Interlude: A Visit to the Hino Estate, Part 2

Interlude:
A Visit to the Hino Estate
Part 2

“A KIRA, can we talk?”

We had set up Hino’s shogi board and were in the middle of a game when her mom walked in. I hadn’t seen Hino’s mom since Bring Your Parents to School Day back in sixth grade, but she was wearing a fancy kimono at the time, so I recognized her right away. Well, okay…I recognized the kimono. Her face, not so much.

“Oh, hello there, erm…Tae-chan, was it?” she asked tentatively. But although she didn’t sound too confident, she was more or less correct, since “Tae-chan” was what Hino called me when we were little. I considered telling her my actual name was Taeko, but instead I just nodded.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Yes, of course,” Mrs. Hino nodded in kind. Then she immediately turned back to her daughter.

Clutching my lance piece in her hand, Hino donned her “I’m annoyed with you” scowl and glanced over her shoulder. “What do you want?”

“Perfect, you’re already dressed. I’d like you to say a few words to our guests, please.”

“What? Why should I have to talk to them?”

“Because you’re a member of this family.”

“Great . Fine, I’ll be right there. Gimme a minute.” She set her captured piece down, then turned to me. “We gotta put the game on pause. But I’ll be right back as soon as I get it over with.”

“Huh? Okay.” I nodded firmly.

She pressed a finger against my forehead. “Behave yourself .”

“Of course I will! I’m an expert at that.”

“You liar. You’ve got ‘troublemaker’ written all over your boobies.”

She reached out to grab my chest, so I karate-chopped her hand away and smirked. Nice try. These days I had a preternatural sense for when she was about to do it.

With a stiff smile, she rose to her feet…but by the time she took her first step, that smile was gone. “This is why I try to stay out as late as I can. To avoid this crap,” she muttered. And with that, she and her mother left the room.

Now I was alone.

First things first…I looked down at the shogi board and stole a few things I was confident Hino wouldn’t notice were missing.

“Now then…”

I glanced around Hino’s room, but I’d already combed through it to my heart’s content, so there was nothing left to entertain me. I crouched down and scanned the manga on her bookshelf, but even then, nothing grabbed me; I’d already borrowed every one of these from her at some point in the past. The rest of the bookshelf was filled with books about fishing, and I had zero interest in those. How long was she going to waste her time fishing when the rest of the world had moved on to boomerang throwing? Get with the times.

I stepped away from the bookshelf and wandered aimlessly around the room for a while until I completely ran out of things to hold my interest. Hino still wasn’t back…so I decided to step out into the courtyard for a while.

“I just have to ‘behave myself’ while I walk, that’s all.”

But how would I go about achieving that? The best compromise I could think of would be to keep my upper body as still as possible while I moved.

Sounds complicated, but I guess I can give it a try.

With my posture perfectly straight, I stepped out into the hall. Already the pressure on my shoulders was more intense than I had anticipated.

Yeah, I’m gonna regret this in the morning.

As I gazed out at the sunlit courtyard, a breeze blew by, rustling the branches of the trees. Today’s weather: sunny, yet windy. Beyond the tall surrounding fence, beyond the fast-moving clouds, I could see patches of bright blue sky.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled. Hino’s house felt like a samurai estate, or a ryokan, or a summer home—quiet and peaceful, like we were out in the middle of nowhere. It felt like I was on vacation somewhere far away, and to me, it was a lot of fun.

I wanted to walk out into the yard, but then I remembered I was in my socks. I thought about it for a little while, then decided to take ’em off. Problem solved.

I stepped down onto the gravel. If this was summertime, the rocks would burn the soles of my feet, and if it was wintertime, they’d feel like ice cubes. Fortunately for me, it was springtime, so instead it felt like a nice foot massage.

Idly, I wondered what Hino was up to right about now. Was she kneeling formally in front of some bigwig? I was tempted to sneak a peek, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. After all, Hino was really good at catching me.

“…Hmm?”

Right as I was making a flute out of a leaf I found, a small girl walked out from inside the house. She was wearing some kind of kimono, so at first I thought maybe it was Hino. I squinted through my glasses. Nope, not her.

It was a little girl, even younger than Hino by the looks of it, wearing a scarlet yukata with a green obi . Pinned in her long black hair was an ornament with a bell; under her arm, she carried a yellow helmet, like the kind you’d see at a construction site. Was she on a walk, too? Her behavior was really inconsistent; one minute she was peering into the courtyard pond, and the next minute she was playing with the cobblestones at her feet. Oh, now she’s coming this way!

Despite her short legs and zori sandals, she was pretty speedy. She slid right up to me.

“Aha. Here’s a big girl.”

She smirked up at me. Like with Hino, I could sense you-know-what about to happen, so I swiftly recoiled. Sure enough, her little hand closed on empty air mere inches from my chest. That was how I knew I’d made the right call.

