Alice-Miranda in Japan 9 (9 page)

 

‘Where are you, boy?' Obaasan called.

Kiko poked her head out of the bathhouse she'd been taken to clean an hour earlier, and peered into the hallway. There were two bathhouses at the rear of the building's ground floor – one for the men and the other for the women. Obaasan had handed her a mop, bucket and some spray, which Kiko worked out must be for the tiled walls. The liquid smelt sharp and made her head ache. After an hour immersed in the pungent odour, she was glad to hear the old woman's voice.

‘Come, I need you to take tea to Ojiisan upstairs.'

Kiko wondered which Ojiisan the woman meant. There were many grandfathers in the house and she hoped it wasn't the one with the cane. She gathered her cleaning equipment and rushed to the kitchen. All the while, Kiko's eyes scanned every surface and crevice looking for her locket. She wondered if Obaasan had hidden it in her bedroom. There was another room at the front of the house, off the kitchen, which she hadn't been in either. It was on the corner near the alley and Tatsu was the only one she'd seen going in and out, but he always locked the door behind him.

Obaasan passed her a tray.

‘Which room?' Kiko whispered.

‘Upstairs, at the far end of the hall,' Obaasan replied. ‘You look after him. He is special.'

It was the man Kiko had met earlier. At least he was friendly enough.

Kiko balanced the teapot and cup and walked up the timber staircase. She stepped carefully along the hall; the pot was so heavy her hands trembled. At the end of the passage, she placed the tray down and knocked on the door.

‘Hello?' she called, hoping to hear his voice on the other side.

Kiko didn't want to barge in but she didn't want the tea to go cold either. There was a perfect temperature for serving and if she waited much longer it would be less than ideal.

‘
Sumimasen
, I have your tea,' she said, pushing the door open.

The man was still sitting in his chair facing towards the window, exactly where he had been earlier.

Kiko picked up the tray, walked inside and set it down on a low table beside him.

‘Would you like me to pour it?' she asked quietly, keeping her head low.

The man nodded.
‘Hai.'

Kiko bowed. She held the teapot and rotated it three times. Then she poured the tea, filling the cup a third of the way, then two-thirds and then an inch below the top. She passed it to the man and bowed.

‘What is your name?' he asked.

Kiko gulped. ‘Yoshi,' she whispered.

‘How old are you?' the man asked. His hands trembled as he gripped the cup and liquid spilled over the sides and onto the small leather-bound book that was resting on his lap.

‘Eleven,' Kiko replied. ‘Would you like me to take that for you?' She pointed at the book.

He shook his head. ‘No. Leave it.'

Kiko wondered what it was.

‘You must not stay here,' he said, ‘or you will die like everyone else.'

Kiko shifted uncomfortably. ‘What do you mean, Ojiisan?'

The old man slurped his tea and set the cup back down.

‘Would you like some more?' Kiko asked.

‘No.'

Kiko noticed that every now and then his whole body trembled. She wondered what was wrong with him.

‘You must leave this place,' the man said.

‘But why do you stay?' Kiko asked.

‘I have no choice. Perhaps you do not have a choice either.' He gripped the side of his chair and held tightly, as if trying to make the tremors stop.

‘Boy, are you still up there?' Obaasan screeched from the bottom of the stairs. ‘You get down here now.'

Kiko gathered up the tray and walked to the door.

The old man stared out the window. ‘Go!' he said. ‘Or you will be in trouble with the boss lady.'

He opened the leather-bound book on his lap. It was a photograph album. An exquisite young bride stared up at him.

Kiko glanced at it but he clutched the album to his chest. ‘
Arigatou
, Ojiisan,' she whispered, then walked as quickly as she could from the room and down the hall. Obaasan was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

‘What were you doing up there, boy? Making sushi? I have more jobs and you are lazy. Lazy!'

Kiko followed Obaasan back to the kitchen. She was good at blocking out the noise. Obaasan was no match for her Aunt Hatsuko. Besides, Obaasan at least praised her occasionally, which was more than could be said for her aunt.

Kiko was directed to stir a large pot of noodles on the stove. After a few minutes her arms felt like lead and she wondered how long she could keep it up.

‘You tired, boy?' Obaasan said. She may not have been able to see too much but she was perceptive nonetheless.

Kiko nodded.
‘Hai,'
she said softly.

‘You're a good worker for a beginner. When you've had more practice you will be even better. I'm glad you sleep on my doorstep.'

‘What is the matter with Ojiisan?' Kiko asked.

The old woman stood up on another small stool next to Kiko and scraped some meat into a sizzling pan. ‘Ojiisan is just old,' she said.

‘But he shakes,' Kiko said.

‘His heart is broken,' Obaasan said. ‘But I look after him and he has a good life. Better than if he had stayed out there.'

Out there.
The words turned over in Kiko's mind. ‘Out there' was where she needed to go. But first she had to find her necklace and get her mother's diary back.

 

On their return journey to the inn, the children attracted a lot of attention. Hugh wondered if they'd ever get back, as people constantly stopped them for photographs. Finally they emerged from the station in Asakusa.

Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta decided that they would change before dinner. Although being Itoshii Squirrel had been fun to start with, Millie was finding it difficult to breathe inside all that fur.

‘Can you imagine how tired Uncle Lawrence must get of being asked for photographs?' Alice-Miranda said as the children walked towards the inn.

