Chapter 6 (2/2)

As I shake it back and forth, Ms Cat chases with a face as if she didn't have anything on her mind

… C-cute

Her whole head following that left and right swaying motion, at times, she would raise a paw to unleash a cat punch

If I triedit closer and further away, she punched it thefor the feints I so her forepaws in as if she had lost her way

When I increased the nuive chase as she spun her attention round and round Failing as she tried to grasp theround was chest-tighteningly lovable

After spending some time in silence, I suddenly come back to my senses

… Just how many minutes have a spent here?

”… T-this will not do, this will not do! I' to become Mary-san! I cannot be led astray, I must move forward!”

I inspire e to play with the cat

I' to walk I'll walk and walk and have Akira praise ain tomorrow

I stand, then crouch down again to talk with Ms Cat

”I' to feed you But thank you for playing with ain, let's have some more fun, okay?”

I said and tried to pet her head, but Ms Cat quickly fled to the side and left

… It seems physical contact is impossible

Feeling a little lonely, I raise my hips

Now back to the journey More than five hundred, less than one thousand kilometers left, I'll splendidly walk it all

The ht, the moment I stood

… My eyes opened wide

Doth the roadway right beside , the roadway the path had leapt into not adown it at an incredible speed

I leaked a scream I couldn't put into words

On the road, the cat's body stood stiffly in surprise, right on the car's path

Was the cat's coloration its undoing? The person driving the car didn't notice her, showing no signs of lowering speed

Only a few seconds to go

I'ainst it

… So at that instant, I didn't have a single thought on my mind

With nothing but the sile mind not to see a scene of Ms Cat's death

… With nothing but that simply mind, I jumped out onto the road

”… Stupid kid, be careful next time!”

Leaving that jeer, the car left with the same momentum it came

I could only gaze over the distancing car in a daze

Only after a few dozen seconds pass, the feeling finally comes back to me

My body collapsed over the side of the road In et out It does seem… it does seem I miraculouslyhit

The power drains from my body

… I was scared I was truly scared

I'ularity, I doubt I would die But that emotion I felt when I leapt out before the car was undoubtedly that which I had never felt before… it was Fear

Slipping out of my arms in my dazed state, the cat made its escape

Froht step, it didn't see serious

If it was another second, another instant later, I wouldn't have made it

”… Don't go out onto the roads again”

When I half-rass, naa, a response caue reply left me with some peace of mind I hope she properly takes it to heart and takes care next time

The cat's shadow disappeared into the thicket, leavingthat happened had been a lie, only a suht returned to silence remained

”… Thank God”

I absentmindedly mutter

no ed to save a life about to be extinguished before my eyes At the very least, I myself am proud of it

I pat the dirt offin some air, I take a deep breath

The disco from all over my body, with each breath, it becomes thinner Within the next few tens of seconds, my scrapes and bruises disappear, I'm completely healed

… What had just been covering my whole body, that sensation so difficult to express That sensation thatcalled, 'pain'

A while passes withoutAfter a fewproperly

”… I have to start walking I'm on the middle… of a journey… this isn't the place for me to waste my time”

I'

Raise ravity forward, and use that force to put outRepeat… it's si For the little children in kindergarten, walking is so they easily pull off

And yet… for some reason, I can't move

”… Eh?”

Theforward

… I cannot do such a si I'm transfixed as If I've been sown to the spot

I cannot le stepped

”… This has to be… a joke I've grown just a little tired of walking, so I' a joke to distract myself”

I said such a thing, tried bringing up the 'tiredness' an urban legend never felt, and try playing offfeet as a lie

But even if I do that, et a step, even a half-step is impossible

I try starting froht As expected, my foot is heavy as if it's made of lead, it won't even move a step's worth

”Why Why won't s move…?”

I ask the darkness without anyone to answer

Of course, no answer returns

… In that case, just who in the world would know the answer to that question?

”I' it…”

Before even I could realize it, it came out of my mouth

”I' such a thing at all I' what I've decided for myself a lie I'm…”

… I should've stopped there

Myout those words

”… not thinking that I don't want to walk anymore”

… The moment it caround The rugged feel of road feels like the happenings of some distant world

”… I mean, I decided I would become Mary-san”

Ting

The otten ain

Tong

The otten my first taste of… fear revived

My body trembles

No , it won't stop for me

Why

The answer to the question spills from my own lips

”… I have pain I'm scared… I mean”

If I hadn't saved that cat from before, ould have happened?

”She would've been in pieces… she would've died”

Such an obvious fact quietly escapes my lips

I cannot stand I'm unable to stand

Without any say in it,from here

My head feels like it's going to split

I mean, uncle smiled That's why I wanted to becoe of death Meaning so unfairly, unnaturally was an obvious occurrence But I didn't know so so obvious until this very moment Despite that, I caht be able to help so, I continued putting one step in front of the other Yet learning such an obvious fact at the end of it, as I so scared of…

”… I… am…”

As I said that, the pain in rew faint

I breathe out a big sigh, I inhale some air

In ht pattern, only the sensation of the tepid,into my body is clear and certain to me What am I supposed to do now? What should I do? I couldn't even know that anymore…

… And that's why I made a call to that person