Chapter 11 Hawaii (11) People who don't like cats...
The less you can see the whole picture, the more you want to see it clearly.
She tilted her head slightly, trying to catch a glimpse of more figures through the narrow gap in the curtains, when the next second, a sharp electronic sound rang out from 1221.
[Warning! Warning! This human is extremely dangerous to cats. Highest level danger signal detected—]
I've never heard such a serious notification as 1221 before.
Do not approach dangerous individuals; leave immediately.
The system's intense, alarming reaction caused the kitten's ears to snap back into an airplane shape, and the fur on its tail to stand on end involuntarily.
1221 was still flooding her mind.
"This person has a destructive magnetic field around them, which is specifically designed to ward off curious kittens like you, and poses a life-threatening threat to kittens."
"They've spotted you. Jump off this wall and stay far away from this dangerous person. Don't ever set foot in this yard again..."
Chichi glanced again, almost unconsciously, at the shadowy area.
A fleeting, elusive gaze, seen through the crack, silently travels across the entire courtyard to gently land on the kitten.
The kitten's sixth sense failed to detect the danger.
Not a single bit.
The kitten shook its head in confusion, mentally interrupting the warning sound of 1221.
"Are you sure the alarm is accurate? What destructive magnetic field? Why can't I sense the danger you're talking about... He doesn't seem to have any ill intentions."
"A cat's intuition is useless against a menacing opponent of this caliber!"
Seeing that the kitten was still not giving up, 1221 was so frustrated that he tried his best to search the database for all sorts of sensational charges.
"System data shows that this person is an alcoholic, irritable, and prone to violence. His mental state is extremely unstable. He is a domestic abuser and has been separated from his wife and children... In short, he is the person who hates cats the most in the world, and is ten thousand times more terrifying than Richie..."
"Making eye contact with such a person for more than three seconds will damage a cat's energy, leading to loss of appetite, hair loss, bad luck, and even death!"
1221 immediately became strange and erratic upon seeing the mysterious person from earlier, as if infected with some kind of virus.
Its constant noise was making my head buzz.
1221's voice rose several octaves: "He saw you! Look down! Don't make eye contact with him! You're going to shed a ton of hair tonight!"
The young man in the wheelchair seemed to sense some kind of silent commotion and raised his eyes very slightly.
His gaze seemed to pierce through all of space, landing on that particularly noisy presence deep within his lingering consciousness.
The electronic sound of 1221 stopped abruptly, as if an invisible hand had pressed a mute button. After a burst of buzzing electrical noise, it became completely silent.
"......"
He hesitated before tentatively asking, "1221? Are you still there?"
Everything seemed too abnormal, which made her even more uneasy than before.
After hesitatingly touching the motionless ball of light with its claws, it finally obeyed the signal given by the other party and jumped off the wall first.
Once we reached the safe zone, 1221, which had been acting like it was exploiting a bug, hurriedly followed us.
I ran quickly with the kitten to the end of the street where the courtyard was completely out of sight before I felt relieved.
There was also a stubborn little cat nearby. The system emphasized again: "From now on, never give a human who dislikes cats or any living creatures any attention, understand?"
He paused for a moment to recall the gaze he had just received.
The light of the setting sun was too restrictive, the shadows too heavy, and the distance too great. She only remembered the fruit hitting the ground heavily, its flesh and juice splattering, but the person behind the curtain didn't look at the ground immediately.
Instead, it was as if he had sensed her presence long ago, and silently looked at himself.
"I still think he's not the kind of person you described."
The kitten pondered for a moment before speaking again.
1221: "...Do you know the saying that curiosity killed the cat?!"
Unable to see the person's face, eyes, or any other details clearly, it felt somewhat absurd to judge that the other person was not a so-called "dangerous person" based solely on a single glance.
The kitten obediently shut its mouth, gave up arguing with the system, decided to ignore the incident, and trotted into the park to go to the beach to do what it wanted to do.
The paw pads stepped onto the warm sand, dispelling the chaos from before and the inexplicable unease in my heart.
1221 was the first to feel relieved and regained its previous energy, rushing to the receding tide beach to help the kitten pick out seashells.
Chichi's attention was quickly captured by the wet sand.
Their goal was clear: to find the little treasures that had washed ashore and were left on the sand after the tide receded.
The kitten twitched its nose, trying to catch the unique scent of the seashell. Its honey-colored round eyes sharply locked onto the tiny bumps on the sand, and it used its front paws to dig through the sand around it.
The kitten, upon seeing the dull-colored broken seashells, disdainfully shook the sand off its paws and continued searching at the next location indicated by the number 1221.
