Chapter 35
Taki works her hand through her short hair, staring intently down at her work book. Her head throbs. “Ughhh,” she moans. “I’ll never get all these dates straight. History gives me such a headache...!” The neighbor’s dog starts barking wildly. “That sure isn’t helping,” Taki thinks aloud. “Stupid mutt barks if the grass blows,” she mutters.
“Taki!” her father calls from her parents’ room down the hall. “It’s time to start thinking about going to bed!”
“Okay, Dad!” she calls back. “I’m almost done with my homework!” She rereads the second-to-last question again, but, distracted by the dog’s constant barking outside, puts down her pencil. Taki gets up from her desk and stomps to her window. She pulls up the shade and opens the glass. “Shut up, you dumb dog!” she yells out the window. Before she closes it again, she sees what it is barking at – a silhouette right in her backyard. While it was true her house didn’t have much of a fence, nothing this big had ever wandered into her family’s yard before. Taki closes the window, lowers the shade and goes for her coat. “Dad,” she calls as she steps out of her room, “there’s something in the yard. I’m going to go check it out.”
Silence for a moment. “Wait for me, Sport,” her father calls back.
Taki zips up her coat and stands in the hallway until her father comes out of his room in a house coat with a flashlight held at his side. “All right, let’s go investigate,” he says. The two of them open the back door and cautiously step out into the cold, dark yard. The dog in the next yard is still barking, but everything else is quiet and still.
Taki and her father hear Mrs. Soejima’s footsteps on the hardwood floor at the back door. “Do you see anything?” she asks worriedly. “Please be careful.”
“Everything looks fine, honey,” Taki’s father assures his wife.
Taki squints into the darkness and points out at the silhouette she saw from the window. “There. That wasn’t there before,” she tells her father.
“Okay,” he says. He holds out his arm in front of Taki and cautiously steps forward, lifting the flashlight slowly in the other hand. He pushes the switch up and shines the light on the silhouette. It wasn’t an animal; it was a person. His eyes widen. “It’s a boy,” he says in bewilderment. “Honey,” he calls back toward the house, “get a blanket and bring it to the door!”
Taki suddenly recognizes the half-snow-covered figure balled up next to the low fence. “Naoyuki!” she cries. She runs to him and kneels down to brush off the snow. “Hey, wake up! You can’t sleep out here in the snow!” His little, scraped-raw red hand catches her eye. She gently touches it. His skin was cold. How long had he been out here?
“Taki, you know him?” her father inquires, coming up to her with the blanket he’d asked for. “This is your friend, Naoyuki – the one you always talk about?”
“Yeah,” Taki replies shakily, nodding. He’s beaten-up again. He must’ve run away.
Her father unfurls the blanket. “Let’s wrap him up,” he says.
“Careful,” Taki says, “he’s hurt.” She gently props him up, feels him flinch. Her father wraps the blanket around him, then carefully picks him up and carries him inside with Taki in tow. “I’ll go set up a futon,” Taki says. She hurries off to the hall closet and takes out a futon and carries it to her room. She quickly unfolds it and spreads out a blanket and pillow. “It’s ready!” she calls. Her father carries Naoyuki into the room and lays him out on the futon.
“Taki,” her mother calls from the hallway, “put on a pot of hot water.”
“Okay.” Taki gets up and hurries out, and her mother pushes into the room past her father. Taki rushes to the kitchen and fills up the kettle with water, then puts it on the stove top and turns on the fire underneath it. Naoyuki’s dad is heartless, she thinks, hurting him like that... How long had Naoyuki been wandering around out there to find his way to my place? She lightly strokes her fingers across her hand. He was so cold... Taki searches the cupboard and pulls down a mug. “Tea, maybe?” she thinks out loud. “Or maybe some hot cocoa? Warm milk?” She pulls a can of condensed milk from a lower cabinet and pours some in the mug. “Gotta grab a spoon...” The kettle starts to whistle, and Taki turns off the fire. She pours water into the mug and stirs up the milk, then puts everything away. She hurriedly – but carefully – brings the mug of warm milk back to her room.
