All Chapters of A Cat's Tale (The Secret Desires of Hotaru Nyanko): Chapter 1 - Chapter 10
19 chapters
One: 不思議な日 (Mysterious Day)
1997(Hotaru’s P.O.V.)My ooasan once told me that no matter how you choose your own destiny, fate will still come to your life and by chance make it good or destroy it.Well at first, I don't understand, for she said that to me a couple of years ago, when I was six and she usually brushed my hair at night in front of the mirror.“Do you want to hear a story?""Yes, Mama"As she brushed my hair I stare at my mama's reflection in the mirror. I wish I was like her. Fair, beautiful. That night I made a pact to myself that when I grow up, I would be like her.“There were these four generations in a family"What are their names? I think.But I just listen."...named Hon, Sok, Tu, and Nyan."Guess that just answered it."They say that on the third generation- which is Tu, a baby girl will be born and the woman who gave birth to it will die on the child's eighteenth birthday, whether it's the cause of the child or by accident."My ooasan tells me I need not know what happened, for I was too
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Two: 邪悪な猫 (Wicked Cat)
“Hotaru! Hurry!” Courtney hissed as I pick my backpack which fell on the ground, as we ran to the bus. “Geez, you’re always late.” As we got inside, it felt so oddly cold. “Let’s sit here,” I told Courtney. The bus arrives usually at 7 am, and we start our classes by 8:15 am. “Had a good sleep?” she asked. “No.” or so I thought. Courtney then looked back to see Tyler, her crush since eighth grade. Her wild eyes wander toward him, and they seem scary to me. “What?” she asked as I looked at her sternly. “Stop,” I said. She’s scaring the guy away. Oh, come on, she groaned. “You got to chill.” I looked around, knowing that Tyler might see me. His curly blonde hair and tanned skin outshone the rest of his other good-looking friends as he laughed along with them. Before I knew it, he turned his head around and winked at me. **** I have never made love. I grew up knowing soon I would want to try it over and over again for it sounds pleasing to the stories that I hear from my friends. "..
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Three: 私の頭の中の質問 (Questions in my head)
The moment I turned fifteen, Mama gave me a music box with a feline cat dancing inside. Carefully embroidered in the finest blue and gold, its little containers kept tiny photographs of me, Kai, Papa, and Mama. It was the best gift I had from her. When I play that music box the cat danced so beautifully. I also kept the necklaces and rings inside which Papa gave me every year. It's as if she was striding high, her face all striking and her pink ballet shoes would carry her wherever she goes. Sometimes, Papa would let me play that music box and his face would light up easily, and just listen to it as if it gave him a reason to live. Papa was diagnosed with a chronic disease that following year. He suffered a mild stroke but turned worse as time went by. We didn’t notice his symptoms as he barely comes home but one time we did was when he suddenly clenched his chest in the middle of our dinner and fell to the ground. Mama hurriedly went by his side and I could see the shock on her face
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Four: 燃える記憶 Burning Memories
(Shin’s P.O.V.) I watched the flames burn around the house as the firefighter stood beside me in his truck. “Moooom!” Dad was rushed into the hospital that night, trying to save Mom and get her out of the house. Earlier that night, everyone was sleeping. I was still in my pajamas when I heard whispers inside the corners of the walls call out to me. “Come here,” they said, getting louder and louder. So, I got up and squeezed my teddy bear tight, afraid of the shadows looking up beneath me. Just then, Mina showed up to me meowing from downstairs. Something was going on, I couldn’t tell. There is a putrid smell coming down from below, and I covered my nose because I couldn’t breathe well. “Mama,” I hurried beside her. She was still sleeping. “Don’t worry, my darling. I’m here,” I remember her saying when I woke up in the middle of the night so she can let me lie beside her. But this time, she is not waking up. I shake her again using my fragile little hands. “Momma,” I look
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Five: 贈り物 (Gift)
1985(Shin's P.O.V.)The next morning my grandma woke me up for work. She pushed open my windows, and my eyes turned away blindly from so much brightness coming through them. I remembered flashbacks of our family having a picnic. I was playing kite with dad, and the next moment he gave my mom some coke from the icebox, and she sipped carefully. Slowly after that, they burst into an argument, luckily there were not many people to see or hear.It was something that a young boy like me, could never understand. It's crazy that when we get older, those memories that we never knew come up together in our mind, solving themselves in their way like a puzzle combined with a realization."You know she moved us all here, right!?" She screamed out from the top of her lungs, with her blonde hair shining from the sun."Yes," my father insisted. "You know it's for the best!""You and your family." Y'all only want your kind of best," she said, walking away from us and taking the car with her.It was
