I’ve noticed this before but now it was more apparent. Koda-san would occasionally make the mistake of saying my first name then switching to my family name. I don’t know her well enough to even consider calling her…Mari-san so I would like for her to respect my boundaries and stop acting so informal with me. However, I don’t voice my opinion on the matter. Instead, I sighed for the thousandth time today and made my way up the steps. I’m never like this, getting irritated over little things like that. But Koda-san is like a different breed of human. I can’t put my finger on it, but she just seems…like something is off with her.

As we stepped outside the door Koda-san nearly met her face with the cement but caught herself. It would seem as though she’s been looking for a pair of shoes and finally found them. Which led to her doing her best to put them on while walking. I acted as if I didn’t see anything and continued my march.

“Nnngg…”

The raise darted into my retina. I haven’t been out of the house since we came home from the hospital, so it was a new sensation seeing the morning streets. I’ve been too buried in my studies, trying to make a good impression for my new school that I plan to enter. As I walked, I felt an unease go across my neck like ice running down my spine. I turned to catch Mari preening in my direction. Our eyes meet briefly before I break contact and turn back to the streets.

“So, where’s your car?”

“Oh, I don’t have it. Ayumi is the one who takes the car for the day.”

“Well, you lead the way then. I’m actually not sure where anything is…”

Shamefully, I admit.

“There’s a shopping district a few miles that way. We’re going to hop on the train and make our way there. It drops us off right where we need to be.”

With a nod, we began our journey to the station. Now that my mind had calmed down, I found myself thinking about all the questions I wanted to ask Koda-san. One being…

“Ah…Koda-san?”

“Hm?”

We stop on the sidewalk as I turn around to her.

“Ahh…H-How did you meet my mom?”

Koda put a finger to her mouth and tilted her head.

“Hm…”

The edge of her mouth curled and her eyes relaxed as if being possessed by an unknown force.

“Heh, are you interested in me?”

“H-Huh?”

“Nakagawa-san’s interested in me?”

Koda rubbed her cheek as if nursing a toothache. My blood boiled as I flipped around 180 then began marching again.

“Never mind! I could care less!”

“Oh?!”

It was thoughtless of me to try and have a serious chat with this kind of person. It’s like everything I say Koda-san has a list of outrages retorts that in her back pocket. It honestly makes talking with her…tiresome. There’s still a lot I want to ask Koda-san but unless I want to be the bud of her jokes, I’ll put them off for now. I’ve always been quick on the uptake and right now the mood reads that she wants to use this time to tease me.

“Hehe, aren’t you going to ask my favorite color too?”

“Arrggg…”

We continued to walk wordlessly for a bit after that. Koda-san lagged a tad making me feel as though I was walking too fast. I slowed down to meet her pace, but she just lagged more.

“Am I walking too fast?”

“Oh no, I’m just admiring you”

She rubbed her cheek again. Not sure why this irritated me so much.

“Weirdo.”

“Ouch, that one hurt.”

We keep walking. It seems the station is around ten or so minutes from our home so with that time in mind this brief walk is going to be like a years’ time. When I leaned my head back a bit a brisk feeling captured my hair.

“Ah…”

“Huh?”

Koda-san’s slim fingers wrapped skillfully around my hair like a ninja. I stood there silently. I felt like a needle could fall a mile away and we both would be able to hear it clearly. That's how tense the moment was between us. It didn't take too long before I spoke up.

“What…the heck are you doing?”

“Feeling…your hair?”

I don’t know where she’s learned manners, but this is beyond inappropriate. I forced myself away from her but all she does is giggle like a schoolgirl. Why does she insist on being so creepy?

“You’re supposed to be showing me around, anyway, get to the front! Go! Get!”

I point forward as she rushes past me like a dog off her leash. She continued to lead for a moment then abruptly, turned around.

“Oh, I have an idea! Here!”

Here we go...I spoke internally.

She held out her hand. There was nothing in it, so I just stared blankly.

“C’mon!”

Still unsure about what she wanted me to do I angle my head slightly.

“Take my hand so you won’t get lost!”

