Late at night, pitch-dark outside, I shuffled out for a walk in my slippers. I’d just finished work, and my shoulders, lower back, and wrists all ached with that deep, grinding exhaustion.
I left the villa complex where I lived and emerged onto the main road, where the wide boulevard stretched open before me.
This late-night walk had its own ritual. There was a convenience store on the main road, and I always stopped there to buy a 500ml cider.
“Ahh.”
I tipped it back against the night breeze, and the sharp fizz cut straight through me. Cider after a brutal coloring session was the best thing in the world.
With the cool night air washing over me, I walked briskly toward the bridge. The streetlamps lined up in a row cast a quiet glow over the empty road and sidewalk. The fact that there was no one around tonight made it even better.
I was walking along, my mood a little buoyed by the sense of freedom, when something caught my eye.
A small something, curled up in the middle of a four-lane road.
Is that a cat…?
It barely twitched, not moving from that spot at all.
Why is it there — that’s dangerous. Don’t tell me….
Maybe someone had abandoned it there, or it had already been hit and was injured.
Damn.
The pedestrian crossing nearby had just turned green. I glanced around and sprinted out to the middle of the four-lane road.
What if it scratches me and bolts?
I slowed my steps to approach as carefully as possible so I wouldn’t startle it. I crouched down, about to attempt a catch —
VVVROOOOM —
Suddenly, a blinding pair of headlights flooded over me. A car appeared out of nowhere, barreling toward me at full speed.
What the hell, the light’s still green?
The pedestrian signal was still blinking green. And yet the car didn’t slow down at all — it came roaring straight at me like it was going to run me over.
I scrambled to my feet in a panic, but it was already too late to get out of the way. The blazing light was right in my face.
Before I closed my eyes, I glanced back without thinking to where the cat had been.
And I saw it. A black plastic bag, drifting up off the ground, floating away on the breeze.
…Yi Rohun, dead at the age of twenty-three.
This place was warm, like heaven. Sunlight fell from an impossibly high ceiling, and the floor was soft and springy, as if cotton had been spread across it.
I was standing in a white space, blinking, when —
Zzzzt —
A door opened — one I hadn’t even known was there. And in walked a cat. On two legs.
…Huh?
“Hello.”
A clever-looking black cat with a tuxedo pattern greeted me out of nowhere.
“Oh — uh. Yeah. Hi.”
I answered, trying to act like I wasn’t flustered, and the cat spoke.
“My name is Kami. You must have been very startled to wake up here so suddenly.”
Every time that small mouth opened, the long white whiskers shifted with it. The little muzzle was cute.
“You’re currently in a spirit state — are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
At the cat’s words, I finally looked down at my own body.
This is… a spirit state…?
I had a shape, but no clothes, and my body was glowing. I lifted my glowing hand and bent my fingers, then straightened them again.
No particular pain, no particular discomfort. Just a strange, floaty feeling.
“Not really.”
“That’s a relief!”
“Where is this?”
“This is the heavenly realm. It’s also called ‘the Star of Cats.'”
…Oh. I’m dead. But why did I end up at the Star of Cats?
“There’s a cat here who’s been wanting very much to meet you. If you don’t mind, would you be willing to see her?”
“A cat? Other than you?”
“Yes. Her name is Coco.”
Another cat. The more cats, the better. I nodded, and Kami looked toward the door.
“Then I’ll bring her to you.”
Zzzzt —
The door opened again, and this time an ordinary-looking cat walked in.
“Myaaa-malk!”
The moment she saw me, the cat cried out happily and came trotting over on all fours, tail held straight up. Then she rubbed her head against my legs.
She was glowing just like me, so she must be a spirit too.
…In all my life, I’d never been greeted with such eager affection by a cat. I stood frozen with emotion for a moment, then slowly bent down and petted her head.
Soft as dandelion fluff, her fur brushed against my palm.
“Purrrrrr.”
Oh, she’s so cute.
That full, rumbling sound like a motorcycle starting up made my heart want to float right up to the sky. Oh, wait — I’m already in the sky?
“Coco says she owes you a great debt.”
“Myaang!”
I was completely absorbed in petting the cat when Kami relayed her message. Coco cried out loudly, as if to confirm it.
Right, she’s really so cute. I was about to just accept it without thinking, but then I stopped.
“Wait — me? Are you sure you’re not mixing me up with someone else?”
