Chapter 4
The haiku beginning "fireworks vanish" is by Inahata Teiko.
The next day, Uncle left early, to 'hunt', whatever that meant; he left with Grandmother, visiting Mrs. Kitiyama, the one he was actually related to. As it was Sunday, Ushio and Sumi were left with the choice of finding something to cook chop or repair, or going back to bed.
Sunday was the beginning of Autumn, marked by a light morning rain. Sumi opened the screen doors in their room so they could watch, hear raindrops falling in the forest. She lay with her head on Ushio's shoulder, watching raindrops on the eaves growing fat, then falling, to splash on the porch.
Poets mark the season with the phrase 'a new coolness' but for Sumi it was marked by a new kind of gentle warm, Ushio's body. A new way of feeling, almost a kind of meditation, a quiet contemplation of
"Sumi? Are we sexually incompatible? I mean, here we are together and you haven't even touched me."
Sumi didn't know words like 'sexually incompatible;' she figured she must have done something wrong and
"You could start by kissing me, Sumi." Ushio was teasing again, but did lift herself up on one elbow and say, 'like this' then demonstrate.
While most people in Ushio's position would be thinking 'what am I going to do with this big box of gold we found', Ushio's thoughts were more like 'what am I gonna do with this big Sumi I just got.'
It was really a matter of the law of supply and demand.
Ushio had spent the last, say, six years learning that to tell a girl you liked her was the quickest path to rejection, humiliation, and eating lunch alone.
Now, her love, in all its explicit sexuality, was out. It ate up her thoughts, her, and Sumi.
There was also the whole issue of figuring out how to use this new Sumi thing. Ushio had a small knowledge of how the basic knobs, and so forth, worked, but she was also pretty sure that more sophisticated options were available, and she was determined to discover every one.
In short: she had Sumi. Who needed gold?
For Sumi, lying next to a now-sleeping Ushio, the sky wasn't deep blue, and she wasn't feeling any light melancholy, just a kind of lazy contentment. She wasn't sure she could handle all this lack of angst in her life. She had the whole day to. . .
Stop: rewind. Of course she had the whole day: Uncle had set it up for them, like a honeymoon. What would other couples do? Go to a hot springs? A big-name American-style hotel? A Kyoto inn. For her, this by itself worked fine.
It struck her, though: the fates seemed to be conspiring, to bring them together. Well, not so much the fates. Uncle, certainly. And Tomoe.
What if she did trust Tomoe (she didn't), believe her. That Tomoe wanted Ushio and her to be happy? They certainly were; she no longer felt even the slightest jealousy for Tomoe's relationship. Now she had her own unique time, for all her life.
Still, why couldn't Tomoe have come right out and told Sumi: 'We're going up to see Kazama-kun (Tomoe would say). Pretend to like Bashō and don't tell your father.' She'd have run, jumped in the car and leaned forward to make it go faster.
"Sumika! Ushio! Aren't you up yet?" Ushio shook herself awake, looked at Sumi with one eye, snuggled, and fell back asleep.
Well, maybe she was overthinking it. With any kind of luck, she'd never see Tomoe & Co. again.
Uncle arrived home mid-day, scratched, clothing torn, blood on him, and kinda soaked. Also holding a large plastic bag containing something mis-shapen, like say a monster. Mutant monster.
"Uncle-chan! What happened? Did you fight a bear?" Ushio sure was cheerful. Tho, actually, Sumi figured she knew why: that extra nap time.
Also Uncle smelled of osake, pretty strongly. He shook his head, breathed in, "Worse, little Ushio. A couple of the guys and me, we went hunting wild pigs. Wow, they're vicious. Anyway, look at this." He pulled the monster from its bag; it was a whole pig head, bloody from the slaughter.
"Sumi? Sumi-chan? Sumika!" Oh, right: Kazama was leaning over her. Why was she lying on the floor?
"You fainted, Sumi. My big brave lover. Maybe you can be a vegetable cook?" Ushio giggled, making everything worse.
"Sorry for worrying you, I just, I." She felt like she was gonna be sick: breathe in, breathe out. "I just never saw meat before. I mean, except in littler pieces."
"S'ok Sumi" Uncle was slurring his words now. "Many a chef couldn't do this baby up.
"Tell ya what: let's take it old Mrs. Yamabaka. She'll make it all pretty an ya'll never'd know"
"Tōru-kun! You'll do no such thing. You're a disgrace. Sumika and Ushio can go; you're heading straight for a bath. Sumika: start the fire. And you, Tōru, go wash yourself down while the tub warms."
