Chapter 125

Mana still wanted to hang out with her friends after the fireworks show ended, so she said good-bye to us and went to karaoke with the gyarus. As for us, we saw Torigoe off at the station. “Thank you for helping me look for Kurumi.” “Don’t worry about it, Shii.” “What’s important is that Kuu is safe and sound.” “None of us found her in the end anyway,” I said. Torigoe shook her head. “I’m thanking you for the sentiment. The results don’t matter,” she replied timidly in a quiet voice. Torigoe had told us what happened to Kuu on the way to the station. Apparently, she got separated from her mom after she got distracted by the goldfish scooping stall. Another kind parent found her all alone and eventually took her to the staff tent. She wouldn’t stop crying when they found her because she was surrounded by strange old men drinking like no tomorrow. Maybe I’d gotten a call from the staff as I requested but wasn’t able to pick up because my phone died. “Mom also said she wanted to thank you all.” The train arrived, and we waved at her as it departed. Continuing on with the farewells, Himeji turned in the direction of her home. “I guess I’ll let you go for today.” She walked away with a haughty smile. “What did she mean by that?” “Who knows.” Fushimi and I tilted our heads and looked at each other. The excitement from the festival was still palpable in the neighborhood. Fushimi walked off in a direction different from where her house was, and I followed her without asking any questions. She didn’t seem to have a destination in mind; we just sat on the bus stop bench. The last bus had already departed a long time ago. “I had fun today. It was nice having Ai and Shii with us.” “Yeah, it’s not too bad once in a while.” “Yeah.” Fushimi took off her wooden sandals and swung her feet around. “Oh, so you had another pair?” “No, these are Mana’s.” “What?” “Yeah, she noticed I had changed into regular sandals.” “Oh… So you got detained by the fashion police.” “Yup. She said she had an extra pair and told me to wear those instead.” No wonder it took you so long. Apparently, she only made things worse when she said no one would even look at her feet. The fashion cop took her away to the Takamori residence and had her wear a pair of sandals that matched her outfit before letting her go back to the venue. “A bunch of girls were waiting for her when we came back. All of them gyarus. I couldn’t believe my eyes.” “I’ve never met Mana’s friends, actually.” “She must be keeping you away from them since you like gyarus.” “How many times do I have to say I didn’t mean that?” “Either way, she couldn’t allow one of her friends to take her precious Bubby away.” Fushimi giggled. “So anyway, I tried calling you but got no response, and then the fireworks show started, and Mr. Hashimoto came up to me.” So she was talking with them up until I found her. “So, that Mr. Takashiro… You’re going to join his agency?” “No, it’s too soon. Mr. Hashimoto just wanted me to meet him.” “I see. Hopefully something good comes out of this.” “Yeah…” She didn’t sound excited. That’s how delicate a topic this was for her. “He did see my play back during Golden Week, though.” She swung her feet back and forth again. “Oh, he went just to see you?” “No way. Ah-ha-ha.” Her laughter sounded forced. “He didn’t even remember me. Guess I didn’t leave an impression.” And she had a decent role. “He probably just didn’t realize it was the same person. And he only saw you act once.” “I hope you’re right.” Lately, even the smallest things made Fushimi feel pessimistic. I wanted to cheer her up, but I had no idea how. “Want some juice?” “Huh? Why?” “Or should I buy you a snack, instead?” “H-huh? Wha-wha-what? Why?” I’m only confusing her. “I’m just wondering if having a snack or a drink would cheer you up.” She gave me a blank stare before she started laughing. “What’s so funny?” “Sorry, it’s just, we’re not grade-schoolers, you know? Ha-ha.” “Well, sorry that treating you to something is the only way I know how to cheer you up.” “It’s fine. Thank you. Okay then, let’s buy snacks and drinks and head over to my house.” “Your house? I don’t mind, but it’s already so late.” “It’s fine.” And so we left the bus stop. We dropped by the convenience store and bought drinks and snacks. “Come on in,” she said as we arrived at her house. I saw her off there all the time, but I hadn’t entered in a long while. Still, it wasn’t that different from what I remembered. “Thanks for having me over!” No one else seemed to answer. “My grandma’s already asleep, I think. Dad said he’d be coming home late, due to the festival.” He was part of the staff, she said. They might be having an after-party right about now. “You haven’t been to my room in a long time, have you?” “I haven’t been in your house in a long time.” We went upstairs, and she casually opened the door. “Come on in. I’ll put on the ACeeaaagh?!” She screeched before jumping on top of the