Page 22 of We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat

“Maybe my mother feels guilty for having ‘taken’ Hajime away from my brother.”

It was Saturday, eight days after the clinic prescribed Shasha to Reona. With no school, she had spent the morning relaxing at home before heading over to Shousuke’s in the afternoon. She had brought Shasha with her in a pet carrier.

Shousuke lay Shasha on her back and scratched her tummy.

“So Hajime’s your family cat? Originally, it was Tomoya who took her in, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. He had all sorts of pets growing up—bugs, fish, and stuff—but Hajime was the first big animal. I think he was disappointed when Hajime became attached to our mother instead of him. I mean, I’d be upset if Shasha bonded with only my mom. That’s why I try to care for her as much as possible. I’ve even taken this week off from work.”

Shasha was excited to have her stomach rubbed, and she nipped periodically at Shousuke’s fingers.

“Ouch! This one’s teeth are getting pretty sharp. The instruction leaflet said she should learn from play-fighting with her siblings, but she doesn’t have any.”

“Hajime is teaching her. Shasha tumbles around on her own, but occasionally, Hajime intervenes to stop her as if to say, ‘That’s enough!’ Rather than playing with her, it feels more like Hajime is supervising her.”

“But she still bites a lot. Maybe because of the big age gap, Hajime goes easy on her.”

“Exactly. Something like that.”

Hajime was a senior cat. It must be exhausting for her to keep up with the energetic Shasha.

“Ouch!”

Shousuke drew back his hand.

“Enough. That hurts. Reona, it’s your turn.”

“I don’t want to be bitten either!”

“You have a cat, so you’re used to this.”

“Hajime doesn’t bite or scratch. If something bothers her, she just hisses. It’s my brother who’s used to pain. You know he cares for the cats at the rescue center, and it’s intense. His arms are covered in scratches, and he’s even been bitten on the tip of his nose!”

“Taking care of rescues seems tough, with the cats acting out and trying to escape.”

“Yeah. The amazing thing about Tomoya is that despite working so hard with cats all day, he also has his own at home. A few years ago, he adopted one of his rescues. At the time, I thought it was an unusual decision, but maybe the cat was a kind of replacement for Hajime.”

“Because Hajime had become your mom’s cat?”

“More or less.”

Reona lumbered toward the bed, eyeing Shasha.

“To me, Hajime is like a family member, not a cat. So it doesn’t bother me who she’s closest to as long as she’s healthy. But when Shasha came along, and since she’s so cute, I started to feel like I wanted her to like me best. I guess it’s a kind of possessiveness. If this was what it was like for my brother, I’m sure he had complicated feelings about it. And Tomoya is too kind to blame anyone.”

“You’ve become softer toward your mom and brother, Reona. Maybe it’s because you’re taking two cats at the moment,”

said Shousuke.

Reona let out a strained laugh. Does he actually think I’ve become more optimistic thanks to that weird doctor?

Shousuke looked solemn.

“In any event, I think you should avoid saying it.”

“Saying what?”

“What you said at the clinic. That you hate your mom.”

“Oh,”

she said.

“I didn’t mean that.”

“There are some things people won’t understand unless you say them out loud, but there are some things that, once said, you can’t take back. It’s best to keep harsh, irreversible things to yourself rather than expressing them emotionally.”

“Shousuke, that was—”

“If you feel like you need to tell her, I’ll be there with you. It really helped to have you there when I told my parents I was giving up on Kyoto University the other day. Things have been tense with my parents, and if you hadn’t been there, I probably would’ve said something I’d regret.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Shousuke was always cheerful and kind. Even someone like him had issues with his parents. It was somewhat comforting to know it wasn’t just her.

“Thank you. But I really don’t have anything I want to tell her. What I wanted to say…”

There are probably things I want to say. She realized this now. You couldn’t see into a home from the outside. Once you stepped inside, you realized that each family inhabited its own world.

“No, there were things I wanted to say, but I already said them. So I’m okay.”

Yes, that weird doctor allowed me to say what I wanted to say in his examination room.

It felt like something had come undone then.

She put Shasha back in the carrier and went home. As soon as she got in, her mother was there to greet her.

“Reona, Hajime has been searching for Shasha.”

“Oh, really?”

She set the carrier down in the living room and immediately heard a meow. It was Hajime, approaching with her tail raised high. She appeared thrilled to have been reunited with Shasha, finally. Shasha also emerged from the carrier, her tail fluffy and upright like a handheld duster. Both tails clearly conveyed their owners’ feelings.

Reona watched. It was cute and heartwarming not only to see them so affectionate with each other, but also because her mother, too, was watching.

“Hajime really dotes on Shasha. She’ll really miss her when she’s gone.”

“Yeah, she seems to want a friend.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do—Shasha comes from Tomoya’s rescue center,”

Reona said.

She felt a slight pang in her heart. By bringing Shasha home, she may have introduced Hajime to the feeling of loneliness, which, in turn, caused her mother pain. I’ll just adopt Shasha. The thought had crossed her mind many times.

But the relationship with a cat was a long one. When Hajime first arrived at their home, Reona had still been a child. Now, she was an adult. Depending on their choices, she and Shasha might share a significant portion of their lives together. It was a major decision.

Her phone rang. It was from the yudofu restaurant. Today was her day off, and she had a bad feeling about it.

As she had expected, a coworker had called in sick, and the restaurant urgently needed her to fill in. She tried to refuse, but they begged her to come in. She hung up, feeling dismayed.

“Who was it?”

asked her mother.

“Work. It seems they really need help, so I’m going in.”

“If they need help, you’ll just have to go in. I’ll give Shasha her food, then.”

Her face beamed. Shasha, hearing the mention of food, stepped toward her mother’s feet. Reona was not amused.

Huh! she thought but then paused. Was she unamused because she felt Shasha had been taken from her, or was she simply jealous over her mother’s attention toward the cat?

“I’m acting like a child!”

“Did you say something?”

“No, it’s nothing. Thank you for taking care of feeding Shasha. Also, please make sure you give Hajime small portions and remove anything she doesn’t finish. Tomoya said we should do that routinely.”

“Really? Well, if Tomoya says so.”

Just the mention of her brother put her mother in a better mood. She, too, acted like a child.