Excerpt from The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Once lessons began, though, Satoru was in the advanced class for kids who could swim fast, while Kosuke was in the ordinary class that included all the kids like him with allergies.

Despite all the Kappa and Webfoot antics, when Satoru swam at speed down the lane he looked incredibly cool. Kosuke and Satoru were good friends, but at those times Kosuke found Satoru a little annoying. If only I could be like him, he thought enviously.

But one day when he saw Satoru clowning around, diving into the water and cracking his forehead on the bottom, he was no longer so envious.

It was early summer, and they had been going to the swimming school for two years.

They always met up at the bottom of the slope below the housing complex to walk to swimming school together, and on this day Kosuke was the first to arrive. Which is why he was the one to discover the box first.

A cardboard box had been left below the post with the map of the housing complex on it. And the box was meowing. Hesitantly, Kosuke opened the lid and saw two white balls of downy fur. With a sprinkling of tabby patches here and there.

He stared silently at them. Such helpless, soft little things, he thought. They were so tiny he hesitated even to touch them—

'Wow! Cats!'

From above him, Satoru's voice rang out.

'What's up?' he said, crouching down beside Kosuke.

'Somebody just left it here.'

'They're so cute!'

In silence, the two boys timidly stroked the fluffy fur for a few moments, then Satoru spoke.

'Do you want to hold him?'

You have allergies, so don't ever touch animals – Kosuke could hear his mother's scolding voice in his head, but he couldn't just stand and watch Satoru give them a stroke. Kosuke had been the one to find them, after all.

He scooped one of them up in his hands and placed it on his palm. It was so light!

He wanted to carry on stroking them, but they were going to be late for swimming. Reluctantly, they peeled the kittens off them and returned them to the box.

They agreed that they would look in on the kittens on the way back, and raced down the road to the swimming school. They were a few minutes late for class and the instructor slapped them both on the head.

After class, they fell over themselves to get back to the bottom of the slope below the housing complex.

The box was still there, under the sign, but to their dismay, now there was only one kitten inside. Someone must have taken the other one.

It seemed to them that the fate of the remaining kitten lay in their hands. A kitten with tabby patches on its forehead in the shape of the character hachi. And a black hooked tail.

The two of them sat down on the grass beside the box and gazed at the little kitten curled up in it, sleeping soundly. How could any child not want to take this tiny, soft little creature home?

What would happen if we did take it home? Each boy knew exactly what the other was thinking.

Kosuke knew his mum would be against it because of his allergies, plus his dad wasn't so keen on animals.

In contrast to Kosuke, Satoru was quick to come to a decision.

'I'll ask my mum.'

'That's not fair!'

Kosuke's reaction was fuelled by something that had happened at swimming school a few days before. A girl Kosuke was keen on saw Satoru swimming in the advanced class and murmured, 'He's pretty cool.'

Satoru could swim fast, he didn't have any allergies, and his father and mother were both kind people, so if he took the cat home they were sure to accept it. So not only did the girl Kosuke liked praise Satoru, but now he would get to keep this soft, tiny creature – that just wasn't fair, was it?

When Kosuke told him this, Satoru looked hurt, as if he'd been slapped. Kosuke felt ashamed.

Excerpted from The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.