Just as they were finishing up their meal, they heard Mayumi call out from the entranceway. It seemed she’d gotten home earlier than usual today. Emiko stood up, turning the stove back on.
“Curry? You don’t make that often.”
It seemed that the smell of the spices had wafted all the way to the front door, and as soon as Mayumi walked into the living room, she peeked in the pot.
“It’s fine every once in a while, isn’t it? Mizuki and I had it with bread instead of rice.”
“What, bread? Why?”
Emiko explained the medama curry, but Mayumi just said that normal rice was fine and gave Mizuki a meaningful look as she ate.
“I’m going to go get changed. Wearing a suit is so stuffy,” Mayumi said, leaving the living room and heading to her own.
Mizuki must have rushed to finish her meal, because she spoke up while standing, putting her plate in the sink. “Thanks for supper, Grandma. It was good. I wanna eat it again.”
Saying all of that quickly, she grabbed the bag she’d thrown on the floor and hurried out of the living room. She rushed up the stairs, the sound of her footsteps fading as she went. Mayumi then walked back in, as if they’d traded places.
“Where did Mizuki go?”
“She finished eating and headed back to her room.”
“Hey, Mom? You need to tell her to change when she gets home. The fact that she always messes up the pleats on her skirt when she rolls it up is bad enough, but it’ll get ruined if she sits on the sofa wearing it. No matter how many times I tell her, she never listens.”
Mayumi had been scolding Mizuki about it ever since she first started wearing a uniform in junior high. She sighed, saying she was tired of having to remind her.
“Mizuki knows,” Emiko assured her. “She’ll do something about it once someone comments on her messy skirt and she gets embarrassed.”
“But it makes me seem like a parent who lets her get away with everything.”
Turning off the stove, Emiko scooped out some rice and got Mayumi’s curry ready. After she put it on the table, she changed the topic.
“Ah, that’s right,” she said, sitting back down. “There’s a bookstore opening nearby. And they’re renting out some of their shelves. They say anyone can start selling their books.”
She continued, explaining the shared bookstore Mizuki had gone to in Tokyo before putting the flyer looking for shelf owners on the table. She waited for a response, but Mayumi just kept on giving her a stern look.
“Mizuki and I are going there together tomorrow afternoon,” Emiko continued. “Ono-san, the owner, is from Okayama but went to university in Tokyo and got a job there too. She can probably tell us about it more in detail, and there were some books it looked like Mizuki would like.”
“You’re buying her more books, when she already bought so many on her trip?”
“Once she knows where it is, she’ll be able to walk there on her own. They’ll be able to order books for her as well. It might come in handy.”
“She’s already so selfish now. If you spoil her further, then…” Mayumi stopped herself, heaving another sigh.
“Mizuki needs some breaks too,” Emiko said.
Her granddaughter had said that she’d bought those books in Tokyo because she wanted the impressions the shelf owner left in them. That she’d read how he wrote about accepting the authors as they were and put herself in their place. Mizuki was stressed too.
“And if she ends up failing to get into university because of all these ‘breaks,’ she’ll end up going wild,” Mayumi said, somewhat exasperated. “And besides, all she does is read, so you don’t need to encourage her. She won’t even do the simplest things I ask, she just does whatever she wants instead.”
Saying that, she flipped the flyer over.
There were some books that wouldn’t resonate with you unless they came to you at a certain time. The experience of becoming a shelf owner was the same thing. Would it really be okay for her high school life to come to an end with her doing nothing but study for entrance exams?
“Anyway, now is not the time. I’ve got the school telling me that it’s already too late if she hasn’t started studying seriously after summer of her second year. And now it’s already December, so we can’t be sure if she’ll make it even if she gives it her all. You don’t know how things are for students prepping for exams, Mom. You didn’t get it when I was trying to get into university either. You’ve always been a dreamer, like you’ve never had your feet on the ground.”
What she meant was that even though she was leaving the housework to her mother, that was it. She didn’t trust her. Emiko stayed silent as she listened.
The reason Mayumi had come home after her divorce wasn’t because she wanted help with raising her daughter. Emiko knew that it was because Mayumi was worried about her mother, since she’d relied on her husband for so much in life. Mayumi had always been a kind girl, worrying about others more than herself. She hadn’t changed a bit in that regard. Emiko had thought she understood that, so why was it that they were at odds so often these days?
“I suppose,” Emiko said. “You might be right, that I’m a dreamer. But Mizuki is just like you, looking ahead and thinking of things on her own.”
Mizuki was trying to think about what she needed to know to live on her own. She was trying to learn to cook so she would be ready.