Chapter-1 Me And My Friends

"Sensei, MY HEAD FEELS WEIRD. Can I skip P.E. today?" I asked,

diligently raising my little elementary-schooler hand.

And yet, not only was I ordered to the faculty room after school, I was

still made to run in the yard. I, Koyanagi Nanoka, could not accept this. I was

certain I'd been called to the faculty room to be reprimanded, but I faced

down my teacher without shame.

"So," I said. "I think you assumed I was just playing around earlier,

asking to be let out of P.E., but I've made my own calculations and I'm pretty

confident about this."

"And just what do you mean by that? Confident about what?" Hitomi-

sensei asked warmly from the chair across from me. Her eyes were locked

with mine and her arms folded.

My short arms folded with equal resolve. "There was a show on

television last night," I told her. "Where a bunch of people were giving their

opinions about an incident somewhere. There was an important-seeming

person, who said that the Japanese don't like people who are weird in the

head, so they run away from them. When I asked my mother who that person

was, she said they were a university professor. If a university professor says

so, then an elementary-schooler should accept it's true. High school is below

university, and junior high is below high school, and elementary school is

below them all."

My chest swelled with pride as I presented my thesis, expecting my

teacher to be impressed. Instead, she looked a bit troubled, and breathed a

deeper sigh than usual.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Well, Koyanagi-san, I do think it's wonderful that you were able to

think up such a thing and express it so clearly—it means that you are very

smart."

"I think so, too."

"It's also wonderful that you have such confidence. However, I have a few pieces of advice, if you would like that brilliance of yours to blossom.

Will you listen?"

"Yes, of course."

Hitomi-sensei grinned and held up her index finger. "Okay. First, while

it's important to try things out once you think of them, it's equally important

to take a few moments to think about it before you do. Do you understand?"

I nodded my head up and down. Hitomi-sensei held up her middle

finger beside the first.

"Second, running away from the things that frighten us isn't always a

good thing. There are times when it's okay to run away, but exercise is

important for your health, and you're already starting to sprint more quickly

than you could before, aren't you?"

She was right, I had been able to sprint a bit more quickly today than

before, but my legs were exhausted now. Could this really be good for my

health?

She held up her ring finger.

"And third, I don't think what that professor said is accurate. The

things that people say on TV are not necessarily always correct. You need to

decide for yourself whether what you hear is true."

"In that case, Sensei…"

"Yes?"

"That also means that I have no idea whether what you're saying is

correct either, doesn't it?"

She gave me a warm look. "That's right. And that is why you have to

think. That said, please at least believe this: From the bottom of my heart, I

wish for nothing more than your happiness, and to see you get along with

others. Do you understand?"

She gave me a serious look, which I had seen many times before. I

liked this expression on her. Compared to the other teachers, I felt like her

face rarely lied.

I thought long and hard about what she had just said, and after careful

consideration, I answered with a polite nod. "I understand. I believe you more than that professor."

"Good. In that case, from now on, before you decide to try something

out in class, come discuss it with me first."

"Only if I think that's the correct thing to do."

"Yes, that's fine."

She smiled earnestly and patted me on the head. Seeing that face, I was

certain that she truly did wish for my happiness. At the same time, I

wondered…

"What does 'happiness' mean, according to you, Hitomi-sensei?"

"Hmm, it can mean a lot of things, but… Well, okay. I'll go ahead and

tell you now. Starting in tomorrow's language arts class, we're going to be

thinking about what it means to be 'happy.'"

"What? That sounds really hard."

"Yes, it's incredibly hard, but you and I and everyone else will all be

thinking about what happiness means to us, personally. So try thinking about

what happiness looks like to you, Koyanagi-san."

"Okay, I'll think about it."

"Very good. Keep this a secret from everyone else, okay?"

She put her finger to her lips and gave me a clumsy wink. Then, she

took a piece of chocolate from Shintarou-sensei's desk, beside her.

"The first part of my happiness is sweets," she said.

"That might make me happy, too." I looked at Shintarou-sensei.

"Don't tell anyone about this," he said with a clumsy wink of his own.

He handed me a piece of chocolate.

"I'll see you later then, Sensei," I said, waving from the doorway of the

faculty room.

"Take care, then. Come to think of it, who do you usually go home

with?"

"I may be a child, but I can at least make it back home on my own."

"That's true. I held you back today, but starting tomorrow, why don't you try going home with everyone else? It will be fun."

"I'll think about it. But you know, Sensei…" I put the piece of

chocolate in my mouth. "Life is like a wonderful movie."

