The Zoo
"Hana, you all ready?"
"Yep!"
I answered in an outfit perfectly suited to a day out. The dinosaur pajamas already lay in a heap on the floor. Sorry to them, but they were useless the moment I stepped outside.
I did know what embarrassment was. Going out in pajamas was a dream I would never entertain. Inside the building I wore them all the time, of course, but the whole tower was basically my house, so that hardly counted.
"Your hair! You have to dry your hair!"
I was sitting on the bed in a daze when Haru started fussing. Fair enough. Drying it had seemed like too much work, so I had only given it a halfhearted scrub with a towel. At her scolding, I broke into a grin.
Tap-tap-tap. I danced out of reach of her hands, footwork mysterious and dazzling, every step aimed at the door. Against technique like that, Haru had no choice but to collapse in helpless defeat.
Made it!
I reached the door and was just about to slip out when someone caught me around the waist and hoisted me straight up. One moment I was fleeing, the next I was dangling in midair. I kicked and flailed, but these short legs of mine never quite found the floor. Putting on my most tragic face, I twisted around to see who had grabbed me.
"Gah!"
It was Bora. She wore an expression of stern, uncompromising gravity.
"Hana! You have to listen to Haru. Just because I'm not coming today doesn't mean you get to torment her."
She had a point. I was a good person, so I resolved to behave today. I behaved on other days too, of course, but still.
I held still, and Haru brought over the hair dryer and set to work. The warmth was so cozy I could have melted. My head tried to nod off all on its own, and it took every scrap of willpower I had to keep it from dropping.
Once my hair was dry, I was perfect. I took Haru's hand and got ready to head out. Bora, unfortunately, had work and had to stay in the office. Today was zoo day. I had wanted to go at least once, and now we finally had both the time and the tickets.
"Let's go!"
I bellowed it on my way out of the room, latched onto Haru's hand, and hauled her along with everything I had. She followed where I led, wearing an awkward little smile.
"Whoa!"
Even on a weekday the zoo was packed. Kids my age were everywhere, and that alone made it feel like a real zoo. Spring break must have been why. Every student with nowhere else to be on a weekday seemed to have gathered here.
We picked up fresh tickets at the booth, showed them to the attendant at the gate, and marched in with our heads held high. There were fewer people inside than out on the plaza, but I kept a tight grip on Haru's hand all the same. If she got lost, someone had to look after her, and that someone was me. I had already decided which animal we would see first.
"Haru, the giraffes! Let's see the giraffes first!"
I wanted those long, long necks. Giraffes were enormous, but they were herbivores, and so long as you didn't do anything strange they wouldn't attack. Perfect for beginners.
"All right. You don't have to get quite so excited, Hana. We came early. We've got plenty of time."
She had a point. Even so, every single second felt precious. I unfolded the map and committed the layout of the zoo to memory. Fortunately it was simple enough for an elementary schooler, so I had no trouble reading it.
Haru and I reached the giraffes' enclosure. They were popular. The railing was packed shoulder to shoulder with people who had come just to see them. My eyes lit up. On television they had never seemed this big. A giraffe was truly huge. I had to tip my head all the way back before I could see its face. I stood there beaming at one that was cheerfully chewing something. People nearby were buying what looked like sliced white bread and feeding it to them. I wanted a turn.
"Haru, Haru! I want to feed the giraffe bread too!"
"You do? Then I'll go buy some, so you wait right here and behave, all right?"
"Okay!"
I fully intended to stay put, just as she had asked. Then my eyes met a giraffe's, and something in the place where my heart lived started to itch.
The long-necked animal stopped taking bread from the person in front of it and came striding toward me. I didn't look away. I stared even harder. Around us, people began to murmur.
"The giraffe's coming this way!"
"Whoa, it's actually huge!"
They were kids, so none of them seemed the least bit afraid. I wasn't scared either. If anything, I was glad to see it. The giraffe came all the way up to me and stretched that long neck out. When its face was right in front of my nose, I didn't resist at all.
It studied my face, then started licking my cheek. It tickled. I reached up and stroked its face, and it felt a little like keeping an enormous puppy.
"Hehe, that tickles!"
The moment I squirmed, the giraffe seemed to understand and stopped. Then, with astonishing speed, it caught the hood of my sweatshirt in its mouth. Chomp. The ground dropped away. Dangling from its jaws, I went sailing through the air.
"Waaah!"
Flying felt wonderful. I had the distinct sense that this giraffe meant me no harm at all, so I didn't mind. The people around us did. They screamed and ran, apparently convinced it had bitten some poor stranger and was about to eat them.
The giraffe that had me, though, was careful not to lift its head too high, as if it were worried I might be scared. I let myself be carried and slipped in among the herd.
Giraffes crowded in around me. They lowered their heads and licked me with everything they had. I felt like a druid. They must have decided I was one of their young. Wasn't this how mother giraffes raised their calves?
"A little kid's been taken by the giraffes! Somebody help!"
"Aaaah! The giraffe's going to eat the child!"
I was perfectly fine. The crowd was laboring under a serious misunderstanding. Screams rose from every direction. I waved to show them there was nothing to worry about.
"The kid's waving for help!"
"Oh no, oh no! What do we do, what do we do!"
That was not the reaction I had been hoping for. They seemed more confused than ever, so I gave up on calming them and went back to petting the heads that were busy licking my cheeks. The giraffes loved it. Every time my hand passed over them, they licked even harder.
Such gentle, well-behaved animals, and people were getting the wrong idea for no reason. Giraffes were not about to take up meat-eating out of nowhere. They were herbivores. I wasn't sure whether they snacked on flesh now and then the way roe deer and deer sometimes did, but from where I stood, they were good kids.
I was basking in their affection when a sharp cry cut through the noise.
"Hana!"
Haru stood there with the bread in her hands, beside herself.
Really, I was fine. Everyone was making a fuss over nothing. Once I had been licked to my heart's content, I tried to climb back to where I had been standing.
"Eh..."
I was too short. The fence would not be climbed. Haru was right there in front of me, and all I could do was make a miserable face. Even if I had my old height back from when I was a man, that wall would still have been too much.
"Hana! Stay right where you are. I'll go get a keeper!"
I had a better idea. I caught the eye of the giraffe that had brought me in and gave it a look. It nodded as if it understood, came over, and, with the ease of long practice, took the hood of my sweatshirt in its mouth and lifted me up.
"Haru!"
Hanging in the air, I flailed in her direction. She had dropped the bag of bread and was frozen in a panic. She clearly had not imagined I would be coming back like this.
Then she threw her arms up and caught me. The giraffe that had been holding me turned and went back to its place. See? Giraffes were nice.
"You're not hurt anywhere, are you, Hana?"
"I'm perfectly fine, Haru!"
All they had done was lick me, so I was bursting with energy. Haru didn't seem to believe a word of it. She turned me this way and that, checking for so much as a scratch.
I really was fine.
Only after the inspection was more or less complete did she let out a long sigh.
"Thank goodness. Truly. I thought they'd dragged you off and you were hurt."
"No, Haru. You have no idea how nice they are! Look!"
The giraffes had already crowded over to my side of the fence, every eye fixed on the bread scattered across the ground. I picked it up and held it out to them.