File 7: Attack of the Ninja Cats

1

“Um, you’re Kamikoshi-senpai, right?” someone suddenly said to me as I was slurping cold soba noodles in the school cafeteria.

I looked up in surprise, and there was a woman I didn’t know, looking down at me from across the table. She looked sophisticated and wore a mini-length T-shirt dress with a men’s coat over top. She had a boyish short haircut, and her eyes were filled with a strong sense of purpose.

I panicked for a moment.

Who was she? I didn’t remember her. If she was calling me senpai, that presumably made her my kouhai, but I had no interaction with any of the first-year students. Uh, not that I had anything to do with the third-years, fourth-years, or even my fellow second-years, either.

There was nothing more unpleasant than being directly addressed by someone whose name and face you couldn’t remember. As I froze up and started dripping sweat, she asked me once more, very clearly: “You’re not Sorawo Kamikoshi? In second year of the general education program? Did I get it wrong?”

“Huh...? Oh... Yes, I am, why?” I answered in confusion. She nodded, looking relieved, then introduced herself.

“Sorry this is coming out of nowhere. I’m Akari Seto, from first year. I wanted your advice about something. Is now a good time?”

“...Advice?” I had no clue what she was talking about. “Erm... What do you mean? We’ve never met, right? Why ask me?”

“Because I think this one’s in your wheelhouse!” The girl sat herself down in the chair across from me without bothering to ask first. I never said this was a good time. I was in the middle of eating, too.

Exams for the previous term had ended, and the school was pretty sparsely populated at the moment. I came to the school cafeteria, which was open during summer break, in order to save money on food and air conditioning, only to be accosted by a stranger.

“My wheelhouse? What do you mean?” I asked, for lack of a better option, as I continued with my soba. The fact the girl across from me wasn’t eating anything only made this more uncomfortable. Order something, at least!

Having no idea how I felt, Akari Seto leaned in, and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“You can sense spirits, right, Senpai?”

“Huh?!” I cried out despite myself.

“I’ve heard rumors. They say your research is on scary stories.”

“Who told you that? We don’t choose research topics or anything like that in second year...”

Still, it was true I had talked to someone about that. I had mentioned my interest in true ghost stories, and that I liked abandoned ruins. When I first entered university, I was invited out for drinks a number of times, and my tongue slipped. I was still all excited back then. I even had hopes I’d find friends I could get along with.

It didn’t really work out, though, which is why I was still alone.

What are they saying about me while I’m not around? Despite my frown, Akari Seto kept talking.

“I was originally hoping to have one of your friends introduce me to you, but I couldn’t find anyone. It felt a bit rude, but I decided to look for you myself and—”

“How did you know who I was?”

“Oh, yeah! It was that eye! I had heard you’ve been known to put a blue color contact in just one eye occasionally.”

“Ohh...”

I messed up, I thought with a sigh.

My right eye had turned blue after making contact with the Kunekune. It stood out really badly, so I hid it with a black color contact, but I had come to school without it a number of times when I was feeling sleepy or just plain forgetful. That had been especially common during exam season, when I was so busy I ended up coming to school and letting people see my naked eye again and again, and it started to feel like too much of a bother to hide it. So, here I was again today, my eye uncovered.

I just wore jeans and whatever shirt came to mind, but this stupidly brilliant blue eye was making me stand out in a bad way. It was little wonder everyone thought I was putting in a contact to make it look like I had heterochromia. Yeah, of course no one normal was going to approach me like this.

“So, about what I wanted your advice on—”

“Hold on,” I cut her off as she tried to keep going. “I’m sorry, but you’ve misunderstood. I can’t sense spirits.”

“Huh?” Akari Seto’s face froze in surprise.

If she was striking up a conversation with me, a total stranger who didn’t look all that normal, that meant this girl was either:

(1) Not normal herself

(2) In a really bad spot

(3) Up to no good somehow

Any one of those was going to be a headache for me, and I didn’t want to get caught up in whatever it was.

“You’ve got it wrong, so try someone else.”

“Please. Everyone’s been saying that you can help me for sure!”

Who’s everyone? They’re just saying whatever.

“Why don’t you go to a temple? Get an exorcism done or something.”

“I did go! But it did nothing.”

“Then maybe you’re imagining it... Why not go to the hospital?”

“At first, I thought I had lost my mind, too. But after being attacked so many times, there are limits to how far I can believe it’s all just an illusion.”

“Attacked? What? Shouldn’t you be going to the police first?”

“I don’t think the police can handle this.”

It was true that I enjoyed digging through true ghost stories and net lore. But if someone wanted my advice on them, that was a different matter. I wasn’t a medium or anything like that.

Slurping up the last of my soba noodles, I set my chopsticks down, and reluctantly asked her, “...What is it that’s bothering you?”

“Well...”

This time, it was her turn to hesitate.

“Um, I’m pretty sure you’re going to laugh at me for saying this, but...”

What’s with that attitude after bringing this up on your own? Spit it out already. As I irritably sipped my barley tea, which had been watered down by the ice in it, Akari Seto hesitantly spoke.

“Lately, I’ve been targeted by ninja cats, you see...”

I nearly spewed my tea.

“N-Ninja... cats?”

“Yes.” Akari Seto nodded, a serious look on her face.

The three possibilities I had considered popped up in my head once more.

She was: (1) not normal herself, (2) in a really bad spot, or (3) up to no good...

The answer is (1). Okay, we’re done here.

...Only we weren’t, because I had read about this before. Indeed, there was a net lore story that featured ninja cats.

“Ninja cats... She can’t mean...”

“You know about them, Senpai?!” As I mumbled to myself, Akari Seto pressed for more.

“Well, yeah, but...” I turned a suspicious eye on her. “You’re sure you’re not screwing with me here? It’s a famous copypasta, you know? Ninja Cats, I mean.”

Hear me out for a moment. There’s been something weird going on around me since last week.

Let me say this up front: I’m not delusional, or schizophrenic, or sick in any other way.

Please, don’t laugh. This is serious.

Lately, I’ve been targeted by ninja cats.

This post became a widespread internet meme. The shift from the over serious lead-in was so intense, even I laughed the first time I read it.

That’s why I considered possibility (3). Maybe nasty people had decided to make fun of me by bringing up this story? They could be around here somewhere, snickering to themselves as they watched my reaction.

I turned around, scanning the largely deserted cafeteria. There was one student, eating leeks and liver while playing with her smartphone; one person in a white coat who looked like a grad student, asleep at a table with their head resting on their arms; and one old lady, collecting abandoned trays. None of them showed any interest in us.

“It’s famous?”

When she gave me a blank look, I suddenly lost my confidence. Even if it was common sense to an internet denizen like me, it might not be famous, or anything close to it, to a person who wasn’t as immersed in the net.

“Er, well, not that I’d know,” I mumbled, and Akari Seto started talking fast.

“I’m not confident they’re... ninjas, really. They just kind of look that way. They look like plain ordinary cats, until they get up on their hind legs and chase after me.”

“R-Right...”

“It’s not just one, either, you know. I was running away in fear, so I didn’t get a proper look, but there were several. They make a racket outside my house at night, and rattle at the windows.”

...What’s with this story?

“Since it started, I feel like I’m being tailed wherever I go. I figured this might be something spirit related, so I tried going to a temple for advice, but they said this was a bit beyond them. The exorcism was no use.”

Well, they’re cats...

“That being the case, I thought it might be best to get help from an expert. The rumors said if I went to Kamikoshi-senpai, she’d sort me out.”

“Seriously, where did that rumor come from?”

I gazed up to the ceiling with a sigh. I never thought someone would come to me with a story like this. I thought I had been avoiding all the hassle of interacting with people, but these rumors got exaggerated all on their own, and came to me in an even more bothersome form... What was I even supposed to do about this?

“Senpai, what should I do?”

“Huh? I don’t know.” I accidentally said exactly what I was thinking. “I mean, I told you already, didn’t I? I don’t have the ability to sense spirits, and I’m not an expert, or anything of the sort.”

With that said, I pushed my chair back and stood up.

“Sorry, but I can’t help you. It’s a bother to even have to hear about it.”

“I... see.”

When I said that in a strong tone, Akari Seto hung her head in disappointment. She looked like she was seriously troubled, so I hesitated.

No, but it was clearly impossible for me to take this seriously. I mean, ninja cats? Of all things?

From what I heard, there was something of a drug epidemic in universities these days. This girl looked pure enough, but for all I knew she could just be high on something. Scary stuff. I was getting out of here before she got violent, or tried to push her drugs on me.

“W-Well, that’s how it is, so...”

I gently lifted my tray, trying not to agitate her, and tried to go return it, but Akari Seto stood up forcefully, startling me and making my body tense up.

“Eek!”

Akari Seto walked around the table with firm steps and stood in front of me as I, having both my hands occupied by the tray, was unable to move.

“Wh-What is it?”

“Here—it’s my phone number. If you change your mind... and you feel like helping me, call me any time.”

As she said that, she put a pink tag with a phone number hastily written on it on the tray I was holding. Without waiting for my response, Akari Seto bowed her head slightly, then turned around and walked off without looking back.