Shells are not easy to find on this beach. The terrain is flat and the water is shallow, so the common bivalves are not in good condition and are mostly broken.
"Just by looking at the exposed side, you can tell that this seashell must be beautiful."
1221 made a discovery and gave a guarantee to the kitten.
Chichi's claws touched the hard shell, and he dug it out completely.
A small, white, round shell, like an enlarged pearl, stands out against the dark, damp sand.
"It looks pretty good."
The kitten was very pleased with the seashell and immediately stored it in its "temporary treasure trove" under the coconut tree.
Having gained experience, she changed to a deeper area of the sea and found four beautiful seashells that stood out from the crowd.
White round clams, pink scallops with wavy edges, and light brown mini conches with spiral patterns.
There was another one that looked white, but its whiteness was radiant and dazzling, small in size, as if it contained a ray of rosy light.
The only downside is that it's not complete; it's only one piece.
Chichi carefully carried the shell in its mouth, afraid that its canine teeth would crush the fragile shell. It placed half of the shell in the center of the palm leaf, alongside the other shells it had found earlier, as if setting up a special shell exhibition just for the kitten.
1221 acts like a quality inspector, hovering and scanning the seashell.
"This one is alright, just a bit small. It's round enough and has a nice sheen, so it's suitable for stringing on a grass skirt as decoration."
"This one isn't good; it's only half a piece, so it can't be strung together."
"How many seashells would you need to decorate the whole grass skirt?" Chichi asked.
“There are at least five or six in a string,” 1221 said. “Let’s make two strings in one round.”
The task was quite demanding. The kitten wrapped the seashells in leaves, carried them back to Mrs. Mailer's yard, and handed over the qualified seashells selected by 1221. After the holes were drilled, the old lady skillfully strung them into decorations of various shapes.
The remaining unused seashell was not brought back with them, but was temporarily stored under the coconut tree.
In the following days, the cat's collecting obsession exploded, and it spent almost all its time on the beach except when it went out to forage for food.
Tourists and locals alike know that there's a beautiful little cat on the nearby beach that loves to search for treasure in the sand.
Sometimes, when humans find something interesting on the beach and see a kitten, they will give it to the kitten.
In exchange for a grateful rub from the cat.
The children who love to play on the beach are even more enthusiastic about this game. They haven't found many seashells yet, but they have received a lot of strange necklaces, bolts, and candy wrappers from kind people.
A cheap budgie toy that you can get without leaving home.
There wasn't much to find at the usual beach, so Chichi decided to go to a different one that afternoon. Just as she was about to start looking for seashells, 1221 tapped her ear.
1221 gossiped, "This beach is even further from the main road. How come Kara ended up passing by here today?"
I finally saw the woman hurrying by. It should be the time she gets off work. She shouldn't be passing by here on her way home or to eat.
Thinking about how the other person had been rubbing their back and legs all the time lately, Chichi decisively gave up continuing the treasure hunt and followed in the other person's footsteps.
Kara didn't go home or anywhere else; instead, she boarded a bus in the opposite direction from her apartment building.
After the car started, the kitten sped up and ran alongside it.
1221 deduced the bus's destination based on its number, providing a shortcut for the kitten trying to run across the "steel behemoth" on all fours.
After squeezing through a hole in the barbed wire fence and crossing a street lined with hibiscus flowers, the bus pulled up to the side of the street.
He watched, panting, as Kara got out of the car, crossed a block, and came to the open door at the back of the community center.
Upbeat drum music drifted from inside, punctuated by the occasional clear laughter of children.
1221: "This looks like a dance studio?"
Chichi: "Let's go in and take a look."
The kitten had followed humans many times and had become increasingly adept at this furtive behavior.
Before entering, find a place to hide. After running inside, hide behind the lush Monstera deliciosa in the hall and peek out with your little head.
The dance studio is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and is not a large space.
A group of human cubs dressed in brightly colored vests and grass skirts are swaying their bodies and mimicking waves and leaves with their limbs, following their teacher.
Among the energetic human cubs, a caregiver who always had a serious and unassuming expression put on a shimmering plastic grass skirt and stiffly imitated the movements.
Her movements were visibly clumsy compared to the children next to her, unable to keep up with the little ones' agility, and she looked a bit uncomfortable.
Their eyes and attitude were very focused, and they tried their best to imitate the teacher's gestures and dance steps.
"Pfft."
He couldn't help but let out a soft whistle.
No wonder I've been feeling sore and achy these past few days; it turns out it's from dancing that my muscles are sore.
The other party wasn't just going through the motions to please Mrs. Mailer.
She is actually considering participating in the hula festival.
A note from the author:
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