoru’s hands, each and every knuckle, and leapt down from his lap.

By the way, when I became a commuting cat, some of the other cats I got to know received extra perks as well.

The hospital staff and visitors started to leave little snacks around the yard for me. Each one thought they were the only one stealthily leaving me food, but actually there must have been a whole lot of them.

I couldn’t eat it all myself, but took some to all the cats who’d been kind to me, to repay them.

It snowed for several days in a row.

When it finally let up, I sidled over to the side of the warehouse where I had a clear view of the hospital’s front entrance.

It was the first sunny day in a while, yet Satoru didn’t appear on the terrace.

When the sun began to set, Noriko pulled up in the silver van. Her face looked pale, her hair dishevelled.

I pattered up to her, but she said simply, ‘Sorry, Nana. You’ll have to wait,’ and walked swiftly inside.

IN THE HOSPITAL room, all Noriko could do was watch.

The waves on the ECG machine were getting steadily weaker.

She could just see the figure of Satoru lying on the bed, between the members of staff clustered around him.

As Noriko tried to slide between them, a nurse brushed against the bedside cabinet and two framed photos – a family photo with Noriko, and one of Nana – fell crashing to the floor. They were hurriedly retrieved and put back in place.

Just then, a cat’s mewling from outside resounded around the ward. Mewling and mewling.

‘Can I—’

Noriko spoke before thinking.

‘Can I bring in the cat? Satoru’s cat?’

She’d never made such an absurd request in her life.

‘Please – let me bring in the cat.’

‘Please don’t ask!’ the matron scolded. ‘If you ask, then we’ll have to say no!’

As if propelled by a cannon, Noriko raced out of the ward. Ignoring the No Running in the Corridor sign, she clattered down the stairs, two at a time.

Then she burst through the front entrance.

‘Nana! Naaana! ’

Nana leapt out of the darkness like a silver bullet. He jumped into Noriko’s arms and snuggled into her body. Then Noriko raced back up to the ward.

‘Satoru!’

The staff were reaching the final stages of the procedure. Noriko elbowed her way through them to Satoru’s side.

‘Satoru, it’s Nana!’

Satoru’s closed eyelids quivered. As if fighting against gravity, they slowly lifted.

Unable to move his head, his eyes searched from side to side.

Noriko clasped Satoru’s hand and placed it gently on the top of Nana’s small head.

Satoru’s lips moved faintly. She thought she heard him say, ‘Thank you.’

The ECG screen flat-lined.

Nana nuzzled the top of his head up and down against Satoru’s lifeless hand.

‘I’m afraid he’s passed away,’ the attending doctor said, and the matron added, ‘We can’t have you bringing a cat in here. You’ll have to take him out now.’

Suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to lighten. Some of the nurses even gave a small smile.

And then, as though something loose had finally been wrenched open, the floodgates broke.

Not since she was a little girl had Noriko wept with such abandon.

The staff members finished unplugging the monitors and took them away.

‘Make sure you take the cat outside immediately,’ the matron reminded her, before swiftly leaving the room.

Noriko’s throat throbbed, until she couldn’t weep any more.

Suddenly, she felt a rough tongue licking the tops of her fingers. Gently, ever so gently.

‘Let’s take Satoru back, Nana.’

As if in response, Nana licked her hand again.

‘Nana, is it okay for me to believe that Satoru was happy?’

Nana nuzzled his forehead against Noriko’s palm, and then once more began to lick, ever so delicately.

PURPLE AND YELLOW flowers in bloom as far as the eye can see.

The earthy, warm colours of Hokkaido in autumn.

There I am, chasing a honeybee.

Stop it, Nana.

A voice sounding flustered. He grabs hold of me and carries me tightly in his two hands.

What if you get stung?

Satoru, smiling as he reprimands me.

Hey, it’s been a while. You look good.

I rub my small cheeks against Satoru’s arms.

All thanks to you. How about you, Nana?

I’m good – all thanks to you.

Ever since the day he departed on his journey, every time Satoru visits me it’s always in this field. This open expanse, with its riot of flowers.