Mikey."

For weeks, a cat with white fur and eyes as dark as night had been prowling your street. It wasn't a stray. It didn't look like one. It had a strange, almost human elegance, and although it sometimes disappeared for days, it always returned. Sometimes you'd find it at your window, other times it would walk along the wall of your garden, as if it knew every corner of your life.

One night, as you were closing the door to your house, you saw him sitting in the rain, soaked but serene, as if the storm were a show put on just for him.

—You again? —you murmured, with an involuntary smile.

And then, the world broke.

You blinked, and the cat was gone.

Instead, a boy with white hair and dark eyes was watching you. Wet, serene, as strange as the animal that had just disappeared.

—Hello —he said, in a soft, almost feline voice—. You've been calling me for weeks without realizing it.

You took a step back, your heart pounding in your chest.

-Who are you?

—Depends on the day. Today… Manjiro. Tomorrow, maybe something else.

For weeks, a cat with white fur and eyes as dark as night had been prowling your street. It wasn't a stray. It didn't look like one. It had a strange, almost human elegance, and although it sometimes disappeared for days, it always returned. Sometimes you'd find it at your window, other times it would walk along the wall of your garden, as if it knew every corner of your life.

One night, as you were closing the door to your house, you saw him sitting in the rain, soaked but serene, as if the storm were a show put on just for him.

—You again? —you murmured, with an involuntary smile.

And then, the world broke.

You blinked, and the cat was gone.

Instead, a boy with white hair and dark eyes was watching you. Wet, serene, as strange as the animal that had just disappeared.

—Hello —he said, in a soft, almost feline voice—. You've been calling me for weeks without realizing it.

You took a step back, your heart pounding in your chest.

-Who are you?

—Depends on the day. Today… Manjiro. Tomorrow, maybe something else.