[Action] The unfamiliar family.
When Aunt Amaya said she was going to do something, she did it, so Naoko was listening with half an ear for the doorbell all evening. Therefore, she was (for once in the week) the first person to rise when it rang.
"Hello, Aunt Amaya."
The woman at the door smiled and gave a slight wave in greeting. "Hey, Naoko. I'd ask how you're doing, but there doesn't seem to be a point."
"I suppose not. It...isn't so bad right now. Would you like to come in?"
"It looks like there might not be room for me," Amaya joked as she slipped her shoes off to join the pile.
"Of course there is," Naoko said. "As long as you don't mind a futon downstairs, at least."
"Naoko-chan, who is it?" Uncle Yoshiro called from the living room.
Rather than answer in words, Naoko led her aunt into the room. "Hello, everyone," Amaya said, more formally than was her wont.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew awkward, as if something had happened to make everyone more tense. All Naoko's aunts and uncles looked at each other nervously. In the end, it was Aunt Mai who recovered the quickest. "Hello," she said. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Mai, Yoshiro's wife. It's a pleasure to meet you." Of course, she never had met Amaya, having only recently married, so it was easier for her to be polite. She did not remember the arguments of seven years before, the things said that could not be unsaid.
"Nakamura Amaya. Pleased to meet you."
"Please have a seat, Aunt Amaya," said Naoko, trying to defuse the situation. At the same time, her form of address placed her in opposition to the rest of her family, all of whom greeted the new arrival as "Nakamura-san". There would be trouble about this, sooner or later.
As it happened, Amaya expressed a wish to neaten herself up after the long trip, so it was sooner. Uncle Mosuyo was spokesman, as he had been all week. "How did she know?" he asked first.
"I called her this morning," said Naoko calmly. "I thought it would be appropriate to let her know about things like this. After all, many of my friends are aware."
"Well, I suppose she should have been told at some point," he admitted. "But still, why on earth should she arrive in such a sudden fashion? Sending condolences would have been more than sufficient."
"I expect she felt a death in the family warranted more action than that. She was not the only one," Naoko said gently, including with her glance all the relatives gathered in the room.
"A death in the family? She can scarcely be called a member of our family, after all this time."
Naoko gritted her teeth. She had been too young at the time of her Aunt Ayako's death to register more than a vague sense of wrongness through her own grief, but she knew or could guess by now what had been said, about Ayako's will ostensibly, but really about what it meant, the fact that the blood family felt themselves slighted in favor of a woman they didn't really consider one of them. Only she and her cousin Ichiro had kept in contact with Aunt Amaya after that.
This was the great difficulty to be got over. She could either permit her uncle to do as he deemed best and exclude her aunt from the family, or she could argue with him as she had never done before. She had not seen him for more than a few days at a time in her life. Somehow, she was no longer afraid of him. This was her house, and the choice of family members was hers by right, not his.
"I have always considered Aunt Amaya to be a member of my family. Accordingly, it is proper for her to be here."
As expected, he became very patriarchal, aided undoubtedly by the fact that his own children were not present. They had spoken to him far more disrespectfully than this, but Naoko never had. "Inviting her here with us is not proper at all. Affection is all very well and good, but you should not treat her in the same way as you treat real family."
"Then I shall have to ask Aunt Michiko and Aunt Mai to leave," Naoko said, aware as she said it that she was saying something she would never have said except now, when everything seemed less important. "It seems that I was in error when I welcomed them into my house as real family."
Everyone looked shocked, Natsuko and Suzume almost pleasantly so, as though they were watching a television show. Uncle Mosuyo was becoming angry, but before he could say anything, Aunt Michiko stepped in. "We are all tired and therefore say things we do not mean. Cannot this discussion wait until the morning?"
"Certainly, certainly," Uncle Mosuyo agreed, no doubt thinking that whatever had made Naoko so stubborn would have worn off by morning.
"If you think it wise," Naoko replied, carefully not implying that she would be any more tractable in future.
She had no intention of allowing her uncle to make all decisions for her. All week she had had to put up with him choosing things and arranging things, because she didn't know what to do and no one would listen to a girl of her age with any seriousness. This small victory, this small piece of control over her life, was one she was unwilling to cede.
Almost she wanted to ask Touya to come to the funeral, if only so that she would have all the people she considered family around her. However, he would not really want to, and she would only further alienate her blood relatives that way. They didn't know that a young man in no way related had been the first person she had called about her father's death, and Uncle Mosuyo especially would have taken it as a personal insult. Besides, they would at once assume she was in love with him, and that would never do.
