Bright Burning

Boosh

The day was warm and sticky, cicadas played in the trees and I listened to them like music as Akira ran water over some newly harvested cabbage. I wasn't sure how she was able to squat for that long but she did so without ever looking tired, her concentration solely on cleaning the vegetable perfectly before she tore off some outside leaves. The water finally stopped as she turned the faucet and I sat up wondering if I would be able to talk as she worked. "How do you make any money off of this?"

"We don't make a lot." She answered cutting the green vegetable in half. "When my grandparents were in charge they had a lot more and made a living. Now I can only keep it afloat." She looked up at me. "When I'm out of school I want to grow it bigger again."

Nodding I got up and patted off the dirt that was on me. I walked over to the wooden containers she had shown me before. "Why do you put weight them?"

"It's alive. It expands as it ferments because of gases. If you put it in a glass jar-" she made a hand motion that resembled a mason jar. "And you close it tight, then it goes BOOSH." Her hands acted like an explosion.

I smiled at her animation. "Did your grandpa teach you that?"

"No my mom did."

"You must have been sad when she moved."

"No. My grandma was my mom, she raised me." She took the newly cut cabbage and put it in a big wooden bowl. "She died three years ago."

My heart broke for her and I expected some sort of emotion to be shown but she only gave a little sniff and kept working. I noticed Japanese culture wasn't very big on emotions and feelings, the way her and I acted was so foreign to most people who engaged in a relationship so I was hoping her talking about death would be the same. It wasn't though, she moved on to how loud the bugs in trees were. I walked over to her slowly and grabbed her arm to pull her up, as amazing as it was to be so blissful in whatever we were we needed to talk.

I held onto her hand tightly and led her through her own garden to get her away from work, I used the time to try and gather my thoughts while she hung her head probably anxious of what I had to say. "There's some things we need to talk about Akira." Stopping I held onto her other hand so she could face me, her eyes stayed down at our feet though so I took the chance to look around her grandfathers property. "I like you a lot." Waiting for her to show something I forced her to look up at me when I became impatient. "Maybe even more."

She seemed shocked at first but stayed silent as she searched my own brown eyes.

"I'm not one to do things half assed and if we are to do this we really need to talk about what we are doing."

Her face was puffier than usual, I didn't know if it wS from the heat and work or if it was from her feelings expanding inside her tiny body. I wasn't the tallest myself. I sat at a 5'7 on a good day when I held my head high and didn't let anything bother me, but her best was a small 5'3. Our body shapes were also different. I was thinner and less shaped than her hourglass figure. She was healthy and beautiful and I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"I'm scared of what people will do. There is no one else like us here." She said, her lips quivering as she crumbled my shirt up into her fist.

"No, don't be scared." I pulled her into a hug and held on tightly. "No one ever has to know our business. I'm not worried about that." I sighed and kissed her hair. "My concern is something different. I'm here on a work visa Akira."

I could feel her mind racing as her eyelashes batted against my shoulder.

"If we can keep this a secret I can stay a teacher and try to extend my visa for a few years. Then I can apply to be a permanent resident."