Chapter 10: Wasted Time

The next few days were filled with dread. Airi spent her time grieving the loss of her grandfather, while Makoto was there to help comfort her every step of the way, to the point of even spending a few nights at her house so they could be together longer.

That Saturday was when the funeral service was held. This was mostly due to Airi having school the other days of the week and homework being plentiful. After the service was done, Makoto and Airi’s family went back home. Airi’s mother sat down and looked through her father-in-laws will, since Airi’s father was stuck at work for the foreseeable future. She noticed there was a particular item meant to be given to Airi.

“Sweetie, could you come here for a moment?” she called.

Airi and Makoto entered the room, Airi sitting next to her mom, and Makoto standing behind Airi.

“What is it?”

“I was looking through your grandpa’s will and he left you something.”

“He did? What was it?” Airi asked, excited to have something to properly remember her grandfather by.

“It says that there’s a box in the attic of his house. You are to have the box and the contents of it as well.”

“Cool, I wonder what it could be.” Makoto said, trying to relieve a bit of the tension that was in the room.

“Me too. When are we going to go over there and check it out?”

“We can go in an hour. I have a few letters to write to some relatives since your father is so busy. You coming with us Makoto?”

“Well, only if it’s ok with you, Mrs. Himura.”

“Of course it’s ok with me. As long as Airi is fine with it, I’m fine with it.”

“Mom, of course I’m fine with her coming. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Then it’s settled. You girls go play games or something in the meantime. I’ll call for you when it’s almost time to go.”

Airi and Makoto went back to Airi’s room and played some video games. Or rather, Airi played while Makoto watched. She thought it was good for her to get her mind off of things as much as possible.

“I wonder what’s in that box. I mean, it must not be something that important since he left it to me.”

“Hey, come on Airi. You know how important you were to him. That man loved you like you were his own child. I saw how happy you made him that day at the hospital. You don’t smile that much for someone who isn’t ‘that important’ to you.”

“That’s pretty deep coming from you Makoto. I guess you’re right though, I shouldn’t try to be humble about it. I mean, he did tell me I was his favorite grandchild before.”

“Ouch, harsh. Anyway, I wonder what it could be too. You think it’s some kinda jewelry? Oh, or maybe it’s his secret stash of adult magazines, since he knows how big of a perv you are.”

“Shut up. I’m not *that* big of a perv. Well, maybe a little, but that’s beside the point. I don’t see why he’d leave something like that anyway. I’m sure he’d rather have them burned to ‘maintain his innocent appearance to the rest of the family,’ or something like that. It’s probably nothing really noteworthy. We might just be wasting time even going to get it.”

“You’ll never know until we go. Keep your chin up and your hopes high.”

“I will. You know, you really do know how to be motivational and caring sometimes. You should be a teacher or something.”

“A teacher? No thanks, I hate kids.”

“Exactly, you’d be perfect for the job!”

“Oh, sick burn. I’ll give you that one, Ai-Ai. Maybe you should be a comedian.”

“Nah, I don’t think that’d work out so well. They might make me strip and stay in an apartment for a year for a TV show.”

“That’s oddly specific. I didn’t know you were into that kinda thing. You really are a huge perv, Airi.”

“No, I was talking about… Ah, nevermind. You wouldn’t get it anyway.”

Later in the day, Makoto, Airi, and her mom all went to Airi’s grandpa’s house.

“Ok, I’m going to start going through stuff in the living room and getting things that need to be shipped to relatives. You girls go on ahead to the attic.”

“Alright, we’ll be back soon.”

Airi and Makoto took the stairs up to the attic and started looking around, Makoto almost tripping on an old carpet that was laid out.

“Man, everything up here is completely covered in dust. When was the last time anyone has been up here?” Makoto remarked.

“Well, my grandpa was in the hospital for around a year, and nobody was really around to take care of the house. Even then, I don’t really imagine he came up here that often before then.”

“So, what does this box look like anyway?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’s supposed to be on a table near the back.”

“Well then let’s start moving.”

The two made their way to the back of the attic and spotted something on a table. It was a beautiful box made of purple heart wood with brass accents. A lock held it shut from the front. The entire thing was covered in a thin layer of dust, considerably less than most other things in the room.

“Sweet box. Looks like you’re gonna need a key for it though.”

“Seems that way.”

“Any idea where that’s at?”

“No, not a clue. I’ll run and ask my mom real quick.”

Airi ran downstairs, nearly startling her mother.

“Did you find the box yet, sweetie?”

“Yeah, but it’s locked. Was there anything about a key mentioned?”

“Let me check.” Airi’s mom looked over the will once more. “No, I don’t see anything about a key here.”

“Alright, I’ll get Mako-chan to help me look for it then. If you find it down here, let us know.”

“Sure thing.”

Airi went back upstairs to find Makoto looking over the box, wiping the dust off of it.

“How’d it go? Any luck?”

