I stirred the steaming porridge in the iron pot slowly, watching the smoke rise slowly from the brimming hot slush over the wooden stove. The smell of porridge filled the entire room, a change from the smell of boiled taro that we have been eating for the past few weeks. But today was a special treat, I have finally managed to afford rice with my meagre salary as a train conductor at the nearby train station. The sky was still dark, but it was already time to stir the children up from their slumber. It was late winter, and dawn is rather late, compared to other times. Still, Neru has to go to school.
I blew out the stove, and set the iron pot to cool on a rubber met atop our small, low table. Leaving it there, I slid the door open and exited our modest room into the hallway. I climbed up the stairs to the second storey of our humble abode, and opened the door to the only bedroom in the house. Neru-chan was still deep in slumber in a futon, while Lily-chan, was still nestled in her wooden cot, wrapped in layers of woolen blankets.
"Neru-chan, wake up it's already morning. You have to go to school don't you?" I said, shaking the still-sleepy eldest daughter of mine, who responded with a tired, grumpy moan.
"I've made porridge today for breakfast, if you don't wake up I'll have to throw it away." I continued.
In an instant, she nearly jumped out of the futon, all of a sudden wide awake, as if she hasn't been sleeping just a few short moments ago.
"Ah, porridge? Don't throw it away okaa-san, I want some!" she childishly cried out.
"Don't worry, I was just kidding!" I chuckled, that trick always worked, she really loved porridge. "The porridge is still hot, so go get ready and come down as soon as possible, and don't forget to roll up your futon." I reminded her.
I left the door open behind me, and proceeded to the balcony to hang up laundry, which I had just finished washing in the bath before making breakfast. I wrung dry some of the soaked pieces of clothes in the basket over the balcony, letting the water fall to the cold hard ground in the yard below. I took a few soaked kimono, mine, three of them, and hung them with brightly-coloured wooden pegs on the short clothing line spanning the entire width of the small balcony. There wasn't much space to hang our clothes to dry, but that didn't pose us much of a problem, since I wash and dry them out in lots. I took another few wet laundry items from the menagerie of clothes in the basket. Another one of my few winter kimonos, a used black long-sleeved seifuku, Neru's, and a cheap, brown, children's coat I got from the garment shop the other day. It was winter, so I had to try to grab every little amount of faint sunlight to be able to dry all our laundry.
After finishing drying the clothes, I walked past the bath, which was occupied. Neru-chan was in the bath, taking a quick shower, as per the norm. I could hear the loud splashings of water coming from inside.
"Remember, don't waste a lot of water, get it?" I reminded Neru-chan as I walked past the closed door, who before the war, used to love taking showers, and used to use a lot of water.
I heard a muffled sound of agreement from her, so I proceeded to the next room, to pick up the sleeping Lily-chan from her cot. Neru's pink and white futon had already been rolled and tucked in neatly in the corner of the room. I bent down and swooped Lily-chan into my arms, and went out of the room.
I sighed to myself. It has been a while since Len-kun left for the war. The house seemed so gloomy and silent without him. He would usually wake up as early as me, around five, and help me around with the housework, he would usually help wake up the children and sometimes hang the clothes, while I cook and cleaned up the house. He would usually joke around light-heartedly with everyone, and he was very close to the children. I dare say that that both of the girls are closer to him than to me, even though I was the one who went through all the pain of labour to bring them into this world. Neru-chan, for instance, would look for her father the first thing she does after getting back from school in the afternoon. Father and daughter were inseparable; I remembered the many times he went to take Neru-chan out to the park or to see the river while I stayed at home, taking care of Lily-chan. He was always concerned about all three of us, and he would always work late at the municipal office in the city centre just to earn some extra money for the family.
I went down to the living room, put the sleeping Lily-chan on the floor in front of our low, wooden table. I knelt down on the floor and scooped the porridge into the three wooden bowls I had placed on the table earlier. If Len-kun was still here in Tokyo with us now, of course, life would be much easier. Now, he's somewhere far away, in a foreign land, dodging bullets and fighting for the good of the nation. That's what the government says. I sighed again, the war had been dragging on for years now, winter after winter had passed, and it seems like I will not be seeing him for some while, looking at how the war seems to be at a stalemate, and both countries were exhausting their own resources fighting. The air raid sirens at night were also going off more and more frequently, the last one happening just a few days ago. But no matter how long it might take me to finally see my dear husband, I will patiently wait for his return, and I will never forget those caring cerulean eyes and how he's always so kind to everyone. He has always been like that ever since we were young.