Her parents are still tending to Naoyuki – her father binding up his hand with a tongue depressor and a gauze bandage, her mother putting an ice pack to one of the bruises on his face – when she comes in. “Mom, I got a cup of warm milk,” she declares. She watches her father finish up with Naoyuki’s hand and asks, “Is his hand broken?”
“Hard to tell,” he replies. “At least fractured. I’m more worried about it getting infected – if he got into our backyard, who knows how many fences he climbed over with that scraped-up hand all open?”
With everything that was going on, Naoyuki was still out like a light. Mrs. Soejima removes the ice pack from Naoyuki’s face. “It’s no wonder laying in that snow felt so good to him,” she said. “He’s got scrapes and scratches and bruises all over. There’s a big one on his left side.” She puts a little pressure on it with the blanket, and Naoyuki flinches. He whimpers a little as she holds the pressure. “Was bleeding a bit, too,” Mrs. Soejima adds. Naoyuki’s whimpering builds into a weak cry. Mrs. Soejima backs off when he starts to fight her.
“Don’t move around so much,” Mr. Soejima coaxes Naoyuki. He puts his hand on Naoyuki’s shoulder, and Naoyuki flips out – screaming, flailing and the whole shebang. “Hey, don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself – !” Mr. Soejima exclaims. “Calm down!”
“Naoyuki!” Taki calls, gently holding back his injured hand. “It’s all right! You’re safe!”
Naoyuki turns his head toward Taki and calms down. “Taki...?” he asks tiredly.
Taki lets go of his hand. “Yeah. You made it to my place,” she says.
“While you’re up,” Mrs. Soejima asks, “how would you like a drink?”
Taki props Naoyuki up and hands him the mug. “Warm milk,” she tells him. Naoyuki hesitantly takes a sip from the hot mug. Pauses. Takes a longer sip. “Is it good?” Taki asks, to which Naoyuki nods in reply before taking a swig. “You warming up now?” Taki asks, once again receiving a nod in reply. She watches him gulp down the last of the milk, smiles, and pats him on the head, for which she gets a puzzled look from Naoyuki. She takes back the mug and gets up to take it back into the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Naoyuki says softly.
“You’re welcome,” Taki replies. She watches him yawn. He’ll be out cold again any minute now, she thinks. She quickly returns the mug back to the kitchen and goes back to her bedroom. Sure enough, when she comes in, Naoyuki is falling asleep.
Taki’s mother and father pick up their first-aid supplies and leave the room. “All right, Taki,” her father says, “that’s enough excitement for one night. Off to bed with you; you can wrap up that worksheet in the morning.” He ruffles Taki’s hair and follows his wife out, flipping the light switch on his way.
Taki kneels next to Naoyuki and brushes her hand through his hair. “You all right?” she asks, receiving a hint of a nod in reply. She reaches over and pulls the blanket up to Naoyuki’s chin. “Warmer?” she asks. Another silent nod from Naoyuki. Taki laughs a little. “Okay,” she says. “Good night, Naoyuki.” Taki gets up and lays down in her bed.
“N - G’night,” she hears Naoyuki say tiredly.
***************************
Shizuyo slams a hand on the table and just about drops the phone. “What do you mean, ‘Naoyuki’s missing’?!” she cries. “Aya, you promised! You said you’d take care of him this time! Go out there and look for him!”
She tries to calm down. Listens as Mrs. Kondo starts to explain. She sinks down into the kitchen chair, appalled. Of course. Kazu was always right about these things – after all, he was the one taking Psychology. He’d called it; Hiroto was mistreating Naoyuki. No, worse than that, he was abusing Naoyuki. So Naoyuki ran away. “He’s gone, and I don’t know where he went,” Mrs. Kondo cries on the other end of the line. “I tried looking around the neighborhood, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. What if he’s trying to go back to you?”
