My auntie Rei is a superhero.
I know what I just said sounds silly and not at all like something a girl my age should believe in, but that's basically the only explanation I can come up with for the secret I share with her. I guess a little more information is necessary to clear up what I mean, though.
By the way, I can trust you to keep this between us, right Sensei? I mean, Auntie Rei is your friend, too, right?
In any case, my story begins on a cold and snowy winter evening. Auntie and I were coming back home from shopping for groceries, when we happened to hear a soft and pained-sounding whine coming from the side of the road. We went closer to investigate and found a little puppy lying on its side, moaning weakly and almost completely hidden under a thin mantle of snow.
'It is a Shiba Inu,' auntie Rei said as she passed her bags to me and quickly knelt down to take a closer look at the poor puppy. 'Not even a month old.'
Then, without even needing to touch him or look at him from a different angle, Auntie told me that he'd been hit very hard by something, probably a passing car that hadn't noticed him. His wounds were fatal and, even without the snow all over it sapping his strength, the doggy would likely die in just a few more minutes.
My seven-year-old self was very sad at the news, I remember. I asked Auntie if there was something, anything, we could do for the little puppy, but the harsh reality of the situation was that both of the town vets were a fair distance away and it was just impossible that we would make it to either of them in time.
I've always liked animals. It's no secret that I probably like them better than most people, honestly, and auntie Rei has always been very aware of this, being the insightful person that she is. Maybe that's why she decided to do what she did, back then, even if it meant coming clean on her big secret:
Suddenly putting her hand just above the injured puppy, Auntie asked me to close my eyes and, thinking she was about to mercy-kill it, I did as she asked without a second thought. But then, I heard something that sounded a whole lot like water hitting the pavement. When Auntie then asked me to open my eyes again, I was shocked to see the puppy on all fours, barking happily and running circles around Auntie with eyes full of adoration.
'You must never tell anyone about this', auntie Rei then very seriously demanded, ignoring the doggy to focus entirely on me. And seven-year-old me just nodded dumbly, busy trying to make sense of what had just happened. It wasn't until we were halfway back home that I finally managed to put two and two together and figure out that Auntie was a superhero, so it was no wonder that she didn't want her secret identity to be public knowledge.
So I didn't say anything.
As a side note, the doggy followed us all the way back home and we ended up adopting him, even if Mommy wasn't completely on board with the idea at the start. Something about 'a downgrade' from a pet penguin; in any case, his name's Koro, and while he's a lot bigger now than he was back then he's still just as energetic. And obviously, he's extra happy when auntie Rei comes over to visit.
As part of her superhero duties, my auntie spends a lot of time during the year travelling to all sorts of different countries. Auntie says that she's out looking for ideas for her books and paintings, but since I became aware of her secret superhero identity I've figured that she's also helping out those in need like she did for Koro. I mean, I remember how she happened to go to the southern part of India when a huge famine was all over the news, and things improved and got a whole lot better not two weeks after Auntie had left for Austria. Very much out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, crops and livestock were suddenly growing bigger and stronger than the country had ever seen, almost like it was a miracle.
Coincidence? I think not! I mean, if there's one thing that Auntie Rei is it is kind-hearted, after all. I might as well make that another one of the words to describe her, now that I think about it.
Auntie's travels are almost endless: one week she's in Britain or Russia and the next she's in Congo or Mexico or South Africa. One postcard says that she's wearing layer above layer of clothes and the next says that she's doing her best to hide from the sun under a wide-brimmed sunhat, all in the name of helping those in need (and coming up with material for her cover-up jobs, I guess). Mommy and Daddy always say that Auntie is out working and not playing, but the stories she tells whenever she's at home sound so fun that I've always wished I could join her in a worldwide adventure, anyway.
I haven't been lucky so far, though. In fact, the one time that Auntie offered to take me with her for a few weeks, Mommy would have none of it because I would have been missing out on school for too long and Daddy didn't come to my aid like he sometimes does. Like always, auntie Rei went on her trip on her own that time, too, and I remember being so mad at Daddy and Mommy that I didn't speak to them for days.
