Reunited – Chapter 21

My aunts’ apartment in town is one of six in a native building on the hill leading up to our estate. They have two bedrooms and a living area with a colonization-renovated kitchen. The Nishikyō colonization appliances in these old buildings are a disconnect, and every time I visit, I shake my head to clear the image of our old apartment.

Jiro and I eat dinner with my aunts this evening and gather all the town gossip which is much better than sitting on the estate and contemplating our mortality. The hospital where both my aunts work is set up and running in the center of town. Not one colonist has been sick with a mysterious illness yet but plenty of people have been sick with food poisonings. With new plants and animals already on Yūsei, and so much of the species similar to what we had on Earth, the adjustment period to what we can and cannot eat continues. By Lucy’s calculations, the native population landed almost three hundred years ago, and they must have seeded the planet with the familiar flora and fauna from Earth. Three hundred years is enough time for evolutionary changes, though.

“You should see the marketplace, Sanaa. It’s already full of local and hydroponic goods. I bought tofu the other day.” Aunt Lomo serves us tea after a delicious dinner of hot pot vegetables and fish.

“Oyama loves the market. He’s down there all the time and told me he’d take me soon. I’ve seen the wharf, the hydroponics facilities, the town hall, the local temples, and what else, Jiro?”

“There was that one day we saw two saké breweries and a bakery. How could you forget?” He smiles and leans back in his chair, rubbing his belly. Jiro is about to burst.

“You’re right. I probably blocked it from my memory so I wouldn’t think of chocolate night and day. I hear the flour and wheat supplies are running low. I doubt there’ll be more bakeries until we can harvest our own.”

“How’s Momo?” Aunt Lomo asks while clearing the dishes.

“About to give birth any day now. Do you want a kitten? I’m sure the estate could handle all of the cats, but I have no idea how many she’s going to give birth to.”

Aunt Kimie thinks for a minute, halted in the motion of picking up a bowl. “Sure. Some of the apartments here have mice though I haven’t found any in ours. It would be nice to have someone else around.”

“I agree. We still miss you.” Aunt Lomo leans over and kisses me on the top of my head.

“Speaking of animals, there’s a dog always hanging around outside our building. A dog!” Aunt Kimie laughs. “Scared the hell out of me the first time I saw it. But he just sits there and stares up the slope. Doesn’t look malnourished though. I bet someone feeds him.”

We didn’t see a dog when we came in. I want to see a dog!

Jiro shakes his head at me. “You shouldn’t have mentioned the dog, Kimie. I get the feeling I’m going to end up living with a menagerie before long.”

I reach over and pinch him before he can move away, and he smacks my hand.

Aunt Kimie laughs. “Who would have guessed Sanaa likes animals?”

“I love animals. I really do. When we went to Izumo, I saw a horse. I want a horse, too.”

“The town sounds amazing.” Aunt Lomo smiles and stares off into space, her eyes glazing over. I obviously didn’t tell her about the curfew or the men who tried to assault us. No need to tell them everything. “Someday Kimie and I would like to travel the continent.”

Imagining Aunt Kimie and Lomo backpacking, hiking, and camping in the wilderness is a stretch for me.

After tea, Aunt Kimie drags a large bag out of their spare bedroom and hands it to Jiro. “This is everything that was in that bin.” Jiro requested all of the weapons from my old storage bins. Usagi has been using Oyama’s sword, but I’m going to gift him one of mine. Plus there are plenty of other weapons for me to use.

He unzips the bag and looks them over. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep something for yourself? You may need to defend yourselves.”

“No, thanks. If I ever had need for something like this, I would be in dire straits trying to use it. Let’s hope that never comes to pass.”

Jiro takes Oninoten off, handing his sword to me. “Here. You carry my sword for once.”

“Really? Wow. I’d be glad to.” I take it and put it on my back right next to Kazenoho, peek over my shoulder, and beam. Two swords at once. I love it. And to think I wasn’t even allowed to carry one in Izumo. My heart pounds as I imagine carrying them both in Izumo, proud to be a woman and doing what I please.

