(The sun’s out today. Looks like a good day to go exploring.)

A tabby cat lounged on the low earthen wall built to protect the town, basking in the sun as it watched the people around it.

(All right. Now.)

Once it was sure no one was looking, the cat leaped over the wall and landed effortlessly in a haystack below.

(Why is there a haystack here...?)

Cats don’t have the sharpest eyesight, so it couldn’t make out things very well at a distance. From where it stood, everything below the wall was just a patchwork of colors. It had picked a spot close in color to the earthen wall, figuring it might be a tall mound. It had already braced itself for a hard landing when its paw sank into the soft hay.

(Lucky me.)

It poked its head out of the haystack and shook itself, scattering bits of straw from its fur. A cat had to stay clean and elegant at all times.

It looked back at the earthen wall—not too high, not too low.

(Goodbye! Starting today, I’m going back to nature and living off the land like a self-sufficient cat!)

Then it headed for the forest outside town without looking back.

…………

But the very next day, people found a shivering cat huddled in a corner at the town entrance.

(Damn it... Cats are not freaking kings of the jungle... The animals in this world make no sense, meow!)

It had thought that, with a cat’s agility and its own clever brain, surviving in the forest would be a piece of cake. It had also watched plenty of wilderness survival shows in its previous life, and figured it could handle the dangers of these woods.

But reality was way beyond anything it had imagined: snakes that breathed fire, tigers that could fly, lizards that could snap a tree in half with their tails, and giant field rats even bigger than itself.

The cat figured that to survive in these woods, it would need the power of the owl it had seen that night—the one that kept appearing and disappearing in midair. It wasn’t just moving too fast to see. It really opened a hole in front of its head, slipped its whole body through, and instantly appeared somewhere else.

Luckily, just as it stepped into the forest, a powerful presence engulfed it. It flattened itself against the ground, not daring to move at all. It only caught glimpses of those creatures at the forest’s edge, but that was enough to make it turn tail and run back to town.

“Meow, meow, meow...”

(I think I’d be better off staying with humans...)

At least it knew its way around the human world. There was no need to step into a world full of monsters and get itself killed for nothing.

So it went back to town and, as if it had done it a hundred times, pushed open the door to the guard booth. The captain, who was about to boil water for tea, stared at it in surprise.

“You’re here a little early today, little one. Did something happen?”

Looking puzzled, the captain took some leftover food from a drawer, put it on a small porcelain plate, and slid it toward the cat. That was when he noticed that most of the little creature’s fur was wet. It was covered in dew from spending the night lying near the forest.

As the cat dug in without a care, the captain scratched his head, then rummaged through the place until he found an old blue towel. He crouched beside the cat and gently dried its damp fur.

The cat didn’t resist at all. Its tail even brushed lightly against the captain’s toes.

Once he was done, the captain put the towel away. The water for his tea had just boiled, but the cat was still busy eating.

The captain smiled, gave the cat’s head a rub, and sat back down in his chair.

After a little while, the cat finished eating, completely satisfied. It looked up and saw the captain absorbed in his newspaper, and gave it some thought.

(It’d feel kind of rude to just leave like this. He’s been feeding me for so long, after all.)

So the cat went over to the captain’s desk and gave his trouser leg a gentle tug.

“Hm?”

The captain looked down, surprised. Ever since he’d rescued this cat, it had acted like it owned the place. Apart from showing up right on time every day for a meal—and letting him give it a rub then—it never got close to him at all.

Thinking about how this cat had shown up at a completely different time than usual, the captain fell into thought...

“Meow, meow.”

(I’m leaving, so you’d better take care of yourself, kid.)