Bringing Yuuko Back

chapter 1

I shut down the laptop as I finished watching the very last episode of xxxHOLiC. Like everyone else after finishing their favourite show, I didn’t know what to do with my life anymore. But I felt lost for a different reason this time. I know, and everyone else who watched it until the end also knows, that this is no ordinary story. In fact, this is not something you call a “story”. It is a way of life. I went to my balcony and lit a cigarette, just to see the smokes cast their own pattern like Yuuko’s kiseru pipe often does. It did not form a butterfly. It’s a very hopeless thing to do to sit in a mansion in Toronto and wait for Japanese philosophers to cross your path. But my life has already changed. I just have to believe in their existence somewhere in a different space and time.

Within two minutes, Agnes came into the balcony and snatched away my cigarette.

“I told you not to smoke. You’re too young to die.”

“Funny coming from you.”

“How?”

“Well, you know, regular intake of wine can lead to kidney failure. And, regular smoking can lead to lungs failure. I don’t see how you’re better than me at it.”

“I don’t drink heavily.”

“I don’t smoke as much either.”

After a minute of silence she said, “Dinner is ready. Looks like they’ve given us a night free again.”