I threw my leg forward, trying to keep from falling, but then the train halted, throwing my momentum dangerously in the other direction.
“Whoa whoa whoa…”
“Ugh. What you, like, doing? Come onnn.”
With an embarrassed sigh, Hiyori brought herself up and briskly strode toward the exit.
“Hey! Whoa, wait up!”
Flustered, I tugged at Hiyori’s wheeled suitcase as I followed behind her.
The world that greeted me beyond the sliding doors was filled with seemingly endless, teeming masses of people. I felt pushed about and constricted, to the point where a moment’s inattention seemed enough to squash me.
Hiyori, the very picture of ease, kept her quick pace unchecked as she walked down the platform. I made a solemn effort to keep up.
The bumpy yellow line of tiles on the floor, meant to help blind people navigate the platform, made the suitcase jostle this way and that as I somehow fought my way to the escalator, my breathing already a little hurried.
“Um…Hiyori? Is there some kind of big event today, or…?”
“Hmm? Uh, no? I don’t think so? I think the big summer fest isn’t for another week or two.”
Hiyori’s eyes, and hands, were focused on her cell phone.
“F-for real? Oh man…”
So that was my baptism to the big city.
I remember snickering at the TV whenever they talked about the morning rush-hour traffic on public transit. I figured they were just exaggerating for effect. But judging by this scene, apparently all of that was real.
A chill ran down my spine. What if, I thought to myself, the next train we board is like one of those peak-traffic jobs?
As our journey down the escalator approached its end, I found myself almost overcome with nerves. The unfamiliarity of it all was nagging at me. I decided some mental prep was necessary.
“Here we go…I’m getting off…”
Yes. That’s right. I’m getting off. I was resolved to make this work, no matter what. But my timing was a tad early. I was forced to make a couple of baby steps at the very end to retain my balance.
“Nice try.”
Hiyori, already off the escalator, grinned at me. I was too abashed to look her in the eye. Some practice was definitely in order before I went on one with Hiyori again.
We pressed on, only to find the crowd around the turnstiles even thicker than the throng on the platform. Navigating this maze was starting to feel like a vast, high-budget adventure film.
Hiyori, as I expected, briskly proceeded on without giving me a first glance, much less a second. But I had my ticket, anyway. I could probably just follow the guy in front of me, and it’d all work itself out.
The first computer-controlled automatic turnstile I ever laid eyes on in my life was letting people through at breakneck speed.
Does this thing really check your ticket and everything? From my perspective, it had to be letting at least one or two people slip by undetected.
My turn was almost here. I stared intently at the hands of the man in front, doing everything humanly possible to keep from screwing this up.
He took something out of his pocket, lightly tapped it against the side of the machine, then simply strolled on by, seemingly oblivious to the multitudes surrounding him.
Huh. So that’s how it worked. Back home, I’d have my ticket punched by a doddering old pensioner seated by the platform. But this is the city. It’s got technology. Technology I didn’t really understand, per se, but that didn’t matter.
Here we go. My turn. After a quick rearward glance to ensure Hiyori’s suitcase wouldn’t hit anything, I copied the man in front of me, placing my ticket on the machine, and walked forward.
It didn’t go well. With a shrill electronic beep, a pair of gate doors suddenly closed in, as if trying to pinch my legs off.
“Whoa—Aggghh…!!”
It traumatized me so much that I screamed. Falling into a panic, I shot my head backward. A thundering herd of commuters stared at me in sour silence.
“I, I don’t…Hiyoriii! H-Help meee!”
As a station agent scampered up, frantically waving his arms at me, I noticed Hiyori a bit of a ways ahead, a look of pure contempt on her face. She turned bright crimson when I called her name, eyes averted to the ground.
“Ha-ha-ha! You all right there? You put the ticket in here, okay?”
I inserted my ticket, meekly following the agent’s directions. The gates, so engorged with murderous rage a minute ago, meekly opened the way for me.
“Uh, thank you very much…!”
