"T-thank god… Ojiichan was alive…" As soon as Yasaka returned to the living room, she repeated the same words over and over again, stroking down her chest in relief. Yasaka had gone to call an ambulance, but right after what had happened I had chased after her and had explained the situation to her. And we had both returned to the living room, which is where we were now.
"Ahaha… sorry sorry, I was a bit too convincing back there ."
With a teehee, he stuck out his tongue. It was very difficult for me to resist the urge to smack him. Geez, don't make your grandchildren cry like that…
"Well… Jii-chan, why exactly were you playing dead like that?"
"Eh? Oh, that? I was practicing my disguise for tomorrow's Halloween fair. Fufu… wasn't it amazing? My zombie costume."
"Amazing… rather, it was a bit too real…"
If he played dead like that in the shop, I have no doubt that a customer would call the police or an ambulance! And what's more, he would come back to life after that right? The little kids they tried so hard to attract might honestly die from the shock. And generally speaking, there aren't any zombies in stores that sell food.
"At any rate, I think that it's probably not a good idea to put on that little act in the shop."
"… Do you really think so?"
Grandpa Hashirama looked pretty disappointed. He quickly turned his gaze on Grandma Mito sitting next to him, as if to ask for her opinion, but when she cut him down quickly with a "it's just as Haruto-chan says," he looked truly crestfallen. In the end, he went and lay down in the corner.
"Alright then. Whatever, it's not like I care… hmph, whatever…"
And he started sulking. He's just like a child, isn't he?
"Haruto-chan, don't mind him, alright? If you go over and try to cheer him up he's just going to get cocky about it."
"Roger."
She was usually a kind person, but it seemed that she treated gramp pretty strictly. Yasaka watched our grandparents' exchange with a wry smile, but she soon stood up as if she had just thought of something.
"Ah, right. Haruto, let me go and quickly get the Halloween candy."
"Ah, sure."
"Fufu, then let me help as well…"
Yasaka and Grandma Mito left the room. Grandpa Hashirama, having watched everything out of the corner of his eye, slowly got up and bitterly spoke, "Hmph! Haruto, you're pretty popular with the ladies, aren't you!?"
"Shut up old man!"
"Hahaha!"
And, after we had that little exchange, a new person came into the room.
"Oh! Haruto you here!"
"Yo Menma, what's up?" I faced him and raised a hand in greeting. It was Yasaka's brother, Menma. "Well… umm… do your best, alright?"
"We just saw each other and you're already giving me sympathy!? Well! I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll do my best bro!"
"By the way, what exactly do you have there?" I pointed to the musical instrument Menma was carrying in his hand.
When I said "what," what I meant was "why do you have that instrument there?" Menma responded thusly:
"This? Heheeh, at tomorrow's event I'm going to give a musical performance! Well, what do you think? It seems like I was put in charge of the music for tomorrow. In a word, I'm going to fire up Halloween with my live performance! I'll put my soul into my music… or something like that! Haha, doesn't that sound cool?"
Brrnggg. Menma strummed the instrument he was holding. Even if you say something like you're going to put your soul into your music… and putting aside whether you look cool or not…
I asked him the question that had been on my mind ever since I caught sight of him, "But, isn't what you have there a shamisen?"
"Hmph, a sharp retort, as expected from you bro." Menma gazed off into the distance, and let out a self-derisive sigh. And then he appealed to me, half in tears. "I can be completely honest with you… I don't have money so I can't buy a guitar! So… so! So anything was fine, I just wanted to play an instrument! So I begged my mom, you see. And then, she told me that Baa-chan knew how to play a shamisen so I should learn from her."
And that's how it got to this, it seemed. It was a situation very befitting for a junior high school student. Also, Yoshina Oba-san… even if he said any instrument is fine, he obviously didn't mean that he wanted to play the shamisen, right? Also, to think that having been told that, Menma actually went off and practiced playing the shamisen… that's also pretty amazing. What a strange mother and son. Is everyone here just a huge airhead?
Grinning, I asked a question, "Well? Can you play it now? Play a song for me."
