Pathway to Japanese Literature

Cliffside Path

Aoji was walking along the familiar cliffside path as usual.

On the cliff above stood rows of fine houses.
Western-style homes with red roofs were not uncommon.

On the side of the cliffside path opposite the precipice, a low embankment thick with weeds sloped downward, beyond which stood a fence of railroad ties charred black.
Within lay tracks where a steam train ran.

Aoji commuted along this path nearly every day.
It was to deliver an evening meal to his father who worked at the broadcasting station.
Therefore, Aoji’s commute was limited to evening hours.

That day too, Aoji delivered the meal box to the back entrance reception of the broadcasting station, received a pencil as a reward from his security guard father, put it in his pocket, and turned back along the cliffside path.

The surroundings had already grown dim.

Spring was still young, the day was cloudy, dense clouds hung low in the western sky, and dusk was falling earlier than usual.

Aoji whistled his favorite songs one after another and walked along in high spirits.

At that moment, a cat’s cry of “Meow” came from the roadside.

Aoji loved cats.
Until recently, there had been a cat named Mii at Aoji’s house too, but it had been surrounded by a pack of neighborhood dogs and viciously mauled to death.
Aoji had sobbed loudly at the time.
Since Mii had been killed, there were no cats in Aoji’s house.

“Meow.”
Again, the cat cried by the roadside.
It was in the cliffside grass thicket.

Aoji stopped whistling and approached the direction of the cat’s cry.

But he couldn’t see the cat.
Just as he was wondering where it had hidden, the cat cried “Meow” again.

Aoji was startled.
This was because the cat’s cry had come from so close—practically right at the tip of his nose as he leaned his face into the grass thicket.

And yet, he couldn't see the cat's form.

Aoji recoiled and turned pale.
Strange things did happen.
There was indeed a cat's cry, yet its form remained unseen.

"Meeoow."
The cat cried again.
Aoji shuddered involuntarily.
He had hit upon an idea.

(Could it be... that the spirit of dead Mii had appeared?)

He had heard many stories about spirits of the dead appearing.
However, he hadn't heard many stories about spirits of dead cats appearing.
But now, he had no choice but to consider it that way.

“Hey, is that you Mii?”

Aoji mustered his courage and called out in a trembling voice.

“Meow.”
The response came from the same spot.

“Ah!”
Aoji let out a cry of surprise and froze in place.
The reason was that he discovered two glowing things floating on the grass at that moment.

It was something of unknown origin.
They simply glinted, neatly arranged in a pair.
They were about the size of four or five ramune bottle glass marbles combined, their overall color pale blue with yellow in the middle and black at the very center.

(They look like eyeballs, but what on earth could they be?)

The moment he thought this, another pleading "meow" reached his ears.
Indeed, the voice seemed to come from right beside those two orbs.

As frightened as he was, Aoji couldn’t resist determining the true nature of the two glowing orbs. So he mustered his courage, stepped into the grass thicket, and tried to grab those orbs tightly with both hands—

“Whoa!”
Aoji hastily pulled back his hand and jumped up on the spot. Before he could grab the orbs, his palm had brushed against something bristly that felt like fur.

He very nearly decided to stop right there and flee, but since Aoji was by nature a curious boy, he stood his ground. Then once again, he moved both hands toward those two orbs.

“Ah—”
A strange sensation ran through Aoji’s hands.
because he had touched what seemed to be the head of an animal with densely growing fur.

Strange Discovery

"...It feels like a cat's head—but there's nothing like that to be seen."
"What an awful feeling this is," Aoji thought.

However, by this point he had regained much more composure than before.
He touched the furry animal’s head once more, then cautiously stroked downward.

He was utterly astonished.
Indeed, there was a body that appeared to be that of a cat.
There was also a tail, twitching energetically.
On the soles of its feet were what were unmistakably a cat’s paw pads, and there were claws too.
However, they were not visible at all.

Aoji was increasingly astonished but continued his investigation further.

The two orbs visible to Aoji’s eyes appeared to be none other than this cat’s eyeballs.

Then came a new discovery.
The transparent cat’s two front legs were tied with thin rubber bands.
The rubber bands lay deep within the grass thicket—a place that wouldn’t enter Aoji’s field of vision unless he looked very carefully.

Rather than fear, Aoji was now stirred by curiosity.

Aoji picked up the mysterious cat-like animal.
He certainly felt a weight about that of a cat.
Aoji firmly embraced it and emerged onto the path.
And he started walking toward his house.

The animal was docile.
It no longer cried out.
It bent its body as if burrowing into Aoji’s embrace.
The animal’s warmth came through to him.

