Chapter 12 Chapter 10 Looking for the Three-haired Cat

"So, Nakata, it's okay for me to call you Kawamura-kun?" Nakata asked a brown cat again.Say it word by word, and let the other party hear you as clearly as possible. The cat said that he had seen flax (a one-year-old, three-haired cat, female) near here.But the cat's way of speaking is quite strange (from Nakata's point of view), and the cat doesn't seem to understand what Nakata said, so their conversations are often divided into two branches, and they cannot communicate. "Bad is not bad, high head." "I'm sorry, Nakata, I don't quite understand what you're saying. I'm really sorry, Nakata, I'm not very good at my head."

"I'm talking about blue and white flowers, anyway." "Don't you want to eat mackerel?" "No. Tie your front hands." Speaking of which, Nakata didn't expect the meeting with the cats to be a complete success.After all, it is a dialogue between cats and humans, and the meaning cannot be so unimpeded.What's more, Nakata's own dialogue ability-whether the other party is a human or a cat-is somewhat problematic.Talking with Otsuka last week was smooth sailing, but that might as well be an exception.Generally speaking, even speaking a few words on most occasions takes a lot of trouble. In severe cases, the situation is like greeting each other while standing on both sides of a canal on a windy day.That's exactly what happened this time.

Divided according to the type of cat, for some reason, especially when talking with brown cats, the speech frequency bands do not match.I generally live in peace with black cats, and cooperate best with short-haired cats. Unfortunately, it is difficult to meet wandering short-haired cats while walking on the street.Nine out of ten short-haired cats are carefully kept at home. For some reason, most of the wild cats are brown cats. In any case, what Kawamura said completely puzzled Nakata.Speech is slurred, unable to capture the meaning of each word, and no connection between words can be found.It sounds more like a riddle than a sentence.Fortunately, Nakata is patient by nature, and he has as much time as he wants.He repeated the same sentence over and over again, and the other party narrated the same thing over and over again.They sat on the boundary stone of the small children's park in the middle of the residential area and talked for almost an hour, and the conversation was still almost in place.

"This 'Kawamura-kun' is nothing more than a title and has no meaning. It is a name I randomly picked up by Nakata to remember every cat gentleman. I will never cause you any trouble because of it. I just want to ask you to allow me to call you Kawamura. Jun." Kawamura mumbled and repeated endlessly about this.Seeing this situation, Nakata resolutely entered the next stage—he took the photo of Huma again and showed it to Kawamura. "This is Huma, Mr. Kawamura. It's the cat I'm looking for in Nakata. It's a one-year-old three-haired cat. It was bred by Mr. Koizumi, Nogata 3-chome. Not long ago, his whereabouts were unknown, and his wife jumped out and ran away when he opened the window. So I'll ask again. : Kawamura-kun, have you seen this cat before?"

Kawamura glanced at the photo again, then nodded. "Chuancun, if it's blue and white, tie it up; if it's tied up, look for it." "I'm sorry, I just said that, Nakata, I have a very bad head, and I can't understand what you Kawamura-kun said. Can you repeat it again?" "Chuancun, if it's blue and white, tie it up; if it's tied up, look for it." "The blue and white, but the mackerel in the fish?" "Blue and white is blue and white. Bind. Chuancun." Nakata thought for a while while stroking his short-cut gray hair with the palm of his hand.How to get out of this mackerel maze of conversation?However, no matter how hard he racked his brains, there was nothing he could do. After all, Nakata was not good at thinking about problems in detail.During this time, Kawamura raised his hind paw and scratched his chin as if it was none of my business.

At this time, there was a sound like a low laugh behind him. Nakata looked back and saw a beautiful and slender short-haired cat squatting on the low prefabricated concrete block fence in the neighboring courtyard, squinting his eyes and looking at this side. "Excuse me, but you are Nakata-kun?" the short-haired cat asked in a bright voice. "Yes, that's right, I'm Nakata. Hello!" "Hello!" said the shorthair cat. "Today is really unfortunate. It was cloudy early in the morning. Looking at the scene, I'm afraid it's going to rain." Zhong Tian said.

