Chapter 8 Chapter 6 Conversation with Cat King

"Hello!" The old man greeted. The cat raised its face slightly, and responded to the greeting in a low voice with difficulty.A very large elderly black cat. "The weather is fine!" "Ah." The cat replied. "Not a single cloud." "...not now." "Can the good weather last?" "You may change your face in the evening. It feels like that." The black cat stretched out one foot tremblingly, then narrowed its eyes, and looked at the man again. The man smiles and looks at the cat. The cat was puzzled, confused for a while, and then changed his mind and said, "Oh, you...you can talk."

"That is." The old man said shyly, and took off his crumpled cotton cap from his head as a sign of respect, "It's not always possible to talk to any cat gentleman. But if everything is going well, you can always Say a few words like this." The cat let out a "huh", expressing its thoughts succinctly. "I said, is it okay to sit here for a while? Nakata, I'm somewhat tired from walking." The black cat slowly leaned back, its long whiskers trembled a few times, and yawned so big that its jaw almost fell off. "Yes, yes. Or rather, it doesn't matter whether you can or not, you can sit wherever you want. No one will make irresponsible remarks."

"Thank you." The man sat down next to the cat, "Tsk tsk, I've been here since six o'clock in the morning." "Oh—then, your surname is Nakata?" "Yes, my surname is Nakata. Mr. Mao, how about you?" "I forgot my name." The black cat said, "It's not that I never had it at all, it's just that I can't use it when I'm alive, so I forgot." "That's right. Things you don't need are quickly forgotten, and Nakata is no exception to this." The man scratched his head and said, "Listen to you, isn't your cat raised by some family?"

"It was true that I was raised by others in the past, but it is different now. I go to a few nearby families to beg for food from time to time... raising is not considered being raised." Nakata nodded, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Then, how about calling your cat Mr. Otsuka?" "Otsuka?" The cat stared at the other person's face in surprise, "What, that is? Why bother... Which family is Otsuka?" "No, no, it doesn't have any special meaning. Nakata, I just thought of it suddenly. It's not easy to remember without a name, so I chose one appropriately. With a name, it is convenient when necessary. For example, in the afternoon of a certain month and a certain day at ××2-chome In the open space, I met the black cat Otsuka-kun and said something——in this way, even a person like Nakata, who has a bad brain, can summarize things in an orderly manner, and it is easy to remember.”

"Hmm." The black cat said, "I don't quite understand! The cat doesn't need that. The smell, the shape, whatever, just accept what's there. It's not inconvenient." "That's right, Nakata, I understand that too. But Otsuka-kun, people can't do that. In order to remember various things, they need dates and names no matter what." The cat snorted. "Extremely inconvenient." "It's true. There are so many things to remember, and it's really inconvenient. As far as Nakata is concerned, I also have to remember the name of the governor, and the number of the bus. But let's not talk about that, then Is it okay for you cat to be called Otsuka-kun? I hope you will not be unhappy."

"If you ask if you're happy, it's really not very pleasant... Even so, it's not particularly unpleasant. So, it's not too much trouble, call Otsuka-kun. If you want to call it that way, it's fine. I feel a little bit uncomfortable. It's like being on your own." "According to you, Nakata and I are also very happy, thank you very much, Otsuka-kun." "However, as a human being, your way of speaking is somewhat different," Otsuka said. "That's right, everyone said that. But Nakata, I can only talk like this. Opening my mouth is like this, because my head is not good. It's not that my head is not good all the time, but it became bad when I encountered an accident when I was young. Words I can’t write, and I can’t read books or newspapers.”

"I'm not bragging, although I can't write anything," said the cat, and the cat licked the fleshy ball of his right hand a few times, "but the head is not good or bad, and it's not inconvenient." "That is, the society of cats is exactly like that." Nakata said, "But in human society, if you can't write, then your brain is not working well; if you can't read books and newspapers, then your brain is not working well. This is the golden rule. In particular, Nakata's father—who has long since passed away—was a great university teacher who specialized in finance. In addition, Nakata and I have two younger brothers, both of whom are very smart. One is called Itochu is a minister, and the other works in a place called the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. They both live in big houses and eat eels. Nakata alone has a bad head."

"But can't you talk to cats like that?" "That's it." Nakata said. "Not everyone can talk to cats, can they?" "Exactly." "Then how can you say that your brain is not working?" "That is, that is not. That is to say, Nakata, I don't quite understand the tricks here. But Nakata, I have been hearing people say that my brain is not working well, and my brain is not working well. So I can only think that my brain is not good. If I don’t recognize the name of the station, I can’t buy a ticket to take the tram. If you show a special pass for the disabled on the bus, you can get on the bus at least.”

