Chapter 5 4. My home

"Master Daofu, are you really alright?" Mr. Tomize turned his head slightly and looked into my eyes. "The teacher is going back to school now, is it okay for you?" Standing at the entrance, Mr. Tomizawa put his hands on his knees, bent down, and asked in front of me.Teacher Tomize has just been working for two years, and she is much younger than my mother. "It's okay to have a younger sister at home!" However, Mr. Tomizawa still said that he must stay with me until my mother came home before leaving.But I don't like outsiders coming to my house.Everything in this house, the living room, the kitchen, I don't want others to see.

"Mr. Daofu has a little sister, right? How old are you?" Teacher Tomize asked when he saw a pair of little pink shoes at the entrance. "This year...by July this year, he will be three years old." "That's right, I'm going to enter kindergarten next year. Is such a young sister always at home alone?" "Well, yes. Our family—" I answered while avoiding Tomizawa-sensei's sight. "That's how it is in our house, it's always been like that." I felt Tomizawa-sensei's gaze fixed on my profile all the time.I'm obviously in my own home, but I feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Children should be extra careful when they are at home by themselves. Be sure to lock the doors and windows. You know, the recent rumors, those puppies and cats—" At this time, Meixiang called me from upstairs.That voice was really like a savior, I immediately turned back upstairs, and Mr. Tomize also looked upstairs. "Upstairs is the room of Mr. Dao and the little sister, right?" Opposite the first door up the stairs is the children's bedroom that Meixiang and I share. "I, I have to take care of my sister for dinner..." "Does Mr. Tao know how to cook?"

"No, Mommy made it before she went to work. I just microwaved it..." Meixiang called me again on the second floor. "Teacher, I'm really fine, and my mother will be back soon." Tomizawa-sensei looked at me for a while with a complicated expression, then sighed. "Well, be careful. If something happens, you must contact the school immediately. Teacher Iwamura may come after a while, and the police will probably come together, and they may ask you some questions..." Next, Mr. Tomizawa seemed to be unable to find any more suitable words, and just looked at me with slightly sad eyes.

As soon as Teacher Tomize walked out of the entrance, I locked the door tightly according to her instructions.When I went up the stairs, I realized that I was still holding the things I brought to Mr. S in my hand.These things should be returned to Iwamura-sensei later. "I'm back!" Pushing open the door, there was a stuffy atmosphere.Just take a breath and feel the heat in the room.I turned the lock and opened the window.In an instant, the sound and breath outside the house mixed with a refreshing and pleasant wind.The yellow curtains were blown up. "Why do you think mother always closes the windows tightly?"

Mei Xiang who was lying on the lower bunk on the second floor said in annoyance.When the mother went out and left the child at home, the windows were always closed and locked.My mother also said to me very sternly: Even if it is hot, the windows must never be opened.So, the window I opened now has to be closed when Mom comes back.It's okay in winter, but it's really hard in summer. "It must be because it's dangerous." "Are you afraid we'll fall out of the window?" "No. It's not that we're worried about us falling from the window. If it's because of this, the windows on the first floor should be closed too. You know, there's a strange person in this area recently—the one who kills cats and dogs -"

"Oh, I know. Killed eight of them." I nodded silently and didn't tell Meixiang, but I found the ninth one just now. I hang my backpack on a hook on the side of my desk.The right side of the bookcase where the picture book is placed is empty, so I just inserted the things I brought for Mr. S there. "Brother, it's so late today." "Um. Yeah. There's—something." Should we tell the story of Mr. S?I hesitated for a while. "Who was that person just now?" "Oh, it's our school teacher. Mr. Tomizawa who teaches music." "My brother must have done something bad."

Meixiang had a mischievous tone, but it seemed that she was really worried about me.Recently, Meixiang always has that expression, almost exactly the same as her previous mother.Before Mika was born, my mother would often show that expression in front of me. Seeing Mika with that expression always makes my heart ache.Immediately afterwards, the tension and uneasiness that had been suppressed suddenly hit me.Suddenly his nose was sour, and an embarrassing emotion of wanting to beg and depend on his three-year-old sister came to his heart. "Meixiang, actually, today..." I sat cross-legged on the floor, facing Meixiang, and told her everything I saw.

"--Hey!" Mika's reaction was stronger than I expected. "Mr. S is the one whose eyes are far apart?" I was slightly taken aback: "Meixiang, have you seen him?" "He took the dog out to play, didn't we meet together before?" Speaking of which, Mr. S took Daji out for a walk that day, and met us on the road, and Meixiang was there at that time. "Why did Mr. S die?" "I don't know. But—" "But what?" Mei Xiang followed closely and asked.Meixiang's speaking speed is actually faster than the students in our class.If things go on like this, what will Meixiang look like when she is nine or ten years old?Maybe by then my brain won't be able to keep up with her.

"But, anyway, I can imagine it." I told Meixiang about Mr. S not getting along well with his classmates at school.After listening to my words, Meixiang was silent for a while, and then asked me: "Brother, have you ever done something like that?" "Something like that?" "Bully Mr. S..." I was at a loss for words.Of course, I have never intentionally bullied Mr. S like those guys in the class—especially Ibize and Yagang.However, when Mr. S felt very lonely, I never seemed to take the initiative to talk to him, nor did I ever smile at him. "I think I get along well with Mr. S."

I avoided Mika's gaze and answered like this. "It can also be said that we have a good relationship. I don't think I have ever seen Mr. S talk to other students in the class." To my ambiguous answer, Meixiang didn't say a word.I turned my face away and remained silent. After I fell silent, memories about Mr. S gradually surfaced in my mind, which made me very uncomfortable.Did I really get along well with Mr. S?It's just that you feel that you have a good relationship compared with other people, right?What kind of expressions would the students in the class have if they knew the news of Mr. S's suicide?Usually, whenever they talk about Mr. S, they always smile coldly.Could it be that when talking about Mr. S's death, would they also have the same expression?Will he still make dirty jokes and laugh out loud?How would I feel if I saw such a scene—— "Brother, let's eat." "what?" Whenever I was upset or sad, Mika would always say something completely irrelevant like this.It seemed like this could wake me up from bad emotions, so Meixiang's seemingly insignificant words happened to be my savior. "Yeah, I'm hungry." The two of us went downstairs together and came to the dining room.There are two bowls of fried rice on the dining table, both covered with plastic wrap.There are two spoons in each bowl.One of the plastic handles is printed with a baby pattern in the shape of a musical note, called "Duo Lai Mi Baby".Mom said: "Meixiang likes Doremi baby the most!" So she always buys things with this pattern.But this is just my mother's wishful thinking. After putting the fried rice in the microwave and setting the time, I opened the window facing the yard.There was a sudden smell of weeds from the overgrown lawn.There is also a pungent rancid garbage smell mixed with it, which rushes straight into the nostrils.This is because many plastic bags of garbage are piled up outside the window. In fact, not all garbage is thrown in the yard.Yard trash is spilled from the house.In my house, from the dining room, to the kitchen, to the living room, there is trash everywhere.Because my mother never throws garbage.Every time it comes to garbage collection day, when I want to take the garbage out of the door, my mother will say angrily: Don't touch it casually!Dad sometimes wants to throw garbage, but he will also be reprimanded by his mother, so he gives up.No matter what, Dad was always quick to give up. I slipped on my slippers and went to the yard. I looked in through the translucent plastic bags that had become sticky from the rainwater, and I could see little flies buzzing there.I squatted down, and as soon as I opened the mouth of the garbage bag, there was a "ding" sound from the microwave oven behind me. "Brother, the fried rice is ready!" Meixiang called me, so I went back to the room.