The creature appeared to have begun sleeping.

“What on earth could this be?”
“But if it’s supposed to be a cat’s spirit… this feels off……”

Aoji could not clearly determine the true nature of this mysterious animal.

Eventually, Aoji arrived home.

Aoji said “I’m home” and immediately went up to the second floor.
Aoji considered telling his mother about the mysterious cat-like animal he had picked up on the way home—but no—if Mother found out he’d brought such a strange creature into the house… who knew how shocked she’d be.
And she would likely tell him to get rid of it right away.
Then all that trouble he’d gone through braving his fears would’ve been for nothing.
Thinking this,Aoji carriedthe mysterious creature straight up to his second-floor room without another moment’s hesitation.

Though he had gone up to the second floor, Aoji found himself in a bit of a predicament.
The problem was where to put this mysterious creature.
If left as is, it would surely escape.
If it were to escape—unacceptable.

He wondered if he should put it in the cupboard.
But no—cats could tear through sliding doors without a second thought, so a cupboard wouldn’t be secure enough.

“Aoji!
“What are you up to?”
“Dinner’s ready.”
“Come down quickly.”

From below the staircase, Mother called up to the second floor.

“Coming! I’ll be right there!”

Well, what should I do? Aoji found himself in a predicament.

But when troubled, brilliant ideas often came to mind.
Aoji pulled out the desk drawer and searched for a cord.
There was a red and blue striped cord for bundling luggage.
When he took it out, he wound it tightly around both hind legs of the mysterious animal, binding them together.

By doing this, both front legs and hind legs of the mysterious animal were bound two each, so it could no longer walk.
If it couldn’t walk, then it wouldn’t be able to leave this room.
"There we go—this should do it," Aoji reassured himself once finished. He gently placed the creature on the desk and descended the staircase.

He and his mother gathered around the dinner setting and ate as usual.
Mother asked if there had been anything unusual at the broadcasting station.
Aoji answered that nothing unusual had happened and that Father had given him a pencil.

The meal ended.

While Mother was heading toward the kitchen，Aoji quietly transferred the leftover fish bones from the plate into his palm．Then he suddenly stood up and went clomping up to the second floor．

“Aoji, wait! I’ll give you an apple…”

Mother called out, but Aoji—

“Yeah. I’ll have it later, so it’s fine for now.”

With that, he went up to the second floor.
He immediately rushed to the desk.

On the desk lay the familiar red-and-blue striped cord and rubber bands.
Two unsettling eyeball-like things were there too.

“Meow.”
“Grr… grr… grr…”

“This must be what you want.”
“Here, eat up.”

Aoji placed the fish bones beneath the glowing eyeballs.
Then came the crunching sound of bones being chewed.
The bones shattered into fragments and rose slightly from the desk.
And they soon connected like a line, gradually rose upward, then extended horizontally.

Th-this was disgusting...

Aoji shuddered.
The fish bones had been taken into its mouth before passing through its esophagus toward what must have been its stomach.
They remained visible through its translucent form.

Hmm.
This was definitely an invisible cat.
A transparent cat.
Why would such a mysterious creature even exist?

Fear gripped Aoji even as he found himself treasuring this unseen feline all the more—he settled it onto his lap and stroked intently where its fur should be.

Before long, the two eyeballs stopped moving.
The Transparent Cat seemed to have begun sleeping on the lap.
However, at that moment, what Aoji found strange was that the eyeballs—so clearly visible when he had picked it up—were now only dimly visible.

The Horrifying Incident

The next day, Aoji woke up at five o'clock as usual.

Father was still sleeping.
Because he returned late from the broadcasting station at night, it was Father’s custom to wake up late in the morning.
And so that morning too, Aoji joined mother at the morning meal tray.
The tea room was next to the kitchen, a room that didn’t get much light.

“What’s wrong, Aoji? There’s something off about your face. Are you feeling unwell or something?”

Mother asked worriedly.

Aoji was not particularly feeling unwell.
So he answered exactly that.

"But Aoji,"
"There's something strange."
"Your face looks faint in the shadows."
"It's blurry."

Even when told this, Aoji didn't take it seriously.

"You're saying things like that."
"Maybe it's your eyes that are acting up today?"
"Aren't they just blurry?"

"Oh, is that so?"
"Well, since spring's almost here, I might be getting a bit flushed."

That conversation ended there.
Aoji’s mother still had many morning chores to attend to.
Aoji went upstairs.

