Chapter Two At the Matsumoto's House
Two hours later, the airplane arrived at Azuki Airport. At the airport, Mrs. Hiroko Matsumoto was waiting for them. “Hi, Aunt Hiroko!”Minami waved.
“Wow, Mina, you grew a lot! You’re getting more and more like your mother.”
“I’d like to introduce to you my friends, Ayaka Sakuragi and Hideki Takahashi.” Minami said.
Ayaka bowed politely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you two as well. The more the people, the more wonderful it is.” Aunt Hiroko said happily.
Oh yeah, Aunt Hiroko loves children. Minami recalled her always having a bag with sweets in it and giving some of the sweets to children she knew.
Minami and the others got on Aunt Hiroko’s limousine car. In the limousine, there were a small TV and telephone.
Minami’s uncle Sho Matsumoto was a famous sportscaster, so the Matsumotos were very rich.
“It’s nice that the winter vacation in Hae High School is so long. When did your school end?” Aunt Hiroko asked.
“The day before yesterday.” Hideki answered.
“That’s wonderful. Not many schools have winter vacation from December 14th.”
“The summer vacation is a bit short, though.” Minami said.
“Well, summer is too hot to do anything anyways. I am very happy that you came here. The Christmas here is fabulous. There is snow, and the whole town glows bright. I’m truly looking forward to it. And there is also Minami’s and Hideki’s birthday, right?” Aunt Hiroko chatted cheerfully.
Suprisingly, Hideki was born in December 24th and Minami was born in December 25th. Therefore, Hideki’s birthday was on Christmas Eve, and Minami’s birthday was on Christmas.
In about fifteen minutes, they arrived at the Matsumoto’s house. The house was so large that Minami was speechless.
When they rang the doorbell, the sound echoed through the entire house. Ms. Yukiko Harada, the Matsumoto’s housekeeper, opened the door.
“Yukiko, would you please gather everyone to the living room? I would like to introduce some guests who will be staying here for ten days.”
“Okay.”
At that moment, there was a voice that said, “Hideki!”
Hug!!
When Minami turned around, there was a girl hugging Hideki.
“Oh, you must be...!!” Minami felt dread.
“Oh, Ms. Hoshino. What are you doing here?”
It was her. The girl was Naoko Hirukawa. They had met when Hideki and Minami had gone to Hokkaido. Naoko had fallen in love with Hideki right away, and had always tried to be close to Hideki.
'I had thought we’d never meet again...' Minami made her scariest face at Naoko, but Naoko returned a sweet smile, which only made Minami even more irritated.
“Actually, this is my aunt’s house! What are you doing here?”
“I am Chiharu’s friend, so I am staying here. My parents are in Hawaii. How could I have imagined that Hideki was staying here too! I am so happy. I should be thankful to God. For letting me meet Hideki!” Naoko squeezed Hideki’s hand.
“Hey...” Hideki looked troubled and tried to get away from Naoko.
'What an obnoxious person. Hideki is clearly not happy about this,' Minami thought.
Minami was usually not such a scary person. She was a bright, kind person, but when some girl tried to flirt with Hideki, her attitude changed. Since the girl happened to be Naoko, it was even more difficult to suppress her anger.
“Listen, Hideki...”
Minami couldn’t tolerate Naoko’s sweet tone and went to the living room by herself.
After some time, everyone gathered in the living room.
“It seems like everyone is here now,” said Aunt Hiroko. “I would like to introduce myself. I am Hiroko Matsumoto. My hobby is tennis. Minami, Ayaka and Hideki, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Next, Uncle Sho introduce himself. “I am Sho Matsumoto. I am a sportscaster. It’s nice to meet you all.”
Then a large man that Minami didn’t know stepped forward and said “My name is Hiroshi Ohno. I am Sho’s friend and also a sportscaster. I will be staying here for some time.”
