Reunited – Chapter 6

Mariko takes us on a slow tour of the estate. Almost everyone lives in the main two wings in the back of the house. My aunts are staying in a room here too but plan to move to the town once the hospital is set up. They’re assigned an apartment close to work. Miko’s parents are already living in the town. Sakai found a place for them over an abandoned restaurant that Miko and Yoichi will turn into an izakaya.

Touring the front wing, we pass the bedrooms of the security staff. I recognize these men from Sakai building in Nishikyō including Tomo, the man who kept me from running into the streets of Ku 6 and risking my life for a night on the town by myself. I smile and nod at him, and he bows in return.

“Miko and Yoichi are living in the free-standing house next to the dōjō,” Mariko says, a smile stretching her face into the motherly visage I was used to before Koichi died. “I’ve been in there decorating every day. Jiro, you must come visit when you get a chance.” Her hand squeezes Jiro’s forearm, and he smiles involuntarily before glancing at me.

“Sanaa and I will both visit once we’re rested.”

“Of course.” Her smile dissolves, and I avert my eyes, propping my hand up on the wall next to us to keep from falling over.

Breathe in, out. My entire body aches.

“Oyama is in charge of two kitchens, and I’m sure they’ll be in top shape in no time.” When I turn back to Mariko, she smiles once again, opening the doors to the main kitchen. The room is clean and bright, with pots of soup simmering on the stove. I crack the top on a container to see a fresh batch of tofu hardening up. I wonder what used to be cooked in this kitchen. Large iron pots and pans hang from the ceiling over a giant wooden island, a wide metal sink with three reservoirs, and two stoves with ovens. I bet this place will be busy night and day.

We tour four identical bathrooms, tiled and freezing cold, but stylish, with a toilet in each and a standing shower. The two large bath houses along the cliff out back past the garden — one for men and one for women — are where most washing is done.

“And down the hall from this master bathroom is your bedroom. Beni and I are two doors away from you.”

Note to self: my private life with Jiro is over. With my mother-in-law who hates me and Beni only two rooms away, we will both need to be a lot more quiet about what we do behind closed doors.

We step onto the wooden floor leading to the bedroom, and the planks creak so loudly they startle a small, gray, and furry creature who shoots out of a hole in the wall straight for our feet. I’m so startled I squeal and nearly pass out because I’m too weak to jump out of the way. Jiro stares at it dumbfounded as it skitters away down the hall.

“Oh, and we have a slight mouse problem. I’ve spent more time in the GDB’s encyclopedia since landing here than I have in my entire life. I can only imagine what else these people brought on their ship with them when they landed here. But no worries about the mice,” she says, leading us to the door, “because you have someone to help you with that.”

Our new bedroom is already furnished. We have a small table with floor cushions and floor chairs on a tatami rug. The floor under the rug is all wood — gorgeous, wide planks stained a dark chocolate brown. A walk-in closet is open along the opposite wall from our bed, and a writing desk with a wooden chair is in the corner next to a stack of boxes that used to sit in our apartment in Nishikyō. I immediately want to sink into the huge futon mattress on a platform bed covered in white linens and a big fluffy blanket, but a round mound of fur on it is moving. It’s breathing.

“Good gods, whatever it is, it’s alive!” I clutch onto Jiro’s shoulder and hope he’s not afraid of animals, but he chuckles.

A small, soft, gray head with little triangular ears and bright yellow eyes peeks up at me. It lets out a meow before getting up and stretching its four legs and tail as high as it can while yawning. I disturbed this animal’s sleep, but it doesn’t seem pissed off about it.

“Yes. It’s a cat.” Mariko nods her head once, clasping her hands over her obi. “I had to look it up in the GDB too in order to find out what to feed her. Supposedly they love to eat mice, so I think you’re all set. I’ve never seen any droppings in here, and this cat showed up our first day, claimed this room, and has been waiting for you ever since. Once the mattress was aired out and the linens put on the bed, she’s been sleeping there day and night. Leave the door open and let her come and go. I think she knows enough to do her business outside.”

“It’s a girl?”

“Yes, and she’s pregnant but won’t let me pick her up,” Mariko reports. “It’s up to you if you want to keep her, but I think you may have no choice in the matter. It won’t be long before she has kittens.”

The cat jumps off the bed, walks to Jiro and me and proceeds to weave in and out of both our legs. The sensation is so sweet, soft, and ticklish, I laugh. Jiro reaches down, picks her up, and she turns to putty in his hands, purring and relaxing. The girl has good taste in men. I scratch her head, and she leans in before nibbling on my hand.