Hitomi-sensei tilted her head slightly, amused. I often said those sorts

of things to her, but she always took the time to consider them. However, her

conclusions were usually off the mark.

"Hmm, does that mean you're the main character?"

"Nope."

"Really? Okay, I give up. What does it mean?"

"It means that as long as you have candy, you can enjoy it even if

you're alone."

Hitomi-sensei made the same troubled face as always, and I turned my

back on her, hurrying home from my dreary elementary school.

There was no one home, so after putting my backpack in my room, I

decided to head right back out. I made sure to lock the apartment, then took

the elevator from the eleventh floor down to the first, waited for the

automatic doors to open, and headed outside.

As I walked through the glass doors, I saw a friend walking nearby.

She always took the opportunity to loiter around our building about the time I

headed home from school. Our building was a great deal larger than the

surrounding structures, so it was easy enough to find, even for her.

I offered her a greeting.

"Salutations!"

Although she knew I was there, she made a face as though she had just

noticed me.

"Meow!"

"You'll never become an actress with that kind of blatant

performance."

"Meow."

As always, she walked in exactly the direction I was intending, her cropped tail bobbing to-and-fro. Even my tiny footsteps outpaced her, and I

was quickly able to catch up. I gave a haughty laugh, gloating over my

victory, and she whipped her head away. Honestly, what a charmless girl.

As we walked toward our destination, I told my little friend about what

had happened today. "It was really ridiculous!"

"Meow."

"There are some serious incompatibilities in different people's ways of

thinking. Is it the same in the cat world?"

"Meow."

"That's true. It's difficult for different creatures to fully understand

each other."

"Meow," she said again, disinterested.

She never seemed very engaged with what I had to say. My daily

worries probably had no relevance to a cat, but it was a bit rude.

Still, there was nothing I could do about it, so I decided to sing a song.

Something that she could enjoy as well. The only two things that drew the

attention of my cheeky little friend were milk and the sound of my song.

What a luxurious life she led.

I began to sing my favorite tune. "Happiness won't cooome wandering

my way sooo…"

"Meow meow!"

"Thaaaaat's why I set ouuut to find it todaaay!"

Although she pretended not to be interested, the tone of her meowing

was more inflected than usual. She had such a lovely singing voice. Although

she was never forthcoming, I'm sure she had all the boy cats flocking to her

with a beautiful voice like that.

As the two of us walked along the quiet road, singing together, the path

dead-ended at the banks of a wide river. We climbed the stairs up the

embankment. There were no large buildings around, and the wind was

forceful. It felt wonderful blowing through my hair. The next town over sat

on the opposite bank, and I smelled something slightly foreign.

This embankment was a popular place for children to play, but I had no interest in that. Miss Bobtail showed some interest in a ball rolling along the

embankment, but there was no ball that interested her more than a bowl of

cream.

We continued along the path beside the river, singing. As we walked,

we greeted those we passed. We walked by the old man sitting on some

cardboard, and an old woman whom we saw often down at the shopping

arcade gave me candy. Eventually, our destination came into view: a cream-

colored two-story apartment building. It sat in front of us like a large square

buttercream cake. We descended the stairs down from the embankment and

approached it.

We trotted into the apartment, Miss Bobtail being careful not to make

too much noise. Climbing the stairs a step ahead of me, she mewled at the

apartment door at the end of the second floor. I had told her to be quiet, but

she was often quick to forget things like that. She was not as clever as me.

I strode elegantly up to the door and pushed the button that Miss

Bobtail was not tall enough to reach. A few seconds later, I heard the

doorbell ringing within. Before I could even spot the ant crawling over my

foot, the door opened.

Inside stood a lovely young woman wearing a T-shirt and long

trousers, as she always did. Her hair was a bit more unkempt, and she seemed

more tired than usual.

"Hello!" I said.

"Hello there. You're in good spirits today, little miss."

"Yes, I'm doing well. Are you not feeling well today, Skank-san?"

"No, I'm fine. I just only woke up."

"But it's already after three o'clock!"

"There are some people for whom three o'clock is the morning. I'm

one of them."

"Are there others?"

"Americans, anyway."

I began to giggle at the absurdity of her casual reply. Perhaps following

my lead, she began to laugh too, scratching at her neck.

"C'mon in," she said. "I'm sure Miss Kitty is hungry, too."

I shed my shoes and entered Skank-san's home, but Miss Bobtail

lingered outside. What a wicked girl she was, to only behave herself at a time

like this.