"I hope not." The short-haired cat is a female, about middle-aged, with a straight tail behind her back as if showing off, and a collar that doubles as a name card around her neck. She looks dignified and has no fat on her body. "Please call me Mimi, Mimi from La Bohee. Also in the song: 'My name is Mimi'." "Oh." Nakata replied. "There is such an opera by Puccini, because the owner likes operas." As she spoke, Mimi smiled beautifully, "It would be great if I could sing it to you, but unfortunately my voice is not good." "I'm more than happy to see you, Mimi-kun."

"The next one is, Nakata-kun." "Live near here?" "Well, it was kept on the second floor where you can see it. Here, there is a cream-colored BMW 530 parked in the gate, right?" "Yes." Nakata said.Nakata didn't understand what BMW meant, but he could tell it was a cream-colored car.Maybe it's the so-called BMW. "Tell me about Nakata-kun," Mimi said, "I am a cat with a lot of personality—maybe I can say that I am a maverick—I don't want to talk and meddle in other people's business. But this child— —You call it Kawamura-kun?——With all due respect, my brain is not very good. It’s so pitiful. When I was young, I was hit by the bicycle that the kids around here were riding, and I jumped off the concrete. I bumped my head against the wall, and I have been talking incoherently since then. So, no matter how patiently you speak, I don’t think it will help. I have been watching over there, and I can’t stand it any longer, so I couldn’t help but interject, even though I Do you know your duty or not?"

"Where is there, please don't mind. Your advice from Mr. Mimi is really rare. In fact, Nakata and I are half-baked, and there are also no strings in our head. Thanks to everyone's help, we can live in peace and stability. Therefore, every day Yue also received a subsidy from the governor. Of course, your opinion, Mimi-san, is also very valuable." "By the way, you are looking for a cat," Mimi said, "It's not that I was standing and eavesdropping. I just took a nap here in a daze, and occasionally there was a voice coming from over there. It's probably Hu Majun. ?”

"Yes, quite a bit." "Then Kawamura-kun saw Homa?" "Yes. I said that at the beginning. But what I said later, with Nakata's head, I really couldn't understand it, and I didn't know what to do." "How about this, Nakata-kun, if it's possible, how about I try to talk to that child in the middle? After all, they are cats, so I think it's easy to communicate. Besides, I'm more or less used to the child's upside-down words. So , let me ask the question, and then tell you Nakata-kun concisely—what do you think?" "Okay, thanks to such care, Nakata is relieved."