I watched her go in bewilderment, but she came to a sudden stop right before leaving the cafeteria. She seemed to be staring at something outside. Eventually, she took a deep breath, and headed outside with resolve.

“What in tarnation...?” I said with a fake Kansai accent.

But, no, seriously, what in tarnation was that all that about? It was exhausting.

I brought the tray back to the return window, and thought for a while.

...Well, it did seem like she was in enough trouble to come to me for advice. Guess I can at least hold on to her phone number.

I peeled the pink tag off of the tray, and played with it in my fingers as I headed for the exit.

I’m such a nice person. I’ve got a heart... I’ve got so much heart.

As I left the cafeteria, singing my own praises, I came to a stop despite myself.

The summer sun beat down on the plaza in front of the cafeteria. Under the eaves and in the bushes, anywhere there was shade there were cats lying about. It was a familiar sight. People who came out of the cafeteria or the school store would feed them, so this place had become a hangout for the cats living at the university.

Those cats were all staring at me.

After the conversation we’d just had, it flustered me a little.

“...What in tarnation?” I whispered to myself, then walked out onto the plaza. I felt eyes on me from all directions. They had totally ignored me when I came.

I didn’t think it was scary, but it sure was unsettling. I cut straight across the plaza, and turned back when I was done. They were all still looking at me.

“...Weird.”

I shook my head, and left the plaza behind in a hurry.

The tag in my hand was damp with sweat.

2

“...And that’s what happened to me yesterday,” I finished telling the story in Kozakura’s dimly lit room.

Toriko was beside me, cackling with laughter.

“N-Ninja! Cats!”

Toriko collapsed on the arm of the sofa, gasping for breath through her laughter.

“Do you have to laugh so hard?”

“Hey! They sound cute!”

I don’t know what had tickled her funny bone, but this was apparently a laugh riot for her. The weirdo.

“Ninja cats, hm... That must be some hard stuff she’s been doing. Don’t get into drugs, even if she offers them to you, Sorawo-chan. You’re already messed up enough as is.”

“I won’t, and I’m not!”

Kozakura was as rude as ever. Today, she was drinking a ridiculously oversized glass of cola through a straw. It seemed that she drank it chilled in summer, at least.

“Kinda harsh, when we bought you all those souvenirs in Okinawa, don’t you think?”

“How long do you plan to keep bringing up something that happened more than half a month ago?” Kozakura said while chomping on the ice that was in her glass. “I’ll gladly take your gifts, but I still haven’t forgotten the way you tormented me with pictures of tasty food I couldn’t have.”

“How long do you plan to keep bringing up something that happened more than half a month ago?”

“I’m not one to forget grudges, okay?”

It had been a while since we got together like this. It wasn’t just Kozakura—I hadn’t seen Toriko for a while since coming back from Okinawa, either. I’d been too busy with last term’s exams to do anything else.

I’d taken a number of days off just before the exam period, which honestly made it tough. Though, I’m sure someone with friends would have been able to borrow lecture notes from the lectures they missed... Ultimately, I had to give up on a number of credits.

After enjoying the beach resort Toriko and I had all to ourselves in the other world, we escaped from nearly going insane, but ended up on Ishigaki Island, four hundred kilometers from the main island in Okinawa. We could have flown back to Tokyo the next day, but after the terror we experienced on that beach, Toriko and I were both mentally ground down.

We needed rest. Real rest...

That being the case, Toriko and I booked a nearby resort hotel, and we stayed for three whole days. A real resort hotel. Not anything like that New York-style pension, or whatever it was supposed to be.

Sure, it was costly. But it was a necessary expense.

We could just earn that money back in the other world. Yeah, this was an investment in our ability to do just that—is what we told each other. We stayed in a super expensive room at same-day arrival pricing, swam in the pool, ordered cocktails by the poolside, and went beach-combing for bits of coral. Then we took a taxi into town at night to eat Ishigaki beef and locally caught fish, then send Kozakura pictures of all the tasty food and alcohol. Thanks to that, we came back to Tokyo refreshed, so you could say it was a necessary use of time... Credit cards sure are convenient, huh?

However, when we saw Kozakura, she was all grumpy. What’s wrong with you people? I was worried, and now you come back all nicely tanned? I’m gonna kill you, she snapped, but we managed to mollify her with a massive pile of souvenirs. Some of them were still piled on the low table in Kozakura’s room.

“You could’ve helped the girl out. I want to see the ninja cats, too,” Toriko, having recovered from her laughing fit, said irresponsibly.

“No way. I’m not some kind of medium,” I responded with a scowl.

“You didn’t think the other world could be involved?”

“Whaa? I doubt it. These are ninja cats, right? They’re not scary. Everything we ran into before now was scary.”

...Huh?

I detected something slightly off about what I had said.

What could it be? I don’t think I said anything particularly wrong.

“It sure was crazy last time, huh? I thought I was going to lose it for real,” Toriko said, and I shuddered.

When I remembered how it felt, I felt like I was going to lose my cool, too. Was that what the “field of flowers” Kozakura had experienced when I was dealing with the windmill woman was like? It was a saturation attack of fear, with scary things happening one after another—if Toriko and I had succumbed, I wonder what would have happened to us by now. Those hunks of meat that washed up on the beach. The black shadows that called our names. The screaming green children running towards us. It all rushed through my mind, and...

“...Sorawo? Are you okay?”

“Sorry, I blanked out there. What were we talking about again?”

“About the ninja cats being connected to the other world.”

“Oh...”

I took one of the dried tomatoes flavored with salt from Ishigaki Island that was in the pile of souvenirs on the table, and threw it into my mouth. The salt and sweetness gradually brought me back to my senses.

This state, where recollection of past fear triggered a lapse in consciousness, was something we had both experienced a number of times on Ishigaki Island. We already knew how to deal with it. We just had to focus on what we were feeling right now. The reason we’d cut off our vacation and come home was that we had both more or less stopped showing symptoms. It looked like I wasn’t fully recovered just yet, but I could handle this much.

Toriko didn’t rush me; she waited. I chewed on the tomato as I brought my mind back to the original conversation.

“Uh, listen, if the other world is tied up in this, that makes me even less eager to get involved. I have no guns, remember?”

That’s right—I was walking around unarmed recently.

On the return trip from Ishigaki Island to Tokyo, we ran into the issue of what to do with our guns. No matter how small the parts we broke them into were, there was the chance that they would be X-rayed at the airport and discovered because of their shape. That was why, ultimately, we elected to send them by ship.

Two assault rifles, two Makarovs, and the associated bullets. Toriko disassembled them, split them into four packages, and sent them on their way. We floated the idea of taking the leisurely route home by ferry, but I couldn’t justify taking any more time away from school, so we took a plane instead.

The guns would arrive in Tokyo in four to five days. Just in case something went wrong, we used a throwaway address, and had them delivered to a delivery pickup locker in Hamamatsu-chou Station.

“Have you already picked them up, Toriko?”

“Long since. I’ve brought the Makarov for now.”

“Thanks.”

Toriko passed me the Makarov inside a paper bag from Dean and DeLuca. Just holding the grip was enough to make me feel a sense of ease. I had gotten totally used to this weight and shape.

While I was loading the magazine with 9mm bullets, Kozakura decided to voice her exasperation. “When I heard you were sending the guns separately, I was beside myself with worry, thinking, ‘What if they use my house for the delivery?’”

“Clearly we weren’t going to do that, okay?”

“I don’t know. You did send the souvenirs here, didn’t you?”

“I know what’s okay and not okay to send, all right?”

As I looked up with a frown, I noticed there was an animal ornament, one just about the size that would fit on the palm of your hand, sitting on top of Kozakura’s desk. It hadn’t been there last time we came. It looked like it was porcelain.

“Oh, where did that come from? It’s cute!” I exclaimed despite myself, and Kozakura looked at me with pride in her eyes.

“It’s a tanuki. Remember what you were saying last time? How those three old women might really have been tanuki?”

I did indeed remember saying something like that. I’d said it, thinking it might help calm Kozakura’s nerves after beings from the other world showed up on her doorstep. It was just consolation, though.

“At first, I thought it was stupid, but I realized that thinking it was the work of tanuki helped lessen the fear. I found a cute one at the nearby craft market, so I bought it.”

“You’re giving the unknown fear a name so you can control it, right?”

“Yeah, exactly. Thanks to this tanuki, I can sleep again.” She put the ornament on top of her hand, gazing at it lovingly.

Come to think of it, last time we came she had all the lights on, but today things were back to how they originally were. The entrance and hall were dark. If my consolation had managed to grant her some peace of mind, I was glad.

The animal with black spots around its eyes looked at me from on top of Kozakura’s hand, seeming troubled. It was cute. Its short, fat, striped tail was, too...

Huh?

“Kozakura, that’s not a tanuki.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a raccoon. See the stripes on the tail.”

Kozakura blinked, then looked down at the ornament.

“What are you talking about? Tanuki have stripes on their tails, too.”

“They do not. That there is a raccoon.”

“Racoons dig through the trash, don’t they? They’re vermin.”

