[Novel] I Was Here—The Cat Says Nothing, But Sasebo Knows the Town Scenery (Episode 39: "Thoughts Swaying on the Water's Surface, and Bun-chan Again" / "The Scent Along the River, and the Shadow of Prayer")

Side B: "Thoughts Swaying on the Water's Surface, and Bun-chan Again"
—Misaki's Perspective

The depths of my chest
remained tightly constricted.

The words my uncle muttered quietly.
"Dad might not make it."

With just that sound,
the world turned completely white for an instant.

I couldn't
stay inside the hospital anymore.

After leaving Sasebo City General Hospital,
I slipped past the side of the Civic Cultural Hall,
and headed toward the park along the river behind the hospital.

Early spring light.
A still-cold wind.
The surface of the river, too,
was shining quietly, without even a single ripple.

As I walked,
Misaki remembered that day.

The emergency call from my mother that came to my workplace.
The moment I was told, "Grandpa has gone missing in the mountains,"
the depths of my body froze.

And right after that,
the phone call I received from him.

From him, who had been dispatched
as a Coast Guard officer.

"I saved him, but he hasn't regained consciousness... I'm sorry."

He did nothing wrong.
He is a precious, precious benefactor
who tried to save my grandfather.

I knew that.

But.
At that time,
I had spat out words that sounded like blame over the phone.

"Why did you let Grandpa..."

Since then,
I haven't spoken to him.

Immediately after hanging up,
I couldn't even answer the one call he made,
and I still haven't been able to reach him.

I haven't even properly seen
his face or heard his voice.

Out of self-loathing,
I couldn't stand being myself.

Reaching the gazebo in the park,
Misaki sat down on a bench.

When she passed a mother pushing a stroller,
the pain that had pierced her chest was still lingering.

The surface of the river
was vaguely reflecting the spring light.

I felt like I was going to cry.
But,
if I cried here,
I felt like I wouldn't be able to stand back up again.

Just as I lowered my face.

Softly, at my feet, a warm presence.

When I looked up,
white and brown patches.
A small scar on one ear.

—Bunchan.

That cat,
who had quietly sat by Misaki's side back then too,
when she was about to be crushed by work.

Bunchan,
today too, without saying a word,
simply sat down neatly next to Misaki.

Not meowing,
not rubbing against me.

Just, being there.

With just that,
my heart, which had been tightly constricted,
felt like it had loosened just a little.

Misaki
quietly let fall
the tears she had been holding back.

I'm sorry.
Thank you.
To Grandpa.
To him.
And, to myself.

The tears
were softly absorbed
into the river's surface.

Bunchan
flicked his tail, just once, gently.

It was
as if he were saying,
"It's going to be okay."

Misaki smiled faintly.

Just then.
Her smartphone vibrated in her pocket.

Startled, she took it out,
and the name "Mother" was displayed.

Misaki, her fingers trembling slightly,
pressed the call button.

The moment I held it to my ear,
my mother's voice
burst out with energy.

—And then,
Misaki's face suddenly relaxed.

Tears welled up in her eyes again.
But this time,
it was a different kind of tear.

In the shadow of the arbor,
Misaki nodded her head slightly, over and over again.

Bunchan
watched over the scene quietly.

The spring light
danced
sparklingly on the surface of the river.

[End]

Side A: "The Scent Along the River, and the Shadow of Prayer"
—From Bunchan's perspective

I am a cat. Bunchan.

Today, too, I was walking along, listening intently to the scent of the town.

The scent of the tide and the river mingle,
along the Sasebo River in early spring.

From the direction of the hospital,
softly,
a painful sound drifted over.

I,
headed that way.

Sasebo City General Hospital.
A large, white building.
The thoughts of many people,
come and go here every day.

From the shadow of the building,
a young woman emerged.

Her face was cast downward.
Her shoulders were trembling slightly.

—It was someone I knew.

Misaki Tanaka.
The girl who, before, outside the welfare facility,
had been curling her heart up small.

It had,
the same scent as that time.

She wants to cry, but she is holding it back without crying.
So that no one will see,
a sound like that, clenching tight deep inside her chest.

Misaki
walked slowly along the riverside path.

I
followed a little way behind.

The scent of the river.
The still-chilly wind.
The early spring light
was flickering on the water's surface.

Misaki
eventually arrived at Sasebo Park.

She passed a mother pushing a stroller,
and looked down slightly.

Toward the bench in the gazebo.
Unsteadily,
as if drawn to it.

I
walked softly after her.

Misaki
sat on the bench,
and was looking at the river.

The tears hadn't spilled yet.
But,
the sound of them about to spill
could be heard from deep within her chest.

I
sat down quietly beside Misaki.

It didn't even meow.
It was just,
quietly, there.

When Misaki noticed me,
her eyes widened for just a moment,
and then she immediately,
softly lowered her gaze.

It was the same eyes,
as that day.

Tears,
trickled down her cheeks.