Skank-san poured some milk into an old dish and took it outside to

offer it to my friend, then shut the door and handed me a bottle of Yakult. I

sipped the drink, and watched as Skank-san fixed her bedhead.

I usually came here to play on school days. Skank-san was an adult,

which meant she was busy, and there were plenty of times that she was not

here when I arrived. But when she was here, she always gave me a Yakult,

and sometimes some ice cream. Miss Bobtail knew of Skank-san's kindness

as well, and so always followed me, looking forward to her saucer of milk.

Skank-san opened the window and took a sandwich from the fridge,

then sat down upon her unmade bed. I took a place at the round table in the

center of the room, savoring my Yakult.

"So how was school today, little miss?"

The light from the window shone through her long hair as she munched

her egg sandwich, giving her an angelic glow. I explained to Skank-san what

I had told to Miss Bobtail earlier. She listened, nodding along silently, until I

said "I had a good idea, but nothing to back it up with."

She laughed loudly. "I'm sure no one thinks that you're crazy."

"Why's that?"

"Because you're smart. When you're smart, even if you act a little

strange, people just assume you're thinking about something. That's why you

were called to the faculty room, right?"

"That's true. In that case, next time I'll try to make an even stranger

face."

I stuck out my tongue and she laughed loudly again.

"Sounds like you have a good teacher."

"That's true, she's a really good teacher. Even if she's kind of off the

mark sometimes."

"All adults tend to be off the mark," she said, standing to take a can out from the fridge.

"Is that sweet?" I asked.

"It's sweet, but bitter, too."

"But why would you wanna drink something that's bitter? You drink

coffee too, don't you? That's even more bitter. Are you punishing yourself?"

"No, I'm drinking it because I like it. I drink both alcohol and coffee. I

didn't drink coffee when I was a child, though. Adults are the only ones who

enjoy bitter things."

"I see. Then I wonder if I'll think bitter things are tasty someday, too."

"You just might. But, there's no reason to force yourself to drink them.

I think it's wonderful to only be able to enjoy sweet things," she said with a

glimmering smile.

There was a wonderful smell around her. Not like perfume, and not like

other adults. When I told her that once, she laughed and said: "That's because

I'm not a proper adult."

If that was true, then I never wanted to be a proper adult, either.

"Life is like a crème brûlée," I said.

"How do you mean?"

"The sweet parts are the only good parts, but there are people who

enjoy the bitter parts, too."

"Aha ha, that's very true." Skank-san gulped her drink with a smile.

"You really are smart, little lady."

I was thrilled to hear such praise.

"Skank-san, has anything interesting happened at your work?"

"There's nothing interesting at my work."

"Really? But my mother and father love their jobs. They're never at

home."

"Just because they're always working doesn't mean their jobs are fun,

though it is wonderful if they do something interesting."

"I'm sure it's fun for them. Even more fun than playing with me." "If you're lonely, then you should speak up and tell them."

I shook my head. "That's not a very clever thing to say." Then I asked

something that had been bothering me. "If you don't like your job, then does

that mean you aren't happy?"

She did not answer. Instead, she laughed thinly. "I think what makes

me happiest right now is seeing you."

I was thrilled about that. It wasn't the sort of lie that adults told to

disguise the truth.

"Happiness won't cooome wandering my way sooo, thaaat's why I set

ooout to find it todaaay!"

"I love that song, too. 'Take one step a day and you'll keep going on

your way!'"

"It's three steps forwaaard, and two steps back!" we sang together.

"I'm supposed to be thinking about what happiness is," I told her.

"We'll be talking about it in class."

"Huh, we did something like that when I was little, too. That really

takes me back. What do you think happiness is for you, little miss?"

"I still don't know. I've just started thinking about it."

"That's a difficult problem. How about some ice cream, to give you

just a little hint?"

"I'll have some!"

We played a game of Othello together, as we always did—each of us

munching on a soda-flavored ice lolly. Skank-san had owned the Othello set

since childhood. My father had bought me a set too, but there was no one at

home for me to play with. Still, it comforted me to know that when Skank-

san stopped by my house, we would be able to play there, too. As to which of

us was the stronger player, well, one day I would be able to show her it was

me.

When I finally took a victory, after she had already won twice, she

looked to the clock on the wall.

"Oh, it's already four o'clock."

As I thought about how quickly the time had passed, we cleaned up the Othello set.

"Thank you for the Yakult and the ice cream, Skank-san."

"No, thank you for coming."