My release filled me with relief as I pressed on past the countless disapproving scorners around me. Hiyori, waiting for me up ahead, was the most menacing one of all.
“Are you, like, here just to embarrass me, or…?”
I could almost feel the ground rumble as her tranquil rage unfolded. It was enough to make me audibly squeak.
“No, I…the guy in front of me, he just…Uh, I’m sorry, okay? I’ll try not to do it again, so…”
I apologized for dear life. But Hiyori, who must have concluded that bursting into tirades against me all day was a waste of energy, simply stated “Just get it together” and bustled away once more.
Did I have any chance of making it wherever we were going in one piece?
Hiyori’s face as she shot another icy stare from over her shoulder all but shouted, “Try to catch me!”
“I’m gonna get you…I promise!”
Gripping the suitcase handle tightly, I kept my eyes on Hiyori, all but lost in the human melee up ahead, as I strode forward.
Underneath the punishing sun, I was cooked and scalded by beams of solar vengeance from every direction like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Just before my hit points began to flirt with zero, I found myself face-to-face with a small brick house.
“Is this it…? Are we really here…?!”
“Uh, yeah? What are you, stupid?”
After making it through that demon turnstile, I was first mobbed by seemingly endless crowds of people inside a sweltering subway car, then left to the mercy of the rush-hour commute once we finally made it to the surface. Even crossing the street was a harrowing experience. These pedestrian signals may as well have been written in another language.
And this sun!
The heat was oppressive, like nothing I could imagine back home, and it depleted my vitality with worrying speed.
“I…I’m not too sure I like this city.”
“No? Well, you’re kind of here, so…try to, uh, live with it?”
Hiyori’s face was completely blank as she held a parasol in the air, the very picture of sweat-free faultlessness.
So this was my baptism to the big city…It must have been the fourth or fifth time the thought crossed my head today.
But if I was going to whine and pout my way through my Fabulous Fun-Time City Adventure with Hiyori, she wouldn’t just turn her back to me—I doubt she’d even let me return alive.
Yes, I just had to clamber out of this pit of negative thinking. Once we open this door, we’ll be diving headfirst into a shared-living experience that neither of us will ever forget!
If I couldn’t draw Hiyori’s attention in the two weeks-ish we were due to spend here, though, I doubt I’d ever be granted another chance.
In fact, if I failed, I was faced with the distasteful idea of wasting the rest of my years on the outer edges of indigenous Indian culture. That was something I preferred to avoid at all costs.
No matter what it took, in the limited time I had to work with, I had to win Hiyori’s heart—and, someday, make her my lawfully wedded wife. Then I’d gladly live out life as a monk in Mumbai.
“Um, hello?”
Hiyori, paying no attention to my frivolous flights of fancy, began jabbing away at the intercom button.
“Hey, you don’t need to ring it that much…”
“Huh? Uh, I wouldn’t have to if they’d, lik
e, answer? What do you want me to do? …Hellooooo?!”
Watching her doggedly hammer her finger against the intercom button reminded me of a mobster trying to collect protection money.
Too bad the yakuza didn’t tend to hire such beautiful, radiant henchmen. Then I’d pay them whatever they wanted. Mi casa es su casa.
“You, um, you think he might be out, Hiyori?”
“Uh, of course not? I told him we’d be here today, right now. He wouldn’t mess that up. He’s not you.”
“Hey, what do I have to do with—”
Undeterred by my dispirited defense, Hiyori kept abusing the button until, finally, we heard someone trying to unlock a latch on the other side of the door.
“There, see? I told you. You know, though…I haven’t seen my brother-in-law in, like, forever.”
“Really? Wow. I feel kinda nervous.”
My first encounter with a man who might become family to me someday.
It went without saying that my heartbeat began to accelerate. I had to make the manliest, most macho impression I could.
Stretching my back straight, I waited a good half minute for the door to open, my body tensed right up to my fingertips.
The sounds of someone fumbling with the lock continued unabated. The door itself showed no sign of budging.
