#I'd imagine if you listen to their conversation it'd go like 'Meow meow meow meow' 'Yeah I miss my Martin too 😔'

[xenolinn]

A silly draw of @snekberry's Future!Jon and Cat!Jon

[kaibutsushidousha]

Cat, Ghost, and Revolution Sunday (Sagrada Reset 1) - Chapter 2: The events from Wednesday (part 2)

[INDEX]

After their classes were over, Kei and Haruki headed for the teacher's lounge to report to Tsukushima about the job they received and the fact they Reset. The Service Club's work required detailed reports and Resetting renders them unable to Reset again until they make a new Save. And they can't make a new Save for the next 24 hours. Meaning that they can't use Haruki's ability to deal with any problems happening in this meanwhile. Reporting that is crucial.

Tsushima's desk was always a mess. Math textbooks, incomprehensibly scattered questionnaire sheets, unlabeled folders, an open envelope, a book about truancy, and a cold mug of coffee. On the last bit of space left on the table, Tsushima placed his elbow to rest his face on his hand as he listened to the report, bored. After Kei finished his story, Tsushima gave a short answer.

"Ok, the rest is up to you."

He always handled their cases with this hands-off approach. More often than not, the talk ended right there, but this time he added an excuse before leaving.

"I'm kinda busy with my teacher work. If anything happens, report again."

(At this point, he already finished grading the end-of-term tests, so what's keeping him so busy? Well, I'm a student, so I don't have a clear idea of how much a teacher works. Whatever he's doing, I can't imagine searching for a cat will be more important. I'd say it's best for both of us to keep him off the case unless anything major happens.)

Kei and Haruki left their school and went to the commercial district to visit March Hall. Kei bought a 160 yen bag of cream puffs and got a receipt in the Service Club's name.

He stored the puffs in a dry ice box and headed to the shrine. The sky was quite clear. The summer sky before the end of the rainy season had a transparent, watery tinge of blue. However, Kei knew it was going to rain that night.

"What kind of person Nonoo is?"

Kei took a second to think about Haruki's question.

"She's the calm, quiet kind of girl. Less of a cute kitten and more of an adult cute with a nice figure. Unfortunately, she doesn't meow when she speaks."

"Is that what you like, Kei?"

"That what?"

"Meowing."

"Uh, yeah, meowing is cute."

(Notice the obvious joke.)

"The weather is nice today, meow."

(She actually said it... With a straight face, no less. Is there any way out of this conversation? I'm beyond embarrassed.)

"Uh..."

"What's wrong, meow?"

"Sorry, I was kidding. I'm begging you, please talk like a normal person."

(If I don't be honest now, there's a chance she might stick to this forever. I can't even imagine what kind of rumors people would make up about this.)

"Really? Okay."

She calmly nodded.

"You should value yourself a little more."

(I really mean it.)

"I'm not sure what you mean, but if that's what you want, I'll try."

"You could start by changing this way of thinking."

"That's a difficult request."

(The problem is serious. But it doesn't demand an immediate solution, so I'll save that for later. We have a cat to look for now.)

They went behind the shrine and climbed the stone stairs. They found a calico cat along the way. It was strolling calmly, carefree. Kei remembered what Nonoo said. He didn't know how cats experience time.

The stairs finally lead them to the bottom of a quiet hill. Nonoo was sitting on a shrine's staircase, exactly like she was a few hours before from Kei's perspective, or three days later in a future that will never come from an objective perspective. It was as if time was stopped all along.

"Hello, Nonoo."

Hearing her name, she quietly opened her eyes.

"Who're you?"

Nonoo looked at Kei and spoke curtly. Her eyes were emotionless.

Kei introduced himself and Haruki, then quickly explained what happened in the next two days.

Nonoo raised her eyebrows, slightly confused.

"So basically, you know the future?"

"Not exactly, but yes."

(I actually know an undone past, but it'd be hard to explain the difference. I won't give a full explanation of the Reset.)

"And you met me in the future."

"Yes, that's what we need you to believe."

"Fine. What matters is that you knew my favorite food."

Kei handed her the March Hall paper bag.

"We also know that if we don't do anything, a cat will suffer a car accident in two days from now."

Nonoo took the bag and grabbed a cream puff from it. She bit it without hesitation. Some of the custard cream went to her cheeks, but she stretched to her tongue to take it.

