[Novel] I Was Here—The Cat Says Nothing, But Sasebo Knows the Town Scenery (Episode 29: "The Smell of Dried Nets and Silent Kindness" / "There Are Things That Are Understood Without Saying Anything")

Side A: "The Smell of Dried Nets and Silent Kindness"
——Bun-chan, a story about a reticent old man I met at the fishing port

　I am a cat. Bun-chan.
　Back when I was still young.
　I was walking through the thin-aired places between towns,
　searching for a place to call my own.

　That day, I arrived at a fishing port in the suburbs of Sasebo.
　The smell of the sea was strong, and mixed with the scent of fish,
　the smell of the fibers of dried nets rode on the wind.

　There were few people around,
　and only the sound of the waves rhythmically hitting the quay.

　I walked along the breakwater,
　and sat down in the shadow of a wooden crate.
　I hadn't eaten anything since morning, so
　I had come to the port with a little bit of hope.

　There, there was a fisherman.
　His back was rugged,
　and the eyes visible from under his hat were as deep as the color of the sea.

　Our eyes met, but he said nothing.
　However, after a while,
　he quietly took a small fish out of the ice box at his feet,
　and dropped it onto the ground.

　——It was a silent signal.

　I took one step, then another, closer,
　and took the fish in my mouth.
　It was delicious. It was cold and fatty.

　Instead of saying thank you,
　I sat down next to the old man.

A few days later,
I started going to the fishing port every morning.

The old man never says a word.
Occasionally, he drops a fish for me.
After I finish eating, I always bask in the sun nearby.

A time without words.
But there, a 'greeting' deeper than sound existed.

One day, the old man suddenly stopped coming to the port.

His boat remained still, and
I heard other fishermen saying, 'Looks like he caught a cold.'

Even so, I kept going to the port.
I sat in the shadow of a wooden crate and listened to the sound of the waves.
For some reason, I couldn't settle down.

A few days later, the old man returned.
He had lost a little weight, but he looked well.

When I showed my face,
the old man smiled faintly for the first time.

'So, you really were coming here...'

That was the only thing he said.
But that was enough.

That day, the old man gave me a bigger fish than usual,
after taking the trouble to cut it up for me.

The taste was one I could never forget.

Before I was known as the "town cat",
I was just a cat.
But, by being by the old man's side, I learned how important it is to "watch over someone's daily life"
.

Since then, I started going to be by the sides of various people in town.
Not just at the harbor, but in front of shops, in parks, halfway up the slopes...

Everywhere I went, I decided to just "be" there.

Because, maybe I, too, could leave behind a sunny spot like that harbor
within someone's quiet daily life.

[End]

Side B: "There are things that are understood without saying a word"
—From the fisherman's recollections

The morning harbor wakes me up with the smell of the tide, the sound of machinery,
and the cold sea breeze.

For decades now, I've woken up at the same time,
gone out on the same boat to the same sea,
and caught the same kind of fish.

That's just how it is.
That has been my job and my life.

The first time I met him was
around the end of autumn.

He was still a young cat with a glossy coat.
But his eyes were strangely calm,
and somehow,“eyes that were watching someone intently”was what they were.

Maybe he was drawn by the smell of fish.
But he didn't meow like a normal cat,
he just sat there silently, looking at me.

On a whim,
I dropped a small fish from the ice box for him.

Then, he slowly approached,
took it in his mouth, sat down flat,
and stayed right there beside me.

—He didn't say a word, just like me.

After that, he started coming to the harbor every single day.
He didn't really do anything in particular.
But he was a strange fellow who made me feel somehow at ease when he was around.

I caught a bad cold,
and there were a few days I couldn't go to the harbor.

When I finally showed my face again,
he was in his usual spot.

With a leaf stuck to his fur,
he looked up at me as if to say, "Where have you been?"

At that moment,
something deep in my chest tightened.

"So, you really did come..."

The words that came out back then,
I wonder how many years it had been since I said something like that to anyone.

That cat seems to be called "Bun-chan" now.
It seems to be by various people's sides all over town.

There's nothing I ever taught that guy, but—
I feel like the importance of quietly staying by someone's side is something that truly remains within him.

This morning, too, I look up at the sky while drying the nets.
The wind has turned cold, but
I feel like somewhere in the harbor, I can see that tail swaying softly.

Just thinking that,
I don't know why, but it makes me feel like I can do my work properly today, too.

[End]

Previous episode▼

List of series titles: (Scheduled to be posted sequentially)

• Episode 1: "The Cat on the Hill" / "The Delivery Person's Mission"

• Episode 2: "The Letter Shop at the Bottom of the Hill" / "The Word Florist"

• Episode 3: "The Tail Map" / "The Tail Arrow"

• Episode 4: "I'm Waiting" / "The Scent of the Wind, the Sound of Curry"

• Episode 5: "The Tail Guide" / "A Cat in Sasebo"

• Episode 6: "The Sound That Unravels Me" / "The Sound of Trying Too Hard"

• Episode 7: "The Day I Let Go of That Hand" / "Me, Still Not Understanding"

• Episode 8: "The Reason I Cried That Time" / "A Mother's Heart, the Warmth of a Child's Hand"

• Episode 9: "The Night I Couldn't Say 'I'm Home'" / "Will I Be Able to Become a Proper 'Father'?"

