The rest of the afternoon had passed without incident, giving Natalie plenty of time to regret her decision to meet the two men and their friend. She had just about made up her mind not to go. If they came to find her again, she could always claim that something had come up. Nodding to herself, she pulled the keys out of her apron pocket and walked to the front of the shop to close up. The lock caught with a satisfying thunk as she turned her key to secure the door. She flipped the shop’s sign to “closed” and began drawing the curtains in the windows.

A scuffling nose made her stop and turn.

“Hello?” she called out. “Is anyone there?”

She left the windows and walked back through the shelves. Customers had been known to doze off in the well-upholstered reading chairs scattered around the shop.

“Hello?”

A circuit of the shop revealed all the reading nooks empty. Puzzled, Natalie went back to drawing the curtains and closing out the cash register. Another skittering noise made her look up from the receipts. It sounded like it had come from the middle of the open area where they set up tables with weekly recommendations, but she couldn’t see anything. The floor was completely bare.

Maybe it was mice, or rats. Natalie shuddered. She scooped up the tray from the register, and, after a moment, the card Jin had given her. As her body went and put everything in its proper place, her mind churned, rethinking her decision.

The card said pest control, and she might have a rodent problem. The two men had seemed harmless enough. The shorter one, Hayato, had been a bit of a jerk, but Jin had actually been kind of nice. Certainly understanding about what must have looked to him like a fainting spell. Natalie paused, apron in hand.

She sighed, hung her apron in her locker, and slung her bag over her shoulder. Repaying courtesy with rudeness just wasn’t something she was comfortable with. And the park was bound to have at least a few people scattered around the paths. They were always holding open air concerts and movie screenings and stuff out there, trying to get people to use it even when it was cold outside. In fact, she sort of remembered seeing a flyer for something going on tonight near the gazebo. After she’d convinced the two men she wasn’t who they were looking for, maybe she’d head over there.

Natalie locked up the store and headed for the park.

・・・・・

The stars were already shining brightly when Natalie arrived. It always seemed like they sparkled more at this time of year. There was probably some scientific explanation for it, something to do with colder air and refraction and the angle of the Earth’s axis, but Natalie liked to think that the stars were just happy about having longer nights.

Natalie was surprised by the number of people out in the cold. She saw a girl walking her dog and a couple of joggers doing the loop around the old trees. In the distance, she could hear the sound of the tennis courts being used. There was even a group of teens playing soccer on one of the big lawns. It seemed odd, but she supposed it wasn’t actually all that late, it just felt that way because of the darkness. This park wasn’t the kind that closed at sunset, so why shouldn’t people be out and about? She’d heard that regular exercise could be good for a person, though she’d never put it to the test herself.

Movement caught her eye. She paused to look and saw a man waving at her from across the lawn. It looked like one of the bookstore’s regulars, the one Patrick had likely picked up his new vocabulary word from. He tipped his dark grey fedora to her and blew a her a kiss in the most theatrical manner possible. Natalie shook her head, smiling. There was really only one person that could be. She waved at him and continued on her way.

As Natalie approached the pond and the willow tree, she noticed a dark blob on top of the picnic table. By the time she reached the table, it had resolved itself into the shape of an unusually large black cat, curled up, asleep. Natalie smiled.

“Well, fancy meeting you here,” she said.

The cat raised his head languidly and blinked at her. He gave a funny little mumbling growl and squiggled so that his stomach was exposed. Natalie smiled and reached out a gloved hand to rub his tummy, since he had asked so nicely.

“Ah, I see you’re already getting reacquainted.” Jin’s voice made Natalie jump. She turned to find both Jin and Hayato watching her. They hadn’t made a sound as they’d walked up. Natalie was sure of it. She hadn’t been that captivated by the cat. Probably.

“Is he yours?” asked Natalie gesturing to the cat who had already curled back into a tight black ball.

“That’s a more complicated question than it seems,” said Jin with a smile. “The simple answer is yes.”

Natalie raised her eyebrows at the odd answer, but Jin just continued to smile at her. As no further answer seemed forthcoming, Natalie turned back to the cat.