Sumi hadn't seen Grandmother so happy in days.
She wasn't sure how many Yamabaka families there were on the mountain; her own Yamabaka-kun said his mother died and so it probably was a different one. She put on her best jeans-and-tee; Ushio a very pretty blouse over stretch slacks. Waa? She was thinking about clothes? What was happening to her? Maybe possessed by mountain spirits?
The Yamabaka's were way down the mountain, so they had a fairly long walk; more time to be alone. Together-alone, an odd concept, unless you think of a couple as two pieces of one unit, which they were starting to become. What would they be called? 'the Kazama'?
"Sumi! Pay attention. I guess I better carry the boar-head? So you don't get all confused about whose uncle is whose?"
"Ushio-chan? I was just thinking:
fireworks vanish
leaving the darkness
changed from before"
"Sumi-love, you keep surprising me."
"I think I'm changing." Sumi took a deep breath. "Maybe I'm getting more like a girl? I mean, that's good, isn't it? Since you like girls?"
"Especially since I like only the very cutest girls, mmm? Hey, look! Isn't this it?"
The Yamabaka's had a really nice house, modern (just the name told them the family was new) but clean, uncluttered, lacking the kinds of things working farmhouses had. Also it looked like there was a family re-union, because the room was full of people, young, and older, and old.
"Hey, it's that Murasami from the Hachisuki project! An this is yer gal. Sorry I'm really bad with introductions an stuff. This is my aunt, and my cousin 'Big Yamabaka' (about six inches taller than him) and cousin Emiko. An a bunch of kids if they'd stay in one place. It's great you're here. Hey, wife! More beer!"
"Uh, thanks. Everyone, this is Kazama Ushio. My, um, we're together. A couple. Anyway" she rushed on "Uncle Tōru said Aunt Yamabaka might want this. It's nothing really but he was hunting and . . . " she bowed, offered the pigs head. Aunt peered inside the bag, clapped her hands "I'm not wasting any time cooking this. Yummy, yummy! I haven't had one of these for years. You kids sit down, join us, and I'll start."
Michiyo brought a beer and rice crackers (apparently the grasshopper thing wasn't them). "I'm sorry, I really can't drink. I"
"It makes her go crazy" Ushio broke in. "Don't give her any alcohol at all. You'll regret it."
Emiko, who was a serious young woman wearing glasses, leaned forward, stared at them. "Let me get this straight: you're a couple? What's that mean? Like you sleep together?"
"Hey, sis: back off. No more beer for you." This, from Big Yamabaka. "Hey, Mirasumi, you watch baseball?"
"Nah." his cousin, 'Little Yamabaka', answered "She does judo or somethin. She's some kind of black belt. Watch this." and he hit Sumi, same place as the day before, which was still bruised. She winced in pain. "Oh I get it; you weren't ready, try again" he said as Sumi started to stand; this time he hit her right in the abdomen and she fell back into Kazama's arms. "Hey I thought you knew judo?"
Ushio held her, stroked her hair "My poor Sumi."
"Alright, I get it." Emiko started back in. "You guys love each other an everything. But what are you going to do for kids? You gonna just let the whole family die out?"
"Don't be silly. They can adopt; there's plenty of kids without parents, at the shelter." Aunt Yamabaka appeared at the kitchen door, holding the pig head by one ear; she'd been burning the bristles off it, and there was a smell of blood and burnt hair. Sumi fainted again.
The couple was a great hit with the Yamabaka clan; they left with a gift of some sort of fish, wrapped in paper. They'd made it through their first public appearance as a couple, with dignity and grace.
Or, not.
Uncle, who was clean but slightly hung-over, received the fish critically.
"Hmm, loach. Feel it here, Sumi; kinda slimy, right? First thing, we get rid of that: go get some salt, scrub it down, until they're all clean. I'll make a spice rub. We'll do this one 'barbarian style.' When the Westerners came over, they brought their own cooks. A lot of their deep fried foods with chilis we call 'barbarian style.'
"Hey what's this newspaper? 'Miyagi Prefecture Peace and Local Culture Journal'? Wow, I remember them; bunch of hippies, lived in Tibet. Then they decided they wanted to live simply in the countryside. Simple-minded is more like it! I'd trade a thousand candles, if they'd just get the electrical grid up again. But, I got to say, they were right about it, I mean the anti-nuclear thing. Give them credit for that."
