Yuna’s inquiry about the day they found Sana’s remains generates a phone call from her loving mother Midori. Yuna has abandoned fashion in favor of comfort and is wearing a loose green t-shirt and baggy black sweatpants with a green baseball cap that’s keeping her hair out of her face. Her phone rings and she picks up without hesitation when she sees her mother’s number. The landlord had finally been able to find the time to patch the leaks in her doorway, so now she won’t be heard by the others on her floor when she’s on the phone. She puts the call on speaker and settles in with a smile.
“Hi Mama.”
Midori’s voice makes her smile even though they’re always calling each other. “Hi Yuna. Why are you on speaker?”
“The landlord finally fixed the doorway.”
“Oh good! Is he going to look into how it happened?”
“Yes. He had to dig some of the moulding out for easier patching, but he said he’d tell me what he found once he got answers.”
“I’m happy to hear that. Did he have any theories before he left?”
“He did, actually.” Yuna sighs softly and fiddles with a loose bit of hair. “He thinks someone wants me out of the building because I’m Japanese.”
“Racism. Why does that not surprise me?”
Yuna cuddles a large stuffed cat before answering. “A lot of Americans are unbelievably close-minded about us. They refuse to see us as human beings.”
“More likely they think we’re just like the army who bombed Pearl Harbor.”
“Why are they so intent on clinging to the past, Mama?”
Midori’s voice is gentle because she heard something in Yuna’s voice. “They’d rather cling to things that have previously happened so they don’t have to face the fact that times have changed. That people have changed. They fear anything that’s different from their perceived reality, so they hide from it.”
“Fear anything that’s different from their perceived reality...” Yuna sits back and thinks about that. She finally sits forward and hums a few notes from one of her favorite songs. “Think for yourself and feel the walls turn to sand beneath your feet. They’re scared of what hasn’t even happened yet!”
“There’s my intelligent daughter! But speaking of the past...” Midori pauses for a moment.
“Go ahead, Mama.” Yuna’s clinging to the stuffed cat again.
“Your dream. It wasn’t a dream, my mint mochi. It was a memory. That was what happened that horrible day.”
Yuna can’t help smiling when Midori calls her ‘my mint mochi’. Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of mochigome, a short-grain japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the desired shape. In Japan, it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. It’s usually served as a side during lunar New Year or as a dessert if it’s filled with ice cream. “You haven’t called me ‘mint mochi’ since I came here to America, Mama... I missed hearing it.” Then she wrinkles her nose. “They don’t even make good mochi here!”
“Oh dear!”
That’s the one thing Yuna lets herself get obsessed over. She loves mochi. “I know! My security detail actually moved here to San Diego and they keep asking me if I can show them around...” She can’t help pausing to grin a little.
“They did!? That’s fantastic! And that reminds me. I spoke to the Mins again and they had the exact same response. Hoseok’s mother even told me he’d warned them something terrible might happen to him and his brother.”
“Oh Mama... I was afraid of that. Eun Seok knows who masterminded the coup attempt and he called them that day.”
“Hoseok’s father mentioned that and said Eun Seok went back to Seoul after Hon Joon’s funeral to tell the police about the conversation. I got a call from my friend in the Gangnam market district yesterday before you texted me and asked me to let you know the mastermind and his henchmen have all been arrested.”
“Oh thank Amaterasu!”
“Thank Her indeed.” Midori pauses and Yuna can hear a faint meow in the background. “Apparently Hoseok was so concerned about something happening to him and his brother he took steps to ensure nobody could ever wrest the company away from him while he was alive...”
“What did he do, Mama? And are you feeding that stray orange cat again?”
“This one is a calico bobtail. And she just walked right in when I opened the door to feed her. She needs a name.”
Yuna knows exactly what to name the cat. “Put the phone by her, Mama. I have a suggestion for a name.”
“All right... Go ahead, Yuna.”
Yuna smiles and says the name calmly and clearly. “Misaki.”
Through the phone she can hear it plain as day... MEOW! “I think she likes it! Misaki.” MEOW!
“Her name is Misaki in loving memory of my best friend.”
MEOW! Midori is laughing and Yuna can hear the newly named Misaki purring into the phone. “I think Uzume led her to me.”
“I think so too, Mama.” Yuna gets comfortable and sighs happily when she finds the sweet spot on her couch. “What did Hoseok do to protect his company?”
“He wrote in his will that if anything suspicious or untoward happened to him, his wife and his brother, the company would automatically revert to the one person he trusted above all others...”