I always left Skank-san's home around four. I would have loved to stay

longer, to talk and play some more Othello, but I had other destinations to

visit.

I donned my pink shoes, which fitted my little feet perfectly, gave my

thanks again to Skank-san, and opened the door. Outside, the Miss Bobtail sat

politely, having finished her milk. Skank-san picked up the empty dish.

"I'll see you next time," I said.

"Of course, come by anytime you like," she replied.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day, Skank-san?"

"I think I might sleep a bit. To get ready for work."

"Good luck with your work. Take care of yourself."

"Will do. And good luck with finding your happiness. If you find it

along your walk, make sure you come back and tell me."

"Okay. Good night, then."

Skank-san waved, and I shut the door. She had a strange job, one that

started after I went to bed and finished before I woke up. I did not know the

details, but I could not work like she did, staying up all night and sleeping all

day, so for that alone she had my utmost respect.

I thought about her job as Miss Bobtail and I descended the stairs. In

the past, when I'd asked about her job, she laughed and said: "I attend a

midnight court."

I was sure that must be the most wonderful job.

It had been on a cold and rainy day some time ago that I'd first met

Bobtail and Skank-san. I'd donned my cute pink boots, brought out my pretty

red umbrella, and been walking along the embankment in my fluttering

yellow poncho, chasing a little frog. The little green frog was so pretty, and it

quite dutifully made its way down the middle of the sidewalk, so I could keep

following. Somewhere along the way, I began jumping too. I laughed to myself,

imagining that the two of us were doing some sort of special training

together. The frog put all it had into that training. Surely it was a shy little

thing, only conducting its training on rainy days, when there were few people

around. I cheered the stalwart little frog on.

But perhaps the frog didn't hear this encouragement, or perhaps it

simply wasn't planning to train today, because eventually it hopped off,

scampered into the grass, and vanished. I was sad to see it go, but although I

waded into the grass myself, and no matter how much I muddied my boots, I

could not find the frog again.

I was filled with a sense of gloom, but there was nothing I could do. By

now, I had pushed my way all the way to the riverside. I decided to climb

back up the embankment, but I proceeded along a different path, never

abandoning the hope that perhaps fate would help me find the frog again.

A bobtail cat was waiting for me at the end of the path, huddled in the

grass. I ran over to her, kicking my way through puddles. She was covered in

mud, flecked with red here and there. More than anything, I noticed that her

tail was only half as long as it should be.

How terrible, I thought.

I did not wonder who she was, nor how she had ended up this way. I

folded my umbrella and gently wrapped her up my arms, carrying her up the

bank so as not to startle her. I could sense her quiet breathing.

At first, I thought I might take her back home. However, I quickly

discarded that idea when I realized there would be no one else there. I

couldn't mend her wounds alone.

My face was cold from the rain, and I was sure that she must be cold

too. I thought about whom I could implore for help. I climbed down the bank

opposite the river and ran to the nearby cream-colored apartment building.

Although I ran a bit recklessly, the cat did not stir in my arms.

I rang doorbells on the building's first floor, starting from the end.

There was no reply at the first door, nor was there one at the next, or the next,

or the next. Finally, the fifth door swung open, but the woman who answered

closed it again the moment she laid eyes on me. I kept trying at door after

door, but there was no one home at most of them, and when occasionally someone did open the door, no one was interested in hearing me out. The

little one in my arms was trembling.

I reached the last door of the building. My heart was racing as I pressed

the doorbell. Her gentle breathing was growing fainter, and I was afraid that

she might be fading away in my arms. I heard the bell ring within, then other

sounds. At first, I was relieved to know that there was someone inside. There

were plenty of other doors where there was no one present, even if the lights

were on.

Footsteps approached slowly, someone unfastened the lock, and the

knob turned. The moment that the door opened, I shouted: "Please save her!"

The beautiful woman looked at me in shock for a few moments. She

looked at the little one in my arms. I stared into her eyes. You must look

people in the eyes when you're speaking to them, Hitomi-sensei had told me.

The young woman's eyes stopped on my new friend's trembling form,

and then she did something that no one had done: she looked back into my

eyes.

"Just a minute."

She stepped inside, and returned with a towel. She took the little soul

from my arms and took her inside, wrapping her up.

"You come in, too. Take off your coat and shoes."

Hearing her gentle voice, I felt such relief I could have fallen asleep

right then and there, but I needed to thank her first. I wondered what her

name could be, and my eyes fell on the nameplate fixed beside the door.

