Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 4 - Chapter 3.2

Bonus chapter: "Hino's House: The Visitor - Part 2" 

"Akira, do you have a moment?" 
Hino's room had all the necessary components to play shougi, and we'd just been in the middle of a game when her mother walked in. I still recognized her from parents' day in middle school; the fact that she'd come wearing Japanese-style clothes made her stand out quite a bit. Recognized her clothes, that was. Everything from neck up, I'd long since forgotten. 
"Oh my. Err, Tae, was it?" the woman addressed me after examining my face for a moment. While she didn't sound all that confident in herself, she'd actually been mostly correct. 
I wonder, was it because Hino used to call me that back when we were little? It was actually "Taeko", but still, no use splitting hairs. I decided to just nod along. Her mother nodded as well before immediately shifting her attention back towards Hino. 
With my lance piece in hand, Hino returned her stare over her shoulder, her eyes growing narrow. 
It was the same face she always made when she was annoyed. 
"What?" 
"I see you've already changed. That's perfect. Now, come with me to greet the guests." 
"But why? What does this have to do with me?" 
"You're our daughter, are you not?" 
"Yeah, yeah. I'll come. Just give me a second", Hino stated quickly. She then put the captured piece down and turned my way. "This won't take long. Let's take a quick break, okay?" 
"Hm? Sure", I nodded. This apparently wasn't enough to convince Hino, judging by the way she proceeded to point her finger between my eyebrows as if to make sure that I understood. 
"Stay put." 
"Leave it to me. I'm actually really good at that." 
"Stop lying, liar. What part of your chest is 'staying put'?" 
Hino's hand soared through the air in an attempt to clutch my chest, only to be deflected by a strike from mine. I felt like lately, I'd grown able to anticipate based on the mood when she was about to do that. While I was busy triumphing over my victory, Hino got up with a wry smile on her face. 
I glanced at her right before she turned around towards the door, and by that point, the smile had already disappeared completely. 
"This is the kind of stuff that makes me not want to come straight back home from school..." 
Leaving behind only that complaint, Hino exited the room with her mother. I was now all alone. 
She wouldn't notice if I moved some of the pieces back to my side of the board, would she? Probably not. After that was done, I began to take a look around. It wasn't like I had anything else to do. I'd gone through her room plenty of times by now, but who knows, maybe something new would pop up. An interesting manga book, perhaps. She had a shelf full of those. Unfortunately, they were all ones I'd borrowed and read through before. 
The other half of the bookshelf consisted of fishing books I had no interest towards. I wonder, was Hino going to be into fishing for the rest of her life? Probably. The rest of the world was already in the process of shifting towards boomerangs, clearly, but I didn't get the impression that she was going to. Distancing myself from the shelf, I continued wandering about. 
It didn't take me long to exhaust everything there was to do in this room. Seeing how Hino still wasn't back, I decided that I might as well go for a stroll around the yard. 
"If I walk in a really stiff way, that should count as staying put, right?" 
Yep. Following her orders was a bit difficult, sure, but I also felt that there nothing out there that you couldn't do if you tried hard enough. 
The only parts of my body that I could avoid moving while walking were really my shoulders and neck and the pose doing so put me in was quite awkward to say the least. Still, somehow able to maintain it, I headed towards the outer walkway. By the time I got there, the burden placed on my shoulders had grown far larger than I'd anticipated. Waking up with a stiff neck tomorrow morning seemed pretty much inevitable. 
The pathway overlooked the sunny yard. There, I could see trees of all kinds waving in the wind blowing through. 
While the weather today was quite good, it was also windy. Staring up at the blue sky, bits of it every now and then peeking through from behind the tall fence and the fast-moving clouds, I took a deep breath. Regardless whether Hino's home should be classified as a villa or an inn or a samurai house, what I liked about it was this atmosphere I was able to experience, completely different from anything our house had to offer. It felt so quiet here, peaceful, almost like we were removed from the rest of the world. It really was nice. 