Yuna knows what Midori is about to say. “He left it to you, didn’t he?”
Misaki the cat meows loudly and Midori can’t help laughing. “Yes. He did. All his employees became mine the second the three of them died.”
“Such sweet revenge on the one who tried to take what was not his!”
“Agreed! Now. Tell me about your security detail friends wanting to see more of San Diego.”
Yuna grins again and tucks a light blanket around her shoulders first. “Okay, so last week it was Balboa Park... That’s like one of the biggest tourist destinations in the city. I’d always wanted to go there but nobody I know wanted to go with me. So when they asked me about going, I jumped at the chance.”
“That’s wonderful!”
“It sure is, Mama... And yes, Mama, they behaved themselves.” She knows Midori is hesitant about anybody taking advantage of her in any capacity. “As a matter of fact...” She can’t stop a fusillade of giggles and has to let them run their course before she can continue. “Their presence actually made security bored because nobody wanted to start anything!”
Midori laughs too. “And they weren’t even dressed as security guards!”
“Nope!” Yuna can hear Midori moving around the kitchen as she feeds her new feline housemate and Misaki takes the opportunity to meow loudly. “Meow to you too, Misaki-kitty!”
Midori comes back to the phone and she’s still laughing. “Your dinner has been served, Miss-aki.” MEOW! “She’s a feisty one, that’s for sure! Where did you go this week?”
“They wanted to see the San Diego Zoo this week!”
“So they’re hitting all the tourist hot spots, then?”
“That’s what it looks like to me. That place is immense!” Yuna grimaces and wiggles the toes on her left foot. “I got blisters on my left foot and I was wearing my most comfortable footwear!” Yuna loves wearing sneakers or comfy ankle-high hiking boots.
“Ouch! Are they at least starting to heal?”
“Yes, thank goodness. Mrs. Garcia told me how to treat them.” She’d told Yuna to cover them with gauze or bandages rather than draining them and removing any extra skin.
“Gauze?”
“Bandages. The gauze was too slippery.”
“Hopefully they aren’t on the balls of your feet.”
“No, they’re on the backs of my ankles and the tops of my toes.” Where her shoes rubbed against her socks the most.
“Well that’s a relief. I remember when you got blisters on the walking surfaces of your feet from a pair of sandals my mother gave you.”
“She was so apologetic I thought she’d bruise her forehead from kowtowing so much!” Yuna had accepted her grandmother’s heartfelt apology because she knew it hadn’t been done on purpose. Sana had been offered the sandals and when she didn’t get blisters, she accepted them. “Sana loved them, though.”
“They were perfect for her. Do you know... I was cleaning out one of the empty rooms earlier this week and I found them.” They’d all thought the sandals were lost when they turned up missing after Sana was kidnapped.
“You did!? Oh Mama, she’s telling you it’s okay and she wants us to be happy.”
“I know she is. Misaki-kitty walked into the house two days later.”
Yuna smiles and feels the tension easing out of her body. “I wonder why I misremembered the fight I had with Misaki that day, though.”
Midori knows exactly why. “Your mind was protecting you from Misaki’s hurtful comment because your heart knew something was going to happen.” It isn’t unheard of for someone to remember something one way when it really happened another way.
“That makes a lot of sense, actually.” Something makes her set the stuffed cat aside and stand up. “Hang on, Mama, I hear something outside my apartment door.”
“Be careful!”
“I will.” Yuna approaches the door and puts her ear against it to listen. She can hear soft footsteps and speaks firmly so Midori can hear her. “Who’s there, please?”
The voice that comes from the other side makes her smile. “It’s us, Yuna.” The voice belongs to Si-Woo!
She grabs her plastic step-stool so she can look through the peephole to make sure. Sure enough, it’s them. She hops off the step-stool and puts it back in the closet before unlocking and opening the door. “What brings you three here?” She backs up to let them come in.
Si-Woo comes in last because he’s the youngest and waits for the door to be closed and locked again before he answers the question. “Eun Seok had a feeling we were needed here.”
Eun Seok looks a little embarrassed, but Yuna waves it off with a smile. “It’s always good to follow your hunches. Come in.” She turns and walks back to the couch. “Say hi to my mother.” She gestures to the phone on the coffee table.
Midori sounds curious. “Who’s there, Yuna?”
Seung Yoon answers with a smile that makes his eyes sparkle. “We’re your daughter’s security detail, ma’am.”
“Ah, I see. Which one are you? I’m afraid I’m not very good with names.”