“What am I, five?!”

“Don’t you want to hold my hand?”

“No…No I don’t. I didn’t even consider it.”

“But I want to hold yours though.”

I put my hands on my waist. This is going to be an extremely long outing. I silently punish myself for making this decision in the first place. It’s apparent now if anything, Me and Koda-san's personalities thus far do not go hand in hand. How did my mom ever get involved with such a troublesome person?

We got on the train and took our seats. It was in the morning and most of the business commuters already at work finding a seat easy enough. As I searched my phone when an aroma trickled into my nose.

“Hm…lemon?”

“Oh, you smell my shampoo, Nakagawa-san?”

“Eh?”

It would seem I said something aloud without thinking again. Koda-san perked up like a puppy.

“I guess…”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s nice.”

“I could let you borrow it sometime.”

I honestly didn’t know how to reply to that so instead, I took my phone out and acted like I didn’t hear her. It seemed that Koda-san likes fruity scents like these. A bit immature for her age, I think. Now that I think about it…how old is she exactly? I repress the urge to ask her. She’d just come back with a witty tease anyway.

The train ride doesn’t take as long as I thought at first. We make our way to the shopping district of town. I followed her as we enter the shopping mall.

“So, what are you in the mood for Nakagawa-san?”

Koda-san looked at me, tilting her head.

“Hm…I don’t know. What does Hana-san like to eat?”

I veered the conversation towards her child instead.

“Hana is actually a pretty picky eater. She’ll take a couple of bites of everything then refuse to eat anymore.”

Koda-san ponders with her hand on her chin.

“I swear that’s the reason why she hasn’t developed much yet…”

Now that she mentioned it, Hana-san came right to my room after I left. With that in mind, I can see why she made it up there so quickly. She must have taken a bite of food then rushed up the steps before Koda-san and Mom could say anything about it. Now thinking like that, did she use me as an escape to get away from the table without eating much? Hm, thinking of things that way makes me a tad depressed. That’s only my conclusion.

“So, what do you think we should have?”

The question swung back and hit me in the back of the head. Great…I didn’t want to be the decider of this occasion but…

“How about we do something simple. White rice, miso soup and, fish?”

Simple yet effective. Nothing can go wrong unless Hana-san is secretly a fish hater.

“That’s perfect, Nakagawa-san.”

Koda-san clapped her hands together. Seeing a grown woman act this way puts me way out of my comfort zone. Now that I think about it and that we’re here…

“Oh.”

“What’s the matter?”

Koda-san looked at me as she picked up the bag of rice for tonight.

“Do you mind if we pick up more pickles?”

“I don’t mind. Not sure how you and your mother can eat those though.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I don’t like pickles.”

Koda-san giggled as she strolled on without me. But what about last night? Didn’t she make a sandwich with pickles in it? Is she telling me that she made food that she didn’t like? This woman is bizarre.

“Hey, we need more aprons around the house. I’ll pick this up for Hana.”

Koda-san wrapped a polka-dotted apron around her waist. With a nod, she put it in her basket. I could care less about what else she wanted to waste her money on. She was the person buying everything in the end.

After we bought all our ingredients, we made our way out of the grocery store bags in hand. The wind blew softly in the warm September day. Now closer to the afternoon we approached the station. My shoulders slumped and I could feel my legs begin to grow stiff.

“Nakagawa-san, are you by chance tired?”

I tried to hide it from Koda-san but my feet were sore and arms were starting to hurt. It’s one of the few reasons why I stayed inside for the week after coming from the hospital. Physically my body wasn’t too built to do much labor because of the bedridden state I was in. Shamefully I had to admit by giving her a slight nod.

“Hey, let’s go rest over there.”

Koda-san pointed to a small park one kids played at. The place was empty being a weekday and most of them must have been at school. The swings brought back a hint of nostalgia. We found our way to a bench as I sat on the far right and Koda-san on the left. The wind pulled the swing back and forth. I watched as if there were a parent and child enjoying the fall breeze. For some reason that back and forth made my heart ping for a moment.

“I remember taking Hana here when she was young.”

