‘That is not true. Women cannot rule in Japan.’
‘The laws are going to change tomorrow,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘How do you know these things?’ Kiko asked.
‘It’s a long story, but please believe me. I’m telling you the truth.’
‘But I want to go to my grandparents. They will take care of me. I don’t want to be a princess any more,’ the child explained. ‘My father doesn’t want to see me and my aunt makes me study and hide in my room all day. She hates me. I want to be free, like Mari.’
‘Who’s Mari?’ Alice-Miranda frowned.
‘My songbird. I let her go so we could both be free.’
‘Boy, where are you?’ Obaasan’s voice echoed through the house. ‘I need some help in here. These old ladies want more tea – always more tea – we are drowning in tea.’
Alice-Miranda grabbed Kiko’s hand and pulled her into the small bedroom Kiko had been using. ‘You have to listen to me. We heard your aunt talking to those men. She is planning to have you imprisoned, or worse. She wants everyone to think that you have run away and can’t be found. Then she is going to have your father declared incapable of ruling and she will become the Empress of Japan,’ Alice-Miranda said.
‘She was always hateful,’ said Kiko sadly, ‘but I never would have imagined she was capable of this.’
There was a shuffling sound outside the bedroom. Alice-Miranda began to speak but Kiko put a finger to her mouth.
A man said ‘Hurry, Taro’ in Japanese. Kiko recognised it as Tatsu, Obaasan’s son.
‘What are we doing?’ the boy griped. The shuffling continued. It sounded as if something was being dragged along the hall.
‘Getting rid of the evidence,’ the man hissed.
‘What did they say?’ said Alice-Miranda.
Kiko translated.
‘What evidence?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘But why?’ the boy whined. ‘It’s heavy.’
‘Because of that boy your grandmother let into the house. He has reported me to the authorities, I am sure of it. They have been watching us and now we must burn the papers or we will have to pay back all the money from the old people.’
‘What old people?’ Taro said.
‘Are you that stupid, boy? The old people who live in this house and the ones who used to live here too.’
‘Have you been collecting pension money for dead people?’ Taro asked.
‘Exactly!’ The dragging noise continued.
‘But isn’t that against the law?’ Taro said.
‘It is not my fault that the law is weak, and I am smart,’ Tatsu snarled. ‘Wait until I get my hands on that boy. He will wish he never slept on our doorstep.’
The side door opened and the voices disappeared outside. Kiko translated this too. As she did, her eyes grew wide as she realised exactly what Tatsu’s piles of papers were all about. ‘He has been robbing the government. Collecting pensions from old people who lived here but who have died. I thought there was something strange about the birthdates on some of those forms. But I didn’t tell anyone.’ Kiko shook her head. ‘I have enough troubles of my own.’
Kiko slid open the screen and peered out to see Taro dragging a large sack across the alley to the dumpster. His father was already standing there with another one.
Tatsu lit a match and threw it into the bin. After a moment, there was a whump and flames erupted from the top. Tatsu heaved the first sack into the fire, and then the second.
Kiko was distracted from this strange sight by a new voice coming from the front hall. This time it was deep and raspy and Kiko knew it immediately as one of her aunt’s personal bodyguards.
‘What do you want?’ Obaasan was asking him.
‘I’m looking for a child. A runaway.’
‘What are you doing? Take off your shoes!’ Obaasan demanded.
‘Where are you hiding her – I mean, him?’ The man’s footsteps echoed on the timber floor.
‘I don’t need this. I am a busy woman. I have people to care for and Itoshii Squirrel to design. And I am tiiiiired. Yoshi, you come here now,’ she yelled. Then she muttered under her breath, ‘Looks like I am about to lose my best helper and I’ve only had him for a few days. What are you doing? He is not in the kitchen. Come back here!’
‘Who’s that?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘It is Yuki. He works for Aunt Hatsuko,’ the child explained.
Alice-Miranda glanced out the back door into the alley. The fire in the dumpster was raging and Taro and his father were busy watching it.
