3. Life

"Rei-chaaan!!"

The shriek came so suddenly.

Caught completely off guard with an ambush from the back, two small figures leaped and tackled me down. Falling face first with a disgraceful yelp, I felt defeated as the two smaller figures settled down comfortably on my back.

"Hehee," the first voice belonged to a girl very cheeky and mischievous, "Rei-chan fell for it again!" she giggled.

"Rei-chan's weak," the other girl held her excitement under a calm demeanor, her tone a tad stony but comical.

Lifting my face from the soil, folding my arms forward to rest my chin, I sighed in resignation. "I see, I see," I mumbled in a sarcastic, resigned voice, "I guess Rei-chan's not gonna be able to make dinner today."

"Ehh?!?" the first girl responded in horror, rocking my body desperately, "what do we do, Sui??" turning to the other girl, "Rei-chan's angry!"

The other girl responded faster than her counterpart. Taking a spot in front of me, he bowed in a practiced dogeza and leaned her head to the ground: "Sui apologizes wholeheartedly," a phrase she memorized from a TV show.

"Ahhh! No fair!" the first girl complained childishly, getting off my back quickly and settling down on her knees beside Sui, "Sae apo...? Sae appowhateversomethings- too!" 

I couldn't suppress the laughter that escaped my lips, "seriously, you two!"

-

"Rei-chan, what's breakfast?" Sae asked, clinging onto my leg. 

"I smell eggs!" Sui subtly added, materializing at my other leg.

"Wait, wait, Rei-chan can't move with you two down there!" I whined at them, trying to sound as stern as I could, "stay on the table, girls."

Giggling adorably, the two ran back to their respective seats on the dining table, anticipating the food their older brother would serve them today. It seemed to them that I was the best cook in the house. 

Well, Mom and Dad are never around, and our nanny Mama Lula can only cook simple dishes. 

"Okay. Go wake Mama Lula up," after we were done setting up the table, I pulled my apron loose.

"Kaaay!!" Sae cheered and they both ran out of the door.

-

-

Hooking my shoes through my heels, I slung my bag over my shoulder and reached for the doorknob of my home entrance. 

"See ya later, Rei-chan!" Sae looked over from the couch.

"Bye-bye," Sui piped in.

Giving them a smile, I waved back. "Don't trouble the teachers at daycare too much, okay?" I gave a light warning. Turning to the old lady beside them, I sighed, "then, I'll be going as well, Mama Lula."

The old lady smiled back at me, "have fun at school, Rei."

-

I walked the trip to school bored and resisting the urge to sprint my way. 

Since young, I had been face with a strange prejudice-- that is, many adults discouraged me from any intense exercise. Many adults in Namimori were in on the restriction, including teachers. As much as it pained me, I wasn't allowed to play any form of physical sport with the other children. 

When I demanded an explanation, I couldn't understand it. What was a minor case of presumed asthma supposed to represent for me, a child that had never experienced anything thus far?

But my childhood wasn't all that bad. 

After all, I had Sae, Sui, Mama Luna...and Takeshi.

"Morning, Rei!" A heavy arm hooked around my shoulders, weighing a burden that made me stagger. Recognizing a spiky head of black hair that stood a few above my own height-- 

"Takeshi!" I gasped, "You surprised me!"

For a sheltered child like me, friends were a rare occurrence-- much less one brought up from childhood. His name was Takeshi, and we've been together for as long as I can vaguely recall.

"C'mon, let's go!" 

His arm on mine, he broke into a run. Taken by surprise, I let out an unintentionally high-pitched shriek. I really wasn't supposed to be doing any intense running, and I definitely knew the consequences-- a terrifying scold from a teacher-- but Takeshi's infectious smile made me forget them all and I threw the concern out of my head.

His arm leaving mine, I dashed on his pace. We began running, laughing as we raced for who would reach the front door first. Reaching the steps a fraction of a second before Takeshi, I pushed the door open, stepped inside, and declared loudly, "Goooall!!"

I leaned a hand against the wall, and began catching my breath. Takeshi stopped right behind me, breathing heavily.

"Gehh," he chortled breathlessly, "you're just too fast." 

"Never gonna win me, Takeshi," I said boastfully, giving him a toothy grin. I point a thumb at myself proudly, "after all, I'm immortal!"

"NINOMIYA!!" someone hollered from the other end of the room.

Every fibre in my body standing straight up in fright from the sudden startle, I could hear my heart thump in after shock. "Yikes, he's here," I moaned, covering my ears in repulse of an incoming lecture, "we'd better escape, Takeshi."

"And where are you going?" a female voice came from the door. Kyoko was a girl with auburn hair worn short and prim-- although she was usually cute and kind, today she wore a fierce and annoyed expression. Her arms crossed and her face scrunched up with displeasure, things weren't looking too good for us.

