The monkey bared its teeth at her. "You had better not trust her."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"She's not the good person you think she is, little girl. Good thing she didn't poison you during dinner and be done with it."
"Oh, give me a break."
"Maybe she's scheming to kill you and rob you of everything you've got. Or maybe she'll let you live and sell you into slavery. Either way that's the kind of thing she's up to. And you want to thank her for it! Oh my, but you're so naive!"
"Quit jerking me around."
"Don't I tell you these things out of love? Don't you understand? You've got no allies here, little girl. No one would shed a tear if you dropped dead. You're such a bother to everybody, don't you know?"
Youko stared hard at the monkey. The monkey answered her with a screech of laughter. "If I told you once, I told you a thousand times. If it's so painful, it can be all over in a moment." The monkey howled again, then turned on her with a fierce expression. "Since you won't say a bad word about her, let's just kill her, then."
"What … ?"
"Kill her and take the money and run. Since you don't seem to know when to give up, you'd better do it for you own sake!"
"Shut up about it already!"
Chattering madly with laughter, the monkey disappeared, like chalk being erased off a blackboard. As before, only its grating laughter remained behind, fading away into the distance.
Youko continued to stare at the place the monkey no longer was. What did this thing have against her, to do nothing but give her such grief?
I don't believe it.
Not a single word the little monster had said.
The next morning Youko was shaken awake. She opened her eyes. The large-framed woman was looking at her with a bothered expression. "You awake? Dead to the world, you were. Well, get yourself up and have some breakfast."
"Sorry."
Youko hurriedly got up. From the look on Takki's face, it was obvious she'd been sacked out for a long time.
"No need to apologize. How you doing? Ready to set off? We can always do it tomorrow."
"I'm okay," Youko said, bouncing to her feet. Takki laughed and pointed at her bed.
"There's a dress there. You know how to put one on?"
"Probably … I think."
"You run into trouble, give me a holler."
With that, Takki disappeared into the adjacent room. Youko sat down on the bed and picked up the kimono Takki had laid out for her.
It had an ankle-length skirt that was tied with a cord around the waist, a short, vest-like blouse along with a tunic the same length. It wasn't a comfortable fit when she first put it on. The collar pinched her neck as she walked into the next room, where Takki had set the table.
"Ah, looks just right on you." Takki put down a big bowl of soup and laughed. "It's a bit plain, true. Something from when I was younger would have been better."
"Not at all," Youko said. "Thank you very much."
"Even so, it's a bit too showy for me. I was thinking of giving it away to the neighbors one of these days. Well, let's eat. Don't hold back, now. We've got a long walk ahead of us."
"Okay."
Youko bowed. She sat down at the table. When she picked up the chopsticks, for a moment she remembered what the monkey had said the night before. But it didn't feel true in the slightest.
She is a good person.
If the villagers knew that Takki had taken her in, they'd no doubt have harsh words for her. Takki had done good by her, and suspecting her now would only invite bad karma.
3-5
It was past noon when they left Takki's house.
The trip to Kasai turned out to be an unexpectedly pleasant one. At first, Youko cowered whenever they encountered someone, but perhaps because Takki had dyed her hair with a dye made from herb roots, nobody cast a suspicious eye on her. She grew accustomed to it after a while and enjoyed meeting people along the way.
Although this country had the look and feel of old China, the people living here came in all different types. Their faces were generally Asian in appearance, but the color of their hair and eyes and skin was all over the place. Skin color varied from that of a white Caucasian to a black African. Eye color was everything from black to sea-blue. As for hair, there seemed to be an infinite variety, such as purple or blue-white. In some of the odder cases, hair was two-toned, as if part of it had been dyed.
Initially, it struck her all as very strange, but she got used to it fairly quickly. And once she did she decided that, yes, different was good. And yet she didn't see anyone with pure, golden hair like Keiki.
Their clothing was in an old Chinese style. Men wore a tunic over short trousers. Women's fashions were based on the long skirt. Now and then she spotted a group dressed in what was certainly an "Oriental" style, though from what country and what era she couldn't tell. According to Takki, they were traveling minstrels.
For Youko, it was a relief just to walk. She followed Takki's lead, from getting food to arranging lodgings. Youko had no money, so Takki paid for everything.
"I'm really sorry I can't help out," she said as they walked along the road.
Takki laughed heartily. "I'm just an old busybody. You've got nothing to worry about."
"I've got nothing to give you in exchange."
"Not at all. It's been a long time since I've seen my mum. Thanks to you now I've got a good excuse to go see her."
Her kind words were a joy to hear. "Takki-san, did you go to Goso to get married?"
"No, that's where I got my partition."
"Partition?"
Takki nodded. "When you become an adult, you're given a plot of land and made to stand on your own two feet. The plot I received was in Goso. That's what a partition is."
"Everybody receives land when they become an adult?"
"Yes, everybody. My husband is the old guy who lives next door. We split up after our child died."
Youko stared at Takki's jovial face. Now that she mentioned it, she had mentioned something about a child dying. Youko said, "I'm … sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I wasn't cut out to be a mother. The child we were blessed with after so long, she died on my account."
"Surely you don't mean … . "
"Children come to us from heaven. So heaven taking her back again wasn't up to me. But people being what they are, I guess it was inevitable. It's too bad about the child, though."
Youko had no idea how to answer but managed a hesitant smile. In a small way Takki seemed a sad and lonely person.
"I imagine your mum must be worried sick about you. The faster you get home the better, no?"
"Yes." Youko nodded. "But is it really possible? When I was in Hairou, one of the town elders said it wasn't."
"Well, if you got here somehow, surely you can go back."
Youko nodded again. The carefree smile that came to her lips reflected a profound happiness.
"Of course. Ah, here we are."
At the fork of three roads, one pointed to the left. At every intersection along the road there was always a small stone marker into which was carved distance and destination. Distance was measured in units called "ri." This particular marker listed the destination as "Sei" and the distance as "5 ri."
According to what she remembered from her Japanese history textbook, a Japanese "ri" was two and a half miles. The "ri" referred to here was a much shorter distance, only several hundred yards. So five ri was not that far.
The scenery itself was prosaic, but the peace and quiet was quite nice. The mountains loomed craggy and tall above the rolling terrain. She could see faintly in the distance mountains whose peaks were wrapped with clouds, but none covered with snow. The sky pressed low against the ground.