Toriko’s merciless comment made Kozakura’s eyes go wide in anger. “Shut up! This is a tanuki! No matter what anyone says, it’s a tanuki!”

“Huh? But...”

“What is with your jabbering? Do you want to tear me and Ponpoko apart that badly?!”

“N-No, um...”

Aw, crap. Shouldn’t have said anything. I was regretting it, when—

The doorbell rang.

Kozakura, who had risen from her chair with a look of indignation, shuddered and came to a stop.

Ding dong. The bell echoed through the house again.

Kozakura delicately returned her “tanuki” to the top of the desk, then clicked the mouse. One of her monitors showed outside the front door. There was a man wearing a polo shirt and a cap standing there.

“...Who is it?”

“Delivery! It’s a large package, where do you want it put down?” the man asked in a loud voice, wiping the sweat from his face with a towel. He seemed to be a delivery man... He didn’t look suspicious.

“Large package?” Kozakura asked dubiously, casting a look of suspicion towards me and Toriko. We both shook our heads. We had no idea what it was.

Kozakura got out of her chair and headed for the front door.

It was taking her a while to come back. Toriko and I were discussing what it could be when a voice shouted from the entranceway.

“Come here a minute—both of you!”

We looked at one another, both noticing the voice’s suppressed anger.

We had a bad feeling about this, but we walked down the dark hallway to the entrance. When we got outside, Kozakura was glaring at us from under the eaves.

“Would you care to explain what that is?”

I looked in the direction she was pointing, and the middle of her weedy lawn was occupied by a machine that was painted red and white. It was about 1.8 meters tall and shaped like a gate. The bottom of each leg had caterpillar treads, so this was apparently a vehicle. The rear of the vehicle had two seats split between the left and the right.

“Well? What is this thing?”

The receipt Kozakura thrust towards me had her address written on it. It was unmistakably my writing. The product name was “Bunmei Agricultural Machines - Tobacco Control Work Vehicle AP-1.”

“...Ohh!”

Suddenly, it came back to me. It was our second day on Ishigaki Island, and Toriko was already drunk by early evening. We went into town, and we bought this work vehicle we found at an agricultural machinery and equipment store on impulse.

The AP-1 was originally designed to drive with the ridge of a field in the middle of what looked like the gate-like structure’s opening, allowing the rider to perform planting and harvesting work while seated. I had just been thinking how convenient it would be to have a vehicle in the other world while we were rescuing Palehorse Battalion. When I saw these things moving around in the tobacco fields on Ishigaki Island, it seemed just right. It ran on treads, so it would be fine on uneven terrain, and it just so happened to be a two-seater, too. Wow, wouldn’t that just be perfect for Toriko and me? I’ll buy it.

...Credit cards sure are convenient, huh?

“Sorawo, you actually bought it...?”

Even Toriko was acting surprised, so I panicked. “Huh? You approved, too, didn’t you...? You did, right?”

“Hmm? Did I?”

Not a reassuring response. Well, I was drinking, too, so I couldn’t be that confident in my memories, either.

“What I want to ask is: why was it sent to my house?!”

There was a vein pulsing on Kozakura’s pale forehead.

“Uh, erm, probably ’cause there’s nowhere to put it at my place, you know? Hahah... hah.”

“Don’t you hahahah me. What are you going to do with this? I absolutely can’t take it for you.”

“Oh, no, I’ll use it, I’ll use it. I’ll be taking it to the other world.”

“How?”

“I’ll find a gate it can fit through, and then...”

“When?”

“What do you mean, ‘when’?”

When I answered her question with a question, Kozakura exploded. “I’m telling you to move it already! If this thing isn’t off my doorstep three days from now, I’m going to harvest the grass in Shakujii Park, roll cigarettes with it, and force you to smoke them. Now hurry up and find a gate!”

3

“Gates are pretty hard to come by, huh?”

“I was hoping there’d be one nearby, but no such luck...”

It was a few hours after we’d practically been thrown out of Kozakura’s house. Toriko and I were in a private room in the rest stop at Shakujii Park, resting our weary legs.

Having been walking around out in the heat, we were obviously exhausted. I was dripping with sweat, so the breeze that came in from the open balcony felt good.

There was the plate from an order of curry rice in front of me, and the tray from a large order of cold soba noodles in front of Toriko. We had finished both.

“They’ve got beer, you know...” Toriko said, leaning her head back and looking at the menu posted on the wall. Her usually silky blonde hair was matted to the nape of her neck with sweat today. I groaned approvingly despite myself, then hurriedly shook my head.

“No, no... It’s still too early. If we drink now, we’re finished.”

“Finished, huh?”

“I have to admit it’s super tempting, though.”

Setting aside how we were going to transport the AP-1 to it, we had just been tasked with finding an easy-to-use gate. There were a number of gates we had used to go back and forth to the other world, but most were either no longer usable, or in Okinawa, so they weren’t practical. The only stable one was the elevator in Jinbouchou, and even that one wasn’t guaranteed to last forever.

We wanted a gate that was in an accessible place in the surface world, and which only required a short time to pass through the interstitial space between the surface and the other side. I didn’t know if anything that convenient existed, but if I could find a connection to the other world using my right eye, then Toriko might be able to force it open with her left hand. We would use that to search for a usable gate, or maybe develop one of our own. That was our intention when we set out from Kozakura’s house, and spent a few hours roaming the neighborhood. Up to this point, we hadn’t even found a place that looked like it might be what we were after.

“The gate in Oomiya was the back door of an abandoned building, the one in Jinbouchou is an elevator, and Chichibu’s was a torii gate at a shrine. If it were some place like a door or a corridor, that’d be easy to understand,” Toriko said, resting her elbows on the low table. The short UV protection glove that covered her translucent left hand—was it made of silk, or linen? It might feel like a bother to have to wear it, but it looked comfortable.

“But it’s not necessarily going to be like that, right? When we used Hasshaku-sama’s hat in Shinjuku, we couldn’t tell where the gate started or ended.”

“Yeah. We jumped into a train from Kisaragi Station, and the gate to the U.S. forces training grounds was the area around the offering box itself.”

“We went through a hollow in a tree to get to Naha, too. There’s not much in common between them, huh?”

I was surprised when we suddenly came out onto the roof of a building that time. I’d expected to come out somewhere in Okinawa, but that was a street bustling with tourists. I’m just glad we didn’t appear in the middle of a crowd, still touting assault rifles.

That reminded me of something—when we returned from the other side to the surface, it didn’t feel like we really passed through the interstitial space. The elevator required a certain process on the way there, but it brought us back immediately, and in cases where we had forced a gate open, like the times we encountered Hasshaku-sama or Kankandara, we were back in the surface world in no time. The one exception would be the train we used to return from Kisaragi Station. From the surface to the other side, and from the other side to the surface—was there some meaning behind the asymmetry there?

I was mulling it over when Toriko looked over my shoulder.

“Oh. A cat.”

I turned to look, and a light brown tabby cat was walking past through the shadow cast by the building. It had no collar, but was well-groomed for a stray. It probably never missed a meal, hanging around in a place like this. When a parent and child who had been drinking ramune outside the shop went over to give it some attention, the cat darted into the bushes to avoid the hassle.

“Do you think ninja cats use shuriken?” Toriko asked.

I shook my head. “I think they had these jagged metal blades.”

“Whoa, scary. What’s with that?”

“I think that’s how the story went.”

“Did the girl who was asking you for advice say that?”

“Nah. That’s not it...”

I was about to say something, then I had a flash of realization.

What was that just now? Where did the bit about jagged metal blades come from? Akari Seto never said a word about them—

“Huh? Huh?”

“Sorawo.” Toriko leaned over the low table, pressing her right hand against my cheek. Looking closely at my confused face, she spoke to me in a concerned tone.

“Are you okay? Want me to slap you in the face?”

“Huh? Why so violent?”

“I thought it might help wake you up.”

“No, no thank you. Please, don’t.”

As I watched Toriko’s hand pull away, I tried to sort out my thoughts. I had gotten the sense something was off when we were talking at Kozakura’s house. I knew why now.

I remembered. The Ninja Cats copypasta that had spread across the net as a funny meme had, in fact, originated in a ghost story.

“Lately, I’ve been targeted by ninja cats.” The post seemed complete in and of itself, but there was actually more to it. The poster was on 2channel’s Occult board, and was legitimately seeking advice about being attacked by ninja cats. Two-legged cats that carried jagged metal blades.

The impact of the concept was so great I had completely forgotten. What kind of story was it? I tried pulling it up on my smartphone, but it wasn’t easy to find. It was a minor ghost story buried in a forest of internet lore. According to my vague memories, a number of volunteers tried to catch the ninja cats on film, then the whole thing faded out without anyone really understanding what had happened...

When I explained that to Toriko, she gave me a look that said she’d figured as much.

“See, I told you it had something to do with the other world. I thought it was strange from the beginning. I mean, there’s no way she’d bring up that weird old story just to tease someone she’s never even talked to before.”

“Sure, that’s true, but you’re arguing with the benefit of hindsight.”

“You’re just not very perceptive, Sorawo.”