folded laundry beside her bed. “What’s up?” “D-don’t worry about it.” She picked up the laundry and kept her back to me as she walked like a crab over to her closet. Then a bra strap peeked out from the bundle she was carrying. A pair of panties fell to the ground. I looked away and took a step back outside. “No! D-did you…? He didn’t see. G-good.” I can hear you. “Okay, it’s all good now. Come on in.” Things I could have never believed last year kept happening: First, I visit Torigoe’s room; now, Fushimi’s. Fushimi offered me a cushion, and I took it. Then I worried about something I usually didn’t: my body odor. “Maybe I should’ve dropped by after taking a shower.” “I have some sweat wipes. Want some?” I guess that’ll do. Going back home now would be silly, and I’d only sweat more from all the walking. Fushimi gave me a few wipes, and I cleaned myself off. “Want me to wipe your back?” “No, it’s fine.” “Oh, don’t be shy.” I had no figure worth showing off, so I thought just my back wouldn’t be a big deal. And I didn’t want her to think I was overly sensitive by stubbornly refusing. “…Okay. Please do.” I loosened the sash and exposed my upper body, showing my back to Fushimi. “You know, I thought the same thing when you carried me home, but…your back is quite broad, isn’t it?” “Don’t stare.” I felt her finger sliding across my back. “What did I just write?” “How am I supposed to tell?” “I wrote down how I’m feeling right now. I knew you wouldn’t get it.” “Just wipe the sweat off already, okay?” “Geez, at least try to humor me a little.” She giggled. Then I felt the cold sensation of the wipe. “How does it feel, Ryou?” “Embarrassing.” It felt nice, too, but the embarrassment won out. I sat there awkwardly as Fushimi peered at my face. “Hee-hee, you’re blushing.” “No, I’m not.” I looked the other way, feeling annoyed, while holding back a smile. I felt entirely different now. I felt refreshed. I could bask in the cool air of the AC. I put the yukata back on, and she stood up. “I’m going to take a shower.” “O-okay…” I couldn’t help but feel self-conscious when she said that as we were all alone in her room. “And I have a request for you once I get back. Will you say yes?” “I’ll hear the request first.” “Okay. I’ll be back in a minute.” She stood before her closet and gave me a quick glance before holding something up to her chest (her underwear, I supposed) and walking off like a crab. Then a piece of thin, white fabric fell to the floor. “Eep?!” Fushimi picked it up at the speed of light and left the room with her face red up to her ears. I guess those were her panties again? “I wonder what her request is.” I could only think of lewd stuff, due to the situation. Even though I knew she wouldn’t make such a request. The promise we made at the last stop of the train the other day also felt like something that didn’t need to be so formally established. Though perhaps it was only me who felt that way, and it was actually of the utmost importance to her. I felt awkward just sitting on the cushion; I tried distracting myself by walking over to the shelves with her books and DVDs and looking at the spines. She had a lot of DVDs, ranging from new releases to ancient stuff. She really was a big film buff. None of them caught my attention, though, so my eyes wandered elsewhere. Her desk was neat and tidy. It was the same one she had been using since grade school. She even had the same protective mat on it. She had a list of all the homework we got for summer break and had crossed out the ones she had finished…which was all of them. Right, what about that picture? “…Huh? It’s not here.” She used to have a picture of her parents and her grandparents carrying her at one year old. Maybe she moved it to an album or something. I remembered looking at that picture back in grade school and thinking, “So that’s what her mother looks like.” I never met the woman, but she was very beautiful. Fushimi never told me about her, but even back then, I knew it wasn’t something I should bring up. Maybe she had passed away like my dad, so I made sure to never show interest in the topic. During preschool, my mom would come pick me up, but it was always either Fushimi’s dad or her grandmother who came to get her. I supposed her mother was gone even back then. There were a bunch of textbooks, workbooks, and notebooks on the shelves of her desk. It was all neatly organized, so you could tell where everything was. I found one notebook that looked older than the rest. I pulled it out, and it even smelled dusty. It didn’t look like something meant for school. There was a date and a few lines of writing. A diary? It dated back from before I was born. I skimmed through a few pages. The handwriting looked quite feminine; was it her mother’s? Something caught my eye. The characters for good heart, but used like a name. I remembered Mom taught me how to read it back in grade school: Shinra. And it wasn’t a common