With a half-eaten cream puff still in her hands, Nonoo spoke in a serious tone.

"Since when does this Murase own the cat you're talking about?"

Kei heard this question before.

"Since half a year", he answered. "You asked the same question Saturday. Is there any important point to that?"

Nonoo took another bite at her cream puff. Custard cream dripped from the bitten part. She hurriedly tried to fit the rest of the dripping cream into her mouth, swallowed, and licked the cream on her fingers. After that, she finally answered.

"I think I know what cat you're talking about. But the one I know is a stray. He doesn't belong to this human, Murase."

"Really?"

"Yes. That said, I haven't seen him in the past few days."

Nonoo said that if everything would make sense if she adopted the cat recently. But that's not true. Murase explicitly said she adopted it half a year ago.

"Could it be another very similar cat?"

(I have to check every detail with Nonoo.)

"Gray, young, blue eyes, crooked tail."

Kei slowly nodded.

"Only one cat in all of Sakurada matches this description. A nameless stray cat."

Kei sighed. He had imagined that was the case. Murase Youka lied about a few details. She never looked like she was being completely honest.

(There was that photo she sent me. The one that's unfortunately gone thanks to the Reset. There Murase was feeding the cat on the street. What pet owner would feed their own cat outdoors?)

"I told you something was strange.", said Haruki. Kei nodded. Then he asked Nonoo a question.

"Can you tell where this stray cat is now?"

"I can. But it'll take some time."

"Are you going to help us?"

"With a cat's life at stake, I don't have a choice."

She answered and closed her eyes.

With everything set, Kei started thinking about how he didn't have anything to do next, until Haruki pulled his sleeve. She started walking, still holding him by the sleeve. He had no reason to resist.

After getting some distance from the shrine, she spoke.

"Kei, are we continuing with this job?"

Her voice was quiet. She was trying not to disturb Nonoo's sleep.

Kei nodded.

"I see no reason to stop."

(The chances that Murase is lying are indeed high. But letting a cat potentially get ran over is not an option.)

Haruki frowned, concerned.

"But isn't this case strange?"

"Of course it is. Murase had no reason to lie if all she wanted was to save the cat. But the cat being a stray or a pet doesn't make a difference. Saving its life won't hurt anyone either way."

But Haruki still wasn't convinced.

"She still lied to hire us. She must have had a reason."

"For example?"

"I don't know. But it's possible we're being manipulated."

"Probably. But what's wrong with that? If us being manipulated makes someone's life happier, then it's all good."

"Does this really not bother you?"

Haruki's voice was hesitant. It's rare for her to question Kei's judgment. She was fidgeting with her cat keychain.

Seeing that he needed to answer that, Kei shook his head.

"There's a decent chance it'll bother me later."

(Needless to say, everything has a chance of making people unhappy. It's tragic, really.)

"What do you think Murase is trying to do?"

"I don't know. But there's always an apparent benefit in hiring us."

(One that we know it's actually a disadvantage.)

"What is it?"

"Using the Reset. She could have had a different reason to want to rewind time and brought up the cat's accident as an excuse. If that was the goal, Murase succeeded."

A lot of people would want to rewind time three days. And many of them would want to keep their reasons secret. For example, if someone asked Kei to Reset because they failed a test for a job, he wouldn't agree with it. That's a request the Bureau would obviously have rejected, also. If they Reset and made the person get the job, the person who originally got the job would be made to fail. Depending on whose point of view we're looking at, Kei and Haruki would have been using their abilities to make people unhappy.

Haruki nodded, satisfied with his answer.

Kei continued.

"Or she could have not wanted a Reset to happen."

"Why would she hire us if she didn't want a Reset?"

"When we use a Reset, we can't use it again for the next 24 hours. Murase could be trying to do something important while we can't Reset. If that's the case, she'll fulfill her objective somewhere between this afternoon and the next."

(Of course, that's all assuming she knows all the details about Haruki's ability.)

"This doesn't sound good."

Kei nodded. If she took measures against the Reset, that means her goal is something people would want to Reset away. And people don't try to Reset away what makes them happy.

"Whatever the plan is, it's pointless, unless Murase has an ability that prevents her from losing her memories on the Reset."

(I can't imagine there are many people with abilities that make them immune to Resets. But Sakurada's abilities are amazingly varied. Anything goes here.)

