Chapter 2:
Adolescence, Part 1
“I WANT TO help people.”
These words of Shiori’s kicked off our summer. As two fourteen-year-old latchkey kids with no school to attend, we spent a ton of time together, just the two of us. Hanging out, exploring—anything was better than sitting around alone at home. Our commuter bikes could take us wherever we wanted to go.
On this particular day, we met up at a park near our school to discuss our plans for the day when she suddenly hit me with those five words.
“Where did that come from?” I replied with an eye roll as we ate ramune-flavored ice cream.
Truth be told, that was a common occurrence with Shiori. I honestly didn’t realize just how weird she was until I actually got to know her. You might think she was just your average nice girl, but whenever she hyper-fixated on something she was curious about, that “nice” personality would manifest in the weirdest of ways.
For example, when we were eleven, the researchers at the ISRI caught a mouse that chewed through some papers and cables. Before they could exterminate it, however, Shiori took pity on it and demanded to adopt it as a pet. But when she tried to “train” it not to chew things, she was bitten by a tick that the mouse was carrying and became extremely ill. After that, she decided she didn’t like mice anymore.
Now, after years of enduring her unpredictable whims, I was used to her suggesting things out of nowhere, but… “Helping people” was a little vague, you know?
“You don’t like helping people, Koyomi-kun?”
“I mean, obviously I’d want to help if I saw someone in trouble, but…”
“Then let’s go help somebody who’s in trouble!” she said.
“Huh? Seriously, where is this coming from…?”
Once she set her mind on something, there was no talking her out of it. If I said I didn’t want to, she would simply leave me behind—and inevitably land herself in some kind of mess. If I wanted to look out for her, my only option was to tag along.
“Now, where could we find someone who’s in trouble?” she said, thinking.
“Well, anyplace with lots of people is bound to have at least one who’s in need.”
“A place with lots of people? Like what?”
“I dunno… Ever been to the park at the Museum of Art?” I suggested.
“No, actually, I haven’t! We should go!”
I could practically hear her mind wandering away from her initial goal, but I decided not to point that out. Her mom never took her anywhere fun, so even something as mundane as a park was enough to excite her.
On our bikes, we headed first to the train station, then traveled south for about ten minutes before stopping at a small park at the other end of the main road. This was not our final destination, however. This was the “Local Plaza,” a small section of a larger park spread out across a low hill.
As we worked our way up the incline, we reached a branching path flanked by two totem poles. This was the entrance to the other park, located inside a wooded area. From there, we followed the sculpted trail on foot up through the trees.
Finally, right as we were starting to get tired, the Children’s Park came into view halfway up the hill. Compared to the Local Plaza, this place had a better view and a lot more playground equipment, so parents liked to bring their young children here. Mine brought me here too, back before they got divorced. There was a jungle gym, a dragonfly seesaw, and an obstacle course with attached slides.
“Hey Shiori, wanna play?”
“I’m not a little kid, you know,” Shiori protested out loud, but even she couldn’t hide that telltale sparkle in her eyes.
To be fair, it was kind of pathetic to play on a playground meant for kids half our age… I bit back the temptation to relive the thrill of that giant spiral slide.
Then, after a long pause, she murmured, “Hmm… I don’t see anybody in trouble.”
At that, I took a long look around. Sure enough, everyone seemed to be having a great time. As good as it was to help those in need, it was even better not to need to.
“Let’s try higher up,” I suggested.
We returned to the park trail and set off toward the top. Shaded by trees, the summer heat couldn’t reach us, but we were sweaty nonetheless. Still, with Shiori by my side, I didn’t mind it all that much.
Breathing heavily, we arrived at the top of the trail, behind the museum. We then crossed the parking lot and climbed the stairs to our ultimate destination: the scenic vista.
“Wow… It’s so beautiful…”
The grassy hilltop was blindingly bright and filled with sunshine. At the center of the vista was a big statue that I had tried (and failed) to climb several times as a kid. On the other side of it, I could see the city streets and a tiny hint of the ocean beyond.
“What’s that building?”
“Oh, uh, the…Something House? I forget.”
We crossed the grass to the building on the other side. The sign out front read Kinderhaus. Inside, I could see moms and kids doing some kind of fun activity together.
Attached to the Kinderhaus building was a staircase that led up to the roof, and that was where I personally wanted to end our travels today. Luckily for me, no one else was around. I beckoned to Shiori, then ran up the stairs. “C’mon, the best view is up here!”
