Chapter 1

“You should stop running.”

What Myohan saw when he looked up, panting, was the face of the man he was desperately trying to run away from. That was what he got after running until his hair was wet with sweat, despite still cool breeze of March. He looked up at the man, dispirited, but the man didn’t even budge. He just looked down at Myohan, emotionless.

185cm? No, maybe even taller than that. It felt somewhat humiliating to look up at the tall man. Myohan knew he wasn’t tall at all for a boy, but this was too much.

“Hey, cat.”

“Why are you calling me a cat?”

Anyway, the man kept calling Myohan a ‘cat’. Then he made an offer.

“Just a year. No, it’s not even a year. Until next February. Just do as I say in the meantime.”

No, he was giving an order.

“It won’t be bad for you.”

That was an extremely crazy offer. Myohan couldn’t understand it at all, and it wasn’t tempting at all. Regardless, the man seemed quite confident. It seemed like he was sure Myohan would agree to his offer. Myohan glanced behind the man’s shoulder. Then he narrowed his eyes. It seemed like the man wasn’t going to move aside until Myohan gave him the answer he wanted, and Myohan wasn’t going to agree to his offer.

“Hm.”

Myohan was sure that ten out of ten people would hate the man’s offer.

“What are you thinking?”

“How to run away from you.”

“It’s easy. Just say yes, and then I’ll let you go.”

What the? What was he talking about? Myohan’s lips twitched, but he knew it wasn’t threatening at all to the man.

“I don’t want to, that’s why I’m still here.”

He took a deep breath. He had failed more than once, but he had no choice but to give it another try. He roughly measured the height of the wall behind him, and then spoke.

“I’ve been telling you, no.”

Then he took another deep breath.

“It won’t work.”

Yes, of course. Myohan couldn’t help laughing. He turned his back on the man and jumped up to the wall. He was quite good at running away. He stood on the wall and the man’s eyes followed him. He couldn’t run to the other side of the wall. He didn’t have time to think about what to do either. He couldn’t run to the alley and he couldn’t run from the man’s gaze. Therefore, the only option he had was to strike directly.

He could feel a drop of sweat running down his temple. He exhaled, then he smiled. Then, he jumped lightly.

He jumped, putting a foot on the man’s shoulder in the middle to go over him, like a feline beast. The man hadn’t seen it coming. He flinched. And what Myohan did after that was just run like crazy. If the man could find him no matter where he hid, maybe he wouldn’t be able to follow him if he just ran like that. He hadn’t had much time to think if it was a good plan.

It would be a lie to say he didn’t have even a bit of hope about it. He could instinctively know he had been running for a long time, and he didn’t see the man even when he was almost out of breath. But that hope was shattered the moment he stopped.

“I told you.”

Oh, not again.

“It won’t work.”

Two hours. For two long hours, Myohan had been running away from the man, and he had been following Myohan. Now Myohan really wanted to know who he was and why he was making such an idiotic offer-like order.

“Okay, I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

“Now you are ready to talk?”

These were the things that the man had said while he chased Myohan: Deadline is next year’s February. Twelve people to find. They have one thing in common.

“Why do I have to find those twelve animals for you?”

The twelve zodiac animals.

“They are all humans. They just happen to turn into animals sometimes.”

“That’s, hah… Oh, I’m so tired. Hey, then they’re not humans.”

To exaggerate a little, Myohan was about to die. He was completely out of breath, sweating hard, and he couldn’t even see because his forehead sweat ran into his eyes. He couldn’t understand how he could be so hot in such cool weather.

“They are humans. You’re human, too.”

Myohan frowned. It was too hot. He could feel streams of sweat running down his back. He took off his hoodie, revealing his T-shirt and white skin. It felt much better.

“They are normal humans with extraordinary physical abilities, but when a certain phenomenon occurs, they become animals. Mouse, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig.”

What are you talking about? Don’t be so absurd. Myohan really wanted to say so, but the man went on before he could.

“And you, cat.”

Myohan had been frowning so long that his forehead was getting wrinkles. He rubbed on it and blinked.

“Why do you keep calling me a cat?”

“Good at running, good at escaping, afraid of strangers, small.”

