The Little Child [2]
Finally, the night Lulu had been waiting for arrived. As the noises of the 13th District quieted down, she poked her head cautiously out of her cardboard box home.
“......Mimi...... let's go.......”
Lulu clutched Mimi tightly to her chest and began tiptoeing forward.
But when she reached the edge of the village, she had no choice but to stop. An unexpected problem had arisen.
“Wooaaah—!”
“Here, drink up and have fun! It's a day of rest!”
As if some festival had broken out, a massive bonfire blazed in the village square. People who should have been indoors were all outside, dancing around the campfire, clinking glasses, and tearing into meat.
Lulu, who had only been waiting for darkness to fall, shrank back in dismay. There were too many people outside.
Unable to step into the square, she huddled behind a dumpster in a dark alley, staring blankly at the scene.
Moms and dads playing with their kids around the flames. More than the sizzling aroma of roasting meat, their laughter pierced deep into Lulu's heart.
Then, from right beyond the dumpster, she heard a child chattering as they hugged their dad's neck.
“Daddy! I want more meat! That big one over there!”
“Haha, take it slow, kiddo. Daddy saved the tastiest parts just for my boy.”
The dad hoisted the child up onto his lap and planted a loud kiss on their cheek.
“You know Daddy loves you more than anything in the world, right?”
“Yeah! I love Daddy the most too!”
Along with their warm laughter, the dad's big hand gently stroked the child's head again and again.
Lulu watched the scene through a crack in the stone wall, holding her breath.
'Love.' She didn't know what it was, but she envied the bright smile blooming on the child's face with every touch of that dad's hand.
Lulu stared blankly a moment longer, then mimicked the dad's gesture, rubbing her own head.
“......Me too.......”
She only felt her own rough, cold palm, but she kept at it anyway—it made her heart feel a little less cold.
That was when it happened.
A heavily drunk woman staggered toward the dumpster where Lulu was hiding.
Thump, thump.
Lulu's heart pounded like it might burst. The stench of alcohol wafted from the woman.
It reminded her of a time long ago, when innocent Lulu had approached a woman writhing in agony on the street, thinking she was hurt and needed help. But the woman, reeking of booze, had grabbed Lulu's outstretched hand and beaten her senseless right there.
“Don't touch me, you filthy thing! You're bad luck!”
She remembered tumbling across the cold ground for no reason, screaming in pain for the first time in her life. Her hand, offered in kindness, had returned bruised and bloody. From that day on, the smell of alcohol meant 'violence without reason' to Lulu.
She wanted to bolt back to her box home right then, but just as she turned to flee, her empty stomach let out a cruel growl.
Lulu looked down at Mimi in her arms.
'Lulu...... gotta endure...... Mimi...... hungry......'
For Mimi's sake, Lulu decided to face her greatest fear for the first time. The child took a deep breath and crept forward, shadow by shadow, oh so carefully.
The festival-drunk villagers paid no mind to the little “trash” scurrying at their feet.
“......Huu.”
Lulu slipped out to the village outskirts, evading their eyes, and let out a sigh of relief.
She hurried onward, toward the deepest, darkest ruins where no lights from the village reached and no one ever came.
Luckily—or was it?—the raucous festival in the square had cleared the back alleys of the rich houses unusually empty; places she normally couldn't even approach without drawing suspicion.
Slipping through the shadows, Lulu began rummaging through the large trash bins behind the houses.
“......Ugh.”
It was so dark she could barely see.
Her fingers got cut by sharp glass shards or broken bottles deep in the bins, blood welling up, but Lulu bit her lip and focused on the feel of her fingertips.
Every nerve on edge, alert for danger, she groped silently for what felt like ages. Finally, something heavy and rough touched her hand.
“......Waaah!”
Lulu clamped her mouth shut, letting out a muffled gasp of awe.
Hard chunks of leftover bread. Three of them, no less!
She pulled them out one by one, holding them up to her face in disbelief.
Saliva flooded her mouth unbidden. The musty smell from the bread was the sweetest scent in the world right now.
Lulu licked her lips, tempted to tear into one with a huge bite.
But she shook her head hard.
'No...... here...... scary......'
She wanted to devour it on the spot, but the fear of getting caught and losing this precious food won out.
Lulu tucked the bread deep into her bosom and bolted back toward her box home.
Pat-pat, patter.
Her small bare feet slapped against the stone pavement, echoing in the quiet alley. Glancing back every few steps in case someone chased her, she ran desperately.
But in her haste...
Her foot caught on a protruding stone at the alley's end, and Lulu tumbled to the ground without even a scream.
“Ah......!”
