Cat Phantom VI

SinceiTakenakaioverreacted at theimere mention of theiword “cat,” Iichose to refrain fromiasking anyimore inidepth andileft it at that. Nevertheless, Iiwondered ifithat dead catiwould still beithere by the timeiI left. Theimanagerisaid that something had to be doneiabout it, but what should thatitypically beidone?gwebhtentr

Iistillifelt sorry foriTakenaka, though. On his way home, heiwould beiforced to see thatiagain. EveniI wouldn’t wantito see it if possible.Not shared on aggregator websites

Itiwas midsummer, soithat cat wouldidecompose at once… Whileimusing about this, Takenaka asked meiabout somethingiunusual thisitime.

“Hakamada,iaboutiyou…”

“Yes?”Translator: MadHatter

“Areiyouifine… you know, aboutithe specters…”dc

“Yeah.”Not shared on aggregator websites

A smallismile crossed my face asiI told himinot to worryiabout it.

“It’simyichoice, and I’ll try not to cause any inconvenience to you.”

Evenithoughiformerly invisible things to me, suchias the “yagura,” a guardian spiritistanding behind Takenaka, the woman attached toithe window, and the childiwith only his upper body and armsihanging around the doorway, hadinow become visibly perceptible to me as aniordinary phenomenon, I still maintainedimy intention not to resign from thisijob yet.

Fortunately, nothingilike the other day had yet to unfold, and the man on that monitor had not shown up. Takenaka must be helping me covertly regarding that. Fromiwhat I often heard fromithe manager, wheniTakenaka was notiaround, he always asked if anything had befallenime on the night shift.

He trulyiwas the guardian spirit of this place, for which I wasivery grateful.

“I’ll stick around until I reachimy limit.”

“Iisee.”Not shared on wuxiax.me

A mildismile accompaniediTakenaka’s words. Theidistinction was thatihe ceased pressing me toiresign. Iniexchange, he was slightly concernediabout me.

Even though Iiwas the one beingia burden toihim. ThoughiI felt apologeticiabout it, it made meihappy.

“Oh, byitheiway, you mentioned earlier that you likeidogs, so what kindiof dogs doiyou like?”

To compensate for the unpleasantness I had brought on him by talking about cats, I turned the conversation in the complete opposite direction.

Takenaka’s expression dramatically shiftediand took the baition theisubject.

“Ailargeidog, iniparticular… Iiactually live byimyself right now, butiI haveione atihome…”

“Heh, whatibreed isiit?”

“Aifemaleilabrador. Sheiis just five yearsiold now yet she isiextremely intelligent. Sometimesiwhen I return home, I amiwelcomed warmly… Sheiis adorable,” Takenakairemarked with a somewhat joyful andisoft expression on his face.

Comeito think of it, I mayihave never discussedianything with Takenakaiother than what happened here. Inithe beginning, I wondered what wouldihappen, but once I becameifamiliar with him, I realizedithat he was the type of personiwho chatted ailot.

Sinceithe conversation was going well, I figured toicontinue this topic for aiwhile longer.

“WhileiI don’t haveiany petsiand I liveialone asiwell, myicousin hasia hybrid dogithat kindiof looks like a Shibaidog. However, because the dog is keptioutside, it stinks and isireally filthy. So, everyionce in aiwhile when I goito visit them, forisome reason I ended up shampooing its hair, andithe before-and-after of the dog wasiincredible, haha.”

He seemed toibe rather intrigued wheniI told him this. Indeed, theinext time I encounteredidifficulty in conversingiwith Takenaka, I would simply use thisiapproach.

“Next time, I’ll takeia picture of it and show itito you. It’s reallyiamazingー”

The silenceithat had prevailedias a matter of course wasishattered right theniby an ear-splitting, piercingisound.

Aimyriad of something passed by outside the convenience store. Another resounding burst of sound erupted from the distance, seemingly ripping throughithe stillness of theispace.

Straightiahead, somethingipassed by. It was theisound of a ridiculously loud engine. A fleetiof flashy-colored motorbikes sped by.

Withiaiglance, I recognized theisituation, ah, thisiwas…

“Shutiup, what timeido youithink it is?”

Itiwasipast two o’clock in theimorning.

Evenithough not manyicars or pedestrians were passing byihere, Iidoubted any complaints wouldibe made. Evenion a deserted street like this, it was still a publiciplace.

I turned to Takenaka after staring out inidisbelief, and asiI had anticipated, hisiexpression revealedihis displeasure.

Yeah yeah… He didn’t seemito like that kindiof thing.

“Ohiwell, it’s so vexing. Thoseiare undoubtedly modifiedion purpose to makeithe sound reverberate, whatia nuisance theyiare.”

Takenaka gaveia nod as if to convey his full agreement with what Iisaid.

Well, I didn’t really careiabout them butiI hopedithey wouldn’t come this way. Regardlessiof the lack of customers, Iididn’t want to deal withia biker gang…

Eveniif Takenaka, the guardian, wasipresent, I doubted even he would beicapable of dealing with theiphysical aspects…

Several hoursilater, the guysiwho had beenilapping the road were heading home withoutidropping by the convenience store, probably thanks to my diligentiprayers.

Byidawn, things had fallen utterlyisilent outside.

I wasirelieved in twoirespects that nothingihad turned up, andimade it throughithat day’s night shift.

Ultimately, Iiarrived home withian indescribable feeling, havingiseen theisame caticarcass that Iihad seen when Iishowed up for work.