"Kyoko!" I groaned, my eyes rolling in despair, "geez, how did you get right behind us??"

"You charged past me on the way here, for your information," she retorted, rolling her eyes back at me, "Rei-kun, you're not supposed to be running, much less sprinting at all!" she snapped sharply, turning to Takeshi, "Yamamoto-kun, you're not supposed to be helping him either!"

Takeshi laughed at that, "sorry!" he laughed.

I puffed up my cheeks, pouting. "But if I never get any exercise at all, moss is gonna grow outta my head," I complained.

"Ninomiya!" an adult man's voice interrupted us all.

I flinched. Giving a sigh, I turned around slowly, feigning a smile and giving him a friendly wave. "Hey, Kuma-sensei!"

"Hi there, Kuma-sensei!" Takeshi greeted too.

"Good morning, Kuma-sensei," Kyoko added politely. 

"It's Kunomasu-sensei!" he corrected angrily, "And how many times do I have to tell you not to RUN?!? That is the 51st time this year!" 

"Woah, he counted!"

"Ahaha!" Takeshi burst into laughter at the situation, "now, now, Kuma-sensei, Rei's completely fine, ain't he?"

"Yep. Rei-chan is perfectly, flawlessly fine," I added, peeking out cautiously, hiding at Takeshi's back. Sticking out a tongue at him, I grinned from ear to ear.

"Listen, I'm your frickin school nurse!" Kuma-sensei snapped.

-

When I was three years old, I began to become increasingly conscious of my surroundings. I started taking in information of where I was, what I did, why I did it and how. 

Although some may say this was normal-- maybe that was when children begin to realize things, after all. But my issue was that I did it all consciously. I knew why I was doing it and I knew what I was doing and what to do with information I learned.

As the number of words I learned in my first language increased, more words appeared in my mind. Words that meant the same thing, but were words that came from a different country--words that were in a different language.

How did I know these words? I just did, apparently.

"Yamamoto-kun," the teacher called out. Handing out papers were a joy until you reached that one failing student in your class, y'know?

The black-haired boy stepped in front, grinning bashfully ear to ear as he picked up his test from the teacher's hands, knowing exactly what his results were. 

Saionji-sensei gave a resigned sigh, "Work harder, y'know? At least try?" 

Takeshi laughed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully, "Sorry, my bad, sensei."

Saionji-sensei gave another sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose in an oncoming headache. He peeked at the next paper in his hands, and gave a sigh of relief. He looked up, trying to forget about Takeshi's fantastic failing grade. 

"Ninomiya-kun," he brought a smile to his face.

Standing up quickly, passing Takeshi, I sneaked a look at his papers. This time, he had gotten a miserable twenty percent. However I found my chest swelling in pride-- after all, just two months ago, he had been struggling to get double digits. But, of course, Saionji-sensei wouldn't notice something like that. He had nearly fifty students in this class.

"You did great!" he praised, "keep up the good work!"

Seeing the very familiar triple digits on my paper, I found myself disappointed. I wondered if I'd feel something better if I had scored lower? Giving Saionji-sensei a cheeky, prideful grin I did not mean, I politely thanked him.

As I entered preschool, I'd found that I already knew everything. 

I knew everything the teachers were teaching us. When I visited the town library, I could decipher the complicated functions of a college math textbook. I had never learned any of those terms before, yet I just knew it. Mama Lula had never taught me any of it, yet I knew. 

I could read better in English than I could in Japanese, my first language. At the time, five-year-old me was plainly fascinated. Was this magic? How did I understand all of this? 

If this had anything to do with the reason I can't go out to play--maybe I'm a mythical being of knowledge and the adults are trying to keep me from getting hurt?

Whatever the case, I loved to imagine.

-

"I'm home, Sae, Sui," kicking off my shoes with a tired sigh, I entered the house with my packet of groceries.

Almost immediately the gentle thumping of feet barreled down the steps and I was barely staying on my feet as my sisters tackled me with a welcoming.

"Welcome back, Rei," Mama Lula greeted me at the doorway to the dining room. "Perfect timing. There's a call for you from your father," she informed.

"A call?" I inquired. From my father, that's rare.

"Go get changed for dinner, kay?" I told the twins, and obediently they scurried off upstairs. I headed into the kitchen, where the phone was, and picked it up. 

"Hello, this is Rei."

Oh- oh, hey, uh- it's been a long while...

My eyes twitched. This awkward tone and hesitant manner of speaking-- this means an apology was coming soon, didn't it?

Are you three eating well?

