Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 2 - Chapter 1.2

Bonus chapter: "Yashiro: The Visitor" 

I moved to the right. Swish. She also moved. I fled to the left. Swoosh. She stood in the way. 
I braced myself and broke into a run. Hyaah! I could hear her chasing after me. Step, step, step. Why was this happening? 
My home was nearby, so I ran there. I flew through the corridor, stopping only to quickly check that Sis's shoes were in the entrance. 
"Sis, Sis!" I screamed as I burst into the room. 
She was there, watching TV while leaning against a chair she had dragged out. She turned to look at me, though only her neck rotated. The rest of her body stayed where it was. This caused her hair to flow down, and it kinda made her look like a character from a horror movie. Her lips moved lazily. 
"Huh? Welcome back." 
"There's a weirdo!" I yelled, letting Sis know that this was no time for idle greetings. 
"Hm? A weirdo?" 
Sis was quite the weirdo herself, but that wasn't the point here. 
"A weirdo chased me. Her hair was all like, bazaa", I explained through gestures. As I did, Sis got off the chair and stood up. 
"A pervert? Are you okay? Did she do something to you?" she asked, crouching before me. She looked dead serious, which was pretty rare for her. All adult-like. I was kinda shocked. 
"Umm... She stood in front of me and blocked me." 
"And? Did she touch you anywhere, or try to take you with her?" 
"No, nothing like that." 
"Well, that's good." 
She sighed in relief. Her stiffened shoulders relaxed, and she stood back up. She then left the room, likely heading out to check the weirdo herself. I thought about following her for a second, but I had a feeling she'd tell me to stay if I did. Still, I had to be there to identify the weirdo for her, and so I ended up going regardless. 
"I knew it, Sis. You're a bad girl", I said as I caught her stepping into the entrance barefoot. 
"Be quiet." 
Half-standing, she opened the letter box and peeked through. A few seconds later, I could hear a massive sigh leaving her mouth. 
"I see. Yep, she sure is a weirdo", she muttered before straightening her knees and opening the door. Huh? She's just gonna open it? 
"Hey, you. 'Mysterious Shorty'. Try not to move all suspiciously in front of other people's homes", she called out to the weirdo who had been walking about in front of our house. As she did, the weirdo waved back at her. The girl was about my size, and wore fluffy clothes as well as a hat, the latter of which looked quite heavy. Now, what was weird about her, you ask? Her blue hair. It was tied in a bow behind her head, like the wings of a butterfly, and was surrounded by grains of light floating in the air around it. She was also carrying a container full of croquettes with her. 
"Ooh, destiny." 
Huh? This girl was friends with Sis? In any case, she ran up to her, looking extremely happy. 
Her footsteps made a peculiar sound. As for why that was, well, she was wearing beach sandals. Were her feet the only part of her body that weren't cold, perhaps? Anyway, as she ran up to Sis, the grains surrounding her hair flew all over, some even reaching me. So pretty... 
"Hohoo! So, this is where you live, Shimamura?" 
"Damn. You really do look like a weirdo, you know that?" 
Sis grabbed the weirdo's cheeks and pulled them. They were quite stretchy, from the looks of it. 
"Were you the one chasing my little sister around?" 
As she said this, Sis pushed my back and forced me to step forth. The weirdo replied by staring at me. She shook her head lightly as Sis let go of her cheeks, after which she nodded. Uh-huh. 
"This weirdo is Yashiro. She might be weird, but she's harmless. Probably. We're... friends? No, how should I put it..." 
"We're bound by destiny." 
I didn't get it at all. Regardless, it seemed that her name was "Yashiro". That's really hard to say. Let's just go with "Yachii" for short. 
...Oh, that's it! Her hair was dyed, just like Sis's. That meant they were fellow delinquents. 
"So, you want something?" 
"No, nothing. Well, I do want to eat these croquettes, but I don't need your help for that." 
Chuckling to herself, Yachii held up the container of croquettes she was carrying with her. People often started making weird friends once they entered high school, and it seemed that Sis was no exception to that. I was kinda worried about her future. Had that black-haired girl who'd come to our house the other day been a delinquent too? 
I slipped behind Sis to hide. As I did, Yachii instantly circled around her to peer at me. 

