Chapter 16
Naoyuki awakens, cold and wet, to find himself lying in the snow in someone’s backyard with his teddy bear in his arms. He pushes himself to sit up and glances around tiredly, wiping the cold snow from his cheek. I must’ve dozed off... he thinks. I didn’t get enough sleep. The wind blows more snow in his face, and he turns away from the wind as he hugs himself for warmth. Naoyuki stands up and shakily starts forward again as he slips the toy into his hood. He fingers the picture in his jacket pocket when his fingers run across the smooth beads of the bracelet he’d made for his mother. I have it. Good.
He clumsily climbs over the fence and reaches the sidewalk on the other side, then glances around a second time. Now it looks familiar. I think I’m getting close. Naoyuki trudges onward through the almost knee-deep snow. Finally, he sees Kazunori’s house down the street and hurries ahead. Naoyuki rings the doorbell and waits; Mrs. Seido answers it a second later.
Her eyes widen with surprise. “Naoyuki!” she cries. “What are you doing here? And why aren’t you wearing a coat?! Don’t you know how worried your caretaker is?” She herds Naoyuki inside, then strides into the kitchen.
Naoyuki slowly lowers himself on to the couch and waits again, looking around nervously. “My husband isn’t here,” Mrs. Seido calls from the kitchen, “and neither is Kazunori.” She pours some hot water into a mug and continues, “But Mizue is, if you want to see her.” She waves Naoyuki into the kitchen. “Come in and have a seat.” Naoyuki slowly makes his way to the table and sits down in one of the four chairs as Mrs. Seido sets the hot mug down in front of him. “You must be hungry,” she comments, walking off toward the sink. “I’ll fix you something to eat.”
Naoyuki glances around once more, then starts sipping his cocoa. He hears footsteps coming down the stairs a second later and looks up to see Mizue entering the kitchen. “Oh! Hello, Naoyuki!” she greets him. She takes a second look at him and asks, “Are you all right? Your face is all red.”
It is? Naoyuki puts his hand to his cheek, then remembers that he had slept in the snow on that side of his face.
“And your jacket looks soaked!” Mizue adds. “Were you outside in this weather with only that jacket on?” Naoyuki gives her an embarrassed smile and nods. “You must be freezing!” Mizue cries. “Come on upstairs, and I’ll get you warmed up!”
“Mizue, let him finish his drink first,” her mother says. “I don’t want you brining any drinks out of the kitchen, do you hear?”
“Yes, Mom,” Mizue replies. She turns to Naoyuki and tells him, “I’ll bring you a blanket. When you’re done with your cocoa, come join me upstairs, okay?” She disappears back upstairs, then, a few moments later, comes back with a blanket and drapes it over Naoyuki’s shoulders. “Better?” she asks. He nods and wraps himself up in the blanket. Mizue grabs a pencil from the counter and disappears upstairs again.
Naoyuki takes a few more sips of his cocoa, then furtively takes the photo from his jacket pocket and flips it over to look at the address on the back; he mutters it to himself under his breath a few times before hiding the photo from Mrs. Seido’s view. “Are you done?” Mrs. Seido asks, taking a peek over his shoulder. “Or is it too hot for you?”
Naoyuki nods and gets up from the table, holding the edges of the heavy blanket to keep it from falling off. He motions toward the stairs, then starts out of the kitchen. “I’ll call you when your meal is ready!” he hears Mrs. Seido call after him.
He climbs up the stairs and walks toward an open door and peers inside. Mizue is sitting on her bed with a laptop open when she looks up and sees him. “Oh, come in,” she calls. Naoyuki walks into the room and looks around. He sees the unfinished bracelet that Mizue had asked him to make sitting on a dresser near the door. “Are you going to finish it?” Mizue asks him when she sees him looking at it.
Naoyuki approaches her and pulls the photo out from underneath the blanket. He flips it over, showing her the address on the back, then gestures toward her laptop.
“You still need directions...” Mizue says. “Are you...? You aren’t planning on going by yourself...?” Naoyuki nods, frowning. “But it’s such a long way! You’ll never make it on foot, especially if this weather keeps up, and you’re not even wearing a coat or gloves, for goodness’ sake – Speaking of which, take off your jacket, and I’ll hang it up to dry.”
Naoyuki reluctantly pulls off the blanket, takes his mother’s bracelet out of his jacket pocket, the teddy bear out of his hood, and takes off his jacket. Mizue takes it from him and disappears down the hallway. Naoyuki pulls the blanket back over his shoulders and gets up to walk over to Mizue’s dresser. He takes the unfinished bracelet and her set of beads, then sits down on the floor and gets to work.
When Mizue comes back into the room, Naoyuki is already stringing more beads onto her bracelet. She can’t keep a smile from slinking across her face. “All right,” she acquiesces, “I’ll go ahead and get you a map.” She maneuvers around Naoyuki and climbs onto her bed. “But you have to promise me that you won’t go alone.” She puts her laptop in her lap, still keeping her eyes on her cousin. “Okay?”
Naoyuki nods and continues working on Mizue’s bracelet. It’ll be a bother to go all the way back home, he thinks, but Shizuyo-sensei wants to come, too, after all.
After a few minutes of Mizue tapping away at her keyboard, she says, “Okay, I’ve got it.” She gets up and carries her laptop toward the desk on the opposite side of the room and hooks it up to a printer. In only seconds, a map slips out. “Naoyuki, here,” Mizue calls.