“…What’s he up to?”
I couldn’t keep my muscles clenched like this for much longer. I began to visibly shiver.
It must have shown on my face, because from the side of my eye, I could see Hiyori give me a questioning stare, as if to say “Oh, God, what now?”
Stay cool. Stay cool. I couldn’t afford to give my lady’s brother-in-law the wrong idea. I had to put my best face forward.
With a satisfying clunk, the door slowly began to open.
“Wow, it’s about time you got that opened up. What were you even…”
On the other side of the open door was a white-haired young man, forehead caked in sweat, wearing a look of supreme achievement.
He looked quite a bit younger than how he was described to me.
I thought he’d be far older than either Hiyori or her sister. If this guy was her sister’s husband, there must have been a pretty major age difference.
“I…I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to undo the lock…”
Didn’t know how to undo the lock? What was that supposed to mean? Someone living here this long shouldn’t be having that kind of problem.
A litany of questions popped into my mind. No, no, hang on—I can’t let myself think about that stuff.
What if this guy really was family to Hiyori?
If I did anything rude around him, it’d pose major consequences for my future.
“W-wow, Hiyori, your brother-in-law’s pretty young—”
I turned and smiled at Hiyori, only to find a look on her face unlike anything I’d seen from her before.
Her eyes shone brightly, like two sparkling jewels installed in her head, and her cheeks were a vermilion red, the color of a fresh, ripe plum.
“So hot…”
It was clear that the look of pure desire that accompanied Hiyori’s appraisal was aimed at the white-haired man in front of us.
“Wh-whoa, what’s going on, Hiyori? Uh…like, what do you mean, ‘so hot’?! He’s your sister’s husband, isn’t he?!”
Hiyori shook her head, her eyes still enthralled by the guy.
“No, like…We’ve never met before. This is…Wow, I can’t even…”
I could hear something shatter within me, like a Ming vase tossed against asphalt.
The Asahina Army, the horde I thought I extinguished from my imagination long ago, plunged down again from the heavens, not a stitch of clothing among them, ready to carry me home once more. What the hell was going on here?
There was no mistaking this for anything other than Hiyori’s sister’s house.
But why was this total stranger to both of us answering the door? He had to be some kind of burglar, didn’t he? Please let him be a burglar.
Either way, I had to cart this man out of Hiyori’s sight as soon as I could…!
“Hey, who are you, anyway? This is your brother-in-law’s house, right, Hiyori?! Why are you here?”
I tried to look as sinister as possible as I confronted the young man. He flashed me a deer-in-headlights stare.
Between his tall frame and sculpted facial features, I was starting to dislike him more with every passing moment.
“Huh? Hiyori? …Oh. Yeah. Mr. Tateyama told me about you.”
The guy, his face more focused now, cheerfully padded out the front door toward Hiyori, not bothering to put shoes on.
“It’s good to meet you. My name is…um, Konoha, probably.”
“Oh, I…Oooh, man…! I’m Hiyori Asahina! But…wow, ‘Mr. Tateyama’? Are you one of his students?”
“Erm? I, uh…I guess?”
“Ohhhh! Okay! You must be, like, watching the house for him or something? He’s always so busy with, uh, this and that…”
“Yeah…He said to let you in when you show up.”
This was out of hand now. Why’s she acting so lovey-dovey out of the blue? Watching her talk to this guy calling himself Konoha, I could see a consistent gleam to Hiyori’s eyes. Like she had just run into her goddamn Prince Charming or something.
I doubted I even registered in her mind by this point.
The sound of my heart bubbling and seething in abject fury roared in my ears.
“Hey, uh…Hiyori? I think this guy’s kind of…weird, you know? He might not be telling the truth…”
“Huhh?! Uh, like, what are you talking about?! He’s, like, such a hottie. How could he be lying to me? What are you, stupid?!”
“Eep…!”
Each one of Hiyori’s words ripped my heart to ribbons, making mincemeat out of my admittedly egocentric argument.