Shizuyo shakes her head in disbelief. “No, there’s no way he’d do that again. No way. Not after what happened on his way to your house.” She heaves a sigh. And besides, she adds to herself, he can’t come back here without confronting Tsutomu. Either way, he hits a roadblock. Still, the thought worries her. What if Naoyuki really was planning to try to come back by himself? What if he was out there in the dark and cold, alone, trying to find his way back? “Aya, can you think of anywhere else that Naoyuki would go?” she asks.
“No, I can’t! I can’t think of anywhere else he would go but back to you!” Mrs. Kondo cries. “Except...He has a friend at school, but I don’t think he knows the way to her house – I don’t even know where she lives... Maybe he went to the school...!”
“Yes, try that,” Shizuyo suggests. “If you don’t find him there,...call me back.” The phone clicks. Shizuyo hangs up. She sits in silence in the kitchen, her head hung. She props her head up on her hands. Her eyes cloud with tears. “Please be safe,” she cries. “Naoyuki...”
The telephone rings again. Shizuyo wipes her tears and picks up, trying to even out her voice. “Hello?” she says hollowly.
“Did you just get a call from Aunt Aya?”
It was Kazunori this time, not Aya; she hadn’t found Naoyuki yet. “Yes,” Shizuyo replies. “I just got off the phone with her.”
“Naoyuki’s missing...”
“Yes...” Shizuyo starts to tear up again.
On the other end of the line, Kazu heaves a sigh. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes. “I should’ve told you sooner. About Uncle Hiroto, I mean.” Static buzzes through the receiver for a few tense seconds. “Professor Ikeda and I went over there just yesterday. I tried to get Naoyuki out of there, but...he didn’t want to leave Aunt Aya.” Static again. “I wanted to tell you,” Kazu says, “but I couldn’t figure out how.”
Shizuyo takes a deep breath. “Aya’s looking for Naoyuki now,” she reports. “But..she thinks that Naoyuki might try to make his way back here.” She pauses, listens to the static on the other end of the line. “What do you think? It’s not possible, right? After what happened to his friends, Naoyuki wouldn’t do that again, right?”
“If he was desperate enough – if he was out of options,...he might.”
Shizuyo folds over the table. No. Please. Naoyuki, don’t...!
“But on the other hand,” Kazu adds, “he does have one other option in this case.”
“The friend?” Shizuyo asks hopefully.
“Yes. If he can find her, he might be all right.” He pauses, then adds, “If he’s found her, maybe it’s better if Aunt Aya doesn’t go and get him. Naoyuki isn’t safe with Uncle Hiroto. Uncle Hiroto is using Naoyuki’s scars to trap him; he knows that Naoyuki won’t go anywhere too far from Aunt Aya.” Shizuyo clenches her fist over the table. “Anyway, I’m going to call Professor Ikeda now and see if he can check up on the situation,” Kazu says. “I’ll go ahead and let you go, Ms. Matsuda. Good night.” With that, he hangs up the phone.
Shizuyo does the same. She waits for Mrs. Kondo to call her back. It’s better if she doesn’t find him, she reminds herself. Naoyuki isn’t safe there. She cringes. Hiroto, how could you?! You no-good...! I have half a mind to come up there and show you a thing or two! The more she mulls over it, the more she wants to go. She needed to go. She should have gone a long time ago. It was past time for her to step in. No more sitting by.
***************************
As Taki hurries excitedly out from school, Ikuo catches her on the walkway. “Oh, hi, Ikuo,” she greets him.
“Naoyuki’s not here today?” Ikuo asks worriedly.
Taki hesitates to answer. “Look,” she says, “I’m telling you this, but you can’t tell your dad, no matter what! Got it?” She studies his face and decides that he is sincere. “Naoyuki’s at my place. He was pretty roughed-up when he got to my house, so my mom decided to let him stay home and rest.”