Jiro leans in and kisses me on the cheek. My pride must be showing. He picks up the bag and hefts it onto his back.

When we get outside, he heaves a big sigh. “I feel strange not telling your aunts about why we need the weapons.”

“They will just worry themselves to death. Despite everything that happened in the beginning when I first met Mark, before any of this, I kept all those secrets from them, and I don’t regret it.”

A beautiful night blankets Yamato with temps in the high teens, and Jiro and I are both wearing our lighter silk kimono. The weather is still too cool at night for Nishikyō grays though I wear them during the day now more often. Street lamps glow overhead, casting yellow circles on the stove pavers leading down the hill. A warm, spring breeze blows from the direction of the sea, and we close our eyes and turn into the salty air for a moment. The air was never this fresh and alive in Nishikyō even when they turned on the fans in the winter.

From behind us, we hear a whimper and a bark. We both spin around, and the dog runs up to us, wagging his tail, like we’re old friends. This is my first time ever seeing one in the flesh, though I’ve seen pictures or drawings of them all my life. He’s dirty, but under all the mud and grass caked onto him, he may be completely white. He doesn’t halt, running straight for us, so I shrink back behind Jiro before the dog comes to a stop.

“Gods, Sanaa. What is up with you and animals? They flock to you. First the fish, then Momo and the horse. Now this.” Jiro gestures to the dog, and he barks, and sits down, his long pink tongue dangling out the side of his mouth.

“Good evening, Dog,” I say, waving my hand. I have no idea how to interact with a dog — those teeth look dangerous. I don’t want to piss it off.

Jiro laughs. “It’s a dog, not a child.”

“Okay, Mister All-Animals-Love-Me, how do you know he’s responding to me and not you? Momo came to you first.”

“The ladies love me, and she follows you around almost all day. She only comes to me when she can’t find you.”

The dog has been watching us talk, back and forth, back and forth, and now he jumps up and nudges my hand with his nose before whimpering again.

“See? Come on. I bet he follows us. Let’s walk over to Izakaya Tanaka and see what happens.”

We walk over five blocks away and to the north of the estate from my aunts’ apartment building, and the dog follows us the entire time, his nails clicking on the bricks behind us. When we get to the izakaya, the lights twinkle in the picture window out front but the sign reads ‘closed.’ I tap on the glass and Miko smiles and waves.

“Okay, Dog. We’re going inside, but you can’t come. See you later?” I bend over so I can look him in the eyes, and I jump back when he barks in my face.

Jiro huffs and coughs over a laugh. “Uh oh. I have a feeling Momo is not going to be happy about this.”

“Well, if he does follow us home, he’s not getting anywhere near our room until he gets a bath.”

Yoichi comes to the door, unlocks it, and opens it up for us with a smile. Bells on the door clang, and he frowns at them, silencing them with his hand. “Come in. You’re just in time. Sono and I need help unpacking the kitchen. Miko is getting tired and wants to go home soon.”

We drop our bags at the door and part ways. Jiro heads to the kitchen with Yoichi, and I plop myself down next to Miko. She’s unpacking boxes of ceramic cats, awash in a sea of packing materials.

“How are you?”

“Meh. I’m so tired.” Miko sighs, and her shoulders drop.

“You do look tired. You’ve been working too hard. You guys jumped right into the izakaya as soon as you could walk down here. Can you rest?” If only she could take a nap every day like I’ve been. I’ve napped every single day since we landed, and I’m still tired. Maybe the fresh air is draining me.

“Can’t. We open tomorrow. I’m so glad all of the liquor we packed made it here, but we have almost no saké yet. Regardless, everyone wants to start working again, me included. I miss running the izakaya.” She places another unwrapped cat next to the twenty others lined up in a row. “What do you think of the place?”