Listening to Uncle was its own entertainment, while she learned to cook.
"You done, there? OK, let's rinse, now you check again, see if there's any slime left. No? Good job, there. We cut these guys open; we can wrap the innards with that paper, where is it? Didn't think they'd still be publishing. Ha! it's March 1, just before. If only they knew, Sumi.
"So mince the ginger and I'll do the chili pepper, you gotta keep that out of your eyes. Damned knives need sharpening.
"Sumi, it was as stupid as that. Umeko told me to go into the city, stock up on the osake we served guests, and get a new set of knives. She gave me the money and I took the ferry to the mainland; got there at noon. I was at Matsuda's warehouse for the osake, it was one of those old-time places, solid brick about four stories, when we heard the sirens. Old Matsuda just grabbed me, pushed me up the stairs.
"Seven minutes, Sumi: that's all we had; we looked out the window on the third floor and there were bodies, washing away. That old man was a hero; he leaned out the window and he grabbed the bodies; anyone he could reach: a few were still alive. He'd give 'em a shot of osake, revive 'em."
Uncle stopped, hands on the counter, shaking his head. "Alright, you got the pepper, the ginger, minced onions; just rub the outside with that, and stuff the cavity. We'll let 'em sit.
"That's what we did, sat there. All we had was the drink, and that was just fine with most of 'em; didn't want to think what was going on. I couldn't stomach it; had to get back to the island. Sumi, you wouldn't believe it: the water was on fire. Four days, Sumika; four whole days it burned."
Uncle looked longingly at the big bottle of osake on the shelf, the one they used for cooking. "I guess it burned out of me, Sumi. Umeko was alive or she wasn't, and I couldn't help. I still had the money she gave me, but what good was it? No ferry boats anymore. Couldn't pay anyone; money wasn't any good. It was a couple of weeks, a bunch of us got a rowboat and got back out there.
"It was flat; hundreds of feet around. You'd never know there was ever anything there; the sea took it back. Never anything there. Hey! watch that rice. Can't have bad rice; worst thing a chef can do, mess with the rice. It's the foundation."
They deep-fried the loach, panko crusted with the spices; it was basic food but like everything Uncle did, delicious. Still, Ushio had heard Uncle's story, and neither was in the mood that night. Sumi rested her head on Ushio's shoulders; Ushio held her, stroked her. Maybe Ushio was thinking the same thing: how could I live, if I lost her?
Uncle left 'for the city' early next morning, to hugs from all. He was dressed in his 'wild man of the mountains' costume, which would probably protect him: no-one would guess that he was carrying a couple of million in gold (less: for safety, he'd left a third behind, but only his mother knew that). "Five or six days, I guess; depends. I'll head west"
"East, you mean" Grandmother corrected him.
"West, mom: no tsunami damage so there's roads, cars. I'll hitchhike until I'm south, then take a train east. Like I say, a week, depending."
With Uncle gone, life lost a certain elan. Also, Sumi and Ushio had to do all the chores Uncle had done, as well as work in the village. Ushio seemed to be holding up really well, always cheerful. Sex: well, it was one of many kinds of sex, like her kisses, so long ago. She could be raging, dominant; slow, inviting; or just cuddly: the only constant was desire.
For Sumi, the time was a return to simple life, the kind Uncle mocked: chopping wood, carrying water became once again a kind of meditation in life. It allowed her to think that the rhythms were eternal: she and Ushio would live this close, this happy, forever.
It was early Thursday afternoon when Sumi and Yamabaka finished framing the last of the houses; as a kind of celebration, Tsukamoto gave them their pay, bonus, end-of-project bonus, and let them off early. The last, Sumi shared among the men, grinning silly, she suggested an extra beer. Big hit. Then, she was left alone. Extra shopping at the 'mall'? Boring without Ushio. Uh . . anything? Boring without Ushio. Wow! How long ago was it, Kazama(then) said 'Everyone has something like that, right, Sumi? Something that makes them happy?'
Inspiration: she decided to go pick Ushio up, from work. It was a small climb up the hill, and coulda been a nice view if there was anything left to see. 'Visit us again in ten years': that's what Uncle said about his ryokan, the one he used to have, in Kesunnuma.
Sumi stopped in the entryway to the school/shelter, to exchange shoes for slippers. Middle of the day, only a few outside shoes there, though one stood out: a tiny pair of well-used pink 'hello kitty' sneakers. A certain sadness to them, like something that didn't really fit, something that had floated in on the tide. Wow, she was maudlin today.