While I was getting upset about how rude she was, Toriko’s hands reached out for my face again. I brushed them away and said, “Don’t try to rub my face all the time! What are you doing that for?!”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine at all.”

“You got her contact info, right? Why not give her a call?”

“I don’t wanna, it’s too much of a hassle.”

“You’re not gonna help her?”

“There’s no way to be sure the other world is involved. It’s just your theory. Besides, we have other things to do,” I said, then stood up. “Let’s go. If we don’t hurry and find that gate, we’re going to be forced to smoke grass.”

“I don’t want that.”

“I need Kozakura-san to buy that shell soon, too. That’s what we originally came to get done, but she chased us off.”

When we escaped from the beach in the other world, we had gained a translucent spiral shell, almost as if in exchange for Hasshaku-sama’s hat. It was a foreign object from the other world which, if you stared into it, let you see infinite spirals. For the moment, it was the only object we could convert to cash. Until Kozakura’s anger subsided, it was of no use to us, though.

“Okay. Well, once we can find a gate, let’s help her.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Only think about it?”

I left the rest stop together with a dissatisfied Toriko. Squinting my eyes against the sunlight as I put on a hat, I happened to turn around. I saw the light brown tabby cat from before, sitting in the bushes, staring at me.

4

Let’s find a gate while it’s light out, then drink beer when night comes.

That had been our emotional support, but now our search, which had taken us all over Shakujii Park on a hot day, was about to end in failure.

I couldn’t meet Toriko’s eyes as she sat down across the table from me. “H-Hey, it’s just the first day! Let’s not let it bug us!” I said.

“Sorawo.”

“Whew, this beer is good! Where do you want to look tomorrow, Toriko?”

“Sorawo.”

“Do you want to try stopping at every station along the Seibu Line?”

“Sorawo-san, how about we take a reality check?”

“Okay...”

I hung my head, laying my mug of beer on the table.

We were in a tavern near the station that served yakitori. Looking out the window, it was impossible not to notice the number of cats out front.

Things had changed just after we left the park. The cats trailed us from behind. These were ordinary cats that walked on four legs, of course. Given what we had been talking about just before, it did make me uneasy, but at that point I still had my composure. I thought the way they earnestly pumped their legs, following us in the shadows, was adorable.

However, as time passed, things got weird. The number of cats gradually grew. From one to two, then from two to three...

Out of the alleyways, over the walls, and from the shadows, new cats appeared to join a procession led by me and Toriko. When we stopped, the cats stopped, too. If we approached them, they scattered. They wouldn’t let us touch them, but when we gave up and started walking again, they were soon in line behind us.

I couldn’t help but be worried about what was going on behind us, which ultimately prevented us from making much progress on our gate hunt. It wasn’t dark out yet, but we called off the search at 6:00 p.m. in the evening, and fled into a tavern.

Outside, we could hear people crying out in surprise at the unusual sight of all these cats lounging around, and taking pictures. There were over ten of them, so it made for quite a scene. I was watching them from my seat by the window, dead tired, when the yakitori platter we had ordered arrived.

“This absolutely has to be caused by the story you were told, right?” Toriko said as she snatched a chicken and onion skewer.

“Or maybe the cats just like the smell of yakitori?”

“How about you stop using arguments you know you don’t even believe yourself?”

“Okay...” Having no response to that, I dejectedly chewed on a piece of gizzard.

The other world read the images of terror in our minds, and manifested them as aberrations—if this hypothesis was correct, Ninja Cats might fit that pattern.

“I don’t really get it, but we’re already caught up in this. That girl who asked you for advice... Seto-san, was it? I’m telling you, you should try contacting her,” Toriko said, bringing her face up to the window and squinting at the cats outside. “I don’t see any particularly ninja-y ones out there, though. You think they’ll show up, too, eventually? Or are these little guys going to suddenly get up on their hind legs, and come at us with blades?”

“If they’re hiding blades in their fur, that’s more surprising than actually scary. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“Either way, I think it’s a weird situation we’re in. Let’s give her a call. We could even do it right now.”

“Uhh... But...” When I resisted the idea, Toriko looked concerned.

“What’s the matter, Sorawo? That’s weird.”

“Not really.”

“No... Usually, while you might grumble, when someone’s in trouble, you help them, right? Why are you so against it this time?”

“...”

“Come on, tell me.”

When Toriko looked straight at me, I hesitantly confessed. “...I’m not so good with ghost stories that involve cats.”

“Huh...? You’re a cat hater?”

“No way. I love cats. That’s why I don’t want to experience scary stories that involve them. I wouldn’t want to become afraid of them.”

“Okay...? I think I get it? But if the other world is involved, even if they might look like cats, they might actually be something else, right?”

“But then I’d have to shoot them, wouldn’t I?”

“Huh?” Toriko looked at me dumbfounded.

“Cats are cute. I don’t wanna shoot them...” I mumbled between bites of chicken breast with wasabi.

Toriko looked at me, blinking, then slowly nodded her head. “Got it. Leave it to me. If anything puts you in danger, I’ll be the one to—”

“Wh-Whoa, hold on, what are you saying?” I looked back at Toriko with disbelief. “Don’t you think cats are cute, Toriko?”

“They’re cute, sure. But animals are stronger than humans, so I don’t let my guard down with them.”

“Still, pointing a gun at them is a bit much...”

“Come on, Sorawo. What I’m talking about are some cat-like monsters that are coming at us with jagged blades. Not the little guys lazing around out there.”

“Urgh.”

“I don’t know what’s up, but if we leave things like this, they may become our enemies, too, you know? You like cats, don’t you? Do you want to spend the rest of your life in fear of them?”

“N-No way.”

“Then call her. What we need to do is the same as always, right? Find the ninja cats, use your right eye to reveal their true form, then take them out. Problem solved. Simple, right?”

“Urgh.”

“If you won’t make the call, I will. Give me the number, would you?”

“Urgh... Fine, I’ll call.”

My resistance finally collapsing, I pulled out my phone. Retrieving the tag that was still stuffed in my pocket, I took a deep breath, and then dialed the number written on it. She answered on the third ring.

“Hello, Seto speaking.”

“U-Um, this is Kamikoshi...”

“Oh, Senpai! You called!”

Her surprisingly chipper voice left me feeling a bit deflated. I could hear the sounds of daily life from the other side of the phone. Did she live with her family?

“Erm... So, about the thing you were asking for advice about yesterday... Is now a good time?”

“Yes! You mean the ninja cats, right?”

“Y-Yeah. Has your situation changed at all?”

“No. It’s the same as ever... How about you, Senpai? Were you able to see something?”

“...See something?”

“Um, with spirit vision, or something like that.”

Oh, so that was what she meant. For a moment there, I thought she knew about my right eye’s power, and I felt pretty shocked. “I’m telling you, I’m not like that.”

“But you are able to give me advice, right?”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. For now, I’d like to meet up and talk. Can you come out to Ikebukuro? Tomorrow, maybe?”

“Yes, I’ll be there! Thank you very much!”

“S-Sure. I’ll message you the time and place.”

I hung up, then let out a sigh. Calling people I didn’t know always made me feel tense. While I was trying to focus myself again, Toriko reached out with her right hand and tried to pat me on the head.

“Wh-What?”

“You managed to make the call. Good girl.”

“You’re clearly making fun of me, right?”

“Not at aaaall.”

While I was batting her arm away, a cilantro salad arrived. “Will you come with me, too, tomorrow?” I asked Toriko once she withdrew her hand.

Toriko tilted her head to the side and smiled. “Wouldn’t I just be in the way of your little date?”

“...”

“I’m kidding! Don’t make that face,” Toriko said with a laugh, putting some of the salad on her plate. I was mad, so rather than respond, I stole her share of the gizzard and ate it.

5

“Ah! Senpai! Over here!”

11:00 a.m.

When I headed for the underground plaza by the Metropolitan entrance of JR Ikebukuro Station, Akari Seto spotted me first and was waving her arms. The way her voice carried well and her gestures showed no sign of caring what others might think already had me intimidated. Still, I was glad that she was the one to call out to me. We had only met briefly the day before yesterday, so I was less than confident I would be able to recognize her.

Today she was wearing a large T-shirt and denim jeans, giving her a rough look. She also carried a basket bag made from all-natural materials. As for me, I was wearing a striped T-shirt with a shirt over it, along with white bottoms and sneakers. On my head I wore the low-brimmed newsboy cap I bought in Naha. When we first met in the university cafeteria I was in the sort of totally relaxed outfit I would only wear around the neighborhood, but today I had managed to dress myself properly.

This was the best I could do, so give me a break.

When we were at Kisaragi Station, Toriko told me to dress well enough that my showy right eye didn’t stand out, so I was trying my hardest.

“Thank you for coming. I hope you’ll be able to help me today!” Akari Seto said.

“No, uh, don’t get your hopes up, okay? Seriously...” I answered, feeling overpowered by her.

“Do you want to get tea somewhere? I’m paying.”

“Uh, hold on a moment. There’s another person coming, too.”

“Huh? Who might that be?”

