It’s surprising. Seems like more people than I had seen from above. Not that I’m short, but I can’t see any of the babies from here…but this is when a smartphone comes in handy. I switch from selfie mode to the normal camera and hold it up with my arm outstretched. That way, I can see over the audience…but it doesn’t really work. I try adjusting my angle but to no avail. Just too many people!
“Beaaaverrr!”
Suddenly, a shout cuts through the cheers. I reflexively pull my phone down. Who is it? Who’s calling me Beaver? I heard it from above me, but I still can’t see who’s yelling at me.
“Whoa!”
The voice comes from just to the left of me, and the next moment, my phone and I are knocked into the air. I fall to the floor hard, feeling pretty helpless. So many things happen at the same time, so I’m very lost… It’s a hard floor, too, so it is quite a shock. Pain spreads to my shoulders and lower back.
As I slowly get up, I look around. I see lots of legs and feet; they belong to the spectators at the crawling race. That, and a boy’s eyes. He’s about the same age as me, rubbing his shoulder and saying “Owww…” as if he, too, is picking himself up after a fall. We are the only ones at the same eye level, here by the floor.
One thing that bothers me a little is that this guy has some headphones on, but the way he is wearing them is really odd. The part that goes over his ears is on his forehead, like he’s sporting a mohawk.
“Braces…”
I didn’t miss it. His voice was so tiny, but I would never miss it.
My place is less than a ten-minute walk from the mall. There’s a large rice field in front of the mall, but the land actually all belongs to us. My family’s been farming here for quite a long time, and now my father and uncle are the ones running it. The farm road functions as a shortcut to our house, and I always use it to hit the mall.
The ruts in the farm road slowly come to an end. I’m walking with my head down, so I’m not looking ahead, but it’s not dangerous because no one comes along this path but me anyway.
At a small bridge over the canal, I stop. That guy’s voice echoes in my mind. My face gets hot again.
“…He literally said, ‘Braces,’ out loud!”
I am so embarrassed that he saw my teeth that I all but scream. Wait. My mouth feels oddly exposed… Ahhh!
“My mask! Where is it?!”
I hadn’t even noticed, but at some point my mask had come off and disappeared somewhere. When I bumped into him, I guess? I’d know if I gave it some thought, but I was so flustered back there that I didn’t know what to do. Good thing there’s nobody around the rice paddies. I’m about to take a mask out of my bag when I remember, oh, right, that had been the last one.
…I knew my teeth would stand out. He said braces and all, but if it were just my buckteeth, I bet he wouldn’t have said anything.
I take my phone out of my pocket. I don’t even need to put it in selfie mode to see them. My face is reflected in the glass of the screen. Those big, beaver-like front teeth, and the braces. I don’t want to see it, but I can’t help but check on them… Wait.
“Huh? Whose is this?!”
This isn’t my phone! Mine has slots on the left side of the case where I keep my train pass, but the one in my hand now has a book in it that I’ve never seen before.
A memory flashes back to me. That guy with the headphone mohawk.
“Headphones…”
This must be his phone. I made a mistake…
I close the case. Just as I thought, there’s no ☆ in the mint backdrop. I open it back up. I’m not sure what this Seasons book is, but it looks like a dictionary or something, maybe? It’s full of words that I don’t recognize, all with these cryptic descriptions… Oh, wait!
“My phone! I must have left it there!”
I hurry back to the event space, covering my mouth with my hands. The baby race is over, and the place is deserted. I look for the place where I had picked up my phone earlier, but nothing is there—not just my phone, but my mask is missing, too. I ask the information desk on the second floor if they have received any lost items. They haven’t seen my phone.
What should I do…? Not having my phone is bad news. My heart is in chaos. I feel nervous. My eyes settle on the “!” atop the information center.
…Then it dawns on me. That’s right! Marie can help!
I head home at once to ask my sister for assistance.
“Hello!”
When I get home, my mom and dad say, “Welcome back,” at the same time. I run through the living room and up the stairs, shoot down the second-floor hallway, and go right into our room.
“Marie! Help me!”
When I enter the room, my gaze meets not with Marie but with my older sister, Julie.
“Quiet, Yuki. I have a practice exam tomorrow.”
Julie is studying in the common area in the middle of the room. She’s a high school student, one year older than me, who’ll be taking college exams this year. I figured she’d apply to art schools because she likes art, but as she put it, “I try to keep things balanced, you know? I just want to keep that stuff as my hobby.”
