This, Too, Is a Memory
"Nnngh..."
Sunlight spilled into the room, and Hana had no choice but to wake. Eyes still shut, she groped around until her fingers closed on something. This was supposed to be a bed I slept in alone, wasn't it...? A moment later it came back to her. She was on a trip. Jiyu and Yumi lay scattered across the mattress in a hopeless tangle, and the odd pressure she had felt against her chest in her sleep turned out to have a perfectly simple cause. Jiyu's foot was planted squarely on top of her.
Hana eased the foot aside, careful not to wake her. A glance at the clock said it was already eight in the morning. In the middle of summer, that was late enough that you could fairly call the sun high overhead. Newly convinced of the glory of blackout curtains, she headed down to the first floor. The kids had only had a little to drink, but it must have hit them hard. They did not look likely to stir anytime soon.
Downstairs, Maru was already up and getting breakfast ready. It was a simple spread: strawberries she had brought from the company, cherry tomatoes, and a few side dishes. A single Starlight Cherry Tomato was enough to take the edge off an empty stomach, yet that alone never quite seemed to satisfy, so she had other food waiting as well. One left you feeling oddly underfed. Two left you uncomfortably stuffed. For children—Hana included—two of them packed far too many calories, so there really was no other way to do it.
"Hana, you're up?"
"Yeah! Maru, I'm awake!"
Hana dropped onto the sofa and stared blankly out at the view. The place was a pool villa, its outer walls nothing but glass, so the garden lay open before her. Beautiful sunlight washed over it, and the plants out there were shooting up at a ridiculous speed. Just yesterday the grass had barely reached her ankles...
"Want to eat first, Hana? Aren't you hungry?"
Maru asked as if she were sure hunger was what had brought Hana downstairs. Hana shook her head. She meant to wait until the others came down. Eating together was simply nicer.
"I'll eat when Jiyu and Yumi come down."
"Oh? Then that's exactly what we'll do!"
Maru was washing the bowls and utensils she had left soaking in the sink the night before. She must have skipped the dishes so she would not disturb Hana and the kids while they slept. The bright clink of silverware was pleasant to listen to. Before long Hana pulled her gaze away and switched on the television. Little Magician Rumi happened to be airing, and she sank straight into the cartoon.
"Haaahm!"
"So sleeeepy..."
Once she was sure the others still had not gotten up, Hana climbed the stairs to wake them herself. Breakfast was already on the table, and it felt like a waste not to eat it together. The girls were at an age when sleep came easily, and they looked every bit as drowsy as that suggested.
Maru took one look at them and brightened.
"I kept breakfast simple, kids!"
True to her word, it was fruit and cereal—exactly the sort of thing for stomachs that were not quite awake yet. Jiyu and Yumi sat down and started in on what Maru had set out. With breakfast eaten, the trip had reached its end. It was only meant to be one night and two days, and it still felt as if they had barely arrived, but already it was time to go home.
While the girls ate, Maru began sorting clothes and suitcases. They had to be out of the room before afternoon, so there was no time to dawdle. Once breakfast was finished, the kids changed, hauled their suitcases over, and got ready to leave.
"Let's take a picture!"
Hana linked arms with the others and called to Maru, who nodded as if she had been waiting for exactly that and pulled out her phone. The wide sea spread out behind them—about as good a backdrop as a photo could ask for.
"Cheese!"
"Peace!"
Shot after shot caught the children laughing. The real destination of any trip was the photographs, after all. Few things kept a memory better. Memory itself faded, but something you could actually look at—a picture you could hold—stayed precious. And so their smiling faces, with the shore behind them, settled into Maru's phone: a photograph that might as well have been a painting.
"Uweeehh..."
The journey had worn me out so thoroughly that I lay on the bed like a corpse. I liked being outside well enough, but a one-night, two-day trip still burned through a shocking amount of stamina. The kids had enjoyed themselves, so I had no regrets. Part of me already wanted to go again. For now, though, recovery mattered more.
I stayed flat on my back and pulled out my phone. In the group chat, Jiyu and Yumi were chattering away about how wonderful the trip had been. I smiled and wrote back that if another chance to travel came along, we should take it.
"Hmm..."
It was only the day after I had come home, and yet the place outside my room was already bustling. Whether I went on a trip or school was out for break, the people who worked here were still office workers, and for them a vacation was a luxury. Plenty of companies made you feel guilty just for taking a Friday or a Monday off. Vanishing for a solid month or two the way I did was beyond imagining. Starlight Research Institute never gave anyone the side-eye for using their leave, of course. Other companies, I suspected, still ran on that old current.
I stepped outside in my dinosaur pajamas. Skipping breakfast had left me hungry, and coming home from the trip yesterday had knocked me out so hard that I had slept far too long. I must have been dead to the world. Otherwise Bora or Haru would have woken me instead of letting me sleep straight through. Travel was wonderful once you were on it. The crash afterward was brutal.
With a grin fit for a little troublemaker, I drifted toward the break corner. My stomach was empty, and I had every intention of quietly helping myself to the snacks there. The moment I reached the lounge, though, people spotted me and called out cheerful hellos. The secret-snacking plan had to be revised. Now that I thought about it, the break corner was built entirely like a café. Sneaking a bite was never going to work. I took a snack out in full view of everyone and ate it with perfect dignity.
Sugar on an empty stomach made my brain feel as if it were spinning. Suddenly I understood what people meant when they said their blood sugar had crashed. They claimed it slowed your thinking, and that sounded about right. I was still raiding the basket with great dedication when Bora's voice came from behind me. Someone must have reported that I had left my room.
"Hana. Don't just eat snacks—you need a real meal. Keep living on snacks and you won't grow any taller, you know?"
This can't be. Not growing taller was a catastrophe. I finished the piece I was already eating and dropped the one still in my hand back into the basket. Bora was right. Snacks alone could throw your nutrition off, and then your height really might stall.
"No!!!"
I shrieked and bolted every which way—until Bora scooped me up, free of charge, so I would not ruin everyone else's break. Still! I had made this café. Was I not allowed to run around in it? Without me, Starlight Research Institute would already have gone bankrupt and shut its doors. Even so, I did not actually want to spoil the employees' rest, so I let her carry me back to my room in her arms.
"Hana, is there anything you need?"
Bora asked whether I was short on anything. Nothing came to mind. There was a convenience store on the first floor if I wanted something to nibble, and the meals here tasted better than most restaurants. School was out, so aside from rolling around in my room I did not have much to do anyway. And no one came into that room except Bora, Haru, and Maru. They were probably leaving me time that belonged only to me, which, I supposed, made me exactly like someone with no job at all.
A rich person of leisure. Wasn't that the dream career? Everyone out there worked themselves raw in the hope of becoming one. I had achieved the dream at ten.
"If I think of something later, I'll tell you!"
Even if I did not need anything now, ordinary life would turn up some lack sooner or later, so I told Bora I was fine for the moment. With appliances this new, there was not a single thing I wanted.