“Nope. The will didn’t mention there being a key. We’re gonna have to look for it.”

“Bummer. It’s pretty stuffy up here.”

“Yeah. What are you doing with the box?”

“Well, I thought there was some sort of engraving on the top of it, but it looks like it was sanded away. There are still some faint markings, but I can’t make out any words.”

“Oh well. Come on, put it down and help me look for this key.”

Makoto set the box down on the table and looked around the area for any sign of a key.

“What if I just bust it open?”

“Huh?!”

“Yeah. I can just break open the box and we can get whatever is inside.”

“Are you crazy? First of all, I don’t want to ruin the box. It’s so pretty, and I’d like to keep it all in one piece. Second, we don’t even know what’s in it. It could be something fragile, and I don’t want you breaking that too.”

“Alright, fine. Just a thought anyway. Where should we start looking?”

“Let’s see…” Airi looked around as she thought to herself for a moment. “You start checking the bookshelf and I’ll check these drawers over here.”

“Alright, but no promises that I won’t get distracted.”

The pair start their search. Airi begins opening drawers and pulling all of the items out, checking them before putting them back and moving onto the next. Makoto on the other hand gets distracted looking at some books.

“Hey, check this out. I think this is an old yearbook.”

Airi stops what she’s doing and makes her way over to Makoto.

“Yeah, looks like it’s from his high school days. Put it back. We’re here to look for a key, not read and look at pictures.”

“Yeah yeah, alright.”

Airi goes back to searching the drawers while Makoto starts searching some cabinets, after setting the book on top of it for later.

The two spend a few minutes searching in relative silence.

“Hey!” Airi shouts, shattering the silence.

“What?”

“Come here, I think I found something.”

Makoto starts to stand up before hitting her head on the top of the cabinet, causing the yearbook to fall to the floor.

“Damn, that hurt. What did you find?”

“Well, this is a key, but it looks too small for the box.”

“Let’s try it anyway.”

The two go over to the box and try the key. As suspected, it’s too small for the lock.

“Well that was useless. I’m going back over there.”

“Sorry.”

As Makoto walked back over to the cabinet, she saw the yearbook lying open on the floor and picked it up. As she did, a small piece of paper fell out from between the pages.

“Huh?”

“What’s up? You find something?”

“Looks like a piece of paper.” Makoto said, handing it over to Airi. “Fell out of the book when I picked it up.”

Airi looked over the paper before realizing it was folded in half. It had been pressed between the pages of the book for so long it was completely flat with no visible crease. She opened it to reveal a message written inside.

“It says ‘Quite a charming young thing. I’d like to get to know her better some day. Hehe.’ It sounds like he’s talking about somebody.”

“Great, what does that have to do with the key we’re looking for?”

“There’s one more thing written on here. It says ‘Clue 1 of 4.’ I guess that means there’s more.”

“Oh great, so now the old man is gonna make us solve some sort of riddle to find the key or something? I bet he’s laughing at us from beyond right about now.”

“Well, at least it’s a start. Let’s think about what it means.”

“It came out of the yearbook, so he must be talking about someone who’s in it. I don’t know who else he’d be calling charming other than maybe his future wife. Did they go to the same high school?”

“No, they met at university. She was from a different prefecture too, so there’s no way they went to the same high school.”

“So then, your gramps was perving on some other girl? I’m telling you, your family is messed up.”

“Whatever. Let’s just start looking through the book until we find something.”

The two sat and flipped through the yearbook, page by page, just waiting until they found something. They did not.

“Well, that was a waste of time. I’m telling you, it has to be about his wife.”

“Alright, let me think then.”

“Did the old man have any photos of her or anything?”

“Wait, Mako-chan, you’re a genius. I think there’s a picture of her on the bookshelf.”

The two got up and checked the bookshelf. In a small picture frame was a picture of Airi’s grandma and grandpa when they were still young.

“Nice, this has to be it. I don’t see anything on it though.”

“Try opening the frame and seeing if there’s something inside.”

Airi opened the frame and behind the photograph was another piece of paper.

“Alright, got it. This one says ‘Gee, it sure is cold in here. Wish I had something to keep myself hot. 2/4’ I have an idea.”

Airi walked over to an old wardrobe and opened it, a cloud of dust puffing into her face as she did.

“Oh, the old man’s even older clothes. Nice idea. Does he have like, a favorite jacket or something?”

“Actually, I was thinking more of something like this.” Airi said as she pulled out an old suit jacket.

“A suit? What’s that gotta do with being warm?”

“Not warm, hot. Grandpa always used to brag about how he was so popular with the ladies because of this suit jacket. I guess he thought he was hot in it or something. Ew.”

“Ew is right. Check the pocket then.”

Airi reached into the pocket and sure enough, another piece of paper was inside.

“Got it.”

“Man, he sure made that one a lot easier to find. Should have made that the first clue. What’s this one say?”

