Ohayo has a minion!

Viewing the Sakura

Ohayo gozaimasu!


It's the morning of your third day visiting Japan, and you're horribly lost.

You were raring to go only a couple of hours ago. You had seen the warm sun streaming through your hotel window when you had woken up, and the prospect of a bright and sunny day in a foreign country had pushed you to seize the day. You had hastily gotten ready, devoured the leftovers from last night's Udon dinner, and rushed out the door into the streets of Tokyo. In your enthusiastic rush, you had forgotten your phone back at the hotel and, by extension, any means of technologically getting back to the hotel.

You mentally kick yourself for forgoing the more populated streets to instead wander through an inviting local, and very empty, neighborhood. The cute gardens and brightly colored houses that line the narrow street are quiet except for a few songbirds proclaiming their location from within the trees. The warm beams of light tickling your skin would have been enjoyable within the charming neighborhood if your stress levels weren't rising due to the unfamiliar nature of the location.

Just when you were thinking about which house to go knock on the door of, some movement catches your eye. In the distance, a small shape sits on the top of a wall. You hasten your pace, hoping that the shape leads to someone who can give you directions. But as you get closer, you notice that the shape is round and furry. When you reach it, your shoulders slump at the sight of a calico cat curled up on a small concrete wall that's surrounding a garden. Its ear flicks in your direction as you sigh, and you watch it sleepily look up at you. It gets casually up on all fours, stretches, and lets out a wide yawn. It then looks up at you again, this time with the wide eyes of a fully conscious cat. You're taken aback slightly at the sight of one blue and one green eye peering up at you. A purr then reaches your ears, and the cat closes its eyes again. To your amusement, its little mouth combined with its closed eyes makes it look like it's almost smiling.

You reach out one hand to the cat palm up, as if giving it a great offering. The cat gives your hand a sniff before bumping up against it with its head, its purr growing louder. You smile, beginning to pet the soft animal. Maybe getting lost wasn't so bad after all. You pet the cat gently, time seeming to slip away from you as you begin to relax. On the third chin scratch, the cat opens its eyes again and locks its gaze with yours. You're lost in the depths of its blue eye and green eye, the cat's soothing presence and loud purr enveloping your senses.

You're broken out of the trance with a sudden sound. You hear the sound again, and you realize that it's the cat meowing. It meows again. You watch as it jumps down from its perch on the wall, trots forward a few feet, then turns around to stare at you. It meows again. You tilt your head curiously before walking up to the cat. When you get within a few inches of it, it moves a few more feet forward before stopping and looking behind its shoulder at you. You follow it again. This time, you keep pace with it as it begins to lead you through the winding streets of the neighborhood. Houses of many shapes and sizes come and go as you follow the strange calico cat. Then eventually, the neighborhood comes to a halt and the urban sprawl begins. Cars and people move past you as you stand at the entrance to the neighborhood, mouth agape. You look over at the cat who had stopped and sat down at the mouth of the neighborhood exit. It looks up at you, closes its eyes, and gives a meow. You're not sure what to do. The cat then gets to its feet, turns facing towards you, and gives a bow. You stare at it for a few minutes, taken aback, as it looks at you expectantly. You then gather yourself and give a bow back.

The cat purrs with satisfaction before flicking the tip of it's tail in your direction. It then turns and dashes off into the neighborhood with more speed than its shown you at any point this morning. You can only watch as it leaves, still processing just what had happened. Without thinking, you give a wave in the direction it had left in. You take a deep breath, taking in the sights of the calm, sunny neighborhood once more.

Did you just get directions from a cat?

Profile and story by Riku
Overlay/side image by Necolasa
Background image by Pixabay