We first met when we were both around seven, huddling in the cold in the hall of the Sensō-ji in Asakusa . I still remember that day very clearly. It was the day of the Great Kanto Earthquake, September first, 1923 and all of Tokyo was ablaze.
I have managed to escape unscathed as I was in the yard of my house when the ground shook violently, around lunchtime. I slammed into the hard ground, losing my balance due to the vigorous shaking. I remember digging my fingers into the grass, desperate to hold on to something, amid all the chaos. The ground was shaking, wave after wave of shock came rolling by, and for some moments the ground moved up and down, like the ocean during a storm. I watched in horror as the familiar streetscape in front of my house turned into an utter wasteland, succumbing to the destructive force of the earthquake. I saw with my very own eyes the wooden houses across the street tumbling down like they were made of cards, the wooden beams and pillars supporting the structure cracking and splintering in half like matchsticks, and the heavy roofs came crashing down, crushing and trapping whoever was unlucky enough to be inside. The towering wooden telephone lines all fell, one by one, as each pulled the next, entangling their wires together, like dominoes, and came to rest on the street below. The sound of everything collapsing was deafening, my ears hurt for a while even after the quake stopped. I watched helplessly as the throngs of people who were on the busy street in front of me get trapped beneath the falling debris raining down on them like deadly hail. I saw how a young mother, a small child nestled in her arms tried to run away, but the shaking ground made her stumble and fall, and alas, if she were just a second faster of getting out of that spot she was on, she and her small child might still be alive today. I saw how the both of them were both knocked again to the ground, right in front of my yard, by a heavy telephone post. This time, it knocked them both down for good, crushed to death by the sheer weight of the telephone pole. Everything, everything around me was collapsing.
Tokyo continued to shake for what seemed to be an eternity, but finally stopped. I was finally able to take a few deep breaths, and was finally able to regain my balance. I stood up slowly, not used to the ground finally being still. I looked around, and still couldn't comprehend what was happening. Frozen, I surveyed the area around me. The street in front of me has become unrecognisable, just a jumbled heap of debris and twisted bodies. Around me, I saw people crawling up from the debris, some injured, some unscathed, but all moving around. At that time, I was too shaken to even think of a reason why.
I was miraculously unscathed, not even a cut or bruise on my palms as I dug and grabbed the blades of grass. Only my dark blue sakura-print kimono was soiled with dirt and dust blown by the wind. Then I turned around to the only thing I haven't seen yet, as my back was facing it during the entire period of the quake, my house.
The two-story house was a heap of broken wood and tile. The first story was crushed, a messy pile of broken beams, paper walls and doors but the second storey was still intact, miraculously. Then it hit me. My family, where were they? Were they alright? My mother, father and my little brother, all of them!
"Okaa-san! Okaa-san!" I cried out with all my heart, still shaking in fear, if I hadn't done that, I might have not realized my mother, lying there, in the rubble.
"Miku-chan!" I heard my mother call my name, in a half shouting, half gasping manner.
I turned around and I saw my mother, lying in the rubble in what would have been the front door. I went up to her, crying in a mixture of fear and relief. For a moment I was happy, that I found her, and I only managed to touch her warm hands, sobbing, still reeling in from the shock. I looked up, and only then I saw how grave and hopeless the situation was.
My mother was trapped at the waist between the beams of our door. I teared up even more and looked at her. Her cyan hair was in a mess, blowing in the dry wind, along with the tattered sleeves of her peach kimono. I held her hand.
"Okaa-san! I'll get you out! I promise!" I said, letting the tears fall from my cheeks, dripping onto her soft, delicate hand, the hand that had raised me from a small child with such loving and tender care.
I tugged and tugged at her hand, but still she would not come out. No matter how hard I try, she wouldn't budge an inch.
"Don't worry Okaa-san, stay here, I'll get you some help!" I said to my trapped mother.