On the desk lay a small zabuton cushion.
When he looked at the zabuton cushion, its center was sunken.
And there remained the rubber tape and the red and blue striped cord still tied together.
It was certain that the mysterious animal in question was lying on the zabuton cushion.

But strangely enough, the two eyeballs were nowhere to be seen.

“Where did those eyeballs go?”

Aoji went closer and tried to pet the animal by feel.
Something that was undoubtedly the cat’s head certainly touched his hand.

However, the eyeballs were not visible.
Thinking that perhaps the eyeballs had disappeared, Aoji pressed down on the animal’s head with one hand and felt around for them with the other.
Then,

“Huff!” With a rough cry, the animal leapt up from the zabuton cushion.

Naturally. If its eyeball was suddenly jabbed with a finger, it would be startled.

Aoji's hand stung with pain. When he looked, blood was oozing out. He had been scratched by the animal just now.

But at that moment, Aoji was so startled that his heart stopped dead with a loud thud. For some reason, his own hand wasn't clearly visible anymore. It only appeared faintly.

"What's happening?"
The words his mother had said earlier came back to him.
"Aoji, what's wrong? Your face looks faint in the shadows," she had told him.

Aoji went to the mirror hanging on a pillar and tried to look at his face.

"Whoa!"

He was struck with tremendous shock.
The reflection of Aoji's face in the mirror appeared faintly blurred.
While his school uniform remained perfectly distinct, everything above his neck stayed out of focus.

Convinced he too must have developed bloodshot eyes, Aoji rubbed his eyes repeatedly and scrutinized his mirrored face anew.

But to no avail.
However many times he checked, his face persisted in its haziness, and even when testing with his hands, they too stubbornly refused to resolve into clear visibility.

This was a disaster—Aoji crouched on the spot and lamented in despair.

Why this had happened was beyond Aoji’s comprehension.
The same kind of mysterious phenomenon as that invisible cat now manifested upon his own body.

"What will become of me now?"
Could it be that I too will become completely invisible, just like that cat?
Ah, if that happens, I won't be able to go on living.
"Because I'll be treated like a monster..."

At this point, Aoji found himself forced to make a grave decision.
Either stay home and be treated as a monster or flee to a world where no one would find him.
After agonizing over various possibilities... Aoji decided to slip quietly out of the house.

Aoji put a few changes of clothes into a basket, held a cloth-wrapped bundle containing the Transparent Cat in one hand, and slipped out of the house before his mother noticed.

But because he thought his mother would grieve and feel sorry for him,

“I’m going on a sudden trip.
Please don’t worry.
I will surely come back in time.
And then, let’s have some really fun souvenir stories to tell.”

With that, he left the suicide note on the desk and departed.

Strange God of Fortune

With no particular destination in mind, Aoji continued walking.

On his head, he wore a ski cap and pulled the visor down low to hide his face.
Then he put on windproof goggles of the kind commonly worn by motorcycle riders.
The lenses were black.

He wrapped a scarf around and around his neck.
It was to prevent people from seeing around his neck.
He also put gloves on both hands.

If he walked like this, people would likely just think, “That guy’s really feeling the cold,” and he probably wouldn’t be challenged.

As he walked, he kept thinking about various things—why did such bizarre things exist in the world, and why had they attacked his own body?

Before long, having walked until exhausted, Aoji sat down on a bench in a small park.

Since he was hungry, he opened the bundle, took out some bread, and ate it.
He drank the water he had packed in the bottle.
The hunger subsided a little, and the thirst was quenched.

But Aoji grew sad.

“From the next meal onward, I’ll have to buy and eat my own food.”
“I have a little money, but after a day or two passes, that will probably be gone.”
“What am I supposed to do after that?”

Aoji considered returning home.

"No, no—if I take this monster-like body back home, Mother will only grieve and lament."
"No matter how much I miss home, I can’t go back."

Plop plop, hot tears trickled down Aoji’s cheeks and fell onto his lap.

“Hey, kid.
What’s got you so down?”
Suddenly, someone called out to Aoji.

Aoji started and looked up.
There stood a young man.
He wore a double-breasted suit, had grown his hair long, and parted it neatly—a gentlemanly young man.
However, despite his neat attire, his face was as uneven as burnt corrugated tin, with square cheeks erupting in pimples.

Yet the young man smiled amiably down at Aoji.

“Crying ain’t what boys do.”
“Even I wanted to bawl when I came back.”
“But once I figured crying don’t fix squat, I quit. Now I keep smilin’ through whatever crap comes.”
“Optimism’s the ticket.”
“When you’re stuck, chew on it—three days, four days.”
“Chew enough, any road’ll open.”
“You got no home, kid?”