Still, she rather wanted to introduce him to Aunt Amaya. That could wait until after the funeral, when the constant crowd had dispersed and she could see people she really knew again.
"Hello, Aunt Amaya."
The woman at the door smiled and gave a slight wave in greeting. "Hey, Naoko. I'd ask how you're doing, but there doesn't seem to be a point."
"I suppose not. It...isn't so bad right now. Would you like to come in?"
"It looks like there might not be room for me," Amaya joked as she slipped her shoes off to join the pile.
"Of course there is," Naoko said. "As long as you don't mind a futon downstairs, at least."
"Naoko-chan, who is it?" Uncle Yoshiro called from the living room.
Rather than answer in words, Naoko led her aunt into the room. "Hello, everyone," Amaya said, more formally than was her wont.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew awkward, as if something had happened to make everyone more tense. All Naoko's aunts and uncles looked at each other nervously. In the end, it was Aunt Mai who recovered the quickest. "Hello," she said. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Mai, Yoshiro's wife. It's a pleasure to meet you." Of course, she never had met Amaya, having only recently married, so it was easier for her to be polite. She did not remember the arguments of seven years before, the things said that could not be unsaid.
"Nakamura Amaya. Pleased to meet you."
"Please have a seat, Aunt Amaya," said Naoko, trying to defuse the situation. At the same time, her form of address placed her in opposition to the rest of her family, all of whom greeted the new arrival as "Nakamura-san". There would be trouble about this, sooner or later.
As it happened, Amaya expressed a wish to neaten herself up after the long trip, so it was sooner. Uncle Mosuyo was spokesman, as he had been all week. "How did she know?" he asked first.
"I called her this morning," said Naoko calmly. "I thought it would be appropriate to let her know about things like this. After all, many of my friends are aware."
"Well, I suppose she should have been told at some point," he admitted. "But still, why on earth should she arrive in such a sudden fashion? Sending condolences would have been more than sufficient."
"I expect she felt a death in the family warranted more action than that. She was not the only one," Naoko said gently, including with her glance all the relatives gathered in the room.
"A death in the family? She can scarcely be called a member of our family, after all this time."
Naoko gritted her teeth. She had been too young at the time of her Aunt Ayako's death to register more than a vague sense of wrongness through her own grief, but she knew or could guess by now what had been said, about Ayako's will ostensibly, but really about what it meant, the fact that the blood family felt themselves slighted in favor of a woman they didn't really consider one of them. Only she and her cousin Ichiro had kept in contact with Aunt Amaya after that.
This was the great difficulty to be got over. She could either permit her uncle to do as he deemed best and exclude her aunt from the family, or she could argue with him as she had never done before. She had not seen him for more than a few days at a time in her life. Somehow, she was no longer afraid of him. This was her house, and the choice of family members was hers by right, not his.
"I have always considered Aunt Amaya to be a member of my family. Accordingly, it is proper for her to be here."
As expected, he became very patriarchal, aided undoubtedly by the fact that his own children were not present. They had spoken to him far more disrespectfully than this, but Naoko never had. "Inviting her here with us is not proper at all. Affection is all very well and good, but you should not treat her in the same way as you treat real family."
"Then I shall have to ask Aunt Michiko and Aunt Mai to leave," Naoko said, aware as she said it that she was saying something she would never have said except now, when everything seemed less important. "It seems that I was in error when I welcomed them into my house as real family."
Everyone looked shocked, Natsuko and Suzume almost pleasantly so, as though they were watching a television show. Uncle Mosuyo was becoming angry, but before he could say anything, Aunt Michiko stepped in. "We are all tired and therefore say things we do not mean. Cannot this discussion wait until the morning?"
"Certainly, certainly," Uncle Mosuyo agreed, no doubt thinking that whatever had made Naoko so stubborn would have worn off by morning.
"If you think it wise," Naoko replied, carefully not implying that she would be any more tractable in future.
She had no intention of allowing her uncle to make all decisions for her. All week she had had to put up with him choosing things and arranging things, because she didn't know what to do and no one would listen to a girl of her age with any seriousness. This small victory, this small piece of control over her life, was one she was unwilling to cede.
Almost she wanted to ask Touya to come to the funeral, if only so that she would have all the people she considered family around her. However, he would not really want to, and she would only further alienate her blood relatives that way. They didn't know that a young man in no way related had been the first person she had called about her father's death, and Uncle Mosuyo especially would have taken it as a personal insult. Besides, they would at once assume she was in love with him, and that would never do.
Still, she rather wanted to introduce him to Aunt Amaya. That could wait until after the funeral, when the constant crowd had dispersed and she could see people she really knew again.