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Six: トーナメント (Tournament)
Courtney and I sat in the bleachers, and I continue to sip my cola from the red cup. Mrs. Penn was away for a while and she had the library closed, so I took the chance to watch our sports events. While we cheered and shouted, Calvin, squeezed himself in through the crowd holding a box of pizza. He quickly handed out a piece to us and I hungrily took a bite."Go, Max!" Courtney shouted at the running tracks, where her boyfriend ran the 100-meter sprint. I look up to stare at everyone watching and I saw a glimpse of Dave.He looked very handsome with a slight beard growing out from his upper lip. He then stood up and shouted in the distance, supporting his friend from the team. As he sat down, he reached out for a bottle of water the water guy and turned his gaze in my direction."Shit," I muttered under my breath.He must have seen me. I pretended not to care and gobbled my pizza, which is a good way to distract him. I looked on his way again. He disappeared. The game lasted for at le
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Seven: 見えざる手 (Invisible Hand)
I guess that girl is me. Like a cat that can smell anything from a distance I can feel my eyes hard as fire and my body as cold as ice. I reached for the cell phone in my pocket, and I take one step closer without even having a definite path or destination. All I know is that something called me, and I am sure of that. I turned on the flashlight of my phone and I could see my shadows everywhere. The wind hushed louder as I flashed my tiny light into the trees, leaving the earthy aroma on my nose while some of the torn leaves flew in the direction of the wind. As the wind blew against the trees, I could hear music playing in my ears as the leaves continued to dance and swing in perfect rhythm. I continued to go on further. I remember that March in advance is particularly breezy, at least that’s what my science teacher said.I look up, hearing the sounds of whistling and piping. It was such a high, deafening pitch that I needed to cover my ears from hearing it. I felt like I clumsily st
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Eight: 奇妙な村 (Strange Village)
There stood a thick branch by my feet, and I pick it up and swing it around in an exploration, soothed by the weight and rough bark. I’m still panting from the attack, but I am careful of making too much noise; so, I brush aside the small branches, searching for something I may or might not want to see. Leaves a crack to my left. The sound that calls me comes again, footsteps crunching over leaves and branches, circling behind me. My body is paralyzed as a result of my chilled blood. I won't risk looking behind me. I'm still using a piece of leaf to conceal my wound because I know that if I don't make it, I'll die in these woods. Sometimes I suddenly recall who I am and where I am, along with the mental image of the aluminum bleachers, but that is useless right now.I guess it will take a miracle for me to find someone from these trees.The snapping of twigs is getting closer, and shallow breaths are only a little behind me. My fingers fall off the branch as my legs begin to weaken. I
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Nine: パジャマパーティー (Pajama Party)
The boy reached for his pockets and handed out me and let out a flour-coated hard candy and watched me gobble it in hunger. He laughed at me hysterically.There was also a river from behind that wall, ten meters away from us, and the mountains stood before me like giants waiting to devour me.Wondering to myself when the dawn will start, I bathed myself in the most invigorating way.After I finished, I saw him lying on his back behind a tree.I laid down my back on the cold ground, and I watched him as he pointed out his fingers to the night sky. I slowly laughed at how incredibly grateful he is that he found a friend like me, and I marveled at the very thought that this journey is special and that this boy saved my life.That night I had a crazy dream.“Could you pass me the hot sauce, Hotu?“Yeah, sure. Here.”I pass the hot sauce to Courtney, while she poured more into her pizza. We were all dressed in pink pajamas, and my pale, light skin stood out the most from their tanned ones
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Ten: 棚の移動 (Moving Shelves)
I looked at the shelf once again, and a thick book came out.Hmmm…What is going on? I questioned. What in the world is happening?I thought as I thought that perhaps this spot will have some solutions inside. The area had good sunlight coming through the windows, and the surface may have been made of translucent tiles like the color of old wood, something between light brown and peach, butFrom the inside, I couldn't find the windows I had seen on the outside. In reality, even though I had only moved a short distance, I was now unable to see the walls in any way. There were bookcases in place of that.I rise to the ceiling and branch out from the wide-open corridor into rows and rows of bookshelves.I started walking below, and I see a hallway to my right. I took a cautious turn into one of the hallways and paused to look at the seemingly infinite number of books with astonishment.There were volumes everywhere I looked, stacked on crooked racks that could as well have been ignored.
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