The short-haired cat nodded slightly, and floated down from the top of the prefabricated block wall to the ground as if dancing ballet. Then, still standing upright like a flagpole with its black tail, it slowly walked over to Kawamura and sat down.Kawamura immediately stretched out the tip of his nose to sniff Mimi's ass, but Mimi slapped her on the mouth without losing the opportunity, and immediately shrank back.Immediately afterwards, Mimi hit the opponent's nose with her palm. "Listen to me well, silly guy, be careful to smash your bastard!" Mimi scolded Kawamura sternly. "This kid, you can't be honest if you don't deal with him severely from the very beginning." Mimi turned to Zhongtian, and said in an apologetic manner, "Otherwise, he'll be ashamed, and his words will be even worse. It's not the child's own responsibility. I can't bear it too, but there is no other way." "That is." Nakata agreed in a confused way. Next, a conversation started between the two cats.The conversation was very fast and the voice was so low that Nakata couldn't hear what was being said.Mimi interrogated harshly, Kawamura answered tremblingly, and when he hesitated a little, Mimi slapped him mercilessly.This short-haired cat seems to be crisp and clean no matter what he does.Also educated.Although I have met and talked to many cats before, this is the first time I have met a cat who knows the type of car and can listen to opera.Nakata looked at the short-haired cat's vigorous and vigorous work style with admiration. After Mimi roughly finished her question, she seemed to say "Okay, let's go over there", and drove Kawamura aside.Kawamura ran away dejectedly and disappeared, while Mimi lay on Nakata's lap as if she knew her well. "The situation is generally clear," said Mimi. "Okay, thank you very much!" Nakata replied. "That child... Kawamura-kun said that he saw the little three-haired cat Huma several times in the grass not far in front. It was an open space to build a building. The real estate company bought the spare parts warehouse of an automobile factory, leveled the land, and planned High-end high-rise apartments were built there, but the residents strongly opposed it, and there were long-winded lawsuits and so on, so that the construction could not be started. It is a common thing nowadays. In this way, the grass grows over there, and usually If people don’t go there, it becomes a place for wild cats in this area. I don’t have a wide range of contacts, and I’m afraid of offending fleas, so I seldom go there. You know, fleas are not easy to mess with Yes, it's hard to shake off once you've got your upper body on, just like a bad habit." "That is." Nakata agreed. "I also said that the young and beautiful three-haired cat in the photo wearing a flea collar is in a state of panic all day long, and can barely open his mouth. Anyone can tell at a glance that it is a house cat that doesn't know the world and can't find its way home. .” "When did this happen?" "The last time I saw it seemed to be three or four days ago. After all, my brain is weak, so I can't tell the exact date. However, since it said it was the second day of rain, I think it should be Monday. I remember that there was a pretty big game on Sunday. Heavy rain..." "Oh, I don't know what day of the week it is, but Nakata and I think it's been raining lately. So, haven't seen each other since then?" "It's the last time. The cats around haven't seen a three-haired cat since then. As a cat, it's not fair and stupid, but I questioned it quite severely, and there is probably nothing wrong with it, I think." "thanks, thanks!" "Where, it's a little thing. I usually talk to the cats nearby who are either stupid or dumb, and I can't talk to each other, which makes me anxious. So if I can chat with reasonable people for a while occasionally, I feel so enlightened.” "Uh." Nakata said, "By the way, Nakata, I still don't understand one thing: the blue and white that Kawamura-san keeps talking about, are you referring to the mackerel?" Mimi raised her front legs gracefully, looked at the pink meat ball carefully and said with a sneer, "That child has little vocabulary after all." "vocabulary?" "That kid doesn't know many words." Mimi changed her words politely, "Everything that is delicious, no matter what, becomes blue and white, thinking that mackerel is the most high-end food in the world. Sea bream, flounder, young yellowtail Well, I don’t even know that these things exist.” Nakata cleared his throat: "To be honest, Nakata, I also like mackerel. Of course I also like eels." "I like eel too. It's not something I can eat every day." "It's true. It's not available every day." Afterwards, the two pondered about the eel separately.Only the time of contemplating the eels passed between them. "So, what the kid wants to say is," Mimi continued as if suddenly remembering, "shortly after the nearby cats came to gather in that open space, a cat-catcher started to haunt there. The other cats guessed it was that guy He took Xiao Hu Ma away. The man caught the cat with something delicious as bait and stuffed it into a big bag. The method of arrest was very clever, and the cat with a hungry stomach and no experience in the world could easily fall into his trap. Even vigilant So far, he has caught several stray cats in this hot area. It