Inside, the classrooms had been partitioned, by big cardboard boxes, into tiny family units. If you were 'home' you lifted a flap of cut-off cardboard, chatted across the 'cardboard fence' with your neighbors. Even the one room temporary shelters she was building were better than the cardboard lifestyle.
And even that was one step up from the gym: a kind of a half-way house for new refugess, each space marked off by a small futon or just a blanket. At one end of the gym were tables, burners for communal meals. At the other, a nursery and oops! Ushio.
Ushio hadn't seen her; well, she'd been quiet, afraid of disturbing people in a place she didn't belong. But, there was Ushio, playing with a little girl. She was tiny, shoulder-length black hair with a cute barette (hello kitty, anyone?), and a round face. That is, a normal two-year old. Kazama and the baby were pushing a small plush animal back and forth to each other, along the gym floor, until the girl, tired of it, crawled over to Ushio, into her lap, and the two rolled on the floor in a tickle-fest.
Sumi backed away, out of sight, stunned. She'd just been replaced, by a new cutie, one she could never compete with. She left the building, as quietly as she'd come, sat on a rock a bit down the slope.
She sat there for almost an hour, oblivious to women returning to the shelter, thinking about those tiny shoes. Imagining them on the feet of a very tiny Kazama: they would be playing too, just like that. Sumi was wrapped in a storm of feelings: jealousy certainly, but also. . . well, she liked little kids. But seeing Kazama, there, kinda brought it all together. She felt like she might want children. But could that be even possible?
"Sumiii-chan!" There it was, that always-cheerful Kazama, running down the path, waving at her. "Did you get out early? Me too," Intertwined her arm with Sumi's. "Let's go play a little, OK? Before we go back home. I just feel so happy. Sumi-love what's wrong?"
"Oh, uh, nothing. Just wishing we had a real place to go play. Like we used to, you know?"
"Sumi-love, that's so high-school! We're classy college students now. Sumi? I have a new girl-friend! Her name's Mei-chan, an she's new in the shelter so she didn't get a granma. I took her and now we're really good friends. She is soo cute!" Kazama, holding her hand, swinging hands in a wide arc. Unfortunately, bringing up the whole 'all I need is to see Kazama smile' cycle.
Unfortunately also, Kazama noticed something was wrong, looked askance, one eye open, at Sumi: "Oh, jealous, huh? I'm gonna run away with my new cutie?"
"I guess I am jealous. Cuties have a thing for you, huh? Well, like I said: I can't become any smaller or cuter."
Now it was Kazama's turn to be a little shocked, remembering the pain from that time. Even though it sounded like Sumi was teasing.
"Well, so far you're the only cutie who fell for my charms. But I have hopes with Mei-chan."
"So I better watch out in sixteen years? Ushio-chan? I was thinking. You know, about kids?"
Ushio responded by walking a little to the side, smiling, looking up at Sumi. Waiting.
"I want children! I want 'em!" Which earned some odd looks from the other women, returning to the shelter, except for one who told Sumi 'Take my husband; he isn't good for anything else."
"Sumi, you're such a natural. Anyway: yes, just, not now, right? I mean, in a little bit we have to go back."
Crisis averted. "Uh, Ushio? You know what would be neat? The village could really use a nice festival for Obon. Uncle could make crepes."
"An tako-balls! And there could be popcorn too."
"Let's go check out the market, see if we can find some strawberry jam. And popcorn."
Crisis averted, at least for the moment. But the festival of the dead was on its way.
Uncle returned, that Saturday. Sumi was outdoors, chopping wood, while Ushio helped stack it, and Grandmother helped by saying things like 'not that kind' and 'more of those big ones'.
"Uncle-chan! Did you bring me anything?" He did seem to have a full backpack.
"I did, favorite niece! I mean" he looked at Sumi 'no disrespect but" looked, as though to say, 'we're men of the world; you see how it is.' What he did say was "Got presents for all of you. I'll show you, after lunch. Sumika, dear: why don't you impress me with your mountain-style cooking?"
Ever since Ushio remarked on what a nice, rounded, womanly body Sumi had, she'd started cutting down on carbs and fried foods. So lunch was mostly veggie, served cold.
"You're getting the hang of this, Sumi. Which reminds me of your presents." He slowly unpacked, unwrapped (keeping the suspense, probably) two yukata. Clearly the robe with pink cherry blossoms was gonna be for Ushio-chan; Sumi's was a deep purple, adorned by mountain lily. They felt very expensive.
