Interlude: Yashiro Comes Calling, Part 8

Interlude:
Yashiro Comes Calling
Part 8

“WELL, IF IT ISN’T Little. Where might you be off to?”

The first thing I hear when I walk outside isn’t the cicadas, but Yachi’s voice. I whirl around. The sweltering heat blurs all the buildings, but Yachi still looks crisp and cool.

“Oh, Yachi!”

“Little!”

We pat each other on the biceps—pat, pat, pat, pat. It’s too hot for this, but it’s what we always do.

“I’m going to the pool,” I tell her, holding up my pool bag.

She tilts her head. “Pool?”

“Wait, you don’t know? A pool is…a place with lots of water…”

Turns out it’s actually kinda hard to explain. It’s like a bath, but not really, ’cause it’s a pool… Oh, but I don’t think Yachi likes to take baths, because whenever I ask her to take one with me, she runs away. I always catch her, though, and then I give her a good scrubbing. Makes me feel like a big sister.

“Is it fun?”

“Uhhhh…yeah! Lots of fun!”

I flash my pearly whites at her. She flashes hers right back.

The pool at my school is open for the summer—until the Bon Festival, anyways. Mom said they’ve been shortening the days every year.

“What about you, Yachi? Going on a walk somewhere?”

She’s carrying a canteen and wearing a tall, thin hat made of twigs all woven together. I can see some leaves peeking out through the gaps, too. Really weird. But it looks great with the color of her hair.

“Heh heh heh. Nothing as minor as that.”

“Walks are minor?”

“I’m going out to search for my compatriot. I meant to do it sooner, but I completely forgot,” she announces like she’s bragging. “I was planning to spend a good three hundred years looking, but with the heat, I’ll give it three days.”

“Uh…okay…” I think maybe she just made those numbers up.

“Now then, I’ll see you around.”

And with that, she toddles off into the distance. That’s Yachi for you—she says exactly what she wants to say, then leaves.

“Hmmm…”

…So she’s going on a family vacation? I don’t think her mom and dad would let her go somewhere by herself. Then again, I’ve never met them. Never been to her house either. There’s still so much about her I don’t know.

I look down at the strand of blue hair still wrapped around my pinky finger. At night, when I’m in bed, I can spend hours losing myself in its faint glow. Sometimes I forget to blink, or even breathe. But I always turn out okay. Somehow this single tiny light has the power to make me feel like I’m at the aquarium.

Then the heat finally kicks in, and to shake it away, I start walking.

“Three days, huh?”

I’m used to hanging out with her every day, so it feels like a really long time. I don’t know how it happened, but Yachi’s a part of my life now.

***

Day one. Day two. Day three. And then…

“Well, if it isn’t Little. Off to the pool again?”

Once again, I bump into Yachi outside my house. Pat, pat, pat, pat. Yep, it’s her.

Exactly three days later, she shows up wearing lion pajamas. The hood is a little round lion face, and when she pulls it over her head, its fangs bite into her skin. Kinda looks like the lion’s eating her whole.

“Yup. What about you, Yachi?” Besides getting gobbled, I mean. “Did you buy that?”

“No, I received it. Chrrrrp!”

She raises both hands and a foot in a threatening pose. I don’t think lions do any of that. Especially not the chirping. Still cute, though.

“I couldn’t find my compatriot, but I met a strange lady who gave this to me.”

“Strange how?” Stranger than you? Is that evenpossible?

“A strange lady with fluffy hair.”

“Fluffy?”

“Fluffy like this!”

With her index fingers, she pantomimes a puffy shape around her head. What, like an Afro? Or… “Like a sheep? Hmmm.”

I kinda want to meet this sheep lady, but at the same time, I’m kinda scared… Well, if she was nice to Yachi, then she can’t be that bad. And maybe Yachi’s right about her being weird. But if I told Nee-chan I’m going to go meet some weirdo, she probably wouldn’t let me… Guess I can’t go.

Wait, but why would a sheep lady be giving out lion pajamas?

“Too bad you couldn’t find your…um…compatriot.”

“Indeed,” Yachi nods. “My compatriot is very naïve, so I worry they may have withered in this heat.”

More naïve than you? Is that even possible?

“But once I find them, I’ll need to go back to outer space, so I’ll put it off for now.”

“Uh huh…” I start to shrug it off, but then partway through I whirl around to look at her. “Wait, what?! Really?”

“Really.”

I don’t know much about outer space, but…it feels like she’s saying she’ll have to leave.

“Well…I guess…” Maybe we shouldn’t hang out anymore. But I can’t finish my sentence, so instead I flail my arms. For some reason, Yachi starts doing it, too. This isn’t a game, Yachi!

Under the blazing sun, I flail my arms until my pool bag falls to the ground. It takes a few minutes before the sweat drains the white-hot emotions from my mind.