*
He saw bright sunlight and trees swaying gently.
The white light faded, and Rintaro found himself surrounded by pleasant scenery. At his feet, flagstones gleamed brightly in the sunshine. Overhead, the branches of a large mimosa silk tree swayed in the breeze, creating glittery showers of sunbeams. And beyond those . . . Rintaro screwed up his eyes to try to make it out.
“A gate?”
A short distance away, at the top of a flight of stone steps, was a magnificent yakuimon roofed gateway. Its roof was made with traditional decorative tiles, and its great wooden doors polished to a fine gloss, but the overall feeling was of something vaguely oppressive. Rintaro looked left and right. In both directions, a perfectly even wall continued as far as the eye could see. Next to the main gate was a smaller door in the wall; the nameplate appeared to be blank.
The regular flagstones, stretching away into the distance, were spotless. Not so much as a fallen leaf marred their surface. The particles of light that filtered through the spaces between the roof and the trees sparkled like dancing water droplets.
There was not a soul in sight.
“We’re here,” said the cat. “This is our destination.”
“This is where the books are?”
“They’re imprisoned behind there.”
Rintaro took another look at the magnificent gate and the mimosa tree above. Its giant branches were covered in cottony blossoms. That was strange. It was December, which made this a very unusual mimosa indeed. But then again, from the outset everything he had seen today had defied common sense. At this point it seemed hardly worth taking issue with these hardy flowers.
“What an impressive mansion. This gate alone is about the size of our bookshop,” Rintaro said.
“Don’t worry. It’s all a bluff. Behind a big impressive gate lives many a sorry excuse for a man.”
“Well, from the point of view of a high school student who lives in a sorry excuse for a house, I wouldn’t say no to a gate like this.”
“Make the most of your freedom to stand around kvetching,” said the cat. “If we don’t manage to rescue those books, you’ll be stuck in this labyrinth forever.”
Rintaro was flabbergasted.
“。 . . I, er . . . you seem to have left that part out.”
“Well, obviously, if I’d told you that bit before, you’d never have agreed to come. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.”
“That’s a dirty trick.”
“Is it though? Sitting there with your miserable face, it was pretty clear you had nothing much to lose.”
The cat’s words were pure venom. So this is what they mean by “brutally honest,” Rintaro thought. He stared up at the gloriously blue sky as he formulated his response.
“I don’t get a kick out of hurting dumb animals, but . . .”
He paused to adjust his glasses.
“。 . . right now, I’ve got this overwhelming desire to grab you by the scruff of your neck and shake you.”
“Splendid. That’s the spirit!”
With utter composure, the cat began to climb the steps to the gate. Rintaro scrambled after it.
“Just wondering—what happens if we can’t get back?”
“We’ll probably be doomed to walk the length of this wall for eternity. Then again, I’ve never gotten stuck here before, so I don’t really know,” the cat admitted.
“That’s not good.”
Rintaro stopped on the top step, right before the massive wooden doors.