4

Sasaki sat on my bed while I placed my school bag next to him.

"Okay, where do we start?" I said, taking off my school jacket.

"By reinforcing last year's math." He opened his own bag and pulled out a familiar book that quickly brought back memories. "If you forget how to do this, this year will be wasted for you." His smile didn't lift my spirits at all. In fact, it made me more nervous.

Last year's exam flooded my mind. This wouldn't be easy.

Two hours later, my pen fell onto the table with a mix of triumph and exhaustion. The late afternoon sun filled my room, and his shoulders slumped tiredly. Sasaki barely stretched his muscles as he rose from the chair I had brought from the kitchen and quickly tidied up his books.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as I feared," he said softly. "At least you remember most of it."

"You even surprised me. I thought you explained it quite well."

"If you say so! Although considering your face after the mock exam, I doubt the next lesson will go as smoothly." He replied with a playful punch to my back.

"Yeah, fair point. And kind of mean."

I noticed both glasses of water I had were empty. Besides hospitality, I also didn't want Sasaki to lose his voice while explaining.

"Do you want another drink? I promise my tea isn't as bad." I offered.

"I don't want tea, but I could go for more water." He sat on my bed with his legs crossed. "Also, after this, I promise I'll talk to your sister."

"I thought she wanted to play." I whispered aimlessly.

"Also, that cat has been on your window for the past hour."

I whipped my head so fast my neck almost snapped. The calico cat from yesterday sat patiently on my balcony, peering into my room.

"T-That, that wretched cat." I scoffed, making my way to the window and quickly closing the curtains.

"So, that's the cat stalking you. Seems... nice?" Sasaki followed me cautiously and slowly lifted the edge of the curtain to check on the animal. "It's not moving at all, you know."

I pulled the curtain back too to scrutinize it. Once it noticed me, it meowed.

"Weird. It looks healthy, so it's not seeking shelter. Maybe the cat has fallen in love with you. You should be proud, three-colored cats are said to bring luck to merchants and sailors."

I pulled back the curtain and observed it more carefully. "I'm neither a merchant nor a sailor, though."

"Are you sure it's the same cat?" Sasaki returned to his bag and pulled out his flip phone. He knelt beside me and took a photo of the cat. A few moments later, my phone vibrated.

"I sent you the photo. Later when you look at it, you can confirm if it's the same." He stood up and glanced at my face.

"We're cat hunters now." I joked, trying to scare the cat by tapping my nails on the glass window.

"If it turns out you have a bunch following you, I'll start worrying. Like a dog can't understand the plot, characters, circumstances, and technology behind your favorite TV show, maybe we can't understand what's happening right in front of us. A dog doesn't even know what a TV is after all."

"Yeah, are you saying cats are smarter than us?" I said skeptically.

"Okay, no. Also yes. Animals are intelligent in ways we don't have. Monkeys can even outperform us in some tasks. So maybe this cat is looking for something we don't know. Maybe something it needs for its life. But it doesn't matter. There's nothing wrong with being an ignorant dog and living a fulfilling life without knowing everything." Sasaki laughed and checked his phone again. "By the way, we don't have a picture together." He continued, nudging me to respond.

"I'm not photogenic. Also, I have issues with cats."

"Me too." He looked at me hopefully as he held his phone. "The cat won't understand what we're doing, you know? We're at the top of the food chain, we could eat it if it realizes that."

At this point, I wasn't sure if I understood or not. But if he said it made him happy, then I wouldn't mind. Besides, Sasaki was someone who usually didn't ask for anything, so there was no reason for me to refuse.

"I'll accept, but on the condition that we don't eat that cat. Deal?"

"I'll think about it."

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to shoo the cat away. Meanwhile, Sasaki and my sister were doing something only I could define as girly stuff. Hopefully, she could get some insights on what she wants for her birthday.

When I finally managed to make the cat run away, Sasaki came into my room to tell me he was leaving. I didn't realize the sun was almost fully set. My sister and I bid him goodbye as he refused to let me take him to the station. He didn't have a bike, so I didn't want him tired after this long day.

Not long after I had dinner, I found myself in my room again. I checked my balcony to make sure the cat was gone, and I collapsed onto my bed.

My phone rang again. Another message from Sasaki.

The text said: "Saw something on the way home, chased some birds."

Attached with the text were two photos. The first photo was a picture of a dark street corner, possibly near his residence, with the focus on what I assumed to be a cat blending with the poor streetlight. Thanks to the night setting, only its front features could be distinguished, and it looked eerily similar to my guard cat. It stared into the camera, at Sasaki, with a hint of caution. However, its fur pattern was different.

I searched for previous messages from Sasaki containing a photo of the cat on the balcony. The picture wasn't as good as I hoped because I could see myself and Sasaki in the screen door's reflection, but I could still clearly see the cat. The street cat's eyes were completely covered by black spots, unlike my cat, where the eyes were above them.

Or maybe it was just the camera resolution playing tricks on the pixels.

I checked the other attached photo. It was just a photo of us taken a few hours earlier. Not much could be said about it. Sasaki's awkward smile looked cute in its own way. However, he always looked like that. I didn't bother checking myself.

I replied to him, "Doesn't seem like the same cat, but way creepier than mine."

With a sigh of relief, I prayed for the cat's antics, leaving my phone on the table. However, the phone rang again.

This time it wasn't a message, just a low battery warning. Before charging it, I closed all the photos I had checked. The phone had a blending effect that dissolved the photo with the background when you closed it, altering the brightness of the image for a few milliseconds. So maybe that's why I noticed it.

The first photo closed without any issues, but when I closed the view of the balcony cat, I saw something. I opened it again and focused on the reflection of Sasaki was mostly obscured by the phone, leaving only his legs visible. I was next to him, with no distance between us. At the moment, I couldn't see anything, but when the brightness of the image decreased, it emerged.

I double-checked. I opened the image and closed it again. Same result. Same entity.

I scratched my head, trying to get some answers. My mind was playing tricks on me. Deep down, I always wanted things like this to be real. But Sasaki, as strange and simple as he was, still had a point: Think logically. Alleged UFO videos are always in low resolution, so you can't see the details. Monsters in your closet are your mind mistaking clothes for limbs or body parts. The same monster is created because your brain wants to survive.

I applied that knowledge to this situation. The brightness decreased in less than half a second before closing, the resolution wasn't too high, and the brain connected, so I recognized facial patterns. Also, nothing was visible in the picture we took shortly after, so only the strange reflection remained.

"Sorry, brain, go back to two years ago because I won't get stuck here."

I turned off my phone and plugged it into the charger, thinking it's best not to dwell on it too much like I did.

I lay on my bed and tried to sleep.

As Orpheus wrapped me softly, my bedroom door suddenly opened. I felt my soul leave my body as someone entered and jumped onto my bed.

"There's a cat on my window!" My sister exclaimed.

I cursed. A lot. Partly because I was already half asleep. Partly because my sister barged into my room like Jack the Ripper. Partly because the cat was back!