[Novel] I Was Here—The Cat Says Nothing, But Sasebo Knows the Town Scenery (Episode 8: "The Reason I Cried That Day" / "A Mother's Heart, the Warmth of a Child's Hand")

Side B: "The Reason I Cried That Day"—Bun-chan and the Lost Mother

That day remains deep in my heart forever.
The harbor breeze, the bustle of the arcade—everything races through my mind like a rewind.

—I had only taken my eyes off him for a few minutes.

My son was in front of the lemonade stand.
I trusted his hand when he said, "I'm just going to look."
But when I turned around, he was nowhere to be found.

“I'm sorry, have you seen him?”
“Around here... a little boy...”

I asked so many people.
But as time passed, I could feel my own voice trembling.

Impatience and anxiety tightened around my whole body.
“I'm a mother,” “How could I look away,” “What if something happened.”

Words blaming myself circled in my head over and over again.

That was when it happened.
In front of the stationery store, in the corner of my vision, a cat appeared.

Brown and white patches. A calm gait.
It walked straight toward me, as if it had “a reason for being here right now”.

From right behind that cat, I heard small footsteps.

“Mama!”

—That voice. That tearful face.
There was no time to think about anything else.
I instinctively hugged my son.

“Thank goodness, thank goodness...”

At that moment, tears welled up all at once.
From relief? From regret? From gratitude?

A jumble of feelings I couldn't even understand for myself all spilled out.

The stationery shop owner said.

“That’s Bun-chan. That child knows the path of a lost child well.
……And the way home, too.”

I looked at the cat again.

——“Bun-chan”.

The child someone called by that name said nothing, but simply swayed its tail gently.

“Thank you, Bun-chan.”

The harbor sunset was dyeing the cobblestones gold.
The warmth of my son's hand was still trembling.

But beside that, another warmth remained.

It was a wordless, yet certain kindness that told me, who had almost become afraid of “being a mother”,
“It’s okay. You’re facing it properly.”

——Surely, Bun-chan didn't lead my child.
At that time, the one who was most lost
might have been me myself.

And even now, when I suddenly feel like I might lose my way,
I remember the swaying of that tail from back then.

"It's okay. You can go home."
Along with a voice whispering that way inside my heart.

[End]

Side A: "A Mother's Heart, the Warmth of a Child's Hand"—From Bun-chan's Perspective

I am a cat. Bun-chan.

The wind in this port town smells different depending on the day.
Today's wind was a little bit restless.
The smell of the sea, the voices of people, and one more thing—loneliness smell.

When I pricked up my ears, I could hear people's footsteps quickening.
"Excuse me, have you seen a little boy?"
"Where did he go... that child, where...?"

—It was a "mother's" voice.

I started walking.
What caught on the tip of my nose was the sweet scent of lemonade, and
the small presence of someone holding back tears somewhere.

Yes, I had already found that child.
But just taking him back isn't enough.
Where I need to head now is—toward that mother's "heart."

In front of the stationery store. I simply appeared there.

Behind me were small footsteps.
And the sound of someone running, cutting through the wind.

"Mama!"

Voices, hands, tears, and warmth—
Everything collided all at once,
and a gentleness like the air spread out around me.

I will never forget
the look on Mother's face at that moment.

Tears don't just overflow when you're sad.
People also cry in the "moment they forgive themselves."

Beside her, I said nothing and did nothing.
I simply gave my tail a soft flick.

"It's Bun-chan, isn't it?"
The lady at the stationery shop said.

—That's right, I am Bun-chan.
I only appear suddenly when people are at their most lost.

I start walking again, blending into the harbor breeze.
At that moment, Mother said softly,

"Thank you... Bun-chan."

—That one word is more than enough.

A child searches for their mother.
A mother, too, is searching for her own self as a mother.
And sometimes,both of them get lost.

But if someone says, "I'm here for you,"
in that instant, the heart finds its way home.

I am a cat.
But sometimes, I hold the tail of the wind,
gently pointing out someone's 'way home'.

[End]

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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 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 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: "A Night I Can't Say 'I'm Home'" / "Will I Be Able to Properly Become a 'Father'?"

• Episode 10: "The Voice of Fish, My Father's Back, a 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 Behind the Scent"

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

• Chapter 14: "Before the Sound That Won't Ring Out" / "I'm Sorry. But, Thank You" / "Is Staying Behind the Same as Running Away?"

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

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

• Chapter 17: "The Reason for Raising the Noren" / "Bun-chan, It's Not Over Here Yet"

• Chapter 18: "I didn’t say it out loud, but you heard me." / "I Can Hear Your Voiceless Voice Just Fine"

• Chapter 19: "The Winner Who Doesn't Sing and the Clown Who Doesn't Laugh" / "The Distance Seen from Above, the Scent Reaching from Below"

• Chapter 20: "A Light Ignites Between the Two" / "I Thought You'd Come. I Have No Proof, But Still" / "I Didn't Exactly Come to See You—Though You Probably Won't Believe Me"

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

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

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

• Chapter 24: "The Sound That Unravels Is Not in the Voice, But Deep in the Eyes" / "Mom, the Cat, and the Stranger"

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

• Chapter 26: "Even If You Can't Hear the Bell, the Wind Is Still Blowing" / "Even Without the Sound of the Bell, the Scent of Memories Remains Here"

• Chapter 27: "Because Someone Was Certainly Here" / "You Were Here"

• Chapter 28: "Because Those Hands Were Kind"

• Chapter 29: "The Scent of Dried Nets and Silent Kindness" / "Even Without Saying Anything, There Are Things That Are Understood"

• Chapter 30: "I'm Glad You Were a Police Officer" / "There Was a Kind Presence in the Shadow of Your Hat"

Afterword

Thank you for picking up this book.
And I offer 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 town for university and started working outside the prefecture.
But after several milestones in my life, I am now living in this town again.
This collection of short stories began with my desire to depict the Sasebo I see now—a town that feels nostalgic yet has certainly changed—and the lives of the people within it, throughthe quiet lens of a 'cat's perspective'.
The protagonist, Bun-chan, is a white and brown patched cat.
He doesn't speak human language, but by simply being there, he gently accepts the small tremors in people's hearts and the expressions they show to no one else.
A cat in the corner of 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 to symbolize that way of being, and 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 utilizedOpenAI'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 stage,' but before I knew it, it became a daily routine ofcarefully exploring the breath of the story and the lingering resonance of words through dialogue with AIdays.
'The cat that doesn't speak,' 'the person who doesn't want to talk,' 'the memories of the town that disappear without being told'—I feel that shaping these themes through collaboration with ChatGPT, sometimes like poetry and sometimes as stories, was an essential process for this work.
Sasebo is a town of slopes and harbors.
The scenery that has changed and the air 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
Author

Profile | Kazuomi Matsunaga

Biography:Graduated from a national university in Kyushu with a degree in Engineering (Materials Science) ⇒ Engineer at a metal materials manufacturer in the Chukyo region (Production Engineering) ⇒ Advertising sales for a local free paper in Nagasaki Prefecture ⇒ Educational institution staff (← Current position). In my 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, storytelling, psychology, AI, and design, centered around my serialized column series, "The Science of Thought." I am exploring "free design of knowledge" that transcends existing frameworks. My motto is "Imagination opens up the world."
In my professional life, while working in university and education-related fields, I value carefully observing "the moment someone starts to 'like' something" and "the scenes where questions begin to sprout."
🧭 I would be happy if I could deliver articles that leave you with a "new perspective" after reading them.
📮 Impressions and messages of support are always welcome!

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