“My brother-in-law?” I asked. As I did, I shrank back, not so much that he would have noticed. My husband’s brother? “Right, right. Your brother-in-law. That’s who I am. Nice to meet you.” All of a sudden, I could smell something like freshly mown grass — as though something inside me had cleared. The man looked up at me, showing his teeth in a smile. But I thought my husband was an only child. No one had ever said otherwise. “From the look on your face, I’m guessing no one told you about me. I suppose that’s understandable. It’s a bit of a tragic situation, really. You see this shack — this shed?” the man asked, pointing to the cream-colored structure behind him. It reminded me of the sort of temporary housing that you see in disaster zones. It was small, but had two stories. Same as Tomiko’s house, the walls were covered in clumps of dry earth — higher up, a few of them had holes in them. The building had a brown sliding door with a small keyhole to one side. “This is where I’ve lived for the last twenty years.” “Twenty years?” I asked. “I know, it’s a long time, right? Twenty years ago, you couldn’t have been more than a guppy. Anyway, I was big by then. I stopped going to school, dragged my bed into the shed, and started living on my own. My parents probably thought I was going through some kind of phase, but I was hell-bent on getting out, even when I was just a boy. But I never had the chance. You gotta have a place, right? Right around that time, we got the shed back here. A beautiful two-story shed. We’d been farming and needed more space to store some gear. Then I hijacked the shed! Under the cover of night, of course. It was a real coup, let me tell you. And that’s the way it’s been for twenty years. Haven’t put in an honest day’s work since. I’m a real good-for-nothing!” the man shouted in excitement. When he finally stopped to take a breath, he made a serious face, then whispered, “I guess that makes me what they call a hikikomori — a shut-in.”
His hair was dark, so he didn’t look much older than my husband — not that I had any clue how old he was. His thin lips were bright red. Under his open-collar shirt, I could see a tank top. They both looked pretty clean. His slacks were dark navy, or maybe black. They looked like the sort of pants middle schoolers wear with their summer uniforms. Maybe they were. The more I thought about it, his outfit really was strange. His shoes were black leather, shining like they’d just been polished. He still had his arm shoved into the wall. There didn’t seem to be anything on the other side. Then it hit me how cool the air was — nothing like the heat out front. In the shade of the house, the air was cold. Moss grew toward the bottom of the wall and on the ground below. Where there was no moss, it was black. It didn’t look muddy, but it was probably damp. The narrow walkway was dry. It looked like it forked off at some point. The ground wasn’t wet like the garden out front. Here there was balance — moist air seemed to rise up from the earth itself, cool and damp. The air had that same grassy smell, almost like fresh tatami, and maybe a little incense. Growing on the ground were clusters of dark violet with white flowers on top. “That’s bishop’s weed. Granny used to make tea with it. Mom can’t stand the smell . . . Personally, I love it, because I was always Granny’s boy. Still, Mom never drank Granny’s tea. She didn’t want me touching it either. But now look. It’s everywhere. Hey, what if you took some home and made tea? I bet it’d be really good if you dried it out . . .” “Um . . .” Images flashed in my mind, one after another. Grandma’s photograph from the altar room. Then Tomiko, Muneaki, and — for whatever reason — the Sera woman. Last of all, I saw Grandpa, smiling as always. My husband’s brother . . . My brother-in-law? How did everyone know so much about me when I knew nothing about them?
“By the way, it’s probably best if you don’t tell anyone we met. Not Mom, definitely not Muneaki. They wouldn’t be happy about it. I don’t care what they think of me, but it’d be unfortunate if they took that out on you. Of course, it’s your choice to make . . .” Tomiko’s face came back to me, clear as day. Then, breaking off from that image, my husband’s face resurfaced. There was no reason to think I knew the truth about everything. Sure, no one dragged me here against my will. I wasn’t unhappy, I wasn’t dissatisfied. I knew what I was getting into. But that doesn’t mean I knew everything. Why couldn’t I hear the cicadas back here? “Are you really Muneaki’s brother?” I asked in a voice I didn’t recognize. “Sure am. Can’t blame you for asking, but you’re just asking, right? I mean, if you didn’t believe me, if you thought I was suspicious, you would have already run off to alert the authorities. Then again, I guess it’s hard to trust your eyes on this. After all, Muneaki and I look nothing alike. I don’t really look like my mom or my dad either. I can’t imagine you’ve seen much of him anyway. He’s got to be as busy as ever. I haven’t seen his car for a little while, but he’s still kicking, isn’t he? Last I saw, he’d just traded in for a silver Mazda. It’s always Mazdas with my old man. Always has been. The last one I ever got in was his Mazda Familiar. Pretty sure they stopped making those years ago. Leaving the house around dawn, coming home late at night . . . It’s a real sickness. Even on days off, he’s always going fishing or golfing. Otherwise he can’t relax. When we were kids and we had time off from school, he’d take us somewhere to camp or have a barbecue. I guess it isn’t just looks. Even our personalities are total opposites. But don’t you think I look like Gramps? People always said so, ever since I was a baby. Granny was always saying it. Anyway, I bet I’ll go bald within ten years. Then you’ll have all the proof you’ll need.” Something about him was strange, but he seemed completely harmless. Maybe it was his smile, which really did look a lot like Grandpa’s. His long teeth grew thicker as they moved away from the gums. His broad forehead reminded me of Grandpa’s, too. Grandpa was always wearing his big straw hat, but I could tell that there was something similar about the shape of their heads.
The man who said he was my brother-in-law licked his bottom lip, then the top one, before yanking his arm out of the wall. I heard a small voice and, for a second, saw a tiny, red hand on the other side of the hole. When he saw me spring back, the man stood up and looked me in the eye. “Don’t worry, it’s just a game we like to play, me and the shrimp. Wait, no, I can’t call him that. He’ll bite my head off. He’s a proud one, my buddy next door. Anyway, it was time for us to call it quits. It’s blazing hot out. Just look . . .” He held his hands out for me to see. The one that had been in the wall was bright red, but the other was weirdly pale. I bet his body temperature runs low. It’s the same for my husband, even though he’s always complaining about the heat. Sometimes in the morning, he’s so cold I almost wonder if he’s dead. Maybe it’s something they have in common — as brothers. I tried looking for the kid on the other side of the wall, but didn’t see anyone. I didn’t know if he’d run off or was just hiding, but I could sense some kind of heat, like there was something there. The man shrugged. “Poor guy. He’s always on his own. His old lady’s no spring chicken and his dad’s always tied up at work. Kindergarten wasn’t any good for him either, so they had to pull him. Real shame. He’d honestly be better off with me looking after him.” The Seras’ house was quiet. The bright yellow objects on the lawn were a pair of children’s rubber boots. “Okay now.” The man flipped his hand over, looked at his fingernails, then brushed his fingers against the sides of his shirt.