Interlude: Yashiro Comes Calling, Part 10

Interlude:
Yashiro Comes Calling
Part 10

 

“HEY, GRANDPA, does this place have any famous souvenirs?” I ask my grandpa out in the yard.

“Well, our dried persimmons are fairly well known,” he answers promptly.

“Dried persimmons…?”

Sounds like a pretty boring souvenir to me. But Yachi loves anything sweet, so maybe she’d actually like them a lot.

“Oh, wait,” he continues as he adds more water to the water garden terrarium where the pet fish live. “Now that I think of it, they’re out of season right now.”

“Oh.” I guess if anyone tried to dry them during the summer, they’d just rot. In this heat, even people turn to mush.

“So, looking for souvenirs, are you?”

“I wanted to buy something for a friend.”

“I see, I see.”

He clears away the flowers on the water’s surface, then walks back and heads for the kitchen. Confused, I follow behind him.

When we get there, we find Grandma chopping up onions at the speed of light. “How can I help you two?”

“Just a moment and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Grandpa opens the freezer, and a gust of chilly air washes over us. Feels nice.

“I think we still had some…”

Then he starts taking everything out of the freezer and setting it on the floor. This earns him some side-eye from Grandma. “Just put it all back when you’re done, please.”

“I will, I will,” Grandpa answers absently as he lines up all the frozen fish. Then he sees something in the back and his eyes light up. “I knew it! Good job, me. I’m so smart.”

He pats himself on the back like he’s five years old. Then he pulls out a Ziploc baggie, opens it, and takes out one of the little lumps bundled up in paper and cling wrap.

“Still had some homemade dried persimmons in the freezer, if that’ll do. You’re welcome to take ’em.”

“Ooooh!” I didn’t realize what they were until he told me. Boy, are they cold.

“Hah hah hah!” Grandpa looks pretty pleased with himself. Meanwhile, Grandma rolls her eyes.

And that’s the story of how I got a souvenir for Yachi.

Back at home, I’m ready to give Yachi her present, but then it hits me: I don’t know where she lives! Normally, she always comes over to my house and never the other way around, so I don’t have her phone number either… I pace up and down the hallway and try to think of what to do.

Maybe she’ll show up if I wait long enough, I think to myself. So I sit around and wait, fidgeting. Sometimes I go to the kitchen and check to make sure the dried persimmons are still in the freezer. Then I go back to my room and wait some more.

The next morning, Yachi still isn’t here. Usually, I get to see her at least three times a day! I start pacing down the hall again, but then my big sister wakes up and sees me. She’s got a bad case of bedhead, and her hair’s sticking out in all directions like a lion.

“Settle down out here.”

Hmph. How about you go settle your hair? “Well, Yachi’s still not here.”

“Have you tried calling for her?” she suggests, like it’s obvious.

“But how?”

“Let’s see…”

Yawning, she walks into the kitchen. What the…? I start to wonder if maybe she’s still half-asleep. But then she comes back carrying a bag of honey candies.

“Just run around holding this bag over your head.”

“…What does that have to do with Yachi?”

“Trust me, it works.”

She pushes the bag into my hands and stumbles off. Then she staggers sideways and hits her head on the wall. She’s really not a morning person, is she? How pathetic.

But forget about her—is this really going to lure Yachi to our house? How does she know for sure that it works? Skeptical, I twirl the bag in my hands, and the cartoon bee on the package happily spins around.

“Hmmmm…”

Reluctantly, I hold the bag of candy over my head. Nobody’s watching, but it still feels super dumb. Then I run down the hallway. With both hands occupied, I feel vulnerable and insecure. My face burns and itches like I’m outside in the sun.

Part of me is convinced this is pointless, but…I can’t shake the thought that Yachi might really show up. For her, nothing in this world is impossible.

…Wait, what the?

On my third lap, I realize there’s a second set of footsteps right behind me. I look over my shoulder, and sure enough, there she is. We freeze, our hands raised over our heads in the same pose. Our eyes meet.

“Little!”

Then she runs right over to me, her arms outstretched, and…she doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Should I be worried?

Turns out, the answer is yes. She tackles me at full speed.

“Gwegh!”

Together, we fall to the hallway floor. Her hair flows down onto me, and as it sweeps over my skin, it absorbs all my extra heat.

“Oh, Little, I missed you!”

“Whoa, whoa!”

