The Host (Part 2)

“Wake up and brush your teeth.” A raspy voice came from the darkness to take Tetsudo away from his dreams. He slowly opened his weary eyes. “Finally, I’ve been calling you to wake up for 5 minutes now.”

The old man stood above him, with hands on his hips.

“What time is it?” Tetsudo asked half-asleep.

“It’s 7:22 AM. Now come on, get up.” The old man signaled him with his hand to rise up. And so, Tetsudo did.

Yai had already risen, which was a first for her. Or maybe the old man woke her up before him. After taking a shower, Tetsudo went to the living room, where Yai with a tub of soapy water was washing her clothes. Her face was tired, but as soon as she glanced at the just-woken-up Tetsudo, she jumped with excitement.

“Tetsuuu~! Good morning!”

“Good morning.” He answered softly with a smile. He was happy to see her happy.

“Come and wash your clothes!” Yai tapped on the floor, indicating him to sit next to her. He went up and sat down.

“I’ll wait for you.”

“Okay, I’ll be quick then.” Yai got back to rubbing and cleaning the clothes. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tetsudo watching closely – her or her cleaning, she couldn’t really tell which.

“Tetsu…” Yai said slowly as she pulled both corners of her pajama-shirt in opposite directions, doing a sitting curtsey, and smiled slyly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you like my pajama look?”

Tetsudo’s face turned to stone.

“Your pajama look?”

“Mhm!” Yai waited eagerly his answer. Tetsudo got red at the thought of him saying yes, but if he said no Yai would get offended, or she would tease him more.

“You look… nice.” He said quietly. Tetsudo heard her loud chuckle, so he got up quick. “I’ll go and check my phone!”

“Thank you for the compliment, Tetsu~!” Yai said with joy, as he left the living room and the old man entered.

As soon as Tetsudo left the room, Yai slapped herself and unleashed the pinkish blush that she carefully hid from him. Her face was screaming: “He said I look nice, He said I look nice, He said I look nice, He said I look nice!”

“Do you like him?” She heard the old man’s voice from above her. She looked up with her red face. The old man smiled as he saw her expression.

“I… Maybe…” Yai said abashed.

“When I girl teases a boy, she usually likes him, you know?” The old man said as he placed a finger on Yai’s forehead. “Sometimes, you girls don’t even do it intentionally, just to mess with them, is that how you started out with him?”

Yai opened her mouth to say “No!”, but saw that she couldn’t fool such a wise person.

“I think…” She answered in a neutral way, but it seemed like the old man knew the answer as soon as he asked the question.

“Young people sure are wonderful!” the old man chuckled; his blue eyes fell deeply into Yai’s heart.

After this, both Yai and Tetsudo cleaned their clothes and hung them above the stove, where they were left to dry. During the waiting, they ate breakfast with the old man, who told them they were to go at 9:30 AM or in an hour and a half.

Sunday morning looked as pretty as ever. You could see kids playing out in the street in groups of two or three, some were riding bicycles, some skateboards, some rollerblades. The blue sky above was spread across the mountains hugging this small town from all sides. The blankets that were the silk clouds slowly moved, watching from above how the small town happily vibrated. The green trees around the main road looked to be singing a song with the wind, a duet in karaoke, a match made in this cozy and colorful town. Today sure didn’t look boring to Tetsudo.

He checked once again the route they were taking. There were 60 kilometers until Nagaoka, so probably 2 more days of walking. But the next small settlement on the way where they could stay was Tsunan, 20 kilometers away, or if they were quicker – Tokamachi, 34 kilometers and then some away. Maybe they should really step on the gas today, they needed to make some ground. Maybe they should do some jobs somewhere to save up some money. An even better question was where they should sleep. But they had 5-6 hours to think about those things and discuss, and debate it with Yai.

After their clothes had dried, Yai and Tetsudo changed and got ready to go. But before they went on their way, the old man said to them:

“Sit down both of you, I need to ask you something.”

Both of them sat, eagerly waiting for his question.

“What do you plan to do, both of you, when you get to Niigata?”

Yai and Tetsudo were taken aback by that question. They looked at each other and rubbed the back of their heads. The old man probably knew they didn’t plan this part.

“She will go back to live with her brother,” Tetsudo spoke first. “And after she does, I will go back home.”

The old man looked at him and sighed.

“Okay, say you do that – won’t your life become stagnant again, Tetsu?” This was the first time the old man said his name.

“Uh, I, uh…” Tetsudo was in shock after that question. He could not utter a single word. The man scoffed at his lack of response and turned to Yai:

“What about you? Will you stay with your brother another 3 months and then run away again?”

“Ah, well, um…” Yai also couldn’t say anything back. It was like the old man was pulling on her vocal cords. Both her and Tetsudo were sitting stumped and redundant.

“It seems like you kids,” the man sat down with them on the floor. “Don’t have anything figured out. I think the same way as both of you probably think – you are destined for each other. But…”

The man rubbed his hands and clapped two times. It looked like he was thinking of a way to say something delicately.

“But what?...” Tetsudo asked in killing anticipation.

“You two met… too early, it seems. See, Japan may seem like a big place, but it really isn’t. And maybe you would’ve met somewhere farther down the road. But fate put you together, when you weren’t ready. When you hadn’t realized on your own that you needed change. Instead, you met someone else that made you realize that.”

Yai and Tetsudo stood breathless and bemused, listening to the old man’s words. His hand gestures intensified his rambling.

“Which I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. But now, when you two go on your own ways after you finish this journey, you never know, you may never meet again. Well, since you are soulmates, you’ll probably find each other anyway, one way or another. But do try and rethink this journey – it’s dangerous. And your parents… You’ll put them through great worry. Hell, even I am worried.”

The old man looked at the teenagers across the table. They looked back at him with awe and respect, worry and fear. He smiled softly – he was happy to see that they paid this much attention to his words. Maybe it was a first for him.

“I know it’s a bit overdue, but my name is Yuga Hitomori. I just want to thank you for coming to stay over. My days were pretty lonely until now, and… I’m really happy you were my company, even if it was just for a day.”

Yai and Tetsudo smiled wholeheartedly at his raspy words.

“We thank you too, Yuga!” Yai said. Tetsudo nodded in agreement.

After this final talk, Yai and Tetsudo took their stuff and left. As they were leaving, they turned around and waved back at Yuga.

“Thank you, Yuga! We love you!” They yelled in sync.

“Be careful! Rethink this journey and…” Yuga yelled at them as they were leaving. But he realized that his words just couldn’t truly reach them. They didn’t fully understand him. So, he just waved at them back awkwardly with a soft smile. “Be safe!”

The travel was underway again. Yai and Tetsudo went on their way, down on the main street, and back to the rail line. The railway wire was still not too warm, you could see some pigeons on it, tidying their wings and singing love songs. The morning breath of the wind slowly breezed past their faces and wiggled around their feathers. It wasn’t even so early, but the fresh beginning of the renewed adventure made Yai and Tetsudo feel like this morning was the most beautiful so far. And so, they once again held hands and started walking down the concrete sleepers and slippery little rocks, towards Yai’s hometown.

Yuga looked at them through his yellow-tinted window. His hand, shaking, reached out to grab the phone on the table. He dialed a number and put the receiver next to his ear, still looking at Yai and Tetsudo as they walked. Someone picked up on the other end. The man tried to speak, his mouth shaking he hesitated. But he spoke:

“I want to report two kids missing. I think they have ran away. A boy and a girl.”