Julie’s kind of a fashionista; she knows a lot about clothing brands and stuff. Her hair’s a little curly like Dad’s, but I think it’s cute, and her big glasses suit her face well. Our room has no partitions, and it’s pretty large, maybe 350 square feet. My dad asked the architectural firm to design it this way so the kids could get along better. My space is on the right side, Julie’s on the left, and in the middle is a large round table and three chairs. We all study here, and even when we’re not, we often gather here to chat. Marie hangs out here a lot, too…but today she’s nowhere to be seen!
“Where’s Marie?!”
“Huh? Isn’t she in the loft?”
I run up the stairs leading to the loft. That’s where Marie’s space is, and mine is just below it.
“Ah…Marie?”
She isn’t there, either. Where did she go?!
“Yes?”
I hear Marie’s voice coming from the play space (as Mom calls it) across from her area.
“What’s wrong, Yuki?” she asks, licking away at a lollipop.
“Marieeeeee!”
I run into the play space connected to the loft, hoping to ask Marie for help ASAP. I nearly collide with her. “Hey! Watch out!” She’s a little taken aback.
“Marie, please! Find out where my phone is!”
I pull the phone out of my pocket and show it to Marie.
Marie gives me a strange look.
“It’s right there.”
No it’s not!
“It’s not mine!”
I tell her everything that’s happened.
“Oh, man, losing your phone sucks. I would die.”
She turns toward the computer in her space, ready to begin searching for my phone. She likes playing online games on this PC, which is a hand-me-down from Dad. She’s only in eighth grade, but she’s learned a lot about the internet from Dad, so she’s pretty good at that stuff. “We can just follow its GPS signal to find it,” she tells me, but I really don’t know what she’s talking about.
Marie wears her long hair in two buns on the sides of her head, and whenever she moves her body, they sway to and fro a little. It’s a really cute look.
“Not having a phone wouldn’t actually kill you, you know…” Julie, who was studying downstairs, is now playing with her phone as she sits on Marie’s bed.
“You’re not the one who lost it! I’m totally gonna die!”
Does Julie not understand how I feel? Also, like, doesn’t she have a practice exam tomorrow?
“I’d die, too.” Marie nods as she sits at her computer, her buns bobbing a bit.
“If I don’t get it back by the end of the day, I’ll die!”
“Found it!”
“Really?”
Her monitor has a map on it, prominently featuring a smartphone icon with the words Yuki’s phone under it.
“Is this—?” Marie brings her face closer to the screen. “—the mall?”
“The mall!”
I’d just looked over there, too!
“You find it?” Julie joins us at the computer.
“She said it’s in the mall! I’ll head back over there!”
I’m already running as I say it.
“See you,” Marie says cheerfully.
“Why don’t you try calling it?”
Julie’s suggestion makes me turn back and reply, “I told you, it’s in the mall!” She looks down at me from the loft, pulls out her phone, and beckons me to join her.
“If you call it, maybe someone will pick up.”
Oh, I see. If I use her phone to call mine, whoever found it might answer! You’re so smart, Julie! No wonder you’re applying to universities!
“Well, I’m glad you got your phone back.”
“Oh, man, so am I. I had no idea what I was gonna do…”
“Good thing you didn’t die, huh?”
“Yeah!”
It’s Wednesday, July 24, and Julie just told us, “I can’t possibly study any longer today,” so me, her, and Marie are hanging out at Niagara Café at the mall for the first time in a while. The waffles in here are so good—I love it when they pair it with mint chocolate ice cream. It might be summer, but I take my herbal tea hot. I feel like that goes better with the waffles. Marie asked for a waffle with berry sauce on it, and Julie goes for a plain waffle with a vanilla topping.
Like Julie just said, my phone is safe and sound. After that video call, we met up at the amusement space to trade phones. It was weird, though. That guy… Like, he didn’t say a word the entire time.
“Yuki, what’s with the way you’re eating…?”
“New trend or something?”
I have to take off my mask to eat the waffle, but I don’t want people to see my teeth, so I am covering my mouth with one hand while I eat.
“It’s fine, okay?”
If I don’t want people to see me, I don’t want people to see me, all right?
After we enjoy our waffles (as hard as it was for me to eat), we leave Niagara Café and wander around the mall with no particular destination in mind.