"Uncle! These are gorgeous. C'mon Sumi, let's try 'em on. I'm so excited." Right: new clothes. They returned, did their 'thank you for taking care of me' and bowed.
"Perfect. Sumika, I know you're feeling a little weird, but trust me: this is what the customers want to see. I mean, y'know, if this were a ryokan. It isn't just your cooking or your soft beds; it's your personality. You both are beautiful women; Ushio you already know it so I'm not giving you more complements. Sumika, you need to get used to the fact. Now both of you, come here." He took out two identical boxes, handed one to each. Inside, pieces of jewelry, on chains, each a katakana character; together spelling 'love'. Each by itself was a beautifully shaped, heavy piece of gold. But only together did they have meaning.
Impulsively, Sumi draped hers over Ushio's neck; on tip-toe, Ushio did the same for her. "ki-su?" Ushio said.
"No, 'su-ki. s'ki: love, dummy."
"You're the dummy. I want a kiss."
Washing up, bathing, and Ushio wore her necklace, the 'ki' buried between her breasts. "Hey, Sumi? How come you never look at me properly? Don't you like my body?"
"It's like in gym class: don't look. So you wouldn't think I was obsessed or anything. That I had a crush on you."
Ushio thought for a minute-that-seemed-forever. "Tomoe said you were in love with me."
"Is that the same?"
"Let's ask our audience. Random caller number one: what's love?" Ushio looked, expectantly, at Sumi.
"It's like every inch of you belongs to her. At least, that's what you said.
"That's when I first knew, what I was feeling." Finally, she did look up, right at Ushio. "Like you said, everyone has something that makes them happy. I was just happy, for a long time. Before I really knew."
Ushio took her time in responding, time for Sumi to feel a little of that old fear.
"Sumi, I was always so happy with you. I guess you were the same. Sumi?" Ushio moved, in the bath, straddled Sumi's hips, sat on her and looked her in the eye. "It doesn't matter who loved who first. It's mostly, I think, mostly that I didn't even know what love was, until I met you. Now hurry up and dry off so I can show you. It's only a few days left."
Sumi didn't budge. "I don't want to go. We can stay here. Tell me why we can't stay here."
"Sumi, your father? He already enrolled you in college and everything."
"Yeah, and he found a husband for me. I'm not ever gonna marry. I can't leave you, Ushio."
Ushio kissed Sumi's tears, buried her head in Sumi's shoulder. "We have to tell granma and uncle, you know. Now be good, Sumi, and come to bed with me."
Disaster struck at 9am 15 August. Sumi had made the breakfast, all by herself: got up really early, managed to catch some trout in the stream (sitting by the rushing water, waiting quietly while the sunrise crept up on her). Five dishes, cooked, arranged, rustic mountain style. She'd even gone through the family's antique plates and bowls, picking designs to enhance the food.
"Sumika, I seldom say this to other chefs: 'that was a feast.' You made good use of the ingredients, didn't try to be flashy, just let their flavors through.
"So: you're up to something. What is it?"
There was still laughter in his voice, which made it a bit easier, but, this was the big one, and Sumi was visibly nervous (actually, she was shaking, even sitting down). Ushio took one look at her, then took over.
"Grandmother, Uncle." She bowed, formally. "Sumi and I thought about this a long time, and we've decided: we don't want to leave. We want to stay here, and make our life together."
Uncle put on his most judicious face, nodded sagely, and said, "No way. You kids need to get a college education, real jobs. Then you can decide . . . Look, Ushio, crying isn't going to change my mind."
It took Sumi all of two seconds to go from sitting position to holding Ushio. She glared at him: public enemy number one, he made Ushio cry.
"Look, you girls are pretty transparent; your grandmother and I saw this coming. When I was in Sendai, I talked with your brother, Ushio. And, with your father, Sumika. We're all agreed."
Glare.
"We put the gold away, safely. When you graduate college, it belongs to you two. I'll make you a deal: we'll sell a few pieces every year and you two can see each other every weekend. You can even rent a small apartment during the breaks."
