CHAPTER 66 — "WHERE ARE YOUR TEETH?????"
The living room was chaos.
But not a bad kind of chaos.
It was a happy-kid kind of chaos.
Magazines open all over the floor.
Colored papers scattered around.
A small pair of scissors lost somewhere in the mess.
Markers without caps.
Little buttons.
Ribbons.
Glitter that would probably never come out of the couch again.
And in the middle of it all…
Mei.
Sitting on the rug, focused, tongue slightly sticking out, gluing a crooked cutout with the seriousness of a professional artist.
Harumi appeared in the doorway with the giant document folder under her arm.
Stopped.
Watched.
Her heart softened instantly.
"…hi."
Mei looked up.
"Hi!"
"Can I sit?"
Mei made space right away, pushing half the mess aside.
"You can!"
Harumi sat down, grabbed some random magazine, opened it to a random page.
"So… you really like these collages, huh?"
"I like them a lot!"
"And that show that's on?" Harumi pointed at the TV. "Is it your favorite?"
Mei's eyes lit up.
"It is!!"
"Really? What do you like most about it?"
"The music! And the girl! And the little creature! And when they become friends! And—"
She started explaining everything at once, gesturing with a glue-covered hand.
Harumi just watched.
Smiling.
"I see… so it's a VERY favorite."
"VERY!"
Comfortable silence.
Sound of paper being cut.
TV in the background.
Until—
Mei brought her hand to her mouth.
"Ow…"
Harumi turned instantly.
"What's wrong?!"
"My tooth…"
Harumi froze.
Memory unlocked:
Herself, little.
Crying.
Screaming.
Convinced a loose tooth was basically a death sentence.
Snapped back to the present.
"LOOSE TOOTH?!"
Mei blinked.
"…I think so…"
Harumi went straight into full panic mode.
"Does it hurt? A lot? Do you need medicine? Ice? Water? A doctor? An ambulance? A lawyer?!"
"…it only hurts a little bit…"
"OKAY, STAY CALM."
Harumi shot up.
Opened the freezer.
No ice.
Because of course, she'd used it all on her forehead.
"…okay."
Kept looking.
Found it.
A suspicious blue popsicle, that blue that doesn't exist anywhere in nature.
"PERFECT."
Ran back.
"Here. Scientific cold therapy."
Mei took it.
Her eyes lit up like she'd just won a prize.
"Can I really?"
"You can."
Two seconds later:
Blue mouth.
Blue tongue.
Blue fingers.
Happy kid.
Harumi let out a relieved breath.
"Can I check your mouth real quick?"
"Okay."
Mei opened up.
Harumi looked, processed, blinked.
Looked again.
"…"
"…MEI."
"Hm?"
"…why are there FIVE teeth missing here?"
She nearly fell backward.
Instinct told her to protect her own forehead.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S A WHOLE GARAGE'S WORTH MISSING FROM YOUR MOUTH?!"
Mei answered with total calm:
"Oh… it's just, sometimes it hurt…"
"AND?!"
"Takeru said that was normal."
"NORMAL?!"
"Then he'd say '1, 2, 3'…"
Harumi already knew she wasn't going to like the rest.
"…and pull."
"HE DID WHAT."
"1, 2, 3 and pull."
"…"
"Sometimes with the door too."
Harumi put her hand over her heart.
"Takeru is a VILLAIN."
"He said it helped."
"HELPED WHAT, CAUSE TRAUMA?!"
She took a deep breath.
Tried to focus.
"Can I touch it? I SWEAR I won't pull. I'm TERRIFIED of that."
Mei nodded, unbothered.
Harumi touched it as carefully as humanly possible.
Wiggled it slightly.
"…okay… not quite time yet…"
Let out a relieved sigh.
"This tooth stays put a bit longer. No one's pulling anything today. Dental democracy."
Mei had already gone back to happily sucking on the popsicle.
Crisis over.
The art (or the attempt at it):
"Okay… let's get back to art."
Harumi grabbed a sheet of paper.
Stared at it.
Thought.
"I have a great idea."
Five minutes later:
Nothing.
"…I don't know how to execute the idea."
Mei laughed.
"I can help you."
She opened a little box.
click
A cute little sound.
Inside:
buttons, little ribbons, tiny handmade bows, shiny papers, glitter, confetti.
She carefully sorted through them.
"This one… this one… and this one…"
Handed them to Harumi.
Then gave her a blue sheet.
"We could make an aquarium. I really like the ocean."
Harumi broke into a huge smile.
"I LOVE IT. AQUARIUM."
They started.
Harumi drew crooked.
Mei fixed it.
Harumi glued wrong.
Mei adjusted it.
Harumi spilled glitter everywhere.
Mei saved the situation.
In the end:
Two finished sheets.
"TAKERU!" Harumi called out.
He appeared, half asleep.
They proudly showed him:
"What do you think?!"
He studied them.
"I think you two switched."
"NO."
"Yeah, that's right."
Mei's drawing: impressive for her age.
Harumi's: impressive…
…for a 10-year-old.
Takeru nodded.
"Good job, Mei."
Pause.
"…and you too, Harumi…" — pause, taking in her proud, happy expression — "congrats, too."
Dramatic silence.
Harumi narrowed her eyes.
"I'm going to pretend that was a compliment."
After putting everything away, Harumi asked:
"Hungry?"
Mei hesitated.
"…a little bit."
"Then let's eat."
"We're not supposed to eat this late…"
"I'm allowing it."
"Takeru doesn't allow it."
"I'm allowing it."
Decision made.
Kitchen.
"Today you're going to learn the supreme recipe: mug cake."
"Really?!"
"Culinary science."
Mixing.
Laughter.
Flour outside the bowl.
Microwave.
Sweet smell.
They ate sitting on the couch.
On TV: a documentary about the fish at the Tokyo aquarium.
"Do you think we could go someday?" Mei asked quietly.
Harumi answered without hesitation:
"Of course we can. WE'RE GOING!"
The documentary ended.
Back to Mei's favorite show.
The opening theme started.
Mei LOST IT.
Jumped.
Sang.
Danced.
Knew every word by heart.
Harumi sat there, eating, watching that explosion of energy.
Thought quietly:
"…what an adorable kid, honestly."
And, for the first time that day…
She relaxed.
Harumi checked her phone.
9:52 PM.
"OH GEEZ, BEDTIME!!"
Quick bath.
Blanket.
Mei tucked in.
Takeru had already been asleep for a while.
Harumi adjusted the blanket.
"Goodnight, Mei."
"Goodnight…"
Light off.
Door closed slowly.
Silence in the house.
Everything calm.
Everything settled by 11:42 PM.
Tomorrow would just be waking up…
Going… Signing… Coming back.
Easy.
Simple.
Normal.
Harumi grabbed her phone.
Checked the time.
Took a deep breath.
Thought about one thing.
Then another.
And before she could talk herself out of it…
She was already grabbing her bag.
"Yochi!"
Because, that very same night,
she was still going to knock on someone's door
who definitely
wasn't expecting it.