An Abundance Of Side Quests

A few days after the meteor shower, life on the peaceful island of Ryusejima continued to fly by.

Over the course of the last few days, me and Hana have been spending our time mostly at the beach, swimming with every chance we get. Slowly but surely I’m getting used to it, and now I have no problem going on in deep dives. I’ve even been attending classes at Hana’s diving shop, in order to get a diving license, though I haven’t had much time for practical courses yet.

One other thing is that, things between me and Hana have changed, and I want to believe it's for the better. I feel like we understand each other better, and our shared love of the ocean makes things a hundred times more fun.

But today, since the weather forecast predicted a storm during late evening hours, the beach is currently packed, so we decided to do something else with our free time instead.

Hana had waited patiently for my shift at Natsu Café to end, and as soon as I was off the clock, she helped me close up shop for lunchtime, and we soon ventured down the all too familiar road leading to the port.

From there, we took a left turn, and after walking for no more than a couple of minutes, arrived at the town center of Ryusejima. There were lots of small shops, such as cafes, restaurants and even souvenir shops lined up right across from the shoreline. At the far end of that long walk along the coastline, laid a park full of greenery, with a massive and sturdy-built concrete fountain adorning its center. At the far back of the park, a flight of stairs ascended up to a hill, full of Japanese architecture and pillars, with the green color of leaves and bushes ever present. According to Hana, this was where the annual summer festival took place.

Just as we were idly passing by the park and making our way to another long streak of small shops, I felt something vibrating inside my pocket. A sensation, I had long forgotten, might I add. Soon, an old, tacky ringtone came out of the device resting inside my pants.

“What’s that?” Hana turns her head towards the source of the noise.

“Ugh, it’s my grandma…” I groan, taking off the item that can barely be called a phone out of its hiding place.

“Hey gran- why are you yelling at me?!”

“Okay, okay… I’ll pick some up on my way back… Jeez...”

And with that simple exchange the phone call ended.

Having no further use of it, I flip the device shut and stuff it back inside my black shorts.

During the whole ordeal, Hana was eyeing me curiously, but I pretended not to notice.

“Since when did you get a NEW phone, Yukio-kun?” Hana asks me, the smirk on her face betraying that she’s ready to tease me.

“Looong story...” I shrug, earning myself a glare.

“Oh come on, we’ve got time!” Hana pouts crossing her arms and matching her walking pace with mine.

“Help!” Suddenly a cry out of a small shop ahead makes us put a halt on our usual banter.

Don’t tell me! A THIEF?! Is this the moment I get to show off my Karate skills and become a national hero slash vigilante?!

I immediately turn to Hana, locking eyes with her. We hastily make our way towards the small establishment.

The sign reads: “Ryusei Pet Shop”

“Is something wrong, Ishiyama-san?” Hana asks as soon as we enter through the door, her tone worried.

Ishiyama-san? She knows him? I guess no one is a stranger in this island…

“Oh, Hana-chan!” A middle aged man with a receding hairline and more grey hairs than I count, responds to Hana’s call. “…Pochi disappeared yesterday and still hasn’t come back! I’ve looked everywhere!” He said in a huff, before removing his glasses to wipe off his sweat.

“Pochi?” I repeat after him, clearly confused.

Are we talking about a dog here or what?

“Pochi disappeared?! Oh, no!” Hana looked shocked at the news.

“Please if you see him, tell him to come home…” Mr. Ishiyama gave us a pleading look, as he fixed his glasses, almost at the tip of his nose.

“Of course! You can count on us!” Hana saluted like a soldier, stomping her foot down on the ground hard enough for a few colorful parrots to start complaining.

So nobody’s gonna tell me who or WHAT Pochi is, huh?

When I gave no response, she didn’t hesitate to elbow me in the side.

“Sure… You can count on us…” I say, imitating the girl next to me. “…I guess…”

“Deaaar! Where are you? The hamsters need feeding!” A woman’s voice came from the back of the shop.

“Oh, that’s my wife! I have to go! Thank you, Hana and…” His gaze stopped at me. “…Yukio?” He finally voiced, somewhat unsure.

“Yep, that’s me.” My reply is followed by a nod.

Wow, word sure travels fast here!