He tried to say "No," but since Aoji had left home now, he was without a home.
So Aoji nodded.

The young man said “I thought so,” then asked, “And then, you’re having trouble getting food, aren’t you?”

Aoji could only nod again.

“Alright, don’t worry.”
“Follow me.”
“I’ll at least stuff one person like you full of food.”
“Let’s go.”

Aoji didn’t understand why that young man was being so kind to him.
However, Aoji now understood there was no other path but to rely on that young man’s help.
Therefore, Aoji decided to disclose a major secret to this young man.

However, Aoji could not bring himself to mention his own condition.
He had spoken only about the cat.

Then, Mr. Roku’s eyes lit up with delight.

“Oh, that’s fantastic! What a tremendous money-making opportunity has fallen into our laps! No—you, this is going to make us a fortune! Just leave everything to me! And let’s split the profit fifty-fifty.”

Mr. Roku was completely on board.

“By the way, let me have a look at that dear main attraction of yours.”

Thereupon, Aoji let Mr. Roku touch the bundle containing the cat.

“Well, well! There really is something like a cat in here!”

“Mr. Roku, take a look inside the bundle.”

Aoji slightly opened the edge of the bundle and let Mr. Roku peer inside.

“Hmm, it’s not here.
“Wait, when I touch it from the outside, it’s definitely inside…”

Finding this strange, Mr. Roku next inserted his gloved hand into the bundle.

“Well, well, that’s a surprise.”
“I can clearly feel the body of something like a cat.”
“Hmm, so it really is the Transparent Cat.”
“It ain’t a fake. Well, well—you’ve got yourself one hell of a cash cow here.”
“Alright! We’ll set up a booth—ten yen admission per person—and holler ‘Step right up! Come on in! Come on in!’ That’ll pull in two thousand folks a day.”
“So one times two makes twenty thousand yen!”

Aoji was surprised.
What a master of calculation he was.

“Twenty thousand yen isn’t quite enough. We’ll raise the admission fee to twenty yen. Instead, we’ll stoke the customers’ frenzy. Let’s go with ‘A 100,000 Yen Cash Prize’. We’ll put up signs saying: ‘If any customer proves this Transparent Cat is fake, we’ll hand over 100,000 yen cash on the spot.’ Then those greedy bastards’ll come swarming—lured by both the prize and the freak show—pouring right in. Twenty yen admission’s practically pocket change. We’ll pull twenty thousand suckers a day easy. Two times two makes four—four hundred grand! Damn, this thing’s unstoppable!”

The Big Cash Prize Spectacle

The booth was erected in a certain entertainment district where Mr. Roku held some sway.

"The Mystery of the Modern World: The Transparent Cat Appears"

"Do not speak of the world’s wonders without seeing this!"

"Dr. C.H. Purubondoken declares: 'The Transparent Cat manifests but once every ten thousand years.'"

“No fraud here.”
“Alive and well.”
“To anyone discovering fraud, we present 100,000 yen cash immediately.”
“Respectfully declared by Murakoshi Rokumaro, President of the Transparent Cat Dissemination Research Association.” Mr. Roku had even fabricated this grand title, posting it in large letters across the door.

This proved an enormous success.
People paying twenty yen admission kept streaming in, streaming in.

“Closed temporarily due to packed crowds!”
“In the meantime, view ‘The Great Adventure of Capturing the Transparent Cat’ displayed here.”
“Here lies an indisputable photograph of the Transparent Cat.”
“Miss this now, regret it through eternity.”
“Step right up! Step right up!”
“No—closed for now due to overwhelming crowds!”

Mr. Roku, in an imposing outfit, vigorously stirred up the crowd gathered before the booth. Inside the venue, Aoji—dressed in attendant’s robes with his face, limbs, and throat concealed—stood beside a small palace-like box housing the Transparent Cat, its exterior ornately decorated. He made each customer in the pressing crowd insert their hands through a hole atop the box and stroke the Transparent Cat. The cat, roused from sleep as countless people petted it, pulled its fur, and grabbed at it, grew furious. Thrashing about inside the box, it growled—"Hsss! Kyaaa!"—

That only further stoked the customers’ enthusiasm. The customers still waiting for their turn peered into the box, growing more intrigued by hearing the cat’s voice yet being unable to see its form at all. Many customers, suspecting it was magic, probed every corner of the box. Such people would get their hands scratched by the Transparent Cat or have their fingertips meticulously bitten, then retreat in a mix of shock and admiration.

The first day’s admission revenue amounted to 450,000 yen, far exceeding Mr. Roku’s mental calculations.