“It says ‘I’m running out of ideas. Let me sit and think for a bit. 3/4’ I think I’ve got a good clue as to where this one might be.”

“Lemme guess, the old man’s chair that’s over by where the box was.”

“Bingo. Let’s go check.”

The pair searched between the cushions of the chair, but couldn’t find anything. Makoto lifted the chair and underneath was a piece of paper that Airi grabbed. She quickly opened it and read it aloud.

“‘Good job on getting this far. However, patience is a virtue. You’ll find the key in due time. 4/4’ I don’t like this one.”

“Why not? Patience, time, clock. It’s gotta be behind a clock, right?”

“Well, maybe, but there is one other thing. My grandpa always loved to tinker with small machines. His favorite just so happened to be watches. I have a feeling he hid either the key or a piece of paper telling where the key is in one of them.”

“Oh, lovely. So we have to go and smash up the old man’s collection of watches now? That sounds like a waste of time.”

Airi stared at Makoto in dead silence. Makoto stared back awkwardly.

“What? Smashing watches, waste of time. Get it?”

“Please stop talking.”

“Come on, that was a good joke and you know it.”

“I’m gonna go get the box of watches.”

Airi walked over to where she was looking earlier and grabbed a large cardboard box filled with many different wrist watches and pocket watches. The two sat down and started inspecting them closely.

“Man, this is gonna take forever.” Makoto complained.

“It’s fine, I have a lot of time on my hands.”

“Oh, so it’s ok when *you* make the jokes, but not when I do?”

“I was just messing with you Mako-chan. Anyway, I’m really happy that you’re here to help me. And also, thanks for being there for me the past week. I never really said it, but I really appreciate you doing this all for me.”

“Hey, don’t mention it. I’ve told you before, I’ll always be here for you Airi. If you need someone to talk to, I’m listening. Need a shoulder to cry on, I offer mine. Whatever it is you need, I’ll do my best to provide it for you.”

“You’re so sweet Mako-chan. You may act tough in front of everyone else, but I know how you truly are.”

“Hey, that’s not…” Makoto looked at her face, reflecting in the metal of a watch she was holding. “Ah, who am I kidding. You know, I was a lot tougher of a person before the past month or so. You’ve really rubbed off on me I guess, and I’ve gotten soft. Not that I mind. If it means getting to stay with you, I’d give up my status as the tough delinquent in a heartbeat.”

“See, I told you that you’re sweet.”

“Shut it you.” Makoto said playfully.

The two continued digging through the box before Makoto found a pocket watch that had a piece of paper inside it.

“Let’s go, I found it. Let’s see where this damned key has been hiding.”

Makoto skimmed the paper and stood up in frustration.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“What, what is it? Where’s the key?”

“I’ll let you take a guess. Where do people usually hide keys, let’s say a spare key to their house?”

“I think usually under their welcome mat, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“But, this house doesn’t have a welcome mat, so that can’t be right.”

“Think bigger.”

“Can’t you just tell me, or let me see the paper?”

“Nope, I want you to see how ridiculously obvious this was.”

“Ok, so bigger than a welcome mat. A flower pot? I don’t know.”

“No, think of a bigger version of a welcome mat.”

“What, like a carpet? Oh…”

“Yep.”

Airi dejectedly walked over to the corner of the carpet and lifted it, revealing a silver key placed conveniently between two of the floorboards.

“You’re kidding, right? If it was that easy to find, why didn’t grandpa just tell us where the key was?”

“I guess the old man was a bit of a trickster. You just know he’s looking down at us with a smug look on his face. I’ve gotta say, you really wasted our time, old man, but you got us good.”

“Well, the good thing is that we have the key. Now we can finally see what’s inside the box.”

“Well then, go open it.”

“I don’t think I will. Not right now at least.”

“What?! Why not? After all of that time we wasted going through those stupid riddles to find the damn key, you aren’t even gonna use it? What was the point of us finding it then?”

“Relax, I just meant I’m not going to open it here. I wanna wait until I get home.”

“Alright, but I’m getting impatient. I’ve gotta know what’s in this stupid box.”

After waiting for Airi’s mom to finish up, the three went back home. Airi brought the box and Makoto to her room. The pair sat on her bed and carefully put the key into the lock, turning it gently so as to not snap the key. With a click, the lock popped open. Airi slid the lock away from the box and carefully lifted the lid.

Inside the box were a few items. The first was a folded piece of paper addressed to Airi, which she presumed was a letter. The next was what appeared to be a microsd card, which was particularly odd. The final object was a golden necklace with a small ornate locket. Inside was a picture of a very young Airi with her grandfather. Airi started tearing up at the sight, which in turn caused Makoto to also get emotional and start tearing up.

“You know what Airi? I think that maybe we didn’t waste our time after all. I’d say that this was pretty well worth it. Wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Airi said, wiping a tear from her cheek, “I think it was. I’ll cherish this forever.”