She hugs me and rubs her cheek against mine, squishing our faces together. I start to feel dizzy, and my face feels hot. She smells like something I’ve never smelled before—I don’t know how to describe it, but it feels like a crisp breeze, or like something metallic wafting under my nose. I breathe it in, and now it feels like it’s behind my eyeballs.

Just then, she stops nuzzling me and looks at me, confused. “Aren’t you going to do it back?”

“Wha? You want me to?”

“Squishy, squishy!”

She rubs her chin against mine. Who taught you to do this stuff, anyway?

“Squishy…squishy…” Awkwardly, I nuzzle her back, which feels even more embarrassing than being on the receiving end. Not sure why. My cheeks burn like I’ve been splashed with hot water.

Meanwhile, Yachi keeps on squishing. She must be really happy to see me… When I stop to think about it, I get all self-conscious and my mind goes blank.

And so we spend a while right there on the hallway floor.

“I didn’t realize you were back, Little,” Yachi says after we get up. She smiles like she’s not even embarrassed—seriously, how is that possible? Then I realize she’s already holding the bag of candy.

“Um…yeah.” I’m tempted to ask why the candy lured her out, or how she sensed it at all, but I decide not to think too hard about it. “I brought you a souvenir and everything.”

“Is it something delicious?”

Grrrr! You don’t care about me at all, do you? You just want your dumb gift! I should have known. “Yeah, I think so. This way.”

I lead her into the kitchen, where I find my big sister slumped over the table. Now her hair’s fanned out in all directions like a jellyfish.

“Oh! Shimamura-san!”

Yachi runs over and tackles her, slamming her forehead into my sister’s legs. Then she floats down to the floor. I swear, it’s almost like gravity doesn’t affect her.

“Nnnh?” My sister looks up from the table, her eyes and mouth both half-open. “Sleepy…”

“That’s what you get for staying up so late. Lord knows you weren’t spending that time hitting the books,” Mom scoffs as she cleans the sink.

“I was on the phone with a friend…and every time I tried to hang up, she’d start talking about something else,” my sister whines as she slumps back over the table.

Whatever—forget about her! I open the freezer, grab the Ziploc baggie, and pull out a persimmon. It’s so cold, it feels like it might freeze my fingers. Perfect for summer. I pull off the cling wrap and paper so I can show Yachi what it looks like.

“It’s very wrinkly,” she says, stating the obvious.

“It’s a dried persimmon.”

“Persimmon?” She tilts her head.

I had a feeling she wouldn’t know about them, so I eagerly start to explain. “Right now it’s frozen, but once it thaws—”

“Chomp!”

“Aah!”

Before I can finish, she sinks her teeth into the persimmon and starts gnawing aggressively at the frozen fruit. Eegh! Before I can react, she starts to smile. “Sweet and delicious indeed!”

She looks like the happiest girl in the whole world… She really does love her sweets.

“Hmmm…”

You know, she may look like a fairy-tale character, but if she was in Hansel and Gretel, she’d probably devour the witch’s whole house.

“So you like it?”

“It’s very good.”

“My grandpa made these all by himself,” I brag, as if it’s my accomplishment somehow.

“Oh, I see,” she nods as she gnaws. She smiles like she’s savoring the sweetness, and then her pretty eyes wander to me. “Why don’t you have some, Little?”

“Wha?!”

She offers me the other side of the dried persimmon. I guess she wants us to eat it together, but…it’s frozen! I can’t tear off a piece, so I’ll have to gnaw it like she’s doing! Seriously?! I don’t know if I should… That’s not how you’re supposed to eat it…

Perplexed, I look around the room, but my mom’s busy cleaning, and my sister’s still a jellyfish. Yachi and I are in our own little world together.

The morning sun streams in through the window, melting my brain. Like a moth drawn to the flame, I lean in and gently bite down on the other side of the persimmon. Her eyes and mouth are inches away, and our noses are practically touching. Meanwhile, she gnaws away without a care in the world, her hair and forehead brushing against mine.

My throat tightens as I tense up. What’ll happen when we meet in the middle…?

My lips burn so hot, I can practically feel them defrosting the persimmon.

~Today’s Adachi Forecast~

 

After the phone call, I hastily brushed my hair. I still hadn’t put on any makeup or even changed my clothes. Gah, hurry up! My body felt like molasses, and it was driving me insane. But when the urgency fell in sync with my racing heartbeat, it gave me a pleasant little thrill…and I almost felt like dancing.

Time to go see Shimamura.