"Ooohh! Listen and be surprised!" Menma set up the shamisen so nimbly that I could almost hear it ring. It really seemed like he had practiced quite a bit. He decided on a pose that made it look like he was playing the guitar. Bnbnnn. Bnbnbnbnbnn… with a stiff expression, Menma played the shamisen. It was really quite a surreal scene.
O-ohh… amazing. That sounds pretty good! I didn't have an ounce of knowledge when it came to shamisen music, but he definitely wasn't just playing around here… I could see that he was consciously and precisely producing sound from the instrument. It was a song that made me envision the Heian period, with its nostalgic, sad, and gentle melody. And somewhere, I could hear a hint of a flute… certainly, this was an appropriate tone for a traditional sweets shop. But it didn't sound very Halloween-ey at all.
"Heh, how was it bro!? Didn't I just sound like John Frusciante!?"
"You sounded more like a Biwa priest."
"Argh, Jii-chan told me the same thing! I'm seriously hurt, you know!"
I really said the same thing Gramp did!? That seriously hurts. But really, he's playing the shamisen… so he doesn't look like anything except the Marukome priest.
"Tch, this is why people with old sensibilities can't understand the soul of the youth! It's troubling, you know!"
Bnbnbnbnbnnn… Menma once again began his tasteful performance.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Yasaka set the tea and sweets down on the low dining table. Today's theme seemed to be Halloween candy… as was expected.
"Oh. These look great."
"Heheh, right?" Yasaka smiled broadly and I nodded.
There were a few types of sweets lined up on the table… but they all seemed like types of Halloween-themed traditional Japanese candy. For instance, there was a bite-sized Jack-o-Lantern. It seemed to be a candy that was made with Nerikiri red bean paste. I don't know the exact name for it, but it's probably something everyone has eaten. Skilled Japanese confectionery artisans could make this Nerikiri paste into anything, so it was used often in decorative pieces… by the way, this is just personal experience, but working with the stuff was absurdly difficult. Using a spatula and mold to get them into the shape you want was pretty hard, but even making the Nerikiri properly was difficult for novices. From the point of view of an apprentice like me, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that how to handle bean paste was a trade secret.
Heh, I guess I got just a bit fired up there in my explanation… hm, I guess I can't complain about Naruko doing the same thing anymore…
"Haruto, please… try one."
"Ah, alright, then I won't hold back…" I took one of the Nerikiri Jack-o-Lanterns and popped it into my mouth. "This is great!"
"Really!?" Yasaka's expression suddenly brightened, and she joined her hands together in front of her chest. I took a mouthful of tea.
"Really really! And it's filled with pumpkin bean paste, right!? This is quite a piece of art! And then, what's that? Seeds?"
"Yeah… pumpkin seeds."
"Using seeds to decorate the head… pretty amazing."
I was seriously impressed. And what's more, each and every Jack-o-Lantern had a different facial expression. Only hand-made things could taste like this. Besides that, there were various ghosts, witches, bats, black cats… etc. etc. They were all small and cute, so they would probably be very popular with the young girls that formed the majority of the Uzumaki Shop's customer base. They were indeed quite intricate, and I'm sure a lot of thought went into them.
I looked at Yasaka and asked, "Did you make this?"
"Umm… why?"
I mean, because you were so interested in my opinion about them earlier… and I was the first one you tried to feed one of these to, and when I said how good they were, you seemed really happy. And your facial muscles all softened like that… anyone would be able to guess that you had made these.
For a while, Yasaka squirmed around as if she were embarrassed and didn't know what to do. Finally, she gave me a deep nod. "… Yeah. I made them. I'm glad… that you like them."
"Ah, thanks Yasaka, It's really delicious."
The atmosphere in the room strangely took a turn for the awkward, so I also began to squirm bashfully. If Naruko were here, she probably would think this was pretty "gross"… but it's not like I can help it…
Grandpa Hashirama, staring at us all this while, spoke through a mouthful of pumpkin bean paste dorayaki. "You two, hurry up and get married."
"Mrrphhhh… !?" I almost spurted out my tea.
"O-Ojiichan!" Yasaka raised her voice, but she got no sympathy from the people around her.
