Memories in Snow
There was a curious door in the dining room of the Masaki household. It was a run-of-the-mill closet door, utilizing the space under the stairs that led to the second floor. An ordinary, wooden door. However, it was curiously built. Behind it was another staircase, but the steps only seemed to go down about a meter or so from the floor, with nothing beyond. It was quite a pointless door.
Indeed, it was peculiar…
“Let’s see, these are for Grandpa…” Sasami brought in an armful of mail from the gateposts—or rather, the gatekeepers-cum-mailboxes, Azaka and Kamidake, Ayeka’s two Guardians—and came into the dining room, sorting the letters in an organized fashion.
But then, there was not much sorting to do. Besides the occasional letter for Tenchi, all the mail delivered to the Masaki household was addressed to Katsuhito, the shrine priest. Needless to say, there was no way Sasami and the others, who were not from Earth, would get any mail.
She knew that it was their choice to be here, but it was just the other day that Sasami had to say goodbye to her parents, whom she had not seen in so long. A whisper of loneliness brushed past her heart. She did not show any of this emotion as she spread out the letters on the tatami mats in the dining area. With cheeks still smattered with freckles, Sasami looked like a young girl, but she had achieved remarkable psychological growth since arriving here on Earth.
When she came to the fifteenth plain white envelope, Sasami paused. “Huh…? This one’s for Washu-oneechan.” She looked more closely at the letter. “Hakubi Washu-sama… Yup, it’s to Washu-oneechan. Let’s see, who’s it from…?”
“Meow!” Right when Sasami flipped over the envelope to verify the sender’s name, she noticed that humanoid Ryo-Ohki, who had transformed into a little girl, sat perched beside her. “Meow.” As if expecting something, Ryo-Ohki cried again. Her hands clutched the small, carrot-shaped knapsack Ayeka had made for her.
Sasami chuckled and offered the stack of mail to Ryo-Ohki. “Ryo-chan, here’s today’s lot.”
Ryo-Ohki always took Katsuhito’s mail to the shrine at the top of the hill. She merrily stuffed the letters into her bag and dashed outside, happy that there was something she could do to help, whether it was with Sasami’s work or someone else’s.
“Off you go. Be careful now!” Sasami saw her off and took the remaining letters upstairs. “Oh! That’s right. There was a letter for Washu-oneechan today.”
Only mail for Katsuhito or Tenchi got sent to the Masaki household. Sasami was in the habit of taking Tenchi’s letters to the desk in his room immediately after entrusting Katsuhito’s pile to Ryo-Ohki. She paused to ponder whether she should go give Washu her letter first. Then she laughed to herself. “Heh…it doesn’t matter who’s first.” She gave herself a little slap on the forehead and airily went up the stairs.
On the spacious third floor landing, Ryoko leaned against the many carrot-shaped cushions she had gathered, reading manga from the library of Tenchi’s father, Nobuyuki. She was currently reading Checking In ☆ On You, volume seventeen of twenty. In volume seventeen, Michiko, the main character, went through an ill-fated breakup with her lover, Tomohiro. It was quite the page-turner.
Sasami spotted Ryoko as she came up the stairs and called out, “Oh! Ryoko-oneechan!”
“Hey.” Ryoko responded by popping her hand up, not taking her eyes off the page. She didn’t turn to face Sasami because she was right at an emotional scene and tears were in danger of spilling from her eyes. Ever since she merged with Ryoko Zero, it had gotten easier for her to empathize with this kind of story.
Sasami, of course, had no way of knowing this. “Ryoko-oneechan, I’d like to air out the cushions in the sun… Is that okay?”
“Here ya go.” The cushions came flying towards Sasami without missing a beat, but they were not aimed at her. They sailed over her head, past the door to Tenchi’s room and the metal-framed glass sliding door left open for ventilation, and landed perfectly on the deck beyond.
Sasami went to place Tenchi’s mail on his desk as the carrot cushions continued to sail through the air behind her. She quietly watched Ryoko’s perfect-as-always aim, waited for a pause in the pitching, and popped her head out to thank her. “Thanks, Ryoko-onee-whoa!!”
A carrot cushion hit Sasami’s face with perfect timing. She came to her senses at Ryoko’s laughter, and glared at her, clutching the cushion on top of her head. “Ryoko-oneechan!”
Before she could throw it back, Ryoko phased through the floorboards, carrying her manga. Phasing through solid walls was one of her special abilities.
“She got away…” Sasami muttered. Carrying the cushion to the deck, she dusted it off, and lined all the cushions up on top of the two bamboo poles threaded through the railing. Airing them out in the sun, flipping them over once, and leaving them there until evening should get them nice and fluffy. Sasami did this every day because Ryo-Ohki loved sitting on the fluffiest cushions. This’ll make Ryo-chan happy. Imagining Ryo-Ohki happily frolicking with the cushions, Sasami smiled, forgetting Ryoko’s little prank.
By the time Sasami finished up and came downstairs, Ryo-Ohki had also returned from her delivery. “That was fast. Thanks, Ryo-chan.” It had been less than twenty minutes. Ryo-Ohki could barely waddle a few months ago, and now she could reproduce her critter mode’s speed when in human form. “I’m going to deliver a letter to Washu-oneechan. Want to come with me?”