I ran across the yard to the debris-ridden street. It wasn't exactly clogged up, there was still a thoroughfare where people could still pass through. There were many people on the street, all rushing about in a panicked frenzy. People crawled out of their dishevelled, ruined houses, and all seemed to be rushing in the same direction, down the street, towards the western part of the city. I approached the seemingly countless number of people rushing about, seeking help from them.
"Help me! My mother is trapped!" I shouted many, many times, to try to at least get someone's attention.
But my pleas for help were ignored by the mass of people, all rushing like a swollen, fast-moving river during the monsoon season. All were moving swiftly, not even turning to look back, and fear was evidently etched onto their faces. My voice was drowned out in a sea of hysterical screaming and shouting. Then I saw it, the thick plume of smoke rising from the east. Further down the street, I could see house after house exploding and catching fire. The fire spread fast, and it was already a few blocks away.
I ran as fast as I could across the yard to my mother, and held her hand again.
"Okaa-san," I said, nearly choking on my tears, "The houses down the street are on fire!" and I continued sobbing hopelessly.
To this, she looked at me solemnly and instructed me in a serious tone on what to do next.
"Miku-chan, I want you to listen to me carefully. Your younger brother is upstairs in his room, I want you to climb up into the room and take him out of his cot. Then run as fast as possible, and don't you dare look behind, you understand me?"
"But- but I can't leave you here!" I cried out to her, my tears were falling even more rapidly, streams of it cascading down my soft cheeks.
Then I felt the dry wind blowing against me. It was strong, and hot, and I could see some sparks flying in the air at rapid speed. I could see the bright flames light up the sky in the corner of my eye. They were getting nearer.
"Miku-chan," she said with a gentler voice. "Please, you're a strong girl, I know you can do it. Go, take care of your brother all right?" she continued, and with her right hand caressed my wet cheeks, to which I responded with more tears.
"I'll be all right." She tried to assure me.
"All right, okaa-san." I tearfully bid farewell to her, and instantly climbed up the rubble to try to reach the second storey.
It wasn't exactly hard, since the second storey was now impossibly low. I looked into the open window, expecting to find my little brother in his cot, crying. Instead, I saw that half the room was ablaze. The smoke was thick and my eyes singed, and I coughed violently and involuntarily. Still, I steeled myself, and squinted my teary, irritated, eyes, to attempt to see into the room. In the corner where the cot is, I could only see the dark silhouette of a young baby in the midst of the fierce bright orange flames. He wasn't moving.
In panic, I climbed down the rubble and went back to my mother.
"Okaa-san!" was the only thing I could mutter as I knelt beside my mother.
"Where is your brother? I told you to run!" she shouted at me, scolding me.
But when I looked up, I could see that she was crying too.
"He- he's-"I said between hiccupped sobs "Dead."
I saw mother looking at me with shock and dread. She was silent for a while. The wind changed direction, slowing down the spread of the fire.
"I'm really sorry," I apologised, "I'm sorry I failed you okaa-san. I can't leave you." I said, clutching her bigger hand between my two smaller palms.
"You have never failed me Miku-chan," she said, a weak smile forming on her lips. "You were always my sweet little jewel. Now, go, while you still can."
"No-no…" I said softly, "Never! I will never leave you! I'll die with you!" I wept.
I could feel the ground getting hotter. Yet, at that moment, my mother pulled me with her arms and held me close. She hugged me for a brief while, and I could hear her sobbing under her breath. The long dangling sleeves of her kimono blanketed me, and I wish that moment could last forever. The last hug I would ever receive from my dear mother. This was farewell, forever.
"I love you very much Miku-chan," she said, weeping, but I was too absorbed in sobbing to respond.
"You are very precious to me, and I want you to live on, so please, please listen to me. For the last time." She said again, in a desperate voice, her cheeks were wet, and her sobs were getting louder.
She then let go of me, and with her hands, she unfastened something at her collar. It was the gold necklace she received as a wedding gift from my father. Around me, I could hear the howling of the wind growing louder and louder.
"I want you to take this," she said, pushing it into my right palm, reached up to me and pecked me on the cheek, "And now, I want you to run as fast as you can… and don't look back." She said.
Painfully, I nodded. The ground was getting unbearably hot now. Slowly, I stood up and turned around. I was about to run, but I turned my head around to glance at her one final time.