‘Yes, but he's a movie star,' Millie replied. ‘He sort of brought it on himself, really.'

‘And he's so handsome,' said Jacinta with a sigh. ‘Who wouldn't want to have their photograph taken with Lawrence Ridley?'

Millie and Alice-Miranda giggled.

The adults were lagging behind when Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta turned the corner into their street. The children walked past a large house, which Alice-Miranda noticed was built in the same style as their inn. Between the house and the inn was an alley. Like the inn, the house sat right on the edge of the road. In the downstairs window closest to the alley, the curtains were open a fraction, revealing a desk with a large screen on top of it.

‘I wonder what they're watching,' Millie said as she noticed something playing on the screen.

‘I haven't even thought about television since we've been here,' Alice-Miranda said. The girls' room at the inn was completely devoid of technology, apart from the toilet. ‘I don't think we'd be able to understand much of it anyway.'

She and Jacinta kept walking but Millie peered through the window at the monitor. Then she stepped back and glanced up under the building's eaves. A tiny video camera stared back at her.

‘Hey, look at this!' Millie rushed forward, grabbed Alice-Miranda's arm and pulled her back to the window. ‘Look, on the screen.' Millie pointed.

Jacinta hurried back to join them.

‘That's us on there,' Millie said, waving at the camera to prove her point.

Jacinta cupped her hands and stared through the window.

‘So it is.' She looked up and spotted the camera. ‘I wonder why they need surveillance. I thought Japan was a really safe place.'

‘It is,' Alice-Miranda said, ‘and we probably shouldn't be looking into people's windows.'

Millie stepped away but Jacinta continued to look.

Jacinta's jaw dropped. ‘Oh my goodness, it's him! The kid from the Itoshii Squirrel shop just walked into that room.'

The boy looked up and caught Jacinta's gaze. She turned her head and pretended that she hadn't been watching him. He came forward and tapped on the glass. Jacinta jumped into the air. Millie and Alice-Miranda watched as he pointed at Jacinta and then ran his finger across his throat.

Millie's heart thumped. ‘You little brat!' she called and shook her fist back at him.

‘What did he do?' Jacinta whispered, still not wanting to turn around.

Millie was about to tell her when she spotted Alice-Miranda shaking her head.

‘Nothing. He's just horrible,' said Millie, still staring at the boy.

‘Come on, let's go.' Alice-Miranda grabbed Jacinta's hand and pulled her away.

‘He wouldn't have recognised me in this outfit anyway,' Jacinta said.

Alice-Miranda wondered about that too. He certainly wouldn't have known it was Millie. Perhaps he was rude to everyone.

The boy shut the curtains just as the adults caught up to them.

‘What were you looking at, girls?' Hugh asked.

‘It was the boy from the shop near the temple,' Alice-Miranda explained.

‘The one who upset Jacinta?' her father quizzed.

She nodded.

‘Well, I might pay him and his father a visit after all.'

‘
Who
upset Jacinta?' Ambrosia asked. It was the first she'd heard about it.

‘Perhaps we should talk about it later, Daddy,' Alice-Miranda said pointedly.

Hugh looked from his daughter to Ambrosia and back. ‘Okay, darling.'

The group arrived at the inn. ‘Oh my goodness, look at you,' Aki exclaimed as the children flooded into the foyer.
‘Kawaii.'

‘I think we've heard that about five thousand times between Harajuku and here,' Millie said. ‘Itoshii Squirrel really is popular.'

‘That's because he is so cute,' Aki grinned.

‘What are we doing for dinner, then?' Hugh looked at Cecelia.

‘I think we should stay in tonight,' Cecelia said. ‘The children are tired and I'm afraid Ambrosia and I have more meetings tomorrow.'

‘Here it is, then,' said Hugh. He turned to the girls. ‘In the meantime, what would you three like to do until dinner?'

‘Can we play a game?' Alice-Miranda asked.

‘I can explain how to play one of the Japanese board games,' Aki suggested. ‘You could take it up to your room.'

Alice-Miranda and Jacinta nodded.

‘That would be great,' Millie said, ‘except I'll have to get changed first. I don't think squirrel paws will be very helpful at moving board pieces.'

Cecelia nodded. ‘That sounds absolutely perfect. I think your father and I might have a rest, Alice-Miranda – I'm afraid we oldies don't have as much energy as you girls.'

‘And I'm going to get a start on today's article,' Ambrosia said. ‘How about we meet here at six-thirty for dinner?'

It was agreed. The adults wandered off, and Millie and Jacinta set about choosing a board game with Aki's help. Alice-Miranda was happy to let them decide – she was too distracted thinking about the boy next door.

 

In the girls' room, Millie scratched at her fur, eager to get out of the squirrel costume. She pulled off the head and took a deep breath.

‘Remind me that I never want to get a job as a character at Disneyland,' she sighed.

‘What did that boy next door do when I looked away?' Jacinta asked as she unfurled her futon.

‘Um, he shook his fist,' Millie lied. She glanced over at Alice-Miranda, who nodded.

‘So why do you think they have a surveillance camera over there?' Jacinta plonked down on the floor and took the lid off the game box.

‘Who knows?' Alice-Miranda replied. ‘Maybe they have a lot of money from the Itoshii Squirrel shop.'

‘Yes, that's probably it,' Jacinta agreed as she set up the board.

Alice-Miranda wondered too. She had a strange feeling about that boy and the house across the alleyway.