Chapter 4 – A Day With Haruki-san ~ Making a Friend

If she had to choose, she liked cats.

More accurately, she thought I don’t like or dislike them, but if pressed, she was generally inclined more towards liking. A world without cats would undoubtedly be sad. But still, she doubted that she would personally choose to undergo suffering purely for the sake of cats.

It had been about five minutes since Haruki Misora had reached her arm out towards the cat that had been weaving through her legs. It had quickly climbed up her arm towards her shoulder, slinking around towards the back of her neck. When it tried going further around her neck, it apparently slipped, as Haruki could only feel its claws sink in through her thin blouse.

Haruki’s immediate reaction was to lean forward, making her back parallel to the ground so that the cat wouldn’t slip off. Her plan was a success in that sense, but the cat remined clinging to her back, no longer moving. Haruki was unsure if the cat simply liked staying on her back or was otherwise stuck and couldn’t change position. Regardless, even though she politely asked, “Please get off,” the cat didn’t so much as meow in response.

Her abdominal muscles were getting sore, and her chest was starting to hurt from her cramped position. She was beginning to consider getting it over with and immediately straightening up when she heard a voice.

“What the heck are you doing?”

Haruki cautiously turned her neck towards the sound, taking care not to lose her balance.

Another girl was sitting on the narrow stone staircase leading up to a small mountain shrine. Her skin was a stark white, and she had long, black hair. Summer vacation was well underway, yet the girl was wearing her school uniform. Her name was Nonō Seika.

“I have come here to see you,” Haruki answered. Her position made it somewhat painful to even speak.

Nonō turned her eyes towards the cat atop Haruki’s back. “And how exactly did we get here?”

“A series of unfortunate events occurred while you were sleeping.”

When Haruki had arrived at the shrine, Nonō was already asleep. A small cat, different from the one climbing up Haruki’s back, was curled up in her lap. She appeared to have a hard time sleeping due to the heat, as her brows were slightly furrowed.

Haruki had reached out to a cat as a way of killing the time before Nonō awoke, leading to her present situation.

“I see. Looks like quite the pickle,” Nonō responded with a nod. She then called out, “here,” with a gentler voice. That was all it took for the cat to leap off Haruki’s back, but not without first digging its claws into her skin, much to her dismay. Haruki straightened up as the cat trotted towards Nonō. She stretched, and her back popped slightly.

Nonō welcomed the cat with her hand, tracing along its spine with gentle strokes. “Now then, what do you need?”

As if following the cat’s lead, Haruki also stepped closer to Nonō. She replied, “I am here to become friends with you.”

Nonō stopped petting the cat, looking back up towards Haruki and tilting her head a little.

Doesn’t it make you want more friends, too? Asai Kei had commented three days prior.

In response, Haruki asked, “Who would you recommend if I were to try making more?” and his reply was, “Nonō-san, probably.” Resultantly, on August 11th, Haruki made her way to the shrine.

Nonō nodded along to the explanation. “Gotcha. I see what’s going on.”

“With all that said, would you be my friend?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Haruki accomplished her goal with record speed. She had been under the impression that making friends was a more involved task, but evidently it was quite easy.

“C’mon, sit,” Nonō said, and Haruki sat down beside her. The small stone staircase was protected from the harsh sun by a tree limb jutting out from above. Every time the wind blew, the shade would sway, as if the wind were whispering to the sunlight as it filtered through the tree.

“Just so we’re on the same page, what do you think a friend is, exactly?” Nonō asked, looking back towards the cat.

“Friends do things such as study and play together. Primarily, they view each other as equals and spend a lot of time together.” Before heading to the shrine, Haruki had looked up the word “friend” in the dictionary, just to be sure.

Nonō giggled. “Studying sucks. It’s so annoying.”

“Shall we play something together, instead?”

“That’s not a bad idea, but I personally prefer to spend time sitting and chatting.”

Haruki nodded in assent. That would work just as well as anything else. “What shall we talk about?”

