"Yeah."
One of his companions chimed in quietly. "Poor kitty."
"Getting hit for no reason..."
"Mm."
The young man in the baseball cap smiled at the older man.
"Thank you."
Even though he knew his cat had been hit right under his nose, he hadn't noticed a thing. To make matters worse, he'd even shown the child kindness.
And that child had still kept hitting the cat.
He felt awful.
A knot of anger was lodged inside him.
It made him miserable.
But...
There was nothing he could do now.
The culprit had already gotten off the train.
He could only swallow his frustration.
He took several deep breaths.
He'd been careless himself.
For a moment, he couldn't help wondering why the people who'd seen it hadn't told him.
But he quickly put the thought aside.
The carriage had been packed.
Everyone was doing their own thing.
Most people were looking down at their phones.
Others were watching the scenery outside.
Talking on the phone.
Or chatting with friends.
Who would pay attention to what a child was doing?
Especially when they didn't know there was a kitten in his bag.
The young man in the baseball cap pushed down his frustration and thanked each of the people who'd told him what happened.
"Thank you for telling me."
"Otherwise, I probably never would have known..."
The young man in the baseball cap rubbed the kitten's head. "This little guy got hit for no reason by a child on this train."
"You poor thing."
"I'll make you something tasty when we get home."
He comforted the kitten.
Perhaps it understood what the young man in the baseball cap had said. By sheer coincidence, the kitten let out a meow.
And this time, its meow sounded much more cheerful.