Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 6 - Chapter 2.2

Bonus chapter: "Yashiro: The Visitor - Part 10" 

"Hey, does this region have any famous souvenirs or something like that?" I asked my grandfather standing in the garden. Instantly, he replied: 
"Souvenirs? Well, the dried persimmons you can get around here are pretty well known, I'd say." 
"Hmm. Persimmons, huh?" 
Those things were way too bitter in my opinion. Then again, given that Yachii happily munched down anything even remotely sweet, it honestly might not be a bad pick. 
"Oh", the man suddenly exclaimed, all the while adding water into the bowl next to him that housed a few fish. He then went ahead and corrected his earlier statement: "They might not sell them during summer, now that I think about it." 
"Really? That's too bad." 
I suppose that only made sense; it wasn't difficult to imagine the persimmons rotting away were they left hanging outside this time of the year. 
Even I felt that way, like I was going to melt if I stayed in the sun for too long, and I was a human. 
"You need a souvenir?" 
"Yep. I'm thinking about buying a friend something." 
"I see, I see." 
Done removing the flowers which covered the water's surface, my grandfather turned around, walked past me, and headed to the kitchen. Curious as to what he was planning, I quickly followed after him. 
There in the kitchen, I was met by my grandmother cutting onions with intense speed. 
"What is it?" 
"Hmm, nothing", the man responded to her question, all the while peering inside the fridge. I was standing right behind him, which caused a wave of cool air to hit me as he opened the door. It felt pretty good. 
"Do we still have it? I wonder..." 
Rummaging, he went through the contents of the fridge and piled them up on the floor. You could see that my grandmother very much disapproved of this. 
"Once you're done, make sure you put everything back." 
"Yes, yes. I will", the man answered limply. There, after a few more containers full of fish, a smile appeared on his face. It appeared that he'd found what he was looking for. 
"I knew we had it. Well done, me. My memory is still intact." 
He spent a few moments praising himself in a tone of voice not often heard coming from his mouth before opening the Ziploc bag, pulling out what looked like a ball made of paper, and showing it to me. 
"A frozen persimmon prepared by the one and only me. What do you think, will this do?" 
"Ooh." 
The persimmon was cold, so cold it made the tips of my fingers tingle. It was also wrapped in paper as previously mentioned, making it so that you could never guess what it was based on looks alone. 
"Hahaha", the man laughed, appearing more proud of himself than I'd ever seen him. As for my grandmother, well, she too looked a bit shocked. 
And so, I returned home with a persimmon. While my plan originally was to give the frozen fruit to Yachii right away, that turned out to be far more difficult than I'd originally thought as I realised I had no idea where she lived. Moreover, it was always her who came over to our house, meaning that I didn't even have any way to contact her. This was bad. Really bad. Unsure what I was supposed to do, I found myself walking back and forth through the hallway. 
Ultimately, figuring that she'd simply show up like she always did if I simply waited for long enough, I decided to do just that. Oh, but don't get me wrong. I still felt extremely restless. The number of times I ended up checking up on the persimmon now stored inside our fridge was easily in the double digits. 
A whole day passed and the morning rolled around, but Yachii was nowhere to be seen. 
I once again found myself wandering around aimlessly down the hallway. There, I spotted Sis, having just woken up. 