Myohan wasn’t happy to be called small, but he didn’t show it. He just glared at the man, fanning his face. But of course his angry eyes plainly showed what he was thinking.

“You turn into a cat when a certain phenomenon occurs.”

Myohan wanted to say no. He was sure he could tell him to stop talking nonsense and go away. If it hadn’t been for the man’s confidence, Myohan would have mocked him and went back home.

“Put that on again. You’ll catch a cold.”

A cool breeze blew. Myohan let out a sigh. He had always had good guts, and today, his guts were signaling danger. Getting stuck with this man was not going to be good, so he decided to run away.

“Well, let us discuss this seriously. We have to find twelve men in total, or, twelve animals, if you prefer it that way. The deadline is before the next year. You must find what changes the twelve zodiac animals into animals and find the twelve.”

Now he was saying ‘you’ instead of ‘us’. Myohan had been feeling it for some time, but this man was used to giving orders than asking. And yes, it was rude, but for some reason, Myohan didn’t feel like objecting to it, probably because his instincts knew the man was his superior.

He tried to make a quick calculation about what would happen if he agreed to help the man and what would happen if he didn’t agree. The former was going to be too much work, but so was the latter. Oh, why he was facing such tremendous hardship?

“Okay, I know that, but I’ve been asking, why do I have to find those twelve animals for ‘you’?”

Yes, drag out as much time as possible. Of course, even that was too much work for Myohan.

“I never said it is for me.”

“Then it’s for me?”

“Yes, almost.”

“Why?”

“Have you ever wondered why you turn into a cat?”

“I can know that if I find them?”

“No.”

Is this man toying with me?

“Well, enough playing.”

“…You can read my mind?”

“You don’t seem to know that what you think plainly shows on your face.”

No, I don’t think so. But the man even noticed that thought and was somewhat surprised. It was the first expression of emotion he showed, so Myohan thought it was somewhat strange.

“You may not find out why you change into a cat, but you will be able to stop turning into a cat.”

The man seemed to be up to having a serious conversation with Myohan. Meanwhile, Myohan didn’t know how much of the truth the man was telling, but he had to listen to him to get out of this predicament.

“And why should I trust you?”

“So suspicious, just like a cat.”

The man kept thinking of Myohan as an animal, even though he had said that Myohan and his kind were humans. Myohan snorted and looked away.

“To doubt the credibility of my story, you should have doubted who I am first.”

“How impatient. I was about to start doubting you.”

“I think it won’t be bad for you. It will be great if you stop turning into a cat, and even if that doesn’t happen, you’ll get some animal friends. Wouldn’t it be nice to know you’re not the only human who turns into an animal?”

“But why does it have to be me?”

“Because you’re a cat.”

Cats were full of doubt. Yes, it was a bit tempting, but it was still suspicious. Myohan crossed his arms and threw his head backwards, making his pale hair dishevel softly. The back of his neck felt cold with the sweat cooling down. But he didn’t wear his hoodie again. He didn’t want to show he was really afraid of catching a cold. Why was this man suddenly messing up Myohan’s life?

“You may think I’m doing this suddenly, but I am not doing this suddenly.”

Did he really read minds?

“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, longer than you can ever imagine. This life, this year, the moment when the twelve animals and the cat will gather.”

A corner of Myohan’s lips curled up.

“Do you think speaking like that suddenly will make me pity you?”

The man immediately got rid of his sad face and muttered. Well, it was worth a try.

“It will take at least a month to find each of them. I’m supposed to find the twelve till December when it’s already March?”

“I told you, until February, not December. You can do it.”

“Please don’t say ‘you’.”

Myohan was engulfed in a strange sense of anxiety every time the man said ‘you’, like he was supposed to do it all alone.

“Let’s find the mouse first. You will find him in a week. You can do it.”

The man kept saying ‘you’. Myohan never said ‘okay’ either, but the man seemed to be beliving as he wanted. Myohan wanted to say something in protest, but then he recalled something and looked at his phone in fear. Then he started to run with a speed beyond comparison with when he had run away from the man earlier.

He had forgotten all about it, but he was on his way to school.