• Episode 10: "Fish Voices, Father's Back, Cat Footprints" / "Standing in Father's Shop"

• Episode 11: "The Day I Returned to Land" / "A Heart Returning to Port"

• Episode 12: "Beside a Warm Tail" / "The Presence of Distant Mountains Behind the Scent"

• Episode 13: "Waiting at the Exit of the Night" / "The Few Minutes to Return to Myself"

• Episode 14: "Before the Sound Has Finished Ringing" / "I'm Sorry. But Thank You." / "Is Staying Behind the Same as Running Away?"

• Episode 15: "Beside the One Who Prays in Silence" / "The Prayer of the One Who Prays"

• Episode 16: "Before the Silence Turns to Sweat" / "You're Here Today Too, Bun-chan"

• Episode 17: "The Reason for Raising the Noren" / "Bun-chan, it's not over here yet"

• Episode 18: "I didn’t say it out loud, but you heard me." / "A voiceless voice, I can hear it clearly, you know"

• Episode 19: "The Silent Winner and the Unsmiling Clown" / "The distance seen from above, the scent reaching from below"

• Episode 20: "A Light Ignites Between the Two" / "I thought you'd come. I have no proof, though" / "I didn't exactly go to see you—though you wouldn't believe me if I said that"

• Episode 21: "The One on the Boundary" / "I can tell by the scent whether it's a departure or an arrival"

• Episode 22: "Even When Falling, Only the Eyes Look Forward" / "I wanted to say that I did it"

• Episode 23: "Even on Days Without Sound, There Are Those Who Can Hear" / "Beyond the sound, there is a heart"

• Episode 24: "The Sound of Unraveling Is Not in the Voice, But Deep in the Eyes" / "Mother, the cat, and the stranger" / "On the slope, I felt two winds overlap"

• Episode 25: "Today, There Was No Sound of a Broom" / "When he is silent, I feel the garden grows a little wider"

• Episode 26: "Even If You Can't Hear the Bell, the Wind Is Still Blowing" / "Even if the bell doesn't ring, the scent of feelings remains here"

• Episode 27: "Someone was definitely here, you know" / "Because they were here"

• Episode 28: "Because Those Hands Were Kind" / "Since the day I touched that child, I feel the town has become a little warmer"

• Episode 29: "The Scent of Dried Nets and Silent Kindness" / "There Are Things That Are Understood Without Saying a Word"

• Chapter 30: 'I'm Glad You're a Police Officer' / 'There Was a Gentle Presence in the Shadow of the Hat'

Afterword

Thank you for picking up this book.
And I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for walking with Bun-chan and the town of Sasebo this far.

I was born and raised in Sasebo.
However, I left the town for university and started working outside the prefecture.
But after several turning points in my life, I am now living in this town again.
This collection of short stories began with my desire to depict the scenery of Sasebo—which is somewhat nostalgic yet has certainly changed—and the lives of the people who live there, as seen through my eyes now that I have 'come back to live in this town again,' through the quiet lens ofa cat's perspectiveThe protagonist, Bun-chan, is a white and brown calico cat.
He doesn't speak human language, but by simply being there, he gently catches the small fluctuations in people's hearts and the expressions they show to no one else.
A cat in a corner of the town.
While that is all he is, he is a presence that is surely remembered as having 'been here.'
The title of this short story collection was chosen as a symbol of Bun-chan's way of being, and of Sasebo as a 'place where memories remain' for the people who have spent time in this town.
Furthermore, for the creation of this book, I have utilized
OpenAI's ChatGPTas a creative partner.At first, I started discussing the plot with a light heart, wondering 'what kind of stories would be born with a cat and the town as the stage,' but before I knew it, my days became
a process of carefully exploring the rhythm of the story and the lingering resonance of words through dialogue with AI“A cat that doesn't speak,” “people who don't want to talk,” and “memories of the town that disappear without being told”—I feel that being able to shape these themes into something that is at times like poetry and at times like a story through collaboration with ChatGPT was an essential process for this work.
Sasebo is a town of slopes and harbors.
The scenery that has changed and the atmosphere that remains the same all continue to nurture the memories of the people and the town.
I would be happy if Bun-chan's story could gently nestle into your heart as one of those memories.
Spring 2025
From the town of Sasebo
The Author

Profile | Kazuomi Matsunaga

Biography:Graduated from Kyushu University, Faculty of Engineering (Materials Engineering) => Engineer at a metal materials manufacturer in the Chukyo region (Production Technology) => Advertising sales for a local free paper in Nagasaki Prefecture => School corporation staff (<- currently here). A person in their 50s living in Nagasaki Prefecture.
I am a writer who lets my thoughts play daily at the intersection of 'questions' and 'curiosity.' Recently, I have been writing about my own unique perspectives on themes such as education, stories, psychology, AI, and design, centered on the serialized column series 'The Science of Thought.' I am exploring 'free knowledge design' that goes beyond existing frameworks. My motto is 'Imagination opens up the world.'
In my professional life, while involved in university and education-related work, I value carefully observing 'the moment when someone comes to like something' and 'the scenes where questions sprout.'
🧭 I would be happy if I could deliver articles that leave you with one 'new perspective' after reading them.
Feedback is always welcome!