"I'll be okay!" she shouted.
I was young, but I know for sure how that was an obvious lie. The wind was starting to blow this way again, and was getting stronger and stronger by the moment. The second floor was already entirely ablaze, and small heated goblets of fire had already started to light up the rubble my mother was trapped under.
"Sayonara, okaa-san." I bid her farewell, and left a quickly as I could.
I took off onto the street, as fast as my legs could carry me, clutching to the necklace tightly. I ran, and felt the wind blowing and howling. I had ran for about a few metres when I heard a loud crash. I turned around, even when a large part of me told me not to, and to just keep running without looking back. But I did, I looked back.
What I saw was a horror. The entire house had completely collapsed, and was nothing but a raging flame now, burning high into the sky. Although the roar of the fire and howling of the wind blocked me from hearing anything, I somehow felt I could hear the shrill painful screams of my mother, burning in the fire, turning into ashes. I felt like turning back, but then I realized I was holding the necklace in my hand.
I want you to live on
I couldn't stop weeping watching the flames engulf the entire house. But after seeing the flames creeping closer and the wind's searing heat blowing into me, I turned around, and ran. I ran, without looking back. I felt like that was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life.
I remembered running all the way to the other side of town, crossing the bridge across the Sumida. I remembered seeing the Metropolitan Police Department Building in flames as I ran through Marunouchi. Unlike my neighbourhood, the streets in Marunouchi were packed with refugees trying to escape the flames. The only thing I could do was follow the flow of people, walking fast, for I was afraid of being trampled underneath their feet. All around me, the buildings were reduced to rubble. What used to be the wealthier district of the town now has been turned into debris.
Suddenly, I heard a large growling sound in the background. I turned around, like everyone in the crowd, and looked behind. I couldn't see anything, there were many people blocking my view. But then, I heard the people around me chatter excitedly. I overheard some of the conversations, apparently they have spotted a dark storm cloud in the distance, indicating that rains were coming shortly. Everyone was chattering happily, but deep in my heart, I felt that the rains have come too late.
I continued following the flow of people, until I grew tired. We soon entered a large square, and I decided to step out of the crowd, and sat down on the concrete square, not being in the way of the streams of people walking, going out of the city, presumably.
I looked at my surroundings, and I realised that it was strangely familiar. It took me a while to register it, but I realised I was in front of the Sensō-ji temple, in the heart of Asakusa, the district north of Marunouchi. I remembered it, going there every New Year with my family to wish for an auspicious year ahead. I teared again, I couldn't help but think of my parents and my younger brother.
I sat, tucking my knees close, and buried my face into them, soaking my soiled kimono with my salty tears. Tears of bitter pain and sadness. I sobbed there for what seemed like hours, until I felt cold drops of water on my back. I looked up to the sky, it was really dark, and droplets of cold rain were starting to fall. They fell slowly at first, but then it got heavier, and the wind got stronger too. I got up from the ground and ran to the shelter of the temple, running through the large Hozomon with its famous, large lantern hanging ominously above the archway. I ran through the large empty courtyard, past the purification fountain and the large incense stick holder. Finally, I entered the sheltered main hall, with its doors open.
When I entered, they weren't many people around, just a few people huddled in the corners of the large hall. At the front of the hall, was the large and gaudy altar, with candles placed on it. There were also a few Buddhist religious statues and icons, but I didn't really pay much attention to it, all I cared about was that I have found shelter and possibly a place to stay for the night. I was exhausted after all that running, so I sat and leaned against one of the wooden walls, and fell asleep on the spot, against the sound of the heavy rain battering the ground outside.
I wasn't sure how long I slept there, but I remembered waking up to the sound of loud chatter. When I looked around me, I saw that there were a lot of people in the hall, and by now, the whole hall was filled with people, all seeking shelter from the storm outside. I heard the sound of clapping thunder, and was assured that the storm hasn't passed yet. I scanned through the crowd, looking for familiar faces, because I was terrified of being alone. Then my thoughts reverted to my father. I stood up, walking around the entire hall. The entire hall was lit by candles, yet it was still freezing cold. I frantically searched through the entire hall, but could not find him. I gave up, and sat down again at the same corner.