My flimsy logic proved worthless in the face of her behemothlike aggression. All I could do was ball up and lay myself bare against the assault.
“So, uh…Konoha? Let’s just, like, forget about this kid and go inside, okay?”
“Uhm? Uh, he told me to let him in too, so…”
Then the young man lurched his way in front of me.
“Hi, um, my name is Konoha. Uh, nice to meet you?”
“…Hibiya Amamiya. You, too…!!”
It was all the response I could muster as I scrambled to smother the advancing flames of jealousy in my chest.
“Wow, guess he likes you too, huh, Hibiya? Great! So how about we, like, go inside, okay, Konoha?”
“Um, okay.”
I didn’t bother hiding my sneer as I glared at Konoha, his arms flailing as Hiyori pushed him inside from behind.
Who the hell does he think he is?
Judging from what he and Hiyori said, he must have been one of the students in the school where her brother-in-law teaches.
But that didn’t matter.
The most pressing issue right now was how to throw him out of the picture and make Hiyori turn her eyes back toward me.
I raised a middle finger at the shattered remains of the Asahina Army, howling in laughter at me from up on high, as I went through the door and slammed it behind me.
CHILDREN RECORD 2
The room’s clock seemed to echo as it ticked away.
The time was just about to reach nine p.m.
Naked lightbulbs hung down from the unfinished ceiling, giving the room an unexpectedly homey, bright-but-not-too-bright feel.
Kido had been standing in the kitchen for the past few minutes, vigorously scrubbing away at six sets of dishes. The cabinets were beginning to fill with sets of neatly organized plates and utensils.
Konoha, seated on the sofa opposite from me on the table, was engaged in a regular cycle of closing his eyes, drifting off for a moment, then snapping back to attention.
“Nnmmhh…I can’t eat any more…Ooh, but I’d be rude if I didn’t…”
My siste
r, meanwhile, had already descended into a deep sleep over to my left, spittle drooling pathetically from the side of her mouth.
…Look at us. What are we? Children? Or does Kido really seem like that much of a “mother” to us by now?
Somewhere along the line, this whole evening began to feel like some kind of sleepover with our playground pals.
Just this morning, I was furrowing my eyebrows at the Mekakushi-dan, suspecting them of leading some kind of subversive cult. Half a day later, I’d grown remarkably used to them all.
Even someone like me, someone who’s barely kept a person-to-person conversation going in the past year, was part of the gang now. That’s how damn friendly they all were.
“I gotta hand it to Momo. Only a girl like her could dream about eating after all that food. Why’d she go to sleep so fast, though, master?”
“I dunno. Maybe she’s training to be a cow or something.”
Out of fatigue, or for whatever other reason, Momo fell fast asleep just a few scant minutes after gorging herself.
“And right after she about crapped herself when that kid called her fat. Crazy!”
I doubted she even remembered that exchange by now. I often marveled at how much like a frumpy, middle-aged housewife she acted at times. It no longer surprised me much.
“Yeah, well, I’m sure she’s just tired and stuff. Hey, Kisaragi, get up. If you’re gonna sleep, do it in my room.”
The washing-up complete, Kido approached Momo as she removed her professional-grade apron, the Chinese character for “technique” written across the chest.
She gave Momo a couple of light slaps across the cheek. “Uunnngh, you sure can put it away,” she replied, still lost in her idyllic dreamland feast.
“Oh, sorry. You can just leave her there. Once she conks out, there’s no getting her up ’til morning.”
“I can’t just let her crash here, though. Guess I’ll try to carry her…Ngh?!”
Kido’s face twisted a bit in wonderment as she attempted to lift Momo with her arms.
“Y-you got…a lot on you, Kisaragi…!”
She managed to heave her up off the sofa, but the effort made her breathing noticeably labored. This, from the same girl who manhandled Hibiya like he was an inflatable pool toy.
Come to think of it, I remembered looking up Momo’s weight in one of the pop-idol sites she’s listed in and chortling to myself.
The Children Reason Page 6