-10 years ago-

This is my secret. No, it's a secret between you and me.

There is a wall in Spring Street. Everyone lives on the right side and the left side. I am on the right side. Japanese people and people called "Nikkei" live there. On the left side, people different from us live. I have never been there. That is what I heard from my mom and dad and the people in the town. However, I was told that it is a very scary and inhospitable place, so I should not go.

I like this wall because it has a lot of interesting pictures and letters. I'm only 5 years old, so I can read a little hiragana and count to 20, but the wall is just kanji and unfamiliar sounds, so I can't read it. I'd like to read it someday.

It was a cold day, and it looked like it was going to snow, and as I was looking at the wall as usual, I saw a small hole. It was the size of a hole that could fit four fingers. I looked in, and saw a girl. Without thinking, I said, "Hey." After that, I got really scared, because I remembered the voices of my fathers. As I was shivering,

"Hello."

The words I had never heard before came back to me.

"eh?"

"Hello, Konnichiwa."

"H-hello."

The girl smiled, and at that moment there was a loud popping sound.

"Ah"

The girl's hair came undone. When I asked her what was wrong, she showed me the broken rubber band. The girl was crying. She was trying to tie her hair with the broken rubber band. I wanted to help her.

"Please wait!"

"?"

I ran toward the house. I couldn't see clearly because of the white wind. I ran and ran until my throat was dry. I just wanted to be saved. I got to the house, grabbed my mother's hairpin with the white flower on it, and ran toward the wall again.

I wiped the sweat off my face and looked into the hole. There was a girl! It was a miracle! But she was still crying.

"Hey. It's me."

A girl peeked into the hole.

"L give this to you"

The flower put the rubber band through the hole. The girl looked puzzled, so I pretended to tie the hair. The girl tied the hair with the rubber band, and when it was done, she looked at me with a smile. I felt bad for my mother, but the white flower suited the girl better.

After that, I never met a girl again.

* * * * *

A meteorite is a rock that moves fast. That's what it said in an old comic book I had at home. I believed it, and kicked rocks on my way to school. The rock I kicked suddenly erupted in flames, circled the world at incredible speed, and reappeared before my eyes...

"Hey, are you even listening to me, you poor ramen shop owner!"

Suddenly, I was hit over the head with my bag, and at the same time, I heard the familiar, unpleasant voice of Ishii. The laughter of his minions piled up, piercing my ears.

"The reason you can live here is because we Japanese people go to the store and run it."

Kobayashi, with a fox-like face, put his hand on my shoulder.

"A rock is better than you. You're not causing any trouble to other people."

"..."

"Don't just ignore me!"

Takahashi, with his fox-like face, turned his face away. The sound of him chewing gum made me feel nauseous.

"You really smell like pork bones. I don't want a life where I make money from boiled pork broth."

After finishing their insults, they left laughing. I think this is close to bullying, but it's still better than that. It's nothing compared to the bullying that is written in the movies, manga, and books that are all over the world, and that you hear about on the news. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't make me emotional. I still hate what I hate, and I feel like killing them. When I feel like that, I go to that place.

This is where the wall that once divided the East and West districts once stood. Due to the population increase in the wealthy East district, there was a shortage of residential land. As a result, the wall was removed and people began buying land in the West district. Huge amounts of tax money were poured into this, and the non-Japanese people of color, whites and blacks who lived in the West district happily sold their land and left for new places. It is predicted that in another 20 years, Little Tokyo will be completely populated by Japanese and Japanese-Americans. We Japanese-Americans were allowed to live in the East district to protect our pride and status as Japanese people. In other words, we were allowed to be here because we needed someone to discriminate against. Even now, we are plagued by invisible walls.

As I was walking along the wall kicking a rock, someone asked me, "Why are you kicking a rock?" When I turned around, there was a boy about my age and a little girl.

"...make it into a meteorite."

"I don't know what you're talking about, are you interested in celestial bodies?"

"It's not like there aren't any, but..."

"So you're interested. Would you like to see a real meteorite?"

"What? Can I see it?"

"Yes! Then meet me here at 25:00 tonight. I'm Tom Brown. This is my sister Ellie."

"I'm George Tanaka."

"OK, Joe. See you later."

* * * * *

I rubbed my sleepy eyes and sneaked out of the house, heading to the meeting place. The two of them were already there.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"No, you're right on time. Just what you'd expect from a Japanese person."