I thought about hopping off the platform and going for a quick walk through the yard itself, only to realise that I wasn't wearing shoes. Well, no big deal; going barefoot would do just as fine. I removed my socks and stepped down onto the gravel. It not being quite summer yet, the stones weren't hot enough to make my soles burn. Likewise, it not being winter, stepping on them didn't feel like I was standing on ice. The sensation was instead pleasant all around, almost like I was having my feet massaged. Enjoying this feeling, I began walking. 
I wonder, what was Hino currently doing? Acting with great etiquette in front of some important people, perhaps? As much as I would've loved to see that, I got the impression that actually doing it, going to take a peek at her, would be immensely difficult. Why? Because Hino was way better at finding me than I was finding her. 
"...Hm?" 
I'd been busy practising my grass flute skills using one of the leaves I'd picked up when I noticed a girl approaching the yard from the inner section. 
Her height and Japanese-style clothes tricked me into thinking that it was Hino for a second. However, after carefully examining her through my glasses, the difference became apparent; she was in fact not Hino, but instead, a girl even smaller than her. She was wearing a vermilion yukata with a green sash tied around it. A fancy ornament with a bell attached to it stuck out from her long, black hair, and under her arm, I could see her carrying a yellow helmet, like something you'd wear on a construction site. 
The girl stared at the large pond, then picked up some rocks near her feet. There was no consistency to her actions, leading me to wonder if she, too, was out on a walk. Who was she? Hino's little sister I'd never heard of? I continued observing her for a while, until eventually, the girl noticed me back. She then began walking towards me. She was wearing traditional-style sandals beneath her bare feet, and for someone with legs as short as hers, she walked surprisingly fast. Mere seconds later, the little creature had already slid in front of me. 
"Looks like there are big ones around too", she stated with a grin on her face while looking up at me. Hmm. Something about this felt familiar. My hunch turned out to have been on point, as only a few moments later, the girl extended her hand towards my chest area. She'd given off the same vibe Hino did whenever she tried doing that, and as it turned out, it'd been the right choice to take a step back in anticipation; without any difficulty, I was able to dodge her attack. 
"Oh, wow. That's pretty good." 
Having pulled her arm back, the girl then took a few moments to examine me. I wasn't really a fan of that, being stared at. 
Then again, it wasn't like I could do much to protest; having to keep my head perfectly still severely limited my options. 
"You don't look like you're from here." 
"No, I'm from the meat shop." 
I followed my self-introduction with a short wiggle. She wiggled back, almost as if imitating me. 
She didn't seem like a bad girl. However, she did act way above her age, almost like she was even older than I was. Before I knew it, I'd been caught by the mood. 
"A meat shop, huh? Does that mean you get to eat as much meat as you want?" 
"No, that's not really how it works." 
"I see." 
The girl tilted her head, sounding a tad bit disappointed in my answer. I wasn't kidding; daring to take an item on sale without permission would result in a lecture long enough to completely clog up my earholes. Funny story, that was actually what had lead to me coming here for the first time; tired of getting nagged at, I'd run away and made Hino let me stay over. 
Hearing that I was coming to her house to play had made her so happy back then. These days, not so much. 
"Why? Why are you walking around barefoot?" the girl asked, turning her eyes towards my feet. 
"Because my shoes are by the entrance", I explained while lifting and spreading out my toes. I then continued: "I was wearing socks earlier, just so that you know. Here." 
I pulled out my socks from the gap between my shirt and skirt where I had stuffed them to show her. Wouldn't want her to think that I was some sort of a savage. For some reason, this caused the girl to laugh, laugh so hard it seemed like she might fall over. 
"Wherever I go, I'm always met by weirdos." 
I couldn't tell you why the girl had mistaken me for a weirdo. Hino called me that pretty often too. Really, what part of me made me seem like one? 

"Now then, I think it's time I left. I already had tea and cakes, and I'm starting to get pretty bored." 
