Interlude: Yashiro Comes Calling, Part 1

Interlude:
Yashiro Comes Calling
Part 1

 

I MOVE TO THE RIGHT—whoosh—she moves to the right. I move to the left—whoosh—she moves to the left. Then I decide to make a full-on run for it—zoom! She chases after me. Argh!

Fortunately, I’m close to home, so I run inside. I check to make sure my big sister’s shoes are by the front door, then dash down the hallway. “Nee-chan! Nee-chaaaan!” I wail as I run into our bedroom.

Inside, I find my sister watching TV. She leans back in her floor chair and looks at me upside-down, her long hair hanging down limply, like the creepy girl in that movie I’m not allowed to watch. She rolls her upside-down eyes at me. “Yeah, yeah, welcome home.”

“No, you don’t understand! There’s a weirdo!”

“What? A weirdo?”

Yeah! Even weirder than you! “She’s got this hair that’s like bwaahhh! And she chased me!”

I move my hands to demonstrate. She gets to her feet.

“Was it a stranger? Are you okay? Did this person do anything to you?”

She crouches down in front of me and looks at me all worried. Whoa…she hardly ever does that. Now she almost looks like a grown-up.

“She, um, she tried to block me when I was walking.”

“Anything else? Did she touch you, or ask you to go with her somewhere?”

“Umm…no…”

“Okay, good.”

She heaves a sigh of relief and loosens her stiff shoulders. Then she stands up straight and leaves the room. I guess she’s gonna go check for the weirdo. I follow after her.

“You can stay right where you are,” she says, and for a minute I think about staying, but then I remember she’ll need me to point out who the weirdo is, so I follow anyway. She’s supposed to put her shoes on at the entryway, but she doesn’t.

“Nee-chan’s breaking the rules!”

“Shhhh!” She crouches down and peers outside through the mail slot. Then she lets out a big sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s a weirdo out there.”

She straightens up again, then…opens the door?! Why?!

“Hey, you! Little mystery girl! Maybe don’t be a creep in front of someone else’s house!” she calls, and the weirdo turns to look.

She’s the same size as me, all bundled up in lots of layers, her hat sagging down. What’s so weird about her, you ask? She’s got blue hair! It’s tied up like a butterfly, and it’s got these sparklies that hover around it! Oh, and she’s got a container full of croquettes. Why? Don’t know.

“Oh! Destiny!”

Wait, what? Is she friends with my sister? She runs over gleefully, her beach sandals clacking against the sidewalk. Aren’t your feet cold? When she comes to a stop, her sparklies fly forward with the momentum. So pretty.

“Oh ho! So this is where you live.”

“Don’t try to play dumb with me.” Nee-chan reaches out and pinches the weirdo’s cheek until it stretches like mochi.

“Mggghh?”

“My little sister says some weirdo was chasing her around. Was it you?”

She puts a hand behind my back and pushes me forward.

“Mmhhnn,” the weirdo replies with her cheek stretched out. My sister pulls her hand away. The other girl shakes off the pain, then nods.

“I sensed her signal was the same as yours. So she’s your sister… I see now.”

What signal? I don’t get it.

Nee-chan puts a hand on the girl’s head and turns to me.

“This little weirdo is Yashiro. Weird as she may be, I’m pretty sure she’s not scary. She’s my friend… No, she’s my…”

“Destiny.”

What? And her name is Yashiro? That sounds hard to say, so I’m gonna call her Yachi. Wait, I get it! She’s a bad kid like Nee-chan! She’s got dyed hair and everything!

“So, did you need something from me?”

“No, not at all. Although I do have these croquettes.” She beams and holds up her container.

Ever since Nee-chan started high school, she’s brought home nothing but weirdos. I’m starting to get real worried about her. Oh, but the other girl didn’t have dyed hair, so maybe that one’s okay.

I try to hide behind my sister, but Yachi walks around her. Argh! I move around to the opposite side—whoosh. She follows me. Why does she keep chasing me? She’s like one of those dogs that likes to bully scared little kids.

The two of us run in circles around my sister. For a while she whips her head around to watch us, but then she gets bored of it or something and puts a hand on each of our heads to stop us. Then she turns and starts walking.

“You kids have fun. I’m gonna go study.”

“Noooo!” Don’t leave me here with her! I run after her and grab her.

“Hey! Let go of my skirt!” She puts a hand to my forehead and pushes me off.

Meanwhile, Yachi puts a hand on her hip and gets all smug for some reason. “I am not a ‘kid,’ Shimamura-san.”

Nee-chan turns to look at Yachi. “How old are you, then?”

“Let’s see here…” She starts counting, finger by finger. Once she gets to ten, she closes her fists and starts over. She does this again…and again…and again…and again.

At first my sister watches her in silence, but after a while she gets annoyed. “Hurry up already.”

Then, finally, Yachi turns to her and says, “I’m about 670 years old.”

“So you’ve been alive since what, the Middle Ages? That’s cool,” Nee-chan jokes, her shoulders shaking with her giggles.

Yachi, on the other hand, is totally serious about it. “I’m speaking in Earth years, of course. For the record, I believe my compatriot is about 800 years old.”

My sister rolls her eyes and rubs her forehead in exasperation.

“What do you mean, Earth years?” I ask, ’cuz nothing she said makes any sense to me. She walks right up to me, and before I can back away, she leans close to my ear and whispers.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I’m an alien.”

“…What?”

“Don’t listen to her,” my sister warns me. Awww, how come? She’s got weird blue hair, doesn’t she? How can you act like it’s no big deal?!

Then Yachi pulls the red rubber band off of her container and opens the lid to reveal three croquettes inside. She takes one and offers it to me. Looking at her, it kinda feels like somebody on the internet pasted a croquette picture on top of another picture.

“This is a symbol of our new friendship. Want it?”

“Uh…okay.” I take the croquette, tear off a piece, and hand it to my sister. She pops it in her mouth.

“Tastes familiar,” she comments after a second. I try a bite, too. Yeah, this tastes like a croquette from the butcher’s shop! Our mom brings them home whenever she “can’t be bothered” to cook, whatever that means. The butcher shop croquettes are made with lots of potato and a little bit of meat. I like them a lot.

“Destiny,” Yachi says again, but this time I guess she’s talking about the croquettes? I don’t really get it, but she seems to think they’re tasty, at least. My sister laughs and shakes her head.

Then Yachi grins at me, and now that I know her name, suddenly she doesn’t seem all that weird anymore. Instead, she’s just…pretty. Her eyes and hair settle into my heart like magic. She’s the same size as me, but I’ve never seen anyone like her at my elementary school.

In my mind, she’s a fairy—with wings and everything—filling my mind with blue, blue, blue.

 

And that was the day I met Yachi, my weirdo friend.