Chapter 9: The end of summer
The summer days seem to pass by in a blur.
I would stay cooped up in the compound and breeze through my lessons while my parents would go to their workplace and do whatever they did over there.
Each day was a routine of waking up, eating breakfast, learning, then having the rest of the day off to do as I pleased. There wasn't much else to do in the compound except read or garden since I wasn't interested in venturing to the park to play. The constant boredom that plagued me made me realize just how boring my life was without the triplets. They were the ones who pulled me along to join in on whatever shenanigans they had planned for the day, never leaving me to laze around whenever I had the free time.
Nowadays, the only things that make my free time enjoyable are trips to the library, cloud-watching on the roof, and visiting Gaku-oji.
The last activity was a recent addition to the list.
Turns out, my sense of direction is disturbingly faulty. I keep walking into the strange man's house every time I wander around the compound. After the eighth instance, I accepted that my location skills were downright abysmal and stopped writing out explanations. I merely let the tall man silently herd me back to my home before gifting him another box of sweets I had lying around. I gleaned from our conversations that Gaku-Oji is friends with Ojii-chan and Jii-Jii, so there weren't a lot of reservations against him. It was also becoming increasingly obvious this was going to be more than a one-time thing, so I always made sure to be stocked up on sweets. They were suitable offerings at the time I wanted to visit.
"Here again, Brat?"
I just nodded and climbed onto the engawa to sit next to him, bag in hand. In it were some pastries Nakamura had passed along from his grandmother; she owned a bakery that the Kikuchi clan sponsored since generations ago, so our connections date back decades. Nakamura Akiko was a generous person, not hesitating to toss multiple bags full of her food at her grandson while she cooed over how adorable I was on the day when I asked to pay a visit to her shop out of curiosity.
"Hmm?" Hearing his inquiring tone, I offered him the bag. There were chocolate croissants and dorayaki inside. A sense of accomplishment filled me when I saw his expression perk up at the sight. Giving me a mental pat on the back at my win, I held up a bottle of iced chamomile tea and two disposable cups. I had some of the kitchen help buy a tin of tea leaves for me to make the drink.
Before I had died, I used to drink a cup with an added teaspoon of honey before bed since it helped relax the body; it was one of the few things that could help me fall asleep that didn't involve medicine. Nowadays, a cup of warm milk would usually do the trick due to my young age.
In amusement, he nodded in acceptance and took out the pastries for us to share. While he was doing that, I twisted off the cap and poured out our drinks; the trickle of the liquid was a soothing sound in the quiet afternoon. When I finished, I passed him his cup and waited for him to take a sip before drinking from my own cup. The drink was refreshing and sweet as expected on a hot day like today. I let out a content sigh after finishing my first cup.
After a long period of silence where we just sat and snacked while enjoying the scenery, the man beside me spoke up woodenly.
"What've you been up to today, Brat?"
It was clear from the get-go that Gaku-oji was inexperienced with children. Stilted conversations were expected. Luckily, it was me he was dealing with.
Pulling out my pocketbook and pen, I started writing.
I had Kobayashi-sensei today. She taught me the beginner's way to sever someone's arm correctly. It was fun.
When Gaku-oji merely took a longer normal blink but didn't say anything, I continued.
Her drawings were really well-done and easy to understand—
For a second, I thought I heard a breath of relief, but I chalked that up to the breeze.
And so were the photos.
The groan of resignation I heard after was probably caused by the creaky floorboards as well.
Also, I'm starting kindergarten next week.
"Oh," The subject of my enrollment caught him off guard. To him, I was the weird kid who always came in the afternoon with snacks. There wasn't a day that passed by without me walking in, either on purpose or not, usually the latter. "Well...are you looking forward to it?"
"Not particularly."
At this, he raised a brow.
"Is that so? Care to explain why?"
I took another bite of the dorayaki in my hand before taking a sip of the tea. Once I had a hand free, I wrote down my simple answer.
"Loud."
At that, he nodded in understanding.
"That's fair."
The morning of my first day of school was chaotic as all my 'firsts' are with my family.
The second my alarm clock rang at six-thirty, my parents busted into my room with much fanfare; streamers, party poppers, a horn—the works. Even the staff stood outside my door with a banner reading: Happy first day of school!
"Wakey wakey, Kame-chan! It's yer first day of school!"
Sleep-addled, I simply complied with my mother's unusual energy in the morning and let her swing me out of bed. She spun me around in circles before Tou-chan had to stop her from making me feel sick.
"Ah! Sorry, Kame-chan. Kaa-chan's just excited for yer first day!" She apologized, cradling me up against her chest.
When I regained my balance, I took her hand.
'It's fine. Just put me down so I can get ready.'
Kaa-chan relented to my request and put me down. Before they left, my parents fondly kissed me on each cheek.
"We'll be waiting in the dining room with your breakfast," My father reminded me, ruffling my hair. "Make sure not to take too long okay?
Tía Mona made her famous Huevos Rancheros for breakfast today."
I turned to look at the doorway for confirmation.
Standing with the rest of the staff, Ramona 'Mona' Santiago made a bizarre image. Thick and curly hair pulled back into a high bun, she was a tan and short woman of Mexican descent that Kaa-chan had met during her college years when she studied abroad. Despite her short stature, she had a big personality, never bothering to quiet down her boisterous laughter and more than willing to throw hands with anyone—man or woman—and win. It's what got her to meet my mother in the first place.
When my mother attended high school in the states, a lot of her classmates made rumors about her background since she was the first kid from overseas. At one point, a couple of girls had decided to group up on her in an empty hallway. This was because their crushes were all interested in her and wanted to scare her into submission out of jealousy. Of course, Kaa-chan didn't have any reservations about kicking the shit out of petty bitches; but before she did anything, Mona came in like a she-devil and threw a solid right-hook at the main bitch, instantly folding her like an omelet.
(I wish I was there to record the fight.)
She barked out if my mother was planning to join her or not and Kaa-chan responded: "I've been waiting all day for this.", proceeding to tag-team with Mona and starting a life-long friendship that would lead the fierce woman to her position as my mother's right-hand woman, as well as my honorary aunt.
The woman winked at me and gave me a thumbs-up, another hand on her hip. "I made sure to make the salsa extra spicy just for you, Niño. Just how you like it."
God, I love this woman. Her cooking is the best thing that's ever happened to me in this life. I swear, if it weren't for the fact that she was a married woman, I'd have proposed to her as soon as I became legal.
Giving her a nod of thanks as well as bowing to the staff for congratulating me off (I could see the phones and video cameras off to the side and in their hands), I returned the thumbs up and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.
Today was going to be a long day. I could feel it.