Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store-Chapter 7.4: Cat Phantom IV
T/N: I might separate the chapters into two pages from time to time. It’s in an inconspicuous place below the share, like button so if you don’t see the Previous, Next, Content buttons, it means that I have separated it. The buttons are only available at the last page
“Hopefully
i
nothing
i
will
i
arise…”
It
i
was
i
an
i
earnest
i
wish. My
i
spirits were
i
boosted when I was
i
enveloped
i
in the hot, humid air
i
of midsummer. I
i
mustn’t let my feelings get
i
the better of me, as I
i
had learned
i
from Takenaka before: the
i
weaker your
i
feelings became, the more likely those things would approach you.
In fact, I should
i
be
i
prepared to take on anything and
i
everything… Despite thinking like that, there
i
was a limit to what I could do.
With only one electric light every few dozen meters, I went around the corner that I had done many times before, feeling forlorn.
To
i
the
i
right of my
i
vision, I spotted a white
i
guardrail reinforced with steel
i
plates. Before arriving
i
at that convenience store, I remembered that
i
there had been a motorcycle accident…
As
i
I
i
recalled, the manager informed me
i
that the person who fell off the
i
bike had died.
Apparently, accidents
i
involving people falling off their bikes were a constant occurrence at that location. I didn’t even want
i
to ponder why, but a couple of those accidents were bound to happen year
i
after year.
Consequently, a
i
brand
i
new steel plate was installed each
i
time. This was evidence that accidents were
i
so frequent that the guardrail could not be fixed in a timely
i
manner.
Although
i
I
i
passed the curve in a split second, a chill
i
seized me, so I made a turn at the
i
spot. Somehow, I had
i
a feeling I was going to catch sight of something
i
strange.
[Hyuuga
i
is…]
Kinoshita’s words resurfaced in my
i
mind.
Good
i
grief… He certainly had
i
good
i
intuition.
As
i
I rode my bike, I found myself smiling bitterly, even if it was
i
creepy.
Hyuuga
i
Aoi―
That
i
name rang a familiar bell.
That name hadn’t come up in a long
i
time. It had been a long time since someone had uttered that name to
i
me. It
i
was a name I didn’t want to
i
hear.
Sealed
i
somewhere
i
in my memory, I banished it to the corner of my
i
brain. The
i
name that I had erased from my
i
mind―
Whatever it was that prompted me to do so was unknown to
i
me, but it had been dredged out from the depths of my
i
memory and thrust in front
i
of me.
It
i
was right after I began perceiving strange things. All this time, I had forgotten about
i
it.
No, I
i
had
i
been feigning oblivion. I had made myself into convincing myself that I had forgotten.
Why
i
now? I
i
should have discarded that photograph.
I
i
should refrain from dwelling on this matter. It
i
was already
i
over.
That
i
person
i
and I had an unstable relationship to begin with. Besides, I didn’t really care about them.
Right―
What
i
was the sense
i
in thinking about someone you didn’t really care about anymore? I forcefully settled my faltering feelings and focused my attention on
i
driving.
Thanks
i
to
i
the lack of pedestrian traffic and cars, my bike was moving along the night road at a brisk pace. In
i
less than five minutes, I would be at the convenience shop as I was moving rather
i
swiftly.
I
i
squinted my eyes and looked
i
toward the tunnel’s exit about halfway through.
What
i
was
i
that?
Something
i
was around
i
the exit of the tunnel. Beyond the dark orange fluorescent light of the tunnel, the
i
road was faintly illuminated by the moonlight.
There,
i
something, something
i
was…
An object
i
I couldn’t quite make out was there.
At
i
this rate, I might run it
i
over, so I slowed my bike down gradually. While sticking my neck out
i
in front of me, I
i
looked closely at
i
it.
“What―!?”
I
i
figured
i
it
i
out.
About
i
a meter or so before exiting the
i
tunnel, I realized what it was and stopped
i
my bike near the exit.
A cat―
Lying
i
on the road was a
i
cat.
However, it
i
was no ordinary
i
cat.
It was a
i
red lump lying carelessly. An ominous
i
red body fluid glistening under the
i
moonlight…
With
i
its
i
limbs cast aside, the cat’s abdomen was concave
i
and ripped open like a pomegranate, exposing its
i
long, pink intestines, which were
i
stained with red-black blood and protruded and were
i
dispersed all over the place. Feces
i
and pieces of flesh drenched in it leaked from the anus, and a gut-like mass
i
protruded from the gaping mouth.
It was a
i
sight so devastating that made me
i
want to
i
scowl.
How
i
awful… It was run over…
The
i
crystalline lens, resembling a marble, stared into the void
i
and remained stationary. The small, reddish
i
body with white in some places suggested that it
i
had originally been a white cat.
Judging
i
from the fresh color
i
of the splattered guts, this cat was probably run over
i
only recently—perhaps
i
a few hours ago, or possibly even minutes
i
ago.
This was not the
i
first time I had observed a cat being struck
i
like this. Even
i
if it wasn’t the
i
first time, it was
i
still shocking and not a pretty sight to
i
behold.
Who on earth could
i
have brought this
i
upon…
“Nah-oh.”
.
!
Chapter 7.4: Cat Phantom IV
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