Chapter Nineteen
I sit in the living room, feeling rather lonely as I'm the only one who isn't talking to someone. Hanako and Xander sit side by side, giggling about who knows what, Jase is having a Skype chat with his new girlfriend, Grethe, and, most surprisingly of all, Ezra is blushing as his whispers down the phone to a girl whose name he refused to tell me, although her contact name in his mobile is just '3'. I sigh and tap my fingers on the floor, waiting for Mum, Dad and Emmie to get home. They've gone out and told us that they expect the four of us to be in the living room when they get back, but gave us no clue as to how long they would be in the town.
I take my phone out of my pocket and flick through my contacts until I get to Mariko. I click on her icon and start a text conversation. I quickly type, in English, a joke poem which lots of people would probably be offended by, but I know Mariko will find hilarious.
I press send and wait impatiently for about ten minutes before I give up and text Yuki.
I just texted Mariko, she didn't text back? I type. The response comes through about a minute later.
She's having a phone call with a mysterious boy whose name she won't tell us. Is the reply Yuki gives. I gasp and giggle with realisation. Ezra and Mariko are both talking to an unidentified person of the opposite gender! Could it be that they're talking to each other?
Ezra won't tell us the name of the girl he's talking to! They might be talking to each other! I send and the only response I get from Yuki is a smiley face, the same one she always uses to end a conversation. I sigh and put my phone back in my pocket.
After what seems like an eternity of boredom but is only twenty minutes, the door opens and Dad comes in, Emmie in one arm and at least six shopping bags in the other.
"Your mother got chatting to Mai, so I decided to leave her there." he says, and we all laugh apart from Xander. For him, it seems to be too reminiscent of how things were when we lived in London, because he bursts into tears. I slide across the floor towards him and pull him into a hug. I stroke his hair as Jase and Ezra hang up their phones and Dad tries to keep hold of Emmie, who is stretching her arms out towards us and emitting a distressed babble. Hanako gets up and bounces over to Dad, takes Emmie from him and comes back over slowly and carefully. She places Emmie down beside us and starts rubbing Xander's arm gently. Emmie tries to push herself onto her feet and swings out her chubby hand towards Xander. She begins doing her usual thing of hitting harder than she probably realises in what is most likely an attempt at being comforting. Xander lets out a choked sob and pulls away from the hug, wiping his eyes and chewing his lip. I smile softly at him and he manages a small smile back. Dad comes and sits down beside us.
"You okay, Xand?" he asks, taking Xander's hand and giving it a small squeeze. Xander nods, although tears are still streaming down his cheeks.
"P-please don't tell Mummy. I don't her to get worried." he begs. Dad looks as though he's torn.
"If she realises you've been crying, just tell her that you got in a massive argument with me." I say, and he giggles quietly.
"It would be more believable if you and Jase had had a fight and I got caught in the middle of it," he says. "You're way too protective of me."
"But if you say that, Jase will get in trouble, too." I point out. Dad gives me an approving smile.
"You've become much more thoughtful and aware of others since we moved here, Korin. I think that Megumi must be a very good influence on you." he says warmly. I beam. If Dad comments on how something about one of us has improved, he's being completely honest. I know, of course, that it's most likely Yuki, Mariko, Bunko and Satsuki who are a positive influence, rather than Megumi.
"Thank you!" I say cheerfully. The door opens again and Mum comes in.
"Have you lot been to the other nearby villages? Some of the charity shops have some really lovely things. I bought Christmas presents for your cousins, so you don't need to worry about that." she says, putting down at least twice as many bags as Dad had. Ezra facepalms and Jase cringes at Mum's mistake. She tilts her head to the side. "What?"
"It's not Christmas yet," I tell her, "It's not even November." She frowns at me.
"There's nothing else before Christmas, though. Why can't we-"
"There is Halloween and Bonfire Night and NaNoWriMo and Remembrance Day and in America there's Thanksgiving. It's not Christmas yet." I say, my temper rising with every word. People don't seem to understand that you can't start doing Christmas stuff until December, because before then, there are other things happening. People think you're weird if you start getting excited about Halloween in June, and Christmas should be no different. Christmas does not start until December starts. Hanako looks slightly creeped out.
"All I heard was 'Blah blah blah humbug'." Mum says with a cheerful smile, which is, of course, one of the things I hate most about her. She knows nothing about any of us and still sees all of us as eight year olds who can't do anything for ourselves and will instantly be happy if we see our mother smile. I frown at her. Dad takes Mum's hand and whispers something to her in Greek. Mum nods. "Why don't we go out shopping for some girly bonding time, Korin?" I raise my eyebrows at her. Jase laughs.
"Shopping? Korin? Somehow, I can't imagine that going well." he says. Mum looks slightly hurt, like a puppy that's just been kicked.
"Don't you like shopping, Korin?" she asks. "I thought girls your age liked that sort of thing…"
"She likes reading, playing video games and looking for Yokai in the forest." Xander says. "That's why all of her friends apart from Megumi are boys."
"We can shop for books and video games, then." Mum says.
"And anime merch?" I ask. Mum nods.
"Of course!" I grin and the two of us make our way to the door.
"See you guys later." I say to Hanako and my brothers. Emmie gurgles and flaps a pudgy fist at me.
Two hours later, we're in Tokyo. Mum immediately spots a shop of high-end fashion and tries to drag me into it.
"Not a chance, Mum. You are not making me wear any of that stuff." I say. Mum sighs.
"You need some nice clothes, though, Korin. You can't wear boys' clothes and fandom things all the time." she says, and instead takes me into a clothes shop which is less feminine but still with 'nice' fashionable clothes. I roll my eyes exasperatedly and hope that she at least lets me buy clothes that I want.
