He may have been a third son with nothing to inherit, but his revenue from real estate and land had given him enough of a fortune that he didn’t have to work. As a result, he’d become an amateur scholar who spent all his time on research.
Although the marriage offer had come from a man old enough to be Ranko’s father, who already had a child, her parents wanted the betrothal money. They readily gave their consent, and Ranko was sold, as if she were a dog or a cat.
Ranko was taken into Kuniomi’s family as a wife, but in practice, she was always with Mayuka. The housekeeper, Hatogaya, took care of all the household chores and odd jobs. That meant Ranko’s actual role was closer to “babysitter.”
Hatogaya couldn’t abide Ranko. She spent all day talking about her behind her back, and she didn’t care who overheard. Her mistress was a sex maniac, a half-wit, a swindler. Ranko didn’t need to be reminded that she wasn’t very clever; she was well aware of that. Still, how could the woman have so much time on her hands?
Mayuka was an avid reader, and unlike Ranko, she was very smart. She stayed home from elementary school as much as she could, though, which meant the two of them were together all day.
Ranko couldn’t speak, and similarly, Mayuka was extremely quiet. No matter how much adults tried to talk to her, she’d just shake her head or nod. When it was absolutely necessary, she’d respond with two or three words.
However, when Mayuka learned that Ranko had never properly attended school, she gradually began teaching her things. Times tables, kanji characters, division, multiplication… Ranko actually knew several of these things already, but Mayuka taught her carefully, one by one, breaking the subjects down like so many candy drops. In exchange, Ranko whistled for Mayuka whenever she asked.
In retrospect, those were curious times. They didn’t make eye contact or exchange smiles. Just being together was enough to let them understand most things about each other.
Each was the only one the other would permit to stay at her side.
They weren’t mother and child, or sisters, or even friends. It was simply that Mayuka was with Ranko, and Ranko was with Mayuka.
It felt as if they were allowed to be people only during the time they spent together.
Mayuka’s voice calling her “Ranko” made Ranko human for the first time. It might have been lunacy to think that way, and yet…
As far as the two of them were concerned, those days were genuinely happy.
But then Kazutora Sawada came along.
He’d been hired because Hatogaya had hurt her back, and she pestered Kuniomi to employ a man. He was a sinister-looking drifter, and Mayuka said he appeared as a dorotabou to her. That made sense: Rumor had it that he’d begun as a land shark and had escaped to this area after doing some pretty vicious stuff.
Deceiving, plotting, threatening, beating—he smelled like the sort of person who knew and loved all these things. Just like Ranko’s parents… And for petty thugs like him, Ranko was the perfect target.
Mayuka seemed to sense something. For a while, she stuck close to Ranko, never leaving her side. However, Ranko was alone at night, and the next thing she knew, Kazutora had approached her with a scheme to kill her husband.
He said he’d kill Mayuka if she refused. If she dared to tell anyone, he’d make sure the entire Asaka family saw the photos some men had once cajoled Ranko into letting them take of her. If that happened, she’d be forced to divorce Kuniomi, no matter how he defended her.
The Asakas had originally backed Hatogaya as Kuniomi’s second wife. And in that case, the woman was bound to run Ranko off with a broom.
In the end, there was only one other path left for Ranko to choose.
That was why she was here now, on this May evening. Mayuka had caught the flu out of season and was sick in bed, and Ranko stood by her pillow, silently saying good-bye.
Perhaps “her final farewell” was a better way to put it. She was planning to throw herself in front of the morning’s first train.
Even if she fled with nothing but the clothes on her back, she’d never have a decent life. She could escape from the birdcage, but unless she knew how to fly, she’d just fall and be eaten by animals.
She was worried about Mayuka, but if the girl had Kuniomi, she’d probably be fine.
She’d heard rumors that, as a child, Kuniomi had been bullied by his parents and siblings for his stammer, and that was why he’d begun to study martial arts. Other people still scared him, but he saw his former self in Mayuka. That must have been why he’d resolved to be her father. Mayuka was also the only reason he’d taken Ranko as his wife.
In the end, the two of them resembled each other, even if they weren’t related by blood.
Please let them live, Ranko prayed.
She knelt by Mayuka’s pillow, gently reaching out toward her cheek. She knew it would be warm if she touched it. Even if she’d never be able to touch it again, that fact made her happier than anything.
I’m sorry.
All her words stuck in her throat; those were the only two that finally escaped her. Since Ranko was mute, she couldn’t say even that much aloud. Having wordlessly completed her farewells, she was about to rise to her feet, when…
Don’t go.
Mayuka’s lips trembled. She was murmuring deliriously. Her eyelids, damp with sweat from her fever, were still closed.
You’re all I need, Ranko.
So please don’t cry.
It wasn’t until a large tear dripped off Ranko’s chin that she realized she was crying. She knew that a tear had fallen on Mayuka’s sleeping cheek and drawn those words from her.
Once she’d noticed, there was no going back. She couldn’t deceive herself anymore.
I want to be with her.
I want us to stay together.
I want to live.
She held the girl’s small body close, and for some reason, she felt as if she were the one being hugged. She knew they were each just as warm as the other, and she didn’t think anything could make her happier than that.
And now the child was being kind enough to stay here, in her arms.
This girl is like me. She’s alone. I’ve finally found something that’s mine, and it’s her.
She whistled very, very softly, careful not to wake the girl.
Since she couldn’t speak, whistling had been how she’d cried. When she was kicked out in midwinter in nothing but her underwear, and she had to use her meager allowance to purchase shelter from single men, she’d whistled to take her mind off her situation.
Mayuka had been the only one who’d listened.
People said the sound of whistling at night was a dreadful thing, but Ranko was whistling a lullaby, and she wouldn’t stop. Not even if dawn broke and nothing had changed, and the morning found her guilty of killing her husband.
Snakes and villains and demons.
If whistling at night summons you, then hasten to me.
If you wish to bite, then bite.
If you wish to steal, then steal.
If you wish to devour, then devour.
Even if my body is reduced to bones and my soul falls into Hell, I’m sure I’ll smile and say…
…this child alone is mine.