It was important to be awake when the sky was awake.

Mukai always woke up when the sun woke up. Day was good, night was scary. Good things happened during the day. People played with you and made you snacks and you got to play outside and play phone games. At night bad things happened. You had to take a bath and get your hair washed and you had to go to bed and also night was scary, too, because sometimes your nightlight went out. The day was better than the night.

She knew it and Sho knew it too.

"Sho? Where did you go?" asked Mukai as she sat up. Sho's bed was empty. That was weird. He didn't wake up until after the sun woke up. His colors were gone, too. Maybe Sho was hiding. He might have been under his bed. That was a very good hiding spot. Mukai climbed out of bed, careful not to fall out. She was in a big girl bed like Shigeko slept in, no bars on the side at all. She wasn't a baby, she was three.

She fell on her butt.

"Bad floor! You did this!" said Mukai. She stomped on the floor as hard as she could. It was the floor's fault she fell down. When someone did something bad then you had to punish them. Like how Caterpillars hit the man in the face when…well she didn't remember what the man did but it was funny when he got hurt. Caterpillars was so funny. Sho was funny too….

Where was Sho?

Oh! Right, he was under the bed. Mukai got down onto the floor and crawled over to his side of the room. He wasn't under her bed or his, she could tell. All he had under his bed was a bunch of his drawing notebooks. She moved them out of the way….no Sho….no Sho!

Where was Sho!?

"Sho? Sho? Sho! Where did you go?!" shouted Mukai as she ran out of the room. Sho was gone! Sho was gone just like Caterpillars was gone and Shigeko was gone and Mine was gone and Ryou was gone and Seri was gone and Hatori was gone and Fuckuda was gone and the cat was gone. The ham-hams were here, though, they went where Sho went….

She knew where Sho was!

She ran over to the ham-ham's bedroom. This was there their house was. She knew she would find Sho in there….he was just…hiding. She couldn't see him. She kicked the door opened as hard as she could and then ran inside but there was no Sho to be seen. He wasn't behind the ham-ham house or inside of it either. He didn't fit…but what if he got small? Like in the movie where the people got small and went inside of the people…wait…did that mean that she had little people inside of her?

She didn't want that.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" shouted Mukai as she jumped up and down. She didn't want little people to live inside of her. She was the Mukai, the only Mukai. Nobody else could be Mukai. She was the only Mukai in the whole world. She was….oh! The ham-hams were screaming now. They did that when she was scary to them….but they shouldn't have been afraid. She was Mukai! She was there friend and she loved them and-and-and she had to make them stop screaming! She stopped jumping up and down, that wasn't helping, and went over to the ham-ham house. They ran away when she got close…everything she loved ran away from her….

No more running away!

"Stop it, ham-hams! Stop being scared! You are my friends!" shouted Mukai. They didn't come out of their hiding places! They were hiding in the hay and the ham-ham huts and the tunnels…why did they have to hide? Why did everything she loved have to hide from her? Why did Sho have to hide from her? Why did-

"Mukai, what are you doing up?" Oh! Mama was there! Good, she would fix this.

"They hiding, Mama, over there." said Mukai. She pointed to the ham-ham house. Mama would make them listen. You had to do whatever your Mama said or else she would put you in time out and take your phone away. Then you couldn't play games and that was very bad.

"Are they really?" asked Mama. She reached over to pick Mukai up. Mukai pushed her hand away. She wasn't a baby anymore, she didn't need to be carried.

"No Mama, not a baby anymore." Said Mukai. She crossed her arms so Mama knew she meant business. That was what Mama did when something was really important. She crossed her arms and gave you the Mama look. Well Mukai could give Mama a Mukai look and cross her arms. It meant just the same thing.

"Alright, alright, you're not a baby anymore. You're a big girl now." Said Mama

"I am." Said Mukai

"Are you such a big girl that you don't need help brushing your teeth anymore?" asked Mama

"No more brushing my teeth. Tastes bad." Said Mukai. Teeth brushing was the worst part of the morning. It made your whole mouth taste bad and also the bristles felt really weird, like a paintbrush for her teeth. Mukai was a big girl now and she could decide whether or not she wanted to brush her teeth….and she picked not.