She seemed surprised, so I told her. “Her name is To... Nishina. She’s the one who told me to help you out.”

“Oh, I see! Is she a specialist in this stuff, like you are, Senpai?”

“Uh, no, I told you, it’s not like that...”

As I was trying to deny it, a voice came from behind me. “Hey there. I’m a specialist.”

When I turned around, Toriko was there. Today, she was wearing a shirt with frilly ruffled sleeves and a corset skirt with a flower pattern. On her head she wore a narrow-brimmed straw hat. Like always, this woman was rocking an outfit that would never have looked good on me...

“Morning, Sorawo. What’s up? Why the sharp look?”

“Morning. I was just thinking how pretty you are today, too.”

“Huh? Compliments, this early in the morning? You’re making me blush.”

Shoot, I shouldn’t have said that.

Perhaps having been caught by surprise, Seto seemed a bit bewildered. “Erm... Are you Nishina-san? Nice to meet you, I’m—”

Toriko smiled. “Toriko’s fine. You’re Akari?”

“Oh! Yes.”

“Nice to meet’cha.”

It was the same when she met me, so I guess Toriko goes by her first name by default. I guess I’ll follow suit.

“Hold on, Toriko. Since when were you a specialist?”

“Can’t I be? Wouldn’t you say we really are specialists? I mean, we’ve survived so far.”

“I feel like we’ve been treading the line between life and death pretty much every time, though.”

As she listened to me and Toriko argue, Akari’s face gradually darkened. “It really is dangerous, then, like I thought...”

“Huh? No, I wonder about that...”

For some reason, I hesitated to say it. There was nothing to wonder. If the other world was involved, it was obviously dangerous.

“For now, let’s hear your story. What are these ninja cats like? Cute? Do you have a video or anything?” Toriko asked in a lively voice.

“Let’s go inside somewhere first,” I interjected. “You don’t need to cover Toriko’s drinks, too.”

“Huh? Oh, sure.” Akari nodded meekly. Together with Toriko, who protested, Why not? Isn’t that kinda mean?, we got aboard the elevator that went above ground.

“So, you know how cats have a way of gathering around?”

Once we had secured seats for ourselves in an Italian tomato cafe, just before the lunch rush, Akari immediately started talking.

“It was about a month ago. I ran into a gathering of cats. It was evening, and I was coming out of the convenience store after stopping there on the way back from university when I heard hushed voices. There was something... weird about them.”

Akari hesitated at that point, so Toriko pressed her for more information. “What do you mean, weird?”

“It was a baby’s voice, then an old man’s voice, and then a high-pitched voice like a Vocaloid speaking in turn. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could hear them repeatedly saying, ‘We’ve found the mark,’ and, ‘It will come soon.’ It seemed strange, so I went around behind the convenience store to look—and there were a whole lot of cats. Close to twenty of them, scattered all around the parking lot. They all turned to glare at me, then, whoosh, they took off. At the time, all I thought was, Ohh, I guess I was interrupting. Sorry. But from then on, every night...”

Akari pulled out her smartphone, laying it on top of the table.

“This is from yesterday. I took it right after Senpai called.”

When she pressed the play button on the video, it showed the curtains in front of her window. The moment she raised the volume, there was the sound of an impact against the window.

...Thud! ...Bang! There was something intermittently beating on the window from outside.

A hand stretched out from the right side of the camera, pulling back the curtain. It was dark outside, and the inside of the room was reflected in the glass. For an instant, you could see Akari in a neat room, holding up her phone, wearing indoor clothes.

She brought the camera closer to the window, and it showed the outside.

No one’s there... or so I thought, but two yellow lights shone in the darkness. There was a squeaky voice, like a recording of someone speaking on fast-forward, and then the two points of light quickly approached the window.

The screen shook, pulling back from the window, and then the person recording the video’s hand hurriedly grabbed the curtain, pulling it back.

Bam! There was another loud noise from the window... then silence.

After several seconds the perspective tilted, and the video came to an end.

“...Well?” Akari asked.

“That happens every night?”

“Yes. If I put up with it for a while, it goes quiet, though.”

I remembered the sounds I heard on the phone call with her yesterday. Could it be that the noises I had assumed came from her family were actually caused by this?

“Those yellow eyes are from a ninja cat?” Toriko asked as we rewound the video.

“Probably. I usually make a point of not opening the curtain, so I haven’t gotten a proper look, but... I believe it’s the same as the ones that tail me when it’s light out.”

“You haven’t got them on film?”

“I’ve tried, but it never turns out right.”

Akari scrolled through the photos on her phone. There was a picture of a residential street with a black shadow in the corner, a blurry shot of something lurking across the road, a picture of a plain, ordinary cat on top of a slide in the park... Normally, if someone told me she was being pursued by ninja cats, and this was all she had to show you, I wouldn’t know what to do about it.

...Normally.

Come to think of it, in the original Ninja Cats story, the person reporting their experiences tried to take pictures, but they were only able to upload blurry images in the end.

“What made you want to help me? You didn’t have any intent of helping me before, right, Senpai?” Akari asked, mystified, as Toriko and I were both leaning in close to each other, looking at blurry photos. I answered her honestly.

“We got caught up in this. We don’t have a choice.”

“Caught up in it?”

“After hearing your story, I’ve had a clowder of cats stalking me, too. Haven’t spotted any ninja cats yet, though.”

After we left the tavern and went home the night before, the cats yowling outside my window made it real tough to get to sleep. Apparently it was the same at Toriko’s place. When I left the house this morning, I didn’t see any cats, so maybe they gave up and scattered.

“Wha?! That’s... my fault, then, right?”

“Yep.”

“Don’t worry, it’s no biggie. We’re used to it,” Toriko said arbitrarily.

“Wow... Have you been through a lot of experiences like this?”

“A fair few. Right, Sorawo?”

“...Well, yeah.”

Was that respect I detected on Akari’s face? Her eyes were sparkling. It made me feel awkward, so I looked away.

Still, it was true. From an objective standpoint, we’d had more of “these sorts of experiences” than just about anyone. I don’t know that there was any value in that, though.

Akari said she had gone to temples and shrines, but none of them had had any effect. It was little wonder. If it was a spirit, or a curse, something all too common like that, then there were offerings that could be made, purification rituals that could be performed. There were protocols for dealing with them. Whether those things actually existed or not, they could offer their services and advice on how to deal with the matter. But ninja cats? Who was going to take that seriously? She’d be laughed off, and that would be the end of it.

...Normally.

Hesitantly, I opened my mouth.

“You’re right. If it’s this sort of strange topic, I doubt there’s many people more qualified to give you advice on it than we are.”

There was a clearly bizarre situation unfolding, and existing religions had no way of dealing with it—that could be said to be typical of the aberrations reported on in true ghost stories and net lore. The Kunekune, the Time-space Man, Kisaragi Station... An exorcism wouldn’t do anything to these aberrations. The stories of Hasshaku-sama and Kankandara had some element of traditional religion in them, but in those cases, they only barely sealed the aberration’s actions—they didn’t provide a fundamental solution.

Looking at it that way, Ninja Cats was actually the same. It wasn’t scary in the least, though.

“Looks like you’re in the mood for this now, huh?” said Toriko. I let out a sigh of resignation.

“Okay, I guess I’ll have to. Let’s take out some ninja cats.”

“Okay.”

“Th-Thank you!” Akari’s face sparkled.

That said, though, I wasn’t going to be able to point a gun at cats after all. I didn’t want to do it, and if anyone caught it on video, it’d go viral online...

No, I guess I’d be going to jail for violating the guns and swords law first, huh.

“...Here’s hoping ninja cats aren’t cute,” I muttered to myself.

“Oh, yeah, the ninja cats, could you tell us exactly what they look like?” Toriko asked Akari.

“Oh! Let’s see...” Akari said, then trailed off.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Erm... They look just like that.”

When I looked in the direction she was pointing, I saw a small shadow standing on top of the counter.

A cat... That’s what it looked like. A cat standing on two legs. It stood maybe fifty to sixty centimeters tall. It had gray fur that reminded me of a Russian Blue, and it wore tattered black clothes. In one hand, though I had no idea how, it was holding a katana-like weapon with a jagged blade.

While I was still dumbfounded, another revealed itself from beneath the counter. This one’s fur was black. It wore a hooded cape, and it carried a vicious-looking weapon with scythe-like blades coming off of it in all directions. It was just like a throwing knife from Central Africa.

“...Ninja cats?!” Toriko and I cried out in unison.

Akari was right. I don’t think you could call these anything but ninja cats.

The other customers and the staff had to notice, and they were going to make a scene... or so I thought, but at some point every single person had vanished from the busy cafe. The other tables had steaming coffee cups, plastic cups with condensation on the outside, and half-eaten chocolate croissants and french toast, as if everyone had just gotten up out of their seats right now and left them behind.

Meeeow! I was surprised by the number of yowling voices I suddenly heard, and when I looked out the window, there was nothing but cats. On the road, and on the sidewalk, cats, cats, cats.