I reach over and squeeze her hand. “I love this space. Love it. I can’t wait to spend all my evenings here.” I bite my lip and tamp down on the dread washing over my belly. “I wonder what this place used to be.”

“Oh! I didn’t tell you? I was cleaning out the storage room in the back and found an old menu for this place. It used to be an udon shop.”

“Really? Can I see it?”

“Sure.” She steps over the mess to the bar and brings back a piece of paper. “It’s all in kanji, and you know my kanji is rusty, but, yeah, udon with soup, or fried udon, and lots of pork. Real pork, not the mock stuff.”

“Meat from a pig.”

I’ve given up my vegetarian ways since landing on Yūsei. Factories to make mock meats and fish don’t exist here so Oyama prepares the real thing. Eating real meat from animals I love is challenging. I have to close my eyes and pretend the meat is fake. The menu doesn’t give any other clues as to who these people were, though the person who wrote it had lovely handwriting. The paper is frail and crumbles when I hold it, so I set the menu back down, careful not to ruin it any further.

“I hear you had quite a trip to that town north of us.” Miko shoves the packing supplies to one side, dusts off the long shelf on the wall with her hand, and sets a cat on it.

“Izumo, yeah, it was… interesting.”

“Thanks for the rice crackers,” she says with a big smile. “I’ve eaten them all already.” Standing back to survey her handiwork, she puts her hands on her hips. “Have you talked to Helena since you’ve been back?”

“She came to the dōjō yesterday, but no, we’ve not talked.” I hand her another ceramic cat from the line waiting to go up on the wall.

“She was saying Kentaro’s been acting strange lately, well before this stuff with his father happened.”

“Acting strange how?”

Miko grabs another two cats. “She didn’t elaborate. I wonder why he’s not out dating anyone. Maybe we should try and hook him up with someone.”

I shrug my shoulders. Kentaro is a mystery. He’s almost always with us or just Helena and Usagi. He spends his nights at the estate, not out drinking on the town. I remember the way he was after I fought off the men in Izumo, protective and sweet, but I shake my head. Kentaro has never been anything but a kind friend to me. “I have no idea what’s up with him. He doesn’t sit down and pour his heart out to me. It’s not his way. He’s with his mother tonight or else he’d be here, you know.”

“I know.” Miko nods. “Still, you should talk to him. He would talk to you, if you asked.”

“Okay. I’ll figure it out.” Another thing to add to my list, but Kentaro is a grown man now. If he’s having problems and wants to talk, I hope he’ll just come to me without me having to nag him.

When it’s time to leave, I point to the bells at the door. “Yoichi, do these bells bother you? We could use them back at home, if you don’t want them.”

“Take them, Sanaa. For some reason, I don’t like them at all.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Jiro asks, gathering the bells from the door.

“Maybe string them up outside our room?” I shrug my shoulders at Jiro. We need more ways to alert for intruders if we’re going to protect ourselves.

Jiro chuckles. “Yes. A pirate alarm.”

“What? Pirates? I have to worry about pirates now, too?” I glance over my shoulder. Miko’s eyes are wide, and Yoichi is laughing.

“Sanaa,” Yoichi squeaks out, “you did not watch enough old movies as a child.”

“What is he talking about?” I whisper to Jiro.

“Nothing,” he says, shaking his head and laughing. “Someday, when the full GDB is up and running, I’ll call up the old Disney movies from the 1960s.”

The dog is lying on the sidewalk right outside, and he pops up when he sees us, wags his tail and barks again.

“What’s this?” Miko asks.

“Sanaa’s new dog.” Jiro leans into my ear. “I told myself that if he was still here waiting when we left that he would belong to you, just like Momo. And look…” The dog comes straight to my side and nudges my hand. “Here he is. Let’s take him home.”

Grabbing Jiro’s shirt, I pull him to me for a kiss, and when we break apart, he smiles sweetly at me.

“I always knew you had a soft heart.”

“Only for you.”

We all return to our estate, peaceful and easy, my new dog at my side.