The girl was alone. She looked up into the sky.
The house was not large, but it was sufficient for the girl. The girl was inside her room. Kneeling on the bed by the window, she looked at the sky. Or rather, it was a square piece of sky—a tiny, tiny portion of the sky visible between the buildings and the overpass.
At first glance, the girl’s age seemed to be around five or six years old. Her long hair was neatly arranged in braids. Her clothes were old-fashioned, giving her the look of a Western doll. Her appearance gave this place the sense that it was one that time had forgotten, cut off from the outside world.
The girl was alone, looking at the sky for a long time and never tiring of it. For some reason, the girl reminded Momo of someone, but she didn’t know who. Somehow, vaguely, she seemed familiar.
Somewhat intrigued, she wanted to ask Daniel to access the human database in Heaven.
“Daniel, that girl… Uh… Come to think of it…”
Daniel was used to taking on the tasks of data control, research and management, but he was still out cold.
“Um, I’m not so good at handling these kinds of complicated tasks…” mumbled Momo to herself. But she closed her eyes and began to access the mainframe.
“—Access. ID code A-100100. Pass under—9. Disable key lock.”
And… she thought, what am I supposed to do next? …Oh, right.
“—System D. Point…here.”
“Okay,” she said, pleased with herself, “and now… uh, the data on that girl… is… um… Here… Huh? …What is this…?”
She found the information she was looking for, and it troubled her.
✦ ✦ ✦
Daniel felt a peculiar and painful sensation. His cheeks were being pulled furiously, and he came to immediately.
Startled, he looked around. Momo was by his side, sitting on the bed. But while she was giggling, she wasn’t the one doing the pulling. It was a little doll-like girl.
He gave Momo a confused look, as if to say, “What the heck is going on here?”
“He seems to be awake now, so can you let him go?” Momo said to the little girl.
“Whoa, it’s real. It really moves!” the girl exclaimed.
She did as she was told and let him go. Her voice sparkled with curiosity and her big eyes glistened as she stared at Daniel.
“W-w-what? What’s going on here?!” said Daniel, utterly confused by the present situation. He scrambled to get away from the girl and scampered onto Momo’s lap.
“Waaaaaaghhhhhhhh!” the little girl yelled loudly in reaction to Daniel’s actions. “It talks!”
She said it in a sing-song voice and seemed genuinely happy and pleased. But Daniel trembled even more fearfully.
“What? What, what, what is going on here, Momo?!” Daniel asked, half frozen in fear.
“Ah ha ha!” Momo laughed in spite of herself.
“Whaddaya mean, ‘ah ha ha’?! She can see me… and touch me too! So explain!” Against his will, Daniel’s voice sounded shaky and very small.
“I’m sorry. Her name is—”
“It’s Towa!” The little girl spoke up before Momo could even finish.
The girl, Towa, sat on the bed next to Momo and looked into Daniel’s eyes.
“Hello, Danny. I’m Towa.” Towa smiled, showing her white teeth.
“This is Mimi. And this is Hanahana. And this is Pikkari. And this is Whale!”
Mimi was a stuffed bunny doll, Hanahana was a plastic elephant from a model kit, Pikkari was a plastic toy robot with silver plastic lining, and Whale was a stuffed whale doll. For some reason, he was the only one who wasn’t given a special name.
Towa introduced all of the dolls and toys in her room to Daniel. It took some time, and Towa was out of breath by the time she finished introducing them all. She had that many friends. It was not a small number.
She’s a little inconsistent, thought Momo.
Momo understood the fondness for stuffed animals. Towa, after all, was a little girl. But things like the robot or the realistic-looking plastic animal model seemed a bit at odds. These were the types of toys usually marketed towards boys or an older age range.
“My daddy gave me all of these!” Towa said, her cheeks flushed red.
“So anyway, what? Why am I here? Momo…” Daniel asked.
Finishing her introductions, Towa began to describe the characteristics of each toy without even pausing to breathe.
“Why are you being so friendly to this human?” Daniel asked, totally ignoring Towa. “And why is she introducing her dolls to us? Plus she’s already calling me Danny…”
Daniel sulked and narrowed his eyes. He still made no attempt to leave Momo’s lap.
“They’re not dolls,” Towa explained. “They’re my friends.”
“Oh, I see…” Daniel answered. “Argh! That’s not what I’m talking about!”
“What does it matter?” Momo asked him. “Besides, you’re the one who wandered in here in the first place, Daniel.”
“Huh?” he uttered.
Daniel tried to recall what happened, but his memories were murky. He wasn’t sure what actually happened.
“B-but that doesn’t mean we have to get involved with humans,” Daniel stuttered.
“Why?” Momo asked.
“What do you mean, why…?” he snapped, beginning to feel exasperated with his mistress again. “There’re no ifs, ands or buts about it! This girl has nothing to do with any souls we’re in charge of, right?”
“Right. So?”
“S-so?!” Daniel blurted out. “In the first place, we’re not even allowed to come into contact with humans who are related to the souls we collect! But here we are now, getting involved with a human who has nothing to do with anything!”
“Well, once in a while it should be okay, right?” Momo asked.
“No, it’s not okaaaaay!”
He was dumbfounded. Momo was acting as if rules were made to be broken. At this rate, Daniel would likely lose both his health and his mental well-being. Coming dangerously close to breaking the rules gave him nervous fits. And when she did break the rules, it gave him a veritable heart attack. He knew that they would get yelled at by their superiors.
Still, Daniel understood Momo had her reasons for coming into contact with humans more than necessary. She needed it.
And this time was likely no exception.