“Well, you keep ten thousand yen, and I’ll take ten thousand too.”
“You can go ahead and blow this tonight as pocket money.”
“We’ll deposit the remaining four hundred thirty thousand yen in the bank.”
“If we’re pulling in this much daily, carrying cash around ain’t safe—we’ll get robbed for sure.”
“And once our savings hit about ten million yen, we’ll build one hell of a permanent hall here—make grand magic shows, a circus, and the Transparent Cat into three main attractions—then clean out every last yen from folks coming here for fun!”

Mr. Roku was breathing heavily with fervor.
And that night, he took Aoji to a secluded house nearby, ordered a lavish meal, had them bring sake, and threw a grand banquet.

When alcohol entered Mr. Roku’s body, his words suddenly became tangled.

“Hey, hey, boy.
“What the hell—you still haven’t taken off your hat?”
“You think you can underestimate me? I won’t take this lying down, hell!”
“Hey, take off your hat!”
“You’re dealing with President Roku here—hell, what the hell do you think you’re doing messing with the great Rokumaro’s ass?!”

The women nearby tried to stop Mr. Roku, but he finally lunged at Aoji and snatched his hat away.

“Ahh—”
“Kyaa—”
A tremendous commotion broke out.

Mr. Roku’s drunken high vanished in an instant, and the women fled the room screaming.

Why.
Beneath Aoji’s hat lay nothing.
Only a headless Aoji remained there, shifting awkwardly as if troubled.

Mr. Roku’s legs gave out beneath him, his jaw working soundlessly like a gasping fish.

Now that the commotion of that night had finally settled, Mr. Roku and Aoji left the place.
At that time, Mr. Roku paid 50,000 yen to the house as hush money.

The two of them stayed at a hotel.

Mr. Roku lay on the bed and proposed to Aoji.
“How about it? If you’re transparent too, Aoji, ‘Transparent Human Appears’ would draw bigger crowds than the Transparent Cat exhibit. So I’m urging you to take the plunge and become the attraction yourself.”

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to.”

“What an idiot you are.
This incredible opportunity ain’t coming around again!
Even with a conservative estimate, it’s a job that’ll make us profits in the hundreds of millions of yen.
There’s no way to let that slip away.
Now, go ahead and perform as the Transparent Human!”

From below, Mr. Roku pressed insistently.
Yet Aoji refused.

The night passed uneventfully until morning arrived.
Aoji climbed down from his bed and stretched—then froze mid-motion at what he saw on the neighboring mattress.

What on earth?
Indeed, the figure presumed to be Mr. Roku lay sleeping on the bed, but his face and limbs were hazy.
And only his two large eyeballs were glowing.
Mr. Roku seemed to be turning into a Transparent Human as well.

The commotion spread throughout the entire city that day.

It was happening everywhere—incidents of people’s shadows growing faint, incidents of bodies gradually disappearing from sight—and a tremendous uproar ensued.

When they investigated these people, they found all had attended the “Transparent Cat” exhibition the previous day and touched the mysterious cat, though it took five days for this connection to become clear.

In the meantime, the number of Transparent Humans throughout the city continued to grow.
It was discovered that when those who had become transparent touched someone’s body, that person’s body would inevitably grow hazy and become transparent.
In other words, it was contagious.

A great fear spread.
However, this commotion was suddenly resolved on the seventh day after the incident occurred.

This was because a scholar named Dr.Hanegi, who had created the original "Transparent Cat," came forward to the proper authorities.

Dr.Hanegi’s research had been focused on rendering living bodies transparent.
It had been focused on endowing bodies with the same reflectance and refractive index as air.
Dr.Hanegi had discovered that a certain type of mold possessed potent properties for this purpose and had been cultivating it in his laboratory, applying it to various insects, guinea pigs, and cats.

The aforementioned cat had its front and hind legs bound with mold applied just moments before, but when the rope around its hind legs came loose, it escaped from the laboratory and fell off the cliff.
That was when Aoji happened to pass by and picked up the cat.

However, since Aoji had touched the cat, he too became transparent.
Those who had touched this cat at the exhibition booth all met the same fate.
Dr. Hanegi had prepared a medicine to kill the mold, and through administering injections of it, all the Transparent Humans were able to return to their original opaque state.

Aoji was now happily able to return to his own home.
Mr. Roku had reformed his ways and truly split the profits fairly.
Aoji’s mother was overjoyed that he had returned.
The remaining issue concerned Dr. Hanegi’s research; however, it was said that the doctor was now contemplating how to utilize the results of this research—which until now he had not discovered—in practical applications.