I read the letters that were crudely scrawled over the nameplate in

black magic marker.

"Skank…?"

It was a strange name. It didn't sound Japanese at all. I wondered if she

might be a foreigner, though she didn't look it. I tilted my head curiously.

"Come on now, come inside, I'm not scary."

The woman insisted that I have a bath before thanking her, and before I

knew it I was washing myself. When I stepped out of the bathroom, some

adult-sized pajamas were set out for me in place of my soaked clothes, and I gratefully slipped into them. The woman was wrapping the little cat in

bandages. I watched her hands as she worked, not wishing to get in the way.

"Thank you, really," I said, when she had finally finished her

doctoring.

"No problem. I put your clothes in the dryer, so you can wait here until

they're ready."

"Okay. Um…Skank-san?"

She looked taken aback when I said her name. Perhaps she was

surprised that I knew it.

"That was what it said on your nameplate out front," I explained. "It's

okay if I call you Skank-san, right?"

"You mean as my name?"

"Yes."

As I nodded, she let out a great laugh. I hadn't the slightest clue what

that was supposed to mean. However, I was glad that she seemed to be

amused, so I started to laugh, too.

"Aha ha. Ah, yeah, that's just fine. That's my name."

"Are you from another country?"

"No, I'm Japanese."

"Huh, that's a weird name."

Skank-san laughed again.

"Skank-san?" I said. "I can rewrite your nameplate for you, as a thank

you for saving this little one. It might be rude, but I can't say those letters are

very well-written. My handwriting is much better."

But she just shook her head. "Mm, I appreciate the offer, but it's not

the sort of thing I'd want you to bother with. I didn't write it there, either."

"Huh? So who wrote it?"

This time, she laughed thinly. "I've already forgotten who it was."

And so I became friends with Skank-san and Miss Bobtail. Hitomi-

sensei seemed to think that I didn't have any friends, but in fact, I had wonderful friends. Friends who would play Othello with me. Who would

walk with me. And I had friends who would talk to me about books.

That was why, even if I had no friends at school, and even if my father

and mother were too busy to ever play with me, I was not lonely.

My first meeting with Granny was not as fraught as the day I met

Skank-san and Miss Bobtail. When I say it was not fraught, I mean that I was

not sad or in pain at the time.

If you climbed the hills through the trees near my home, you would

find a clearing, and there in that clearing was a wooden house. One day, I

came upon this house, and spent a long time looking at it, thinking how

wonderful it was and how unusual for our area. After some time, I knocked

on the front door, wondering if the place was abandoned. It was terribly

quiet, but an old woman with a lovely smile opened the door.

From that day on, we would be friends.

Today, the spacious wooden house was as wonderful as always.

"How are the sweets you make so tasty, Granny?"

"When you've lived as long as I have, you learn how to make things

taste good. That's all," Granny said nonchalantly, sipping her tea.

As I nibbled on the madeleines she had made, I tried to unravel the

secret of their deliciousness. Miss Bobtail lounged in the sun flooding the

plank floor corridor that ran between the living room and the open field.

"I found that book you were telling me about," I said, sitting at the low

table in the tatami-floored room. "The Little Prince. It's in the school library,

so I tried reading it."

"Did you like it?"

"Mm, I liked how it was written, but it was kind of hard."

"Was it? You really are sharp, Nacchan."

"I've thought so too, but I'm not really there yet. I didn't get it at all."

"It's important to know what you do not know. The worst thing you

can do is to think that you understand something when you really don't."

"Is that how it is?" "Even not understanding it means it left some impression on you,

didn't it?"

"That's true. I think having a cat to talk with suits me better than a

quiet sheep in a box."

Granny laughed softly and looked at the little one sleeping on the floor.

"Such wonderful praise from you, and all she does is sleep."

"That's fine. She always does what she wants."

Miss Bobtail yawned, her tail swaying back and forth. It was

contagious, and I opened my mouth in an unseemly manner to let out a yawn

of my own. Then, I decided to talk to Granny about the same thing I had

discussed with Skank-san—the conversation from school. When I told her the

whole story from start to finish, Granny laughed out loud, just like Skank-san

had.

"I see, I see. That sounds dreadful, making you run in the yard and stay

after school."

"It wasn't. I mean, I hated P.E., but it wasn't so bad staying after. I do

like Hitomi-sensei."

"She sounds like a wonderful teacher."

"Yeah, she is. Even if she kind of misses the mark. Hee hee, I had this

same conversation with Skank-san."

"Did you win at Othello today?"