Ikuo smiles a little in relief. “So he’s okay. Good.” He looks up at Taki and inquires, “Can I let my mom know? She was really freaking out. She even came up to the school last night, and when she didn’t find him, she cried.”
Taki smiles at him. “Yeah, you can tell your mom. Just don’t let it slip to your dad.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, I’ve gotta go now,” Taki says. “See you tomorrow!”
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Ikuo calls as he runs after her down the walkway. “You have a basketball game to get ready for, or something?”
Taki grins back at him as she starts to climb into her father’s truck. “We’re gonna have company today,” she says. “I’ll catch you tomorrow, Ikuo. Naoyuki should be coming, too.” She closes the door and waves out the window at Ikuo as her father pulls the truck into the street and hits the gas.
“Hey, Sport,” her father greets her. “Is he a friend of yours?”
“Yeah, Dad,” Taki replies. “That’s Naoyuki’s stepbrother, Ikuo.”
“Stepbrother, huh?” her father asks. “You know, Sport, we can’t keep Naoyuki forever.”
“I told you about Naoyuki’s dad,” Taki pleads. “We can’t send Naoyuki back to that!”
“I know. But his folks are probably looking for him. And lawfully, Taki, we either have to give Naoyuki back to his legal guardians or turn him over to the proper authorities.” He glances over at his daughter and concludes, “All I’m saying is, be prepared to let Naoyuki go.”
Taki frowns. We can’t let Naoyuki go back to that, she thinks, but what will happen if we turn him over to the cops or child services or whatever? What will happen to Naoyuki then?
When they pull into the driveway, another van is already parked in front of their house. Taki’s cloudy mood instantly lifts. She leaps from her father’s truck and bounds to the front door. She knocks excitedly and waits for her mother to open the door. When she does, Taki hurries inside to be greeted by a little boy with auburn hair and big, hazel eyes. “Taki!” he cries ecstatically, holding his little arms out for a hug.
Taki swoops down and lifts him up and spins him around. “Kenta!” she cries excitedly, grinning at his delighted laughter.
“Hush, Taki!” her mother quiets her. “Your other guest is sleeping.”
Just after she speaks the words, Naoyuki walks into the living room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning. “Taki’s home?” he asks tiredly. As he finally starts to wake up, he sees the little boy in Taki’s arms and the two unfamiliar adults standing near the kitchen and looks questioningly at Taki.
Taki beckons Naoyuki over, and he hesitantly complies. “Naoyuki, this is my little cousin, Kenta,” she says, gesturing toward the boy in her arms, then gesturing toward the two adults, finishes, “and my aunt, Sayoko, and my uncle, Toshiki.” She then turns toward her aunt and uncle and introduces Naoyuki in the same manner. “Aunt Sayoko, Uncle Toshiki, Kenta, this is my friend from school, Naoyuki. He’s a little shy until you get to know him.”
“Ah, so this is the famous Naoyuki we’ve been hearing so much about,” Taki’s aunt exclaims. “He’s an adorable little guy!” She kneels down and asks, “So how old are you? What grade are you in?”
Intimidated by her continuous fire of questions, Naoyuki backs down behind Taki. “Aunt Sayoko, I just told you he’s shy. Don’t scare him off.” Taki whispers into Naoyuki’s ear, “She’s the chatterbox in the family. Sorry about that.” She turns back to her aunt and says, “Anyway, Naoyuki is in the fifth grade.”
“Oh, so he’s a few years older than you, Kenta,” her aunt says.
Taki lets her little cousin down onto the floor. “There we go.”
Naoyuki steps back out from behind Taki to face the little boy. “Um...Hi...”
“Hi, Naoyuki,” Kenta greets him in return. “Pleased to meet you..!”
Naoyuki notices then that something was off about him. He spoke like he was winded. Brushing off this observation for the moment, Naoyuki slightly bows in reply.