I stand still as Mum pulls various dresses from the shelves and holds them up against me. She throws several into a shopping basket and puts others back. A shop assistant comes over and asks in Japanese if we want help. Mum stares blankly at her.
"I'm sorry," I say to the shop assistant, "My mother doesn't speak Japanese." the shop assistant nods and calls out to one of her colleagues, a girl around my age, with tanned skin and dark blonde hair to her elbows.
"Do you speak English?" she asks in a Surrey accent that reminds me of home, "If not, I'm afraid none of us will be able to help you."
"Yes, we speak English, thank you." Mum says.
"What can I help you with?" the shop assistant, whose name tag reads Jade, asks.
"I'm looking for a dress for my daughter," Mum says, "But she's rather difficult to buy clothes for."
"Because she's tall and slim, and most clothes are made for people who are either short and slim or tall and round?" Jade asks. Mum shakes her head.
"Partly, but also because she's so boyish." she says. Jade looks me up and down.
"Have you been measured recently?" she asks me. I shake my head.
"I wear mens clothes. They don't need to be fitted." I say, slightly nervous. I'm a lot more self-conscious about my body than people think, despite the compliments I've had about my figure on cosplay sites and from Satoshi, Megumi and Takeshi while we were at the hot springs resort. Jade gestures for me to go with her somewhere.
"I can take your now measurements so that we can find something that's right for your body shape." I nod and we go to the measurement rooms. "Take off everything apart from your underwear." she says, and I blush bright red.
"Do I have to?" I ask.
"I can't really measure you if you don't." she says. I feel the blush spreading further. "Are you not wearing a bra?" I hang my head. "Don't worry, this is a judgement free zone."
"You can't really expect me to wear a bra when I've got nothing to put in it." I say. Jade laughs lightly.
"You're what, sixteen? I don't have boobs either. Don't worry." she says, her fingers moving up to her hair and fiddling with an eagle feather that seems to have been attached to it.
"I'm fifteen." I say.
"Same as me," she says, picking up a measuring tape. "Do you have a part time job?" I shake my head.
"I live in Narusawa. I spend most of my free time in the forest." I explain. Jade begins wrapping the measuring tape around my body over the top of my t-shirt.
"You should get a job here. We'd probably end up commuting together if we got similar shifts. I have to go two and a half hours each way to get here from Fujinomiya. I used to spend loads of time in the forest, but my parents made me get a job so that I could buy my own stuff and stop asking them for money." she says. I laugh lightly. "You have really similar measurements to me. I'll show you to the section with the dresses that fit me or are slightly bigger, and we'll pick something that suits you." I nod and smile.
"Thanks." I say. The two of us walk out of the changing room. Mum eagerly smiles at us. Jade takes us to a section filled with both shimmering silk and delicate cotton dresses, all with elaborate patterns. Jade looks at me, and then at one of the dresses, and then back at me. She smiles and takes the dress off of the rack. It's cotton, deep brown and forest green mingled together in small strokes that blend smoothly. It has pale pink silk thread stitched across it, forming the shapes of sakura petals. It looks like photos I've seen of sakura petals that land on the ground when the trees shed them and rain falls, churning earth and grass together. Jade holds the dress up against me.
"It definitely suits you. The cotton is a similar colour to your eyes, and the pink goes well with your fair skin." she says. Mum squeals.
"Go and try it on, Korin! You'll look stunning, I'm sure!" I give a nervous smile as I take the dress and go to the changing room. I remove my jeans and t-shirt and slip the dress on, zipping it up at the side. I step out of the changing room and Mum and Jade stand smiling at me.
"I thought I looked good in that dress," Jade says, "But it really suits you."
"We'll take it!" Mum says, reaching out and beginning to unplait my hair. She pulls a folding hair brush out of her pocket (who the hell carries those things around?) and runs it through my hair a couple of times.
"If you remove the tag, you can get that scanned and wear it now," Jade says. "Wait here for a minute. I'll go and get the hair accessory that goes with it." She walks off and returns a few minutes later with a hair pin embellished with a large sakura flower made of silk. She slides it into the side of my hair as Mum pulls it over my right shoulder. I stand awkwardly and uncomfortably as they fiddle with my hair and make me 'pretty'.
When they're done, Mum looks me up and down. Realising something, she gasps.
"You can't wear leather boots with a dress!" she exclaims. I sigh. Jade smiles. It's clear she loves fashion and making people look nice.
"My feet are size English size six." I say. Jade nods and bounds off to find a pair of shoes.
"You know, Korin, I'm proud of you. I never expected to be able to get you to wear a dress. You actually don't look as boyish as I thought you would." Mum says. I nod.
"I'm going to get my clothes out of the changing room." I say. Mum nods, and I go back into the changing room and scoop up my clothes in my arms. I come back out, and Jade is grinning and holding up a pair of pale pink strappy shoes with slight heels.
"Try these on. They look good with the dress." I take the shoes from her and slip them on. They fit as well as any would be able to fit my feet, which are different sizes and a weird shape that means that shoes are generally awkward and uncomfortable for me. "Are you going to buy them?" I nod. Jade rips off the labels. "Get the labels scanned and ask for a bag to put your other clothes in."
"Thank you so much. I never would have been able to get Korin into a dress without your help." Mum says.
"No problem. Glad to be of assistance!" Jade says. Mum and I make our way to the checkouts.
"Shall we just get those, or do you want the other dresses I was going to get you to try?" Mum asks. I wrinkle my nose.
"One dress is more than enough." I say. Mum nods.
"Well, it's a start, at least." she says. We buy the dresses and leave the shop, Mum's purse considerably lighter than it was before.