And that's when I met him, those caring cerulean eyes, gentle smile and soft blonde hair. Kagamine Len.
I was huddled at the corner, wrapping my arms around my knees, in an attempt to keep myself warm. That was when I saw the two blonde children approaching me. One was a boy, and the other child, trailing behind him while tugging at his sleeves, was a girl. The both of them looked at me, with matching cerulean eyes. The boy was wearing a tucked in long-sleeved white shirt and long brown chequered trousers. The timid-looking girl was wearing a knee-length pink and white dress, her shoulder-length hair put in place with clips and a ribbon. They appeared to be from a rich family, but they looked really dishevelled and shaken nonetheless, especially the girl. Fear and shock were evidently written on her pale face.
I didn't realize the both of them were approaching me, I thought they were just walking past. Just like how everybody else was just sitting quietly, huddled together with their family members. Then, the both of them were standing in front of me, and the boy handed me a grey, woolen blanket.
"Th-thank you." I said, taking the blanket from the smiling boy, and draping the blanket around my body.
"Ah, it's okay, we have two blankets, and my sister and I can share one together." He said cheerfully, "What's your name?" he asked eagerly, with his large cerulean eyes shining in excitement, looking at me.
"Miku. Hatsune Miku." I stuttered, the temperature was freezing, and I still could hear the storm raging outside, even with the heavy doors and shuttered windows tightly closed and latched.
"Ah, nice meeting you Miku-chan! My name is Kagamine Len, and this is my sister, Rin. We'll be going off now." The blonde boy said, and after turning around and making a small wave, the both of them continued to walk off in the other direction, to the other side of the hall.
I watched them, huddled in my newly-acquired blanket, moving to the other end of the hall. I saw them huddle together, in a distant corner of the hall. I was lonely with no one to talk to in a room full of strangers, so I decided to move over to their side and sit together with them. Clutching both blanket and necklace in my right hand, I walked across the hall to the two Kagamine siblings, and sat beside them.
The fact that I suddenly came up and sat there beside them seemed to startle Len, who was sharing a blanket with his sister, who was now deep in slumber.
"Oh hi there Miku-chan, do you need anything?" Len-kun asked, his eyes wide in surprise looking at me.
"Erm… No, it's just that… I feel really lonely." I replied, bringing my knees close to me.
"Where's your family Miku-chan, did you come here alone?" he asked again, with a tone of concern in his voice.
Where's my family… The scene of the burning house and my trapped mother replayed in my mind. I teared up, the memory was too painful for me to bear.
"Okaa-san… Okaa-san..." was the only thing I managed to say, sobbing unconsolably.
I think I was weeping there for five minutes, with a confused Len watching me silently, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and in front of me, an old man was kneeling, his wrinkled lips curled into a warm and comforting smile. He was wearing an orange robe, so I guess he must be a monk at the temple. As soon as he saw me look up, he took something from his hand, and put it in my empty left hand. He then smiled again, patted my head gently and lovingly, and then departed. I watched him with surprise as he walked around the hall, handing out blankets and hot tea to the people in the hall.
Then I looked at down at my left hand. In it, the monk has placed a small wooden doll, clad in a traditional gaudy kimono and headdress, typical of an oiran. I was speechless and surprised at the gift, and I just stared at the doll, not knowing what to do. All of a sudden, Len-kun took the doll from my hand, and started moving it around.
"Look Miku-chan, I'm moving!" Len-kun tried to mimic a woman's voice, while he played with the doll in front of me.
I smiled for a while. That was how I knew what kind of person Len-kun was, a cheerful, positive boy, always concerned about other people. These attributes sticked with him even after he grew up. After we finished playing with the doll, he put the doll aside and looked at me.
"Miku-chan, I'm sorry if I made you cry." He told me, looking very guilty.
"No, it's okay, it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for making you worry." I muttered.
"Um, Miku-chan, did something happen to your mother? You were crying out for her just now." Len-kun asked innocently.
I breathed in heavily. I guess I could tell him, I just needed someone to talk to.
"She died." I said in a short, curt breath.
Len-kun fell silent, then suddenly he asked in a curious tone:
"Miku-chan, what's 'died'?"
"It's when people don't move and breathe anymore, and they leave you forever and never come back." I replied.
