Page 4 of We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat

“Noelle! That’s dangerous. Come down!”

As she reached up, the cat lowered her triangular ears and bared her fangs. Moé hastily retracted her hands.

That’s so scary.

Her grandparents’ cat, with its large, pudgy face, occasionally grumbled with displeasure, but it never showed its teeth. This was the first time Moé felt truly threatened. If she reached out again, she was likely to be bitten or scratched.

Reluctantly, she gave up on bringing Noelle down and went to prepare her food and water. Into the litter tray, she poured the gravelly litter Kotetsu had used. After lining up all three, she decided to observe from a distance.

But no matter how long she waited, Noelle wouldn’t come down. She’d dropped her stomach to the rail and inched back and forth repeatedly. She didn’t seem to like it when her rump got close to the edge of the rail, as her hind legs would dangle down, making her shift forward again.

“Can’t get down then, even though you’re a cat?”

Shouldn’t the cat scale the wall, just as she had on the way up? But apparently, she couldn’t even do that, and just looked longingly at the floor. Whenever Moé reached up to her, she visibly recoiled.

“Then why did you climb up there? Oh, you have to be kidding me. What am I supposed to do?”

When she looked up the terms “cat”

and “curtain rail”

on her phone, all she could find were images of cats adorably sprawled on rails, with articles explaining cats’ fondness for climbing them. But apparently, cats had a hard time descending butt first. To enable Noelle to jump headfirst, all Moé needed to do was create a platform at a nonintimidating height for Noelle to leap onto.

Not so easy, since she had no stepladder handy. Something tall. Something a cat can use as a stepping-stone.

“I got it! My suitcase!”

Pleased with her idea, Moé went to her closet, where her suitcase was tucked away at the very back. As she pulled out the items from the front of the closet, an avalanche of clothes and shoes cascaded down. She brushed aside the clutter and dragged out the suitcase. With this, Noelle could jump down safely.

“All right, Noelle!”

When Moé turned around triumphantly, she found Noelle by her feet, looking silently up at her. She then gracefully circled the room before she found her food and began to nibble on it.

I’m glad you’re eating, thought Moé as she looked on. But it would’ve been nice if you had come down a bit sooner.

Her apartment looked as if she were in the middle of moving. Still, she was relieved to see the cat drinking water.

Noelle was more petite than Kotetsu. Her back was peppered with small, irregular rosettes, and black stripes marked her rear and legs. Save for the one patch on her back, she could easily pass for a tabby cat.

The pattern on her back, different from leopard print, was intriguing. What could this pattern be? Big circles and little circles. Her fur was somewhat long, so the pattern was a bit unclear, but there were four dots on each misshapen circle.

“Noelle, it looks like someone stepped on your back!”

The patterns on Noelle’s back resembled animal paw prints, as if a cat had walked all over her. Moé let out a chuckle.

The cat looked over from her water bowl and tilted her head curiously.

Another week with a cat. It was unexpected, but it made Moé so happy, she couldn’t stop smiling. Then the doorbell rang, and her smile vanished. Shoot! It’s Ryuji.

Surveying her apartment, she took in the disorderly sight of all the stuff that had spilled out of the closet. Clothes and shoes were strewn all the way down the hallway, too. There was no hiding it. She shut the door to her bedroom and stepped over the mess toward the front door.

Just as he had the previous week, Ryuji stood there, looking uncomfortable. She didn’t want to let him in because of the disaster behind her, but before she could stop him, Ryuji was already peering over her shoulder. He looked appalled.

“Oh my god! What happened here? This place is a mess.”

“Well…it was the cat.”

“Wait, what? The cat?”

He furrowed his brow and looked skeptically around his feet.

“I don’t see a cat anywhere. What happened? Is everything okay?”

“She’s in my bedroom.”

Seeing the worried look in his eyes, Moé opened the bedroom door. Noelle was nowhere to be found.

“Oh! Where did she go? Noelle? My little Noelle?”

She crouched under her bed and dragged off her comforter. Where is she hiding? When Moé finally stood up, she gasped. Noelle was atop the curtain rail again.

“Noelle! Why did you climb up again?”

The cat was sprawled along the narrow rail, her belly and limbs balanced skillfully. Her stripy tail dangled and swayed gently.

Moé began to plead silently at the cat, Please come down on your own again, while Ryuji stood beside her, suspicion written all over his face.

“Hey, isn’t that cat a different color from the other one?”

“Yes, it’s a different cat.”

Ryuji’s skepticism was evident. Perhaps he was worried about the cat not being able to get down from the rail.

“I was given this cat at the clinic. They provided me with food and litter, and also a medication record— No, I mean a Cat Record journal.”

“Okay…”

Ryuji’s eyes swept the room, scrutinizing every corner.

“What’s that?”

His eyes landed on the suitcase.

Shoot, I should have put that away.

“Oh, that? I took it out because I needed it for something, but I guess I should put it away.”

“You have a cat to look after. I don’t think it’s time for you to be going away,”

said Ryuji.

“Uh…”

Moé was taken aback by the unexpected remark.

He was refusing to meet her eyes.

“Look, Moé, I don’t know the full story, but you shouldn’t take in animals without thinking it through. Caring for them is a lot of work.”

“This cat was prescribed to me at the clinic. Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul in Nakagyō Ward.”

“I see. I guess it’s fine, then.”

It’s not fine at all. Moé tried to meet his eyes, but he wouldn’t return her look. Ryuji isn’t worried about me. He just doesn’t trust me.

“I’m sorry. I think I better go home. We’ll talk when things are calmer.”

He gave a small smile and left.

For a while, Moé stood completely still. She was shocked by Ryuji’s words. It was indeed a strange story. A cat from a psychiatric clinic. A different one every week. But what he had said made it seem like Moé was randomly picking up cats only to neglect them. His judgment seemed a bit too harsh, no matter how reckless he thought she was.

She noticed Noelle was at her feet again, gazing up at her with golden eyes.

“Noelle, thanks to you, it looks like things are delayed again.”

When Moé sank to the floor, Noelle lifted her nose toward her. A cat had once again been effective at postponing the breakup. But then, why did she feel so sad?