On the other side of the cats, I could see a car had crashed into an electrical pole and stopped. Even though there’d been no sound from the crash. What broke through the front windshield and came out, lying on top of the bonnet, was clearly not human, but a creature that, with its sleek black body and short fins, looked like a deep sea fish. The cats perched on the roof of the car were peering down curiously at the fish as it flopped around.

“This is the man’s world!” Toriko shouted.

This was the interstitial space between the surface and the other world where the Time-space Man appeared. It maintained the image of the surface world, but with disturbing elements scattered around, and might have been no less dangerous than the other world was during daytime. That was the sort of place we had been transported to without warning.

“Keep alert, they’re coming!” Akari rose from her seat, raising her voice sharply. Immediately, the two ninja cats jumped down to the floor, rushing towards us.

Before I had time to respond, something obstructed my vision. It was a cream-colored square board—the plastic tray that had held our drinks. The moment I recognized it, something sharp tore through the tray and stopped just short of my nose.

“Whoa?!”

The tray fell to the floor as I rose from my seat in a panic. The African throwing knife was firmly embedded in it.

“You okay, Senpai?”

Unable to respond, I simply nodded. It was apparently Akari who had just protected me.

Toriko stood in front of me, her hand thrust into a tote bag. The two ninja cats must have sensed she was about to pull a gun on them, because they jumped backwards.

“To-Toriko. Hold on, wait.” I hurriedly put a hand on Toriko’s shoulder.

“Huh? What?”

“That’s not a good idea...!” I said in a low voice, and Toriko blinked, finally seeming to get it. Normally, we could whip our guns out right away, but we had Akari with us today.

“Well, what do you suggest then?”

“Uhhh, I dunno! Let’s just run for now.”

There were ninja cats between us and the exit to the cafe. When I looked deeper inside, in addition to the washroom, there was also a door that appeared to be for employees only. If we went there, maybe we could get outside through a window, or a back door?

“This way! Follow me!”

Without waiting for a response, I raced for the back of the cafe. Toriko and Akari followed. Once we had crossed the empty cafe and reached the door, there was a sign saying, “EnTRy By NoN-CaTS iS PrOHIBitED.” None of us were cats, but what did we care now? I opened the door, and there was an employees’ lounge. There were steel racks which held bags that no doubt belonged to the employees, hangers with uniforms, and a list of shifts posted on the wall. On the other side of the narrow space there was another door, this one leading outside, like I had thought.

Taking advantage of the lack of anyone to object, I brazenly walked in. Toriko and Akari were right behind me. Just as Akari, who was bringing up the rear, closed and locked it behind her, a jagged sword pierced through the plywood door.

“Whoa!” Akari raised her voice as she backed away. The sword made a sawing noise as it was pulled back out of the door. The glint of a cat’s eye shone on the other side of the hole.

“Yikes. They’re merciless, huh? That’s a ninja for you,” Toriko said, shaking her head in exasperation. “Akari, those things have been chasing you? For this whole month?”

“Yeah... They just tailed me at first, but things got more and more intense. For the past week, I’ve been running home.”

“I’m amazed you’re still alive.”

“Well, it was pretty dangerous.”

As I stared in disbelief at how calmly Akari was saying all this, our gazes met, and she smiled shyly. “I do karate, you see...”

“...”

Huh? Was that supposed to be an explanation?

“Oh, I see. Your moves were pretty incredible there. They went for Sorawo, and I got worried, but you had already reacted,” Toriko said, sounding impressed. I hadn’t even realized they were targeting me.

“Yeah, I do karate, so, you know...”

What’s with this girl?

No, I didn’t have time to think about that now.

There was a splintering sound, and an African throwing knife stabbed through the door. The ninja cat swung it several more times, like it was an axe, and chunks of wood went flying.

“Oh, crap. Oh, crap. We gotta get out of here,” I said, and the other two nodded.

I rushed to the back door, turned the knob, and opened it.

My feet were ready to fly out the door, but then came to a sudden stop.

“Whoa, don’t just stop—” Toriko, who ran into the back of me, said, her words trailing off.

Out the back door, the densely packed buildings rose up like steep cliffs. There was a metal catwalk the same width as the door frame that continued for about ten meters, and there was nothing beneath. At the bottom of that cliff, there seemed to be running water. The cliffs and buildings continued both to the left and the right, with similar bridges and catwalks going across the divide here and there.

The buildings across from us were filthy, like the back of a mixed residential building. It was crisscrossed with balconies, emergency exits, air conditioners, ladders, catwalks, and ducts. They were awfully small... not human size. The catwalks were narrow, and the height of each individual floor was maybe half of what you would normally expect. The stairs were awfully steep, too. The footholds carved into that overhang wall must have been impassable for anyone who wasn’t a rock climber.

“A cat... town?”

What Toriko said matched my own impression. After seeing all the cats out front earlier, I hadn’t expected this town to be particularly normal, either, but this was beyond what I had imagined.

“Wh...What is this?” Akari was obviously surprised by all this. “I knew the area around me got kiiiind of weird whenever the ninja cats attacked, but this is a first.”

So, basically, ninja cat attacks were accompanied by a shift into interstitial space? That was the same as the Time-space Man, wasn’t it?

The door was being busted down behind us. This was no time to be staring off into space.

We had to move onward... No matter where that meant we would go.

“Let’s go.” Having made up my mind, I stepped onto the narrow bridge.

The rusty metal groaned beneath my feet. Though the catwalk had railings, they were low, only coming up to about my knees. They weren’t going to stop me from falling. In fact, if I stumbled, there was a good chance I would trip over them, so they actually made it scarier.

I crossed the bridge at a jog, then looked for paths we could take. If we got down on our knees, it looked like there was a series of footholds going along the side of the cliff we could follow.

I cautiously followed the catwalk where one missed step might send me pitching head over heels to the bottom. The sun didn’t reach the bottom of the cliffs, and it was dark, so consequently I ended up looking straight upwards. It felt like I was going to fall, and it was scary, but I couldn’t convince myself to go inside the buildings. Looking in through the open windows, there were tatami rooms with small-sized bamboo mats, and hardwood floor corridors with channels for water laid in them. The ceilings were low, and if we entered carelessly we might not be able to move around inside.

There was the creaking of a door from below. I looked down to see the two ninja cats coming out of the back door from earlier. They were looking towards us, as we crawled along the face of the cliff.

“They’re here already!” Akari shouted from the rear, telling me something I already knew.

The ninja cats looked at one another, then began crossing the catwalk.

We started climbing again, this time at a faster pace. The path wasn’t made for humans, making it a difficult athletic challenge. I was somewhat used to climbing up and down from my time exploring ruins, and Toriko was a stamina monster, so Akari was doing a good job just being able to keep up with us. Was this because she did karate, too? We were doing all this on a summer day, so I was already drenched with sweat. If I knew this was going to happen, I’d have worn clothes that were easier to move around in.

I felt like I was going to die, crawling a set of stairs so steep they felt like they were at a right angle, and then we came out into an open space halfway up the wall. It was a space on top of a concrete roof where we could walk around. The walls still continued upward, but we were at our limit... Even if we climbed further, it was only a matter of time before they caught up to us.

I heard the rustle of clothes closing in from below, and the two ninja cats scaled those stairs which had given us so much trouble in no time, and appeared again.

Having been cornered against the edge of the open space, the three of us glared at the ninjas through wheezing breaths.

Akari stepped forward with resolve. She put her bag down on the ground, then struck a karate-like fighting stance.

“Wait—”

“Please run away. I’ll buy time for the two of you, Senpai.”

“N-No, no, we can’t have you doing that...”

“No. It was my fault, getting you mixed up in this.”

This was all very brave of her, but no matter how good she was at karate, ninja cats with blades drawn and ready were still a terrifying threat. They had two ninjas on their side, while we had one karate fighter on ours... Wait, what was this? When I thought about it like this, I felt like I was going crazy.

While I was panicking, trying to find a way out of our predicament, Toriko said, “Sorawo, enough. I’m using this,” and made the shape of a gun with her fingers.

“Y-You can’t?!” I said, flustered.

“Come on, there’s no other way to do this. We need to make this girl our accomplice, too.”

“What do you mean, ‘this’?”

“You keep quiet!” I shouted at Akari, then leaned in close to Toriko and quickly whispered, “She can’t be our accomplice. No way. Stop it.”

“Why?”

“Because!”

When I raised my voice in irritation, Toriko looked back at me, mystified.

Ugh, geez.

You’re the one who said it.

Being accomplices is the closest kind of relationship in the world.

You! Said! It! First!

“...She can be a victim.” I said, keeping my voice low. “A poor little victim who got dragged in by us. That, I can accept.”

“I don’t really get it... but sure.”

Oblivious to how I was feeling, Toriko thrust her hand into her tote bag.

“Akari, I’m pretty sure this is going to be a surprise for you, so sorry.”

Having said that, she drew the Makarov, pulled the slide to check the bullets, and then moved up. From beside her, I could see Akari’s jaw drop.

“Huh...?”

I pulled my Makarov and moved forward, too.

“Sorry, Akari, but if you breathe a word of this to anyone, you’re going to pay for it.”

I tried to make my voice as intimidating as possible, but Akari didn’t seem to get it at all, so I immediately regretted it. I shouldn’t have done it.