It was kinda wild how her hair gradually rose behind her head. She almost looked like a lion. 
"And what might you be up to?" 
If anyone here was "up", it was her. Or more precisely, her hair. 
"It's just, Yachii hasn't shown up and..." 
"Hmm? I'd think that if you just call her, she'll come right away." 
"Yeah, but how?" 
"Right. Let's see..." 
Yawning to herself, Sis turned around and disappeared into the kitchen. Right, figures. I guess she was too tired to pay attention to me. I'd barely finished the thought when much to my surprise, she returned with something in hand. That something was a bag of honey toffee. 
"Run around while holding this in the air and see what happens." 
"What does this have to do with Yachii?" 
"She showed up when I did that before once." 
Pushing the bag into my hands, Sis walked off, for good this time. She seemed to be having some trouble maintaining balance, and after only a few steps, ended up bonking her head against the wall. I know it's not a nice thing to say about your own big sister, but she truly was pathetic during the morning. 
Now then, that aside. Would it really be possible to lure Yachii using a bag of sweets? 
Moreover, Sis had done that? Why? 
Finding the whole situation quite hard to believe, I took the bag and rolled it around in my hand. As I did, the face of the cute bee mascot grew horribly warped. 
"Hmm..." 
It was more than likely that she was simply tricking me. And yet, I went ahead and lifted the bag above my head anyway. Although there was no one here to see me, I still found doing so kinda embarrassing. 
I then broke into a slight sprint. Running with my hands in the air left me completely defenceless, and honestly, I found it kinda uncomfortable. Despite still being the only person here, I could feel my face steadily growing all red and itchy. 
It was seriously difficult to imagine anyone being able to sense me doing this. 
At the same time, I couldn't shake off the feeling that if anyone could do it, it'd be Yachii. 
Yachii had something special about her, something which exceeded the rules and boundaries of this planet. 
Wait... Huh? 
I was on my third lap through the hallway when all of a sudden, I heard a second set of footsteps behind me. 
I quickly turned around to look, and wouldn't you know it. 
Yachii was there. 
She was frozen in a similar position to mine, her arms too lifted in the air above her head. 
Our eyes soon met. 
"Ooh! Shou!" 
Immediately, she broke into a run. She had her arms spread wide open and didn't slow down even as she drew closer to me. Was this going to be okay? Should I be worried? Well, it turned out that I should've as mere moments later, she'd already rammed into me full speed, sending both of us tumbling down the hallway. 
The way her hair brushed against my face as we lay there made me feel like all the piled up humidity inside me was being cleared away. 
"Shou!!" 
"Whoa!" 
With her arms wrapped tight around me, Yachii went ahead and rubbed her cheeks against mine. I could see her springy flesh squishing up and down and she did so. 
What was happening? My eyes started to spin, and soon, the insides of my head had begun to feel awfully warm. 
A scent unlike anything I'd smelled before was being emitted from Yachii's cheeks and hair. 
Softly, it passed through my body. I found it difficult to describe the sensation. 
The one image that came to my mind was that of something silver being sprinkled onto my mouth. 
These tiny particles travelled into my nose and even my ears, twinkling deep inside me. That really was how it felt. 
I was soon pulled back to reality as all of a sudden, Yachii stopped what she was doing and tilted her head with a puzzled look on her face. 