"It's not about tasting good or bad, it's about having heathy teeth. Are you going to be a big girl and have lots of teeth or do you want to have no teeth any more like a baby would?" asked Mama

"I have teeth! But no brushing!" shouted Mukai

"Oh come on, how about Sho helps? How does that sound? I bet your big brother would love to help you and you can help him too." Said Mama

"Help Sho?" asked Mukai. She was big but not as big as Sho was. He was a big kid, she was just a little kid. If she could tell a kid tat big what to do then…then she would be like Mama…or even stronger!

"Yes, you can help Sho. Doesn't that sound good?" asked Mama

"Yes! But…where's Sho?" asked Mukai

"He's in his bed, Mukai, it's still early you little early bird." Said Mama

"Not a bird…and Sho's not home. Not in bed, not in ham-hams, not everywhere, not anywhere, not over there." said Mukai. Mama had to know where Sho was. Mama knew everything. When you became a Mama then you knew everything like where the remote was or how to jump really high or how to make cookies….well Shigeko knew how to do that but she was a Mama too. She just didn't have a Mukai, only Sho, and he was a big kid….had Sho gone back to Shigeko?

Mukai wanted to go back to Shigeko.

It was more fun there. Ryou played with her all day and Seri knew how to play games too and Hatori put games on her phone and Mine…she liked Mine. Shigeko was nice too. She played dolls and chase and makeup and she knew all the words to Tangled, which was a lot of words, and also Caterpillars was there too and he was so fun and he played games and….and there were people here too but they weren't fun. They said that they were her friends but Mukai didn't know them. They tried to pick her up and talked about how tall she was and…and some of them were nice, Uncle Matsuo played stickers with her but he had also stolen Mine so she wasn't sure about him, and Sakurai had a sword and swords were fun…but she wanted to go back to Shigeko's house and Caterpillar's house and all the other's house.

If Sho had left without her then she was going to be very mad at him!

"Not even over there?" asked Mama. She pointed to the corner of the room. Nobody was there. Couldn't Mama see?

"Open your eyes! Sho's not there!" said Mukai

"Well then we'll just have to see where he went. Maybe he's in the bathroom." Said Mama

"Sho hates baths. Sho smells bad." Said Mukai. The last place Sho would have been was in the bath. He hated baths, they made him cry. She knew, she'd seen it. One time she hid in the hamper and she was going to jump out and scare him but then he started crying and that would have been mean, to make him cry more. So she just sat there and watched him cry….it was sad when Sho cried….

Sho had better not have been crying in the bathroom. That would have made her mad too.

"He might be hiding in there to scare us. Come on, let's see." Said Mama. She held her hand out but Mukai pushed it away. She was three now, not two, and she could go places on her own. She wasn't going to get lost. She knew where the bathroom was. She could walk to it…but running worked a lot better. Running meant that she could get there before Sho and then she could be the one to scare him! She ran to the bathroom as fast as her feet could carry her. She had to get there! She had to kick the door open and then she would scare-

-Santa?

"Mukai, don't run in the house." Called Mama from down the hall. Mama was coming…good. She had to see this…the whole world had to see this! Santa, from the North Pole, was in her bathroom! And in pajamas…pajamas that he stole. Did that mean that he was on the naughty list? And he wasn't getting presents this Christmas…wait….if he was here then where was Christmas?

"What are you doing here? Where's Christmas!?" asked Mukai. Santa only came out when it was Christmas time. He climbed down your chimney and left you presents. It was too hot out for that….so did that mean that it was Christmas now? But then why was he in the bathroom? And why had he stolen Shibata's pajamas?

This was weird…this was really weird….

"Christmas? That's not until…oh! Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas Mukai. Have you been a good girl this year?" asked Santa

"Yes. Always a good girl. The best Mukai ever." Said Mukai. This was weird but that was ok since Santa brought presents and presents were the best thing ever.

"Really? And what if I asked your mom?" asked Santa. Mama…she would have said other things. She would have said that sometimes Mukai didn't listen and sometimes she hit and sometimes she drew on the walls and also she didn't like pimento loaf so she put it in her overalls and gave it to the ham-hams but they didn't like it either and they got sick. Mama was standing right behind her and she would tell Santa all about that…and more! There was so much more…she had to do something about this before everything went wrong and she didn't get any new presents!

