Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso © Arakawa Naoshi
. . .
that stray cat—I named her after someone I loved the most.
. . .
It was a horrible nightmare.
Arima Kousei sat on his own bed, hugging his own knee in tremor. Shaking, shivering, he bit his own lips. The sun didn't even say hello, yet it kept hiding all behind the bleak cloud. A gray, dreary morning had come. A lonely, cold, gloomy morning. At least, his full-framed eyes caught something beautiful just outside his window.
Sakura.
A pretty spring, it supposed to be. But no, Kousei didn't think so. How could he admire the beauty of a plant while inside, his stomach gave an unpleasant jolt every time he think about something blue. His life. His lonely, pathetic life.
The sakura tree stood alone in the end of the road. Beautiful, but lonely. Kousei knew it was the only tree standing nearby, nothing else. It always been there, even since he was a naïve child, alone. The tree was just the same. Even Kousei stayed the same, still a naïve—teenager.
His eyes burned with tears. It was the fifth time this year. He cried a lot these days. He couldn't deal it, he didn't know how. Just thinking what has been taken from him enough to make him throw things out of the window, at least before Hiroko finally stopped him—and hug him. But she wouldn't always stay in his house, would she? She has to take care of her daughter and anything else, let alone Kousei. Kousei is old enough to take care of himself. Yet not strong enough to take care of his life.
His life was a true melancholy.
"How could you take everything I have?" he spoke a whisper to the windy atmosphere just outside his waving curtain. His voice trembled. "How could I lose the very same thing…"
He fell backward, leaning on his messy blanket, eyes covered with wide palm. Terror tore his heart, again. The desk lamp shone dimly, his neck creeped coolly. Then silence fell, all around him. Perfectly deserted. Just then until a loud bark deafen him completely. He pushed his neck out to caught sight of a small kitten just the size of his palm climbing a low branch of sakura, and the loud bark came from a dog, now it's howling in anger.
Kousei forgot everything and jumped out of his window, landing on his own bushes, in a silly way, with hand gripping an average size round pebble. His pajama covered in leaves and twigs. He ran his best speed towards the tree, shrieking, "Go! Leave!"
The dog didn't even blink.
"L-leave, I said!" groggily faking a throw-stone move. He didn't expect it to be so fast, yet the dog actually ran away and turned right behind a park.
A soft purr filled his hearing. Something that sounded like a warm chuckle. Kousei smiled, handing his own palm toward the low branch. He watched the tabby cat—no, kitten—with yellow and white fur colored her body jumped to his palm, pretty much agile.
Kousei smiled. Was it just his feeling, or were they actually look just the same?
"You reminded me of someone," he checked the kitten's body and didn't found anything, just in case she had injured. The kitten sat on his palm happily, gave a light sound of mew and nyaw. Kousei understood that she was very thin. So he quickly walked back to his house to fill an empty bowl with milk.
"We'll have to shower you right after this," he decided by himself. The kitten wasn't actually dirty but a bit smelly. "You have to smell sweet," he spoke a second later. "Therefore you will fit the name I'm going to give you."
The kitten didn't pay much attention. She finished her meal two minutes later and ran to Kousei, who was merely watching her. It only took about eight minutes to have the kitten's fur shining, soft, and sleek. Kousei then showed her a plate of dessert.
"You like cannele?"
The kitten didn't respond. She licked her own paw and rolled over. Well, only to make sure. Kousei then laughed to himself. "Of course not. Sweets especially chocolate won't be good for cat," he shoved a paper bag full of cannele back to the cabinet. "Alright. That's not a problem," and she jumped to his shoulder. "Thus, I will name you after her. Be a nice kid, Kaori."
Kaori purred and bit his ear in delight.
fin