Chapter 18: Late Night! All Members Assemble!

Something knocks down those men. The light from the men’s lanterns is not enough to see the whole picture.

I can only see those men fell one by one as their number decreases from the lantern’s light.

That something is pitch dark. It’s so dark that if you don’t keep an eye on it in the darkness of the night, you can only see men flying and falling.

At last, from all those many men, the last one…

Swoosh

Flew away…

Thump then fell.

The light from the last lantern went out, and the area was surrounded by darkness.

Aaoo

A cat’s voice was heard from the closest point, right behind Emma.

When I turn around, big golden eyes are staring straight at me.

In my head, I think that it’s impossible… but I prioritize my intuition, emotion, and expectation and ask those golden eyes.

“… Koumei …-san?”

Koumei-san died when Minato was in the last year of high school.

At that time, I cried so much that it’s strange. It was a feeling of loss that’s so painful and hard. There was no such term as pet loss at that time, but it was a sadness that couldn’t be expressed in such words that struck Minato.

I understand better than anyone. That pain, that sadness even until now suddenly make Minato can’t move.

But the golden eyes in front of me are Koumei-san‘s eyes. It’s Koumei-san, who I love and will never mistake.

“Meow~”

Just like that day, the golden eyes answer.

There’s such a miracle?

“Are you really Koumei-san?”

Once again, I ask the golden eyes to say that it’s not a dream.

“Meow~”

Once again, the golden eyes answer.

While pinching both cheeks with all my might, I ask the golden eyes again to confirm this is not a too cruel dream that makes me expect things.

“Are you really really really Koumei-san?”

I can’t endure it, and tears run down my cheeks.

I’ve always missed you.

I knew that it’s impossible, but I have always wanted to meet you.

Even when I became an adult, I wanted you to welcome me at the door when I got home from work.

When I had an unpleasant day at the company, I want to be comforted with an extra ‘Meow~’.

I have always always wanted to be together.

“Re-really? … sob… Really… Really?”

I can’t speak well. My tears overflow one after another.

At midnight, the moon that had been hiding shows its face as if responding to Emma’s tears.

The moonlight illuminates the cat in front of me as if telling Emma, ‘It’s real…’

“Meow~”

” -! Koumei-san…!”

The calico cat slowly approaches and licks my cheeks that have turned red from the pinching and wet with large drops of tears.

It’s the same rough sensation. ‘Fufufu,’ I laughed softly and hugged Koumei-san tightly.

“You’ve become big.”

“Meow♪”

Those golden eyes, that slightly flat face, that calico pattern, it’s the same Koumei-san as in my memory.

It’s just that the size… has become more than one or two sizes bigger than Love the labrador retriever, and even Emma.

If I were to compare, it’s about the size between a horse and a pony, which is impossible for a cat.

I hug him even more tightly. It’s perfectly warm.

Could it be the ordinary Tanaka family reincarnated in another world only to meet Koumei-san?

I put my arm around Koumei-san‘s neck that is purring and drown in happiness.

…and some presence’s sniffing Emma’s scent from behind her.

While still hugging, I turned my head, and there’s a shadow of a cat’s face as big as Koumei-san.

With its whole body black and orange eyes,

it snuggles up to Emma.

“Meow”

“Are you perhaps… perhaps… Kan-chan?”

“Meow”

It rubs its face against Emma’s body and wants to be spoiled.

Kan-chan is also a cat that the Tanaka family has kept.

The spoiled black cat is here in front of my eyes.

“It was Kan-chan who saved me earlier, right.”

The men seem to have been defeated one after another by Kan-chan‘s cat punch. I think that probably, the cat punch those soft paws unleashed muffled the sound when it hit, and only the sound of men flying away and falling was heard.

“Thank you, Kan-chan!”

I move away from Koumei-san‘s neck and stroke Kan-chan‘s nose.

Koumei-san… Kan-chan…!

“How about Chou-chan and Ryuu-chan?”

Maybe… I say the name of the other two cats that the Tanaka family kept.

” “Meow~!” “

Two cats appear from behind Koumei-san.

One is a white cat with long, fluffy fur.

One is the same calico cat like Koumei-san.

The white cat Chou-chan approaches Emma first. Its fluffy fur wraps around Emma.

“Chou-chan!”

“Meow♪”

Chou-chan has a fluffy coat of fur, unlike a Japanese cat, but more like a Western cat. Its thin-haired ears and nose are pink, and it’s my father’s favorite.

It has that kind of fur, but it has the face of a Japanese breed cat, which is a little disappointing.

I remember laughing with my family while seeing Chou-chan, saying that even our cats also have a Japanese face.

“Chou-chan, Father will be so delighted!”

I stroke the tip of Chou-chan‘s nose.

“Ryuu-chan!”

When Emma calls, the calico cat Ryuu-chan also approaches Emma.

The one who supported Minato in Koumei-san‘s place when she just graduated high school and was job hunting is Ryuu-chan.

Ryuu-chan is Koumei-san‘s child, and Kan-chan and Chou-chan are Ryuu-chan‘s child.

Patting Ryuu-chan‘s nose, Emma, ‘fufufu,’ laughs.

With that angel smile that captivated Joshua.

“Father, Mother, Wataru-nii, Peita, Koumei-san, Ryuu-chan, Kan-chan, Chou-chan… With this, the Tanaka family all members assemble!”

” ” ” “Meow♪” ” ” “

Author’s note: Only one cat will come out… you think?