“Why, no, dear… Everyone around here just uses the public bathhouse. Having a bath in your own home is quite an exorbitant luxury. Although lately, even the bathhouses can’t open for business most days, since they can’t get ahold of any wood or charcoal to heat the baths. Sometimes, we have to go without bathing for four, five days at a time—but it’s okay. We’ve all gotten used to it by now.”
You’re kidding…right?
I was aghast. The mere thought of not being able to take a bath every day—especially in a hot summer like this—sent a shiver down my spine. As I stood there, mouth agape, Tsuru got to work, dragging out a slightly smaller washbasin and filling it with water for me via a bamboo ladle.
“There,” she said. “Now let me go get you a change of clothes.”
And with that, she left me alone in the kitchen.
Well… I guess rinsing the sweat off here is still better than nothing.
Still feeling a bit anxious, I took off my dirt-coated school uniform and undressed completely before dipping a washcloth in the basin. I wrung it out before wiping myself down.
“Oogh… It’s so cold…”
Even in the summer, I found bathing in cold water very uncomfortable. But it seemed like I didn’t have a choice, and in fact should be grateful to even have a chance to clean myself off at all. As I dipped my hair into the basin to wash it, I heard Tsuru call out.
“I’ll just leave your change of clothes out here, okay?” she said, poking her head through the doorway.
My whole body seized up, flustered to be seen completely in the nude. Seeing this, Tsuru let out a muffled chuckle of amusement.
“What’s the matter, dear?” she said. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We’re both women, aren’t we?”
“W-well, yes, but…” I stuttered.
“My, you’re so skinny, though…”
She walked over and grabbed my upper arm.
“Oh, dear—your bicep is thinner than my wrist! Surely, if your family could afford a house with a bath, you couldn’t have been struggling to afford food. You need to take your nutrition more seriously, dear! Get some meat on those bones! Luxury may be the enemy, but that doesn’t mean you need to be completely emaciated! Once you’re finished washing up, come out into the mess hall. I’ll fix something up for you.”
With that, she scurried off before I could even get a word in edgewise.
Once I was finished wiping myself down, I put on the fresh clothes Tsuru had laid out for me, folded neatly in a pile by the door. I wasn’t especially pleased to see that she’d selected a pair of monpe pants for me. They had to be at least a hundred times tackier than my bright-red PE uniform pants. On top of that, she’d given me a kimono to wear over them—and I didn’t really know how to put those on. I did my best, though, and then headed out into the mess hall.
“Why, Yuri-chan!” said Tsuru. “You’re supposed to wrap it around the other way!”
“Oh, okay…” I said. “Yeah, I had a feeling…”
Tsuru gave me a quizzical look; she clearly found it quite odd that I didn’t even know how to put on a kimono properly.
“You know, I was a bit taken aback seeing you wearing a sailor-style uniform and skirt in this day and age,” she said. “Nowadays, everyone wears monpe.”
“Yeah, I noticed as much, ha ha ha…” I said, awkwardly laughing it off.
“Anyway, have a seat! Eat up!”
On the dining table, Tsuru had laid out a steaming hot bowl of miso soup, a large portion of boiled yams, a little bit of preserved fish boiled in sweet soy sauce, along with some oddly brownish rice. I was a bit put off by the look of it, but since I hadn’t eaten in over a day, my stomach still couldn’t help but grumble loudly at the sight of fresh food.
“P-pardon my manners…” I said, my face going bright red.
Tsuru let out a hearty laugh.
“No need to apologize, dear!” she said. “Now hurry up and eat before it gets cold! It doesn’t look like much, I know, but I promise it all tastes great. I didn’t start my own mess hall for nothing!”
“No, it looks great…” I said meekly. “Thank you very much.”
Those were probably the purest, most sincere words of gratitude I’d ever uttered in my life. First, I took a sip of the miso soup. The miso flavor was a bit light, but I could really taste the vegetables in the broth; it was a gentle, heartwarming soup.
“It’s so good…”
The boiled fish and yams were scrumptious and filling, too; the only thing I hadn’t tried yet was the strange brownish rice. When she caught me staring at it, Tsuru chirped up to explain.
“That’s barley rice, dear,” she said. “Never tried it before?”
“Oh, no…” I said. “I can’t say that I have…”
“My, my… Your family must have been well-off indeed. White rice is so expensive nowadays, you see—it’s pretty hard to get ahold of. Most folks have to mix it with barley or millet or other grains to stretch it farther.”
The barley rice certainly had a different flavor and texture than I was used to, but it was actually quite good. Even the large slices of pickled daikon—which I assumed were mostly there just to help fill the stomach—had a simple, sublime flavor to them.
“Thank you… That was delicious,” I said, bowing my head to Tsuru as I set my chopsticks down.
“Anytime, dear,” she replied with a reassuring smile. “By the way, Yuri-chan… I was thinking…”
“Yes?”
“If you don’t have anywhere else to go, how would you feel about working for me here at the mess hall?”
“…Pardon?”
I blinked at her.
“There’s an army airfield not too far from here,” she explained. “It’s become a rather important base of operations for them lately, it seems, with more and more soldiers stationed there by the day. They’re my primary clientele, but it’s been getting harder and harder to manage everything on my own these days. So if you need a place to stay, and you don’t mind working for your keep, I certainly wouldn’t mind having an extra helping hand around here.”
Even an ingrate like me could tell what a considerate offer Tsuru was making; she thought I’d lost my home and family in an air raid and was saying she didn’t mind taking me in and letting me live with her. She must have known I’d probably feel obligated to turn down such a generous offer if it were made with no strings attached, so she was presenting it as a job offer instead.
I could feel a gentle warmth slowly building in my heart. Gripping the faded fabric of my monpe, I bowed my head to her as low as I could.
“…I’d love to,” I said. “Thank you so much.”
“Glad to hear it…” said Tsuru. “You’ll be a huge help.”
What a kind woman—taking in a random stranger off the street and giving them a place to belong, not knowing whether they would be of any use at all. Were it not for her, I’d probably have died hungry and homeless out on the streets in a matter of days here in this unfamiliar world.
It wasn’t just her I had to thank, of course.
Akira had saved my life as well, after all.
I hoped I’d have the chance to see him again.
I still had to thank him properly for what he’d done.