C1 Part1

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Did you know a cat that lives for a long time becomes a bakeneko? Ask anyone that question and they’ll have some memory of it.

“I don’t care if I become a bakeneko, because I want to be by your side.”

It must have been him who said that, as he stroked fur soft to the touch. Or perhaps he was the one being stroked. His consciousness started to become muddy, like a caterpillar liquefying in its chrysalis before it turns into a butterfly, it was like he had been thrown into a mixer. A serious, but ephemeral young boy with downcast eyes playing with a black cat: that single image came to mind. Just where had he seen that before? Was it because he had wanted to stay by the side of that boy with the lonely eyes that he desperately wished every day,

“I want to become a bakeneko.”

No, that wasn’t it. He had the memory of looking at a cat lovingly. The black cat that would look right back up at him was so cute……

His visual memory kept changing. Was he a cat, or was he a boy? As he floated in that hazy space between dream and reality, he heard the sound of someone turning in their sleep and a murmured “ngh…” in his ear.