Chapter 3: 4th Place

I once went pretty far out into the countryside.
That time, I was waiting for a bus—the next one wouldn’t come for about three hours.

I thought about taking a little walk around the area, but unfortunately, the weather was bad, and the sky looked like it could start raining any minute.
If it started raining halfway through, I’d be in trouble, so in the end, I decided to wait quietly at the bus stop.

You could call it a bus stop, but it was really just a single wooden bench.
There were walls around it, and a roof too—but about half of it had rotted away and collapsed, and even the part that remained was full of holes.
And there wasn’t any door in the front, either.

…Well, you could really feel the years it had been through.

And sure enough, it started to rain.
Since I’d already taken a spot near the edge, I managed to keep from getting too wet—though the roof was leaking, after all.

After I’d been sitting there like that for a while, a completely soaked cat came along.
Maybe it was loved by the local people, because it wasn’t afraid of me at all.

It looked at me, let out a “meow,” then hopped right up onto the bench—and sat down beside me.

I gave it a light wipe with the towel I had, then shared some of the rice ball I’d made myself.
I hadn’t bothered sprinkling any salt on it, so it was fine to give to the cat.

After it finished eating, it climbed onto my lap.
It must’ve been cold.
When I wrapped it up in the towel, it started breathing softly… no—snoring, actually—and fell asleep just like that.

Cats snore too, you know. Did you know that?

While I was relaxing like that, the bus finally came.
I didn’t really want to leave, but I gently set the cat down.
By then, the rain had eased to a light drizzle.

When I got on the bus and looked back, that cat was still sitting on the bench—looking right at me.
It felt like it was properly seeing me off, and I couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed.

…By the way, there was a big wet stain on my pants, and I have to admit—it was a little embarrassing.

So, that’s why No. 4 on my list is “Taking Shelter from the Rain with a Cat at a Bus Stop.”

Huh? You’re asking what kind of cat it was?
A calico. It was really cute.

Huh? Its voice? Its size? Its fur?

—Hey, come on! Aren’t you getting a little too caught up in the cat!?
At least listen to the rain-sheltering part, too!

…But, well, cats are cute, I’ll admit that.