“What do you want to discuss?”

“Nothing in particular.”

Nonō giggled quietly. “You’re so honest all the time.”

Haruki didn’t think that was true, but didn’t voice a complaint. Instead, she asked, “Is being honest a problem?”

“Well, at its core, it’s a virtue. But it can be a problem in certain circumstances.”

“Such as?”

“Such as, do you like me?”

“No. I neither like nor dislike you.”

Nonō giggled again. “You could hurt someone by saying that depending on the situation. Though I must admit, I think your way is easier.” The cat on Nonō’s lap stood up. Putting her hand on its head, Nonō continued, “I just like to take it easy. So you know what, let’s just talk nonsense. Pointless, thoughtless drivel that you could fall asleep to. Let’s just talk about stuff that’ll make us feel good.”

Nonsense. Pointless talk.

It was the kind of thing that Asai Kei would like. But for Haruki, such conversation topics weren’t very forthcoming. Since she couldn’t come up with much, she asked, “Do you have anything specific to start with?”

“Let’s see… how about we talk about the kindest words in the world?”

“Kind words?”

“Sometimes fun words are good, or happy ones. Just as long as they aren’t sad or lonely. Really, anything works, but this time I wanna try kind words.” Nonō turned her eyes to Haruki. “What would you say are the kindest words in the world?”

Haruki had never considered such concepts before. She didn’t even know where to begin. It was as though she were groping about in the dark without even a goal to reach for. “I don’t know,” she answered.

Nonō nodded. “Okay, we’ll start with something a little more conceptual. Let’s say… you come across a gaunt-looking cat laying on the freezing asphalt on a cold night. You can tell it is very tired, and very hungry. Are there any words that could help that cat?”

Haruki tried imagining the cat. Gaunt. Tired and hungry. Shivering from the cold.

Haruki understood that the cat was in quite a lot of pain. Without a doubt, the cat needed more than just words. It needed milk and a blanket, to satisfy its stomach and warm its body. Perhaps then, it could sleep peacefully in the blanket’s soft warmth.

Were there words that could replace milk and a blanket? Were words enough to even help the cat at all?

As she thought and thought, one answer solidified in her mind. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure that her answer was correct.

Nonō smiled. “There’s no need to think it over so seriously. There isn’t a right answer to such a meaningless hypothetical. Just say whatever comes to mind.”

With a small nod, Haruki answered, “I would say, ‘I will go and find what you are looking for.’”

“Hm?”

“I would promise to go and find milk, a blanket, and whatever else it needed.”

But did those count as kind words? Haruki wasn’t sure if she had properly fulfilled the conditions. Ultimately, the words did nothing to help the cat. Any help would have to come from action outside of her promise.

With that logic, Haruki expected her answer to be quite wrong. But Nonō immediately took over the conversation, a look of satisfaction on her face. “I see. Your promise becomes hope.”

“Hope, you say?”

“If the cat knew that there was something ahead, it just might last through the cold and the hunger for a little while longer. Hope is what cats and people both need to endure through pain.”

“Is hope a kind word?”

Nonō giggled quietly. “Dunno. There are two sides to every coin. Perhaps the next night, the cat will find itself cold and hungry again. But at the very least, your attempt to give hope to someone else is certainly kindness.”

Haruki didn’t understand. In fact, she barely understood the meaning of the word “kind.” As far as she was aware, she only knew the surface definition, whereas other people seemed to meaningfully comprehend it as a deeper concept.

With that in mind, Haruki asked Nonō, “What would you consider to be the kindest words in the world?”

Nonō’s head tilted slightly to the side as she gently stroked the cat in her lap. “Well, if I found a cold, shivering, hungry, and suffering cat… I would say, ‘You look cold. Cold and hungry.’”

“Would that help the cat somehow?”

“Oh, absolutely not. If all I did was talk, nothing would change. But I think I’m ultimately trying to accomplish the same goal you were.”

