This story is part of the Wanderer series.
As the girls approached the ramshackled house, the metallic clattering grew louder, beginning to drown out the rustling foliage high above. Distinct, varied voices emerged from the cacophony. There was a mixture of chimes and small pans hanging all around the house, as well as loose pieces of dried bamboo adding their muted voices to the mix. Swaying with the breeze, all these pieces clanged against each other.
Reaching the front, Rin turned off the path and crossed under the freestanding gate. Going down the gentle slope towards the house, she began to jog a little as she let the free-wheeling bike in her hands carry her forward. As Nozomi caught up, her eyes were drawn up this tall and narrow gate, which, just like the house, looked hand strung together. It was a simple gate constructed with two vertical beams and a horizontal log on top. However, on closer inspection, there were signs of care in its assembly. Neatly symmetric, its surface stripped and polished. Walking under, Nozomi then looked around. Without any fences, the gate appeared awkwardly alone on the flank of the path.
Letting the bike fall into the tall grass as she hopped onto the sheltered deck, Rin walked up to the shambled door and loudly knocked several times with the palm of her fist. The hanging pieces of bamboo flanking the doorway rattled against the house as she knocked.
“Old man! Are you there?!” When there wasn’t an immediate response, she knocked several times again. “Hey! Old man!”
Nozomi stared at her with wide eyes as she made a loud ruckus, adding her voice to the chorus of metal, wood, and rustling leaves. After the second callout, Rin relented against the door, backing up a step and listening. No other sound emerged from the house. With a shrug, Rin turned to Nozomi.
“Maybe he’s out.”
Leaning forward, Nozomi smiled. “Or he’s sleeping!”
“Nah, the old man doesn’t sleep during the day.”
“But he’s old, right?”
“He’s not like you,” Rin seemed to jab.
Nozomi raised her brows, her mouth becoming tall. “I’m not old!”
“Yet you sleep more than him.”
“Everyone needs a good rest!”
“Oho! Who is this?”
The two girls stopped abruptly, turning to the side. From around the right side of the house, behind a curtain of long bamboo, a short man with wispy white hair appeared.
“I thought I heard a familiar voice!”
Shards of sunlight whisked across his silhouette as he walked under a portion where the deck roof was missing its wooden panels, exposing the straw loosely lining its top. The shards accentuated his character, his patchwork shirt, his face heavily wrinkled with a large pimple on the bridge of his nose, and his wide, infectious grin.
A large smile stretched across Rin’s face. “Old man!”