“Oh ho. Not bad.”

The girl retracted her hand, then looked me up and down. I didn’t enjoy being ogled, but I was supposed to be behaving myself , so I couldn’t really protest too much.

“You don’t appear to be a child of this family.”

“No, I am the child of a butcher.”

I swayed my body in a suitably humble manner. She swayed back. So far, she seemed like an alright kid…except she talked down to me like she was older than me, and for some reason I just went with it.

“The butcher’s daughter, eh? Does that mean you can eat all the meat you want?”

“It’s hard to say.”

She tilted her head sadly. “Sounds like a no, then.”

Thinking back, the first time I spent the night at Hino’s house, it was because I’d eaten some of our products without permission. My parents had launched into this giant lecture, and I wasn’t about to stick around for that. Back then, Hino was excited to have me over.

“Hmm? Why are you barefoot?” the girl asked, staring at my feet.

“Well, my shoes are by the front door,” I explained, lifting a foot and spreading my toes. “And I was wearing socks earlier, but I didn’t want to get them dirty. See?”

I had tucked them into the hem of my skirt for safekeeping, so I pulled one out. After all, I didn’t want her to think I was some kind of uncivilized barbarian. But for some reason, the little girl tilted her head back and let loose a roaring laugh. “Every place has its weirdos, I guess!”

Why does everyone think I’m weird? Even Hino calls me weird. What did I ever do wrong?

“Now then, I’ve had my fill of tea and snacks, and I’m getting bored, so I think it’s time I hit the road.”

She actually ate that crap? None of the snacks they served here were remotely sweet, so I didn’t care for them. Did they serve her the good stuff or what? Who even was  she?

“Earthlings are so fascinating. Some hate being big, and others hate being small.”

Cackling, she turned to leave. The way she spoke, she made it sound as if she was an alien or something. And you’re calling ME the weirdo here? She donned her yellow safety helmet, hopped onto the moped parked out back, and drove off.

On second thought, if she has a driver’s license, then maybe she IS older than me.

“I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

Take Hino, for example. Despite her small size, she was actually pretty mature.

After that, I went back to playing with my leaf flute. Unfortunately, no amount of practice made it sound like a real flute.

“What the…? What are you doing out here?”

Just then, Hino spotted me and came barreling towards me nearly as fast as the other girl. When she reached me, I scooped her up in my arms. She started to flail.

“Hey! Put me down!”

“Okay.”

Back on the ground, she put a hand on her hip and glared at me. “Listen here, you little twerp!”

“What’s up?”

“I told you to behave yourself , dang it!”

“I did. It gave me a neck cramp.”

Now that she was back, I decided it was finally safe for me to relax my shoulders. Agh, my neck. I turned my head from side to side, stretching it. Meanwhile, Hino let out a sigh…but thankfully, by the time she looked up, she was smiling again. This was a welcome sight.

“Are you done talking to your guests?” I asked.

“Well, one of them ran off somewhere, so I lied and said I would ‘go look for her.’ Now let’s go back to my room!”

Glancing nervously over her shoulder, she pushed me down the hall. Was she referring to that girl in the red kimono? If so, she really did me a solid by giving Hino back to me so quickly.

When we stepped back into Hino’s room, she scanned around. “I see you haven’t been up to any mischief in here.”

“Of course not! How rude!”

“I can never be too sure with you. That’s all I’m saying.” As she spoke, she went back to her side of the shogi board. Then she looked down at it…and her expression hardened. “Uh, hello? Care to explain this mass exodus?”

“It’s a wage strike.”

“You’re telling me my king went on wage strike?”

“Wait, what?” Maybe I took one too many.

“…Fine, whatever. Let’s just keep playing and see what happens.”

Instead of putting the pieces back the way they were, Hino gave up and decided to resume the game.

You’re going to have to put in a lot more effort than that if you want to beat me, I smirked to myself as I moved a piece. Then she moved a piece. Then I… Uh oh, I’m stuck. I think the game got harder somehow.

“I notice your mom hasn’t come after you,” I commented.

“Mmm… My family doesn’t expect much of me. And I mean that in a good way.”

“I see.” Well, okay then. Anyway. “I’m looking forward to lounging in your giant bathtub later tonight.”

“Good to know.”

“You could even join me! Yeah, let’s take a bath together!”

“Wha?!”

The silver general slipped out of her hand. I tried to catch it but missed.

The bathtub at my house would be way too cramped, but here at Hino’s house, we could both fit—just like old times.

“See? Your house is the best,” I told her.

“How old are we again…?” she muttered as she picked up her general. Then she scratched her head. “Let me guess. This is the real reason you came over, isn’t it?”

“Correct.”

That’s my Hino. She knows me well.

Likewise, I knew she would burst out laughing.