“Well, you should take better care of him,” she said, stroking his soft, dark fur. “He doesn’t even have a collar. And last night some kids almost did some serious damage.”

Hayato snorted. “If you remembered that, why did you pretend you didn’t?”

Natalie bristled at his tone. She kept her eyes on the cat, refusing to look at Hayato.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“You said you didn’t remember saving his life.”

Natalie looked up at Hayato, startled, glanced back at the cat, then looked to Jin.

“The cat?” she asked, incredulous. “When you were talking about your friend, you meant the cat?”

Jin nodded.

“Of course,” he said.

Natalie’s expression contracted in confusion. “But you said he’d ‘told you’ I’d helped him. How can a cat tell you something like that?”

Jin smiled. “He’s not an ordinary cat.”

Natalie looked at the cat. He’d uncurled and sprawled across the table, taking up pretty much the whole width of it. His eyes were open, and Natalie could almost swear that he was smiling.

“I can see that,” she said drily. She turned her attention back to the men. “Well, now that we’ve established that, yes, I am the one who saved your cat from a trio of terrifying children, I’ll be going.”

“What?” Jin blinked, astonished. “But we haven’t thanked you yet.”

“I think that was it just now, wasn’t it?” Natalie smiled and looked down at the cat. “He’s very welcome. Tell him to be more careful from now on.”

She shifted her bag on her shoulder and started to walk away. Hayato moved and deftly blocked her path. Natalie looked up at him, trying to keep a pleasant expression on her face.

“Excuse me, I’d like to get by.”

“We haven’t thanked you yet,” said Hayato flatly. A completely irrelevant detail seized Natalie’s attention. He was wearing his sunglasses. In the dark.

“Why are you still wearing sunglasses?” she blurted.

Hayato’s lips curled upward in a sardonic smile. “Because my future’s so bright.”

Natalie rolled her eyes.

“An 80s pop reference. Awesome.” She looked up at him. “How old are you, anyway?”

Hayato cocked an eyebrow at her. “You recognized the reference. How old are you?”

Natalie gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. Jin stepped up just as she was about to respond.

“Please,” he said placatingly. “Please, Natalie… may I call you Natalie?”

Natalie took a step back from Hayato, giving herself some space, and nodded at Jin.

“Thank you,” he smiled. “Please, allow us to thank you properly. We owe you a debt and balance must be kept.” Jin gestured toward the picnic table.

Natalie crossed her arms, frowning at Jin’s choice of words. It sounded oddly old-fashioned. Of course, the man claimed his cat talked to him, so odd word choices probably weren’t the biggest of his problems.

Hayato still blocked the path. He gave off the aura of an immovable object. Natalie could try walking around him, off the path, on the grass, but she got the feeling he’d just move to block her way again. After another moment’s hesitation, she circled the table and sat on the far side. Jin waited for her to get settled, then joined her at the table. Hayato moved closer and stood behind him, arms crossed. The cat, seemingly unconcerned by the tension in the air, butted his head against Natalie’s hand, demanding his due attention. Natalie obliged, rubbing under his chin and around his ears.

“What’s he called?” she asked.

“Lightning,” answered Hayato. Natalie looked over at him.

“The all black cat is called Lightning?”

“He is,” replied Jin easily. “It makes more sense once you get to know him better.”

Natalie gave him a skeptical look and kept petting the cat.

“Now, the question of repayment…” Jin adjusted his glasses with one hand. “To owe a life is quite a debt. We must give you something in kind.”

Natalie waved her hand at him, negating his statement.

“I told you not to worry about it. I didn’t really do anything. And we can’t tell for sure if they really were going to hurt him. They might have stopped at tying him up.”

The cat got up and sat facing Jin. He looked over his shoulder at Natalie, then back at Jin and Hayato. The expressions on the two men’s faces were serious. They looked like they were listening. Maybe they really could hear the cat talk. Natalie figured she should be the last person to judge another for responding to things other people couldn’t perceive. Finally, Jin nodded and turned his attention back to Natalie.

“He says we should offer you a job.”