She said she owed me a great debt, but I had never helped or saved a cat in my life. If anything, what I’d tried to save was —
…a black plastic bag.
For the love of — was there ever a more pathetic death in the history of the world? Even thinking back on it now, it’s a humiliating way to die.
The one small comfort was that there were no parents to grieve for me.
“It’s not a mix-up. It really is you, Rohun. Isn’t that right, Coco?”
“Nyaang!”
Coco purred and circled around my legs.
“Coco lived with a young woman — her owner — for four years. She says she was happy.”
Kami began telling me Coco’s story. Coco sat down quietly to listen too.
“Until her owner got a boyfriend.”
I’ve got a bad feeling about this….
“When the owner was late coming home from work, the boyfriend would come over and look after Coco. But the truth was, he was hitting her and tormenting her.”
“What?”
“One day, when Coco fought back, he kicked her hard in the stomach.”
This small creature — the kind you’d be afraid of breaking just by picking up — he kicked her?
“…Sadly, Coco passed away that day. The man hid her body in his car, and when the owner came home, he lied and said Coco had slipped out through an open window.”
That absolute piece of $#@%ing garbage —
“And the next morning, he buried Coco in the hills outside the city.”
A torrent of curses surged up to my throat, and I had to fight to keep them from coming out.
“Even as a spirit, Coco stayed by her owner’s side. Her owner spent months searching for her.”
Coco, at my feet, let out a small, forlorn cry.
“The one who was there to comfort the grieving owner was that man. Taking advantage of her at her most vulnerable, he convinced her to marry him.”
“Don’t tell me she actually fell for it?”
“…Yes. The two of them promised to get married this year. Coco cried and tried to stop her every day, but being a spirit, she had no way to make herself heard.”
Kami, too, seemed to be affected while telling the story — she suddenly lifted a paw and licked it. That tiny pink tongue worked quickly over the paw dressed in white, like a little sock.
“I’m sorry. Even I can’t stay calm talking about it….”
“It’s okay. Take a moment.”
I’d heard that cats pant when they’re stressed — I was worried.
Thankfully, after a short pause, Kami composed herself and continued quietly.
“…That’s when the accident happened, a month before the wedding.”
“I’m the one who got hit?”
“Yes. That man caused a fatal accident — drunk driving and a hit-and-run. The owner, shaken to her core, was the one who told him it was over.”
Well, at least they broke up. That’s a relief.
“Coco was able to pass on in peace.”
“Myaang.”
“The man will soon face justice behind bars. But because of this incident, you lost your life so unfairly….”
“Mayaang.”
“Coco says she owes you a great debt. And she wants to repay it.”
Being told it’s a debt almost makes me feel disoriented. I just happened to get hit because I was unlucky.
I looked down at Coco and said:
“But you — are you really okay with this? Him getting punished is because of hitting me with his car. What he did to you, what he put you through and how he killed you — none of that was ever brought to light. Doesn’t that feel unfair? …Is it really okay that your owner never finds out the truth about how you died?”
“Myaang myaang, nyaang.”
“Coco says she wants to keep it a secret, because if her owner knew, she’d grieve and blame herself. She wants her owner to believe that Coco is alive and well somewhere. And she wants her owner to be happy now.”
I lifted the little one up in both hands and held her to my chest. Why is she so good.
If it were me, I’d have been begging to have that bastard thrown into hellfire and left to suffer for eternity. But what these cats are doing instead is… repaying their debt to the person who got killed by that bastard’s car.
“So — we want to help you start a new life in a new world.”
Huh? Just like that?
“Can’t I just… stay here?”
I wanted to be with Coco.
“This place is the afterlife for cats, so a human soul can’t remain here for long.”
“I see. Then there’s nothing to be done.”
I pressed my cheek into Coco’s soft fur and answered with reluctance.
It would be happier for the cat world to have only cats in it, rather than having a human like me in the mix.
“Is there… anything you’re still holding onto? Any lingering regrets?”
Coco in my arms let out a soft purr. Not a single regret from my past life came to mind. I simply resolved that in my next life, I’d save up a lot of money and definitely have a cat.
“Not really. I don’t have any family, and I don’t have much saved up, so there’s nothing to regret.”
“Ah, is that so. Don’t worry! We’ll send you to a world far better than the one you came from — the world of a story you love.”
The world of a story? As in… transmigration into a book?