"Stop it. Anyway, what about the meteorite?"

Tom points to the sky. When I look closely, I see countless shooting stars!

"Tonight is the night of the meteor shower. Meteors are kind of like relatives of meteorites. They're fast-moving rocks."

"Did you read that comic?"

"Of course! It's a masterpiece that is known worldwide. That's why I'm also interested in things related to space."

After that, we talked about various things, during which Ellie just smiled and laughed.

Will Joe take over the house?

"That's right. Eventually you'll have to take care of your mom and dad. What about Tom?"

"I have to leave home when I turn 16. I'm poor and that's how my parents lived, so I have to work. I don't like studying, so I'm lucky I don't have to go to high school, but I'm worried about Ellie after I leave home."

"why?"

"Ellie sometimes has moments of spaceiness. I think those moments are important, but there are many people in this world who detest that. Sadly, even family is no exception. That's why I've been by her side to protect her. I actually want to take Ellie and leave home, but I don't have the money. So, until the day I can save up enough money to come and pick her up, could you go and check on her as a friend?"

"It would be troublesome if you suddenly asked me to do something so important. First of all, I don't know anything about you guys, and besides..."

"You'll just have to find out from now on."

Tom smiled gently. It was a very similar smile to Ellie. The stars were beautiful and it seemed as if they were really falling. I wanted to believe in the world I saw.

* * * * *

And so Tom left town. As I went to see him off, he was filled with anxiety and hope, but his eyes caught the light.

Ellie and I often hung out at Higashi Honganji Temple. There were a lot of tourists there, so no one paid any attention to us, and outside we didn't have to worry about the smell that permeated our bodies. We didn't do anything in particular, just sat in a corner of the temple grounds, smelling the wind and enjoying the sunset. I'd only met Tom twice, and we weren't close enough to be friends, so I didn't really know why I was so concerned about Ellie. Maybe it was because she was just like me, with nowhere to go.

I pretended not to notice that day by day, the skin on Ellie's fingers was peeling and rough, and red flowers were blooming on her cheeks and feet. She was tying her long hair with a rubber band. I felt nostalgic and wondered where she was and what she was doing.

After a while, Ellie's parents started to say that she was busy, and we couldn't meet. I had a bad feeling about it. But I couldn't do anything about it. I was a kid, and all I had to do was keep my promise to Tom.

The cherry blossoms bloomed in Little Tokyo. I met Ellie on a beautiful day when the fluttering petals were showering down on her. I bought a hair tie with a white flower on it with the pocket money I earned from helping out at the store and gave it to her as a present. She looked at it curiously. I was worried that she might not like it.

"……thank you"

"you're welcome"

"Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because it looked like the stars were falling that day. That's all."

"I don't know."

"You don't need to understand, and you don't need to know what it means."

Ellie clumsily tied my hair. When she finished, she gave me a smile like a flower. This was our last memory.

Tom never came back to this town. He gained his freedom by leaving his family. I gained stability in exchange for not being able to break the chains of family, land, and work. I don't know who is happier. But even now, I just want Ellie to be happy. Because that's all I can do now.

* * * * *

A few years later, Little Tokyo becomes a town where 80% of the residents are Japanese or Japanese-American. Although there are still invisible barriers, the boom of tonkotsu ramen arrived, riding on the population increase. The family business was successful, and the profits were invested in stocks, increasing assets. With the money earned, the store was expanded. After opening 20 stores across the United States, they decided to open one store in Japan. The location was Fukuoka, the home of tonkotsu ramen.

I went to Fukuoka to inspect a new store, finished work during the day, and walked around Nakasu at night. It was already March, but the night wind was cold. Food stalls, touts, crowds of host-like men, and the flashy signs of adult entertainment stores all caught my eye. It was similar to Kabukicho in Shinjuku, which I visited on my first trip to Japan when I was 22 years old.

The night breeze smelled of cherry blossoms. A woman with brown hair and a white flower tie passed by.

"Could that be?" I thought, and turned around. The apparition dissolved into the crowd and disappeared from sight.

* * * * *

I looked up at the sky. The sky was leaden, absorbing the artificial light. I looked up for a while, as if praying, but no stars came down.

*This story was an honorable mention in the Japanese category of the Little Tokyo Historical Society 's 9th Short Story Contest.

© 2022 Miyuki Kokubu