After that small and kinda weird detour, we left the pet shop and continued on down our path.

“Well that sure was weird…” I voice looking off to the side.

“Hey, Pochi isn’t weird! He’s a magnificent animal!” Hana voices disapprovingly

Yes! Clue #1 acquired! Pochi is an animal!

“Didn’t say he was, though…” Just as I’m about to sigh due to me being misunderstood, another unfamiliar voice takes me by surprise.

“Oh, Hana-chan!” Another distressed shopkeeper, this time a little older, steps out of a glass-paned shop.

“Tanaka-san! Is something the matter?” Hana turned to look at the old man, her brow creased in surprise.

“Well, you see, my shop…” He starts explaining.

What’s with the abundance of side quests today? Wait, is this a filler?

“…Someone has been stealing bills from my register!” He finishes his story with a huff.

“Stealing bills from the register…?” Hana cocks her head to the side, glancing at him in confusion.

“I swear, every time I look at the register there’s less and less money every time!”

“How is that possible?” I ask, crossing my arms.

“We don’t get many people every day, so I usually sit around a small room at the back of the shop and wait to hear the bell on the door. But I hear no bell and still, money’s being taken! And now, with my back hurting twice as much, I can’t sit in that old office chair behind the counter all day!” He grumbles and complains, ultimately giving us the full story.

Side quest nearby! Will you accept?

“Don’t worry, Mr. Tanaka! We, the deadliest duo on the island will help you catch the thief!”

“The what?” I instantly give her a funny look.

“Isn’t that right, Watson-kun?” She crosses her arms and strikes a pose, pointing at me.

“Hey, I’m Sherlock.” I smirk striking my own pose. “You could say that, as of the time I arrived… the mystery has already been resolved!!”

“Wait… you’re that mischievous brat that moved to the city?!” Mr. Tanaka exclaimed in utter disbelief.

He knows me too? Wait, mischievous brat? Tanaka… Tanaka…

And as the cogs in my mind turn in endless circles, it suddenly clicks.

He’s that shopkeeper we stole candy from THAT day!

“You’re THAT Tanaka?!” I exclaim even louder than he.

“Never mind, I don’t need your help. You two troublemakers will just-”

“No, Tanaka-san… Watson-kun and I…” Hana turns to me, while I butt in and cut her off.

“NO, Tanaka-san! My loyal subordinate, WATSON and I, Sherlock, will resolve this mystery for you!”

“Hey, I told you I’m Sherlock!” Hana stomps her foot on the ground, glaring at me.

“Heh, you cannot steal my title away from me… Not everyone can be Sherlock…” I turn away dramatically.

“You’re both, NOT allowed in my shop, so you’re not resolving anything!!” Mr. Tanaka stomps his foot on the ground as well, before groaning in pain and rubbing his lower back.

Side Quest Accepted!!!

After a few more minutes of back and forth, the old man Tanaka, declared he was too old for this farce and told us to do as we pleased, as he retired in his room upstairs.

So ultimately, after me and Hana got permission, we started to devise our plan to catch the culprit, inside Mr. Tanaka’s shop.

The shop’s wares had a little bit of everything, from souvenirs like mugs and fridge magnets shaped like the island, to refreshments, candy (of course) and even an ice cream fridge.

The interior of the shop was quite small, as shelves lined the walls and floor displaying various goods, making a total of 3 horizontal spaces in between them.

“So what’s the plan, Wat- I mean… Sherlock?” Hana corrected herself, as she sat on top of the counter, kicking her legs back and forth.

As you can see, I won this battle.

“Sherlock-sama, if you may.”

(sama= in japanese, is a respectful way to refer to an individual of a higher rank than oneself.)

“No way.” Hana narrows her eyes, disapproving of my attitude.

“Then you shall not have my aid.” I turn my back to her dramatically.

“Sherlock…sama. There! I said it! Now come on!” Hana quickly gives in and addresses me properly, earning an arrogant grin from me.

“There you go! Not so difficult, right? Now one more time!”

“You, little-“

“AAAH!”

Having earned a punch upside the head from Hana, that caused a big red bump to appear, I decide to quit the theatrics and get to work.

“Okay, the plan goes like this…” I move towards the counter, while Hana follows closely behind.