Ushio grabbed Sumi's hand, tugged her outside, began walking, randomly, down to the village. "I want to run away. We can both get jobs and"
And the earth shook; Kazama fell. Sumi knew what to do: "Just another aftershock", smiling like it was normal. But she had a gift: discipline and focus and at this moment, her focus was Kazama. She grabbed Ushio, held her, and the earth shook again. They looked on as the trees shook . . . and began to slide, topple. The path ahead slid, sideways, and they fell, still together. Then the sound hit, deafening, like the roar of a vengeful mountain spirit. The entire mountain began to slide, slowly, in front of them. "Ushio!" she shouted over the collapse of the mountain; Ushio buried herself in Sumi and the ground under them rumbled, moved. She covered Ushio with her own body and a tree limb fell on her and everything ended.
Tomoe arrived the next day, even before the emergency forces. She joined the villagers, but everyone could see: loosed by the heavy rains, freed by the constant aftershocks, the entire south side of the mountain had simply slid down, just missing the shelter: a giant pile of mud, trees and boulders, covering three rice fields. Even the path up the mountain was gone.
They stayed a week, worked with the rescue crews, probing the mud with long bamboo poles, to let free a bubble of gas, smell of death. Miyako was the stronger of the two, holding Tomoe when she couldn't go on, holding Tomoe's silence and tears.
They returned, alone, to Tokyo. The rituals at temple were supposed to cleanse her spirit, but images of rotting death returned in sleep. Tomoe accompanied both families to their ancestral graves, and, with tens of thousands of families that year, prayed for the souls of their lost.
Her own life went on: graduating seniors across Japan began college in September, but Tomoe joined the family business. At the bottom, so to speak: as Senior Vice President for Development. In December, Murasame Tenkai married his housekeeper in a simple ceremony; Tomoe held a small wedding party at the mansion. Kazama-kun and his wife were invited too: scattered pieces of families.
It was just after the last of the cherry blossoms had fallen when the envelope crossed Tomoe's desk. The mark of the company's private investigative service, inscribed with "Highest Priority" and "Eyes Only." Her agent in Kesennuma, sending the monthly report. What she wanted: remains, results of DNA tests, even just clothing. Something the family could see, something to bury. This - she opened the envelope - was just a few pages of cheap newsprint.
"Kyori: hold all calls and appointments. Get Miyako to my office."
Miyako tried her best to be late, but a summons from the effective head of the company was a summons. Kyori led her in; waited. "Kyori, please wait inside and close the door. Could you take this, read it aloud?" Handed her the confidential report; Miyako stood by, reading from behind.
"'Miyagi Prefecture Peace and Local Culture Journal. March, 2012.' If it talks about 'how to live simply with nature'‚ I'm gonna barf" Miyako said happily.
"Ahem. Tomoe-boss, is this it? Article heading: 'Miyagi Ryokan Is Michelin Runner-Up'? Are you buying ryokan for the company?"
"That's the article, yes. Diversifying in to the ryokan business, maybe. Kyori, please."
"I know, I know: read. But I wannasay, if we're doing ryokan, I should be the food guide."
"Miyako! Kyori! Will you please kindly just read the article!"
"Fine, boss. 'We're talking with head chef Kazama Tōru, of the region's newest ryokan 'Ushio no Uchi'. When we asked his inspiration for the new inn, he spoke of losing family in the great earthquake and aftershocks. He told us that he wanted to carry on, for his nieces. Reminding us, the Japanese spirit is to carry on.'"
By this time, Kyori was useless, and Miyako flipped the page, then gave a shrieking laugh: "The picture! If she wasn't so freaking tall!"
Even though the photo was blurry it could only be Ushio and Sumika. The girl who looked a lot like Kazama was wearing kimono; she was gorgeous in the traditional outfit and looked radiant. The girl who could only be Murasame-kun wore a chef's uniform (maybe it wasn't her?) and leaned on a cane.
Kyori fell to her knees, crying. Miyako took the opposite approach:
"Hey! Wait a second, we went to their funerals. I friggin' cried. Then they're alive? Oh, Murasame is gonna pay. She's gonna wish she died, she . . . "
"Enough! Both of you: focus, get back and do your work and let me get some work done."
When they'd gone, Tomoe sat, thought. She was as angry and hurt as either of the two, though she half understood Kazama and Murasake-kun's decision to disappear: family could be such a pain. Still …
On the intercom again, "Kyori, book a night at Uchi, for three. Use a false name, soonest opening, two rooms. Plane to Kesennuma, car with driver to meet us.
"Tell Miyako to go home, start packing for us, and ask her father to pick me up at four."
Maybe she should diversify into the ryokan business. Murasame-kun just had to be a good investment. And there was that unfinished business she had with her.
For the first time in many months, Tomoe smiled.
The End