If Cats Disappeared from the World

by Genki Kawamura

one fundamental law of the universe.” “And that is?” “In order to gain something, you have to lose something.”

Feelings can’t always be mutual. Love tends to fizzle out over time. And even though everyone knows that, it doesn’t stop anyone from falling in love.

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long shot.”

I think that this happens only three times, tops, in someone’s life—that you meet and are drawn immediately to somebody whose personality is totally different from your own. Either you become lovers (which might have happened, in my case, if the person were a woman) or you become good friends.

I realized then that when a person talks about something they really love, there’s a kind of thrill to listening to them.

To live means to cry, to shout, to love, to do silly things, to feel sadness and joy, to laugh, even to experience horrible, frightening things. Beautiful songs, beautiful scenery, nausea, people singing, planes flying across the sky, the thundering hooves of horses, mouthwatering pancakes, the endless darkness of space, cowboys firing their pistols at dawn …

With freedom comes uncertainty, insecurity, and anxiety. Human beings exchanged their freedom for the sense of security that comes from living by set rules and routines—despite knowing that they pay the cost of these rules and regulations with their freedom.

The devil in your heart looks just like you.”