‘How lovely,’ Cecelia said as she, Hugh and Ambrosia removed their shoes and followed the woman inside.
Michiko indicated that they should all sit down around a shiny black lacquered table. ‘I will tell you about the tea ceremony,’ she began.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta were having a wonderful time choosing their outfits.
Alice-Miranda held up a blue dress with a sailor-style collar. ‘What do you think of this one?’
‘I like it,’ Millie nodded. ‘Isn’t it like Sailor Moon’s?’
‘It will look much better when we accessorise,’ one of the staff said. ‘That is the key to Harajuku dressing.’
‘What about this one?’ Jacinta pulled out a pink confection that would have looked right at home on the miniature bride on top of a wedding cake.
‘Pretty,’ said Alice-Miranda.
‘Hey, look what I found,’ Millie called from the racks on the other side of the shop.
Alice-Miranda and Jacinta raced over to see.
‘It’s Itoshii Squirrel!’ said Alice-Miranda, grinning.
‘Ick, that awful creature.’ Jacinta wrinkled her nose in disgust.
‘It wasn’t the squirrel’s fault that the boy in the shop was horrible,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Come on, Jacinta, you have to admit he is adorable. Those eyes are huge.’
‘Like yours,’ Jacinta said.
‘Hai,’ said the girl who’d been helping Millie. ‘Do you want to try it?’
Millie frowned. ‘I think I’d feel a bit silly.’
As she spoke, a trio of Hello Kitties and a young man dressed as Astro Boy walked past the front window of the shop.
‘No sillier than them.’ Jacinta smiled and raised her eyebrows. ‘I think anything goes in Harajuku.’
After lots of fussing and giggling the children were finally ready. Their own clothes had been wrapped and bagged as beautifully as if they’d just been bought and now the girls were waiting for the adults to return.
‘How long does it take to drink a cup of tea?’ Jacinta asked.
One of the women shook her head. ‘It is not just drinking the tea. Tea ceremony is about preparing the tea, serving and then drinking it. It is very special green tea. I hope you get to go to tea ceremony too.’
Millie pulled a face. ‘Oh, green tea is not my favourite.’
‘Maybe we should practise walking in our outfits, like in a fashion show,’ Jacinta suggested. ‘So we can show off for the grown-ups.’
The staff nodded enthusiastically. One of them ran to another room and came back carrying a roll of carpet. She put it on the floor and unfurled a long red path for the children to use as their runway.
Just as Jacinta was about to lead off the rehearsal, the green curtain was pulled aside and her mother stepped out.
‘Oh my goodness, look at you,’ Ambrosia exclaimed.
Hugh and Cecelia followed her out.
‘Where are the girls?’ Hugh joked as he cast his eye over the children. ‘Excuse me,’ he said, turning to one of the shop assistants. ‘Have you seen three children? A blonde, a redhead and a brunette.’
The girl bowed and smiled. ‘I think you are very cheeky, Mr Hugh.’
‘Yes, you’re right about that,’ said Cecelia.
Michiko turned to the children and smiled. ‘Please show us your outfits.’
One of the shop assistants turned up the music and Jacinta strutted towards the adults.
She was wearing the pink lace dress with long pink boots and an enormous bow covering a curly pink wig. Heart-shaped sunglasses were perched on the tip of her nose and she had an armful of bracelets.
Ambrosia clapped wildly. ‘You look amazing, darling.’
Jacinta grinned widely. ‘Arigatou gozaimasu!’
Alice-Miranda walked down the carpet next in her blue Sailor Moon costume, complete with little blue Mary-Jane shoes and frilly socks. She had a matching blue headband and pretty purse. At the end of their makeshift runway she stopped and pressed her left forefinger against her cheek.
Last of all Millie sprinted through the middle of the shop, her red cape flying out behind her. She was covered in fur and wore goggles painted with giant brown eyes.
‘Oh my goodness, Millie, is that you under there?’ Cecelia laughed.
‘Hai! Watashi wa Itoshii Squirrel,’ came Millie’s muffled voice. She was beaming, although no one could see it beneath the costume.
The staff and parents clapped enthusiastically as the children took a bow.
