‘I wonder what it was that made him start that habit.’
‘Diana never did anything like that, so he’s not imitating her.’
He did it on purpose, so calling it a habit was a bit annoying. What made him do it? It was Hiromi himself (and Masahiro).
But Hiromi seemed to have forgotten all about it. He might be big now, but he’s still an unreliable little kid, as far as I’m concerned.
At the time, the Sakuraba boys were crazy about riding on their dad’s shoulders, and whenever their father had a day off, they pestered him.
And as Kota observed the boys in action, he caught on to the rules. The one who got on top of Dad’s shoulders was the winner. And it wasn’t because he was lifted there.
So a few days later, Kota sat back, quivered his behind as he focused on his target, then took a leap and clambered up Mr Sakuraba’s back. Ignoring Mr Sakuraba’s shouts, Kota kept climbing, grabbing tightly with his claws on to the back of his neck, thus winning the cooing admiration of the boys.
Later, as Masahiro grew big enough to overtake Mr Sakuraba, so it was Masahiro he began to climb.
I’m the tallest of all, guys. Cool, right? Who’s lowest on the ladder now, eh?
A few years later Hiromi outstripped Masahiro in height, so Kota switched again. Perceiving how Kota always chose the tallest person to climb, Masahiro wasn’t best pleased that the cat was now perching on Hiromi.
‘You’d better get down. You’re getting heavy.’
As Hiromi tried to pull him off, Kota beat him to the punch and took a deep jump down to the floor, landing in a single beat.
You wish! He had judged the landing perfectly.
‘Amazing, amazing,’ said Mrs Sakuraba, clapping her hands.
‘He’s so agile it’s hard to believe he’ll be twenty this year. And his fur still looks brand new.’
‘True. When I took him for shots at the vet’s the other day, the people in the waiting room couldn’t believe it. A cat with such fluffy fur and he’s twenty?’
You’re spot on, Kota thought proudly. No signs of ageing here, thanks very much.
Pretty soon my tail will show signs of dividing in two.
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TRANSWORLD
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Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in Great Britain in 2025 by Doubleday
First published by Gentosha in Japan in 2008 as 阪急電車, Hankyu Densha
Copyright © Hiro Arikawa, 2008
English translation copyright © Allison Markin Powell, 2025
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Cover illustration © Xuan Xuan Loc
Cover art direction by Marianne Issa El-Khoury/TW
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ISBN: 978-1-529-93492-2
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