CHAPTER 4: SEITA

Yuki arrived at the pond by the time the sun had gone down, her search in vain. She was obviously exhausted, but she brought a small amount of food that had been dug up from her backyard. We shared the food, careful to save some of it along with our own food in case of future emergencies.

Although Setsuko was happy that her new friend had come back, she was also sad that she had not found her mother. I could tell that my little sister was thinking about our own mother. I also thought of her; how kind and caring she was to the two of us. She had tried her best to take care of us after Father had left for the Navy, despite her heart problems. She didn't deserve the terrible pain she had suffered during the last hours of her life.

The three of us spent the night talking and getting to know each other. The last person Setsuko and I had really spoken to before Yuki was our aunt, and every time she talked, it was full of criticism. Because of this, we were both thankful to have Yuki with us. Setsuko would have another girl around to play with, and I would be able to talk to someone my age.

"My father's name is Yokokawa Kyoshi. He's a colonel of the Maya in the Imperial Fleet." I told Yuki. " What about your father? What does he do?"

"My father was in the infantry. He died a year ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that. But don't worry. He died for the sake of Japan and Emperor Hirohito."

"So how did you and Setsuko come to be here?" I could tell Yuki wanted to change the subject so I went along with it. I explained to her about the loss of our mother during the June 5th raid and going to our aunt's place.

"Setsuko and I stayed with her for a few weeks," I continued, "but she was very cold-hearted towards us. Isn't that right Setsuko? You didn't like living with her, did you?"

A few tears began to show in Setsuko's eyes. "I hated living with her. She was mean to us. She even took away Mommy's kimonos..." She hung her head down and continued crying. I picked her up and held her. I continued to tell Yuki of how we eventually left our aunt and had come to live here.

After I had finished, Setsuko wiped away her tears and cried out, "Look Nii-chan! Fireflies!" All three of us turned to look outside and saw that the fireflies had, indeed, come out tonight. Setsuko jumped out of my arms and scrambled out of the shelter with all sadness forgotten. She ran joyfully all over the place, screaming happily as she tried to catch the glowing insects as I had taught her. She finally managed to catch one - without squishing it.

"Nii-chan! Yuki! Did you see that? I caught one!" Setsuko quickly ran back to us and showed us her catch. The firefly flew around the shelter. It flickered in the gloomy darkness until it found its way outside and went back to its own kind. If only we could be reunited with our families as well.

"Good for you Setsuko." I said. "Hey! How about we all go catch some? Are you up for it Yuki?"

Yuki nodded and smiled. She stood up and we both followed my energetic sister out of the shelter. As the three of us caught fireflies we continued to talk, but this time we talked of happy things. Yuki told us of her life with her two sisters, who were named Kayoko and Hisako. Setsuko talked of all the times I took her to places and of all the adventures we had together. I mainly talked about my job at the steelworks before it was bombed, and all the pranks my friends and I played on unsuspecting classmates.

"One time when I was eight years old," I said, "my best friend Isao and I found out that another friend, Shinji, had a crush on a girl from the class across the hall from us. It was obvious that he liked her very much." I smiled. "Poor Shinji... I knew he would be too shy to do or say anything, so I told him that Isao and I would be happy to help him."

I gave a chuckle. It had been a long time since I recalled that memory.

"Where was I, Nii-chan?" Setsuko asked.

"That was a long time, Setsuko." I replied. "Waayyy before you were born."

"So did you and Isao help your friend?" Yuki asked. "I can't be completely sure with you laughing like that!"

"Oh, we helped him alright!" I laughed. "We told Shinji we would buy a tin of candies and give them to the girl saying it was from him. Now did we actually do that? Well, yes and no. You see, We did get the candy tin and gave it to her. It's just-"

I broke into another fit of laughter. The best detail was yet to come. "It's just that Isao and I ate all the candies. Then we found some nice-sized bugs, put them into in the tin and then we gave it to her, telling her it was from Shinji just as we had promised!"

That was when we all broke into fits of laughter. I hadn't laughed so hard in years. "But then," I continued, "everything backfired. The girl was furious! She told our teacher what Shinji supposedly did and that he should be punished. That's when Isao and I felt guilty and admitted to the deed and... well, let's just say that we had sore hands for the rest of the day. And when we got home we got sore butts from our fathers!"

While telling my little misadventure to Yuki and Setsuko, I felt cheerful. It was as if I was that mischievous eight-year-old all over again. As the three of us went back into the shelter, we felt so high-spirited, that one would find it hard to believe that we had been through so much pain and suffering, caused by a war we did not start.

For some reason, as Yuki, Setsuko and I layed down to go to sleep, I thought of our guest. Although Setsuko and I had only known her for a day, I could already tell. Even now, I don't know why I thought this, but what I did know, was that my little sister and I had both found a lifelong friend in Sasaki Yuki.