Naoyuki holds his hands out, and Mizue gives him the map. “Like I said,” Mizue reminds him, “if you’re going to take this, you have to promise not to go alone.” Naoyuki nods again in answer. “Okay,” Mizue says. She sits down on the floor with him and watches him string the last beads on to her bracelet. “It’s beautiful,” she says. “You have a real gift for this.”
Naoyuki smiles bashfully, then takes the catch and ties it on to the end of the bracelet’s string. He holds the bracelet out to Mizue; she holds out her hand to him, and Naoyuki fastens the bracelet around her wrist. Mizue adores it for a moment, then says, “Thank you, Naoyuki. I love it.”
“Naoyuki!” Mrs. Seido calls from downstairs. “Come into the kitchen! Your meal is ready!”
Naoyuki and Mizue hurry down the stairs and into the kitchen. A tasty-looking plate of food is waiting at the table. Naoyuki sits down and begins eating while Mizue joins her mother over the stove. “Now I’m hungry, too,” she comments as she rummages through cabinets for cooking apparel.
The phone rings; Mrs. Seido turns down the fire on the stove and walks across the kitchen to answer it. “Hello – Oh, Tsutomu,... I thought you’d still be at work – Oh, so you’ve heard...?”
Mizue glances from her mother over to Naoyuki. That’s Dad she’s talking to, she realizes. Are they talking about Naoyuki? She notices that Naoyuki must have been listening, too, for now he was completely still and partially turned toward the phone.
“I see. So you’re on your way back,” Mrs. Seido says quietly. “Yes – Okay. Bye.” She finally hangs up the phone and casually returns to the stove.
“Mom?” Mizue asks. “What was that all about?”
“Hush,” her mother hisses.
That could only mean... Naoyuki bolts up from the table and accidentally knocks his dishes over the edge in his hurry to escape; the plate shatters as it hits the floor.
So he’s already figured it out, Mrs. Seido thinks. Then there’s no point in hiding it. “Mizue, your father will be home shortly,” she says. “Could you tidy up a bit in the living room and unlock the door? Don’t worry, I’ll handle your breakfast, dear.” Mizue nods and sullenly leaves the kitchen.
Naoyuki glances between the stairs and the broken plate. He reluctantly kneels down and reaches out for the shards of the dish. “Don’t touch it,” Mrs. Seido says, “you’ll hurt yourself.” She turns to him and adds, “But if you could, please go in the laundry room at the end of the hall and get the broom and dustpan for me.”
Nodding, Naoyuki disappears into the back of the house, then returns with his damp jacket on and the broom and dustpan in his hands. He sweeps up the mess himself and dumps it into the trash can, then picks up his silverware, carries it to the sink, and drops it in. He starts for the stairs, when Mrs. Seido calls after him, “Can you also take the blanket Mizue gave you and lay it out to dry?”
She’s stalling me now, Naoyuki thinks. He nods anyway and runs up the staircase and down the hallway to Mizue’s room. He gathers up his few belongings and the map, then balls up the blanket and carries it downstairs. Where am I supposed to put this, anyway?
“Naoyuki, if you have that paper with you,” Mrs. Seido calls, “then please give it back. I wouldn’t want you to get into any more trouble.”
Naoyuki strides back into the laundry room and lays the blanket out over the washer and dryer. I’ve gotta go before Uncle gets here, he thinks to himself. He peeks around the corner and starts for the back door, pulling the folded map from his pocket, when he hears someone’s footsteps behind him.
“Naoyuki,” Mrs. Seido calls. Naoyuki looks at her over his shoulder. “What’s that you have?” she asks, nodding toward the map in Naoyuki’s hand. Naoyuki stiffens, then slowly folds it back up. “Give it here, please,” Mrs. Seido tells him, holding out her hand. Naoyuki turns toward her, frowning, and shakes his head as he backs away toward the door, hiding the folded map behind his back. “Like I said,” Mrs. Seido continues as she steps toward him, “I don’t want you to get in any more trouble. If you give that to me, your uncle won’t bother you anymore. You can go back to Ms. Matsuda to stay.”
Naoyuki steps back until his back is against the door, shaking his head vehemently, as Mrs. Seido continues to approach him slowly. He reaches for the door handle and begins fiddling with the lock when Mrs. Seido grabs his arm and pulls him away from the door. Naoyuki whines and pulls away from her. She reaches out for the map, but Naoyuki thrusts his hand behind his back and stands against the wall. Mrs. Seido sighs. “Trust me, you’d much rather give it to me now than wait ‘til my husband gets home.”
“Mom, I’m done – !” Mizue stops in her tracks and stares. “What in the world is going on?”
“Can you convince him to give back the paper with the Kondos’ address?” Mrs. Seido asks.
Mizue frowns. “How could you even ask that? Why can’t you just – ?”
“Your father will be much rougher on him than we will. I’d rather ask it back now than let your father at it.” Mrs. Seido turns back toward Naoyuki and says, “Come, now, be a good boy and let me have that paper.”
Naoyuki looks up at her pleadingly and shakes his head again. As Mrs. Seido reaches for his hand, Naoyuki cries out, “No!” Startled, Mrs. Seido steps back.
Mizue turns toward the living room as the sound of a car draws close. “I think Dad just pulled up in the driveway,” she says.
Panicking, now, Naoyuki starts for the back door again, but Mrs. Seido stops him. “Please,” Naoyuki cries as tears well up in his eyes, “I just want to see Mama and Papa!” When Mrs. Seido doesn’t move, he pleads again. “Please! Please let me go!” The doorknob clicks in the living room. “Please!” Naoyuki begs once more, tears streaming down his cheeks. Sighing, Mrs. Seido finally steps out of his path; Naoyuki bolts for the back door and slips away.