“I’m Seung Yoon, ma’am.”
“You can call me Mrs. Sakai if you prefer.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Sakai.” Seung Yoon gestures to Eun Seok.
Eun Seok clears his throat and speaks as clearly as he can. “I’m Eun Seok, Mrs. Sakai.”
“Hello. You’re the oldest, is that right?”
“Yes it is. Seung Yoon and Si-Woo trust me that much.”
“And Yuna trusts the three of you.”
Yuna beams. “That’s right.”
Si-Woo rubs one arm nervously before speaking up. “I’m Si-Woo, Mrs. Sakai.”
“Hello, Si-Woo. There’s no need to be nervous, I heard you rubbing your arm just now.”
“It’s a habit.” He winces at the wobble in his voice.
Yuna giggles. “Go ahead and sit down, you guys.” She gets comfy on the couch and this time Eun Seok sits on the couch with her. He’s at the other end to respect her personal space. “I was just telling my mom about our trip to the San Diego Zoo a few days ago.”
“She got as far as the blisters on her feet.”
Seung Yoon grumbles soundlessly and absently rubs the top of his right foot. “She wasn’t the only one who got blisters!”
“Oh dear. Did you all get blisters or was it just Yuna and Seung Yoon?”
Eun Seok can’t help smiling as he answers the question. “Strangely enough, Si-Woo was the only one who didn’t get blisters.”
Seung Yoon can’t help his retort. “That’s because he was wearing flip-flops!”
From the phone comes a loud MEOW! Yuna can’t help laughing. “You said it, kitty!”
“Forgive me, gentlemen, that’s my new cat Misaki. Yuna named her a few minutes ago.”
“She walked into Mom’s house when Mom opened the door to feed her a few days ago.”
Seung Yoon blinks. “So she was a stray who just decided ‘Hm, this looks like a good place to call home’ and walked right in?”
“That’s exactly it. She’s a rare one even for Japan...”
Yuna takes the hint. “She’s a Japanese bobtail with a calico coat.”
Si-Woo can’t help his response. “Oh, she sounds beautiful!”
“She is. I’ll send a picture to Yuna’s phone so you can all see.”
Yuna smiles. “I’d love that!”
“Then it’s a deal. Other than the blisters, how did the Zoo trip go?”
Eun Seok makes a face. “Most of the people there were quite nice, but some were downright unpleasant.”
“Racist comments, Eun Seok?” Midori’s on the ball with putting names to voices today!
“Very racist. And that’s as far as I’d like to go with that, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay. Tell me the good stuff and the funny stuff.”
Seung Yoon chimes in with a memory that has him trying so hard not to break out in a fit of giggles. “There was a woman wearing a very large feathery hat and we were near the elephant exhibit...”
“Oh no! Did one of the elephants take her hat?”
“And put it in with the peacocks in the next exhibit over!”
Midori starts laughing. “I bet the zoo staff had quite an adventure getting it out of there intact!”
Yuna answers because Seung Yoon just tipped himself over giggling. “All the peacock feathers were gone by the time they were able to retrieve it!”
“Oh dear!”
Eun Seok is laughing as he nudges Seung Yoon with one foot after the latter rolled too close to the couch thanks to his giggle-fit. “The staff offered to pay for a new hat, but she said ‘That’s okay, I didn’t like this hat very much anyway’.” Then he laughs harder when he sees Si-Woo fall back with laughter.
Yuna chimes in with only a few giggles because someone has to be coherent for the time being. “And then there was the guy with peanuts near the ostriches...”
“He lost his peanuts, I take it?”
“And his hat! He was so surprised he couldn’t be mad!”
“That is hysterical! The animals were fascinated by hats that day!”
“They certainly were!” Yuna wipes a tear of mirth from her eye and snuggles her stuffed cat again. She can’t have a cat because she’s allergic and she doesn’t like dogs. The laughter fades and she sighs under her breath. “That was where we found that awful mochi.”
“A Zoo offering mochi that wasn’t made properly? What were they thinking?”
Eun Seok gets his laughter under control. “We’re pretty sure they weren’t thinking at all. Even people who had never eaten it before said it didn’t taste how they thought it would.”
“And how did the four of you find out it was awful?”
Yuna picks at a bit of fluff on her blanket. “Seung Yoon tried one.” She sighs again. “He spit it out into his free hand and said it was the most disgusting mochi he’d ever eaten. They wouldn’t let me try it because they didn’t want me to sully my tastebuds with something that foul.”
