Hiro Arikawa - The Travelling Cat Chronicles

‘He also told me how Sugi and Chikako loved animals and were a great couple together, and how happy he was when he got to see you again in college.’

Kosuke’s bottom lip began to tremble, and Chikako wiped away tears.

‘But why…’ Sugi muttered. ‘Why didn’t Satoru tell us he was sick?’

That’s disappointing. Just like always, you stammer out things you shouldn’t.

You really don’t understand why?

‘I kind of understand why,’ Yoshimine said. ‘He wanted to say farewell with everybody still smiling.’

Bingo!

Satoru loved all of you guys.

That’s why he wanted to take your smiles with him.

Simple enough, I think.

‘The letters…’ Kosuke’s voice was weepy, but he smiled all the same. ‘In his letters, he wrote about all kinds of funny things. Silly jokes and gags, too. I laughed, thinking, This can’t be his last letter, can it?’

They all chuckled.

When it was time for them to leave, Noriko drove them to the airport in the silver van. Satoru’s silver van had become Noriko’s silver van. Though no longer the magical vehicle that had shown Satoru and me so many amazing sights, it still did the job.

Okay, then. Before Noriko got back, I had something to do.

Noriko came home after dark, and as she wandered into the living room she let out a scream.

‘EEEEK! Nana! You did it again!’

I’d removed every single tissue from the box and was sitting quietly in the corner contemplating the result of my actions.

‘You don’t use them, so why take them out?’

Good point. But as you focus on your anger and on tidying up the floor, don’t all your sad feelings begin to lift a bit?

‘What a waste! What a complete waste!’ Noriko muttered as she strutted around picking up the tissues, but then, as if letting out a soft puff of air, she laughed.

SEVERAL YEARS HAVE passed.

Kosuke turned his shop into a studio specializing in pet photos. This was thanks to Satoru’s advice, he told us, so I was welcome any time for a free photo session. But the New Year cards that arrive have begun to feature bizarre photos of his dressed-up mackerel tabby, who always looks so sullen. So I’ll take a rain check.

Now and again, Yoshimine sends us vegetables he’s grown. I’m sure Hokkaido has great vegetables, too , he writes in the short note he always includes in his vegetable box. It’s more than Noriko could eat by herself, so she’s kept busy running around, sharing them all out with her friends and acquaintances.

Noriko did take me once to stay at the Sugis’ B&B. The purpose, though, was for her to climb Mount Fuji while the Sugis took care of me. While she was gone, I enjoyed the warmth of that boxy TV underneath my belly to my heart’s content.

Momo had become a refined old lady cat, and nervy Toramaru had transformed into quite the sensible pooch. Sorry about back then, he apologized.

I almost forgot – the Sugis have a child now. A precocious little girl who greeted Noriko with a ‘Welcome, Grandma,’ which made her blush.

The berries on the mountain ash along the streets are bright red again this year. And pretty soon there’ll be a constant layer of snow on the ground.

How many times, I wonder, have I seen this red that Satoru taught me?

One day, Noriko brought home a very unexpected guest.

‘What should I do, Nana?’

A siren-like wail was coming from the cardboard box she was carrying. Inside was a calico kitten. Not an almost- calico, but a genuine one. And because it was a pure calico, it was, of course, a female.

‘Someone abandoned it under the apartment building. I thought, since you’re already here, Nana…’

I sniffed at the wailing siren and gently gave it a lick under its chin.

Welcome. You’re the next cat, aren’t you?

‘We’re just back from the vet. Nana, do you think you two will get on?’

Save that for later. Right now, you’ve got to get some milk into its tummy. The little gal seems hungry.

I got into the box and snuggled close to the little creature to warm it up, and she promptly tried to find some nipples on me. Sorry, sweetheart – no milk to be had here.

‘Oh, she’s hungry, isn’t she? I’ve bought some milk for her. Let me warm it up.’

And so Noriko plunged into a life in which this demanding young kitten has her wrapped around her little finger every single day.

PURPLE AND YELLOW like a flood.

The field I saw on our last journey, bursting all the way to the horizon with flowers.

When I dream about these colours, Satoru always appears.

Hey, Nana. How have you been? Aren’t you a little worn out?

I suppose so. Momo at the Sugis’ left us a few years ago. I might not last as long as she did. And we have a new cat that’s arrived to take over.

Is Aunt Noriko doing okay?

Having that kitten seems to have put a spring in her step.

Noriko named the kitten Calico, after her looks. When it comes to giving the most obvious, second-rate names, you and Noriko are like two peas in a pod, I must say.

Really? It’s hard to think that she’d take in a stray cat.

Satoru seems genuinely moved.

Surprisingly, she has the makings of a cat fanatic. Whenever she gets sushi, she always gives me the toro , the best part of the tuna.

Even I might have trouble handing over the toro , Satoru says, laughing.

This is the first cat of her own she’s ever had.

That’s right.

We live together, but I’m not Noriko’s cat.

For ever and ever I am your cat, Satoru. That’s why I can’t become Noriko’s.

So, about time, maybe, for you to come over here?

Yeah, but I have one more thing I need to do first.

Satoru looks puzzled. Ahem, I say, and twitch my whiskers.

I have to help little Calico get on her feet. Noriko isn’t training her at all.

If she becomes too spoiled and ever tries to make it on her own on the streets, she’ll be toast. At the very least, I’ve got to hammer the basics of hunting into her.

To be fair, when you grab her by the scruff of the neck, her legs do immediately contract, so she clearly has potential. Much more than, say, Chatran at Yoshimine’s.

Once Calico can make it on her own, I think I’ll set off on my journey. To this place I see only in dreams.

Tell me, Satoru. What’s out there beyond this field? A lot of wonderful things, I’m thinking. I wonder if I’ll be able to go on a trip with you again.

Satoru grins, and picks me up, so I can see the far-off horizon from his eye level.

Ah – we saw so many things, didn’t we?

My story will be over soon.

But it’s not something to be sad about.

As we count up the memories from one journey, we head off on another.

Remembering those who went ahead. Remembering those who will follow after.

And someday, we will meet all those people again, out beyond the horizon.

If you’re wondering why the cat on the front of this book does not resemble Nana, it’s because we found this original Chinese brush painting while researching images online and fell in love with it.

Entitled ‘Man and the World’, it is painted by Shuai Liu, a Chinese painter with cerebral palsy whose work is supported by Chilture.com, a studio of disabled artists. If you’d like to know more about what they do and view other work by disabled artists from China, visit www.Chilture.com.

HIRO ARIKAWAlives in Tokyo. A bestseller in Japan, The Travelling Cat Chronicles has become an unexpected international hit, and is due to be made into a live-action Japanese film.