With one quick movement, and of course without walking around it, I jump over the shop’s counter.

“Woah!” The girl tailing me voices in awe.

She tries to imitate me immediately, but her foot catches onto a souvenir card holder, which falls from the counter to the ground, and stops her attempt entirely.

That’s why you’re Watson.

Having given up on jumping over the counter like a true badass, Hana walks around it and joins me behind the register.

With a professional flick of my finger, I reveal all the bills hidden within and snatch the fattest I can find.

“PUT. THAT. BACK.” My subordinate yanks at my ear with lighting speed.

“Hey, I’m not stealing it! Have some faith in me!” I try to preach my case, wriggling free of her grasp.

“Then what are you gonna do with it?” She crosses her arms over her chest, still eyeing me suspiciously.

“…We just place it here…” I say, putting the bill on the counter, and setting down with a coin, so it doesn’t get swept away by either the wind coming from the open window next to it, or the fan.

“…And now… we hide, and wait.” I voice confidently, before striking a really cool detective pose. (Hana denies this)

“Oh! So we’re gonna catch them during the act! Way to go, Sherlock!” Hana lightly taps her open palm with her fist, realizing my genius.

“Okay then, now where to hide…?” I check the perimeter. One… No two. Two potential hiding spaces. Moving out.

“Wow! They sell colorful sunglasses!” Hana, unaware of the importance of our mission, skips towards a corner of the shop, where a spinning cylindrical showcase of sunglasses rests.

Again, that’s why you’re Watson.

“Hey, leave that be…” I grumble, tailing my bubbly assistant.

“How do I look?” Before I can stop her, she has already put on a pair of sunglasses, with a silvery shining frame and heart-shaped lenses. She turns her head around, trying to look as silly as she is cute.

“Glamorous.” I reply drily, taken the glasses off of her and putting them back.

But Hana isn’t ready to let go of her fun yet, as she grabs another pair and shoves them on my face. “You should try these!”

Having being forced to wear a cheap pair of sunglasses, I admit defeat momentarily and turn my face towards where Hana is pointing it. It’s a weird pair that completely blocks my vision, so I have no clue what I look like.

“Ta-daahh!” She flips a small switch on the side of the frame that makes a plastic-like sound and the supposed “lenses” that have been concealing my view pop out like springs. In fact, they are attached to a couple of springs that bob slightly in front of my face. Able to see everything now, I notice that the front of the lenses are painted to look like eyes.

“Pfftt! Hahaha!” And not to anyone’s surprise, Hana seems to find this extremely funny. “Your face… You should have seen your face... Hahaha!”

“Your turn to wear them now, Watson-kun!” I voice ominously, a devilish smile spreads across my face.

“No way! I wouldn’t look even half as funny as you!”

She’s definitely getting a kick out of this! What’s a pair of glasses like these doing in this shop, anyway?!

“Phew…” She wipes away a tear that was brought about by her laughter and turns to face me. “Uhm, Yukio?”

“Like I told you, it’s Sherlock-sama…”

“Uhm, Sherlock?”

“You forgot the sam-“ “Where’s the money?” She interrupts me, pointing at the counter behind my back.

“HUUUUH?!”

How can this be? How can this BE?!

I pace back and forth inside the small shop, while Hana looks at the counter from every angle.

“Yeah, the bill is definitely not here…” She voices, looking skeptical.

Of course it isn’t! Is that the reason why you were so deep in thought this whole time?!

The money is gone! Mr. Tanaka was robbed on OUR watch! This is getting serious…

Just as I’m about to voice a clearly reasonable complaint, Hana puts a finger up and stares at me, her eyes filled with confidence.

“Hear me out!!”

Well at this point, why not?

“I think I know who did it…” Hana taps her chin, as I edge closer to her, eager to hear what she’s about to say. “It was…”

“It was…?”

“…A bird!”

Okay. Somebody get me a new Watson. ASAP!

“…It flew right in through the window and snatched the money!” The pretend detective then turns to point at the window, completely sure of herself.

“Okay, first of all, we can’t let Tanaka-san hear about this, we clear?” In the meantime, I decided to ignore her theatrics.

“Sir, Aye sir!” Nonetheless she replies energetically.

