[Novel] I Was Here—The Cat Says Nothing, But Sasebo Knows the Town Scenery (Episode 13: "Waiting at the Exit of the Night" / "A Few Minutes to Return to Myself")

Side A: "Waiting at the Exit of the Night"
—Bun-chan and the snack bar mama's dawn

I am a cat. Bun-chan.
The night town has a different scent than the day.
Perfume and cigarettes, ice in glasses, air mixed with lies and truths.

One street behind Yotemise Park Street.
In a narrow alley where the neon lights don't reach, there is the door of an old snack bar, glowing faintly.
Just before 5 a.m., that door opened with a small creak.

A woman came out, the sound of her heels echoing faintly.
Her hair was coming undone, and even though her makeup had faded, her back was still straight.
But, just around her shoulders,"Good work"was clinging to her.

I was sitting right in front of her.
Beside the canned coffee vending machine.
On the wet asphalt of the alley.

She noticed me and stopped.
For just a few seconds, silence.
And then, she smiled softly.

"…You were still here. Until such an hour in the morning."

I don't meow.
Instead, I blinked slowly.
So that she would know I had been waiting the whole time until the night broke.

She took a cigarette out of her bag, but didn't light it.
She just squatted down, took off her heels, and stretched out her legs.

"I guess I'm getting old... Standing for this long really takes it out of me."

Her words were tinged with a touch of loneliness and a kindness she showed to no one else.

She was probably the type who would smile and pour drinks at the bar, skillfully drawing out stories from others.
But as for her own stories... she might not have told them to anyone at all.
Perhaps she never shared them with anyone.

I quietly approached and stood beside her.
I leaned my body against her back for just a moment.

She patted my head gently.

"Thank you... You don't say a word, you just stay right there, and that really helps."

The sky around us began to turn white little by little.
The colors of morning began to seep into the cobblestones of the alley.

I stood up and held my tail straight up.
That was my signal for "see you later."

She put her heels back on and stood up.
Her face still looked a little tired, but a faint light had returned to the depths of her eyes.

At the exit of the night, I was waiting.
For that one moment when a person returns to being themselves.

And today, once again,
I head to the place where someone lets out a "true sigh."

I am the cat that appears in that spot.

[End]

Side B: "A Few Minutes to Return to Myself"
—The Snack Bar Woman and Bun-chan in the Morning

As I locked the door, I could feel the exhaustion reaching even my fingertips.

The neon lights were already off, and the alley was dim.
This time, where the lingering traces of night mix with the signs of morning, is the quietest.

The sound of my heels fell onto the damp asphalt.
The voices of drunks and the forced laughter of customers
had completely faded from my ears.

When I suddenly looked up, there he was.

Bun-chan.
I don't know how long he had been there,
but he was sitting on the wet ground next to the vending machine, as if he had been waiting for me.

"...You were still here? Until this early in the morning."

The reason I spoke out loud was probably because
I couldn't help but want to talk to someone.

Bun-chan said nothing.
But that "silent feeling" was just right.

I took a cigarette out of my bag, but didn't light it.
I just squatted down right there, took off my heels, and stretched out my legs.

"Maybe I'm getting old. ...Standing for this long really takes it out of me."

If I said that to a customer, they'd just reply, "No way, you're still so young!"
A job of repeating insincere sincerity.
That is the way of the night in this town.
But for Bun-chan, I don't need any of that.

Bun-chan leaned his body against me a little.
His fur was warm and a little damp,
and in that weight, I thought, "Ah, I worked hard today, didn't I."

"Thank you. ...You don't say anything, you just stay right there, and that really helps."

Words I never intended for anyone to hear
rolled smoothly off my tongue.

Bun-chan stood up and held his tail straight up.
As if to say, "That's just fine."

I stood up too and put my heels back on.
My back, which had felt so heavy until just a moment ago,
felt somehow a little lighter.

Those few minutes when a woman who lives for the night returns to the morning.
That time I don't want anyone to see,
Bun-chan was there for me.

"Alright, let's go home."

My voice, a little too loud for talking to myself, was swallowed up by the morning alleyway.
Bun-chan's back was already walking toward a different kind of silence.

...I wonder if you'll be there tomorrow morning, too.
Thinking that,
I said 'I'm home' to the version of myself that had shed the night.

[End]

Previous episode▼

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 at the Bottom of 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 the 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" / "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 Properly Become a 'Father'?"

• Episode 10: "The Voice of Fish, My Father's Back, Cat 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"

• Chapter 13: 'Waiting at the Exit of the Night' / 'The Few Minutes Until I Return to Myself'

• Chapter 14: 'Before the Sound That Hasn't Yet Rung' / 'Sorry. But, Thank You' / 'Does Staying Mean 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 Lifting the Noren' / 'Bun-chan, It's Not Over Here Yet'

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

• 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: 'Light Ignites Between the Two' / 'I Thought You'd Come. I Have No Proof, Though' / 'I didn't exactly go to see you—you probably wouldn't believe me if I said that'

• Chapter 21: 'The One on the Boundary' / 'I Can Tell by the Scent Whether It's a Departure or an Arrival'

• Chapter 22: 'Even If 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' / 'Because 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're a Policeman' / 'There Was a Kind Presence in the Shadow of Your Hat'

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 town for university and found employment 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 somewhat nostalgic, yet certainly changed, scenery of Sasebo and the people living 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 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 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 named 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, in the creation of this book, I have utilized
OpenAI's ChatGPTas a creative partner.At first, I consulted on the plot with a light heart, wondering 'what kind of stories would be born with a cat and a town as the stage,' but before I knew it, it became days of
carefully exploring the breath of the story and the lingering resonance of the words through dialogue with AI.'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 a story, was an essential process for this work.Sasebo is a town of slopes and harbors.
Both the scenery that has changed and the atmosphere that remains unchanged 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 a national university in Kyushu with a degree in 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 => University staff member (← Current position). 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, storytelling, psychology, AI, and design, centered around my serialized column series, 'The Science of Thought.' I am currently exploring 'free knowledge design' 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 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!