But,
they were not,
tears of a broken heart.

They were,
a little bit,warm, spring tears.

I,
gave my tail a gentle flick.

—It's okay.
—I'm here.

At that moment.
Inside Misaki's pocket,
her smartphone vibrated.

Looking startled,
she hurriedly took it out,
and pressed the call button.

At the voice on the other end of the phone,
Misaki's face
suddenly brightened up.

As if the
heavy shadow from just a moment ago
had softly dissolved into the wind.

Misaki
nodded repeatedly,
and then, she gave a small smile.

The surface of the river
caught the spring light and was sparkling.

I
was watching that quietly.

Today, too,
I was here.

[End]

• Episode featuring the phone call from him in the previous chapter▼

• Episode featuring Misaki's appearance▼

• Bun-chan (deformed version) LINE stickers are now available🐾▼

• The previous episode is here▼

List of series titles: (To be posted sequentially)

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

• Episode 2: "The Letter Shop Below the Slope" / "The Word Florist"

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

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

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

• Episode 6: "The Sound That Unties 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 Properly Become a '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 Rings Out" / "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. Even Without Any Reason" / "I didn't go to see you—you wouldn't believe me if I said that, would you?"

• Episode 21: "The One on the Boundary" / "I Can Tell by the Scent Whether You're Leaving or Arriving"

• Episode 22: "Even If You Fall, Your Eyes Are Still Looking Forward" / "I Wanted to Say That I Did It"

• Episode 23: "Even on Days Without Sound, There Is Someone Who Can Hear" / "Beyond the Sound, There Is a Heart"

• Episode 24: "The Sound That Unravels Is Not in the Voice, But Deep in the Eyes" / "Mother, the Cat, and the Stranger" / "Halfway Up the Slope, I Felt Two Winds Overlap"

• Episode 25: "Today, There Was No Sound of a Broom" / "When He Was Silent, I Felt the Garden Grow a Little Larger"

• Episode 26: "Even if you can't hear the sound of the bell, the wind is still blowing" / "Even if the bell doesn't ring, the scent of memories remains here"

• Episode 27: "Because someone was definitely here" / "Because they were here"

• Episode 28: "Because those hands were gentle" / "Since the day I touched that child, I feel like the town has become a little warmer"

• Episode 29: "The scent of dried nets, and a silent kindness" / "Even if you don't say anything, there are things that are understood"

• Episode 30: "I'm glad you're a police officer" / "There was a gentle presence in the shadow of your hat"

• Episode 31: "What Bun-chan reminded me of" / "The scent of memories rose up around the wooden box"

• Episode 32: "The last flight of spring, and Bun-chan." / "The scent of the bus, and the rules of spring"

• Episode 33: "A drink, the night breeze, and Bun-chan." / "When the tempo is off, listen to the sound of the wind"

• Episode 34: "A mountain of lucky bags, and the scent of that day" / "Beyond the scent of the mountain of lucky bags"

• Episode 35: "A waltz mixed in the wind, and Bun-chan" / "Under the cherry blossoms, while scooping up the wind"

• Episode 36: "The scent of water, and Bun-chan" / "The scent of water, and the sound of footsteps"

• Episode 37: "The scent of the river, a prayer, and in the silence of spring" / "The scent of the river, a vow, and Bun-chan"

• Episode 38: 'The Scent of the Tide, the Words Conveyed, and Bun-chan' / 'The Wind Scooping the Tide, and the Sound of Prayer'

• Episode 39: 'Thoughts Swaying on the Water's Surface, and Bun-chan Again' / 'The Scent Along the River, and the Shadow of Prayer'

• Episode 40: 'The Sound of Unraveling, and Bun-chan' / 'The Sound of Passing Through the Wind, and the Scent of the Sea'

Afterword

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

I was born and raised in Sasebo.
However, I left the town for university and went on to work outside the prefecture.
But after several turning points in my life, I am now living in this town once again.
This short story collection began with my desire to depict the scenery of Sasebo—which feels nostalgic yet has certainly changed—and the lives of the people within it, as seen through my eyes now that I have returned to live here, using the quiet lens of a 'cat's perspective'.
The protagonist, Bun-chan, is a white and brown patched cat.
He does not speak human language, but by simply being there, he gently accepts the small fluctuations deep within 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 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 ChatGPT as a creative partner.
At first, I consulted it about the plot with a light heart, wondering 'what kind of stories might be born with a cat and a town as the setting,' but before I knew it, my days became about 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,' '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 Science) => Engineer at a metal materials manufacturer in the Chukyo region (Production Technology) => Advertising sales for a local free paper in Nagasaki Prefecture => Staff at an educational institution (<- Now here). A person in their 50s living in Nagasaki Prefecture.
A writer who lets 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 transcends existing frameworks. My motto is 'Imagination opens up the world.'
In my main profession, while involved in university and education-related work, I value carefully observing 'the moment when people come 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.
Any feedback is also very welcome!