“I am the housekeeper of this house, and my name is Yukiko Harada. It’s an honor for me to meet everyone here.” The housekeeper that Minami met earlier said with a kind smile.
“I am the gardener Takagi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The man sitting on the sofa said.
“My name is Ai Ishikawa. I am Chiharu’s friend. I heard that Chiharu’s cousins were coming here. I’ll be staying for ten days.” A girl wearing glasses said.
“I’m Naoko Hirukawa! I’m so happy to stay here with Hideki!”
‘She’s introducing herself only to Hideki,’ thought Minami, feeling irritated.
Finally, Minami’s cousin-in-law Chiharu’s turn came.
“I’m Chiharu Matsumoto,”she said curtly and left the room.
“My, what’s with that girl,” Hiroko said worriedly as she stared after Chiharu. She said apologetically to the guests, “Please don’t mind that girl. She’s a little weird recently.”
Minami did not know much about Chiharu, although she was her cousin-in-law. The last time she saw her was a long time ago.
However, Minami knew that Chiharu has lived quite a difficult life. She lost her parents when she was young, went in an orphan shelter where the nurturer were very strict for two years, and was finally adopted by Aunt Hiroko.
After that, everyone left the room. Hideki somehow managed to get away from Naoko, and went to talk to Uncle Sho and Mr. Ono. Ayaka went on a walk with Yukiko. Aunt Hiroko went shopping.
“Do you want to go for a walk too, Minami?” Ayaka yelled from the front door.
“No thanks!” Minami shouted back.
The Matsumoto’s house was so large that if Ayaka wanted to say something to Minami, who was in the livingroom, she needed to shout with a large voice.
Minami felt curious about what her aunt said before. ‘She’s a little weird recently...’ How was Chiharu weird? As Chiharu’s cousin-in-law and a girl detective, Minami felt she needed to know more about Chiharu. To put it in a cool way, she wanted to solve the mystery hidden in Chiharu’s eyes.
Minami was walking down the wide hall on the second floor. ‘Chiharu’s room is...’ Then she found a room with the name Chiharu on the door. From inside, the soft sound of music leaked out. “Is it a music box?” Minami thought.
Knock-knock!
Minami knocked on the door. Then, Chiharu suddenly came out with an angry expression and shouted, “Can’t you see that I want to be alone- Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Hoshino, I thought you were a different person.”
‘It seems like Aunt Hiroko came here several times, though it seems that it only makes Chiharu angrier.’ Minami thought.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to be so polite. After all, we are cousins-in-law. And please call me Minami, not Ms. Hoshino.” Minami said.
“Really.”
Chiharu went back to her desk and turned the music box off. As soon as the music stopped, the room became quiet and Minami felt uneasy to be there.
There was a bunny in a cage next to Chiharu’s desk. The bunny moved about in the cage.
“Your bunny is cute. What’s her name?” Minami asked.
“Bunny.”
“Huh? So what’s the bunny’s-”
“Her name is bunny.” Chiharu said coldly.
“Oh really.”
After that, there was an uncomfortable silence. Chiharu was very quiet, so it was difficult to make a conversation with her.
“So, do you have any hobby or interest?” Minami asked after a while.
“No.”
“Is there any sport that you like?” Minami was not willing to give up.
“Nothing.”
“How about famous people?”
“Nobody.”
“Oh...Really...”
Silence again. Then Minami spotted a picture on Chiharu’s desk. In the picture, there was a beautiful woman and a kind-looking man, holding hands.
“Wow, this woman is so beautiful!“ Minami exclaimed.
Chiharu suddenly turned the picture down. She looked at Minami with an angry face. “Don’t look at my belongings!”
“Oh, I’m sorry...” Minami’s voice trembled. She was surprised that Chiharu, who was usually so quiet, used such harsh tone.
Then there was the sound of the front door opening.
“Oh, Ayaka seems to be back. I’ll be going. Do you want to come too?”
“No thank you.”
“Okay, then...” Minami half ran away from Chiharu’s room.
