Bee felt heavy and warm in his arms. She remained calm, as if without a care in the world. Come to think of it, it had been in the instruction leaflet: Please make sure she is wearing her collar and leash when taking her outside. It also mentioned that she needed to scratch frequently to relieve stress. As he looked at the black car, Shuta realized that the collar, leash, and scratching pad had been provided for a reason.
There was a small Shinto altar on the wall. That was about all that caught Shuta’s attention. He’d expected to see samurai swords or a yakuza family crest on the wall, but he’d been brought to the office of an ordinary construction company. The parking lot was filled with small excavators and trucks, while men in wide-leg construction wear filed in and out of the office. Shuta sat waiting in the reception area in the corner of the office, Bee’s pet carrier resting on his lap.
On the way over, Kōsuke Higuchi had driven them, proudly letting them know that the company owned the building where their office was located. A man of many words, he also told Shuta that his boss had had a tough time convincing his wife to let him buy a new car and that his boss had excitedly counted down the days until his new car arrived. Jinnai, the boss in question, sat in the back seat in grim silence.
“What? You’ve already messed up the car?” a shrill voice echoed through the office. “Kōsuke! What were you doing?”
Kōsuke looked sheepishly at a woman in glasses and with a frown on her face.
“I’m sorry, Sister Satsuki. That damn cat started scratching out of nowhere.”
“Don’t blame the cat. You’re the one who volunteered to drive the car. And don’t call me ‘Sister.’ It makes me sound like the wife of a yakuza.”
“I’m sorry, Sister Satsuki,” said Kōsuke with a bow.
The office staff tittered. It seemed Satsuki, the woman in glasses, and middle-aged, was a senior manager at the company.
Jinnai let out a low chuckle. He was reclined on a leather sofa in the back of the office. “What kind of yakuza’s wife would be such a tightwad?”
“What did you say?” Satsuki glared at him. “Anyway, who takes the car just for a quick trip to the convenience store? Good grief! You always get so excited when you have something new…” Satsuki grumbled, then sat down in front of Shuta.
“Hello. I’m Satsuki Jinnai. I handle accounting for this company.”
“I-I’m Shuta Kagawa. I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve caused.” Shuta bowed. He wondered if this woman was the boss’s wife—they shared a last name. When he glanced up at Satsuki, he was met with her icy glare.
“How old are you? You look young, but you’re not still in school, are you? Where do you live? Do you have insurance? I’ll get an estimate on the cost of repairs and talk to our insurance company. Can you do the same? I don’t think it’ll cost that much, given it’s a new car.”
The questions came in rapid succession, and Shuta became slack-jawed. “Well, um…”
Satsuki raised an eyebrow. “What do you do? What kind of job makes you dress up in a suit and walk around with a cat?”
“Um, so…I don’t have a job.”
“You don’t?”
“I was working for a large company until yesterday, but just today, I was fired—no, I resigned.”
“So you’re unemployed?”
The way she had so simply stated the truth felt like a stab to Shuta’s heart.
A shadow fell over Shuta. When he glanced up, he found Jinnai, the boss, looking down at him.
“There are two things I can’t forgive,” said Jinnai.
“Oh?”
“First, lazy, young, able-bodied folks who avoid work. They really get under my skin.”
“I’m not lazy. Until this morning, I was working at a good company—”
“The other thing!” Jinnai suddenly raised his voice. “People who abuse kitty cats.”
“Kitty cats?”
Shuta was taken aback. The cat jostled the carrier. Is he referring to Bee? And did he think I was abusing her?
“Yeah, that’s right. I won’t let anyone get away with mistreating such adorable creatures. I’ll beat the hell out of that worthless scum to teach them a lesson.”
As Satsuki heard Jinnai raise his voice, her face contorted. “Keep it down, will you?” she said. “Enough with the cats this and that. Mr. Kagawa, was it? Don’t worry about this man. He watches too many cat videos and acts like he has a cat.”
“Hah!” Jinnai exclaimed testily. “If I was the cat’s owner, I wouldn’t put it in a cheapo carrier with a door that pops open so easily. I wouldn’t take it outside without putting a collar on it in the first place. What if the cat gets lost? Isn’t that irresponsible? Am I wrong?”
“I have a collar for her. I was going to put it on her as soon as we got home,” Shuta explained, swiftly pulling the collar out of the paper bag.
When Jinnai saw it, he roared even louder. “It’s not even the right size!” He grabbed the paper bag from Shuta and scattered its contents. His eyes widened when he saw the package of cat food. “What the hell is this? Did you even look at the nutrition label? It’s loaded with carbohydrates! Don’t you know an adult cat needs more animal protein?”
“Protein?” Cats need protein? Shuta looked down at the carrier on his lap. He couldn’t see the cat because she had tucked herself away in the back. “I don’t know much about it. But it’s cat food, so I thought it would be fine.”
“Fine?” The look in Jinnai’s eyes turned increasingly grim. “How old is that cat? It’s obviously not a kitten.”
“She’s certainly not a kitten, but she’s not that old either. Oh yeah, the instruction leaflet said she’s eight years old. Plus, she ate this food yesterday and seemed to enjoy it.”
“Are you a demon?” shouted Jinnai.
Shuta’s mouth fell open. Jinnai himself was the one acting like a furious demon.
