The Butterfly That We Chased

It was always there — still and unmoving — almost as if it was dead.

Himari Higuchi would always watch it with the utmost focus, sweat buds crinkling down from her temples, her earthly eyes always narrowed, her thin eyebrows always frowned hard — conveying the message that this was her umpteenth time of trying to catch it and her hands brought forward.

That's it, I'm close. I can do it. Just a little bit more and—

"Himari!" Her hands shrieked in the air due to the sudden loud voice, giving her prey the idea of escaping the situation as it fluttered its intricate wings and soared away from the flower it was resting on.

"Mom!" Himari whined, stomping her foot on the ground as she watched the butterfly with defeat. She admired the butterfly that was flapping its wings against the air, the violet wings and the pattern in it almost changing their hue due to the strong sun rays. She watched as the butterfly increased its speed slowly and just like that, it made its way to the forest a few yards away from where Himari was.

"I told you to not stay outside for that long in this heat. It's been hours," her mother, a woman in her early thirties, sighed, standing in the porch and giving her twelve-year-old daughter a look — a look that Himari was always afraid of, but this time, she was exasperated and slightly annoyed by her mother's interference. "You'll fall sick!"

Her mother's eyes landed where her daughter's focus was on and sighed again. "You're still after that butterfly, aren't you?"

"It's trying to tell me something! I just know it!" Himari defended herself, now turning around and glaring at her mother with a pout. "It's been here since we came here, you saw it, too!"

"And what exactly is this butterfly trying to tell you?" Her mother asked, teasing, a small smile playing in her plum lips — the ones that Himari also inherited from her as she waited for an answer.

Himari's cheeks turned red. "I don't know," she rolled her eyes. "Something mysterious for sure."

"And if you catch it, it's going to tell you?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe?"

"Sobo's been telling you quite a lot of fairy tales, hasn't she?" Her mother smiled gently.

"They're better than my textbooks," Himari said, rolling her eyes. "At least they don't make wanna bang my head on the wall."

Her mother laughed lightly, her voice melting with the buzzing sound of cicadas blanketing their atmosphere. "I used to say the same thing to your sobo when I was like you," she sighed, looking around the place where she once grew up -- the minka house where she spent her childhood in was still standing with its bamboos and straws intact, the small pond resting in front of their home glistening because of the sun's kisses, the shrubs and bushes surrounding their home full of radiant blossoms and just a little far away, was a small forest where she would run to whenever she had a heartbreak, or a bad day, in general.

"Lunch is ready. Sobo made your favorite," her mother said, before turning on her heels. "You can keep chasing your butterfly and I can—"

"I'm coming!" Himari immediately said, rushing up to the stairs, making a mental note to look for the butterfly later. For now, I'll just enjoy my sukiyaki.

***

Jun Hideyoshi wasn't the type to observe insects.

He was rather the type to study them in books while also learning about them.

It was killing two birds with one stone for him.