[Novel] I Was Here—The Cat Says Nothing, But Sasebo Knows the Town Scenery (Episode 25: "Today, There Was No Sound of a Broom" / "When He's Quiet, I Felt the Garden Got a Little Bigger")

Side A: "Today, There Was No Sound of a Broom"
—Bun-chan, in the sunny garden

　I am a cat. Bun-chan.
　While walking here and there in the town of Sasebo,
my daily routine is to look for a pleasant sunny spot.

　That garden was a particularly pleasant place.
　The morning sun would shine in smoothly,
　the wind was warm, and the ground was soft.

　But—the old man there is a bit troublesome.

　When he sees me, he immediately yells "Hey!"
　and chases me away with a broom in his hand.
　From what I've heard, it seems another cat once messed up his flower bed.

　So, I don't stay there for very long either.
　Even when I curl up in the sunny spot,
　my ears are always listening for the sound of the broom.

　But—this morning, it was different.

　Just as the sun began to shine through the gaps in the stones,
　even when I entered the garden,there was no sound of a broom.

　The old man was sitting on the veranda,
　looking down, not moving his hands.

　When I approached out of curiosity,
　the old man noticed me.
　However, there was no usual yelling, nor was there a hand gripping a broom.

He just let out a slow sigh and said this.

"...I won't chase you away today."

I was surprised.
I didn't even say meow, and
I sat down gently on the step of the veranda.

For a while, silence flowed.
The sound of birds, the sound of the wind.
In the midst of that, the old man muttered to himself.

"The old woman... she hasn't been feeling quite right lately."

His voice was neither angry nor resigned.
It was justa voice like he was talking to the sky.

I kept my eyes narrowed and didn't move.
I can tell by the smell.
The air in this garden has changed a little.
The thread that was always pulled tight
is quiet today, as if it has come undone.

"...So cats have times when they are quiet like this, too."

The old man laughed suddenly.
It was a laugh that seemed to
take the tension out of his shoulders, just a little.

Feeling the warmth of the sun on my back,
I decided to stay there a little longer.

Just for today, I won't be chased away.

That alone made the sunny spot in this garden feel a little special.

[End]

Side B: "When He's Quiet, I Feel Like the Garden Gets a Little Bigger"—The sunny veranda, an old man's monologue

I hated cats. No, to be precise—it wasn't just cats that I hated.

A few years ago, some stray cat got into the flower bed that my wife and I had carefully tended together and left its droppings.

Ever since then, every time I saw a cat, I would instinctively brace myself.

Especially that brown and white cat—it would often sneak into this garden and sunbathe.

Every time I found it, I would grab a broom and chase it away.
"What do you think you're doing, hey!" I yelled at it many times.

But, today was different.

Since this morning, my wife hasn't been feeling quite right.
Lately, she's been going back and forth between sleeping and waking, and her words have decreased, her smiles have decreased...

The doctor says it's 'only temporary,' but
deep in my chest,
something heavy and ominous has taken root.

For a change of pace, I sat on the veranda,
and as I stared blankly at the garden,
that cat appeared again.

Usually, I would have grabbed the broom without a second thought.

But today, I didn't even feel like standing up.

It was strange,
the cat didn't do anything either. It didn't even meow.
It just sat by my side,
and stayed quiet, as if soaking up the sun with me.

'I won't chase you away today.'

Before I knew it, I had said that out loud.

The cat didn't say anything, but
it flicked its tail slightly,
and looked at me as if to say, 'I know.'

It's not that the old woman is in a hospital room.
She is here.
But somehow, I felt like she was about to go far away,
and that... was just a little bit scary.

If it had been a person in the garden with me at that moment,
I probably wouldn't have been able to say anything.

But because it was a cat,
it didn't talk, and it didn't pry.
It just 'was' there.

For some reason, I felt a little bit relieved.

It's strange...
A cat is just a cat, right?
But, today,I feel like I didn't have to chase it away.

As the sun began to tilt, the cat stood up and walked through the garden.
Without looking back, just naturally.

"You can come back again, you know."
I didn't say it out loud, but,
in my heart, that is certainly what I was thinking.

[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 Below the Hill" / "The Flower Shop of Words"

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

• Episode 4: "I'm Waiting for You" / "The Scent of 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" / "The Me Who Still Doesn't Understand"

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

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

• Episode 10: "The Voice of Fish, My Father's Back, the Cat's Footprints" / "Standing in My 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 Deep Within the Scent"

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

• Episode 14: "Before the Sound That Hasn't Yet Rung" / "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 Into Sweat" / "You're Here Today Too, Bun-chan"

• Episode 17: "The Reason for Raising the Noren Curtain" / "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 Winner Who Does Not Sing and the Clown Who Does Not Laugh" / "The Distance Seen from Above, the Scent Reaching from Below"

• Episode 20: "A Light Ignites Between the Two" / "I Thought You Would Come. Even Though I Had No Reason" / "I didn't exactly go to see you—though you probably wouldn't believe me if I said that"

• Episode 21: "The One on the Boundary" / "I Can Tell Both Departure and Arrival by the Scent"

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

• Episode 23: "Even on days when there is no sound, there are those who can hear it" / "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 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 certainly here" / "Because they were here"

• Episode 28: "Because those hands were kind"

• Episode 29: "The scent of dried nets and the kindness of silence" / "Even if nothing is said, there are things that are understood"

• Episode 30: "I'm glad you were a police officer" / "In the shadow of the hat, there was a gentle presence"

Afterword

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

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 "returned to live in this town again," through the quiet lens of a 'cat's perspective'.The protagonist, Bun-chan, is a white and brown calico cat.
He does not speak human language, but by simply being there, he gently accepts the small fluctuations in people's hearts and the expressions they show to no one else.
A cat in a corner of town.
While that is all he is, he is a presence that is certainly remembered as having "been here."
The title of this collection was chosen as a phrase that symbolizes Bun-chan's way of being, as well as Sasebo as a "place where memories remain" for the people who have spent time in this town.
Furthermore, in the creation of this book, I have utilized
OpenAI's ChatGPTas a creative partner.At first, I consulted it about the plot with a light heart, wondering "what kind of stories could be born with a cat and a town as the setting," but before I knew it, my days were spent
carefully exploring the rhythm of the story and the lingering resonance of the words through dialogue with the AI. "A cat that doesn't speak," "people who don't want to talk," "memories of a town that disappear without being told"—I feel that being able to shape these themes into something that is sometimes like poetry and sometimes 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 unchanged 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
Author

Profile | Kazuomi Matsunaga

Biography: Graduated from a national university engineering department in Kyushu (Materials Engineering) => Engineer at a metal materials manufacturer in the Chukyo region (Production Technology) => Advertising sales for a local Nagasaki prefecture free paper => School corporation staff (<- currently here). A person in their 50s living in Nagasaki Prefecture.
A writer who lets their 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 serial column "Science of Thought" series. I am exploring "free knowledge design" that transcends existing frameworks. My motto is "Imagination opens up the world."
While working in university and education-related fields, I value carefully observing "the moment when people start to 'like' something" and "the scenes where questions sprout."
🧭 I would be happy if I could deliver articles that help a "new perspective" sprout within you after reading.
Feedback is always welcome!