it is a bit, but it’s good.”
“Where did you find it?”
“There’s lots growing around here.”
We walked around the slope behind the house gathering sour dock leaves, then sat down next to each other to eat them.
My bathing suit was wet and uncomfortable, but I liked the taste of the leaves. Now that my mood had improved, I said, “Since you showed me something you like, to say thank you I’ll let you in on a secret.”
“What secret?”
“Well, actually I’m a magician. I have a transformation mirror and a magic wand.”
“What sort of magic can you do?”
“All kinds! The best spell helps you defeat enemies.”
“Enemies?”
“I mean, maybe ordinary people can’t see them, but there are lots of enemies all around us. Bad magic, monsters, that sort of thing. I’m always doing battle with them to protect the Earth.”
I took Piyyut out of my bag. He looked like a white hedgehog plush toy, but actually he was an emissary sent by the Magic Police on Planet Popinpobopia. Piyyut had given me the magic wand and mirror to help me use my magical powers, I explained.
“Wow, Natsuki, that’s amazing!” Yuu said, his face serious. “It’s thanks to you protecting the Earth that we’re living in peace.”
“Right.”
“Hey. What sort of place is that Planet Popinpo—what’s it called again?”
“Popinpobopia. I don’t know really. Piyyut said it was secret.”
“Oh.”
I thought it was weird that Yuu seemed more interested in the alien planet than my magical powers, and I looked at him closely. “Why do you ask?”
“Um . . . well, don’t tell anyone else, but I have a secret too. I’m an alien.”
“What?!” I exclaimed, taken aback.
“Mitsuko is always saying so,” he went on with a serious tone. “You’re an alien, she says. You were abandoned by a spaceship, and I took you in.”
“Wow, really?”
Mitsuko was Yuu’s mom. She was Dad’s little sister, and so I called her Aunt Mitsuko. She was really pretty. She was shy and quiet, just like Yuu. I couldn’t imagine she would lie or joke about something like this.
“You know what else? In my drawer there’s a stone that I don’t remember having picked up anywhere. It’s black, flat, smooth, and a really weird shape. So I think it must have come from the same place I’m from.”
“Wow. So I’m a magician, and you’re an alien!”
“Well, I don’t have any proof. Not like you, Natsuki.”
“But I’m sure it’s true. Maybe you’re actually from Planet Popinpobopia. Wouldn’t that be amazing? You might be from the same planet as Piyyut!” I said excitedly, leaning forward.
“I wonder. If so, I want to go back home someday.”
I was so shocked I almost dropped my mirror. “What?”
“Every time I come here for Obon, I’m always secretly looking for the spaceship that will come and take me home. But I’ve never found it. I wonder if Piyyut can arrange for it to come and get me?”
“No way, Piyyut can’t do that sort of thing!” I felt like crying. I couldn’t bear the thought of Yuu not being around. “Yuu, are you going to go away sometime?”
“Probably. I think it would be better for Mitsuko if I did, anyway. After all I’m just an alien that she took in, not her real son.”
I burst into tears.
“Natsuki, don’t cry,” he said and rubbed my back, trying to console me.
“But I like you. I don’t want you to go away.”
“But they’ll come to get me sometime or other I think. I’ve been waiting for the spaceship for ages.”
Yuu’s words made me cry even harder.
“I’m sorry, Natsuki. But while I’m still here on Earth, I’ll do anything for you. I feel calm when I’m here at Granny’s house. I think it’s because it’s closer to space, so it’s nearer to home for me, but it’s also because you’re here too.”
“Really? Then I want you to be my boyfriend until you go back to your own planet.”
Yuu nodded. “Sure.”
“Really? You mean it?”
“Yes. I really like you, too, Natsuki.”
We hooked pinkies and made three promises.
1. Yuu won’t tell anyone that I’m a magician.
2. I won’t tell anyone that Yuu’s an alien from outer space.
3. We won’t fall in love with anyone else, even after summer’s over. We’ll definitely meet up here again next summer.
Just then I heard footsteps. Hastily I hid Piyyut and the mirror inside my bag. It was Uncle Teruyoshi.
“So this is where you got to! I thought you’d been washed away by the river.”
Uncle Teruyoshi was always cheerful and played a lot with us children.
“Sorry,” we apologized.
He smiled and stroked our heads. “Oh, you got some sour dock! Do you like it, Natsuki? It’s quite sour but tasty.”
“Yes, I do like it.”
“You do? That means you’re a real mountain woman now, then! All right, come along. Granny’s looking for you because she’s cut up some peaches.”
“Okay.”
We headed back to the house together.
I could still feel where my pinky had hooked Yuu’s. I ran to the front door, hoping no one would notice I was blushing. Yuu, too, was walking fast and looking down at his feet.
Ever since then, Yuu has been my boyfriend. The magician would be the girlfriend of the alien, at least until he traveled back to his home planet.
Granny’s house opened onto a huge hallway, which was easily as big as my bedroom at home. I always felt a bit lost going inside.
“We’re here!” Mom called loudly. Dad, as usual, remained silent.
It smelled of fruit, a mix of peaches and grapes, along with a faint animal odor. The neighbors kept cows, but they were some distance away, so maybe the animal smell in this house came from us humans.
“Oh, come on in! It’s hot today, isn’t it?”
The shoji slid open, and an older woman, probably an aunt, came out into the hall. I thought I remembered having seen her before, but I wasn’t sure. We only came here once a year for Obon, and I had trouble telling the various adults apart.
“Kise, Natsuki, you’ve gotten so big!”
“Oh, you brought gifts. You really shouldn’t have! Sorry you went to all that trouble.”
“You remember Natsuko? She’s done her back in and can’t come this year.”
As Mom greeted the gaggle of vaguely familiar middle-aged ladies one by one, they all started chatting excitedly. This was going to take ages I thought, sighing quietly. The ladies had now gotten down on their hands and knees and were bowing to each other. Dad stood vacantly in the entrance.
Granny and Grandpa appeared from the living