It was really annoying, but at least Auntie Rei brought me a cool souvenir when she came back that time: a pretty T-shirt with a lot of funny-looking sheep on it. I also managed to talk Mommy into letting me go on a trip with Auntie when I turn sixteen, if I prove to her that I can miss a few weeks of class without falling behind.
Shouldn't be too hard. And I'm going to stop here before I end up going into sidetrack territory again.
For auntie Rei's second word, I think I'm going to go with 'calm'. It might be cheating a little bit because I already used that word for Daddy, but if I didn't use to describe Auntie then I would just be lying. I'm also going to cheat a little bit more and add 'insightful' to the second word, because I said it was one of Auntie's qualities earlier before but I think it can also be one of the reasons why she's usually so quiet.
Auntie Rei doesn't talk much outside of her stories, and she doesn't talk even a quarter of what Mommy does, that's for sure. She's more the listening type and doesn't miss a beat, always on guard for the things that are said and done around her so that when she does speak she always has the right thing to say. Unlike Daddy, who sometimes flounders a little bit and puts his foot in his mouth.
Actually, I think that might be the biggest difference between the two: where Daddy is quiet because he doesn't like trouble and prefers to do his own thing, Auntie is quiet because she's too busy looking and listening for clues about everything around her. That amount of care and attention to detail must be why her children novels are such a big hit.
And for Auntie's last word, I think I'm going to go with 'focused', especially because I think it's funny that Auntie and Mommy argue so much when they're together considering that they're so similar as far as their work goes. The both of them are always trying to do their jobs as well as they can to the expense of almost everything else, and Daddy often says that it must be partly because of how much Mommy and Auntie worked and how much responsibility they had when they were younger.
I think that makes sense, but I also think it's a bit sad that Mommy and Auntie won't relax on their own more often. At least Makinami-sensei is there to take them away when she thinks they've been working too hard for too long.
And that actually reminds me of one time a little bit over a year ago when Auntie brought me over to her studio: I'd spent the entire afternoon begging Auntie to let me see the new stuff she'd brought from her latest trip, and finally got her to cave in during the last hour before evening. You see, Auntie's workshop isn't just the place where she paints and stores her paintings, it also doubles as something of a museum of all the things she has found during her travels and I just love to see every little new item that Auntie brings back every time she returns to town.
In any case, we climbed to the top of her duplex and I wasted no time in starting my tour of the place: there were a pair of cat statuettes that looked Egyptian, a model of the leaning tower of Pisa, a hat from one of those English guards that never, ever move a muscle and a funny looking car thing, a big one at that. It had large solar panels in the middle of it and a lot of fancy looking cameras and tools, and a flag of the United States that was an obvious clue for where it had come from.
It also said Spirit on the side. Cool name.
But what really caught my eye were these cute ribbons of many colours dancing to the breeze that flew in from the half-open window, and I hurried closer to take a better look, noticing quickly that they were made of yarn. They were a flashy mesh of bright reds, blues, greens and yellows, and the colour palette reminded me a lot of some traditional costumes that Makinami-sensei had shown us when learning about the mid and south Americas. Of course, I immediately asked Auntie if she had been around that area recently…
…but she didn't answer.
Curious, I turned around, and then I noticed that the reason why Auntie wasn't answering was that she was scribbling away at her picture book, stopping only to take half-second glances at the spot where I was standing. I was surprised, of course, but I also learned a long time ago not to bother Auntie when she's being all artist-like, so I just went around and looked at her other paintings and things while she was busy with her drawing. I made sure not to touch anything, of course.
Eventually, auntie Rei got finished with her work and plopped it on a nearby bench before she walked away to the storeroom muttering about colours, and I risked a quick peek at what she'd been working on so eagerly: unsurprisingly considering the time and place, it was a portrait of me looking out the window with the setting sun in the background. Well, more like a rough pencil sketch, actually, but still not bad at all considering that she drew it in like, ten or fifteen minutes. It was very pretty, as usual.
And also kinda funny-looking. I don't remember having a greenish or bluish thing around me, after all. And even if it didn't take away from the beauty, it was just… weird. It's this little thing that Auntie does for every single one of her paintings. It doesn't matter if it's a person or an animal or a tree, Auntie always gives them these strange lines all around them that make them pop out a little bit more, if that makes sense.
