Ten
With the end of summer school yesterday, my summer vacation truly begins today. Spurred onward by the cicadas ceaselessly droning at my backside, I climb the stone steps.
The day is exceptionally hot, with the sun blazing, its light assaulting me from above and reflecting off the rocks to attack from below. My T-shirt is already drenched.
No, I’m not punishing myself out of some self-inflicted penance.
A girl walking ahead looks over her shoulder at me and grins. I’m drenched in sweat and out of breath.
She says, “Do you always gotta be such a wuss?”
The remark annoys me, and I consider making a rebuttal, but I decide to wait until I have my breath back. For now, I focus on getting up these stairs as quickly as I can.
Having no trouble herself, she claps twice and says, “C’mon, you can do it.” From her expression, I can’t tell if she’s cheering me on or taunting me.
When we finally reach the top, I wipe myself down with a towel and mount my defense.
“I’m different from you,” I say.
“Yeah, you’re a guy. If you can’t keep up with me, that’s sad.”
“Look, we of noble birth have no need to exert ourselves.”
“I’m sure the nobles can do just fine.”
I take a plastic tea bottle from my backpack and gulp the liquid down. The girl keeps briskly walking ahead. I follow her, and after a little while the hillside trees fall away to reveal a beautiful view over our city.
She spreads her arms and says, “This feels great!”
Between the view and the wind, it does feel great. As the breeze dries my sweat, I take another drink of tea to fortify myself.
I say, “Let’s go. We’re almost there.”
“That’s the spirit! Here, I’ll reward you with some candy.”
“Do you two think I exist solely on candy and gum?”
I’m reminded of my other friend, the guy who keeps offering me gum in school.
She says, “I can’t help it if I happen to carry some candy in my pocket. Just take it.”
Grumbling, I accept the candy and put it in my pocket, where it joins several of its companions.
She hums a tune as she walks with lively steps, and I trudge along behind her, until I suddenly feel conscious of our imbalance of strength. I force my head high and my shoulders back.
Square stones replace the dirt path, and we arrive at our destination. Among the rows of stone monuments, we find the one we seek.
She says, “Okay, you’re on water duty, Haruki. Go bring us some, would you?”
“Two points. First, what duty are you on, and second, why don’t we just go together?”
“Quit whining. I gave you candy, didn’t I?”
I can’t believe her nerve, but I also know any further protests will be useless. I quietly set down my things and walk to a nearby water spigot, where wooden buckets and ladles are ready. I take one of each and fill the bucket from the tap. When I return to the girl’s side, she’s looking up at the sky.
“Thanks,” she says, adding archly, “That must have been hard.”
“If you think so, then you should have helped.”
“I would have, but you see, I’m of noble birth, so…”
“Yeah, yeah. Here you go, m’lady.”
I hand her the bucket and ladle. She respectfully takes them and roughly flings the purifying waters onto the Yamauchi’s family grave. Droplets splash off the stone and splatter on my cheek. The gravestone, shiny with water, reflects the sunlight and takes on a sacred quality.
She shouts, “Hey, Sakura, wake up!”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how you’re supposed to do…any of that.”
Not paying any attention to what I said, she continues splashing the water onto the gravestone until the last drop is gone. She looks like she’s feeling good, working up a sweat, and for a moment, I wonder if this is some sort of sport I’d never heard of.
She asks, “When you put your hands together in front of a grave, are you supposed to, like, clap?”
“Normally, no. But for her, I think we should.”
We stand in front of her grave and clap our hands once. Getting along together, we close our eyes and pray for her to hear our thoughts.
After a long prayer, we open our eyes at almost the same time and place our offerings.
She asks, “Should we go to her house now?”
“Yeah,” I say.
“Fair warning—her mother and I are going to lecture the crap out of you today.”
“What?” I say incredulously. “I can’t think of a single reason why.”
“There’s so many reasons, I hardly know where to start.” She holds up a finger. “Oh, how about how it’s summer of your senior year and you’re just coasting, too cocky to study at all.”
“Hey, I’m smart, I don’t need to study.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!”
Her wisecrack disappears into the blue summer sky, while my thoughts are on the last time I went to the Yamauchi’s house. The last time I was there, I met her older brother, and he shared stories with me.
Returning from my memories, I say, “This will be my first time going over there with someone else.”
“Yeah, you’re going to be hearing about that, too.”
We exchange a pointless but fun back-and-forth, and this time, we return the bucket and ladle together. We return to the gravesite, and I announce, “We’re going over to your house,” and start back the way we came. I’m not thrilled by the idea of walking that path again, but all that’s left to do here is exchange a pointless but fun back-and-forth, and that just wouldn’t be productive.
On the way back, as on the way here, I follow after Kyōko-san.