This story is part of the Wanderer series.
Nozomi left the kitchen, rubbing her thumbs over her dry palms as her feet noisily womped across the hardwood floor, a little crossed that her discomfort was for nothing.
At the sliding door, she noticed Yuka, sitting cross-legged outside on the walkway, facing outwards towards the forest. Nozomi stopped, paused, becoming curious. Poking her head out the frame, she watched the forest, then stared back down at Yuka. Yuka did not seem to notice she was there, the running water and clattering dishes shrouding her presence.
“Hey,” Nozomi eventually spoke. “What are you looking at?”
Yuka turned her head. Seeing Nozomi, she smiled, lifting a hand and patting the floor with the tips of her fingers. “Come here,” she invited.
Without questioning her, Nozomi shuffled a few steps out, then plopped down to a squat next to Yuka. Returning her hand to her lap, Yuka faced out towards the forest again.
“Listen.”
Nozomi straightened her shoulders, eyes flicking up as she followed instructions.
There was still the noise of water and clattering ceramic. Listening longer, she started to hear a buzz. A rising chorus of buzzing, arriving in short little hits like the chirp of a bird.
Nozomi’s eyes grew perplexed. Though they heard isolated instances of the buzzing as they journeyed here, it was the first time she heard it this loud, or gave the noise any focused regard.
“What is that loud sound?”
“It is the song of the forest,” Yuka replied. “The denizens that lived here for thousands of years, long before us.”
As Nozomi gawked, Yuka raised her chin higher.
“And… up above us…”
Nozomi raised her head, eyes searching rather than her ears.
“Hear the rustle of the leaves as they sway with the wind, humming along with its course.”
She dropped her head down, turning to Yuka. “Is something controlling them?”
Yuka’s shoulders sagged as she breathed a sigh, still smiling romantically. “Who knows? Perhaps there is someone… something… high up, orchestrating this song from above.”
The running water inside stopped. The clatter became muted.
“It is why I come out here, every summer, to connect with it once again. The town and its surrounding fields, and its smaller tree cover, are too noisy with the activity of humans to truly appreciate, this close up, the full beauty of it.”
A fresh new chorus swept up. Nozomi became silent, rocking side to side. She listened intently to this one, her eyes scanning around for the source, still looking for someone there.
“Sen never told me forests can sing.”
“Sing?”
Nozomi turned her head to see Rin, standing under the doorway, wiping a plate in her hand with a towel.
“You don’t hear that singing?”
Rin tilted her head up. “What, the cicadas?”
Nozomi straightened. “Cicadas?”
“Bugs,” she replied simply. “It’s forest bugs that make that sound.”
Nozomi turned to Yuka again. “They’re called cicadas?”
Yuka finally giggled. “Yes, that is the name we give them.”
With an exclamation of awe, Nozomi faced the forest one more time, deeply immersed as Rin continued to stare at the two, feeling like she missed something.