AS his house came into view, I voiced a question that had been gnawing at me the whole way there. “When you said, ‘So you really can see them,’ what exactly did you mean by that?”
Without answering, Towada moved to unlatch the front gate. It clanked open and he ushered me in before him. In the fading twilight, I noticed that the house windows were ajar, signaling perhaps that Ayako was home. Towada led the way forward, and as we neared the large tree in the front yard, he stopped. “The first time you visited, these bells rang.”
“Oh, yeah,” I replied. “The sound was really pretty.” So pretty, in fact, that I had yearned to hear them once more. Falling into step behind him, I lifted my gaze to the golden bells.
“No matter how hard the wind blows, or how much the branches sway, they don’t make a sound. Even in a typhoon.” He reached up, grabbed a branch, and gave it a sharp tug. The bells stirred yet stayed mute.
My eyes widened in awe. “Wow…”
“The bells only ring when they sense somebody they favor.” Towada gestured to the stoat draped over my shoulders. He studied my reaction as though dissecting my every facial movement. “They were drawn to you from the outset, which led me to suspect that you too had the sight.” As he spoke, his face contorted into a familiar, troubled expression that I’d seen several times that day.
“So, does that—”
“Welcome back, Takumi. And welcome again, Haruka.”
Spinning around, I spotted Ayako standing on the porch in an apron. Her domestic appearance suited her almost too well. “Hi Ayako…”
“I’m sure you have a million questions, and I promise to answer as many as I can, but let’s do that inside, shall we?” Beaming at me, she flourished a hand toward the door. Her welcoming demeanor was an odd comfort, as if reminding me that despite all the uncertainties whirling in my mind, everything was going to be okay.
Stepping inside, I noticed an array of vegetables spread across the kitchen counter. A pot on the stove was bubbling away, filling the house with an appetizing fragrance.
“Sorry about the mess, dear,” Ayako said. “And don’t worry about all this, Takumi. Just gotta throw the rest in the pot and we’re all set. Go ahead and get changed.”
Suddenly remembering the cookies I’d thought to bring, I presented them to her. “Um, the little ones seemed to really enjoy them, so…”
“Oooh, are these homemade? Why, thank you. Let’s enjoy them straight away, why don’t we?” She happily accepted my cookies and moved to fetch a plate from the cupboard. “Wow, look at these,” she said, observing the contents of the container. “By the way, how much did Takumi tell you? All his text said was ‘Talked to Kitazawa, she can see them, I’m bringing her over,’ and that was it! The little rascal…”
“Yeah. He mentioned he would introduce me to the others.”
“Did he now? Well then, let’s get ’em out here, shall we?”
My “okay!” was louder than I intended, betraying my excitement, and Ayako chuckled at my palpable enthusiasm.
“All right you guys,” she said in a raised voice, holding the plate in front of her, “come introduce yourselves. Haruka here baked you all cookies!”
With a rumble, the house seemed to come alive all at once. I sensed countless, reticent gazes peering at me from every nook and cranny—then nothing. The house settled back into tranquility.
“If you don’t come out, you don’t get a cookie,” Ayako added, hoisting the plate high above her head.
That did the trick. Tiny brown heads began to emerge from every shadow, every crevice. Beneath the fridge, behind the cupboard, beyond the kitchen door, face after face materialized. No way… There’s this many?!
“Oh my. Quite a lot of ’em today,” said Ayako.
“Yeah, ’cause there’s food,” Towada muttered, returning just in time to cheekily qualify her statement. Out of his uniform and in a light-blue button-down shirt, he appeared older, as though he could pass for a high schooler. Compared to his outfit, my oversized shirt and leggings combo seemed downright childish.
Before I had a chance to dwell on the difference, I was swarmed by a pack of stoats. There must have been at least thirty of them huddled around me, standing on their hind legs like a mob of meerkats. And just as Towada had warned, they all looked strikingly similar. They were cute but a little overwhelming.
Uh-oh. I’d expected five, maybe six, of them at most. I glanced at Towada for help. “What do I do? I don’t think I made enough cookies to go around!”
“Out of everything happening right now, that’s what you’re worried about?” he asked, exasperated.
“I mean—!”
“I really don’t get you.”
Ayako chuckled before pulling over a chair and offering me a seat. She placed the plate on the table and addressed the crowd. “All right, form a line. Come say hi to Haruka and you’ll get one cookie each!”
The room erupted with energy as the stoats jostled for position. One by one, they climbed onto my lap, each offering a unique greeting. A handful gave me a small hug, some touched me with their tiny paws, and others just stared. For a while, my lap was transformed into a stoat sanctuary as I handed out cookies.
When the very last stoat received its share, I sighed in relief. “Thank goodness there was enough.” Due to Ayako’s one-per-stoat rule, I’d rationed the treats successfully. If a few of the creatures had been left out, I was sure the guilt would’ve crushed me. In the future, I’d just have to bake more to avoid that exact scenario!
After accepting its treat, each stoat disappeared whence they came—all except one little guy who kept clambering back onto my lap. As I took a seat at the dining table, the fellow climbed back up.
Towada studied it closely. “Is this the one from your house?” he asked.
“I think so.”
“It’s really likes you,” he noted, appearing puzzled.
Ayako sat down opposite me. “I’ve never seen one act so friendly either—not even with Kaoru.”
“Kaoru?” I echoed.
“Kaoru Towada, my uncle,” Towada clarified. That did little to dislodge my confusion, however, and he further elaborated that Kaoru was Ayako’s husband who’d passed away.