‘If we can get across to the inn, I’m sure we can hide there until the police come,’ Alice-Miranda suggested.
‘But my father doesn’t want me. I have nothing to go back to.’ Fat tears welled in Kiko’s eyes.
‘You’re wrong about that. Your father loves you very much.’ Alice-Miranda reached out and took the child’s hands in hers.
Kiko wondered if that could be true. But there was something about this little girl that made Kiko want to believe it more than ever.
Outside, Jacinta and Millie had done their best to distract the two men in black who had come from the palace. Millie had intercepted them at the front door and asked a barrage of questions in her now perfect Japanese. At first the men seemed charmed by the child but a sharp buzzing in the taller man’s ear refocused him on the task at hand. He told the other man to go around to the side door and make sure that Kiko didn’t escape. The taller man had rung the doorbell until the old woman opened the door and he was able to force his way inside.
Alice-Miranda held Kiko’s hand and together the girls made a dash for the back door but Alice-Miranda stopped when she heard Millie’s voice outside. She was speaking Japanese very loudly.
‘That’s my friend Millie out there,’ Alice-Miranda whispered. ‘What did she say?’
‘She said that she had seen the boy who lives here run away down the alley earlier in the evening before you left to go to the palace.’
‘We can’t go that way. The other one of your aunt’s men must be out there with her,’ said Alice-Miranda. She grabbed Kiko’s hand and they headed back along the hallway. Alice-Miranda peeked around the corner to check if it was safe to make a dash past the entrance hall. She was surprised to see Obaasan standing outside the kitchen door.
Obaasan turned around and saw the two girls.
Alice-Miranda raised her finger to her lips and shook her head.
Obaasan snorted but said nothing. Normally she would have handed the child over. But something wasn’t right. She might not be able to see too well, but she knew trouble. And this tall man in her house had no respect. He didn’t even remove his shoes and now he was in her kitchen making a mess.
The girls sped down the back hallway towards the stairs. ‘Is there another way out?’ Alice-Miranda whispered.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Is there somewhere we can hide?’
Kiko nodded. She grabbed Alice-Miranda’s hand and ran up the stairs to the room at the end of the corridor. She tapped lightly on the door and poked her head around the corner.
‘Hai?’ Ojiisan looked at Kiko and beckoned for her to come in.
Alice-Miranda followed the older girl into the room. ‘Arigatou, Ojiisan. Please, may we stay here for a little while?’
The old man nodded. ‘What is going on down there? Obaasan is screeching even more than usual.’
Downstairs, Yuki was striding through the house, turning the place upside down.
‘Stop touching my things,’ the old woman yelled. ‘Look! The boy you are searching for has made a run for it.’ She pointed towards the side door, which was slightly ajar.
Yuki rushed out the door into the alley, almost bumping into Yamato, who was scratching his head with a bewildered look on his face.
‘Where did she go?’ Yuki demanded.
Yamato pointed to Millie, who was standing with Jacinta. ‘That girl said that she saw the boy leaving th
e house with a backpack hours ago.’
‘But the old woman said that she had just run away,’ Yuki explained. ‘Someone is lying.’
Jacinta pulled on Millie’s kimono sleeve. ‘Let’s go and find Alice-Miranda.’
Millie shook her head. ‘No. If we go inside they’ll know that the princess is still there. We should wait until they leave.’
‘Girls,’ Mrs Oliver called as she caught sight of Millie and Jacinta. She’d been inside the limousine waiting for her tablet to take effect. Fortunately it had worked very quickly and she’d been able to explain to the driver exactly what was going on. The man had been visibly shocked and passed the telephone to Mrs Oliver, who had explained everything to Kenzo. At the moment she was having no trouble switching between English and Japanese.
Yuki and Yamato spun around as Mrs Oliver walked towards them.
‘Your game is up,’ she said calmly in Japanese. ‘The authorities will be here any minute.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Yuki looked at Yamato and gulped. ‘You’re just a silly old woman.’