I ran away. Swish. She chased after me. Swoosh. Why was Yachii chasing me in the first place? I had no idea. She was like a playful puppy chasing after a child who hated dogs. I ran circles around Sis, and she ran behind me. 
Her neck turning round and round, Sis followed us with her eyes. She eventually seemed to get bored of it, though, and grabbed us by our heads. Then, after we were stopped in place, she slipped away from between us and began making her way back inside. 
"You two shorties play by yourself. I need to study." 
"Huh!?" 
D-Don't leave me alone! I screamed in my mind as I clung to her. 
"Hey, don't grab onto my skirt", she said before placing her hand on my forehead and pushing me away. I could see Yachii standing there, her hands placed on her hips, looking extremely proud of herself for some reason. 
"It's rude to call someone a 'shorty', Shimamura." 
Her hand still on my forehead, Sis turned towards Yachii. 
"Wait, how old are you even?" 
"Umm, let's see..." 
Yachii began counting with her fingers. She folded them all, then extended them all. Then folded them again, and then extended them again. There was no end to it. At first, Sis stared at her silently, but as she just kept going and going, she eventually began hurrying her along. Yachii was well into the hundreds when she at last spoke. 
"Six-hundred-seventy years, plus or minus a few." 
"Ohh? So, you've been alive since the... Muromachi period? Period of the northern and southern dynasties? One of those two." 
Sis clearly wasn't taking her seriously. Her eyes grew narrow, and her shoulders shook as if she was laughing to herself. 
"Yes, I know it must be shocking to an Earthling. Also, just so that you know, my brethren are all well over eight hundred years old." 
As for Yachii, she couldn't have been more serious. Sis didn't say anything back and simply scratched her brow, almost as if she'd been astonished beyond words. 
"'Earthling'?" 
Though nothing Yachii said made any sense to me, that was one part that particularly stuck out. I decided to try asking her about it. 
As I did, Yachii approached me. Before I could run away, she brought her face right next to my ear. Whisper, whisper. 
"I'm actually an alien." 
"Ohh?" 
"Don't believe her", Sis warned me. I instantly found myself wanting to rebut her. 
There were definitely things about her that were weird. The colour of her hair, for example. Why was Sis acting like it was completely normal? 
Yachii took off the rubber band around the container she was carrying and opened its lid. Inside, there were three croquettes. 
She grabbed one of them and presented it to me. 
The croquette and Yachii didn't at all fit together. It looked like someone had taken two pictures and hastily edited them into one. 
"This is a seal of our acquaintanceship. Will you eat it?" 
"O-Okay, sure." 
It seemed impolite to refuse, and so I took the croquette. I then tore it in half and gave the other part to Sis. 
"It tastes like something I've eaten before", Sis mumbled, having immediately grabbed the thing from my fingers and tossed it into her mouth. I decided to try it as well, and just like Sis, I also recognized the taste; these were croquettes from the meat store, the same ones Mom often bought when she couldn't be bothered to cook. They were mostly potato and had just a tiny bit of meat inside. I loved them. 
"Destiny", Yachii repeated herself from earlier. It had almost sounded like she'd been about to say "delicious", which would have made sense considering that she'd begun eating as well. Still astonished, Sis smiled a little. You could really tell Yachii was enjoying the croquette from the way she munched it. 
Yachii grinned at me. 
I'd learned her name, she'd smiled at me. 
What had once been weird had now changed into pretty. 
Her eyes and hair had settled in my heart, almost as if they'd grown wings and flown there. She might have been the same height as me, but the colour of them didn't belong to an elementary schooler. 
No, it belonged to a fairy. 
That's what I wanted to call her, for she was fluttering inside my head. 
It was easily the biggest surprise of the year for me, and coloured me blue from head to toe. 
That day, I met my strange friend, Yachii.