“And what would you do after saying that?”

“That would depend on who I was talking to. If the cat asked me to find food, I would. If the cat asked for a warm place to sleep, I would give it just that.”

“What if the cat said nothing back?”

“Then I would say nothing, and sleep by its side.”

Haruki didn’t know if Nonō’s answer was the right one, either.

What would Kei think of her answer? Haruki thought.

Oftentimes, when Haruki didn’t know what to say or do, she would ask herself that question. When she didn’t know what to say, she would imagine his voice, and surprisingly often she would find the words she was looking for.

Imagining Asai Kei’s response, Haruki said, “I think that is a very honest answer.” She was sure that was how he would have responded.

“What do you mean by honest?”

“It refuses to distort the truth, and accepts reality for what it is.”

“Is that kindness?”

“I do not know.” Haruki still didn’t quite understand what it meant for words to be kind. “But I think that you would be helping the cat in a meaningful way,” she added.

Nonō’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “That’s good, then.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t really trust words all that much,” Nonō shared, calmly stroking the neck of the cat in her lap. The cat closed its eyes, yawning widely.

“You cannot trust words?”

“You can say one thing, and someone hears something completely different. I just kinda hate that that happens.”

“But the meaning of the words would be in the dictionary.”

“And that dictionary would be written in words. Can’t look up a word you don’t know.”

That made sense. It was quite a difficult conundrum. After all, Haruki was sure that even if she looked up the dictionary definition of “kind”, that wouldn’t help her learn what it was in its fullest form.

“I can pet a cat as a form of affection, but how do I express that same affection with words alone?” Nonō mused.

Haruki considered the question, but couldn’t come up with an answer.

A good deal of time passed in silence. Cicada cries filled the air.

Eventually, Nonō tilted her head. “Sorry, I just said something really boring.”

“No.”

“That proves my point on why talking nonsense is so nice. I like it when there are no right answers, missing out on meaning doesn’t matter, and you can just feel good.”

The two spent more time talking about whatever came to mind. Recent dreams, the shape of a cloud, cat paws. They were meaningless exchanges, a simple transfer of sounds between each other, to be easily forgotten after a good night’s sleep.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and as it did, Haruki stood up from the steps. Then, on a whim, she asked a question.

“Have we become friends?”

Nonō’s head tilted slightly. “Dunno. Honestly, it feels more like we’re just acquaintances than friends.”

Haruki nodded. She shared that exact sentiment.

As it turned out, she had not accomplished her goal. But she had more than one day to do that, anyway.

Nonō smiled. “Feel free to come back whenever you like.”

“Will that make us friends?”

“Sure. Just talking once makes acquaintances, but after enough times, you become friends.”

“Is that really how it goes?”

“I’m not 100 percent sure, but I think so. Besides, you’ve really taken my interest. Just like a friend would.”

That was good to hear. “In all honesty, I was somewhat nervous. I have only ever known one person that I could call a friend before.”

“Just one? You talking about Asai?”

“Not quite.” No matter how often they had talked, Haruki could never categorize him as a friend. He was in a mysterious and unique category that she couldn’t quite name yet.

Rather, the friend on her mind was a girl she had met two years prior. The girl who loved swings and had created a habit of grabbing onto the hem of Haruki’s uniform. However, Haruki was sure that Nonō wouldn’t know the girl, so there was no need to say any more about it.

“I will be back again someday,” said Haruki.

“Mm. I’ll be waiting.”

Waving softly, Haruki turned her back to Nonō.

The sunlight was slowly mixing into deeper reds, and the shadows of the trees had lengthened significantly.

Haruki Misora mused thoughtfully as she walked down the mountain path. She wondered how to classify the day’s results. She ultimately concluded that her plans to make a friend could only be considered as still in progress.

She didn’t know when her plan would finally bear fruit. But maybe the specifics didn’t matter all that much.

A Day With Haruki-san ~ Making a Friend – END