Daigo also chuckled awkwardly.
“Tomoka, I couldn’t say this before because my career has been so uninspiring—”
He was interrupted by the sound of a cat, but it wasn’t the usual meow.
“Ta-tan?”
Tangerine emerged from behind a chair. She wasn’t her normal self. Her head was down and she was walking strangely.
They heard another noise. It sounded like a coughing fit. It was Tank. He had been running around so much last night, but now he was dragging his paws.
“Hey, K-tan, what’s wrong? You seem…off.” Tomoka got down on her knees and reached out to him.
All of a sudden, Tank threw up; a moment later Tangerine was also vomiting.
“K-tan! Ta-tan!”
The two cats collapsed on their sides. Tomoka’s mind went blank. Daigo seemed to have completely sobered up.
“Tomoka, we need to take them to the vet right away.”
“The vet? But it’s already late. I doubt any veterinary clinic will be open.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll look for one. In the meantime, grab a towel and wipe up whatever they vomited so we can take it to the vet. They might have eaten something bad.”
“G-got it.”
Tomoka’s hands were trembling. Nevertheless, she managed to follow Daigo’s instructions and got both cats into their pet carriers. Then she contacted the vet Daigo had found and they hopped into a taxi. Their destination was a vet in the heart of Kyoto that provided emergency care—Suda Animal Hospital.
Dr. Suda, a man in his sixties with tousled salt-and-pepper hair, wore his white lab coat over his pajamas. His feet remained in slippers as he conducted the examination.
“It looks like they’ve thrown up everything,” Dr. Suda said, as he peered at one cat and then the other.
Under his light touch, the cats settled on the table, and the rest of the examination proceeded smoothly. Vets are amazing, thought Tomoka.
Suda Animal Hospital was located on the street behind the Nakagyō Building, where she’d been that day. Because it offered nighttime emergency care, she had expected it to be a large facility, but it turned out to be in a small clinic sandwiched between town houses, with the back of the building serving as a residence. They were led in through the service door instead of the clinic’s front entrance. A single light shone in the examination room, which had been opened specifically for this emergency.
Dr. Suda explained his findings from the vomit they had brought in.
“Looks like the cats must have gotten into some houseplants. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pump their stomachs, but certain plants like lilies and dracaenas are highly toxic to cats. There are others, too, that you shouldn’t have around the house.” Dr. Suda spoke calmly with no blame in his voice, and it was as if he were talking not to Tomoka and Daigo but to the cats.
The cats were placed back in their carriers and now looked right as rain.
Houseplants. Tomoka and Daigo looked at each other. There had been one on the living room windowsill before they got Tangerine, but Tomoka had decided to relocate it as a precaution.
“I put it on the highest shelf of the bookcase,” said Daigo.
“It must have fallen during yesterday’s nighttime zoomies. If only I’d just cleaned it up right away…Well, in the first place, the instruction leaflet did say to remove dangerous objects. It’s my fault for not following the directions properly.”
“No, it’s my fault. I said I would clean the house, but I left everything in a mess and went out. I’m sorry, Ta-tan and K-tan. It was Daddy’s fault.”
“No, no, it was Mommy’s fault. I’m sorry, Ta-tan and K-tan.”
While the two argued over who was responsible, Dr. Suda brought out the cats’ medicine. He remained courteous to them despite the lateness of the hour.
“Thank you so much, Dr. Suda, for seeing us in the middle of the night. You saved us,” said Tomoka.
“Animals don’t care if it’s day or night. And unlike humans, they can’t call for an ambulance.”
It was true. Tomoka should have researched vets in her neighborhood and where to go outside of business hours. If she was going to take in cats, she should have considered all these things.
Taking a look around the clinic, Tomoka noticed that not only was the building old, but everything inside was as well. The examination tables, the lighting fixtures, the shelves crammed with specimens, and the thick veterinary textbooks were all ancient. Even the microscopes and X-ray machines were showing their age.
Dr. Suda himself was no spring chicken, and the veterinary clinic looked like it had long been rooted in the community. Though it was listed online as offering emergency services, it was probably rare for a clinic this size to see patients late into the night.
“Do you run this clinic alone, Dr. Suda?” asked Tomoka.
“At night, yes. But during the day, I have staff to assist me. If there’s anything you’re concerned about, feel free to come by anytime. We don’t mind phone calls either. Take care.” There was a hint of sleepiness in his voice.
Tomoka took the carrier with Tank, and Daigo the carrier with Tangerine.
Daigo took out his phone. “I’ll get us a cab.”
“Hey, Daigo.”
“Yeah?”
