Chapter 1

Subtitle: A Heartwarming Story of a Little Girl and Her Loyal Cat

The puddle has frozen over.

On the morning of the first snow, a flat, glassy ring of water appeared before my house. It is dusted with a delicate frost, etched with swirling, crystalline patterns.

When my small foot presses down, it shatters with a crisp snap.

Snap. Snap. Snap, snap, snap...

The delightful, brittle sensation travelling up through my sole is purely enchanting.

I started at the centre, crushed the ice from edge to edge, and then, suddenly overcome by a hollow, lingering emptiness, I slumped down onto the ground.

"Meow." The black cat we keep at home nuzzled against me.

"I'm not a bad girl, I tell you!"

I pulled the black cat into a fierce embrace.

I felt my face crumple instantly. The tears began to spill.

The cat’s tongue, raspy and warm, licked my face with a tender grace.

My little human has not returned.

The snow has only just fallen, and it is bitterly, piercingly cold today.

I am the black cat who lives in this house, and I have lost count of how many times I have lulled this crying infant to sleep. I am her sister, after all.

This morning, my little human was scolded by her father and mother.

Pouting, she bolted out of the house—and she hasn't returned for quite some time now...

Overcome with worry, I tried to step outside to find her, but the freezing air rushed in with a sharp, chilling whoosh.

Oh, it is freezing.

She was playing there, shattering the frozen puddle before the house.

Happily crunching the ice, yet her face looked as though she might break into tears at any moment.

With a determined heave, I stepped out.

The biting cold of the earth seeped into my paw pads, chilling me to the bone.

To me, the moralities of humans matter little.

But you see, my human looked so terribly sad.

As I expected, the moment she hugged me, she began to wail, waaaah, waaaah. Yes, yes, I know, it was so very sad, wasn't it?

Yes... but... It’s cold! It’s freezing!