“Wow!” she exclaimed.
The view from the vista was somewhat impeded by the forest, but up here on the roof, we were taller than any of the trees. The sight of the cityscape was sincerely breathtaking.
“We can even see the mountains from here… If only we could see the ocean too…”
“You prefer the ocean to the mountains, Shiori?”
“If I had to pick one, then I guess so…”
“Huh. I’m Team Mountains all the way.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I like mountains too!” she said.
“In that case, wanna go hiking tomorrow?” I suggested.
“Yeah, sounds good!”
Just like that, the next day’s plans were set. There was a particular mountain I’d been wanting to climb for a while now, and I couldn’t wait to go there for the first time.
Seeing as we were already here, we decided to take a peek at the Museum of Art too. We didn’t know much about paintings, though, so we just kinda did a lap around the gallery and left. Since Shiori was interested in checking out the other end of the park trail, we headed downhill on the opposite side.
With no playground in that direction, there was a lot less foot traffic there. I was fine with the peace and quiet, so I took my time walking. Partway down, at the waterfront plaza, was a small gazebo. We decided to sit there and rest for a while.
“It’s nice and cool in here.”
“Yeah…”
The gazebo was positioned under the shade of the trees, and the sound of the water helped to create a refreshing ambience. So we sat there and idled away the time, waiting for our sweat to dry…that is, until Shiori exclaimed, “Oh no!”
“What’s wrong?”
“…I forgot to help people…” she mumbled.
Knew you would, I thought with a wry grin. It hadn’t escaped my notice that the fun of our adventure had gotten her sidetracked. “Shouldn’t we be happy that no one was in trouble?”
“I mean…yeah, but…” Frowning, she hung her head. Was she disappointed that she failed her mission, or that she forgot about it?
“What inspired you to start helping people, anyway?” I asked.
Sure, Shiori seemed to think up crazy ideas at random, but whenever I asked her to explain it, she always had a good reason for them.
After a long silence, she gave in. “I met up with my dad.”
At her unexpected statement, my train of thought screeched to a halt. I remembered what she told me about him—that he fought with her mom and said he never wanted to see her again before leaving for good. Did her parents make up?
“Oh, but don’t tell my mom, okay?”
Orrr not. I guess her mother wasn’t involved in that meeting.
“I thought I wanted nothing to do with him, but then I found a photo of him the other day while I was cleaning the house. I started to miss him, so…yesterday, I went to see him at his work.”
“Yeah? How’d it go?”
“He was really nice. He thanked me for coming, and ruffled my hair, and then he took me to get a big parfait. I was in such a good mood that I asked him if he and Mom could patch things up…but…he said no.”
My parents were divorced too, but mine were never on bad terms, so I didn’t know what I could say to make her feel better. Nothing I thought of seemed very helpful.
“But he did say that even though we can’t live together as a family, he’ll always love me. Even if he can’t be around, he wants me to grow up to be a good person.”
“So that’s why you want to help people?”
“Yeah. He said I should try to be the kind of person who helps others without expecting anything in return.”
“That doesn’t mean you should want people to be in trouble, though,” I reminded her.
“Yeah, I know…”
The funny thing about Shiori was that she was the type who could never see the forest for the trees. She’d focus on the end result she wanted, and when it didn’t work out, she would get so mad at herself. I thought back to the day I first met her at the lab, when she tricked me into being her parallel shift guinea pig. She was older now, but none the wiser, and those same slumped shoulders put another mirthless grin on my face.
“Well, how about you just try to help me whenever I’m in trouble?” I said, hoping to make her feel better.
I expected her to smile and nod, but contrary to my expectations, her frown remained.
“I mean, obviously I would, but…”
“What, I’m not good enough?”
“No, that’s not it. It’s just… You’re my friend, Koyomi-kun.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well…when I help you, I won’t be able to say, ‘I’m no one special,’ you know?”
“What?” The heck is she talking about now?
“That’s what you say when you help someone without needing anything in return, isn’t it? They ask for your name, and you say, ‘Oh, I’m no one special.’ But you already know my name!”
Yep. She said that with a straight face too. Before I could stop myself, I let out a sigh. “Shiori, you can be so incredibly dumb sometimes.”
“Wha… What was that for?! I’m not dumb!” she shot back. Her eyes were teary.
I had to fight off the urge to ruffle her hair.