“Now that you two are all acquainted, I’m going to go change,” Taki declares. “Be back in a minute!” She starts to rush off when she notices that Naoyuki is following behind her. “Hey, you can’t come with me, Naoyuki!” she cries. Naoyuki skids to a halt, his face flushed with embarrassment. “Kidding as always,” Taki says. “Sort of. So, what’s up?”
“Is Kenta okay?” Naoyuki asks hesitantly.
Taki half-grins. “You noticed, huh?” she asks. “He’s all right. I’ll explain later.” Taki walks down the hallway into her room and closes the door behind her, leaving Naoyuki to wait outside. Apprehensive about going back into the living room with all those strangers, Naoyuki leans against the wall and watches the adults and Kenta from afar. When Taki comes back out in her casual clothes, she approaches Naoyuki and asks, “Not exactly comfy with my folks yet either, are you?” to which Naoyuki shakes his head. “All right,” Taki says, nudging him gently ahead, “let’s go.”
She herds him back into the living room, where Kenta was already pulling a board game from the shelf on the near wall. “Taki,” he calls, “let’s play..this one!” He scurries over with Sorry and sets it up on the floor while Taki and Naoyuki make their way over.
“That one’s your favorite, huh?” Taki asks, patting her little cousin on the head. She sits down and says, “Okay, I’ll play.” She turns to Naoyuki and asks, “How about you, Naoyuki?”
Naoyuki nods and follows her lead. “Do you know how to play?” Taki asks, to which Naoyuki nods in reply. He’d played this one at the Fubukis’– Squinting his eyes shut, Naoyuki mutes a yelp and hides his hands.
“Hey, hey! Are you all right?” Taki asks. “You’re shaking!” She puts her arm around him until he calms down and opens his eyes again. “Better?” she asks. Naoyuki nods, and she lets go. “Okay. You guys can go first.”
“Kenta can go,” Naoyuki says.
A little while into their game, Mrs. Soejima calls everyone into the kitchen. “Time for dinner!” Taki whisks Kenta playfully into the air as Naoyuki follows them into the kitchen. Extra chairs had been set out to the point where the small kitchen feels very cramped. But everyone manages to fit in, and Mrs. Soejima sets the table for them and puts the food down in the center. “All right, dig in,” she says.
“Your friend seems mighty attached to you,” Taki’s aunt observes. “How long have you known each other?”
“We only met a few months ago,” Taki replies. “Naoyuki is a transfer student.”
“Ah, where did you transfer from?” her aunt asks Naoyuki. He doesn’t answer.
“Naoyuki doesn’t talk much,” Taki tells her aunt. “He hasn’t even told me where he transferred from yet, so...”
Taki’s mother redirects the conversation, asking, “How have things been for you? Kenta’s doing well in school and all?”
“Yes, he is,” Taki’s uncle replies. “It’s going well, all things considered.”
“Our class had a field trip,” Kenta speaks up. “We went to the science center..! It was fun! And...Mama and Papa chaperoned!”
“Oh?” Taki’s father inquires. “That sounds like a blast!”
Kenta nods excitedly. “My favorite is...maybe...oh, the dinosaurs!”
“The dinosaurs?” Taki’s father asks.
“Yeah! They moved! Chigusa got to take a picture..by the T-rex!”
Taki laughs. “Was it big?” she asks.
“Really big!” Kenta exclaims.
“The dinosaur exhibit only comes around once or twice a year,” Taki’s uncle explains, “so since the second-years were studying dinosaurs, they got to go. The kids were all having a good time, naturally, but they were very well-behaved.”
“So, Taki, how is school for you?” her aunt asks.
Taki shrugs. “Eh, it’s school, you know?” she says. “I’m getting good grades, but I’ve gotta say basketball suits me more than sitting at a desk all day. The team’s going to win this season – I know it! So far, we’ve won all our games!”
“Go, Taki!” Kenta cheers.
Taki grins from ear to ear. “Oh, yeah, and come spring, I plan on signing up for track. There’s a big track competition coming up in Nakano, and I want to participate.”