Koda-san interrupted my idle thoughts. Not as if she’d done it on purpose. I looked back at her. She was watching the swing set as well. Ah, that’s what the swing set reminded me of. When dad was still around, he would take me here when I was young. Even though he worked long hours he’d find time to do mundane things like this with a whiny little girl like me. I still remember pointing at the slide and demanding him to take me on it as if it were the wildest thing in the world. Then I’d climb up to the top and start crying my eyes out. At that age, looking down the slide was like veering down the building of a skyscraper. Back in those simpler times when all I thought about was how I was going to have fun. How…I wish for a remnant of those days to return.

“Mmm…”

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Nakagawa-san?”

But then I looked back at her…and the annoyance flooded back into my mind.

“Nothing…”

I turned back away from Koda-san. Now might be the best time to question her but for some reason, I can’t bring myself to ask her. I don’t want my simple thoughts to be ruined by her unreasonable teasing.

“Are you sure it’s nothing?”

She pressed on.

“Yeah, it’s…nothing.”

Koda-san, still with that ridiculous smile plastered on her face closes her eyes and nods.

“You seemed as if you wanted to ask me something earlier but stopped yourself.”

Koda-san looks away from me, the wind takes hold of her short locks.

“We’re…family you know.”

“No, we’re not.”

I spewed. I could taste the bitterness in my voice. My thoughts about dad lingering in my mind must have been a part of me sounding so angry. Even I scared myself.

“You’re nothing but a stranger to me.”

Koda-san’s smile didn’t seem damaged one bit as she nodded turning back to me.

“My bad. You’re 100% correct. We are strangers.”

Koda-san lifted her head in the clouds. Her short hair flowed into the wind. Looking at her I felt as though the wind would take her away…a blessing in disguise if that happened.

“But even strangers fall in love you know...”

“What?”

There she goes again saying weird things. Hana-san is nothing like her. She doesn’t blurt out weird things and make me feel outwardly uncomfortable. How could Hana-san turn into such a good child by this strange misfit?

“Hehe, that’s not really what I meant though, Nakagawa-san.”

“Is that right?”

She cleared her throat as if to make an announcement to a group of people.

“I wholly expect you to see me as a stranger and that’s simply fine. But what I want you to know is…”

Koda-san turns to me.

“I do love your mother.”

“Hm?”

“I’m not sure if that’s the question you wanted to ask me, but I’ll give you an answer to this…”

Koda-san set her bags on the bench and lifted herself onto the ground.

“I Koda Mari do in fact love Nakagawa Ayumi.”

Koda-san shifted the ring on her finger. It wasn’t anything formal because it’s illegal for them to get married. But this was enough of a signal that they do in fact see each other in this light.

“And I’ll do anything in my power to make sure she’s never hurt again…”

Her last words strained off into the distance. If I were paying closer attention to her then they wouldn’t have easily faded into the warm windy day. Out of everything Koda-san confessed I could feel as if this statement was truly genuine. I turn back to her but now her head hangs low like a toy now out of power.

Unable to get any words out of my mouth, I turn to the side when I feel something touch the back of my head.

“Eh?”

“Oh! S-sorry.”

Koda-san seemingly reached out her hand again, touching the back of my hair. Is she that fixated on my hair or something?!”

“S-Stop doing that!”

“Ehh…okay.”

Koda-san turned away looking into the distance.

“Koda-san…”

“Yes?”

“You’re a weirdo.”

I turned back to her and she looks at me seemingly flabbergasted at what I said. With that, I stood up.

“Let’s go home.”

Koda-san grabbed her bags off the bench and lifted them up with guts pose.

“Nakagawa-san…”

I turn around only to find Koda-san closer to my face then I would have wanted her to be.

“Thanks...for waking up.”

Invading my personal space once again my brow curves on its own. Noticing my outward irritation, Koda-san pulls back. With her hands to her side, she muses forward onto the road without a care in the world. Was it my imagination or was her face a bit pinkish? All I could do is make a sigh and mutter “what a bothersome person.” As I continued to follow her lead to the station. From there we took the ride and went back home.