The Cat That Leaps Through Time: All 10 Episodes — Only the Cat Knows the Gaps in Time - Alley: Each Time the Wind Chime Rings, the Past Draws Nearer

Behind the shopping district, there is a narrow alley. It takes three turns to get through—a path only locals use. That day, Ryota didn't want to run into anyone from the cycling club, so he chose a different route. Avoiding the main street, he entered the alley. He heard the sound of a wind chime. It was too early in the season for that. He thought someone must have hung one under their eaves, but when he looked toward the sound, he found nothing there. When he turned the second corner, he heard the wind chime again. This time it was close. It should have been right there, yet he couldn't see it. Ryota stopped walking. The air had changed. *** The walls of the alley were different. They were a fresh white, as if newly repainted. The walls that were now peeling and gray had returned to pure white. When he turned the third corner, there was a house with a wind chime hanging from its eaves. A girl sat on the veranda. She looked about the same age as Ryota. A notebook lay open on her lap. The cat was sitting beside her. It was Haru. He hadn't been looking for her today, yet she had appeared on her own. "Who are you?" The girl looked up. Ryota hesitated over his answer. "...I'm lost." "You're not from around here. And that's a strange outfit, anyway." Ryota looked down at his uniform. Compared to hers, it certainly was odd. "What are you writing?" "A diary. I'm moving tomorrow. Since it's the last time, I thought I'd write it down." "You don't want to move?" The girl closed her notebook and stroked the cat's head. "It's not that I don't want to... it's like the me from here is going to disappear. In the new place, I'll become a new me, right? In a place where nobody knows who I used to be." Ryota said nothing. He couldn't find the words. "But, well, I guess it's fine. In a place where nobody knows me, I can just start over from scratch." The girl said that and smiled. It was a smile that hadn't had much smiling in it. "Do you really believe that?" He was surprised at himself for saying it out loud. The girl looked at him. "...What?" "That nobody knowing who you used to be—it's not really as okay as you're making it sound, is it?" The girl was silent, and stroked the cover of her notebook. "It's not okay. But if I say it, it'll only hurt more." The wind chime rang. The cat stood up and walked toward the wall. "Hey, that cat—" "Apparently she's called Haru." "Huh. At our house, we just call her 'the one that comes by.' We don't give her a name. She leaves right away." The cat climbed onto the wall and looked back at them. "I think you should keep the diary instead of throwing it away." That was all Ryota said. Beyond that, even he didn't know what was right. The girl looked a little surprised, then hugged the notebook closer. The sound of the wind chime grew distant. The white walls returned to gray. *** Ryota was standing in the middle of the alley. Peeling walls, an empty veranda, no more wind chime. The cat was gone too. When he got home and parked his bicycle beside the entrance, his eyes fell on the number tag on the wall. It was a place he usually avoided looking at. That night, a notification from the cycling club group chat came to Ryota's phone. Someone was asking about next week's practice. Usually, he would have just looked at it and left it at that. That night, Ryota typed a reply for the first time. Just "I'll come if I can." It took longer to send than he expected. After sending it, he stared at the screen for a while. Someone replied, "Oh, long time no see." That was all. That alone was enough.

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