Fires And Family | Paradox Live

Hokusai - 2

Hokusai, it turned out, was just a year older than Himari. He seemed incredibly shy and barely said anything directly to her until he suddenly asked if she would like to help him on the tiger. Himari said alright, but that she didn't really know anything about how to work with spray paints. Hokusai just smiled and held out the can of yellow paint he had retrieved from his bag.

When Himari took the can, Hokusai pointed to a spot on the wall and said, "Go for it. Just keep your hand steady."

Himari did as instructed, staying stock still as the can spewed onto the red wall, leaving behind a spot of bright yellow. Hokusai, who had been behind her prepping a can of black paint, stepped up and pulled her arm back a bit, saying, "Need a larger circle. This far should do it."

He held her arm in place for a few seconds more then told her she could stop. Next, he used the black paint to trace a circle around the yellow spot, added a few final details and said, "Just needs white."

Himari stepped back a little and observed how the tiger's eye was beginning to take shape, all starting from that simple yellow dot she had made. It felt nice to have contributed even if it was the bare minimum. Himari couldn't help the smile that came to her lips, and this, it seemed, was exactly what Hokusai had been waiting for. He watched her reaction carefully and nodded happily when she smiled, as if saying, 'Couldn't have done it without you.'

Himari trailed back over to where Iori and Zen sat watching them on some upturned crates, leaving Hokusai to continue his artwork. "So what's his story?" she asked once she reached them.

"From what we've been able to find out, he's living out here," Zen said. "We can't trace any family except for a father who's in prison. Can't really say how long he's been homeless either, except that he showed up here a couple of months ago. He managed to tag the club storeroom door, that's how he came to our attention."

"Oh, dad told me about that. So that was him..."

"He's painfully shy," Iori said. "But we found he likes cute things. So that's where you come in. We thought having a cute girl about his age might put him a bit more at ease about us."

"I don't know," Himari said as she watched Hokusai putting in black stripes on the tiger. "If you turned up to talk to me with some kid in tow I'd just assume you're weirdos that go around collecting children."

Zen laughed. Iori gave Himari a twisted grin. "Not a bad collection if we started with you, eh?"

"I'd be the star of the show, no doubt. But what do you want with him anyway?"

"We talked it over with the Boss," Zen answered. "We'll take him in and he'll stay with you at HQ until Waka completes the purchase of that house. He'll come live with us after that."

Himari nodded. She already wanted to ask Hokusai if he'd come home with her so he didn't have to live in the railway yard anymore. He seemed too soft for that. Himari was dying to know what set of circumstances had brought someone like him to this place to begin with, but she knew that would take time.

After about twenty more minutes, Hokusai seemed satisfied that the tiger was complete and began to pack away his things. Iori murmured a low 'uh oh' and motioned for Himari to follow him. Himari did so but stayed a little behind so that it wouldn't seem like they were cornering him.

"Hokusai, we actually came today because we wanted to talk to you," Iori began. "Will you come have lunch with us first?"

Hokusai shook his head without looking up from his backpack. Iori tried again, crouching down to get into Hokusai's line of sight. "Come on. Himari-chan wanted to talk to you a little longer."

Hokusai glanced up at Himari who nodded vigorously. He grabbed his bag and stood up, immediately towering over Iori and Himari. Then he turned and began to walk away.

Himari started to go after him, but Iori caught her with a hand on her shoulder, bringing her to a halt. "Let him go. We can keep trying later."
____________________

Himari asked after Hokusai everyday, receiving a report of where he'd been found and his general state from either Iori or Zen, whoever had gone to see him. He seemed to move around quite a bit so there were days when even those two hadn't been able to find him, but in general his common haunts were the rail yard, down by the river or the back alleys of the downtown area. On her days off Himari tried exploring these areas as well in the hope that she would stumble across the elusive Hokusai herself.

All of her effort turned out to be meaningless when early one morning as she walked to school, she spotted a too tall figure in a damaged windcheater hunched by the neighbour's back garden wall across the street. He seemed to be conversing with the hedge. Himari called to the young man, waving hello before crossing to his side.

"I've been hoping to see you for so long! You're pretty hard to find. What's that you're doing over there?"

Himari leaned in over Hokusai's shoulder and peered through the leaves of the hedge. There, in the shadows, sat a trembling ball of fur whose only other discernible feature were two large, yellow eyes, slitted pupils wide with fear. Himari drew a surprised breath.

"Aw, little kitty..."

Hokusai shifted to a side to allow Himari to crouch down beside him and continued to try to coax the kitten out gently. Eventually when it became clear the kitten did not intend to move, Hokusai leaned forward and caught it deftly by the scruff of the neck, hoisting it into the safety of his hands.

"It's alright, little kitty," Himari cooed as the kitten began to squirm furiously. "We won't hurt you."

Hokusai smiled at Himari then quietly stood up, motioning with his head for her to follow. They walked together down to the convenience store at the end of the street where Hokusai carefully placed the hissing ball of fur into a cardboard box on the sidewalk where it was immediately greeted by another kitten.

"Ran away," Hokusai said, as if in explanation. "Didn't want him to get hurt."

"Oh you saw him run? Yeah, at this time of day there can be a lot of cars around. Better he stay in the box. Did someone leave them here?"

"The old lady," Hokusai said, pointing to the store. "Giving them away."

"Ah." Himari slowly lowered a finger into the box, staying far enough away to give the kittens some time to take in her scent. "At least they're not being left to die."

"Mm."

"How have you been?" Himari asked. It was meant to sound off hand, like she was just asking as a matter of course. Himari stole a quick glance at Hokusai who was still smiling over the kittens like a proud parent.

"Good," was Hokusai's answer. He didn't elaborate further.

"That's good to hear." There was silence for a couple minutes as Himari scratched one little kitten under the chin. "School has been fun lately. The cultural fest is in a couple of weeks, and our class is doing a play later in the day. Working on it has been fun."

"Don't you have school today?"

"Nope." Himari could feel Hokusai looking at her with absolute disbelief. Granted, her school uniform and bag were a dead give away of her lie. She stood up and went to the door of the store. Over her shoulder she asked, "Let's get something to eat."

Hokusai followed Himari into the shop but seemed to have done it only to keep her company. He shook his head with a small smile at every one of Himari's suggestions. Eventually, Himari purchased a couple of rice balls, a pack of biscuits and a couple of drinks. Dumping all this into her bag, Himari led the way back out of the store and started walking in the direction of the river.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have your paints on you?"

Hokusai nodded.

"Let's go paint something on the bridge," Himari said with a wide smile.