Chapter 0: Prologue
My name is Arisugawa Hiroaki, I'm 22 years old, and I'm a part-time worker.
As you can probably imagine, after graduating from a liberal arts university, I spent my days aimlessly, without anything in particular that I was interested in doing. Of course, the usual story of not having a girlfriend = number of years lived is also common for me. I currently live alone in an old apartment near the subway station, about three stops from my workplace.
But I also have a little fun in my life. That would be admiring the stray cats that sometimes appear on the balcony of my apartment. Of course, pets are not allowed inside the apartments, so I don't let them live in my room, but I like to give them treats and Matatabi (Japanese Catnip) so I can see their cute reactions.
Today, another ordinary day in my life, I'm returning home as usual with my dinner and pet supplies that I bought at a supermarket near where I live.
As I turned the corner of the park near my apartment, I caught a glimpse of something white passing by.
No, if you look closely, it looks like a white cat. I've never seen one with this kind of coat around here. I quietly approached the unsuspecting cat, making sure no one was around, and spoke to it in a low voice.
"Hey, I've never seen you around here. Where did you come from?"
I tried to gently crouch down and pet it so as not to scare it, but the white cat turned to me, took one look, and then suddenly ran off.
"Hahaha, I expected that would happen."
Cats must be very wary of strangers, I thought to myself, when I suddenly looked in the direction the cat was running.
Surprisingly, the white cat was already in the middle of a pedestrian crossing where the pedestrian signal was red, when a large truck was heading towards it with no obvious signs that it was going to slow down.
"Hey! It's dangerous! Get out of there, cat!"
Even if he tried to say something like that to the animal, there's no way this stray cat could understand him, he doesn't have any power to communicate with animals. The white cat just stands there, illuminated by the bright lights of the approaching truck.
Before I knew it, I jumped in front of the truck to save the cat from being hit.