Mr. Sugisaki glanced at Mito. The girl blushed, pursed her lips, and turned to the side.
Mayuka quickly provided a cheerful introduction. “That’s Rui Takeuchi. I’m Mayuka Yoshizawa, and this is Hinata Kurihara. His parents run this clinic. And by complete coincidence, we’re all in the same class at school!”
“Thank you, Mayuka. Doctor, may we?”
“Of course,” said Suzune. “Since it’s your first visit, I need you to fill out a patient form, which you can do in the examination room. Come on in…”
Mr. Sugisaki lifted up the cage and followed Suzune. Mito wordlessly joined them.
The door slid closed, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Their encounter with Mito had been quite nerve-racking. Hinata looked down at his feet and saw that Chris was sprawled on the floor, tuckered out.
After Yuusuke said good-bye to the old man and his dachshund, he exhaled as well. “Mito seems both sharp and sensitive at the same time… A true artist already!” he murmured, then turned to Rui. “You said she won a competition?”
“Yes. It seems she won a junior competition at the national level. When she reaches middle school, she’ll be studying overseas. I heard about it from one of Grandma’s pupils.”
Rui’s grandmother was a tea ceremony master, and he heard all kinds of neighborhood gossip from her students.
“Studying abroad!” Yuusuke said. “That’s remarkable. I’d love to hear her play.” He glanced at the door to the examination room. “Our family doesn’t have much artistic talent.”
Hinata shrugged sheepishly, and Chris whined, for good measure.
Rui looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought. “Mito’s mother is a famous pianist, too,” he said. “I think her name is Keito Sugisaki. Grandma saw her on TV once and got quite excited.”
“Wow! So they’re a whole family of artists,” Yuusuke remarked, thoroughly impressed.
“I used to take piano lessons, you know!” Mayuka said competitively.
“…And you quit after a month, right?” Hinata muttered.
She puffed out her cheeks. “You’re not supposed to bring that up!”
“W-well, it’s the truth.”
“It’s not that I had no talent. I just didn’t get along well with the teacher…”
As everyone was teasing Mayuka and discussing her potential musical talent, Popo’s examination came to an end. Mito looked noticeably more cheerful when she came back through the doorway. Mr. Sugisaki followed and set down the birdcage on a vacant sofa nearby.
“How is Popo?” Mayuka asked.
Mito’s lips rose in a faint smile. “It was only a cut. No damage to the bone.”
“So it’ll heal up soon? That’s good. You must be relieved.”
Mito nodded shyly. She glanced at her father, then said, with some hesitation, “Um, Mayuka… Are you free after school on Friday?”
“This Friday? I don’t think I have anything going on…”
“Would you like to come hear my violin?”
Mayuka’s eyes sparkled. “Huh? Really? Where? At your house?”
“No, no. It’s, um, in Yokohama…and…the boys are invited if they want to come, too…”
She glanced briefly at Hinata and Rui. Hinata’s heart skipped a beat. Us too? Really?
Then she scowled and shook her head. “Ugh, I can’t do the rest… Daddy, could you handle it for me?!”
Her father stepped away from the birdcage and looked at his daughter with a bit of surprise. “Are you sure about this, Mito?”
“Of course I am! It was my idea…,” she said, turning away with a huff.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Sugisaki’s face broke into a smile as he stepped forward to address the group. “Then allow me to explain… This Friday evening, Mito is performing a small concert. Are you familiar with the Primavera? It’s a passenger ship currently docked in the Port of Yokohama.”
Mayuka nodded. “That’s the famous cruise ship, right? The really big one. I saw it on TV once…” Then her eyes widened as realization sank in. Wait, really…?
Mr. Sugisaki nodded and smiled. “Mito will be performing in the lobby of the ship. There will be a dinner party after the concert, and we’d be very happy if you joined us… We will be disembarking before the ship leaves on her next voyage. What do you say?”
“W-wait a moment!” Yuusuke interrupted, rushing out from behind the counter. “The Primavera is an ultraluxury cruise ship! You want to take the kids there? For a d-d-dinner party?!”