“Okay… No more bait… We need to set a trap…” I start tapping my own chin in thought, while I paced around the shop once again.

“A trap?” Hana cocked her head to the side, looking completely lost.

“Yeah, but we need supplies for that…” I voice, half lost in thought.

“Well I think Mr. Tanaka keeps a bunch of stuff in the cupboards right under the counter…” Maybe for the first time today, my assistant actually says something useful. But wait…

How does she know that?

Deciding to question her afterwards, I move towards the spot my loyal companion Watson pointed to.

“Let’s see here…” I murmur to myself, crouching in front of the cupboards underneath the counter, just like Hana said.

I grip the small knobs tight, and open the doors revealing a…

“Monkey?!” I reflexively shout at the sight of a wild animal hiding inside that confined space.

“Pochi!!!” Hana who was suddenly peeking next to me exclaims in delight, picking up the small brown monkey, wearing a red vest.

THAT MONKEY IS POCHI?!

I almost do a double take when I hear that name.

“Look Yukio, it’s Pochi!” Hana gives me a beaming smile, as the monkey snakes an arm around her shoulder, hanging from her embrace.

“Why and how is there a monkey here? Also, why and how is this normal to you?” I can’t help but question the absurdity of it all.

“Come on, did you forget the talk we had with Ishiyama-san already?”

“I didn’t, but I also didn’t think we were referring to a monkey! I mean Pochi is a dog’s name!”

“Pochi is super famous around the island and everybody knows him, so I figured there wasn’t any need to explain!”

“Right…” I hesitantly accept that this weird event just HAPPENED as I look over at the monkey. He certainly looks friendly enough with the way he just casually rests on Hana’s arms. But wait… he looks… suspicious.

I only now realize that the monkey in question, is avoiding eye contact.

That’s… extremely suspicious!

Without a second thought, and with my detective instincts kicking in, I turn to grab at Pochi’s pockets, which are filled to the bream with a kind of paper material.

As soon as I do, the monkey tries to move away, but I have already grabbed hold of his vest, and the fact that he’s already in Hana’s arms doesn’t help either.

“WAaAaH!” After flailing around for a bit and causing a commotion, he finally settles down.

“What are you doing?!” Hana says looking mad, and rightfully so. No shortage of palms and feet were used during his escape plan, after all.

Calm down Hana, I know what it looks like but trust me, this is OUR guy!

Having caught Pochi red-handed I reveal the stacks of bills in his pockets…

“Haaah! Pochi, you…!” My assistant gasps sharply, immediately realizing who the culprit is.

“…You caught the criminal?!”

Or not.

I repeat, somebody get me a new Watson!

Ultimately, it was discovered that the culprit, was Pochi the monkey all along. He had committed multiple thefts, while waiting for the appropriate time to strike from the cupboard, while he was surviving on some left-over peanuts, that were stuffed alongside him.

The big question of WHY he actually stole bills from the register and not food, yet remains.

But that is a story for another time…

After clearing up what happened with Mr. Tanaka, and receiving a Popsicle each as a reward for our heroism, we dropped off Pochi back at the pet shop and made for the park.

MULTIPLE QUESTS COMPLETED! LEVEL UP!

“That sure was something…” I voiced, unwrapping my popsicle and stuffing it in my mouth.

“Ah, nothing hits the spot like a cherry pop in the summer!”

“PFFFFT!” I instinctively spit out all the juice accumulating in my mouth, when I hear Hana saying something as vulgar as that. “A what?!”

“Cherry pop…” She shows me the wrap of her cherry flavored popsicle and I immediately breathe a sigh of relief.

“Phew…”

Maybe, I need to get my mind out of the gutter…

“Shall we go to the park?” Hana gives me her usual brilliant smile.

“Sure.”

“Yay!” She starts skipping around in front of me, in typical Hana fashion.

“Cherry pop, cherry pop!” And then she starts singing something really embarrassing.

“Stop that!” I feel the heat rise to my face as I start walking faster behind her.

“Cherry pop, cherry poooop!”

And finally, with a small smile tugging at my lips, and Hana happily bouncing on her toes and singing her tune, we made our way to the park.

I swear, she’s way too innocent for her own good…