“Taki, I’m glad that you’re able to go all-out in sports,” her uncle says, “but you need to focus more on your studies. The sports scene isn’t kind to girls, you know; plus, it just isn’t a stable career.”
“Come on, Toshiki,” Mr. Soejima says, “it’s a new world – a lot more sports are accepting female athletes. So why not Taki? Be encouraging!”
“Taki can do it,” Kenta chimes in, smiling. “I like to see Taki play.”
Naoyuki glances from Kenta to Taki. I’ve never...seen Taki play, he realizes. She must be really good; she’s the team’s star player. He blinks up at Taki and asks, “Can I..come see you play...?” He blushes in front of the others at the table, suddenly feeling embarrassed, then a little uneasy. No. That might be a bad idea, he thinks. The captain...
“Of course you can,” Taki replies. “Maybe everyone can come to my game next week. I’d love that!”
“Yeah, I wanna go!” Kenta says excitedly.
“If we can,” Taki’s uncle says, “we will.”
Next week? Naoyuki wonders. Will I be able to go? Suddenly, he is jolted with the realization that this wouldn’t last. He’d run away; his mother was probably frantic, maybe looking all over for him. When he had to go back, how would his father receive him? He shivers at the thought. He’d probably get the beating of his life, or be locked up in his house somewhere for hours on end with nothing to eat. How long will I get to stay here? Naoyuki wonders. Taki’s motor-mouthed aunt’s voice breaks him away from his thoughts; she was asking about him again. How unnerving.
“Does your friend play any sports?”
“No,” Taki replies, “Naoyuki’s not in any clubs or teams at school.”
“Not even at his old school?”
Taki frowns uncomfortably. “I told you, he doesn’t talk to me about his old school.”
“Did your parents get relocated for work, or something?” Taki’s aunt asks Naoyuki. “Poor thing, you must be homesick. Is that it?”
Naoyuki suddenly feels a pang of longing for Shizuyo. Another for Haruko and Kotaro. But he couldn’t go back; if he did, his uncle would have him taken away. And Kotaro’s father would probably never accept him. And Haruko wouldn’t even be there. Naoyuki bites his trembling lip, fights back the lump building in his throat. He dares not look down at his hands. He simply nods. Then, rather than seeing it on his hands, he sees the red on his sleeve. He jumps.
“Naoyuki?” Taki asks worriedly.
“S-Sorry...!” Naoyuki bolts up from his chair and breaks into a dead run clear out of the kitchen and through the living room.
“Naoyuki!?” Taki calls after him.
“That was strange...” her mother murmurs.
“Is he all right, Sport?” her father asks. “He looked kind of spooked.”
“Dear, you said too much,” Taki’s uncle chides his wife.
“Oh, so I’ve upset the boy, have I?” Taki’s aunt mutters.
“Taki, please go make sure he’s all right,” her mother requests.
Taki nods and jumps up from her chair. “Excuse me!” she calls as she hurries out to find Naoyuki. “Naoyuki, where are you?” she calls. “Are you all right?” She notices the closed bathroom door and hears water running inside. “Naoyuki,” she calls, knocking on the door, “are you in there?” When he doesn’t answer, she puts her hand on the door handle. “I’m coming in!” she calls, then bursts in. She finds Naoyuki scrubbing frenziedly at his hands and sleeves, pale with fright and trembling wildly. “Naoyuki, what are you doing? Your hands are clean.” She watches him shake his head and continue to scrub hard at his hands. “Stop, that,” Taki cries, “your hands are all scraped; you’ll make them worse!” She yanks his hands out of the water and turns off the faucet, then turns him around to face her. “Naoyuki calm down,” she coaxes him.
He chokes down a frightened, shivering sob. “I–I..I want to see her...!” he cries. “I want to see Haruko!” He chokes down another sob. “She’s okay, right?” he cries. “She has to be okay...! Please..t-tell me she’s not – !”
