Tukap

Ueinkara

I didn't have the best relationship with my mother, and my mother didn't have the best relationship with the world. She was a single Ainu mother living in Roppongi, the red light district of Tokyo. On top of having me a half Russian and half Ainu daughter who stuck out like a sore thumb, she had also chosen an odd line of work; Fortune telling and other 'services' we did not discuss openly unless money was involved. We had moved away from her family in the Lake Akan area who had so vehemently disapproved of her relationship with my estranged father that it eventually drove him back over the border, she in turn ran away in a fit of rage vowing never to come back. She had explained that they didn't know about me, that she hadn't figured out she was pregnant until she arrived in Tokyo from Hokkaido. Though she did teach me the Ainu language and customs, as well as some Russian which I always assumed was just in case my father returned. She took opportunities to take me into the wilderness and teach me skills she had learned as a child about survival, from hunting to fishing she imparted as much knowledge as she could. As I got older our relationship became strained, she became more bitter and began to drink more frequently and heavily. I had to become the parent and make sure she came home at night, I could usually find her hanging off one of the male occupants of the bar we lived above. "Opereee!" She would slur when she saw me, I knew she had been drinking on an empty stomach as there was no food in the house. "Come home, Mom, it's late." And she would, but one day she wasn't there.

'Eviction' was posted across the door, but she must have seen it because it was only my things that lay outside the door. I had already had a terrible day at school and just wanted to lay down, I had gotten jumped by a girl who thought I was looking at her boyfriend in my gym class. I had the upper hand in the fight until the rest of her friends came and joined in, when a teacher came to break it up they blamed it solely on me and I was awarded with a suspension.  I noticed the note sticking out of the suitcase that held everything I owned, I sighed and sunk to the floor when I read the contents. 'I'm sorry, I can't do it anymore.' When the landlord stormed up the steps thinking it was my mother trying to get in he saw me instead, I could see his eyes soften at my form huddled in front of the door. They were nice people and gave my mother more than enough time to pay, his wife informed me that for three months my mother had neglected to even give a portion of the rent. "Do you have any family that could take you in? We can't rent to you since your not twenty yet." They asked as they fed me a meal of  beef curry over rice, I paused from inhaling the food to hand them the note that she had left that also had a number with a name scribbled on it, 'Wilk'. After the necessary parties had been contacted while I happily polished off two slices of castella cake, I was informed the man who they had spoken with understood the situation and would be here tomorrow with his own daughter to retrieve me. I hadn't even processed what they were saying, I had not had very much to eat in the past week and was more focused on devouring what I could. Despite the circumstances it was nice to be able to sit in a living room and watch television even though I knew my whole life would change tomorrow, but for now I felt like a normal seventeen year old girl. 

The man who came to pick me up was far better looking than what I expected, I didn't even find the large scar on his face off putting if anything it made him more attractive. "Well you must be Opere, you look just like your mom." He said with a warm smile, I felt my face grow hot when he pushed a lock of my hair away from my face while commenting on the flaxen color. My attention diverted to the small girl of about 11 or 12 who had appeared from behind her father, she stared up at me blankly with bright blue eyes. "Do you like Doraemon?" She asked excitedly when we got on the road, she seemed to deflate when I gave her a questioning gaze. "Is that on television? We didn't have one." I asked curiously, I had been able to read manga once in a while but I didn't ever get to see the shows the other students discussed watching. "Well we have two! You have a lot to catch up on!" She announced as if it were a dire situation, I could hear Wilk give out a chuckle in the driver's seat next to me as his daughter prattled on about everything we would do together. "She's very excited to have you here, she's an only child and desperately wanted a sibling." I smiled softly and nodded understandingly in response, discreetly I tugged at the corners of the lime green tartan mini skirt I had chosen to wear along with a Seo Taiji shirt that was cropped just above my pierced navel. I had tossed out my school uniform before we left, I knew I wouldn't be back in time to graduate at this point so there was no reason to keep it any longer. As for what clothes I did have my mom and I were the same size for the most part, I was far more curvaceous than most other girls in my school so I wore all the things she grew tired of. My mother had an eccentric style which was heavily influenced by the punk/grunge/goth scene, it was also what was available in the thrift shops in Roppongi whose racks were lined with fishnets, studs, and everything else she sought.