Yumeko woke up the next day absentmindedly. She could not really sleep well last night. Her mind was full of thoughts of how the young man in the neighbor who was also her savior was doing. 

Koharu, who always went to her room every eight o’clock in the morning to wake her up for school, just arrived only seeing her lady lying in bed, looking up spacing out. 

“Good morning, my lady. Please wake up now and let’s prepare for school.”

The dazed lady lazily replied, “Okay.”

She was wondering how on earth she would be able to talk to the young man. 

Koharu opened the windows and slid the curtains to the side. The rays of sun came along with the hot summer air. The waves of heat rose off the pavement like flames above the roofs. Clouds were latched to the unending sky.

“It’s getting even hotter these days. I have prepared thinner clothes for you to wear from now on to avoid heatstroke, my lady,” Koharu stated.

“Alright, I leave it to you,” the inert young lady replied.

“Also, we should just leave your windows open for all day so the air would come in and out.”

“Alright, I leave it to y-…” 

Suddenly Yumeko stoop up from her bed and said,

“That’s it! Thanks Koharu!”

Yumeko was reminded that she could talk to the young man by the window. Now, the lifeless young lady was full of energy. On the other hand, Koharu was puzzled on what she could have done to receive a ‘thank you’ from her lady.

Yumeko then peeked out from her east window and checked if the young man was there. To her disappointment, he was not. He was probably lying in his bed and still suffering from the negative reactions of the anpan she made. Not only of one, but five salty anpan, at that. 

“I see! You can talk to him through the window!” Koharu exclaimed. 

“But for now, eat your breakfast so we can prepare for school. Your honest heart will express its apology soon, my lady. ” said Koharu, as she cheered Yumeko up.

Although she could not go to the Higuchi residence because of the intimidating lady they met, a hope was lit as she still had a chance to talk to him through the window, she thought.

As she prepared to school, she only thought of the things she wanted to say to the young man. To be able to talk to him was her goal for today.

When she finished preparing, she checked her neighbor again and before leaving for school. She was like a cat waiting for a mouse to come out. 

When she got back home, she again checked her opened window but still no young man in sight. Her anxiousness went up. 

“Even though it is a really hot day, why is his window closed? He’s going to be baked inside. Is he still alive? Oh no! What if he’s dead?” 

Bothered by her worrisome train of thoughts, she called Koharu and asked her to pick pebbles for her. 

“Yes? What do you need them for, my lady?” Koharu said as she was confused why her lady wanted them.

“No questions for now. Just pick some for me please! Around ten! Hmmm. Make it twenty!” replied the impatient lady.

Even though she did not have any idea, the maid submitted to her lady’s demand and picked up pebbles from their garden.

When Koharu came back, Yumeko immediately took the pebbles from her and started to swing her arms throwing the little stones one by one to the window next door. Koharu’s eyes widened as she saw what her lady just did.

“My lady!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing my lady?!”

“As you see, I’m trying to check if he is alive.” Yumeko replied as she continuously threw pebbles. 

“But my lady…!”

“Koharu, today the sun is shining brightly and you know what it means—the brighter it is, the more chances it offers!”

The maid could not do anything as her lady was strongly determined to know what the guy had become. 

The pebbles ran out but no sign of any living human was glimpsed.

“My lady, if you continue, their window might broke and it will be a very big problem.” Koharu asked her lady to stop.

“You’re right, Koharu. I guess today was ‘NG’.” Yumeko replied.

“NG? What is NG, my lady?” wondered Koharu.

“Ehh? I think it’s an expression that means ‘no good!’” Yumeko was also surprised of what she said. She did not know where that word came from but she thought it might probably from the books she had read.

“I’ve never heard such word, my lady. I see that’s what it means,” Koharu replied in awe. 

“Anyway, my lady, let’s call it a day. I think he is still resting or maybe he is in a different room that’s why the window is closed even with this hot weather,” she added.

“You’re right. Let’s think that way!” Yumeko said trying to stay positive.

“Let’s head down to the living room, my lady. I will prepare a tea for you.”

Leaving the window opened, both of them went down and slowly enjoyed the time. The rich aroma came out from the tea. The refreshing flavor of tashiro tea was none like other. 

Koharu then placed some colorful origami with various beautiful patterns. She brought this so her lady could forget her worries for a while. Yumeko fell in love with these softly hued papers.

 “For centuries, paper folding named as an activity that defines elegance, my lady. Would you like to try? You used to make lovely lotus flower origami when you were young.”

“Did I? With this memory, I lost my knowledge in paper folding too,”  she thought to herself.

“Oh, wow really. What about teaching me your favorite origami, Koharu?’ Yumeko said, trying to avoid confusing her.

“Oh sure my lady! I love paper cranes! It’s my favorite! I can fold ten cranes in less than five minutes!” said proudly by Koharu.

“Wow that must be an easy origami to make! Let’s try!” 

“It was not that easy, my lady. I practiced a lot to make a perfect crane. I had to memorize twenty steps!”

“Twenty?! In that small square paper?!” Yumeko was shocked.

“Oh, don’t worry, my lady, I can teach you origami cranes with nine, twelve, or fifteen steps!” Koharu continue as she did not want her lady to think much.

“I’ll go with the easiest, nine!” 

Koharu chuckled as she already expected this answer from her lady. She wholeheartedly taught Yumeko how to make paper cranes. And to her astonishment, Yumeko could make an elegant origami in just a few minutes. Koharu was happy to see her lady enjoying for a while after worrisome events happened lately. 

Time passed by, the long black lacquered table changed into a rainbow of cranes. As the two young hearts counted how many origami they made.

“I think this is impossible to count! We made this much, seems like these cranes are ready to fly,” Koharu said.

“Fly…I want to fly away too…” said Yumeko as she started to feel the guilt and gloom once more.

“M…my lady! Oh it’s time! I have to prepare the dinner now. I’ll cook the best food tonight!”

“Thank you, Koharu…” she said as she went back to her room for awhile.

Night came, Yumeko entered her room as she finished taking a bath. Her long silky hair was still damped and she was drying it with a white cloth. Even though the sun was scorching hot that morning, the evening breeze was cool enough. She then closed her windows and while doing it she was reminded that her goal for today was not accomplished—that was to talk to Kengo.

However, the day had not yet ended so she tried again her luck and peeked out her east window. And it was then when Yumeko’s eyes sparkled. She saw a light coming from the inside. Though it appeared to her that there was no one in the room, she was happy to see it opened. 

She then thought of things she could do to be able to communicate with the young man. Suddenly, she saw the left over sheets of yagasuri patterned origami on her desk she used today while drinking tea with Koharu. Then an idea came to her mind.

She quickly sat down on her study table, took her fountain pen and wrote on the origami. She carefully thought of words she wanted to say. She kept messing up. When she would make a mistake or when she thought her handwriting was illegible, she would crumple the origami up and take another one.

Finally, she wrote a simple question, that one she was very curious about:

Are you alive?

She then folded the origami to form a crane and threw it to the young man’s window. Luckily, it entered the room. She then realized that her message was not enough, so she sat down on the chair again, grabbed the same fountain pen, and wrote on another origami:

Are you breathing?

You’re not poisoned, right?

Yumeko kept writing each of her question on origami hoping to get a response. Once she finished with one question, she would throw the crane origami into the young man’s window one after another. 

She waited for quite sometime but no Kengo came out. 

“Probably he was really sick,” she thought. 

Although she was really impatient, she could not do anything but wait.

To be continued.

End Note

Yagasuri - arrow design pattern that means when an arrow is fired it never returns