The bread chunks scattered across the ground.
Her knees scraped raw and swelled red, blood oozing out, but Lulu didn't even feel the pain.
She crawled on all fours, gathering the pieces from the darkness and stuffing them back into her bosom.
Ignoring the throbbing in her knees, she staggered up and crawled into her box home.
In the cramped, pitch-black box.
Lulu panted heavily as she set Mimi down. Then she carefully pulled out the bread.
“Mimi, look... bread we got....”
As if forgetting the fall entirely, a radiant smile spread across her face.
She held the best-looking piece to Mimi's mouth first, then took a huge bite of her own.
It was so hard it might as well have been brick, and her malnourished gums—missing most teeth—ached fiercely, but Lulu chewed diligently.
Nom nom.
Melting it with saliva and savoring slowly, the taste was sweeter than anything in the world.
“Mimi... today's bread...... yummy, right..?”
Lulu sat knee-to-knee with Mimi, whispering softly about her “adventure” that day.
The sadness of the stolen sandwich, the pain from Kai's blows—all washed away by this single piece of bread.
To Lulu, it had been a perfectly happy day.
*
She fell asleep content with her bread, but when she woke again, her body felt like a thousand pounds of lead. Her head spun, and fever burned through her like fire.
What had gone wrong? Lulu, who couldn't even read, had no way of knowing, but for a child living amid filth and wounds in a junkyard, illness was an inevitable visitor.
“......Ah...... hurts......”
Tears streamed endlessly.
Her stomach twisted, hot bile surging up. Instinctively, she clamped her mouth shut.
If I throw up here, Mimi gets dirty.
In a panic, she shoved Mimi to the far corner of the box and emptied her stomach onto the floor.
Smeared in tears and snot, writhing in agony, Lulu exhausted herself and passed out beside the vomit.
How much time passed?
When Lulu finally pried her eyes open, the box reeked of dried puke and tangled straw rags.
The fever had broken a little, thankfully, but her body was too weak from crying to even sit up.
“......Uu......”
Sniffling, she hugged Mimi and peeked outside. Night still blanketed everything.
Shivering, Lulu began dragging the soiled rags out of the box.
She didn't care if she lay in filth. But Mimi couldn't.
She remembered the time her carelessness tore Mimi's ear—she'd wailed endlessly, as if the world had ended. That scar lingered in her heart.
She wanted to keep Mimi clean.
Lulu gathered the filthy rags and straw, grabbed a small bucket, and headed to the village fountain.
Thump, thump.
Her heart raced fiercely.
She recalled the winter day she'd snuck a drink from the fountain out of thirst, only to be caught by adults who dunked her in ice-cold water for “dirtying” it.
But Lulu didn't stop.
“......Gotta...... get water......”
In the stillness filled only with insect chirps, she carefully scooped water and dashed back.
Back to the box to scrub the rags, then racing to the fountain again and again.
Only as dawn began to break did the rags look somewhat clean.
The stench lingered, but with no visible stains left, Lulu felt a swell of pride.
She spread the rags and straw carefully on a sunny trash heap to dry.
Back in the box, she pulled out the leftover hard bread from yesterday.
Facing Mimi, she beamed.
“Mimi... Lu... Lulu cleaned it all......”
Forgetting her pain, she nom-nom-chewed the bread. Though her body weighed her down, this morning with Mimi was another ordinary, precious happiness returned to her.
But the bliss was short-lived. Lulu's brow furrowed slightly.
'Today...... gotta...... go out again......'
Peering through a box gap at the bright world outside, she pondered.
Some bread remained from yesterday, and more than that, her body kept sinking like lead. She should rest today.
But a corner of her mind wavered.
'Yeah... but what if...... something yummy today...?'
What if someone tossed out tasty sausage? What if even bigger, softer bread sat atop a bin?
Opportunities didn't come every day for Lulu—skipping one meant missing a treasure.
After agonizing, she looked at Mimi on her lap.
“Mimi...... Lulu...... today...... no go out...... okay......?”
Lulu pouted sulkily.
“Yeah...... body...... hurts a bit... sleepy too......”
She stared into Mimi's button eyes.
It was as if Mimi replied kindly, 'It's okay, Lulu. Let's play here today.'
A bright smile lit Lulu's face.
“Yeah... thanks...... Mimi......”
She hugged Mimi tight and burrowed deeper into the box.
“Today...... just... play with Mimi...... heehee.”
Lulu decided to play house with Mimi inside the box until the rags dried in the sun and her aching body felt better.
The space was cramped, but with Mimi beside her and a bit of bread left, Lulu felt like she owned the world—a deep, reassuring peace.