Cat Phantom IV |
T/N: I might separate the chapters into two pages from time to time. It’s in an inconspicuous place below the share, like button so if you don’t see the Previous, Next, Content buttons, it means that I have separated it. The buttons are only available at the last page
“Hopefully nothing will arise…”
It was an earnest wish. My spirits were boosted when I was enveloped in the hot, humid air of midsummer. I mustn’t let my feelings get the better of me, as I had learned from Takenaka before: the weaker your feelings became, the more likely those things would approach you.
In fact, I should be prepared to take on anything and everything… Despite thinking like that, there was a limit to what I could do.
With only one electric light every few dozen meters, I went around the corner that I had done many times before, feeling forlorn.
To the right of my vision, I spotted a white guardrail reinforced with steel plates. Before arriving at that convenience store, I remembered that there had been a motorcycle accident…
As I recalled, the manager informed me that the person who fell off the bike had died.
Apparently, accidents involving people falling off their bikes were a constant occurrence at that location. I didn’t even want to ponder why, but a couple of those accidents were bound to happen year after year.
Consequently, a brand new steel plate was installed each time. This was evidence that accidents were so frequent that the guardrail could not be fixed in a timely manner.
[Hyuuga is…]
Kinoshita’s words resurfaced in my mind.
Good grief… He certainly had good intuition.
As I rode my bike, I found myself smiling bitterly, even if it was creepy.
Hyuuga Aoi―
That name rang a familiar bell.
That name hadn’t come up in a long time. It had been a long time since someone had uttered that name to me. It was a name I didn’t want to hear.
Sealed somewhere in my memory, I banished it to the corner of my brain. The name that I had erased from my mind―
Whatever it was that prompted me to do so was unknown to me, but it had been dredged out from the depths of my memory and thrust in front of me.
It was right after I began perceiving strange things. All this time, I had forgotten about it.
No, I had been feigning oblivion. I had made myself into convincing myself that I had forgotten.
Why now? I should have discarded that photograph.
I should refrain from dwelling on this matter. It was already over.
That person and I had an unstable relationship to begin with. Besides, I didn’t really care about them.
Right―
What was the sense in thinking about someone you didn’t really care about anymore? I forcefully settled my faltering feelings and focused my attention on driving.
Thanks to the lack of pedestrian traffic and cars, my bike was moving along the night road at a brisk pace. In less than five minutes, I would be at the convenience shop as I was moving rather swiftly.
I squinted my eyes and looked toward the tunnel’s exit about halfway through.
What was that?
Something was around the exit of the tunnel. Beyond the dark orange fluorescent light of the tunnel, the road was faintly illuminated by the moonlight.
There, something, something was…
An object I couldn’t quite make out was there.
At this rate, I might run it over, so I slowed my bike down gradually. While sticking my neck out in front of me, I looked closely at it.
“What―!?”
I figured it out.
About a meter or so before exiting the tunnel, I realized what it was and stopped my bike near the exit.
A cat―
Lying on the road was a cat.
However, it was no ordinary cat.
It was a red lump lying carelessly. An ominous red body fluid glistening under the moonlight…
With its limbs cast aside, the cat’s abdomen was concave and ripped open like a pomegranate, exposing its long, pink intestines, which were stained with red-black blood and protruded and were dispersed all over the place. Feces and pieces of flesh drenched in it leaked from the anus, and a gut-like mass protruded from the gaping mouth.
It was a sight so devastating that made me want to scowl.
How awful… It was run over…
The crystalline lens, resembling a marble, stared into the void and remained stationary. The small, reddish body with white in some places suggested that it had originally been a white cat.
Judging from the fresh color of the splattered guts, this cat was probably run over only recently—perhaps a few hours ago, or possibly even minutes ago.
This was not the first time I had observed a cat being struck like this. Even if it wasn’t the first time, it was still shocking and not a pretty sight to behold.
Who on earth could have brought this upon…
“Nah-oh.”
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