Page 23 of We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat

It was clearly a mistake to come in to help.

When she arrived at the restaurant, it quickly became apparent that it was beyond a matter of someone taking the day off and being short-staffed. Aside from the large-group reservations, a steady stream of customers kept the place constantly full. It was dizzyingly busy.

The waitstaff and kitchen crew worked nonstop until the final customer, after complimenting the delicious tofu, departed. When Reona went to the bathroom, she ran into her fellow part-timer who’d been working shifts all week. She, too, looked worn-out.

“Thank god you came in on your day off, Reona! It’s actually my first time getting to use the bathroom today.”

“Wow. You’ve been on shift all day, right?”

Reona, too, had not been to the bathroom since arriving, but she hadn’t felt the need to go. She had been so busy that she hadn’t had time to drink water.

“I was so busy that I didn’t have time to take a break,”

said her colleague.

“In the past, I’ve gotten a UTI from holding it in for too long. Have you ever had a UTI before?”

“No, I haven’t. You need to take care of yourself.”

“I will. I’ll do the rest now, so you go home. A little kitten is waiting for you. Every moment of kittenhood is precious.”

Cat lovers are so generous when it comes to felines, thought Reona.

Reona thanked her profusely. Her legs felt wobbly, and a creeping drowsiness made her body feel warm. The cats were likely to be sound asleep, curled up together.

It was already ten o’clock when she got home. Perhaps because it was the first time in a week that she had been in to work, she felt extra tired. Her vision was blurry, and her body felt heavy.

Is something wrong?

She had initially thought it was just regular fatigue, but something definitely felt off. She felt feverish, and even though she had used the bathroom at the train station, she needed to go again.

She emerged from the bathroom, her back bent from the stinging pain. Her mother sat in her pajamas, watching TV.

“M-Mom.”

Her voice sounded feeble even to herself.

Her mother furrowed her brow.

“What’s wrong? You don’t look well.”

“There’s a lot of blood. My urine was bright red.”

“What?!”

She placed a hand on Reona’s forehead.

“Oh no, you have a high fever. It’s likely a UTI.”

“R-really?”

Reona couldn’t sit still due to the persistent stinging and itching in her lower abdomen.

“Let’s go to urgent care right away.”

Her mother dragged Reona’s father out of the bath and made him get the car while he was still soaking wet.

The diagnosis was pyelonephritis, a medical condition she had never heard of. It indicated that the bacteria had multiplied and were causing inflammation in her kidneys. The doctor informed her that the causes were not going to the bathroom for an extended period and dehydration.

Reona was admitted for the night. She lay on her back in bed while receiving antibiotics intravenously. Her mother sat beside her in a folding chair.

“You’re really something else. Cats are prone to kidney problems, and here you are, the owner, getting sick instead. What are we going to do with you?”

“Sorry. I should’ve drunk more water. It was so busy, it slipped my mind.”

She couldn’t believe that dehydration had landed her in the hospital.

She stared up at the ceiling. Since she had never been seriously ill, hospitals unsettled her. The air was dry; the sheets were cool. She was anxious.

But her mother was by her side. She would always be there for her. At that moment, Reona even wished her mother could sleep next to her, as she had when she was little. Of course, she knew that wasn’t possible now, but she realized that anxiety and loneliness brought on this feeling. This must be why the two cats at home hugged each other tightly in their sleep.

“Were Hajime and Shasha cuddling in their sleep again today?”

Reona uttered her question toward the hospital room ceiling.

“They may have woken up from the commotion, but they’ll fall asleep soon enough. Especially the kitten; they really do sleep all the time anyway.”

“When Shasha leaves, Hajime will be all alone again.”

“It is what it is. Tomoya’s cat has always been alone, hasn’t he? That’s just the way it goes.”

It’s Tomoya this and that again. Laughter bubbled up inside Reona.

“Tomoya’s cat…We really should ask Tomoya to bring him over one day. He said he’s very gentle.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t like black cats, remember?”

Reona’s mother scoffed in disbelief.

Not again. She had said that before. Reona continued lying on her back and tilted her head.

“I don’t dislike black cats. I like all cats.”

“You say that, but when Tomoya brought home his first cat, you were terrified because it was black and made a huge fuss. Don’t you remember?”

Reona’s mouth fell open.

I was scared of black cats? Tomoya’s first cat?

Her mother was laughing.

“You just kept crying and crying because some black cat in a manga used evil magic. You were so upset that Tomoya had no choice but to return the kitten to his friend. He thought it would be distressing for both you and the cat if it stayed. He’s always so kind and caring toward you. So, in place of the black cat, we got Hajime, who also needed a home. You really don’t remember any of this?”

“No…”

No matter how hard she traced her memory, she couldn’t recall the black kitten. It had been returned to its original home because she had rejected it. And Hajime, who joined them instead, had pretty much rejected Tomoya.

That doctor had said, “There’s no way of knowing if your choice might end up changing something for someone.”

Reona’s actions had impacted many people, but it was unclear if the outcomes were good or bad. Was it a good thing that Hajime came to their home? What had happened to the cat that was returned?

What if the black cat had become part of their family? Her brother would surely have adored it. He doted on Hajime, too, but he would have likely cherished it even more. If that had been the case, would he have taken his current job? Had it influenced him in some way? Tomoya had later adopted a black rescue cat. Was that cat a stand-in for the black kitten he couldn’t keep due to Reona?

There was simply no way to know.

The next morning on Reona’s return home, Hajime emerged to greet her. When they first got it, the chimes of the bell on her collar could be heard clearly from afar; now, it produced sounds as gentle as her movements.

Reona felt a soft head nuzzled against her instep, an interaction that had long since become routine for them.

“Hajime.”

She dropped her gaze to the cat rolling about at her feet. As soon as she crouched down, Hajime darted away toward Shasha and lay down beside her. Reona had heard that cats with an age gap often had trouble getting along, so their friendship was not something to take for granted. Hajime was caring like her brother and had never once given her a scratch.

Suddenly, the words she really wanted to say came to mind.

“Hajime, thank you for joining our family.”

She realized that not everything was a given. Her mother had brought Reona her things while she was hospitalized, and her father had taken time off from work to drive her mom to the hospital. None of these things could be taken for granted.

“Mom, Dad, thank you both so much.”

“All right, all right. Make sure you take the full course of antibiotics they prescribed you. You mustn’t stop taking them halfway.”

Reona was startled at her mother’s words. Today was the ninth day since she’d been prescribed Shasha. The doctor had said that if she was able to say what she wanted to say before the tenth day, she was welcome to return the cat early.

“I want to talk to you guys about something,”

said Reona.

Her serious face made her parents furrow their brows and exchange glances.