As we looked around window shopping, we saw that the number of stores was matched only by the variety of items on sale—from Christmas ornaments to hang on trees to snow globes one could set down and enjoy. The prices ran a gamut too; there were snow globes that were just a few hundred yen to super expensive fancy ones.
“These snow globes are cute, huh?” Nanami remarked.
“Yeah, they are. Do you want to go with this?” I asked.
“Well, I guess they won’t really stand out at the party...”
She was right about that. If we were to buy something, maybe it was better to choose a tree ornament. There seemed to be a ton of different kinds, with funny ones shaped like people and more cute options in the shape of stars and such.
Maybe we could buy a few different ones and hang them...
“Oh, it is onii-chan and onee-chan!”
As Nanami and I were picking up different ornaments and studying them more closely, we suddenly heard someone call out behind us. The voice sounded like one we’d heard before, yet at the same time unfamiliar.
We turned around and saw a little girl standing there.
She seemed too young to even be in elementary school, wearing a fluffy white coat that made her look like a snow fairy. The coat had a hood with a fur trim, with pom-poms hanging from the ends of it. And, as if to match the adornments, her hair was tied in long pigtails that swayed down out of her hood.
The girl looked at me and Nanami with a happy smile and sparkling eyes. Nanami and I looked at each other and then back at her; we recognized her as well. Her name, I was fairly certain, was...
“Yuki-...chan?” I managed to recall, despite the fact that I was well-known for having a terrible memory. I actually managed to remember her name pretty quickly. After all, this was the girl we had met when Nanami and I went to the aquarium on our first date.
Obviously, unlike the last time we met, the girl was now wearing very warm-looking clothes. She really did look like a snow fairy.
We didn’t see anyone who looked like her mother around her, so for a moment we thought that maybe she had gotten lost again; given that she was all smiles, though, it was probably safe to assume that wasn’t the case now. If she were lost, then it would be the aquarium all over again. On that day, Nanami and I looked for Yuki-chan’s parents, and in the end spoke with them for some time.
I then remembered that back then Nanami and Yuki-chan had taken a photo together, and that the other girls in the class had seen the photo at a later date and asked, “Is this your daughter?!”
Wow, I’m impressed that I even remembered that.
Yuki-chan waved her little hands as she adorably trotted over to us. I knelt down, worried that she might fall over, but Yuki-chan seemed to take that as a signal...to leap into my arms.
“Whee!” she shouted as she did so.
“Whoa! Are you okay?!” I shouted.
Yuki-chan moved so quickly, as though she had intended all along to jump on me. What the, how do kids move so fast? I feel like she walks faster than I do.
She came at me as fast as a line drive, possibly even a charging boar. I somehow managed, though, to catch her despite her aggressive speed. I worried that she might get hurt if I put too much force in my arms, so I tried to dampen the impact of my catching her while also doing my best not to let her fall.
Once I managed to safely receive Yuki-chan in my arms, I stood quickly, in the exact way I might’ve done if I had planned to gently lift her into the air.
“Aha ha ha ha! I’m flying! Higher, higher!” she shouted with glee.
I had only stood up to absorb some of Yuki-chan’s momentum and had ended up lifting her high in the air unintentionally—but that seemed actually to delight her.
After getting the thrill out of her system, though, Yuki-chan, while still in my arms, raised her hand and exclaimed, “Hello!”
“Uh, yes. Hello,” I replied.
“Hello, Yuki-chan!” Nanami joined in.
Yuki-chan’s excitement was pure and genuine in the way only a child’s could be, and experiencing it was giving me warm and fuzzy feelings inside. Maybe I felt so strongly now because the first time we had met she had been the complete opposite, distraught and in tears? Regardless, her expression today was astounding.
Judging from her response, she must not be lost today, so there was no need to worry about that. I guess we wouldn’t need to look for her mother this time.
“Onii-chan, onee-chan, I haven’t seen you in a long time! It’s me, Yuki!” she exclaimed.
“Yuki-chan, I’m so glad you remembered us,” Nanami replied.
Yuki-chan opened up her palms in front of her face and shouted again in glee. She then squeezed me tight in a hug, but then immediately reached for Nanami as if embarrassed by her impulsiveness. Her gestures were a clear request for Nanami to hug her, and on Nanami’s part, she seemed all for it, immediately taking Yuki-chan into her arms. The two celebrated their reunion by putting their cheeks together and shouting giddily. Nanami seemed overcome with joy at being able to see Yuki-chan again after all these months.
“Yuki-chan, are you here for some Christmas shopping?” Nanami asked.
“Yeah, I’m here with my mommy! Mommy was shopping, and then I saw onii-chan, so I ran here!”
Huh? She ran here? Isn’t that dangerous?
She didn’t get separated from her mother; rather, she saw me and came toward us intentionally. But didn’t that mean...
“Did you come here without telling your mother?” I asked.
“I told her I’m going to see you!” she declared.
I could tell from her expression that she said that to reassure me. And while I thought she looked absolutely adorable...
Isn’t this bad? I feel like I’ve heard of situations like this before: a parent takes their eyes off of their kid for just a moment, the kid then says they’re going somewhere, but the parent doesn’t hear it... It’s bound to not end well.
“I see. And where is your mommy?” I asked.
“Over there!” Yuki-chan replied.
I did my best not to panic, instead remaining calm...but I very quickly asked Yuki-chan where her mother was. There was a possibility that Yuki-chan had forgotten her mother’s whereabouts, but she seemed at least to know that much.
In the direction Yuki-chan indicated, I saw a woman that resembled Yuki-chan’s mother completing a purchase at one of the stalls. As expected, a missing child situation seemed to be slowly brewing. Actually, Yuki-chan’s mother was much closer to us than I expected. She really was just a few feet away—though for a young child, it must have been quite an adventure to go even that far from her mother.
Nanami must have thought the same thing I did, because while still holding Yuki-chan she was gently scolding her not to run off by herself.
Yuki-chan seemed to be enjoying the situation, though, even as she apologized to Nanami. It was good that she could say that she was sorry, but for now, it seemed imperative that we make our way toward Yuki-chan’s mother before panic set in.
“And where is your daddy today?” I asked.
“Daddy’s at work! But since I’m an understanding woman, I told him to have a great day at the office!” Yuki-chan said, puffing out her chest proudly. Wait, where did you learn to describe yourself that way? Just who even taught you that?
From the moment we met I had thought Yuki-chan was quite precocious for her age. Maybe she was in that phase when she wanted to use grown-up phrases like those.
In any case, we should return Yuki-chan to her mother before anyone started to panic.