"Only one time. But even then, I still lost twice. I wonder if I'll get

better at it someday."

"You will. You have the power to see the future, after all. That's an

indispensable power when it comes to games."

I knew that Granny would never tell a lie, so I was thrilled to hear this.

There was a wonderful smell around her, not like incense. A wonderful smell

unlike other adults. When I told her that once, she smiled and said "That's

because I've already graduated from being an adult."

"That means that Skank-san has the power to see the future, too," I

said.

"I wonder. Unlike children, adults are usually creatures who look back nto the past."

"But Skank-san is better than me."

"That's because she's lived longer, Nacchan. She knows how to win

better than you."

Granny talked often about how long people had lived. But she was

right, she had lived at least seven times as long as me, which was probably

why her madeleines were much better.

I reached out to grab a second one, but then withdrew my hand. If I

were to have two madeleines on top of the Yakult and the ice cream, I

wouldn't have any room for the dinner my mother made.

I decided to use my brain for something else, to make myself forget

about the madeleines.

"We have an assignment in school," I said. "To think about happiness."

"That sounds like an interesting lesson."

"It is. But it's really hard. It would be fine if we could talk about as

many things as we like, but we only have as long as the class period, and I'm

not the only one in the class."

"That's true. You have to put all those things in order, and pull your

answer out from the middle."

"I want to find an answer that will surprise Hitomi-sensei, that

everyone in my class will understand."

I felt a swelling of pride imagining Hitomi-sensei's praise. Letting

myself get carried away, I started reaching for another madeleine, but I held

back at the last moment. Granny saw me and laughed.

"What's your happiness, Granny?"

"My happiness, hm? Lots of things. Drinking tea on sunny days like

this, and whenever you stop by this lonely home. However, thinking of a

single answer would be difficult. I'll think about it."

"Yeah, think about it. Come to think of it, Granny, are you happy right

now?"

Granny took a sip of tea and smiled. "Yes, I am." She appeared that way, and the feeling spread to me as well. When I

looked out to the hall, Miss Bobtail was sleeping happily as well. This old

wooden home must be filled with the essence of happiness, I thought.

"Oh right, can you tell me another book to read?"

"You said that you already read Tom Sawyer, yes?"

"Yeah, it was fun."

"Well then, how about a story about Tom's good friend?"

"You mean Homeless Huck? Is there another book?"

"Oh, you hadn't heard, then? It's called The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn. It's a lot of fun. If it's not in the school's library, you could ask Hitomi-

sensei about it."

Hearing this wonderful news, I tucked the name of the book away in

the same part of my brain where I kept my most important memories.

We both loved talking about books, and so I never noticed how much

time had passed.

Which was your favorite story from The Little Prince? I liked the one

about the Prince and the rose. It was so charming. What about you, Granny?

The one about the snake who ate the elephant, maybe.

As we carried on like this, an orange hue washed over the world

outside. I looked at the clock on the wall to see that it was already half past

five. I had to get back home by six. I promised my mother that I would.

I woke my friend with the flicking tail and said my farewells to

Granny.

"I'll see you next time, Granny."

"Take care on the way home, now."

"I will. I'll look for the book about Huck, too."

I waved to Granny, who had come to the front door to see me off, and

Miss Bobtail and I climbed the footpath down the hill. The path was

gorgeous. Orange-colored. I was never sad to say goodbye like this. I always

had tomorrow after all, and the day after that.

"Happiness won't cooome, wandering my way sooo, thaaat's why I set ooout to find it todaaay!"

"Meow meow!"

I parted ways with my bob-tailed friend and headed home to do my

homework. Around half past six, my mother returned home. She was out of

the house even on Saturdays and Sundays sometimes, but she was always

home at dinnertime. I thought how nice it would be if it was always

dinnertime, but then I would have to give up on the yogurt I had at breakfast.

Today's dinner was curry rice. Even though I'd already had Yakult and

ice cream and a madeleine, I still had seconds of the rice.

"I wonder if I should go on a diet," I said.

My mother laughed. "You don't need to," she said, handing me a

cookie she had gotten at work.

I couldn't help myself. I ate the cookie with vanilla ice cream on top.

"Maybe having your favorite ice cream with a cookie is happiness," I

said.

"For me it's with coffee," said my mother, sitting in front of me as she

dunked her cookie in her mug and ate it.

And then, as always, I took my bath and I grew tired around ten

o'clock. And, as always, I did not talk to my mother, nor to my father who

returned after I had gone to sleep, about my conversation with Skank-san.