Hugh Kennington-Jones glanced at his watch. ‘It’s getting late, I’m afraid. I think we should head back.’
Michiko nodded. ‘Hai. It has been a pleasure to meet you all.’
‘Can we have some photographs first?’ Millie asked. She ran to retrieve her camera from her backpack.
The children gathered together with the staff and Michiko and Hugh snapped away.
‘Arigatou,’ said Alice-Miranda as she shook hands with each of the shop assistants and Michiko. ‘This afternoon has been so much fun. Thank you.’
‘It was my pleasure,’ Michiko said.
‘Can we really keep the costumes?’ Millie asked as the group headed for the door.
‘Hai,’ Michiko said. ‘It is my shop and it is my pleasure.’
‘So you’re all staying like that for the trip home?’ Hugh asked, shaking his head.
‘Of course!’ the girls chorused.
‘Okay, I guess you’ll blend in,’ Hugh said.
‘Until we get to the subway,’ Alice-Miranda grinned. ‘I haven’t seen too many people outside of Harajuku dressed like us.’
‘Mmm, you’re right about that,’ Hugh said. ‘We could take taxis.’
‘That would spoil our fun, Daddy. And look at how much trouble Michiko and the other ladies went to,’ Alice-Miranda replied.
‘Yeah,’ Jacinta said. ‘I think we should go out for dinner like this too.’
‘Okay, if that’s what you want,’ Hugh nodded and grinned. The group thanked Michiko and her team for their generosity and bade them farewell, then gathered their parcels.
Hugh led the way out of the shop and onto the street. Within a couple of minutes, the children were attracting plenty of attention.
They heard ‘kawaii’ over and over as people passed by.
‘What does that mean?’ Jacinta asked.
‘Cute,’ Alice-Miranda replied. It seemed that Millie was getting more kawaiis than anyone else. She was stopped several times to pose for photographs.
‘So, do you see her?’ Yuki hissed into the microphone.
Yamato shook his head. According to his partner, Kiko should have been inside the Harajuku store for the past hour or so, but he’d pressed his face against the window and seen only a group of foreigners being made up to look like characters.
‘No, she is nowhere. That tracking device must be faulty.’ Yamato watched as the group of westerners left the store.
He didn’t see Alice-Miranda reach inside her dress and pull out her beautiful new necklace. ‘Look Mummy, Daddy bought Millie and Jacinta and me presents this afternoon.’ She held out her pendant for her mother to admire.
‘Oh, darling, that’s lovely. Millie, is yours the same?’ she asked.
‘No, mine’s a cherry blossom branch,’ the girl explained. Her necklace was hidden under her squirrel costume.
‘Do you like mine?’ Jacinta showed Cecelia her paper crane.
‘That’s gorgeous,’ Cecelia grinned.
‘I bought them from an antique dealer in the market near the inn,’ said Hugh.
The children and adults reached the subway and disappeared onto the crowded train.
Back at the palace, Yuki stared at the screen. ‘She’s gone,’ he said into the microphone.
Yamato exhaled. ‘Well, you’d better hope that she reappears before Hatsuko does.’
‘Where are you, boy?’ Obaasan called.
Kiko poked her head out
of the bathhouse she’d been taken to clean an hour earlier, and peered into the hallway. There were two bathhouses at the rear of the building’s ground floor – one for the men and the other for the women. Obaasan had handed her a mop, bucket and some spray, which Kiko worked out must be for the tiled walls. The liquid smelt sharp and made her head ache. After an hour immersed in the pungent odour, she was glad to hear the old woman’s voice.
‘Come, I need you to take tea to Ojiisan upstairs.’
Kiko wondered which Ojiisan the woman meant. There were many grandfathers in the house and she hoped it wasn’t the one with the cane. She gathered her cleaning equipment and rushed to the kitchen. All the while, Kiko’s eyes scanned every surface and crevice looking for her locket. She wondered if Obaasan had hidden it in her bedroom. There was another room at the front of the house, off the kitchen, which she hadn’t been in either. It was on the corner near the alley and Tatsu was the only one she’d seen going in and out, but he always locked the door behind him.