That was what my mother told me about two years ago, when we attended my uncle's funeral. He killed himself after realising he had gambled away all his money and his family were in poverty because of his actions. Then I realised that Len-kun wasn't saying anything for quite some time.
"Okaa-san… Otto-san…" he said softly, and then he began to cry.
"I don't want them to leave me…" he muttered between sobs.
I didn't know how to cheer him up, so at first I only watched silently as he wept, but then I wrapped my arms around him and I hugged him tightly. I also began crying, thinking of my mother and brother. I also thought of my father, whom I probably think has died too, since I saw how the fire was the fiercest in Downtown Tokyo, where my father worked. So there we were, two children, hugging each other, soaking in tears, realizing the loss of everyone we held dear. I kept holding him, until he fell asleep, crying himself unconscious. I let go of him, wrapping himself in the woollen blanket he has given me earlier.
I sat there, beside him, watching him sleeping peacefully. His face looked free of troubles now, when just a few moments ago he was weeping. I sat there for what seemed like an hour, I wasn't really sure, I have lost track of the time.
Then, I overheard the conversation of a few people nearby.
"Did you hear? The typhoon winds turned the raging fires in the downtown area into deadly firestorms. I saw them with my own eyes from across the river. Nobody could have survived that burning hell." I heard an old lady cackle.
"Oh dear, my husband works in the downtown area!" said a younger woman in shock and fear.
I leaned back on the wall. That was it then. My father's dead too. I was all alone now, I had no one to turn to, nowhere to go.
Then the old man who had given me the toy doll appeared again. This time, he was carrying a bowl of steaming soup, and laid in on the floor in front of the three of us.
"We don't have much, so please share it with your two friends over here." The old man said, "I am Abbot Yamada, if you need anything please feel free to approach me." He continued, introducing himself.
"Thank you." I managed to thank the abbot.
"What is your name dear child?" Yamada-sama said.
"Hatsune Miku, Yamada-sama." I replied.
"Ah, I'll talk to you later Miku-chan! I'm very busy right now. So please, enjoy the soup." Yamada-sama said cheerfully.
As soon as he arrived, he disappeared behind a door beside the altar. My attention then turned from the abbot to the soup. My stomach was growling, I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and I was starving. I didn't know what time it was, as all the doors and windows were shut tight. I looked down into the bowl Yamada-sama had laid in front of me. It was a wooden bowl, and it was filled with clear soup. I picked up the bowl, lifting the rim to my lips. I sipped the hot soup slowly, and after all that I've been through, the hot, comforting soup felt like a little piece of heaven. I continued sipping, until I stopped myself after drinking a third of it, I had to think of the two siblings too. I put the bowl of soup on the ground in front of me. I shook Len's shoulder, trying to rouse him from his slumber.
"Len-kun, wake up, there's some hot soup for us to drink." I said, while my hand tried to shake him out of his sleep.
He woke up slowly, rubbing his eyes and then finally sitting up. He also woke up his sister who had been sleeping all this while. They both took turns drinking from the soup, little by little, until every drop of soup in the bowl was gone. Len-kun turned to me after finishing the soup and asked me where it came from. I told him exactly what happened, that the abbot placed the soup in front of me telling me to share the soup between the three of us. He seemed to be satisfied with the answer and didn't pursue the matter anymore. There was some silence between us so I invited him to chat.
"Well, so how did you end up here? Here, in this temple? When I reached here there were only a few people, and I was quite sure I didn't see you two in the crowd." I asked.
"Oh, well. After the quake, our nanny quickly grabbed us and rushed out of the house. The entire district was catching fire and with the both of us clutching her hands, she brought us all the way from our house, near the Imperial Palace to Asakusa. When we got here, she dropped us off at the main hall, instructing us to go inside. She told us that she was sorry she had to leave us, since she had to go and look for her family. Then she went against the dense flow of people, and ran towards downtown." Len-kun told me.
"Then what about your parents?" I asked.
"Well, while the house was crumbling down , the three of us managed to run out, since we were near the main door. When our entire house collapsed, the three of us tried to remove the rubble to find my parents, but when we found them, they weren't moving. So I guess I won't see them forever, like what you said." Len-kun whimpered softly.