"Ojiichan does occasionally speak sensibly, doesn't he?" Grandma Mito chuckled and sipped her tea.
It's troubling to say that these two would try to get me and Yasaka together whenever they had a chance. This is how it's been for quite a few years now, so it's not like I get annoyed about it anymore… but getting ambushed like this about it, I couldn't help but be affected…
Geez… I'm really not good with this kind of atmosphere… Yasaka seemed to feel the same way, and appeared to have decided on escaping from the living room.
"U-ughh…! I don't care what you two say anymore! Haruto… let's go to my room."
"A-ahh." I gave a response and stood up. Hearing the mocking chuckles of Grandpa Hashirama behind me, I followed Yasaka and left the room.
Walking a bit down the hallway, we ascended a narrow, steep set of stairs. I have to say, I didn't dislike these creaky old stairs. I wonder why… I guess the sound of the creaking put my mind at ease for some strange reason. Right after going up the stairs, we arrived at a sliding screen door that led to Yasaka's room.
"Hold on a second…"
"Alright."
Yasaka slid the door open a teeny bit, and slipped inside through the crack. She probably wanted to tidy up a bit before letting me in. Putting away ero books that might be lying out in the open… Well, that would be my case, but I'm sure Yasaka also had things that she wasn't keen on me seeing. I really don't think she actually was hiding something dreadful from me like Naruko had been. But… Now that I think about it, it's certainly been a while since I've gone into Yasaka's room. Nevertheless, it's not like I feel nervous about this or anything.
Right then, the sliding door opened, and Yasaka poked her head out. "Please come in."
"Ahh… sorry for intruding." With that, I stepped foot into Yasaka's room.
The room smelled like grass and incense, had tatami for flooring, and was six tatami large. There were large windows not only in the room, but also on the side of the hallway, so there was great sun exposure in here. Almost-dazzling sunlight flooded the room, warming both my body and soul. Even though this was also a girl's room, it felt completely different from my sister's room.
There wasn't much furniture; it was basically empty. There were a few drawers and cabinets, a three-sided mirror I guess in the West you would call this a "dresser", and a low dining table… that's all there really was. Lined up in the corner of the room were the only somewhat girl-like things in the room: a collection of colorful cushions and stuffed animals. But, what left the strongest impression on me about the room were things like the replica of samurai armor and katana sword that she kept for god knows what, the hanging scroll style calendar, the framed ukiyo-e-like painting…
"Well, this place sure hasn't changed."
"Don't look so closely around like that… it's embarrassing…"
What exactly about this armor and sword or this hanging scroll was there to be embarrassed about? I don't understand women at all. Casually sitting down, I stretched out my legs and made myself comfortable. Around a foot away from me, Yasaka also sat down. She spoke with a strangely impatient tone of voice. "U-umm… what should we do?"
"Sleep."
"Ehhh?!"
… What is she surprised about?
"Lately I've been staying up late quite often practicing my bass… well… and I just wanted to lie down and take it easy for a bit. At least now that I'm here."
"A-ahh… hah."
When Yasaka cleared up whatever misunderstanding she had fallen into, she sighed and for some reason seemed relieved. What just happened? I really don't understand this girl…
I lay back and stared up at the ceiling. "By the way, I left all my reference books at school, so I'm definitely not going to study."
"I wasn't going to suggest that!" For a little while, Yasaka glared at me, but soon she let out a smile. "You're right… let's just take it easy."
"Mmm."
And that's why… we ended up just lazing around. I don't know what that means to other people, but for us, "lazing around" meant just what it sounded like.
"Ah, right… Do you want some tea?"
"Mmm."
And we drank some tea.
Time passed hazily.
"… Aaahh." And we yawned some.
"By the way, don't you have to prepare for Halloween?"
"I do… but after the shop closes. Tonight, we're all going to try our best."
"Well, I'll help then."
"Really? You might be able to help out a lot… There's a lot of physical work to be done. And lately Ojiichan's back has been hurting… but, are you sure? You're tired, aren't you?"
"I already said it was fine, didn't I? Don't worry about it."
"Thanks… "
And we talked idly. We weren't trying to do anything in particular, but just spent our time relaxing.