"Well I think her mom might say-" said Mama

"No! Don't ask Mama! Ask Caterpillars! He's good!" said Mukai. Caterpillars was always nice to her. He let her climb on whatever she wanted to climb, eat whatever she wanted to eat, and play whatever she wanted to play. He never once punished her and…and he was the one pajama Santa should have been asking!

"You'd rather I asked your Dad?" asked Santa? Mukai wrinkled her nose. Dad? She had clearly said Caterpillars. She knew who he was. Sometimes he wanted to be called Dad…but that wasn't his name. He was Caterpillars because he had Caterpillars instead of eyebrows. If he had been named Dad then he would have had dads for eyebrows…and she didn't think that he did. She wasn't even sure what a Dad was….Sho called Caterpillars that….but that wasn't his name and it was important to call things by their names.

"What's Dad?" asked Mukai

"Dads are…well you see when a man and woman love each other very much they plant a baby seed in the cabbage patch and then three seasons later a baby grows so the dads are the ones who plant the seeds with the moms." Said Santa. Mukai looked up at Mama. Mama was laughing and shaking her head. That wasn't funny. That meant that there were babies out there in gardens, which meant that Mine was going to be mean to them. They had to go and get all the babies! Right now!

"Well put, Santa, well put." Laughed Mama. Mukai tugged on her pants.

"Mama, mama, we gotta to get the babies. The babies from the garden!" said Mukai. Mama stopped laughing. Her colors were showing, so were Santa's…wait…Santa had colors? And they looked like Shibata's?

"You want…another brother and sister?" asked Mama

"Yes! The babies from the garden! Now, Mine's going to get them!" said Mukai. Mama laughed again. She didn't know what was so funny! There were babies out there and they could get the babies and then play with them and then she could keep one of the babies and then she would be a Mama and then she would be the one who made the rules! And the first rule would be no more teeth brushing!

"I don't think that we have to worry about Minegishi stealing any babies from the garden." Said Mama

"I don't know, I've seen stranger things." Said Santa

"Like a shaving cream Santa Claus in the middle of spring?" asked Mama

"Well Santa can't walk around with the beard year round, it gets hot in May." Said Santa

"Hmm, well I guess that I didn't think of that. Alright Santa, how about you finish shaving and then me and Mukai can have the bathroom. How's that sound?" asked Mama

"Sounds good but I have one question, how do you want your eggs?" asked Santa. Mukai stuck out her tongue. Eggs? She wasn't Caterpillars, she didn't want eggs. She wanted good things like poptarts and pandas. Or a cake. Whichever Mama felt like cooking.

"You don't have to cook, you always cook, let me have a turn for once." Said Tsuchiya

"No eggs for breakfast. Poptarts and panda!" said Mukai. Mama and Santa laughed…and Santa didn't laugh right. Springtime Santa was weird….this whole thing was weird. She wished that Sho was there. Sho knew how to fix things when they got weird.

"Or how about some scrambled eggs and toast?" asked Mama. What was wrong with her? Didn't she knew how to use her ears? No. Mashed. Eggs.

"No, no mashed eggs! Panda and poptarts…and Sho! Where's Sho!?" asked Mukai

"I think I heard him leaving last night….is he not back yet?" asked Santa. Mama's colors really showed then. She was scared, that was the same face she made when Mukai climbed onto the roof.

"Back…you heard him leaving in the middle of the night and you just let him go? We're responsible for him. If anything happens Suzuki…he won't take it well. I mean he's not exactly father of he year but he'd probably get a little upset if we lose his only son." Said Mama

"He's Sho, he comes and he goes, and he doesn't really listen to me. I don't think that there's anything I really could have done to stop him." said Shibata

"Hiroshi…you know what? I'm going to call him and make breakfast and you can just finish shaving. Alright? Come on, Mukai, let's go scramble…mash…some eggs." Said Mama. That time she did take Mukai by the hand, and she was being all Mama strong about it too…but she let Mama. She liked mashed eggs. If Caterpillars liked them so did she. She missed Caterpillars…and she missed Sho, too….

"I want to mash the eggs…with Sho." said Mukai. She liked mashed eggs, the mashing part, when you turned the crank thing. Sho was good at that too…but where was Sho?