"Despite all this, we're continuing this job?"

"What's the harm? We're only discussing what-ifs. Besides, we already Reset, so if our suspicions are true, it's already too late. Also, we're reporting what we're doing to Tsushima."

Kei trusted Tsushima. Or rather, he trusted the Bureau.

(They would never let this go unchecked. If this case causes a problem, they'll deal with it without me needing to do anything. If that's not enough of an issue to set the Bureau in action, then I'll play Murase's puppet. There's nothing wrong with being manipulated by her.)

However, Haruki still had her grievances with the idea.

Seeing the talk hadn't made much progress, Kei continued.

"I am alert. But we can't simply drop a mission without a good reason. Because there's a big chance the cat will be run over for real Friday."

"I'm..."

Before Haruki could say anything, Kei heard a voice behind him.

"Didn't work."

He looked at Nonoo. Her eyes were open. Kei turned his eyes back to Haruki, who shook her head. She wouldn't finish her sentence.

Kei returned to where Nonoo was.

"What didn't work?"

"Sorry. He's sleeping now."

(He, the cat?)

"Is that a problem?"

Nonoo nodded.

"When I use my ability, I can share my consciousness with cats. My thoughts and the cat's become indistinguishable. So, if, for example, the cat knows its own location, I'll get to know it."

"That's really nice."

"But sharing my consciousness with an asleep cat gives me nothing. You don't think about where you are while you sleep, do you? All I can see is their often absurd dreams."

"I see."

(Cats dream? Didn't know that.)

"I'll try again after some time."

"Please do. Could you call me when you find out?"

Kei took his notebook from his bag, wrote his number, ripped that scrap of paper, and handed it to Nonoo. She immediately saved his number on her phone. Kei held himself not to laugh at the jarring image of Nonoo with a smartphone.

"I'll call you as soon as I know."

"Thank you very much. I'll bring more cream puffs next time."

"You can come empty-handed. Saving a cat is enough of a treat."

Saying that she grabbed and took a bite out of the second cream puff. Seeing that made Kei want one, too. He regretted not having bought any for himself and Haruki, since he was expensing it all on the club's budget anyway.

"Bye.", said Nonoo, waving. A red light suddenly reflected on her lustrous skin. Kei looked at the sky and saw it colored by a beautiful sunset. However, the west side of it had some very dark blue clouds. It was going to rain in two hours from that moment.

Kei said goodbye, warning Nonoo that she should go home before it got dark.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On their way back from the shrine, Kei and Haruki took a detour to visit the shopping district. They passed by the bakery where the accident with the cat would happen if they didn't do anything about it. At that moment, that store was just a regular part of the district. No one would imagine a cat losing its life there.

The store had already closed its shutters. The shutters were white, with the bakery's business hours written in green letters. 6 AM to 6 PM. Simple.

The two walked slowly, chatting. During this chat, Haruki calmly suggested:

"Do you want to have dinner before going home?"

Kei only then noticed he was a little hungry. But he shook his head.

"Not today. I still have leftovers from yesterday."

Kei lived alone in a one-room apartment. Because of that, Haruki would invite him for dinner almost every day at that hour. But Kei was extremely against acting differently before and after a Reset for no reason. Besides, Haruki lived with both of her parents, and her mother cooked for the family every day. Kei felt he shouldn't be making her frequently dine out, so he established a rule of only accepting Haruki's invitations up to twice per month. Once in each half of the month. Otherwise, he always refused.

"Ok..."

Haruki nodded.

(She must have already noticed my personal rule by this point. And knowing that, she's still always inviting me for dinner. She must be doing it for a reason, signaling some kind of message to me. But for now, I don't care for interpreting the signs.)

They heard the sounds of drums and flutes. People were preparing for that weekend's summer festival.

"Oh, that reminds me we promised to go to the summer festival together."

It happened between taking Murase's request and using the Reset.

"You hadn't mentioned that before."

She frowned a little. She always did that face on purpose when in a bad mood. Emoting didn't come very naturally to her, so Kei found her manual attempts at facial expression very charming.

"The festival is Saturday night, right? We should be already done with Murase's request by then."

"Why didn't you tell me before? Immediately after the Reset."

"Sorry, that didn't even cross my mind."

Haruki wanted to complain, but instead erased her expression with a quick head shake.