A sharp noise exploded in his eardrum. It was Hatsuko telling him much the same thing.
‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ Mrs Oliver could hear the woman’s screeching through the earpiece. ‘If I were you I’d get out of here quick smart.’
Millie nodded. ‘Kidnapping a princess must be one of the worst crimes you can commit. I’ve heard that Japanese prisons are harsh places,’ she said in Japanese.
‘What are you two talking about?’ Jacinta whined. ‘I don’t understand.’
Over by the dumpster, Tatsu and Taro were hiding as best they could and trying to work out exactly what was going on.
‘Are those the men from the government?’ Taro whispered to his father.
Tatsu shrugged. ‘I’m not sure.’
‘It sounds like they want Yoshi,’ Taro said. ‘Maybe you burned all the papers for no reason.’
His father clipped him over the ear. He had been thinking that too.
There was another hissing sound in Yuki’s ear. The two men looked at each other. ‘Let’s go!’ Yuki shouted.
He and Yamato ran towards their car and leapt in. The wheels spun as Yuki attempted to reverse down the narrow road. But his efforts were in vain as several cars sped towards him, blocking the car in. Yuki switched gears and drove forward, but between the limousine from the palace and another car which had entered the road from the other direction there was no escape.
Back inside the house, the doorbell rang again.
‘What now?’ Obaasan called. ‘What is going on around here?’ The old woman shuffled along the back hall towards the front entrance. She opened the door and squinted.
‘I beg your pardon, Obaasan.’ A man dressed in a dinner suit bowed deeply. ‘Please may I come in?’
The old woman wrinkled her nose and stared. She pulled her thick glasses from her apron pocket and put them on.
‘Please let me introduce myself,’ the man said.
Obaasan leaned forward. She looked up and tried her best to focus. ‘Oh! It is not possible!’ she gasped. ‘What are you doing here?’
The two girls huddled down beside Ojiisan’s chair as far from the door as they could go.
‘Please believe me,’ Alice-Miranda said, as she looked into the princess’s dark brown eyes. ‘Your father does care for you. He came to dinner with us tonight. We didn’t expect to see him at all but he looked so well and he talked about you and he wanted you to be with us.’
Ojiisan stared out the window into the street below. He had watched as two men in black suits argued in the alley. There was a fire raging in the dumpster bin too. But he was listening to the children next to him.
Kiko sniffed and said, ‘It’s my fault that my father’s sick. He cannot stand to look at me. I remind him too much of my mother.’
Ojiisan picked up the leather-bound album and sat it on his knee. He opened it to the first page. Alice-Miranda glanced at it. She breathed in sharply and stared up at the old man. A knowing look settled on his face but he didn’t say a word.
‘How were you going to survive with no money and no one to care for you?’ Alice-Miranda asked Kiko. ‘Tokyo is a huge place and you’re just a little girl.’
‘I have my mother’s diary. In it is an address for my grandparents. I thought if I could just find them, they would look after me. But I got lost and I ended up here. Obaasan is prickly but she is not unkind.’
‘I thought the royal family all lived together at the palace,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Why weren’t your grandparents there?’
‘My mother was a commoner. When my father fell in love with her it caused many problems with his parents. They did not want him to marry outside of the royal circles and so my mother’s parents were not invited to live at the palace. I asked Aunt Hatsuko and she said that my father would have nothing to do with them. But then I found my mother’s diary and inside was their address. I wanted to find them. My mother wrote such beautiful words about her parents and I remember them just a little – I was only four when my mother was killed but I know she took me to see them once in their little house.’
Alice-Miranda looked over at the man. He’d closed his eyes and was clenching his hands. She reached up and took the album from Ojiisans’s knee and passed it to the older girl. ‘I think you have found your grandfather, Princess Kiko.’
Kiko stared at the first picture. ‘That is my mother and my grandfather on my mother’s wedding day.’ She looked back at Alice-Miranda. ‘How . . .?’
Ojiisan opened his eyes and brushed the moisture from his face. ‘Kiko?’ He bowed a little in his seat. ‘I am right here.’