Maybe seeing things all weird is one of her superpowers, now that I think about it? Or is that really just an artistic thing? I mean, Makinami-sensei showed us some famous paintings from some famous artists for a project one time, and while some of them were just about people or landscapes looking pretty, some others looked weird and stretched or just... plain didn't really make much sense. Maybe those lines are Auntie's artistic signature?
In any case, artists are weird, is what I mean. Almost as weird as the offhand not-answer that auntie Rei gave me when I asked her about it.
'Light of the Soul', yeah right. I'm not five anymore, Auntie!
But going back to auntie Rei, one last thing I want to mention is that sometimes she looks kinda lonely. Which is funny, because from what little I know about superheroes they always end up hooking up with someone or another pretty quick. That hasn't been the case for Auntie as far as I know, though, because I've never seen her or heard about her being with anyone else in a romantic way.
And that makes me sad, because if there's anyone in the world who deserves to be happy, that someone is my kind-hearted auntie Rei. That's a problem that could be hard to fix, though, because Auntie's circle of friends is very, very small. In fact, and I know it probably sounds a bit strange coming from me of all people, but I think she could do with meeting some more people and making new friends.
Then again, I could be completely wrong and maybe Auntie does meet and make friends with new people in all of her travels and I just don't know about it. It doesn't look like that to me, though, and that makes me a bit worried for her. I know Daddy and Mommy have been worried, too.
The only person who doesn't seem to be worried is auntie Rei herself, actually. I mean, when I asked her about why she didn't try something like a dating service the only thing she did was smile at me and say that she had 'All the time in the world' to find a partner.
Which is a load of bull. I'll give Auntie that she does look quite a bit younger than Mommy does (much to Mommy's eternal annoyance), but it's not like she's going to live forever. If she keeps on acting like she is right now, it's only going to end up with her being lonely her entire life! And that would just be... sad.
But I'll be damned if I'm going to let that happen, and I just know that you'll be with me on this one, too, Sensei. We are going to find that stubborn aunt of mine a person that she can be happy with whether she grumbles about it or not, and what better way to start with than with that huge pile of people that Sensei is friends with? Auntie's soulmate just has to be in there, somewhere!
...But this has gone way out of hand already, so we should probably leave our planning for some other time. Time to finish this essay!
I love you, Auntie, and even if they've never met you in person, I just know that there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who love you as much as I do, too. Being a superhero and helping those that need saving will do that for you, and even if we're only talking about the smaller details, painting your pictures and writing your books so that the imagination of just as many people can fly free is nothing to scoff at, either.
You deserve to be happy as much as anyone, Auntie. And I know that you say you have all the time in the world, but I hope we'll succeed at finding your special someone sooner rather than later, anyway.
[ I ] - [ 3 ] - [ W ]
"And it's done!"
The pen hits the top of my table as I relax against the back of my chair. After all, and even knowing that I had plenty of stuff to talk about when it came to Auntie, this one got long. I stretch my arms and legs and groan a little at the tingling that I feel from the latter, before fighting back a yawn and spying a glance at the tabletop clock.
It's 19:13PM, so I should still have a short while to play with Koro before dinner's ready. Gotta review my work before I consider it truly done, though, so I blink the drowsiness away and pick up the piece of paper containing my masterwork.
And then I stop.
"...But now that I think about it, maybe giving this out isn't such a great idea," I ponder, reading the first few lines of the essay time and time again. "It's not that I don't trust Sensei to keep Auntie's real job a secret, but if auntie Rei was so serious about keeping it to myself…"
…
"Mmm… I guess I really should redo those parts, and this entire thing could really use some trimming, besides. Sensei did say that learning how to summarise was important," I finally decide with a sad sigh, concluding that playtime with Koro will have to wait until after dinner and picking up the pen once more. "It's not going to be the same without that starting punch, but that's still way better than disappointing Auntie. Better get to it!"
A/N: This one got far longer than I thought it would, but it was still a lot of fun to write. One more to go!