“Meow!” Ryo-Ohki answered happily. With Sasami leading her by the hand, they went to the door below the stairs, holding the letter for Washu.
“Washu-oneechan?” Sasami knocked and opened the door matter-of-factly. A peculiar view spread before them. There was that ordinary closet door, which led to the space below the stairs. In fact, there were stairs, but they only went down about a meter underground and were pretty useless. However, beyond the door Sasami opened was a vast space that should have been physically impossible.
This structurally-useless door led to the lair—ahem, laboratory—of Hakubi Washu, a scientific genius, and the greatest mind in the galaxy. Close to the center of the room (which was too big to even be called a room) sat Washu, tapping away at her terminal. The monitor was covered in geometric forms. She was overseeing simulations of her research, analyzing results, and generally conducting some questionable experiments.
“What’s up? Seems a little early for lunch.” Touch-typing unerringly, Washu spoke to Sasami without looking away from the monitor.
“There’s a letter for you,” Sasami plainly stated without unnecessary detail. She knew from experience that was the best way to talk to Washu while she was absorbed in her research.
“A letter for me?” Washu’s fingers paused and she turned around, looking curiously at the envelope Sasami held out. After all, it was a regular paper envelope made on Earth. “I didn’t think I knew anybody on Earth with whom I would exchange correspondence.”
Written on the envelope, in beautiful penmanship, was the name Hakubi Washu-sama. Washu instantly ruled out any chance of the letter being a mistake or prank, considering her current environment and situation. The only possible sender was someone who knew that she was on Earth and who purposefully chose the old-fashioned Earth tradition of writing her a letter. There were plenty of people she knew who would be odd enough…or rather, fanciful enough…to do something so elaborate.
Washu flipped the envelope over. “Masaki…Kasumi? I wonder who that is…?” She understood that the name belonged to someone from Jurai, but she did not recognize it. It made perfect sense, of course, that the letter was from a Juraian. Information on what happened on Earth was under Jurai’s control, and there was practically no chance of other intelligence agencies getting their hands on the information. Not even the fact that the Emperor of Jurai and his two Empresses had visited Earth leaked to the outside world.
“The name uses different characters for ‘Masaki,’ but is it someone Tenchi-dono knows?”
“Oh! I bet that’s the name of Taro-chan’s mother!” Sasami cried out.
“…!!” As soon as Washu heard Taro’s name, she turned eyes of surprise and agitation to Sasami, which was very unusual for the usually-composed scientist. “Taro-chan’s…mother?”
“Definitely. Masaki is her last name.” Sasami said confidently, as she came to Washu’s side and peered at the envelope.
Kasumi, Taro’s mother, was Tenchi’s second cousin. Several months ago, she had been suddenly hospitalized for an illness, so the Masaki household had taken care of Taro for a time.
Ryoko, Tenchi, and the others were not used to handling babies, so Washu had looked after Taro… But it had reminded her of some bittersweet memories. If Taro’s mother had sent the letter, as Sasami said, it made sense that it was addressed to Washu. It was probably a thank you note.
“Mew…meow.” Someone else was also upset to hear Taro’s name: Ryo-Ohki. Perhaps she remembered being harassed while Taro was visiting. As soon as Sasami uttered the name, she reverted to cabbit form. She clung behind Sasami’s shoulder, rigid and nervous.
Sasami picked up the backpack that had dropped to the floor and gently petted Ryo-Ohki to reassure her. “It’s okay, Ryo-chan.”
“Meow.” Ryo-Ohki popped back into humanoid mode.
Washu turned with a gentle smile. “Thanks for the mail, Sasami-chan. I’ll read it later.”
“Huh? Oh…okay.” Sasami was a bit curious for news of Taro. She hadn’t been able to help care for him, since a number of things were troubling her at the time. She was very interested in the contents of Taro’s mother’s letter but could not bring herself to ask to read something addressed to Washu, so she reluctantly but cheerfully said, “I’ll call you when lunch is ready.” She took Ryo-Ohki’s hand to leave the room.
Ryo-Ohki, however, stiffened and would not move. She looked expectantly towards Washu.
“Ryo-chan?”
Washu, musing over the envelope, understood, petted her head, and said gently, “Thanks, Ryo-Ohki. I’ll be counting on you.”
“Meow.”
Washu made sure that Sasami and Ryo-Ohki were gone and then held the envelope in both hands. Her fingers froze, and she kept staring at it. A long period of silence ensued. She eventually closed her eyes, releasing a huge breath. Taking the envelope and standing up, she walked towards a different door than the one that continued to the Masaki house. The door opened silently, and the blowing breeze lightly ruffled Washu’s hair. Beyond the door was a park-like landscape surrounded by trees. Besides the trees, several different types of plants grew in cases of various sizes. It was more a botanical garden than a park.
Once through the door, Washu kicked lightly off from the ground. As casually as if she were skipping, she floated about ten inches off the ground without falling back down and soared through the air.