Besides, if she did breathe a word to anyone, Toriko and I were the ones who were going to end up paying for it.

“Sorawo, are you already looking?”

“I-I’ll look now.” I focused on my right eye, like always.

The two cats standing on the edge of the roof... didn’t change. This was something we occasionally encountered in the other world, too. They were the kind that didn’t change between my right eye and my left.

“Urgh, they really are cats... I don’t wanna shoot...”

“Get it together! They’re coming to kill us!”

The two cats suddenly moved, as if Toriko’s voice had been their signal. They charged in at an incredible speed, holding their vicious blades at the ready. Their movements weren’t cute at all. They were filled with bloodlust.

Toriko opened fire. The gunshots echoed off the walls. The ninja cats dodged around, kicking off the wall to leap into the air. In the next instant, a jagged sword was buried in the ground where Toriko had been moments before.

“Scary!” Toriko said, then kept shooting. While I was distracted watching the one carrying the sword crouch low to avoid the point blank shot, then jump to the side to escape, the other one had run up right next to me before I could notice. In response to the African throwing knife swooping up towards me, I just narrowly managed to turn my gun on towards it. Nearly letting out a shriek of terror, I fired twice, but the bullets just bounced off of the concrete.

I’m done for! I stared at the approaching blade, unable to do anything more about it, when Akari’s foot sprang up from beside me.

“Ayyyy!”

With a sharp kiai, she unleashed a forward kick. The knife-wielder jumped backwards, putting some distance between them. Her kiai surprised me, too, and I stumbled a bit. With the same gesture she used to lower her kicking leg, Akari took a step forward.

“You get back, Senpai!” she said, immediately launching into a low kick. It looked strong enough to break a baseball bat in half, but the ninja cat spun around and moved back to evade it.

“W...Wow! You kinda don’t need our help, huh?!” I blurted out, but Akari shook her head with a stern look on her face.

“It’s no good. Thrusts and kicks don’t work on these guys. They’re speedy little things, and even when I think I’ve got a hit, it never feels like it connected.”

Ohh... That made sense. These guys looked like they had a physical form, but they were a “phenomenon,” just like the Time-space Man. Even if I could catch them with my right eye, if bullets and karate were unable to hit them, it wouldn’t do us any good. On top of that, these guys would split up to distract us.

“Toriko, Akari, let’s get closer to the wall. If they catch us in between them, we’re in trouble.”

“Okay.”

“Got it!”

The three of us clumped together, moving slowly with the wall at our backs. The two ninjas closed in on us, too.

Then there was a change in how they moved. The two approached Akari’s bag, which she had left on the roof, and they peered at the opening to it. They stuck their heads inside, as if searching it.

“Sorawo, what are those things doing?”

“Don’t ask me. Hey, Akari, what’s in that bag?”

“Huh? Just normal stuff. My makeup bag, a battery for my phone—”

“Do you have raw fish in there, or something?”

“I don’t walk around with stuff like that!”

I remembered the voices Akari said she’d heard during the gathering of cats. Could it be that Akari had the “mark” those voices mentioned, and these guys were drawn to it?

“You really have no idea why they’d be out to get you? This one is sort of a cliche when it comes to real ghost stories, but I think it’s likely you abused cats when you were a kid.”

“Not a chance!” Akari said indignantly, and I observed her expression closely as she did. She didn’t look like she was lying to me, but did I really understand human emotions...? Whatever the case, there had to be something, whether she was aware of it or not. Some “mark” that the ninja cats were looking for.

I focused on the bag, but there was no change in my right eye’s vision. I decided to turn my right eye’s focus on Akari herself instead.

It had been a while since I did this to a person. The last time I’d done it was with the Time-space Man—in the ghost town in the other world, when I shifted Kozakura’s aspects, and turned her into a plant.

The reason I hadn’t used my right eye on a person since then was, honestly, because I was afraid to. Even if it happened under the special condition of being inside a glitch, it frightened me that I had been able to completely change a person’s form through my perception of them. If that sort of thing kept happening, I might eventually lose my ability to recognize people as people—that was the sense I got. More than that, though, when I asked Kozakura about it later, she said she was still conscious as a plant, and had a super scary experience in a place separate from my own perception.

I had been refraining from using my ability like this because of that, but it was about all I could think to do now. I had to do whatever I could, before we got diced up by those nasty-looking blades.

Having made up my mind, I caught Akari in my right eye, and gasped in surprise.

Akari’s body faintly glowed from the inside.

“What’s wrong, Sorawo?” Akari asked, having noticed the change in my expression. Sighing, I explained it to her.

“There’s something inside your body. Something that gives off a silver light.”

“Is that...?”

Having noticed the exchange between us, the two ninja cats looked up from the bag. When our eyes met, they started walking towards us again.

“Akari, you haven’t been eating or drinking anything weird, have you?” Toriko asked, talking quickly.

“You didn’t snack on the offerings at a grave, or a cat’s food, did you?”

“Whaaaa? I haven’t done aaaanything.”

That sounded awfully insistent. The complete difference from the way she usually spoke caught me by surprise.

“Whyyyy would you say that, Senpai? You’re making me maaaad. I don’t just eat things I pick up off the grou-ou-ou-ouuuu—” Her cloying tone of voice rapidly got muddied.

Every hair on my body raised as I came to an instinctive realization. She was going crazy. I could only think of one cause—I’d looked at her with my right eye!

“Toriko! Your left hand!”

When I said that, Toriko bit the glove on her left hand and pulled it off. Oh, she was so cool! But wait, I didn’t have time to admire her.

“What do I do with it?!”

“Stuff it inside Akari’s body!”

“Wh... Whaaaa?!”

Clearly, this wasn’t something she could just immediately say yes to. But there was no time to hesitate. The ninja cats were almost upon us, and Akari’s eyes were unfocused. If she went totally nuts, we’d have a karate monster on our hands.

I grabbed the hem of Akari’s T-shirt with one hand, taking Toriko’s hesitant hand with the other, and then pushed it against Akari’s belly, allowing no room for argument. Her translucent left hand buried itself inside Akari’s tight muscles without any resistance. Akari let out a groan, and doubled over.

“Ewww, you made me touch something weird again,” Toriko cried out. From the look on her face, she really, really didn’t like it.

“Eeek! Blech! Huh? There’s something hard in here...”

“That’s it! Pull it out!”

“This is safe, right?!”

When Toriko pulled her fist out, Akari fell to her knees where she stood, and then vomited violently. Once I hurriedly took the focus of my right eye off her, Akari looked up at the two of us, gasping for breath, with tears in her eyes.

“Wh... Why’d you punch me in the stomach...?”

Oh, good, she was talking normally again.

“Any idea what this is?”

Toriko held her left hand in front of Akari’s face. There was a little doll on the palm of her hand. It was a simple one, made of ceramic. It had two pointed ears on its head. The round, curly thing must have been a tail. Where a face should have been, there was just a single green stone. That thing, wrapped in a silver halo, was unmistakably a foreign object from the other world.

“Oh! This is... my amulet! I thought I lost it.”

That was when the two ninja cats let out an intimidating hiss, then suddenly started to run towards us.

“Look out!”

I pushed Akari out of the way just in time as a sword and knife stabbed into the wall where we had been. Akari and Toriko both fell on their backs. The ninja cats pulled their blades from the wall, and were about to swing them down at the two who were unable to move.

“Toriko, pass!” I shouted, and Toriko swung her left hand. The ceramic figure slid along the roof, past the ninja cats’ feet. As I grabbed it and looked up, the two cats turned and their heads towards me.

“Th...This is it. This is what they were drawn to.”

When I said that, Akari’s eyes went wide.

“How long have you had it?” I asked.

“Since last year. Someone gave it to me—”

Even as we were speaking, the ninja cats changed their target to me, and they started closing in.

“Sorawo, you can’t hold onto that. Hurry up and let go of it,” Toriko said, sounding concerned. She was now kneeling with her gun held at the ready.

For a moment, I thought about it. If I brought this back, I could get Kozakura to buy it off me, couldn’t I? However, that would guarantee I got attacked by the ninja cats... Unfortunately, I’d have to turn it down.

“...Of course I’ll let it go.”

“What was that pause for?”

Hiss! The ninja cats pounced. I swung my arm, throwing the mud doll as hard as I could. Towards the cliff.

The ceramic doll flew, tracing a lazy parabola. It didn’t fly nearly as far as I’d imagined, and my shoulder made a worrisome cracking noise, but it narrowly made it over the edge of the roof.

The ninja cats reacted quickly. They didn’t so much as look at me after that. They raced sideways at an incredible speed, and then jumped off the roof and vanished.

When I looked over the edge, for an instant, I could see the green stone on the ceramic doll flicker as it reflected the sunlight. Two shadows pursued it with terrifying speed, jumping from building to building, as it fell to the base of the cliffs.

“...Whewwww.” Released from all the tension, I slumped to the ground and sat where I was.

Toriko put her glove back on and approached, peering down at me. “There they go.”

“Yeahhh, that was scary. I wish they’d cut it out with the physical stuff.”