Taki firmly takes hold of his arms. “Shh, calm down,” she coaxes him again. “It’s okay.” She lets go of his arms and hugs him. Finally, the tension in his body starts to fade, and he gradually stops shaking. “I’m sure you’ll see your friend again,” she assures him gently. Naoyuki slowly hugs her back. “Are you all right?” Taki asks, to which Naoyuki nods back in reply. “Okay. Let’s go finish eating.”
***************************
Exhausted in more ways than one, Naoyuki is relieved when the Soejimas and their relatives finally gather to exchange goodbyes shortly after sundown. “Kenta’s looking a bit worn-out, so we’re going to head home,” says Taki’s uncle.
“Have a safe drive,” Mr. Soejima says. “Good night, everyone!”
Taki hugs her little cousin and ruffles his auburn hair. “See you later, Kenta!”
“Next week,” he says, “I wanna see you play..!”
“If we can drop by for your game, we’ll come,” Taki’s aunt promises.
“Okay!” Taki says, grinning.
“We’ll see you all soon.” Taki’s uncle picks Kenta up and carries him outside with his wife following close behind. Mr. Soejima waves and closes the door gently behind them. “All right, you two,” he says. “Homework, then off to bed with you. Naoyuki will be going back to school tomorrow too, after all.”
Taki takes Naoyuki’s hand and leads him into her bedroom. She sighs as she pulls out two folders from her backpack. “This one’s yours,” she says. “I picked up your work today so you wouldn’t fall behind any more.” She hands the folder and a spare pencil over to Naoyuki, then goes to sit at her desk.
“By the way,” Taki says, “about Kenta...well...” She sighs. “He roots for me in sports.. because he can’t do that stuff himself. Kenta has a respiratory disease,” she explains. “For a while, he had to carry an oxygen tank, but he’s a little better than that now. His parents have been seeing all kinds of specialists, but they can’t afford the treatment that Kenta needs.” She smiles a little. “That track competition in Nakano – the prize money is supposed to be really good. If I could win it, maybe I could use the money to help Kenta get treated.”
Naoyuki stares at Taki. So that’s why... He forces himself to look away from her and glances around at all the basketball and track posters and trophies in her room. Taki’s really good. Sports are really important to her. “I’ve never even seen you play,” he says. “But I don’t... I don’t know how long I’ll get to stay here. And I don’t think Papa would let me go to your game. But I really..want to see you play.”
He sure is talkative now that we’re alone, Taki thinks. Then his words sink in. “You don’t want to go home, do you?” she asks.
“Nuh-uh.” Naoyuki shakes his head. “Not with Papa there.”
“He got you pretty bad, huh?” Taki falls silent for a moment. “Where were you before you came here? Why don’t you go back? Because your folks won’t let you?”
“My old school was worse,” Naoyuki says. “But I had Haruko and Kotaro.”
Taki stares at him, her eyes widened, her full attention captured. Is he really...going to tell me? she wonders. She watches Naoyuki’s fists clench. He starts to shake a little.
“But not anymore,” he says sadly. “Their parents probably hate me. I don’t even know if Haruko’s gonna be okay. And I can’t go back to Shizuyo, either; my uncle...he hates me, too. Besides, my friends got hurt because I wanted to come here. Running away now...would mean they got hurt for nothing...”
“Naoyuki...”
“And I don’t want to leave Mama,” he rambles on. “I wanted to take them all back home with me – Ikuo, too...” Tears work their way down Naoyuki’s face. “I want to go back...I want to go home...! What did I do wrong to make Papa hate me?! I just wanted everyone back – that’s all I wanted! That’s all...I...wanted...” He sniffs and tries to wipe his tears. “Am I selfish?”
“No,” Taki says, rushing over and embracing him. “No, you’re not. That’s not wrong. It’s not wrong to want to be with your family or to want friends.”
“Taki, I don’t know what to do,” Naoyuki cries.