The only sweets they put on offer in this house were the non-sweet type. Let's just say, they hadn't left a good impression on me. 
She'd probably had some top quality treats, huh? She definitely seemed like that sort of girl. Actually, now that I thought about it, whose child was she anyway? 
"There are those who hate large ones, and there are those who hate small ones. Earthlings sure are an interesting bunch." 
Cackling to herself, the girl turned around. 
The way she'd said that almost made it sound like she wasn't an earthling herself. Clearly, if anyone here was a weirdo, it was her. 
I watched as she put on the construction helmet, hopped on a motor scooter parked in the back, and drove off. Assuming she had a driver's license, maybe she wasn't younger than me after all. 
"People aren't always what they seem to be." 
For someone even smaller than Hino, she sure had acted mature. 
With that done, I went back to practising my grass flute skills. Unfortunately, I was forced to stop before managing to produce a nice sound. 
"Ah! What are you doing here?" 
It was Hino who spoke, now running my way having noticed me. Just like the girl from before, she was fast too, perhaps even rivalling the former in speed. Myself, I proceeded to straighten my knees and leap up off the ground, catching her in my arms as I did. This only angered Hino further. 
"Sit down!" she chastised me. 
"Okay, I've sat." 
For a moment, Hino simply stood there, staring down at me with her hands on her hips. 
"You." 
"What?" 
"I told you to stay put, didn't I?" 
"Yeah, and I have been doing that. That's why my shoulders are so stiff now." 
Now that Hino was back, there was no need for me to keep doing it, was there? No, not really. With that thought, I let my flexed shoulders drop. The sides of my neck, having thusly been released, felt quite heavy. I could hear Hino sigh deeply as I rolled my arms around. However, there was a smile on her face, so that was good. 
"You're done with that thing of yours, Hino?" 
"One of the guests ran off, and I used that opportunity to sneak away myself. Now, back to my room." 
Shifting her attention towards the direction she'd come from, Hino proceeded to push my back. A guest? Was she talking about that girl? 
If so, then I truly felt grateful for her. Grateful for giving Hino back so soon. 
"You didn't set up any pranks while I was gone, did you?" Hino asked me, the two of us now back in her room. 
"How rude." 
"It's just that, there are sides to you that I don't really get." 
Having said that, she sat down in front of the shougi board. Then, after examining it for a few moments, her expression froze. 
"Hey. Where did you get these pieces from?" 
"They joined my side because you didn't pay them enough." 
"Even the king? Really?" 
"Huh?" 
I might have overdone it a little. 
"...Well, whatever. Let's just keep going." 
Finding the act of putting the pieces back how they'd been too bothersome, Hino suggested that we simply resume the game in that state. 
Sure, it might take a bit, but not being willing to do so meant that she wasn't going to win. I wanted to say something to her to that effect. At the same time, I also wanted to win myself, which was why I wasted no time to start moving the pieces. I moved them. Moved them. 
...How was I going to win here? 
Somehow, it felt like the game had become harder. 
"Your mother isn't going to come chasing after you, is she?" 
"Nope. Let's just say, they don't really expect much from me. In a good sense." 
"Hmm." 
Well, whatever. There were more important matters to be discussed. 
"I really like the bathtub you have. It's so large." 
"You do?" 
"Say, why don't we take a bath together?" 
"Huh?" 
In shock, Hino dropped the piece she'd been holding. A silver general. I tried to catch it, but failed. 
The bath we had back home was way too small, but the one here, that could easily fit the two of us. 
"It'll be fun. Don't you think so?" I pressed her. 
"How old are you?" Hino muttered as she bent to pick up the fallen piece with her fingertips. Regardless, she didn't outright decline my proposal, but instead, was left scratching her cheek. "Tell me, was that the reason why you came here?" 
"Bingo." 
See? She did know me well. 
I knew her too, which is why I had been able to anticipate what followed; a wide grin formed on her face.