SUNLIT MAGE – excerpt: Hikaru and the catA snippet from chapter 5, which will be out on Tapas

SUNLIT MAGE – excerpt: Hikaru and the catA snippet from chapter 5, which will be out on Tapas on Wednesday. Because we all love a good talking kitty cat, right?A chirping meow snapped him out of his thoughts, and Hikaru paused. A tabby cat was standing only a few meters away, its bushy tail held aloft in greeting, gold eyes looking straight up at him.Hikaru should be surprised, but he really wasn’t. The school grounds were heavily warded, but anyone had yet to invent a warding spell capable of keeping out cats. They were creatures of the barrier, and the very magic that held back others was their natural habitat.“Hello,” Hikaru said softly, crouching down and instinctively slipping into his mother tongue. “What’s your name?”The cat padded soundlessly closer, letting out another meow. He had only half expected to understand it, but in the end he wasn’t too surprised when he did.“Finally, a human I can communicate with,” the cat said with a dry undertone to its voice. “You have no idea how tiring it is, hearing nothing but kissy noises and ‘pspsps’ all day long.”Hikaru couldn’t help it; he cracked a small smile. “People are tiring, aren’t they?”“A little, yes, but quite endearing in their stupidity. And at least they feed me.” The cat looked at him expectantly. “You don’t have any food for me, do you?”At home Hikaru had always carried cat treats around in his pockets for when he spoke to the neighborhood cats. Here, however, he patted his pockets in vain. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t expect to meet a cat here.”“That’s on you, human. You should always expect to meet a cat anywhere.” Sitting down, the cat scratched its ear, then began to clean its fur. “But since I’ve missed speaking to humans, I’ll let it slide this once.”“Sorry,” Hikaru said again. “Thank you.”The cat’s whiskers twitched in what might have been amusement. “So where do you come from, little speaker?” it asked. “They don’t seem to have any humans with your skill around here.”There hadn’t really been anyone back in Tokyo either—at least, anyone Hikaru knew—but he didn’t say that. “I’m from Japan,” he said.“Hm. Not a bad country. Very fond of cats.” The cat paused its grooming routine. “By the way, can you speak to other animals too?”Hikaru gave a nod. “I can speak to foxes, dogs, birds…”“Birds? Excellent.” The cat got back up. “Tell the sparrows in the yard they don’t have to be scared of me, I’m not going to eat them. Not enough meat on their bones.”Experience told Hikaru that cats were excellent and shameless liars, so he probably shouldn’t believe that and neither should the birds. But to avoid drawing the cat’s anger, he inclined his head in agreement anyway. “Okay,” he said. “I will do that.”The cat suffered him to pet it for a moment in return, then trotted off in search of a sunny spot to nap in. Hikaru felt a little lighter already. Humans didn’t tend to like him much, true, but on the bright side, at least he was better with animals than anyone else. -- source link

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