Golden Time:Volume6 Chapter4

Status: Incomplete

10% completed (estimated)

   

Golden Time 6: Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Long time, no see, Shizuoka.

And then the unexpected class reunion.

And then the unexpected... cat.

Banri sat at an angle in a chair in the living room, on the verge of slipping off, staring fixedly at the creature. It was stretched out lazily, enshrined on his belly. Before he knew it, several months had passed since he'd last been home, and the only Tada son had no idea that more living things had appeared. That was this guy. A cat.

"...How does this sound? 'Pom-Tail'"

It's tail was short, and the tip looked like it'd been broken (when he first saw it, he thought it was broken, but it seemed there were such cats). Since it looked like a pom-pom on its butt, he thought 'Pom-Tail'.

But the cat hardly reacted, and it remained sitting on Banri's stomach, eyes half-closed and unmoving. Not good, Pom-Tail.

Wanting to give the cat a name it would agree to, Banri had already come up with several ideas, but they had all been rejected like this. He'd started with "Tama", the ordinary "Shiro", the inoffensive "Nyan-Dog", then bit by bit "Mochi", morphing to "Norimochi", then one more "Yogorimochi", then reluctantly "Tarashimochi", then running out of ideas, "Bandai Namco", had enough of "Nya-Purin", then for some reason called it "Nyanyamura-kun", "Mountain Lion Boy", "Nennenyan", "Bring-it-on Boy", "Dog"... and by the way, his gender was indeterminate. He'd already been fixed.

He gently stroked it's narrow forehead with his middle finger. The cat, whose name had not yet been decided, looked back at Banri with its calm, khaki-colored eyes. As if to say, "A cat is a cat."

It was an ordinary cat, not at all like that luxuriously beautiful fur-ball that belonged to Kouko's house. It was fully grown, no longer a kitten. Its basic color was a sooty white, and there was a pattern as if somebody had spilled India ink on top, though if you looked closely, you could see it wasn't pure black, but had faint, blurry stripes. The pattern was scattered unnaturally from the back of the cat's head to its face, and Mother called the cat "Bogger-Nose-chan." As for Father, he called it "Hitman Koro-chan." Its upward slanted eyes looked like just like those of a professional killer.

Mother said, "No way! Hitmen are scary!" and Father said, "Wouldn't having a booger in her name be unfortunate?" They were not in agreement at all.

But something seemed suspicious. Banri saw that both his parents called the cat "Banri" when he wasn't present.

Yesterday, when it was time to feed her, he heard his mother tapping the plate with the cat-food and calling "Hana-chaan, food~, Ha~na~, ...Banri~." The cat would come eagerly when called, and when his father came home late from drinking, he would sit down cross-legged, pick up the cat, and say enthusiastically, "This guy dances. Come on, Koro-chan, look! Weird old man, there, weird old man, do it like you always do, Koro-chan, Banri." And when he said, "Dance", he would simply grasp the cat's front legs from behind and shove them backwards and forwards.

While he watched him making the cat dance, Banri tried to ask about it.

"You know, it's not particularly important, but this cat... aren't you calling it ‘Banri'...?"

"No I'm not, no I'm not!"

His parents both denied it in unison. And while denying it, "It's just, well, look... it just sort of showed up on the porch... right, Father?" "Yes, yes. It's face... all of a sudden. Sort of."

It seemed that somebody had suddenly noticed this previously unseen and unknown stray cat and in a moment of compassion, recklessly gave it something to eat. Eventually, there came a rainy day when he suddenly came into the house. Eh? This is my home, right? It's okay, right? Because it surely is. Making a face like that, it seated itself nonchalantly and confidently in the seat, stopped moving and ceased being a stray cat. They said its face at that time reminded them a little of the family's only son.

What was the meaning of this...?

It had returned home casually and with dignity, and planted itself on top of the low chair, which bothered Banri a bit. He would have to make time to ask about this, fair and square. Am I not the true son of this house!? Much to his surprise, they had found a boy who had lost his memories, and out of compassion they'd declared, "We are your parents," and he was recognized as family. When at length he was released from the hospital, and had come back to the house, "Eh? This is my home, right? It's okay, right? Because it surely is." Making an expression like that... that's exactly what it is, right!?

Anyone would have quite the identity crisis if something like that were to turn their world upside-down, but that aside,

"......Crap! It's so cute...! Why can't I have a pompom tail!?"

The cat was cute.

Everything about him was irresistibly cute: the way he stared blankly with a vacant expression and half-closed eyes, and the warm, heavy feeling of his stomach. Even the sound of its breathing was cute. It had a slightly stuffy nose, and it was adorable when it opened its mouth every now and then to breathe. Banri was beginning to understand the feelings of cat lovers around the world.

Since returning home in the morning the day before, Banri had been constantly cuddling the cat. The cat didn't seem to mind, either, and even came into his bed at night. Waking up to the sound of rumbling vibrations, but it was clear that Banri not only wasn't bothered by it, but in fact quite enjoyed it. You could even say it relaxed him. He was being overwhelmed by an intense love for cats. He wished he had paid more attention to that high-class cat in Kouko's house. He would love to visit that magnificent mansion again... but preferably when her father wasn't home.

Then, his cell phone rang from where he had set aside on the rug. Thinking it was a note from Kouko, he and the cat sat up. When he looked and saw it was from Linda, so he quickly picked it up.

"What? Is it time already?"

"Sorry, but it looks like I'm going to be a bit early. Is it already if I come over already?"

"It's okay! I mean, I'm sorry to have made you come to pick me up, Senpai."

"It's fine. I'm leaving in three minutes. And by the way, you are not allowed to call me 'senpai' today. Seriously, I'm gonna charge you 100 yen... no, 500 yen every time you do."

"Roger that, sir!"

"Even being so polite sounds awkward..."

"Roger that...!"

"Oh, you held back."

"...Sir!"

"Almost! NOT."

After laughing a while, Banri hung up the call. Actually, it was kinda tough with only three minutes. He lifted the cat off his stomach, stood up and shouted, "Whoa, amazing...! Mom, the roller!" The black T-shirt he had bought for this occasion, with a map of Mexico printed on it, was completely covered by white cat hair! Though of course, even it's shed fur was cute.

"You're leaving already? Isn't it early?"

His mother appeared in the living room with a lint roller in her hand, looking up at the clock with a puzzled expression. The cat approached her and rubbed it's body against her ankles. Just how cute can that cat be?

"Linda is coming to pick me up in her car, and should be here any minute now."

"Really? A car? Be careful!"

"There's no point in telling me to be careful. I won't be the one driving. She said her older brother has somewhere to go, so he'll take us both. Hand it over, hurry."

When he took the lint roller and quickly used it to remove the cat fur from his T-shirt, Mother (Mieko) continued to stare at him with the same puzzled expression. "What?"

"You musn't have another accident, okay? How are you getting home?"

<~~10% Completed~~>

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