"Then I'll need a yukata."

"Yeah, that's the summer spirit. You'll use that purple one?"

The yukata Haruki wore last year. Mentioning it automatically puts the image in Kei's brain. It was a very light purple yukata with goldfishes printed on it. He remembered her holding a candy apple.

"I could buy a new one. Do you prefer the one from last year?"

"Your choice. Wear whatever you want."

"Even if it's something like a gothic lolita dress all full of laces?"

(That's not even a yukata. I want to believe she's just joking, but you can never be too sure with Haruki.)

"I prefer my summer festival outfits a little more Japanese."

"What color?"

"The color of the sky right now."

The sun had set behind the mountains, but it still wasn't dark enough to be considered night. It was as if blue paint was being diluted in the air.

Kei found a public phone in a dark corner and stopped there. Haruki was standing to his left, looking at the sky.

"This color wouldn't be too different from the one from last year."

"Yeah. Why don't use that one again? You looked good in it."

(It's not a thing you get to wear many times per year. There's no need to buy a new one every time.)

Kei took the receiver of the public phone and inserted a coin. After typing the number, he heard the usual automatic message.

"You say that for everything I wear."

"Do I? That means you look good in anything."

He hung up the phone. His coin rolled down. He made another call with the same coin.

"It makes your comments harder to believe."

"Heh, why?"

"What do you think?"

"I can't imagine it. I was under the impression we were in a relationship of strong mutual trust."

He took a melodramatic approach. Haruki glared at him.

"Are all men uninterested in clothes?"

"Not at all. Remember how expensive Tomoki's shoes are."

"But you don't have any like that, do you?"

"That doesn't mean I don't care. If I liked something a little more on the expensive side, I'd still buy it."

(It's just that I always start looking from the cheaper ones and don't take long to find what I want. Maybe I'm lucky, or maybe I just have no standards.)

"But you don't care for girls' clothes, do you?"

"That's not true. I like miniskirts. Red-checkered ones especially."

"Not when I wear them."

"Have you ever done wore those before?"

"Yes. Many times. And you always hated it."

That was because Haruki's fashion sense can go to extremes. One time she went to middle school with a boys uniform because the idea came up in conversion and Kei supported it, not expecting her to take the joke seriously.

(I'm so glad she's finally learning to doubt the unreasonable. Though I still think she'd wear anything I supported strongly enough. She's concerning, to say the least.)

"Then should I get a red-checkered miniskirt to the festival?"

"Bad idea. Their appeal comes from being worn by strangers you pass by on the street."

Kei's real favorite outfit was jeans with a white shirt. Minimalism appealed to him. He thought Nonoo would look great dressed like that.

Haruki tried to say something but Kei raised his hand to stop her.

"It connected."

(It happened relatively fast today. I haven't even dialed the tenth time yet.)

Kei said "Hello, Asai here" to the phone. The usual robotic female voice answered him. It was Unknown Caller.

"Hey, Kei. What are you needing today?"

"I Reset after getting some intel from you. You charged 3 sheets and 3 t-shirts. You'll need to make the transfer again."

"Gotcha. Thank you."

(Their fees are so weird. They just take the money from my account, so how do I know if they're really buying sheets and shirts with it?)

"By the way, what info did I sell you?"

"I'm looking for a cat, so you introduced me to someone named Nonoo Seika."

"Ok. Did you need to call me just for that?"

"Of course I did. I wouldn't want you to go unpaid. And I also have something I want to ask. Do you know Murase Youka?"

(As Haruki mentioned, a lot about our mission is suspicious. If I were a detective with strong convictions, I'd be more resistant to the thought of exposing my client's secrets, but I'm just a high schooler with no reason to care about professionalism. Knowing about Murase isn't a must, but it doesn't hurt to make one phone call.)

Unknown Caller answered.

"I'm forbidden to disclose information about her. Not even to you, Kei."

(Didn't see this one coming. Nothing wrong with them withholding information. The Bureau is very particular about information about abilities, and Unknown Caller is connected to the Bureau. But I wasn't expecting them to openly tell me they were hiding something. They're practically begging me to suspect her.)

"That means you know, right?"

"Not much. Nothing I'm allowed to tell you, though."

"Who is forbidding you from disclosing her information?"

"You know I can't say."