“I’ve always wanted a pet.” Always. The time I went to the Extinction Ward with Sakai is one of my fondest memories of Nishikyō. I almost took that llama home with me. It would have occupied the whole living room, though.

“She is definitely pregnant.” Jiro holds her up so her belly is in the air, and her underside wiggles around. I wonder how many kittens she has in there.

“Looks like the mouse problem will be nonexistent in a few weeks.” Mariko walks farther into the room and pulls open a box. I can’t help but notice that our one little bedroom is bare. Nothing has been unpacked. No decorations adorn the walls. The space is sterile and unloved and half the size of our old apartment. If I weren’t so exhausted, I’d unpack right now and do what Mariko should have been doing the last week instead of decorating Miko and Yoichi’s place.

“What should we name her, Sanaa? Your choice.” Jiro hands the cat to me, knocking me out of my reverie. She’s warm and fuzzy, and I’m immediately reminded of peaches. I’ve only had two or three my entire life, but they were just as delicious as this ball of fur.

“Momo. My first pet…” I bury my face in her fur and immediately regret it. “And she needs just as much of a bath as I do.”

Jiro laughs and brushes the fur from my face with a smile.

—-

Creeeeak. Crack!

I can hear Beni coming down the hallway before she even slides the door open. Each board she steps on creaks, snaps, or grinds with every footstep. That’s going to take some getting used to.

She enters the bedroom with two white robes and towels, crosses past our bed where I’m sitting and opens the shōji door on the opposite side. I keep forgetting these windows are doors. The rice paper screens let in light in combination with the traditional glass window over our bed. Once summer arrives, the door will be open all the time because right outside our bedroom is a wide, covered, wooden porch with a view of the overgrown and neglected garden out back.

A chill races up my spine, and I clutch my arms across my chest to stop a full shiver. This is exactly how I pictured our home on Yūsei to be. Jiro and I step onto the porch, and he slips his arm around my waist to keep me from falling over. The wood planks crack and grind when we stand on them, and Jiro examines our socked feet for a moment before leaning his head on mine.

“Someone really wealthy must have lived here. I keep looking for clues to who these people were. I feel like they’re waiting right around the corner.”

“It’s creepy. I’m trying not to think about it too much. Everything about my life lately is surreal.”

Beni steps out next to us and Jiro puts his arm around her too.

“So, here’s Mariko and me,” she says, pointing at the next shōji door down. Between our rooms is the master bath. “Then comes Oyama, then there’s another bath and Sakai and Lucy. They are the last bedroom before the main wing. On the other side of the garden from us is Helena and Usagi,” she points to the bedroom opposite us but closest to the main wing, “her doctor, Kentaro, and then your aunts. When your aunts are gone, we’ll use their room too for storage or meeting space. The main wing has so many rooms.” Beni shakes her head in disbelief. “There’s also a dining room we didn’t show you. It has a large table that seats at least a dozen people.”

Beni turns to the right and puts her hand on my back. “But over here is the bathhouse, and it’s time to go. Jiro, get some rest until Oyama can heat up your bath. He said he’d be busy in the kitchen for another hour at least.”

Beni and I start to walk away, but Jiro clears his throat behind us. “So you all will be naked together?”

I glance back over my shoulder and raise my eyebrows at him. “That’s usually how it works.”

“Wish I could be there.”

Beni turns to him and laughs. “Don’t forget your mother is not but a meter from you, and she’s joining us in ten minutes.”

“Jiro, get back in here right this instant and rest!” Mariko’s voice echoes from the room followed by the sound of a box hitting the floor. I close my eyes and wince. I pray she doesn’t break anything.

Jiro looks at his feet, shuffles them, and mutters, “Aw, damn. Coming, Mother.”

Past the end of our room a stretch of covered porch shields us from the misty rain with the garden on our left and a steep drop-off on our right. I hope there are no earthquakes here because the house is perched on the cliff with nothing between us and the town below. The bathhouse has two doors, each marked with the kanji for men and women. I gauge the dimensions of the whole building and it has to be half the size of the main wing, pretty big. I’m overwhelmed with the magnitude of things here.

I run my hand along the wooden slats that make up the shielding wall of the bathhouse as Beni opens the door for the women’s side. Helena and Miko’s voices are wafting on the steam coming at us, hushed by the drum of rushing water.

Inside the door are sets of plastic bath shoes and a curtain to our right. I slip on a pair of shoes, duck under the curtain into a changing area, and pull open a heavy wooden door straight into the washing area.

This is exactly how I picture the old onsens looked like back on Earth.

