Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
With a big yawn I woke up. What a fresh morning!
ああああ！
大欠伸しながら目を覚ました。何て気持ちのいい朝だ！
I felt very sharp, much sharper than usual. I was able to hear the singing of birds more clearly than ever before. I noticed the smell of coffee coming up from downstairs.
I stretched out my arms in front of myself and raised my back; it felt so good. I sat up straight, licked my hand, and started to clean my face with it…. Huh?… Something was strange.
Why was I licking my hand with my tongue? Why was my body covered with fur? I tried to say something, but the sound that came out of my mouth was… “Meow."
It was certainly my bedroom that I was in. It was certainly my bed that I was sitting on. Everything was as usual except that… I seemed to have changed into a different creature.
I began to feel afraid…. But after a few moments those feelings passed. So, with a wave of my tail, I started to explore my surroundings. A cat’s mind is said to be changeable like that.
As I went down the stairs, the smell of coffee grew stronger and I could tell what was for breakfast. Maybe the senses of a cat are sharper than those of a human.
When I got to the dining room, what I saw almost stopped my heart. It was me! The human I was sitting at the dining table! I couldn’t take my eyes off myself.
The human I was absorbed in a smartphone, maybe writing responses to friends’ messages or playing an online game. Bending my head down toward the phone, I was sitting with rounded shoulders and a curved back. I looked very uncomfortable.
I sometimes took a little bite of toast, but it appeared that I was not noticing any taste in my mouth. Actually, the taste of toast in my memory was vague. I couldn’t remember what else had been served for breakfast recently, either.
The human I was just mindlessly putting in my mouth anything that was on the plate while handling the phone.
人間の自分は、スマホをいじりながら無表情に、お皿の上にあったものをなんでも口に入れていた。
I was so focused on the text messages or games that I took little interest in what was happening around me. In fact, my face had no expression on it at all.
“Yuji, you never study these days. Are you ready for your final exams? You’re making me a little bit worried," said Mom.
「ゆうじ、最近勉強してないでしょ。期末試験の準備はできてるの？ 少し心配だわ。」と、母が言った。
“Mmm," said I. A sign of frustration briefly appeared on my face, but it disappeared in an instant. My face was again as expressionless as it had been before. “I don’t like this guy," I thought. But this guy was me. I couldn’t deny it.
For the first time, I realized how I really looked to other people.
Then, as I started to leave the table, our eyes met. “Wow! Mom, look!
There’s a cat in the dining room!"
I didn’t know why, but I was running. I felt I had to escape. Running up the stairs, I found the window in my room was open. I jumped! I had a strange feeling. The world suddenly seemed to have shifted. I felt my body falling down and . . . . Bump!
I was awake, lying on the floor of my room. I slowly sat up and looked around. Everything looked like it usually did. I looked at my hands. I was relieved to see they were no longer covered with fur.
