Interlude: Yashiro Comes Calling, Part 3

Interlude:
Yashiro Comes Calling
Part 3

 

“TO THE RIGHT!”

“Rolling, rolling, rolling…”

“To the left!”

“Rolling, rolling, rolling!”

“Hey, Ms. Allegedly 600 Years Old, that’s my blanket,” my sister scowls as she watches us. Oops.

It’s another cold day in the house, and the two of us are all rolled up like a burrito with just our heads peeking out from opposite ends of my sister’s comforter. I don’t remember exactly when Yachi got here, and I probably won’t notice when she leaves, but for now, we’re playing some kind of rolling-around game.

“Is that fun?” my sister asks dubiously.

“It warms the body,” Yachi explains, flopping around

on the ground. She keeps kicking me in the stomach, and it hurts.

Rolling her eyes, my sister turns back to the TV. “Cool.”

“Care to join us, Shimamura-san?”

“I may not look it, but I’m actually really busy,” she replies, reclining in her floor chair and staring at the TV screen.

Yeah, well, we’re really busy, too! Unlike you, we’re not just lying around! But I have to match Yachi’s moves pretty carefully, or else we won’t roll very much. When you roll, you have to start from one end and work your way down the burrito. Then do it in reverse to go back. That’s the trick.

Rolling, rolling, rolling. Rolling behind my sister. Then we change directions and roll over to the wall. Rolling, rolling, rolling. Then we roll over to the window…

“Oh my God, will you knock it off?!”

My sister gets up and puts her foot down—literally. The two of us try to wriggle free. No luck.

“What’s your problem?” Yachi demands.

“No, what’s your problem?” my sister shoots back.

“We are simply keeping ourselves warm.”

“Oh yes, quite simply,” I join in, mimicking Yachi’s voice. My sister sighs, slumping her shoulders in defeat.

Then a sound rings out from high above us.

“Oh, that’s my phone!”

My sister crawls on her hands and knees to her study desk, where she grabs her cell phone. She briefly checks the screen to see who the caller is, then answers. “Hello?”

Then she waddles on her knees right out of the room.

“Hmm…”

“Hmph!”

With my sister gone, I slide out of the burrito, and Yachi follows suit. Together, we sit down on the empty comforter. Meanwhile, Yachi pulls off her scarf—I guess she got overheated.

“Scarves are warm, but rather itchy against my neck.”

“Oh yeah?” I glance over to find that her neck looks a little pink. Maybe she has sensitive skin.

The air is filled with dust and blue sparklies, probably from all the flopping around. As always, Yachi’s bright blue hair is covered in these sparklies. I reach out my hand, and one of them alights on my finger like it’s a little blue bug. I slowly lower my hand so it doesn’t fall off, but a few moments later, it disappears…so I reach out and scoop up another one.

Meanwhile, Yachi watches my finger go back and forth, her eyes as wide as saucers.

“What are these things, Yachi?” I ask as I stare down at the little speck. She cocks her head as it melts away.

“I couldn’t tell you. You’d have to ask the person I got my hair from.”

“Huh?”

Every now and then Yachi said some really confusing things. Maybe she meant ask her parents?

“Does your dad have the same hair as you?”

“He doesn’t have any hair at all.”

“Huh…? Like a monk?”

“A what?”

Apparently that’s a no. Is he just bald, then? “What about your mom?”

“No.”

Your mom’s bald, too?! Okay, no, that can’t be right. Hmmm…Yachi’s such a mystery. She doesn’t look like she’s lying or anything, but I just don’t understand her… Is it because she’s an alien? But she’s right here on Planet Earth! What’s not to understand?

“Very well. I shall reveal my secret to you.”

“Your secret?”

She shook her head vigorously, shaking out more sparklies. “Allow me to investigate the mystery of the glowing lights,” she declares, proudly thumping her chest. Then she coughs—I guess she smacked herself a little too hard—and shakes her head.

With each movement, more and more sparklies fly out. I glance left and right, left and right… There’s no end to them!

After a while she stops and folds her arms smugly. “Impressive, is it not?”

“One time I got 100 out of 100 on my cooking test.”

“Outstanding,” Yachi nods, but it kinda seems like she doesn’t understand what that means. Or maybe I’m just biased because she has blue hair. “In that case, allow me to offer you this… Ouch!”

She whimpers as she pulls out two long strands of glossy, silky hair; they rustle slightly in the heater’s warm breeze. Then she takes my hand, extends my index finger, and wraps the strands around it in a gentle bow knot, like her hairstyle. I wiggle my finger, and it flaps its wings like a butterfly.

Then she points at the bow. “Guess what? That won’t come off until the mystery is solved.”

“No kidding?!”

“Hee hee hee!” she giggles mischievously.

For a moment I’m tempted to test this by tugging on one end of the bow…but then I lower my hand. If it comes undone, I’m scared it’ll be gone forever. I should enjoy it for a little while first.

The butterfly’s wings flap merrily, almost like it read my mind.

“Oh well… I wouldn’t want to loosen it too quick, or else it’ll disappear!” I point my finger in Yachi’s face, and the little winter butterfly bobs along with me, its sparklies the same color as her eyes. “So I hope you’re prepared to stick around, Yachi!”

“Ho ho ho… By the way, who is this ‘Yachi’ of which you speak?”

And so my competition with Yachi began…but to be honest, it was a competition I wasn’t really sure I could win.