Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe Read Free Book Online Page A

in the end they never found a way out, and now they were opening the door and going inside. Kuniko was busily explaining things to Akira, asking his advice, asking about work. It had been a long time since the three of them ate dinner together. His mother seemed very happy, and her happiness was infectious. Wataru hadn’t eaten a dinner that tasted so good in years.
     
    Wataru stood to bring his plate and cup to the kitchen when the phone rang. He quickly went to pick up the receiver.
    Silence.
    “Not again,” Kuniko said, her chopsticks frozen in midair.
    “Yup,” Wataru confirmed, hanging up the phone.
    “We’ve been getting those a lot lately, those silent calls.” Kuniko furrowed her brow. “I don’t like it.”
    Akira glanced at the phone. “They usually come around this time?”
    “Usually they come during the day, in the afternoon—isn’t that right, Wataru?”
    “Yeah. We had two in a row the other day.”
    “Do you answer the phone usually, Wataru?”
    “No, yesterday was the first time.”
    Akira put his cup down and stared at the phone. “Maybe you should put it on the answering machine?”
    Kuniko laughed. “It’s okay, it’s not like it’s a crank call, or some pervert. And if it was your mother calling and we let her talk to the answering machine, there’d be hell to pay.”
    Akira smiled, knowing she was right. Wataru got an ice cream from the freezer, and a spoon from the drying rack, and was about to sit down when the phone rang again.
    “I’ll get it!” he shouted, flying to answer it. He was going to give the caller a piece of his mind, like he had yesterday. But when he picked up the receiver with a loud “Hello?!” there was an answer.
    It was a friendly, hefty voice. “Eh? Wataru? That’s quite a way to answer the phone!”
    There was no mistaking the voice of Uncle Satoru. Wataru’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh, it’s you, Uncle Lou.”
    “You sound disappointed! How you been, kid?”
    “Fine.”
    “You’re still going to school, right? You’re not playing hooky like those bad kids?”
    “No, Not me.”
    “You’re not getting bullied? They taking any money from you?”
    “Not even a little,” Wataru said, laughing. “You’ve been watching those dumb news programs again.”
    “Well, from what I hear, schools these days are worse than medieval dungeons!”
    “I don’t know what that means, but I guarantee you it’s not all that bad,”
    Wataru said, smiling despite himself.
    “Well, if you say so. I suppose I shouldn’t believe everything I see on television. So, got a girlfriend yet?”
    Wataru jerked upright. “Who, me?”
    “It’s about time. You’re in fifth grade, right? You’re ripe for finding your first true love! Isn’t there any girl around that makes you go all a-tingle up your spine?”
    Uncle Satoru always joked around on the phone like this. Wataru was used to the teasing. He usually laughed it off, but the girlfriend comment threw him for a loop. Wataru felt the heat creeping into his cheeks. When his uncle had said “any girl,” for the briefest of moments, the image of Kaori Daimatsu flashed through his mind. Those white cheeks. Those big, sad eyes.
    “O-of course not,” Wataru said quickly, turning his back to his parents at the table. “There isn’t a single cute girl in my class.”
    “Hmph, now there’s a tragedy.” Uncle Satoru hadn’t seemed to notice the wavering in Wataru’s voice. “So, is your mother home?”
    “She is, and dad’s home early too.”
    He heard an exclamation of surprise on the other end of the line. “Well, miracles happen every day. Get him on the phone, will you?”
    “It’s Uncle Lou,” Wataru began, but Akira was already there, reaching for the receiver.
    “Your uncle’s name is Satoru, not Lou.”
     
    Satoru Mitani was Akira’s elder brother by five years. He had dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen to take over the family business, and continued to work there to this day.