After they locked the bookstore door, the latch clicked like a pebble dropping into a quiet pond, and the girls set out with straps snug.
Yue Liuyi pushed a white suitcase carrying LittleSnow, its shell like a tiny snowdrift rolling under pale sun.
Little Rose lay on a pad slung under a magic broom, the rig like a hot-air balloon, a little cloud tethered to wood.
Kaka padded beside them, tail a banner, paws sweeping leaves and stones off the path like a brisk house-sprite.
“LittleSnow, where are we going…?”
Though LittleSnow had said they’d pull a big radish today, Yue Liuyi’s heart fluttered, because she had no idea where radishes hid, like buried lanterns.
“Mm…” Dixue scanned the street, her gaze skimming like a dragonfly over water, as if catching a scent.
The once-abandoned road now wore a full green coat; ivy ran like rivers over red-brown bricks, stitching shade into patches.
“Little Yue, do you know where in the Winterwood District there’s a kindergarten or an elementary school?”
“Kindergarten or elementary…? Hmm… I don’t think any still operate.”
“Ones that used to operate will do.”
“In that case, there’s a kindergarten nearby.”
“Then let’s hurry there.”
For people’s lives, nature growing on its own cuts both ways.
The good: the world turns beautiful, and moods unwind like silk in warm wind.
The bad: the ground turns rough and uneven, and each step stumbles like hiking a root-tangle.
After they crossed a road veined with roots, the girls stepped into a quiet side street, breath held like walking into a hush.
Nearby residents had moved away; apartment windows shattered like thin ice, leaving no trace of hearth or habit.
Shops along the curb were shut; their old rolling doors, beaten by wind and rain, wore rust like brown scabs.
“This should be the kindergarten, right?”
Though she hadn’t gone here as a child, Yue Liuyi had heard of it while running the bookstore, the stories like dust motes in sun.
“Little hands up, up…”
“Up!”
“Little feet up, up…”
“Up!”
“Chin up, chest proud, eyes front!”
“Eyes front!”
Like that, mornings often rang with teacher voices, bright as bells, leading children through exercises.
Toward dusk, many parents pedaled in on bicycles, wheels glinting like fireflies, to carry their kids home.
But all that is past now, a chapter shut like a book under dust.
Maybe due to a gas leak, maybe to a failing economy, the once lively kindergarten had closed for a while, silence like boarded windows.
Under acid rain, its sign had blurred, letters melting like sugar in stormwater.
The slide’s stairs were broken, missing several rungs, like teeth knocked out.
A plastic duck lay there, air gone, lonely as a fallen kite on wet ground.
Painted tires still held children’s doodles, rings of color like rainbows caught in rubber; but no little ones ran here now.
A cool wind slipped through treetops; the air was hush, a lake with no ripple.
“Whoa… not a soul. Feels like a horror game scene!”
Little Rose, afloat on the pad, guided the magic broom in midair; from above she saw the whole yard, and no shadows moved.
“LittleSnow, what are we doing here?”
Yue Liuyi stepped up, doubt rising like mist, as she asked; the place looked only abandoned, nothing special.
“Mm… No one’s watching, right? Then we enter by the main gate and look for the radish!”
“Fi—find the radish…!?”
“Mm. Kaka, Little Yue! We’re going to the kindergarten to pull up the big radish that’s ripe.”
“Woof! Kaka understands!”
“Wait—why do we need a radish! Radishes are hard to pull… and also…”
Hearing that, Yue Liuyi’s nerves fluttered like a spooked sparrow, and she tried to stop LittleSnow.
Truth is, Yue didn’t like radishes much; though cheap, she preferred cabbage at the same price, leaves like green sails.
Even as a World Tree Maiden, Yue Liuyi could be picky, roots and greens ranked in her heart like seasons.
“It’s not for eating…” Dixue shook her head, then pointed: “There! I can feel a little spirit about to be born, inside a big radish.”
“A little spirit… inside a radish…?”
“Little Yue has seen them, right? Back in Rainbow Valley, the little spirits made you a new dress and gifted many magic stones.”
“Eh? The little rabbit-like spirits? They really grow out of radishes?”
“Mm! With enough life-force, little spirits are nurtured in radish-like greenhouses, warm as spring burrows.”
“Woof! Kaka has found a radish. What do we do next?”
Kaka had found a big one; its long wavy green leaves rose bright in the weeds, like flags in grass.
“Then I’ll count one, two, three! We just pull the radish out!”
A picture of the kindergarten.
