[Shirokuma Literature Club] Spring Wind [2000-character novel]

"It feels like a spring wind."
Norihide said abruptly, looking up at the sky.

Not Norihide, but Kenshu, he calls himself.
He is a monk.
Not in the sense of having a shaved head, but in the sense of being a Buddhist priest at a temple.
He is the head priest of a small Jodo sect temple along the Shonan Monorail line that connects Ofuna and Enoshima.
Dressed in samue work clothes and holding a bamboo broom, Kenshu, who is cleaning the temple grounds, blinks his eyes rapidly.
He looks like a young man in his twenties or thirties, but since he claims his actual age is much older, it is monstrous.

"What is a spring wind?"
"A spring wind, you see, makes your eyes itchy."
"That's just hay fever."
"No, it is definitely not hay fever."
Having said that, Kenshu begins to gather the bamboo leaves scattered by the wind with his bamboo broom once again.
I just watched him.
Being unable to do anything but watch blankly without even helping, I am useless. That is a little frustrating.

"What's wrong? You look a bit dissatisfied."
Kenshu laughs over his shoulder without looking at me.
How can he tell my expression from behind his back? The sound of the bamboo broom sweeping the ground, 'swish, swish,' echoes in my ears, and I don't feel very good.
My hearing is better now than when I was a human.
I jump onto a nearby stone lantern to put some distance between us so the sound doesn't echo as much.
A Japanese white-eye, perhaps startled by me, a cat, jumping onto the stone lantern, flew off from a nearby pine tree. Seeing that, I think I've done something bad.
"Killing is not allowed in the temple grounds."
Kenshu says in a joking tone. The words were heavier than I expected, and I couldn't answer immediately.
"Not true, it wasn't on purpose."
"What, are you really depressed?"
Kenshu stops his hands again and looks at me.
In that moment, the wind scatters the bamboo leaves he had worked so hard to collect.
Even though I think, 'Oh no,' Kenshu doesn't seem to care at all.
He should just leave me alone, but Kenshu comes over to me.
"Hey, you're wasting time. You should finish it quickly."
"Well, yes, but with this wind, it'll be the same again soon anyway."
Saying that, Kenshu leans the bamboo broom against the stone lantern.
"Come here."
He says, reaching out his hand.
They say 'whitefish-like' when describing beautiful hands, and his are exactly like that. I can't believe they are the hands of an old man.
I don't really want to go to the hand offered to me, so when I stay still, he picks me up forcibly. I'm still not used to the feeling of floating in the air when being held by a human. I get scared and cling to Kenshu in a panic.
"Oh, hey. Don't struggle."
"Don't just pick me up suddenly. It's scary."
"Practice makes perfect, as they say."
I am held up by Kenshu and my throat is stroked. It is inevitable that I start purring while being stroked.
"There, that feels good, doesn't it?"
"It's just purring on its own."
I struggle and kick Kenshu's arm to land on the ground.
The bamboo leaves I stepped on at the landing spot made a small rustling sound.
Even though nothing has been cleaned, Kenshu is about to put the broom away.
"Wait, wait, you haven't finished cleaning yet."
"Hmm, but your ears hurt, don't they?"
"Well, yes, but."
"Besides, for some reason, you seem to want to be by my side today."
That's true, but it's annoying to admit it, and my tail thumps against the dirt on its own.
"For now, sweeping can wait. The wind is too strong."
Come on, let's go, he says, and I follow him.

There is a sound of wings, and a sense that the Japanese white-eye has returned to the pine branch. I resist the urge to turn around and follow Kenshu.

Kenshu is still blinking his eyes.
"It's itchy, isn't it?"
"The spring wind carries all sorts of things, you see."
"Like pollen."
"It is not hay fever."
"Then, cat allergy?"

Kenshu turns around with a surprised look.
"Who told you that?"
His voice is soothing.
With a grunt, he picks me up again.
"Well, I wonder. I don't remember, but did someone tell me, or did I tell someone?"
"You couldn't have told anyone, since you're a cat."
"But maybe I was a human in a past life."
"Even so, you're a cat now."
Again, my throat is stroked. I purr.

"You don't have to be so tense. Since you've come to my place, just relax. You were acting strangely tense earlier, too. You don't have to do anything."

As I am held and stroked, I gradually become sleepy.
It's the spring weather.
The spring wind blows. Carrying all sorts of things.
"Is a talking cat creepy?"
I muttered, barely able to keep my eyes open.
I hear a tinkling laugh. After that, Kenshu's voice fades away.

"A monk who catches and keeps his dead lover every time they are reincarnated, regardless of whether they are human or not, is far creepier, so we're even."

Before I could understand the words I heard, I heard the sound of the spring wind.

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The image was borrowed from Minna no Photo Gallery.

#ShirokumaLiteratureClub

This week too,Shirokuma Literature ClubI am visiting.

I haven't been to note much lately, so it's been a little while.
The theme this week is "Spring Wind".

I started writing without any plan or vision, and in two hours, a somewhat strange story was created.

This is my sixth time participating in the Shirokuma Literature Club.
These are the submissions I have made to the Shirokuma Literature Club so far.

I am grateful to always be able to participate and have fun.