one. Sometimes, the writer would shorten the name to just Shin. This Shinra’s hometown was the same as my dad’s. A lot of thoughts ran through my head, and I stopped flipping through the notebook. I shouldn’t be reading someone’s diary without their permission. I closed the notebook and put it back in its place. “S-sorry to make you wait.” Fushimi came back right after. “Oh, it didn’t take you long. Wait…you got the yukata all messed up.” I immediately looked away. “My grandma did it for me today, but she’s asleep now…and I couldn’t make you wait any longer…” It seemed like she had trouble deciding what to do. At the very least, it covered her underwear, but even then, the disheveled clothing exposed a lot of her skin. There was a towel-type blanket right next to where I was standing, so I threw it at her to get her to cover up. I sighed in relief after she did. Now I could speak to her. “So, what’s the request?” “Ah, um… Well…” She fidgeted for a moment before making up her mind. “I wanted us to do a summer classic…” She took a DVD from her shelf. …A horror movie. “Please watch it with me!” “I knew it wasn’t gonna be what I imagined, but that’s it?” “What did you imagine?” She tilted her head. I shook my head. “Nothing.” “I always stop midway when I’m alone, but if you’re with me, maybe I can watch it till the end.” I don’t like horror movies, either, you know? I couldn’t let her down, though. It took a lot of courage to watch a horror movie when it was almost midnight, but I accepted the challenge. “V-very well. Let’s do it.” “Yay!” You have no TV in your room, though, so how…? Then she took out her dad’s laptop. She came prepared. …Too prepared, even. She set up the table and placed the laptop on top. She popped the disc in and immediately grabbed a cushion, ready to block the screen at any moment, if needed. “I’m gonna hide when it gets scary. Tell me when it’s safe to look again.” “Is there any point in watching the movie like that?” Isn’t getting scared the purpose of horror movies? Though I also thought anyone was free to enjoy art the way they liked. The menu screen showed up, and it showed an intense scene. Fushimi froze. “I don’t think I can do it.” “Already?” Fushimi closed the distance between us and held my arm tightly. “Maybe I can now. Your warmth will keep me safe.” “What if I go cold all of a sudden?” “Stop it!” Why do you wanna watch a horror movie if this much is gonna scare you? “I’m pushing play.” “…D-do it.” She was looking at the screen with her eyes half-closed. Ready to bail at any moment. The movie’s story moved along, shrouded in a dark atmosphere at all times. There was a lot in terms of staging, cinematography, and editing that I would never think to use for my films, so from that point of view, it was an interesting watch. Meanwhile, Fushimi would let out short screams, squeals, shrieks, and screeches every time something happened, and grip my arm tightly. I got spooked, too. I dreaded when they slowly built up tension for a big scare, and some of the jump scares got me. They used all kinds of techniques. Also, Fushimi seemed to have forgotten her yukata wasn’t on right, thinking the towel-type blanket would cover her at all times, but in reality, I got a few peeks of her white underwear… A horror movie on in front, and this at my side. I didn’t know what to feel. “I—I—I—I can’t take it anymore, sorry.” I couldn’t take a lot of things anymore, either. With teary eyes, Fushimi pushed the pause button. “You don’t have to force yourself to watch it if you don’t like it.” “I mean…yeah, but…” She took out the DVD and put away the laptop. She opened the snacks we bought, and we wolfed them down; we had gotten hungry. “These are my mom’s DVDs, actually. Some of them I bought, but like eighty percent of it is hers.” “Wow.” Since she has her diary, does she know about her and my dad’s relationship? I felt guilty about having read the diary; there was no way I could bring it up. “I don’t know what she was like. I’ve just been watching all her movies, wondering how much I could figure out through her taste.” “I see. And this is one of them.” “Yeah.” It was only natural she’d be interested in it. I was also curious about what my dad was like when he was alive. “When I was little, they’d only tell me she couldn’t be with us; it wasn’t until later that I found out they got divorced. I guess it was too hard to explain to a kid. My grandma doesn’t seem to think well of her, either, so I couldn’t ask for more details.” Apparently, her dad told her about it when she got into high school. He also mentioned they kept a few cardboard boxes with her mom’s stuff inside, and that was where Fushimi found her DVDs and tapes. …Was the diary also in one of those boxes? Then we talked about my film while snacking. “So I’ll be in all the films you make, right?” she said cheerfully. After a while, we stopped chatting and realized we were getting sleepy. And so I went back home.