Otsuka let out an emotionless "huh". "If you can't read, write, you can't find a job." "So, what do you live on?" "There is a subsidy." "subsidy?" "The money given by the governor. I live in a small room in an apartment called Songyingzhuang in Yefang. Three meals a day are still acceptable." "Life doesn't seem so bad...I think." "That's right. It's neither bad nor bad, as you said." Nakata said, "I can't get out of the wind and rain, and I can live freely. Besides, from time to time, people ask me to find cats like this, and I can get something like gift money." However, this is hidden from the governor, please don’t tell anyone. Because if there is more money like this, the subsidy may be cancelled. Although it is a gift money, the amount is actually not much, but it can be eaten occasionally Serve eel. I like eel, Nakata."

"I like eel too! It's just that I ate it a long time ago, and it's hard to remember what it tastes like." "That's right. Eels are especially good things, and they are somewhat different from other foods. In this world, some food can be added again, but as far as Nakata knows, eels are never added anywhere." On the road in front of the clearing, a young man came along with a Labrador dog on a leash.A large flowered handkerchief was wrapped around the dog's neck.The dog glanced sideways at Otsuka and left.The two sat in the open space in silence for a moment, waiting for the dog and the man to go away.

"You said looking for a cat?" Otsuka asked as a cat. "That's right. Looking for the cat whose whereabouts are unknown. Because I can talk to the cat, I can run around to collect information and effectively find the whereabouts of the lost cat. In this way, people say that I am Nakata I have two skills in finding cats, and people everywhere beg me to find lost cats. Recently, there is rarely a day when I don’t go looking for cats. But there is one thing: I am too lazy to go far, and the scope of searching is limited to the Nakano area. Otherwise, I will The next time I get lost, I won’t be able to come back.” "So, are you looking for the lost cat now?" "That's right, as you said. What I'm looking for now is a one-year-old three-haired cat named 'Flame'. Here are the photos." Nakata took out a color-copied photo from the bag on his shoulder and showed it to Otsuka. "Just the cat. Wear a brown lice collar." Otsuka stretched his neck to look at the photo, then shook his head. "Well, this guy has never seen it. I basically know everything about cats in this area, but I don't know about this one. I haven't seen or heard of it." "Is it." "So, you have been looking for this cat for a long time?" "Oh——, today is... one, two, three, the third time." Otsuka pondered for a while and said: "I thought you knew it too - cats are highly habitual animals. Generally, they live by the rules and don't like big changes, unless there are special circumstances. The so-called special circumstances are sexual desires. Or accidents or something, these two kinds are basically out of the question.” "That's right. Nakata, I think so too." "If it's sexual desire, I'll come back soon after I settle down. Do you understand sexual desire?" "That's right. Of course I don't have any experience, but the general situation can still be grasped. Is it the work of little dicks?" "Yes, it's about the penis." Otsuka nodded with a strange expression, "But if it was an accident, it will be difficult to return." "That is, it makes sense." "In addition, there is also such a situation: driven by sexual desire, he wandered to a long distance, but he couldn't find it." "Not bad, Nakata, if I run out of the Nakano area, I may not be able to find it." "I've had that kind of thing a few times, of course when I was much younger." Otsuka narrowed his eyes as if remembering suddenly and said, "Once I couldn't find my way home, my head buzzed, and my eyes were pitch black. It's not fun. Sexual desire is really a headache. The problem is that at that time, there is only one thing in my head, and I can't think about things before and after. That...is called sexual desire. So, By the way, what's the name of that missing cat?" "You mean flax?" "That's right. It's flax. As me, I'm going to try to find it and help you. The one-year-old three-haired cat that was pampered by some family definitely knows nothing about the world. If you can't win a quarrel, you can't eat it." I can't even find it myself. Poor thing. But unfortunately, I haven't seen the cat. It's better to look elsewhere." "That's right. Then follow your advice and look in another direction. I'm very sorry for interrupting you when Otsuka-kun was taking a nap. You may come here for a walk in a few days, and if you find out Huma, please tell Nakata. It may be impolite to say so——I must thank you as much as possible.” "Where, it's really interesting to talk to you. In a few days... Please come again. As long as the weather is good, I will mostly be in this open space at this time. If it rains, I will be in the shrine below the stone steps." "Okay, thank you very much. Nakata, I am also very happy to be able to talk to you Otsuka-kun. Although I can talk to Mao-kun, not everyone can talk so smoothly, and there are also people who talk to me like I'm here. Where is the enemy running silently, Mr. Mao. I just greeted..." "That's no wonder. Just as people are different from each other, cats are... different." "It's