"Hmm? You're not going to do it, Shou?" 
"Huh? Do what?" 
"Snuggle with me. Snuggle." 
Having said that, she once again began rubbing her face against mine. Seriously, where had she learned all this from? 
"Umm... Okay." 
Matching her movements, I went ahead and moved my cheek just a little bit. Although I was barely doing anything, it felt at least ten times more embarrassing than before when I'd merely been a passive participant. Warmth began gathering just below my eyes, almost as if warm rain was falling down on me. I quickly stiffened up and stopped, but even there, Yachii kept on going. 
Did being able to see me really make her this happy? Was she happy because of me? 
My mind grew all the more blurry as I thought about that. I could feel my ears getting slightly cold. 
We spent the next couple of moments like that, lying there on the floor. 
"So, you're back, Shou?" 
After we finally got back up on our feet, I turned to Yachii and saw her grinning in a way which signalled not the slightest bit of embarrassment. Wow. 
Not only that, I noticed that she'd at some point snatched the bag of sweets from my hands. 
"Yeah. I am." 
Why was she attracted by sweets? How had she possibly been able to sense them? I decided to not think too hard about all that stuff. 
"Also, I made sure to get you a souvenir like I promised." 
"Is it something delicious?" 
Yachii's eyes practically lit up as she asked me that. Hmph. Was she really that much more excited by the souvenir than she was by me? 
I mean, yes, that was very much like her, but still. Hmph. 
"Probably. Now, follow me." 
I guided her to the kitchen. There, I spotted Sis, lying flat against the table. 
Her unkempt hair was spread in front of her and almost resembled a jellyfish. 
"Ah, Shimamura." 
Having also noticed Sis, Yachii quickly hurled herself into her direction. This was exactly what she'd done to me moments earlier, except this time, the result was a lot different; the girl's tiny frame put her at just the perfect height where her head slammed against Sis's knee, sending her flying backwards in a very showy fashion due to the force of the impact. I know I've made this observation before, but at times, it really felt like gravity barely had an effect on her. 
"Huh?" 
Leaving a visible mark on the table, Sis lifted her head. Both her eyes and mouth alike remained half open. 
"So... tired..." 
"That's what happens when you stay up all night when you're not even studying, moron." 
It was Mom who spoke. She was also there washing the sink. 
"It's not my fault... Whenever I tried to end the call, she just kept on talking..." 
Mumbling out some excuses, Sis once more collapsed against the table. Well, whatever. Let's just leave her be. 
There was something far more important for me to be focusing on. I walked up to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out the container that held the persimmon. 
It was cold, so cold that I could almost feel my fingers freezing just touching it, making it the perfect treat for the season. 
Removing all the wrappings, I showed the fruit to Yachii. 
"Wrinkly." 
That was her initial impression. 
"It's a persimmon." 
"Per... simmon?" 
Clearly puzzled, Yachii tilted her head to the side. I'd been right; she had no idea what persimmons were. Softly, I opened my mouth to explain. 
"It needs a bit more time to fully defrost, so—" 
"Munch." 
"Ah!" 
I'd barely gotten a sentence in when all of a sudden, Yachii sank her teeth into the fruit. Her jaw moving up and down, bits and pieces were broken off the frozen treat which then disappeared inside her mouth. I was left staring at her in shock. Yachii, on the other hand, responded to my confusion with a wide grin. 
"Sweet. This is quite sweet." 
The look on her face was one of satisfaction. She really did like sweet things, that Yachii. 
"Yep." 
Despite looking like a character straight out from a fairytale, I couldn't help but get the feeling that if she was actually placed into one, she'd end up eating the gingerbread house or something and be promptly chased off. 
"Do you like it?" 
"It is very delicious, yes." 
"That's good. You see, my grandpa made it." 
Though not my own achievement in any way, I still found myself boasting a little. I could see Yachii nodding along to my explanation as all the while, her gaze remained fixated on the persimmon still in her mouth. There, she let out a short giggle like one did when eating sweets before turning her pretty eyes my way. 
"Here you go, Shou. Take a bite. Let's share it." 
"Huh?" 
Having said this, Yachii lifted up the fruit and held the side opposite to the one she was currently biting into towards me. 
Really? She wanted to eat this with me? This frozen persimmon? 
With plucking a piece off it out of the question, the only way I had left to eat this thing was to take a bite just like she was currently doing. Should I do it? Was it weird? Was it weird eating a fruit like that? Thoughts like those soon filled my mind. I glanced at Mom, but the woman was far too busy cleaning to pay any attention to us. Same way, Sis too was still stuck in her jellyfish-state. We were the only ones. We were in our own separate world. 
The light of the morning sun shining in through the window painted everything around me white. 
Slowly, I brought my mouth to the persimmon, almost like an insect being attracted by said light. 
Yachii's eyes, nose, ears, they were so close to mine. 
Simply moving my face I could feel her touch. 
Showing no hesitation, Yachii continued munching. With each bite she took, I could feel her hair and her forehead drawing closer to me. 
My throat squeezed up and a sensation similar to being nervous ran through me. 
And yet, I remained like that. 
Once we were done eating, once the persimmon was gone, what would happen then? 
I could feel the frozen fruit starting to melt just from the throbbing of my lips alone. 

Today's Adachi 

After the call, I immediately rushed to comb my hair. As for putting on makeup, that was something I still had to do. Same went for changing my clothes. 
I knew I had to hurry. I knew it. However, I just kept on stumbling, as if tripping over my own feet. It was frustrating to say the least. 
And yet, even this hectic rush was something I managed to find oddly comfortable once I got in sync with the beat of it. 
It was as if I was soaring through the air, entrusting myself to the waves of exultation which ran through me. 
I was about to go see Shimamura.