The morning his homebrew sake is finished, Jack wakes up to the yowling of Neko. The big orange cat is always making ugly noises, but these cries sound painful. Jack sits up in bed. The floor is streaked with blood from the balcony, up to his bed and even on the bed sheets. He finds the cat convulsing on the balcony covered in blood.
Quickly, he grabbed a cardboard box, placed her inside and drove to the veterinarian. The vet told him she’d need to stay overnight. The next morning, they told him Neko had been euthanized. When he asked why, they told him she succumbed to a parasitic infestation. Unfortunately that was quite common in an area with so many strays.
The leaves had fallen when he visited Kinoko’s home near the vinegar factory; bare branches grasping at the sky like the hands of a drowning man. Kinoko asked him to visit while she was caring for her ailing mother.
Jack walked down the narrow alley past the vinegar factory to her house. Three big warehouses with wooden exteriors charred black from fire. Hard to miss.
As he approached, a black and white cat on the rubbish bins jumped down and smelled his ankle before running down the alley. It was not surprising to hear more yowls as it was greeted by more cats in the darkness.
Kinoko’s family home was old, wooden, and lacked insulation, so you could see through the walls and feel the Autumn draft blowing through the living room. No flush toilet. Just a seat over a pit. Mushrooms growing in the corner where the bath tiles meet the floor.
Most of these traditional homes are built around a courtyard with a corridor and adjoining outer rooms. Typically the courtyard is enclosed by sliding doors, but this one was boarded up down the entire length of the hallway. Kinoko tells him their well shares the same water as the vinegar factory. She says they had to board it up because it smells foul.
Jack asks about Kinoko’s mother, and she says her mother still isn’t feeling well. He makes a careless joke about how she might be allergic to cats and regrets the insensitive words as they leave his mouth.
She doesn’t appear to notice the offense and tells him that the cats used to protect the brewery’s grain stores from rats. That’s why there are so many.
Jack asks about the old brewery. The legend among his students is that the master brewer’s sake always went sour and he earned an embarrassing reputation as a vinegar maker. It was so embarrassing, that he became a hermit and the brewery was converted to a vinegar factory before it burned down and closed for good.
She tells him it’s true, and that the brewmaster’s ghost haunts the vinegar factory and eats curious children from the inside out. Feeds on their dreams. Jack laughs and makes some more small talk as she walks him back out to the street.
She asks about work and he tells her about the student who brings snacks for him at lunch.
“Oh, you like Emi’s treats?” she paused for a moment, looking into his eyes. How did she know the student’s name? When she could see this thought register, she smiled and retreated into the musty home.