"Well maybe he's in the kitchen, come on, let's go and see." Said Mama. She led Mukai to the kitchen. She knew that she wasn't going to see Sho there. Sho was only in the kitchen when he had school and he hated school. He liked to eat his dinners and lunches and breakfasts in front of the TV or with Fuckuda and the ham-hams…..if anything he would have been with the ham-hams….

But he wasn't.

Why did people have to go away? She wanted all of her friends to be in the same place. Her old friends, not the new friends that Mama wanted her to make. She wanted Shigeko back….she wanted everyone back. But they weren't coming back…she had to go to them…but she didn't know how to go to them. She didn't even know how to go to Sho.

He could have been everywhere.

The world was very big. She knew, she had been on the plane. She saw how far the ocean went. She saw how big the sky was. She knew how big the world was and Sho could have been anywhere in it. He could have been in the last place they'd been where the people talked funny, or the other place where she had been where the people talked funny….but why did he want to go? Why did he leave? She didn't know why…and she didn't know how to get him back.

Maybe if she wished hard enough.

She didn't say anything when Mama sat her down in a kitchen chair. She wished she may, she wished she might, have the wish she wished tonight. She closed her eyes. She wished as hard as she could for Sho to come back. When she opened her eyes he would be right in front of her….he would be! He would be right in front of her or-

-or at the door!

"Sho's home! Over there!" shouted Mukai. She jumped out of her chair and ran for the door. She got there just as it opened! There was Sho! She didn't even wait for him to close the door. She jumped right into his arms! He was back and now they could play together and be friends and she didn't have to look for him. He hadn't gone back to Shigeko, he had stayed with her!

She really was the best and only Mukai.

"Sho! Missed you so much!" said Mukai as she hugged him. Sho picked her up….oh no! He had all kinds of owies.

"I missed you too, Little Sis." Said Sho. Mukai poked the owie on his neck…lots and lost of owies. She heard Mama walking. She would know what to do. She was the best at making owies go away.

"Those are-" said Sho

"Mama, look! Sho has owies! Lots and lots of owies!" said Mukai. Sho dropped her and pulled his jacket up over his neck. Why? If Mama couldn't see the owies then she couldn't make them better with kisses and love. How did Sho ever expect to get all better without kisses and love?

"Sho? What happened to you? And where have you been? Have you been out all night?" asked Mama

"I-I was sleeping in a tree and then I fell out of the tree and…and I can do whatever I want! You're not my Mom!" said Sho. He pulled his jacket up really high and ran away. Mukai tried to follow him but Mama caught her. She clicked her tongue and shook her head…she was upset…because of Sho and his owies.

"I make the owies better, Mama, kisses and love. Owies need kisses and love." Said Mukai. She was big enough to kiss owies better, she decided. She knew what to do and she wasn't a little baby anymore. Sho needed her and she needed to make him better. She loved him and she couldn't imagine a worse thing to happen to him.

"That's right, Mukai, you could make them better….but I don't think that Sho wants anyone to kiss his owies better…fell out of a tree my foot…" muttered Mama

"Go to Sho! Now!" said Mukai

"He'll come to us, now how about we mash some eggs…and I make you a poptart. Half of one. How about that?" asked Mama. Mukai had to think for a moment. She wanted Sho to be all better…but she did like poptarts….

"Both! Mashed eggs and poptarts and Sho! Right now!" said Mukai. All Mama did was laugh…grownups sure did like to laugh. Well not Sho, he liked to scream…but Mama sure dd like to laugh. Sho was hurt and she was laughing…it was only funny when people who weren't Sho got hurt. Mama didn't get…she didn't get a lot of things. Like how to properly mash eggs.

Luckily Mukai was there to help.

Mama eventually stopped laughing and then they went to the kitchen to mash some eggs together. Shibata woke up, too, and got his pajamas back from Santa. Even Sho came out of his room…but he covered his owies up with an inside scarf. She didn't know what happened in Sho's head sometimes. Mama's and Shibata's too….but that didn't matter. Sho was back home, breakfast wasn't that bad, and somewhere in this house there were presents for her and Sho could help her find them because he was good at reaching up high.

She was glad that she had woken up when the sun did, now she had plenty of time to enjoy her day…and what a day it would be!