A stray cat aimed for space

By the time I can remember, I was already desperate to live.

I was what the humans called me, a so-called "stray cat".

With no family or friends to hang out with, he desperately survives day by day in a corner of the gray
world created by humans, scavenging through the trash that humans throw away.

It was one winter that such a life came to an end.

On that day, for some reason, there was nothing that could be used as food on the side of the road or in
the garbage cans, and the cold at night was not something that could be prevented with just the fur that
stuck to my bones, so I was warm even a little. I was trembling, curled up in the alleyway between
buildings.

Suddenly a shadow fell in front of me.

When I looked up, I saw a man in a tattered jacket and a carelessly unshaven beard, who could easily be
mistaken for a vagrant. He was looking at me through a glass plate.

(Ningen)

I reflexively jumped back from the spot. Of course, it was due to wild instincts, but the main reason was
the mother. I don't remember it clearly, and I'm not even sure if the cat was my mother. But, in any
case, when I was a child, I definitely had someone who I could call my mother. She taught me how to
live in this world, how to find food, and the fear of humans.

I kept my eyes on the man so that I wouldn't miss his every move, and when I saw my low groan that
seemed to exude caution, I frowned as if the man had weakened.

"I'll do it"

The man muttered so and gradually put something white in front of me.

"Eat properly"

A man disappears from the alley. Immediately disappeared into the crowd.

As for me, I couldn't take my eyes off the delicious-smelling white mass in front of me. I knew from the
smell that it was edible, and more than anyone else, I knew that my life would be in danger if I didn't eat
something.

I timidly raised my teeth, and the white mass crumbled from where I bit it. What I thought was a white
mass, it seemed to be a collection of white grains. It was much later that I learned that it was called rice.
The man showed up again the next day. The next day also appeared. It appeared again the next day.
After ten days, I decided to follow him. Even though it had been about a year since he was born, I, who
was still naive and naive, thought that the man was carrying a lot of food somewhere. He planned to
track down the place and, if lucky, make all the secret food for himself.

The plan went surprisingly smoothly. After all, stray cats weren't uncommon in the town where I lived,
so I didn't feel any suspicion even though I was walking among humans.

There were two miscalculations. One is that I was found unexpectedly easily by a man. The second is
that the man assumed that I wanted to be kept.

Somewhere in my heart, I may have trusted men. It was on that day that I changed from a stray cat to a
so-called "domestic cat" and received a new name.

The night I entered the man's house, the man laughed and told me various things while watching me
devotedly eating the food that was served to me.

The man makes a living by researching the universe, and the reason why he chose that job.

“When I was a child, I believed that living things would become stars when they died. My dream was to
become an astronaut.

The man lowered his eyebrows and shyly said so. It seems that the name given to me was taken from a
cat I used to have.

Then the man happily started explaining about the universe. Even if it's a cat, it's like saying that it's
really fun to talk to someone. Now that I think about it, he might have returned to his childhood at that
time.

The man's work seemed to be something that could be done without going out, and he was often at
home even during the day. In the morning, she wakes up at the same time as the man, eats three meals,
and goes to sleep. During that time, I never failed to see the man's face.

This kind of life continued for several years.

It was about fifteen years ago when my wild intuition, which had completely dulled, told me that the
man had no long way to go. One day, the man suddenly complained of abdominal pain and was taken to
an ambulance while moaning . I couldn't comprehend the situation, and my eyes were just black and
white. A few days passed and the man returned. As soon as he saw me, he looked like he was about to
cry and picked me up in his arms. When I saw his emaciated body, I was surprised at how much he had
changed in just a few days. . I learned later that the man had already been seriously ill at the time. Even
so, the man strongly appealed to the doctor that he would like to spend the rest of his time at home
with me, rather than being hospitalized for a hopeless operation.

The man was getting thinner day by day.

It seemed like it was too much trouble to eat.

After one day, the man started telling the clerk that if I died, I should have someone better take care of
me next time.

One day, the man could not get out of bed.

From that day on, I didn't even try to move on the man's bed.

Every time I saw a man crying and muttering that he wanted to live with you longer, I snuggled up to him
and responded.

A few days later.

One morning, when I woke up, the man had stopped moving.

I didn't move from my bed. Even though I knew in my head that the man was already dead, I couldn't
think of leaving his corpse.

how long have you been doing that? The sun had already set outside.

Come to think of it. I remembered the story that the man happily told me on that day fifteen years ago.

"I used to believe that when living things die, they become stars."

The man's smile from that day revives in my mind.

A star is a round mass in the universe, and the universe is a tremendously wide world on the other side
of the sky.

Has he become a star yet?

I looked over the bed to the window. Countless stars shone like tiny pearls scattered on a black veil.

Since the owner is gone, I am no longer a domestic cat. However, if you ask me if I am willing to find a
new owner, the answer will be no. If I can stay by his side, I can remain a stray cat.

(I am still a "stray cat")

As if declaring that, while gazing at the multitude of brilliance spreading out in the night sky, I let out a
single, meow.