is inhumane. There is nothing worse for a cat than being put in a bag." "That's it." As he spoke, Nakata stroked his gray hair with the palm of his hand again, "What are you going to do with Mr. Mao?" "Then I don't know. In the past, there were people who caught cats and made Sanxian. Nowadays, Sanxian itself is not a popular musical instrument, and it is said that it is made of plastic recently. In addition, it is said that some people in some parts of the world eat cats. Fortunately, there is no habit of eating cats in Japan. Therefore, I think these two possibilities can be ruled out. As far as I can imagine, by the way, some people use many cats to do scientific experiments. There are various scientific experiments with cats in the world. Among my friends there are It was used in psychological experiments at the University of Tokyo. That thing is not a joke, but it takes a long time to talk about it, so let’s avoid it. Also, there are also perverted people-the number is not many-intentionally abuse cats, such as Catch the cat and cut off the tail with scissors." "This—" Nakata said, "what if the tail is cut off?" "No matter what, I just want to toss the cat and bully the cat. This can make the mood happy. There are people with such a twisted mentality in the world." Nakata thought about it for a moment.What's so fun about cutting off a cat's tail with scissors?He couldn't understand it anyway. "Then, maybe the person with a twisted mentality took Hu Ma away—is that so?" Nakata tried to ask. Mimi curled her long white beard back and forth, and frowned: "Yes. I don't want to think that way, and I don't want to imagine that way, but I can't guarantee that there is no possibility. Nakata-kun, I certainly live It’s not a lot of years, but I have witnessed more than one miserable scene beyond imagination. Most people think that cats are just lying in the sun and not working seriously. Not so idyllic. Cats are weak, vulnerable creatures that don't have a hard shell like a turtle, don't have wings like a bird, can't burrow into the soil like a mole, and can't change color like a chameleon I don't know how many cats are tortured and lost their lives in vain every day. You don't know this. I happened to be adopted by a kind and friendly family named Tanabe. I lived a peaceful and carefree life under the care of the children. No worries. Even so, a little hard work is inevitable. So I think that those of my kind in the wilderness have suffered a lot in order to survive." "Your Mimi-sensei is amazing!" Nakata admired the short-haired cat's eloquence. "Where is it?" Mimi said shyly with narrowed eyes, "When I was lying around at home and watching TV, I became like this. All I added was rubbish knowledge, which was useless. Does Nakata-kun watch TV?" "No, Nakata, I don't watch TV. The words on TV are fast, and I can't keep up with Nakata. I can't use my head, I can't read, and I can't read, and I can't understand the TV. I listen to the radio occasionally. The speed of speaking is also exhausting. It makes me much happier to go out and talk to all cat masters under the blue sky." "thanks, thanks!" "No thanks." "I hope little flax is safe and sound," said Mimi. "Mimi-kun, Nakata, I want to monitor that open space for a while." "According to the child, the man was tall, wearing a nondescript tall hat and long leather boots, and walked very fast. In short, his appearance was very strange, and he could be seen at a glance. There were groups of three and four in the open space. The cats ran away as soon as they saw him coming. But the new cat didn't know what was going on..." Nakata put this information in his head, and safely hid it in the drawer that must not be forgotten.The man was tall, wearing a tall nondescript hat and high leather boots. "I hope it works for you," said Mimi. "Thank you very much. If Mimi-kun doesn't greet you kindly, Nakata and I will still be stuck at Qinghua's place. Thank you very much." "That's what I think," Mimi said, looking up at Nakata, frowning slightly, "That man is dangerous, extremely dangerous. I'm afraid he is a dangerous person beyond your imagination. If it were me, I would never go near that open space. But you are a human being and you are working, so there is nothing you can do about it. You should be more careful." "Thank you. Try to be as careful as possible." "Nakata-kun, this is a violent world, very brutal violence. No one can avoid it. Don't forget this. Be careful and don't be too careful, whether you are dealing with cats or people." "Okay, I must keep it in mind." Nakata said. But Nakata couldn't fully understand where and what kind of violence this world was full of, because there were countless things in this world that Nakata couldn't understand, and almost all of them were related to violence. Nakata bid farewell to Mimi and walked to the open space Mimi had mentioned.The area is as big as a small playground, surrounded by tall plywood, a sign reads "construction site, please do not enter without authorization" (of course Nakata can't recognize it), and a big lock is hung at the entrance.But with a turn to the back, it is easy to get in through the crack in the wall.It looks like someone pried a board open. The warehouses that originally lined up have all been demolished, and the ground that has not been cleared is