I didn’t like mental attacks, either, but coming to murder me with knives had to be against the rules.

“H-Huh? That was what they were after? Why? Where was I even carrying that?” Akari was perplexed.

“You know, Akari-chan, maybe you were set up? By whoever made you carry that weird thing...”

“Huh? But it was an amulet...”

It seemed she had trouble accepting that. Well, not that it was surprising she would. We could only guess at their intentions, and there was no way to know if we had found the optimal answer.

If I explained we had pulled it out from inside her, that would only complicate things, so I opted not to mention it.

Still, it was shocking to me that my right eye had messed Akari up like that. The impression I got from Akari at that point was very similar to the disturbing elements in the streets of the interstitial space. If I used this eye on other people, it might change them into something from the other world.

I didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if I’d kept looking at her like that. Maybe I was right, and I shouldn’t use it on people lightly.

Well... Now the question was how to get back.

As I thought about it, putting my hands behind my back, I happened to look up and immediately froze solid.

Up above, there were countless cats sticking their heads out of the windows, looking down towards us. The very next moment, the cats all jumped out the windows, racing down the wall in an avalanche.

“Whaaaa?!”

I screamed as I, and Toriko, and Akari, were caught in the cat-valanche.

The area around me was buried in soft fur, paws, tails, and noses. Enveloped in an unceasing flow of felines, we fell towards the abyss.

6

The sound of cars, the voices of people. The smell of exhaust, and of fast food. The sensory information of the surface world brought me back to my senses.

My vision was covered in thin branches. It seemed I was laying on my back, in a bush.

I immediately stowed my gun and stuck my face out of the bushes.

I instantly knew where I was: the public park in front of the art theater above the Metropolitan Exit. All those cats that had been around before were nowhere to be seen now.

I managed to crawl out of the bushes, snapping branches as I went, and noticed Toriko’s hand sticking out of the bush next to me.

“Sorawo, help meeee.”

“What’re you doing?”

“My hair’s all tangled...”

I took Toriko by the hand, and pulled. Her hair and clothes were covered in leaves.

“Whew, thanks. Where’s Akari?”

“Over heeere.”

I turned towards the voice and found Akari with her face thrust into the base of a bush.

“And what are you doing?” I asked.

“The stuff in my bag’s scattered all over...” Akari replied.

“You want help?”

“I’m fine, if you can just wait a moment.”

While Akari was retrieving her stuff, Toriko and I sat down at the edge of the bushes and waited.

“Ahhh, I’m going to jump every time I see a cat for a while. This is why I hate weird stories that involve cats,” I said, sighing as I removed the leaves tangled in Toriko’s hair.

“Sorry. It’s all because I forced you to come out.”

“You said it. Well, it seems to have worked out in the end, so if I don’t have to worry about being stalked by cats any more, then whatever,” I said. Toriko got a mischievous smile on her face.

“Well then, how about I be your cat until the emotional scars have healed?”

“Huh?”

“Meeeeow.”

Toriko looked at me with upturned eyes, making a gesture like that of a maneko-neko as she did.

“...”

“I’m not a scary cat, meow.”

“Co... Could you not do something so calculatingly cute?!” I barely forced myself to say, and Toriko tilted her head to the side in response.

“Why are you so angry, meow?”

“The way you’re ending your sentences!”

While I was still flipping out over it, Akari came over. “Senpai! Toriko-san! Thank you!”

I was at a loss for what to do when she bowed her head to us.

“Nah, it was no biggie. Treat us to a meal again sometime,” Toriko said, with no input from me. She had dropped the adorable meow at the end of her sentences, so I was narrowly able to maintain my sanity.

Come to think of it, normally, wouldn’t we receive some sort of compensation here? I should’ve said something beforehand, huh?

“You two were amazing! Are you always doing stuff like that?”

“Um, Akari, be sure that you don’t say—”

“I know, I won’t say anything. I mean, come on, I couldn’t tell anyone about this nonsense.”

“Well, yeah, you’ve got a point there.”

But this girl did come to me, a total stranger, for advice about the ninja cats, so she had a record here. I couldn’t let my guard down.

“Sorry about the doll. I threw it away without asking first.”

“No, it’s fine. I’d never have imagined I was walking around carrying the cause of all my problems.”

“You said someone gave it to you... Who would give you something like that?”

It had been bothering me, so I asked her about it. I could only imagine that if someone had given Akari an item from the other world to walk around with, there must have had some intent—malicious intent, to be specific—behind that action.

“It was the tutor who was teaching me last year. She said it was an amulet that would help me get through my entrance exams, so I took good care of it.”

“Hmm... What was she like? Do you have her contact information?”

“Yeah, about that. I haven’t been able to get in touch with her for some time now. Maybe since around the start of the new year? We’ve been out of contact for more than half a year now,” Akari said sadly, lowering her eyes. “Her name was Uruma-sensei.”

Toriko’s eyes widened in shock. She looked like she’d been struck by lightning. “Uruma... Satsuki Uruma?”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s right. Do you know her, too?” Akari asked, sounding baffled, but Toriko did not reply.

Satsuki Uruma.

Toriko’s “friend” who vanished in the other world. The person Toriko adored, and who she was still risking her life to search for.

I never expected to hear her name from Akari when I first met her. I was shocked, of course, but how much larger was the impact on Toriko?

Judging by her earlier reaction, she had been completely unaware that Satsuki-san was seeing other people.

I thought she’d grill Akari for more details, but contrary to my expectations, Toriko got very quiet and went home alone.

If I considered what both of them had told me, the period when Satsuki Uruma was tutoring Akari Seto and the period when she told Toriko about the other world and they were exploring it together overlapped. I’m sure Toriko had always believed she was Satsuki Uruma’s greatest confidant, yet here was proof she had been seeing this other girl without her knowledge. Any excuse that it was simply another tutoring job was irrelevant, because Toriko was discovered by Satsuki Uruma when she came to tutor her, and “scouted” as a companion for exploring the other world.

Poor Toriko. I felt like I could sort of understand why she went home without saying anything.

I’m sure Toriko would have wanted any information that might be linked to Satsuki-san’s disappearance, but she didn’t want to hear it from Akari. She might come to terms with her feelings eventually, but it wasn’t going to happen right away. Even I, who had been accused of lacking human emotions, could see that much.

That’s why, the next day, when I sent her a message asking to continue our hunt for a gate, I was unsurprised that her reply was just a stamp that said she was resting because she felt unwell.

It’s okay, Toriko, you rest up. I understand.

Filled with compassion, I got ready, and headed out on the quest to discover a gate on my own.

Though, before that—lest I forget, I was going to turn that seashell-shaped foreign object over to Kozakura first. Kozakura wouldn’t cheap out on me, but she needed to prepare before she could trade it for cash; to investigate the object, and to get the cash ready.

I got off at Shakujii-kouen Station on the Seibu Line. After passing through the shopping area, I descended the hill towards the park area and walked into the residential district. The route was already familiar to me.

I was in the middle of thinking, It’d be so convenient if there were a gate around here, as I looked down a hazy road with my right eye. I’d looked here yesterday, too, but just to be safe...

No, it wasn’t that easy. My eyes were just tired, and I made it to Kozakura’s house easily. I entered the gate, and winced when I saw the AP-1 still sitting there.

Wow, I screwed up. It’s no wonder Kozakura was upset. Seriously, how did I plan to bring it to the other world from here?

While I was getting exasperated with myself, I looked past the AP-1.

There was a gate there.

“...Whuh?” I stopped, and blinked. There was no doubt about it: that was a gate.

In front of the door to Kozakura’s house, in a space about three meters high, and three meters across, was a shimmering silver light.

Why? What was this doing here?

“Ah!” I cried out as the reason occurred to me.

Right. Now that I thought about it, hadn’t a gate opened here before? It was when we opened the door to deal with the three women. A giant face had appeared, and Kozakura and I had been forcibly dragged into the other world. Thinking about it, I had never consciously chosen to use my right eye here before. The gate had remained all this time.

That was super convenient for me, but... When Kozakura found out, she was gonna flip...

“What’re you doing, standing there?” Kozakura called out to me as I was staring vacantly at the gate, and I snapped back to my senses.

Kozakura, who came out the front door wearing sandals, looked out at me dubiously from the shadow of the eaves.

“Oh, hey...” I awkwardly greeted her, which caused Kozkaura to realize something was up.

“Ahh... Are you worried about how I yelled at you last time? Well, I think I may have said a bit too much. Here I was, cooped up by myself, but strange things kept happening one after another, and I was irritated. Sorry.”

“O-Oh, no.”

“Did you find a gate? No, there’s no way you could have so quickly, right?”

“I found a gate... I did, but...”

“Huh? You did? You work fast. I’m seeing you in a whole new light now.”

“Hahah... It’s nothing to praise me for, really...”

My voice was growing thinner and thinner.

“Well, come in, it’s hot out here. Do you want ice cream?”

Seen through the silver haze in front of her door, Kozakura’s good-natured smile seemed to sparkle. I walked towards her with heavy steps, wondering how I was going to break the news to her.