Miko waves to me over the rush of water coming from between her and Helena, and I smile and wave doing my best to ignore how naked they both are.

The washing area is about three meters wide and seven meters long, bigger than my old living room back in Nishikyō, with eight stations, four on each side of the room. At each wooden seat is a mirror with a table full of soaps and shampoos, stacks of washcloths, scrubbing brushes, loofahs and buckets full of cold water. Hot water comes from hoses with spray attachments hooked on the walls within reach.

“It’s warmer to get undressed in here, Sanaa, but during the summer we can use the changing area.” Beni holds out her hands indicating I should strip down. I’ve been naked a ton of times around Beni but very little with Miko and Helena.

Welcome to your new life, Sanaa! Bathing is now a social activity with my friends and family, not a rushed thing I do between the dōjō and going out to dinner.

“Be careful walking in here when it’s wet. The floor is all stone but there are drains.”

She takes our clothes into the changing area.

“Come sit down, Sanaa,” Miko says, patting the stool next to her. “You must be exhausted.”

We all stare at each other for a few moments before I burst out laughing, and it infects both Miko and Helena. I’m sure I’ll get used to this. I can get used to just about anything, but my life is one ridiculous event after another lately.

I sit down gratefully. I am exhausted, and I feel like I weigh a million kilos. I can barely lift my arms. Still, I need a bath so badly that I get to work right away even though each movement takes an enormous amount of energy.

“The loofahs are heavenly. Load it up with soap. I felt like a new woman after using one the other day.” Miko leans over and plucks one out of the bin for me and points to the wash. Her hair, past her shoulders now, swings forward with her bangs swept off to the side in a clip. She’s almost the same except a little softer too.

“I caught you looking,” she teases, pinching me on the arm. A blush races up to my cheeks from my chest. I’m red all over.

“Can you blame me? I don’t remember the last time we were naked around each other. Maybe when we were eight? And we certainly didn’t look like this back then. Well, maybe I did.” I still have my boyish figure, though I’m happy with the extra bit of cleavage I now own. That’ll probably be gone once I start working out again. I hope Jiro doesn’t get too attached to them.

“Tell her about the other day, Miko.” Helena’s voice is slow, but her smile on the right half of her face reminds me of how she used to be. Her left hand clutches a washcloth to her chest.

“So we’re all sitting in here, completely wiped out after having arrived on the shuttle — me, Helena, Lucy, and Mariko — getting washed up without making eye contact. The door opens and in comes your aunts — they took off their clothes in the other room — and Lomo takes one look at us and says, ‘Well, it’s a good thing we’re not all lesbians,’ and I nearly died laughing.”

Helena and I burst into giggles, and I shake my head. “Oh Lomo, she has one crazy sense of humor. Mmmm, this feels good.” I scrub the loofah all over and stop myself from moaning. This is not the time nor place. “I’m so tired I can barely lift my arms.”

Beni enters the room and sits next to me undressed. “Do you want me to wash your hair?”

“Yes, but turn around first. It’s about time I got to see your tattoos close up.”

Beni turns her back to me, and I examine all of the cherry blossom petals that fall down her back to a carpet of them at her waist. Some are curled, blown by the wind as if they’ve fallen off a tree. Manami, our tattoo artist, is amazing. Her tattoos grace the skin of most of my loved ones. I want more now. I hope I see her again someday.

“They’re gorgeous.”

Beni blushes, and Miko and Helena smile at her too. These women mean everything to me. How did I live my life so alone before I met all of them?

I turn my back to Beni, she releases my hair from the ponytail it’s been in for days, and washes it twice before it feels clean.

Mariko joins us, washes up, and we exit through the back door to the rotenburo. It’s still in the teens outside, but at least the wind has calmed. The outdoor tub is enclosed on four sides but for a small space between the top of the wall and the roof so you can gaze out at the sky. Someday soon, I’m going to be sitting in here and gazing up at a blue sky and just the thought makes my heart race. I swear I will kick this phobia fast. I don’t want this stupid fear ruining the rest of my life.

The tub can easily hold ten people, possibly twelve, and the water steams, a fine mist hanging over the surface. Miko and Mariko help Helena get in, but I manage with only Beni’s assistance. I sink down as far as I can so I’m floating, weightless. It’s going to be a lot harder to get back in shape this time than it was after I was injured at the theater. I’m not twenty anymore.

I sigh and let my head loll back on the lip of the tub, allowing my eyes to wander along the lines of the wooden enclosure around me, the diamonds carved into each end of the roof, the perfect joins at each corner. This place is so beautiful, even run down and in need of maintenance. Why would anyone abandon it?