Déjà Vu Towel: Cobalt Green / The Color of an Overslept Holiday - Hitoiro Exhibition

“Huh? Oh! Shoot, work!! ...Wait, today is... my day off.”
The warmth of the duvet I pull back over myself is, I think, the greatest happiness of the morning.

There is one other thing I repeat every time I have a day off.
“Ugh, it’s already 10 o’clock. I’ve wasted half the day.”
Yawning as I wake, I open the curtains.
“Looks like it might rain. Guess I’ll skip the laundry.”
If I don’t have to rush through chores, the guilt of wasting half the day is just talk.
It’s a day off, a day off.
My loosely set perm puffing up is a sign that the weather is about to turn.
I smooth it down roughly with my fingers and head to the kitchen.

A luxurious, colorful hot sandwich with slices of Iberico pork, herb cheese, egg, and lettuce.
I slowly brown both sides.
It’s leftover from the girls' night in we had the other day, but it’s top-tier.
With a large cup of sweet café au lait, I settle into the small table by the window.

In the cobalt-silver sky that has hidden its transparency, the Italian parsley and rosemary, pretending to be a balcony garden, also sway in a dull green.

A quiet holiday.
And yet, I’m startled to realize that checking my smartphone has become a habit.
It’s been a week since I broke up with him.
If a small argument leads to this result, I’ve decided I’m done with romance for a while.
A lazy holiday feels fresh, and I feel excited wondering what to do.

I’m not lonely at all.

It seems to have started drizzling.
I can hear the sound of raindrops hitting the green leaves.
When I went to close the window, I made eye contact with a gray tabby cat sitting at the edge of the balcony.

A neighborhood cat I’ve taken to calling Tora-kun.
He seems to like our first-floor balcony and sunbathes there from time to time.

But it would be a pity if he got wet in the rain.

After thinking for a bit, I pulled out the cobalt-colored umbrella he had left behind.
I widened the gap in the planter shelf and covered it with the open umbrella.
“You can take shelter from the rain here.”
I just said that and walked away. Don’t be scared.

A while later, when I peeked out, Tora-kun was sitting under the umbrella.
A gray tabby under a cobalt-silver umbrella blocking out the gray rainy sky.
Protective coloration. It doesn't look out of place next to the raindrop-dripping green.
“Oh, I’ll lay out a towel for you.”
Get some rest, even if it’s just a little, on a day like this.

Ding-dong

The chime rang.
When I opened the door, he was standing there with a slightly awkward look on his face.
“Oh, you need a towel, right?”
I went to get a second towel, feeling surprisingly natural inside.

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This short-short story was written for Asami Ishino’s monochromatic illustration exhibition, "Hitoiro Exhibition."
The theme is Cobalt Green, the color of an overslept holiday.
I hope I was able to capture an opaque color sense based on metallic cobalt.
Thank you very much.