“And you being who you are, you tried one.”
“I took one of Eun Seok’s.” Her face twists around in a grimace of distaste. “It was so awful I almost vomited! Can you believe they were serving strawberry mochi at room temperature!?”
“Was it ice cream mochi or mochi with strawberry in it?”
“Mochi with strawberry in it.”
“I hope they gave everyone their money back for serving such a shoddy product!”
“Oh, they did... After Eun Seok threatened to sue them for substandard business practices!”
“And then you schooled them on how to properly make and serve mochi.”
“Of course I did! What they were selling was an insult to mochi makers all over the world!”
“That’s my girl!”
“Thank you, Mama.” Yuna smiles and Eun Seok lightly nudges Seung Yoon with his foot again. “Some of the older customers thanked me for standing up for the mochi lovers of the world. Mama... One of them was Mrs. Yashimoto.”
“She’s in San Diego now!? I thought she was in Osaka!”
“They moved here to San Diego because the job she got in Osaka was transferred here, so they followed it. She was so happy to see me, she forgot herself and hugged me.”
Seung Yoon finally sits up and wipes the tears of laughter off his face. “The three of us met some old family friends at the Zoo as well. It was a mini reunion.”
“That makes me happy, Seung Yoon. You all deserve to be happy more than you are sad.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Sakai.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, I have to go. Misaki is meowing at her food bowl.”
Yuna giggles. “Okay, Mama... Give her chin scritches for me and make sure you send me a picture.”
“I will. May the rest of your day be filled with sunshine and laughter. All of you.”
Si-Woo wipes his eyes with a tissue. “Thank you, Mrs. Sakai... I hope you have a wonderfully pleasant evening and that your dreams are all sweet and comforting.” Japan is sixteen hours ahead of San Diego. Technically speaking, Midori should have been in bed already.
“Thank you, Si-Woo. I’ll talk to you later, Yuna.”
Yuna smiles broadly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Bye, Mama.”
Eun Seok, Seung Yoon and Si-Woo speak at the same time. “Good-bye for now, Mrs. Sakai.”
“Thank you, gentlemen... Goodbye for now.”
Yuna hits End on her phone and sighs contently. “I’m glad you three got to talk to her. Now she knows your voices and she’ll easily remember your names.” Midori isn’t that old but she’s always had a faulty memory. “Do any of you want some water? I’m thirsty after that.”
Si-Woo stands up and stretches. “I’m good... I really needed to laugh like that.”
Eun Seok and Seung Yoon look at each other and Seung Yoon nods, deferring his answer to Eun Seok. “We’re not thirsty right now, but thank you for asking.”
Yuna stands up and starts humming as she adjusts her baseball cap. “A good hostess always checks on her guests before herself.” She goes to the kitchen for a bottle of water and pauses for a second. She hasn’t felt that touch on her soul since they laid Sana to rest seven years ago. Her eyes close and she whispers “Love you too, Sana” before taking the water out of the fridge and closing the door. She reclaims her spot on the couch and sighs contently.
Eun Seok can see something in how she’s sitting. “You were talking about something serious before we showed up.”
Yuna sighs again, but this time it’s a weary sound. “We were. She was updating me on the murders of Min Hoseok, his wife and his brother... And my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“Yes. Do you remember when I told Seung Yoon I knew what it was like to lose a sibling at a young age?”
“Yes.”
Seung Yoon scoots closer and puts one hand on Yuna’s foot near her ankle. “How old were you when you lost her?”
Yuna closes her eyes and exhales softly. “She was kidnapped when I was twelve. Her remains were found when I was seventeen.”
“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been rough not knowing what happened to her for so long.”
“It was. I’d like to talk about her before I talk about that, if that’s okay with you.”
Si-Woo sits on the floor on her other side. “We’d love to hear about your sister. You can take your time if you want, we’re not in a rush.”
Yuna smiles tremulously. “Thank you.” She takes a few deep breaths to calm down a little before she begins. “Her name was Sana, and she was the best older sister a girl like me could ever ask for.”
She’s said everything she wants to say about the upcoming Trios Tournament. To her teammates, their first round opponents and the rest of the competitors by proxy. It may not have been much, but Yuna believes in the philosophy of ‘less is more’. She’s one of those people who goes by the credo of ‘Actions speak louder than words’ and she’ll see you all for Trios. The first stop is Boise, Idaho... And if you’re across from her in the ring, wear sunscreen or you’re gonna get burned.