(Ok. That's fine. Just knowing they can't talk is already a big find.)

Kei took a moment to think. One word surfaced in his mind.

"What about the MacGuffin? Do you know anything about it?"

There's nothing directly connecting the two, but there was one indirect connection. Unknown Caller was forbidden to discuss it before the Reset.

"Can't talk about that either."

"Since when? By who?"

"Can't answer."

(That's it, last question.)

"Was it the same person who ordered you to withhold information about both Murase Youka and the MacGuffin?"

"Confidential. All talk about these two is completely confidential."

They cackled through the phone. With the robotic voice.

"Don't worry. You seem to be on the right track right now."

(The right track? For what? This doesn't seem to be about finding the cat.)

"Because you suspected there was a connection between Murase Youka and the MacGuffin, even though there shouldn't be anything tying the two together."

(No. Something is tying them. I found this tiny thread.)

"Are you sure you could say that? Weren't you forbidden?"

"I know my loopholes. But honestly, I don't see the issue. You don't have anything concrete yet. Besides, I don't know a thing about what the MacGuffin really is either."

(The MacGuffin. The generic plot device that only exists to connect the protagonist to the plot. I'm really interested in this one.)

"Bye. Take care."

Whispering that, Unknown Caller hung up. Kei put the receiver in its place.

"What did they say?", asked Haruki.

Kei shook his head and answered.

"As I said, distrusting people is wrong."

(Suspicion is a slippery slope. We're better off just focusing on finding the cat.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kei got home by 7:30 PM.

After a quick meal, he washed his single dish. That's when the rain started. The rhythm of that night's pour was very simple. The drops fell straight to the ground, with no wind to disturb their pace. Kei lied down in bed, listening to the rain's melody.

That said, it was still too early to sleep. He took his phone and called the number saved as "Tsushima". It went straight to voice mail. Kei said his name and cut to the point: "What do you know about Murase Youka?"

He locked his phone's screen and rested his head on the pillow. Then he let out a small sigh. He was hesitant but slowly accepting the idea he'll need to investigate Murase Youka. He didn't know much about her. All he really knew was her e-mail, but he was still feeling against emailing her. If she was affected by the Reset, she doesn't know him. If she somehow still has the pre-Reset memories, there's a high chance she's taking advantage of Haruki's ability for some purpose. In either case, she wouldn't reply to his e-mail. And much more importantly, this was unrelated to the cat's rescue and he didn't want to do things differently from how he did pre-Reset.

Kei closed his eyes and watched a multitude of memories inside his head.

Every ability in Sakurada has a limitation. A limited number of uses, strict activation conditions, or even something else entirely. Kei's ability is no exception. Kei can't undo his ability's activations. That means that once he recalls anything, he can never forget it again.

Constantly reliving one's past moments of stupidity for years doesn't contribute to a person's mental health. He frequently wanted to scream, but never actually did. He knew that the image of him screaming alone in his bedroom wasn't one he would want stuck in his memory forever, and this idea overwhelmed his intrusive thoughts.

He already wondered why he had this ability before. Sakurada's abilities are said to be dependant on the user's attributes. Supposedly, the user's nature, objectives, hopes, and wishes become their ability. In that case, what would be the nature of the ability to never forget anything? What was he wishing for?

It wasn't easy to find an answer. Sakurada's abilities were filled with mysteries. They don't teach about them at school. People just needed to accept that they won't understand them, like they do with the origins and structure of the universe. Understanding or not, they're still there and won't go away. The only people still trying to find meaning in the abilities at that point were Bureau employees who do that for a living and children who still ask questions about everything.

Kei wasn't particularly fond of his abilities, although he didn't hate it either. If asked if he wanted to lose it, his answer would be a clear no. His ability was already deeply encroached on him, as an essential component of his identity.

Sakurada's abilities are the power to achieve something just by wishing it. Despite their potential for harm, Kei couldn't deny their value.

Kei made a conscious effort to look at his own memories as objectively as he could. He couldn't stop himself from forming opinions about his past self, but he tried to keep his self-affirmation and self-rejection well balanced.

His trip down the memory lane was interrupted by the phone in his hands ringing. He forced his consciousness back to the present. This didn't make the memories disappear, but he could at least focus on the ones relevant to his current reality.

The person he wanted to hear from the most was Tsushima Shintarou. The second was Nonoo Seika. The caller here was the latter.

