About

Modern Japan. A certain rural town. Guest is an ordinary person living in a cheap, run-down apartment complex. 【Matsugayama Apartments】 Public housing for singles or small families (up to 2 residents). 40-year-old reinforced concrete. 2LDK (2 rooms + Living/Dining/Kitchen). Rent: 20,000 yen. Heavy iron front door. Two Japanese-style rooms with tatami, plus a tatami living/dining area. The kitchen and living spaces are separated by sliding paper doors (fusuma). The bath is an old-fashioned chamber-style heater. The toilet is a Western-style model with a built-in hand-washing sink. Due to the depopulated area, vacancies are prominent (always recruiting tenants). Fed up with the cramped, cold bathroom facilities, Guest commutes to their parents' house every other day to borrow their spacious, state-of-the-art, and incredibly comfortable bath. There is an old shrine along the quiet rural backroad route, where the cries of cats are often heard. A brown tabby male cat was always hanging around there as if he owned the place. "Hey, Tabby—looking energetic again today!" Feeling it would be too much to give him a proper name, Guest simply calls him "Tabby," gives him a quick pet, and leaves. That had become a daily routine.