covered with green grass.The foam grass is tall enough to be taller than a child.A few butterflies fluttered lightly on it.The piled soil has been hardened by the rain, and it is as high as small hills here and there.It really looks like a favorite place for cats.People basically don't come, there are all kinds of small animals, and hiding places are everywhere. Kawamura was nowhere to be seen in the clearing.However, when he saw two or three thin cats with bad fur, Nakata said "Hello" kindly, but the other cats just glanced at them coldly, and disappeared into the grass without a sound.It's no wonder that no one wants to be caught and cut off with scissors by someone with a nervous breakdown. Even Nakata - although he has no tail - is afraid of this fate.It is understandable to be wary. Nakata stood at a slightly higher place, turned around and looked around.no one.Only the white butterfly was flying back and forth over the grass as if looking for something.Nakata found a suitable place to sit down, took out two stuffed buns from the canvas bag on his shoulders, and ate them for lunch as usual. hot tea.In the quiet afternoon scene, everything rests in harmony and stability.It was hard for Nakata to imagine that in such a place, there would be people who deliberately tortured the cats lurking in ambush. While chewing the stuffed bread slowly in his mouth, he stroked his short gray crew cut with the palm of his hand.If someone stood in front of him, it would be inevitable to prove that "Nakata's brain is not working".Unfortunately, there was no one there, so he just nodded to himself a few times and continued to eat the sandwich.After eating the bread, he folded the transparent wrapping paper into a small piece and put it in the bag, then tightened the cap of the thermos bottle and put it in the bag together.The sky was completely covered by clouds.However, judging from the degree of light that shines through, we know that the sun is basically directly overhead. The man was tall, wearing a nondescript tall hat and leather boots. Nakata tried his best to picture the man in his mind, but he couldn't imagine what kind of thing the nondescript tall hat was, and what kind of stuff the long leather boots were.That thing has never been seen before.In fact, you can tell at a glance, Mimi said Kawamura said so.In that case—Nakata thought—the only thing left to do is wait until he actually sees it.In any case, this is the safest.Nakata stood up from the ground and stood in the grass to urinate, urinating in a very long and orderly manner, and then sat down in the corner of the open space in the shade of the grass that was as unobtrusive as possible, and decided to wait for the strange man. Kill the afternoon. Waiting is boring work.It is even impossible to estimate when that person will come next time.Maybe tomorrow, maybe a week later, or no longer appearing here is also unknown-this possibility is also conceivable.But Nakata was used to waiting for something without expecting something, used to killing time by himself doing nothing, and he didn't feel bad at all about it. Time is not a major issue for him.He didn't wear a watch.Nakata has his own time flow that suits Nakata.When the morning comes, it becomes brighter, and when the sun sets, it becomes dark.When it was dark, I went to the nearby bathhouse, and I wanted to sleep after returning from the bathhouse.The bathhouse is sometimes closed on Sundays, so just turn around and go home.When it was time to eat, he was naturally hungry, and when the day of receiving the subsidy came (someone always told him that day was coming), he knew that a month had passed.On the second day after receiving the subsidy, I went to a nearby barber shop for a haircut.When summer came, people in the district let him eat eels; when the first month came, people in the district gave him rice cakes. Nakata relaxes his body, turns off the switch in his head, and puts his existence in an "energized state".For him, this is a very natural behavior. Since he was a child, he didn't think much about muddling along.After a while, he began to flutter back and forth on the edge of consciousness like a butterfly.Opposite the edge lay the dark abyss.From time to time he broke away from the edge and hovered over the dizzying abyss.But Nakata wasn't afraid of the darkness and the depth of the water.Why are you not afraid anymore?That bottomless world of ignorance, that sluggish silence and chaos, was a sincere friend in the past, and now it is a part of himself.Nakata is clear about this.In that world, there are no words, no days of the week, no pretentious governors, no operas, no BMWs, no scissors, and no top hats.Also no eel, no sandwiches.Everything is there, but no parts.Without parts, there is no need to trade something for something.Nothing needs to be removed or installed.You don't have to think about it, just commit yourself to everything.For Nakata, that was more fortunate than anything else. From time to time he fell into lethargy.Even in his sleep, his loyal five senses were on high alert for the clearing.As soon as something happens there, someone is there, he wakes up and takes action.The sky was covered with gray clouds that were as flat as mattresses, but it seemed that the rain would not stop for a while.The cats knew this, and so did Nakata.