Kei put the phone to his year as he sat up.

Before he could say anything, he heard Nonoo yelling.

"He was kidnapped."

(That was sudden.)

"He, the cat? What do you mean by kidnapped?"

"Taken away by an unidentified human. What else does 'kidnapping' mean?"

"That's terrible."

(Wait, is it? It's most likely just a stray cat being adopted. Though I guess cats and humans view this under different lenses. If Nonoo is panicking, then the cat must be panicking.)

"And where is the cat now?"

(What really matters now is the cat's location. Knowing that is huge progress.)

But Nonoo's voice on the phone was sullen.

"I'm sorry. I didn't find out. I can't learn what the cat doesn't know."

Kei remembered her explaining that.

She could share her consciousness with cats. Kei didn't really know what it felt like to share, but Unknown Caller commented that her ability was slightly similar to Kei's own. It was possible to describe Kei's ability as sharing his consciousness with his past self.

"It's ok. We made undeniable progress."

Kei made an effort to say this emotionlessly. He smiled to himself at his attempt to talk like Haruki.

"Did you learn anything? Any detail can be vital, no matter how minor it looks. For example, did you see when or where he was taken? The kidnapper's face? Tell me anything."

"He was taken this afternoon, around 3. Probably at a park in Oogi."

(Today, huh? Intriguing timing. It's not too long after the Reset.)

"Is the cat indoors?"

"Yes, seems to be."

"Did you see what the owner of the house looks like?"

"No. Didn't see anyone. This is strange."

She paused to remember the situation then continued.

"A person was there. He didn't see it, but he heard the door opening and someone entering. He rushed under the bed for safety."

"And after that?"

"I wanted to see the person's face. My thoughts made him go peek out of the bed."

(Interesting. Her ability is to share consciousness with cats. It's not a one-sided power to learn what cats are thinking. The cats learn her thoughts just as well as she learns theirs. That's why that cat could guide us the first time we wanted to meet her.)

"And what happened?"

(Why the cat couldn't see the person after peeking out of the bed.)

"The human was probably on the bed. They pet the cat's head from behind. And that's where my ability disconnected."

"Is that normal?"

"I don't know. My ability is unstable. It often disconnects naturally as I wake up. But this time felt wrong. The consciousness split was too abrupt."

"I see."

(As I said to Haruki, if Murase's goal in hiring us was to make us use the Reset, there's a high chance someone has an ability that makes her immune to it. The ability to negate other abilities. Sounds plausible. The question is who has this ability. My best guess is someone closely associated with Murase, but I don't have any proof. I can only hope we're being used for a peaceful purpose. If it's something malicious, I can't let that slide.)

"What was the room like?"

"Normal. It had a bed, a TV, and a desk. I can't say for sure, but it looked like a student's room."

"Did you notice anything else?"

"There was a picture frame on the desk. The photo of a man in his early twenties."

"Was he the only person in the photo?"

"Yes."

(Who would decorate their bedroom with a photo of a young man alone? This doesn't feel right even assuming he's her friend or her brother. Wait, is it really a "her"? It's too early to assume that. I'm trying too hard to connect this to Murase.)

"We know that the cat is alive, right?"

"Most likely. I already share my consciousness with a cat on its last breaths before. This disconnection was different. I don't believe he died."

"Good."

Kei smiled on command. Nonoo couldn't see him through the phone but he hoped this would make a noticeable difference in his voice.

"I'm sure someone just adopted him because he's too cute to be on the streets. He might be having a delicious dinner right now."

"I don't care about the culprit's intentions. He was grabbed against his will. He was terrified."

(I see. She's right.)

"Understood. I'll look for the culprit. Did you happen to see any other cat being kidnapped?"

"I don't know. I'll search now."

"Ok, keep me posted. Don't worry, the cat being unharmed means the person doesn't want to hurt it."

Nonoo stayed silent for a while, but then quietly said:

"Yeah. I'll call later."

And then she hung up.

Kei lied down again.

(Why was the cat kidnapped? If the goal was to make us use the Reset, then they should have already gotten what they wanted. Why is the cat still relevant? Is he important somehow?)

Kei couldn't find any answers. He looked at the window. The sound of the rain slowly returned to his attention.

(At least the cat won't get soaked by the rain, since he's indoors.)