“Just don’t give up,” Taki tells him. “Please. Promise me.”
Naoyuki nods. “Okay.”
Before Taki knew it, he was falling asleep right there in her arms. Taki wipes his wet cheeks and strokes her hand through his dark hair. His little hands cling onto her shirt. “I’m right here for you,” Taki says softly.
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When Kazunori comes into Ikeda’s college classroom early, he calls him up to the desk. “Have you heard something about my cousin?” Kazu asks frantically. “Please tell me! Was he at school – ?”
“Calm down,” Ikeda coaxes him. “Yes, Naoyuki was in class today. He’s safe. He found his way to Soejima’s house.” He smiles at Kazu and watches him ease. “And I have more good news for you,” he says. “Naoyuki’s looking a little healthier, and he’s doing his work again. He came in with a pile of finished make-up work. If he did the same for his other teachers, I’m optimistic that he’ll catch up.”
Kazu heaves a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I was so worried...”
“On another note,” Ikeda continues, pushing two sheets of paper toward Kazunori, “I want to know what you make of these.”
Both sheets of paper had a drawing on each side. One was Naoyuki’s; the other was Ikuo’s. The content was similar. “Was this an assigned topic this time?” he inquires.
“Yes,” Ikeda replies. “On one side is a picture of each boy’s ‘family’. On the other side is a drawing of something he fears. Interesting, yes?”
Ikuo’s family drawing was of a lone woman, drawn very kindly. On the other side was a drawing of some tall buildings. “Ikuo’s afraid of heights,” Kazu laughs. “But this one...I guess he doesn’t see Aunt Aya and Uncle Hiroto as his family yet – he can’t let go of his biological mother.”
He examines Naoyuki’s paper next. His family drawing included his mother and father, Shizuyo and Ikuo; but his father looked intimidating and dark. Surprisingly, though, it wasn’t his father who was drawn on the back of the page. It was a box – or maybe a building? “Naoyuki obviously fears his father,” Kazu observes. “But this – this thing that’s supposed to be something he fears... I don’t know what it means.”
“I have a guess,” Ikeda says. “If you think of what a box means, you could consider that the phrase ‘boxed in’ means ‘trapped’. A box is the shape of a cell or a cage. A box means ‘confinement’. A fence with a floor and roof. A closed quarters.”
“Naoyuki feels trapped,” Kazu surmises.
“And he fears it,” Ikeda adds. “If you think about it, the interior of a car is even an enclosed space. This could even represent the accident, in a roundabout way.”
“If you want to say that, a house is an enclosed space. So you could also interpret it as his house is a cage. Or his school is a cage. But in that case, wouldn’t he just draw a car or a house or a school? What are we looking at, here? Why does this particular enclosed space scare him?”
“Maybe it’s not meant to represent one specific thing,” Ikeda says.
“Maybe.” Kazu inspects the drawing more closely. Drawn in black. Drawn darkly and heavily. But little detail. Then he spots something distinctive: outside the box, there was a design of some sort that looked like an insignia – it was too deliberate to be a scribble or a stray mark. “What’s this?” he inquires. “Why is this shape here?”
“I assumed it was a key or something,” Ikeda replies.
“This means something,” Kazu replies. “It’s like a logo – it’s too distinct. Naoyuki must have seen it somewhere. This wouldn’t be at his house or in a car. I doubt it would be the crest of a school, either. That only leaves one place – the boys’ home.”
“That makes sense,” Ikeda agrees. “He would feel imprisoned there, away from his guardian and his family.”
“So this is our next angle to consider?” Kazunori asks.
“The only way to investigate it is to talk to Naoyuki himself,” Ikeda says. “Seeing as I wanted to observe his behavior away from his parents, perhaps I’ll go and see him at Soejima’s house. This would be my opportunity to do so.”
“Ms. Matsuda might also have a little information,” Kazu says. “When I go home, I’ll talk to her, as well.”