I was biting on my bottom lip, trying to hold back on my emotions. Hesitantly, I let out a shaky breath. I put on an obviously fake smile on my face-- although he couldn't hear me on the other end, I didn't think I could do this without an enforced smile. 

"Long time no talk, dad!" I tried to sound excited, and did a pretty good job, "I miss you so bad."

Ahahaha. Glad you sound as cheerful as ever, son. 

"When are you coming back?" I asked, "Anytime soon yet?"

The man at the other end went silent for a moment. 

Sorry, Rei. I'm really busy nowadays and...

I tightened my grip on the phone, my face falling. "Oh," I said disappointingly, my emotions half genuine, "It's okay, dad. It's completely fine! We've got Mama Lula with us, after all!"

Rei.

"Hm?"

Thank you.

Those two words took my breath away. "Eh-?" I was at a lost for words, and before I could think up of something to reply, the man at the other end had hung up.

Putting down the phone, I sighed, the upset showing on my face. I really hated talking to that man. As young as I was, I never knew why he said things that made my chest ache.

"Rei?" Mama Lula spoke up. As I turned to her, I found she smiled at me. Her kind and somehow very warm smile-- it was something that always calmed me down. 

"I'm fine," I told her, trying to imitate her smile but probably failing. "Dad called to say he's not coming back for New Year's."

-

"And Rururi caught the mouse! With her bare hands!" Sae announced loudly, moving her arms around in excitement.

"Woah!" I gaped exaggeratedly. 

"But then Yuki-sensei scolded her," Sui mumbled, inhaling her food impatiently. She then put down her bowl, contented with her meal.

"Well, she would," picking up a cloth to wipe Sui's mouth clean, I chuckled.

"And Rei-chan, Rei-chan! Sae's got 90 points on her exam today!" Sae took my attention again. I turned to her to see she had a piece of paper in her hands. 

"That's awesome!" I patted her on the head, "Sae's really smart, eh?" 

"You can praise me more!" Sae bragged proudly. 

I chuckled, turning to Sui, "Sui, what about you?"

Sui visibly jolted. She averted her gaze, looking at the ground. Dripping with cold sweat, I could literally see how much information was going through her mind. 

"Did you get a higher result than last time?" I decided to ask, interrupting her furiously transgressing train of thought.

Sui turned to me, a little surprised at my question. For a long moment, she seemed to be recalling her previous result. Eventually, she shook her head.

At that, I gave her a pat on the head and ruffled her hair. "That's okay for me." I assured her, "Y'see, life is an endless stairway. You may fall or want to give up in the middle, but you've gotta keep climbing."

Sui seemed a little bewildered, a little confused at my words--did she really understand what I was talking about? Oh, well. 

"Sae too," I turned to the other. "Even if you fall to the very bottom, Rei-chan will help you get all the way up again."

At that, the two jumped at me.

"Rei-chan, I love youuu!!!"

-

-

-

"Hey, kid."

I turned to the older man on the other swing. I met this guy when I was five. He was sitting on my usual swing all lonely and depressed-looking, so I decided to sit by with him, too. We knocked up a conversation, and since then because something short of friends.

"How's school?" he asked, his eyes as dead and lifeless as ever.

I turned to the sky. "Boring." I answered simply.

He let out a dry chuckle. "Made any new friends?" he asked again.

"Well..." I trailed off.

"Y'see, I lost my job again," he started. "My debt's increasing, too. My parents aren't giving me any more money, y'know?" he mumbled, his voice getting softer at each word. He sighed, "I'm really having a hard timee, I need attention."

At his last line, he gave a jesting smirk, probably an attempted joke that failed to get through to me.

I spared him a glance. I met him often, but I didn't feel any sort of annoyance or pity--I just liked listening to him. He was the epitome of a failing adult, and that interested me, a child who had been surrounded with nothing but successful adults with stable jobs.

I didn't know what I could say. I was always here to listen, but I'm never the type of person to give proper advice. I didn't want to say the wrong things, so I kept silent.

"Could I ask a question?" he asked.

I looked up. Hm?

"Is there something in this world you could call your happiness?" he inquired, this time looking at me with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Hmm," I thought for a moment. At that time, I faintly knew it was a strange question, but I didn't really think much of it. It was a question, and questions are asked to be answered. "My whole life is my happiness." I spread my arms to emphasize the size, "All the fun things, all the sad things, and all the annoying things, too!"

He seemed surprised, taken aback, by the answer.

"Everyone's got happiness," I told him truthfully, "I think he just needs to find it!"

He looked at me for a long moment. A small smile graced his face--a smile that, to me, looked the slightest bit more genuine than every other smile he's ever given me.

And I smiled back.

The next day, he didn't show up.

The week after, I heard he had committed suicide.