Obaasan passed her a tray.
‘Which room?’ Kiko whispered.
‘Upstairs, at the far end of the hall,’ Obaasan replied. ‘You look after him. He is special.’
It was the man Kiko had met earlier. At least he was friendly enough.
Kiko balanced the teapot and cup and walked up the timber staircase. She stepped carefully along the hall; the pot was so heavy her hands trembled. At the end of the passage, she placed the tray down and knocked on the door.
‘Hello?’ she called, hoping to hear his voice on the other side.
Kiko didn’t want to barge in but she didn’t want the tea to go cold either. There was a perfect temperature for serving and if she waited much longer it would be less than ideal.
‘Sumimasen, I have your tea,’ she said, pushing the door open.
The man was still sitting in his chair facing towards the window, exactly where he had been earlier.
Kiko picked up the tray, walked inside and set it down on a low table beside him.
‘Would you like me to pour it?’ she asked quietly, keeping her head low.
The man nodded. ‘Hai.’
Kiko bowed. She held the teapot and rotated it three times. Then she poured the tea, filling the cup a third of the way, then two-thirds and then an inch below the top. She passed it to the man and bowed.
‘What is your name?’ he asked.
Kiko gulped. ‘Yoshi,’ she whispered.
‘How old are you?’ the man asked. His hands trembled as he gripped the cup and liquid spilled over the sides and onto the small leather-bound book that was resting on his lap.
‘Eleven,’ Kiko replied. ‘Would you like me to take that for you?’ She pointed at the book.
He shook his head. ‘No. Leave it.’
Kiko wondered what it was.
‘You must not stay here,’ he said, ‘or you will die like everyone else.’
Kiko shifted uncomfortably. ‘What do you mean, Ojiisan?’
The old man slurped his tea and set the cup back down.
‘Would you like some more?’ Kiko asked.
‘No.’
Kiko noticed that every now and then his whole body trembled. She wondered what was wrong with him.
‘You must leave this place,’ the man said.
‘But why do you stay?’ Kiko asked.
‘I have no choice. Perhaps you do not have a choice either.’ He gripped the side of his chair and held tightly, as if trying to make the tremors stop.
‘Boy, are you still up there?’ Obaasan screeched from the bottom of the stairs. ‘You get down here now.’
Kiko gathered up the tray and walked to the door.
The old man stared out the window. ‘Go!’ he said. ‘Or you will be in trouble with the boss lady.’
He opened the leather-bound book on his lap. It was a photograph album. An exquisite young bride stared up at him.
Kiko glanced at it but he clutched the album to his chest. ‘Arigatou, Ojiisan,’ she whispered, then walked as quickly as she could from the room and down the hall. Obaasan was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.
‘What were you doing up there, boy? Making sushi? I have more jobs and you are lazy. Lazy!’
Kiko followed Obaasan back to the kitchen. She was good at blocking out the noise. Obaasan was no match for her Aunt Hatsuko. Besides, Obaasan at least praised her occasionally, which was more than could be said for her aunt.
Kiko was directed to stir a large pot of noodles on the stove. After a few minutes her arms felt like lead and she wondered how long she could keep it up.
‘You tired, boy?’ Obaasan said. She may not have been able to see too much but she was perceptive nonetheless.
Kiko nodded. ‘Hai,’ she said softly.
‘You’re a good worker for a beginner. When you’ve had more practice you will be even better. I’m glad you sleep on my doorstep.’
‘What is the matter with Ojiisan?’ Kiko asked.
The old woman stood up on another small stool next to Kiko and scraped some meat into a sizzling pan. ‘Ojiisan is just old,’ she said.
‘But he shakes,’ Kiko said.
‘His heart is broken,’ Obaasan said. ‘But I look after him and he has a good life. Better than if he had stayed out there.’
Out there. The words turned over in Kiko’s mind. ‘Out there’ was where she needed to go. But first she had to find her necklace and get her mother’s diary back.
On their return journey to the inn, the children attracted a lot of attention. Hugh wondered if they’d ever get back, as people constantly stopped them for photographs. Finally they emerged from the station in Asakusa.
Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta decided that they would change before dinner. Although being Itoshii Squirrel had been fun to start with, Millie was finding it difficult to breathe inside all that fur.
‘Can you imagine how tired Uncle Lawrence must get of being asked for photographs?’ Alice-Miranda said as the children walked towards the inn.
‘Yes, but he’s a movie star,’ Millie replied. ‘He sort of brought it on himself, really.’
‘And he’s so handsome,’ said Jacinta with a sigh. ‘Who wouldn’t want to have their photograph taken with Lawrence Ridley?’
Millie and Alice-Miranda giggled.
The adults were lagging behind when Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta turned the corner into their street. The children walked past a large house, which Alice-Miranda noticed was built in the same style as their inn. Between the house and the inn was an alley. Like the inn, the house sat right on the edge of the road. In the downstairs window closest to the alley, the curtains were open a fraction, revealing a desk with a large screen on top of it.
‘I wonder what they’re watching,’ Millie said as she noticed something playing on the screen.
‘I haven’t even thought about television since we’ve been here,’ Alice-Miranda said. The girls’ room at the inn was completely devoid of technology, apart from the toilet. ‘I don’t think we’d be able to understand much of it anyway.’
She and Jacinta kept walking but Millie peered through the window at the monitor. Then she stepped back and glanced up under the building’s eaves. A tiny video camera stared back at her.
‘Hey, look at this!’ Millie rushed forward, grabbed Alice-Miranda’s arm and pulled her back to the window. ‘Look, on the screen.’ Millie pointed.
Jacinta hurried back to join them.
‘That’s us on there,’ Millie said, waving at the camera to prove her point.
Jacinta cupped her hands and stared through the window.
‘So it is.’ She looked up and spotted the camera. ‘I wonder why they need surveillance. I thought Japan was a really safe place.’
‘It is,’ Alice-Miranda said, ‘and we probably shouldn’t be looking into people’s windows.’
Millie stepped away but Jacinta continued to look.
Jacinta’s jaw dropped. ‘Oh my goodness, it’s him
! The kid from the Itoshii Squirrel shop just walked into that room.’
The boy looked up and caught Jacinta’s gaze. She turned her head and pretended that she hadn’t been watching him. He came forward and tapped on the glass. Jacinta jumped into the air. Millie and Alice-Miranda watched as he pointed at Jacinta and then ran his finger across his throat.
Millie’s heart thumped. ‘You little brat!’ she called and shook her fist back at him.
‘What did he do?’ Jacinta whispered, still not wanting to turn around.
Millie was about to tell her when she spotted Alice-Miranda shaking her head.
‘Nothing. He’s just horrible,’ said Millie, still staring at the boy.
‘Come on, let’s go.’ Alice-Miranda grabbed Jacinta’s hand and pulled her away.
‘He wouldn’t have recognised me in this outfit anyway,’ Jacinta said.
Alice-Miranda wondered about that too. He certainly wouldn’t have known it was Millie. Perhaps he was rude to everyone.
The boy shut the curtains just as the adults caught up to them.
‘What were you looking at, girls?’ Hugh asked.
‘It was the boy from the shop near the temple,’ Alice-Miranda explained.
‘The one who upset Jacinta?’ her father quizzed.
She nodded.
‘Well, I might pay him and his father a visit after all.’
‘Who upset Jacinta?’ Ambrosia asked. It was the first she’d heard about it.
‘Perhaps we should talk about it later, Daddy,’ Alice-Miranda said pointedly.
Hugh looked from his daughter to Ambrosia and back. ‘Okay, darling.’
The group arrived at the inn. ‘Oh my goodness, look at you,’ Aki exclaimed as the children flooded into the foyer. ‘Kawaii.’
‘I think we’ve heard that about five thousand times between Harajuku and here,’ Millie said. ‘Itoshii Squirrel really is popular.’
‘That’s because he is so cute,’ Aki grinned.
‘What are we doing for dinner, then?’ Hugh looked at Cecelia.
‘I think we should stay in tonight,’ Cecelia said. ‘The children are tired and I’m afraid Ambrosia and I have more meetings tomorrow.’
Alice-Miranda in Japan 9 Page 8