“Mito is also a child, of course. This is something of a special case…,” Mr. Sugisaki said calmly, trying to ease Yuusuke’s agitation. “A well-known violin collector came to us and proposed the concert. He has an expensive Stradivarius violin that he would like Mito to play…”
Mito’s brow wrinkled with distaste. “He’s a horrible old man! He happens to own a few extremely valuable violins and wants to show them off. He doesn’t care about my ability; he just thinks that if a little kid plays it, people will be drawn by the novelty and pay attention to him.”
“Now, Mito,” her father said placatingly. “You still want to play the Stradivarius, though, don’t you? It’s not the kind of thing you can easily get your hands on. I think a little experience with such a fine instrument will benefit you in the future.”
Mito pulled a sour face but nodded. Hinata just sat by and listened, open-mouthed. Mito was living in a world completely outside his comprehension.
She dropped her eyes to the floor and said, “He treats me like a child. He said to me, ‘Young lady, bring your friends along. I extend the invitation to them as well.’ I don’t have any friends and swore that I wouldn’t bring anyone… But maybe it’d be all right to bring you three.”
Mr. Sugisaki beamed at his daughter and said to Mayuka, “I’m sorry, I know this is all rather strange. But we would truly appreciate it if you would join us. Won’t you come to the concert? This is the first time that Mito has ever invited a friend to listen to her play. Perhaps you could bring along a parent or guardian…”
Mayuka held her breath and looked around, her eyes full of sparkles. Hinata went pale. He knew she would insist on attending.
And she’s going to drag me along, too…
“Th-thank you!” she said in a strangled falsetto. “I want to go, I really do! I’d like to hear Mito’s violin, and I never dreamed I’d get to see the inside of a cruise ship! May Hinata go with us? And Rui?”
“Of course,” Mr. Sugisaki said amiably, but Rui looked downcast.
“…I have to go to a relative’s funeral in the countryside on Friday afternoon…”
“Oh… But I’m sure another chance will come around!” Mayuka said. Then she turned to Mr. Sugisaki. “I guess it’ll just be Hinata and me, then.”
Hinata fretted. “I—I can’t go. I have to watch Chris, and take him on his walk, and feed him…”
The cruise ship and dinner party were so far outside Hinata’s experience. Just the thought of going there made him freeze up with nerves. It would be so much more fun and relaxing to simply take Chris on a walk.
Chris, meanwhile, was looking from person to person, curiously wondering what was going on.
Mr. Sugisaki, however, had just the thing to get past Hinata’s defense. “Actually, that’s not a problem,” he said. “The Primavera is one of the few cruise ships that allows pets on board, with full amenities and services for their guests’ animal companions. We’d love for you to bring your puppy along.”
What?! Hinata nearly fell off the sofa. B-but…
“They’ll need an adult escort, I presume?” said Suzune, poking her head out of the examination room. “Unfortunately, we’ll be busy, since the clinic closes at seven PM.”
Yuusuke lifted a hand. “If Suzu says I can go, I’d be happy to.”
“What do you mean?” Suzune shot back. “You know Fridays are busy, and we have dog-grooming appointments that day, too. What about your parents, Mayuka?”
Mayuka looked deflated as she poked the ends of her index fingers together under her nose. “I don’t think they can go… Maybe if we’d known about it a little earlier, they could have taken time off…”
Mito looked disappointed, too. She lowered her gaze and kicked at the floor with her toe.
Mr. Sugisaki pursed his lips and bowed. “I’m very sorry to have put you on the spot like this. Once on the ship, I will have to attend to Mito at all times, so there would need to be another adult present. I’m sorry, Mayuka. We’ll have to send you another invitation some other time…”
Hinata felt relief flood through him. Thank goodness. I won’t have to go…
But then Mayuka chuckled menacingly to herself and lifted her head. “I’ve got an idea! We just need an adult, right? I know just the person, and I’m sure he’s got nothing better to do!”