"Thank you for your collaboration," a policeman said as she left the room.
She bowed, leaving. 'Finally, it's over.' Filling out the papers about the fire filled her with anxiety. Remembering old and fresh memories alike slowed down her writing process. Thankfully, the people around her were kind and understanding of her situation.
"Are you finished?" Kagetsu, who waited for her in the hall, asked.
She nodded, rubbing her eyes. All that filling tired her mind.
"Alright! Time for the fun part!" He waved his hand as if he was leading a group of scouts, earning a smile from her.
His never-ending energy jumped into Freya, and she hopped after him as if she was a small kid. After a few minutes, the girl made a question mark in the air.
"It's a secret." He flashed her a wide grin.
In the moment's spur, she shoved her finger in his armpits.
"Uah—Sneak attack!" He breathed out as his body shook with an uncontrollable desire to laugh. "No! Stop!"
Her fingers tickled him for a few more strokes before she showed him mercy.
Kagetsu bent down, holding his stomach and catching his breath. "Oh, crab! I need to pee." He clenched his tights, looking around.
'My bad!' Freya tugged his sleeve, pointing into a one-way side valley anybody rarely traveled, given the trash cans took most of the space.
"No way! We have public toilets for this!" His eyes spotted the desired building near the police station, and he dashed that way.
Freya followed him at a slower pace. 'Aren't boys okay with any place?' Rocking her brain, she remembered her boy classmates from elementary school, doing their business, big and small, behind trees or in bushes regardless of a nearby toilet.
Mumbling something about man's pride or that bowls are for girlies when she asked as a kid. 'Kagetsu... is a peculiar one.' A smile plastered across her face. 'In the kindest way possible.'
After he had left the public toilet, they headed toward the surprise. Before long, a screaming voice shattered the relaxing mood. Looking around, Kagetsu spotted an old woman, pushing her clenched hands against her chest as a dashing black ball of fur ran up a tree.
It was one of many places across the city where people could stop and spend time with their families and friends. Unless they met pests like rats or spiders.
"Somebody call rodent control!" the woman shrieked.
Kagetsu's eyebrows knitted as he paced toward the lone tree.
The rat stopped, sitting on a branch, visibly scared more than the yelling woman. Kagetsu shielded his eyes. "Are you okay?"
The woman turned toward him. "Why, thank you. I'm fine." She fluttered her eyelashes. "And they say teens nowadays know no manners."
"I wasn't talking to you," the boy replied without glancing at her.
The woman staggered a bit back, taken back by his bold statement. "What?"
He ignored her, jumping, and climbing the tree. "No, worries. That old lady can't hurt you." Swinging over the top branch, he sat across the trunk, smiling. "So, will you bite my head off for a cheesy joke?"
His teeth sparkled as he watched into the black beady eyes of the rodent. The rat didn't move. Either too tired, scared or perplexed by Kagetsu's strange behavior.
Freya looked from below, hearing the offended woman leaving with mumbles of how the world was better in her younger days. And by younger, she had to mean a century ago based on how deep her wrinkles were.
'Isn't it dangerous?' Freya stood there a few steps away from the tree, so she wouldn't strain her neck. 'It can bite, or it has some disease.'
"Watch out for wild animals," her father instructed her when they went fishing. "They may look cute and cuddly, but they can attack you."
"Why? I just want to be friends."
Her father gave her a sad smile. Back then, she didn't realize it, but he had a hard time answering it.
"Wild animals don't have manners or friends as we do. Humans often hurt them, so they stay clear of them. Touching a baby animal may cause them to lose their mother as they start to smell like a human."
Her eyes shot open. "Just from one pat?"
"Yes, even that is enough."
"I'm never petting any animal again!" Tears spurted into her eyes.
"No, no. That's okay. You can pet sheep or donkeys in a zoo, or when they have an owner. Those animals are used to humans."
Young Freya let out a deep sigh. "That's good. Their fluffiness is too tempting."
"It sure is!" He flashed her another smile.
Freya wiped a tear as the memory went with the moving clouds. Kagetsu climbed down, and she stepped back.
"What's wrong?"
She pointed at his shoulder.
He looked there, and the rat turned its head to stare into his eyes. "Um... Meow?" He repeated his possibly favorite phrase of confusion.
The rat moved, and he shivered as its long tail touched his neck from behind, and its whiskers send new waves of shivers.
Leaning its head, it stood on its hind legs and licked his face. Freya noticed it had white fur on its front legs and a white patch on its stomach.
"That tickles!" He giggled, his face turning away from the small rat. His fingers patted her tiny head. "Good girl."
Freya fished out a small notebook, writing down her questions. "Why it's so friendly? Isn't it a wild animal?"
"You think so?" The rat flattened her body, sprawling all over his shoulder while her tail wrapped around his neck. "Maybe she's lost."
"She?" Freya lifted her eyebrow.
"Yeah, I checked. Wanna pat her?"
Freya pushed the notebook against her chest. As a child, she played and petted cats, dogs, horses, donkeys, sheep, and even rabbits, but she had never touched a rat.
As if the rodent knew, they were talking about her, she lifted her head. Her whiskers shook, catching all kinds of smells. Her tiny claws dug into Kagetsu's T-shirt, leaning forward as if inviting Freya's fingers.
'They really are like pearls.' The big orbs shone under the sun.
Taking a gulp, Freya moved closer, stretching her hand. Shivers ran down her spine. Something was unnerving about the long tail. As if in a dream, other sounds stopped existing as the world shrug into a bubble around them.
Only a few centimeters divided her from the rodent's shivering whiskers.
"Let her smell you first."
Freya nodded absentmindedly, focusing on her breathing. Was it fear, sweating her body? Was it excitement from meeting a new, fluffy animal? Was it an expectation of—Her body froze.
The rat sniffled her fingertips, and within a second, it jumped, landing on her back of the hand. Its claws dug into her like small needles, the hind ones leaving white trails over her skin.
Freya sucked in air, expecting sharp pain in her neck. At the edge of her vision, the rat's long tail slashed. The shirt wrinkled under the rodent's body. Her brain screamed to toss the gross animal away. However, her body refused to move as if held by invisible strings of a greater scheme.
Something was coming.