reasonable. Nakata, I actually think the same way. There are all kinds of people in the world, and there are all kinds of cats." Otsuka stretched his back and looked up at the sky.The sun poured the golden light of the afternoon on the clearing, but there was also a faint smell of rain, Otsuka could feel it. "By the way, you said that you had an accident when you were a child, which made your head a little bit bad—is that what you said?" "Yes, that's right, that's what it is. The accident that happened to me when I was nine years old, Nakata." "What kind of accident?" "That—I can't remember it anyway. According to others, it seemed like I had an unexplained fever. I didn't regain consciousness in Nakata for three weeks. During that time, I was lying on the hospital bed and receiving drips. It was easy to recover. When I lost consciousness, I forgot everything about the past. My father’s face, my mother’s face, writing, arithmetic, the style of the house... I even forgot my own name, completely. It’s like unplugging the bathtub The piston in my head was empty and became an empty shell. Before the accident, it was said that Nakata I was a top student with outstanding grades. Unexpectedly, I suddenly fainted on the ground, and Nakata I was reimbursed for my head when I woke up. Mother — long dead — often shed tears for this.That is to say, Nakata's bad head caused my mother to cry.My father didn't cry, but he often lost his temper. " "On the other hand, you can talk to the cat." "That's it." "Well." "And I'm in good health. I don't suffer from any illnesses. I don't have any decayed teeth, and I don't need to wear glasses." "In my opinion, your head doesn't seem to be bad." "Is that really the case?" Nakata tilted his head in thought. "But Otsuka-kun, Nakata, I am already past 60. After 60, it doesn't matter whether my head is not working well or everyone ignores me. I can survive even if I don't take the tram. My father has passed away. I won’t be beaten anymore. My mother is gone, so I won’t cry anymore. Therefore, if someone suddenly announces that your head is not bad, Nakata may be at a loss. My head is no longer bad, and it may make me feel better If you don’t get the governor’s subsidy, and secondly, you might not be able to use the special pass to take the bus. What’s wrong with you, isn’t your brain not bad?——If the governor reprimands you like this, Nakata, I have nothing to say. So, Nakata, I think it’s better to just leave your brain like this.” "What I mean is: your problem is not that your brain is not working well." Otsuka said solemnly. "Is that really the case?" "Is there something wrong with you? I thought... I'm afraid your shadow is a little light. When I first saw you, I thought about it. Your shadow on the ground is only about half the concentration of ordinary people." "That is." "Well, I have seen such a person once in the past." Nakata opened his mouth slightly, and stared at Otsuka's face: "You said you saw it once before, but is it someone like me, Nakata?" "Yeah. So I wasn't... too surprised when you talked." "When did that happen?" "Very early, when I was young. However, I can't remember my face, my name, my place, or my time. As you said, cats don't have that kind of memory." "That is." "Besides, that person's shadow is also as pale as if the other half has been lost somewhere." "Oh." "So, instead of looking for a lost cat, you'd better look for your other half seriously." Nakata pulled the brim of the mountaineering hat in his hand a few times: "To tell you the truth, Nakata also felt this more or less, as if the shadow was faint. Others didn't notice it, but I knew it in my heart." "Just understand," said the cat. "But as I said just now, Nakata, I'm getting old, and I probably don't have much time left. My father is dead too. It doesn't matter if my head works or not, whether I can write or not, whether my shadow is complete or not When the time comes, they will die one by one. If they die, burn them and put the ashes in Yashan. Yashan is located in Setagaya District. When you enter the Yashan cemetery, you probably don’t think about anything. If you don’t think about it, your confusion will disappear. So, isn’t it good for me, Nakata, to be like this now? Besides, if possible, Nakata, I don’t want to go to places other than Nakano in my lifetime. Going to Crow Mountain after death is of course no choice.” "How you think is of course your freedom." After Otsuka said, he rubbed the meatball for a while, "However, it's better to think about the matter of the shadow. As a shadow, you may feel ashamed. If I were a shadow... ... just don't want to be half." "That's it." Nakata said, "It's like that, maybe that. I haven't considered this matter before, so go back and think about it slowly." "Just think about it." The two were silent for a long time.Then Nakata stood up quietly, carefully patted the grass off his pants, and put his crumpled hiking cap back on his head.He buttoned it several times so that the brim sloped down at its usual angle.The canvas bag is slung over the shoulder. "Thank you very much. Your opinion, Otsuka-kun, is very valuable to me, Nakata. Please take care of yourself." "You take care too." After Nakata left, Otsuka lay down in the grass again and closed his eyes.There was still some time until Yunlai rained, so I didn't think about anything, and fell into a short sleep.