Kiko stood up. ‘Ojiisan, is it really you?’ She studied the man’s face, then looked at the photograph.
‘Hai, it is me. I am a very old man now but that is me in the photograph. I should have known when I saw those hands of yours. But you always hid your face.’
Kiko took off her cap and looked at the man.
‘You have your mother’s eyes.’
The child reached forward and embraced him. He kissed her forehead and held her as tightly as he could.
Alice-Miranda smiled and swept a tear from her own eye.
Outside in the hallway there were voices.
Kiko stepped back. ‘Please, Ojiisan, don’t let Aunt Hatsuko’s men take me away.’
The door opened and Kiko looked up. She felt as if the breath had been sucked from her body.
‘Kiko.’
‘Father,’ she whispered.
‘You are safe now. I know all about my sister’s plans. She cannot hurt you any more.’ The Emperor rushed over and scooped her into his arms. ‘I am so sorry – please forgive me. I have been a terrible father. My heart has been so heavy with guilt. It was my fault that your mother died. I was careless and I almost killed you too.’ He reached out to touch the scar on her face.
‘But Father, I am alive. I need you. I’ve needed you for so many years.’ Tears began to fall down Kiko’s cheeks.
‘And I realise now how much I need you too, my daughter. Please forgive me.’ He pressed his lips against her forehead.
Obaasan shuffled to the door and watched as best she could the scene playing out in front of her.
Millie, Jacinta and Mrs Oliver had let themselves in the side door and made their way upstairs. They were standing behind Obaasan and peering into the room too.
The Emperor put his daughter back down and looked at the old man. ‘My goodness, is it really you? Father-in-law?’
The old man nodded slowly.
‘But how? Oh, I remember . . . I was very sick. Hatsuko was being so kind and helping look after my affairs. Or so I thought until tonight. She came to tell me that you and your wife had died. It was another sadness I could not bear,’ the Emperor explained.
‘It is true my beloved wife has passed away. After that, some officials from the palace came to my home and insisted that it had been arrange
d for me to live here. I am too old to manage on my own. It was a kind gesture to look after me but I was always sad that my letters to you and Kiko were returned,’ the old man explained.
Kiko and her father shook their heads. There had never been any letters.
Obaasan wrinkled her nose and peered into the room. ‘Do you mean to tell me that my good boy Yoshi is a princess and this Ojiisan is the princess’s grandfather?’
Alice-Miranda nodded.
‘Hai,’ the Emperor said.
‘And the Emperor of Japan is in my house. What is going on around here? I am just an old woman with a crazy flying squirrel and lots of really old people to look after.’
The two girls smiled at each other.
‘I think we should be getting home,’ the Emperor said.
Ojiisan nodded. ‘Perhaps you will come and see me sometime, my granddaughter.’
‘No,’ said the Emperor. He shook his head emphatically.
Kiko’s eyes welled with tears. ‘But Father, please.’
‘You will not have to come and visit Ojiisan, Kiko, because Ojiisan is coming to live with us where he should always have been.’
Alice-Miranda clapped her hands with delight. ‘That’s wonderful news.’
Kiko embraced her father then her grandfather.
‘And if it weren’t for you, I don’t know where I might have ended up.’ Kiko smiled at Alice-Miranda and hugged her too. The child caught sight of Mrs Oliver, Millie and Jacinta in the hallway.
‘You can thank Mrs Oliver, really. It was her new invention that saved the day.’
Kiko frowned. ‘Invention?’
Alice-Miranda opened her mouth, then closed it again for a moment. ‘Never mind. I’m just glad that we found you.’ She reached up and undid the clasp on her locket. She pulled it out from under the collar of her kimono. ‘I think this belongs to you.’
Kiko shook her head and closed Alice-Miranda’s palm around the locket. ‘No. It is yours. You have given me something much more precious than that.’ She smiled at her father and grandfather. Alice-Miranda reached out and the two children embraced again.
Alice-Miranda in Japan 9 Page 18
