As I stepped out of the lodging and petted a cat, I suddenly felt someone’s presence.
Piyo tilted her head, peering at me as if I were spacing out.
“Hiro, what’s wrong? Did you see something?”
“Uh, no, not really…”
Did I mistake it for some plastic blown by the wind?
“Meow, meow.”
No, it wasn’t a mistake! I heard it clearly, a cat’s voice, not from my feet, but from somewhere else. When I looked up, there it was…
A pure white cat.
My heart felt like it stopped. No, surely not. But then again, there are many white cats. Maybe it was a different one. I’m sure that’s it, I’m just overthinking. But I couldn’t help but chase it. This time, I wasn’t chasing a cat, but the truth.
“Hey, Arisugawa, what’s wrong?!”
Sharin’s voice was heard from behind. Other voices were also audible. Shaking them all off, I chased after the white cat. It leaped away right in front of me.
“W-wait! Let’s talk…”
What am I saying to an animal? It’s ridiculous, I know that in my head, but I can’t stop. The very first thing, the reason I came to this world, vividly came back to me – the path I took home from work. I was buying food for the stray cats in the neighborhood, catnip and an onigiri and water for myself. I walked by a park with a plastic bag in hand and saw a white cat there.
To stop it from running into the crosswalk, I lunged in front of a truck.
I wonder how far I ran, but before I knew it, I had wandered into a back alley. The white cat suddenly stopped. Its adorable face turned to face me.
“Meow.”
“Haa, haa… You are…”
I felt like its small mouth split into a grin.
“Found you, meow.”
The next moment, the fluffy cat’s body contorted and changed shape. In no time, it had become a woman in a white dress. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening and could only continue to breathe heavily.
“Hiro-san, are you alright?”
The sound of hooves echoed from behind, and I snapped back to reality. Piyo descended from above and stood beside me.
“Who is this person? Is she Hiro’s acquaintance?”
“N-no, I don’t know her.”
Elana, who must have rushed from somewhere, peeped up from my feet. Then, my dagger fell with a thud.
“You dropped this. You just ran off without a word, so I was shocked watching from the window. But the Sphinx’s intuition is right.”
“Nfufu, fufufu, everyone’s here?”
The woman who transformed from the cat laughed under her large hat. A wide-brimmed hat, a long skirt that hugged her body – she looked like a witch. A glimpse revealed long ears peeking out from the side of her face. Her skin was white, matching her clothes, so she was likely an Elf. However, her shadowed eyes were dyed a blood-red.
“Who are you?”
“Calling me ‘who are you’ is rude to a lady? I am called the White Witch. I came here on a request to eliminate you.”
“A Dark Elf?”
She brightly answered “That’s right!” to my question. But before that, there was something I wanted to ask. If that white cat was a witch, then I could understand why she warped me to another world.
“Don’t you remember me? I’m the human you sent to another world.”
“Hmm? Did I do something like that? I did go to another world, though?”
The witch tapped her finger on her bright red lips and tilted her head, murmuring “Hmm?”.
“When I was about to be hit by a truck, I was transferred too.”
“Hmmmm?? A truck? Ah, you mean that big car thing? Yes, maybe something like that happened. Oh, I remember now.”
The witch giggled, saying “Oh, right.”
“The human I sent over at that time, was that you? It seemed troublesome, so I just left you in the forest. I thought you’d die, but hey, you’re alive. Human life force is amazing… like insects.”
She laughed like a child, “Kyahahaha.” Damn it, what does this woman think of human lives?
“Hey, what are you? Did you bring Hiroaki to this world?”
“Um, it seems so. But you shouldn’t have followed me. Don’t blame others. Besides, thanks to that, you weren’t hit by the truck.”
She had a point, but I still felt unsatisfied. Then, the White Witch clapped her hands.
“Okay, then, as an apology, I’ll send you back to your original world. See? Isn’t that good enough?”
What? My original world? Does that mean I can go home? Back to my real home.