I felt guilty for making him talk about such things, so I decided to change the topic to a happier subject. We talked about ourselves, our backgrounds as if the devastating earthquake that had killed our parents never happened. I learned that he lived with his parents, Rin and their nanny in a mansion near the Imperial Palace, in the south-western area of Tokyo. I also learned that he was the same age as me, and that both he and Rin-chan were fraternal twins. He goes to an elementary school in the same district, and told me how he loves school. He also informed me that his twin sister, Rin-chan was just very shaken from the magnitude of the situation, and was too shocked to speak. So she wasn't mute, like what I thought. Then we talked about New Year's and Festivals and our hobbies. We were so absorbed in our conversation, that for a moment, we nearly forgot that the entire city had been flattened by the earthquake, the three of us had become orphans and that we had nowhere to go. It just felt like a normal introduction, like I had just made a new friend at school. His cerulean eyes were bright with excitement when I saw them, and his joy made me smile too.
That was how I met Len-kun, the boy who would change my life forever. That fateful day, September first, in the great hall of the Sensō-ji in Akasuka.
"Okaa-san…" I heard Neru say from across the table.
That snapped me back to reality. Neru was already all ready for school. Dressed in her black, long-sleeved winter seifuku, she was seated opposite me on the table. In her hands, she held out an empty wooden bowl.
"Can I have some more porridge?" she asked.
"Sure. Eat up, Neru-chan… I made this especially for you." I replied, smiling at my daughter, whose blonde hair is tied in a ponytail on one side of her head.
I scooped up a ladleful of porridge and filled up her bowl. As Neru-chan ate, I woke Lily-chan up, my four-year old toddler and got her to eat her breakfast. I also slowly ate mine, the porridge was already lukewarm, but that was fine with me. We only had boiled taro for the past few weeks and the three of us were all perfectly tired of it.
"Oh oka-" Neru said, while stuffing porridge into her mouth.
"Neru-chan, how many times have I already told you not to speak with your mouth full?" I snapped.
"Sorry." Neru apologised, and quickly gulped down whatever porridge she had in her mouth.
"Okay, so what is it?" I asked.
"Sensei asked the class to inform her whether we had family members in the countryside, so that we can evacuate easily. If not then, she said that we had to leave with her, with the remainder of the class who don't have any family members in the countryside to house them. We'll be leaving on the afternoon of March 9th." Neru-chan continued.
I had expected that, I heard from the radio a few weeks back, orders from the government to evacuate children from the major cities to the countryside.
"No, we don't. I guess you'll have to evacuate with your teachers and classmates then." I replied her.
"Oh okay, I'll tell sensei that then." Neru said, and picking up her utensils went up to the basin to wash them.
I wiped some porridge off Lily-chan's cheeks and cleaned up her dripping chin. I smiled, she had always been a messy eater. When I turned around, Neru-chan had already left the kitchen, and went into the hallway, leaving the sliding door wide open. I got up from the floor and peeked stood in the hallway. Neru-chan was quickly putting on her socks and shoes.
"When you're dismissed later go straight to the Shions' household alright? I have work today." I intstructed her.
"Alright okaa-san, I will." She replied.
I watched as the door slam shut as she left, and heard the sound of the keys locking it secure, before returning to the living room where Lily-chan was eating. Unfortunately, without supervision, Lily has created quite a mess, spilling splotches of porridge on the wooden table and another fair bit on the floor. I see that she was finished with her food and playing with her spoon in the remnants of her porridge. I bent down, picked up the used utensils and brought them to the basin to wash. There was still a fair bit of porridge left in the pot, just enough for dinner for the three of us, so I emptied all the porridge into a large bowl and covered the top of the bowl with a similar bowl, forming a sphere shape, to prevent insects from entering and ruining the porridge, before placing it into the cupboard.
Then I went back to the living room, and wiped the floor and table free of porridge spillage. Lily-chan was now stumbling and walking around the room in an excited manner, typical of a small child her age. I returned to the kitchen, and took out the bowls and spoons from the basin, and dried it out on a rack.
As I was doing so, I caught a glimpse of the calendar hung up against the wall. It was March 1st , 1945. Just another day of the late winter of 1945. Just another day without the warmth of summer.
Just another day without Len-kun in sight.