Hanako saw the children race up the hill from the bamboo grove. They vanished into the shadow of the compound wall, only to appear, sedately, talking quietly and walking as they entered the yard through the pedestrian gate. What on earth were they carrying? Bundles of some kind, one each, wrapped in paper, it seemed, and Shota-kun was waving some kind of a wrapped stick.
Hanako decided she'd rather not know where they'd been or how they got there, but she very much wanted to know what was in the bundles.
They hadn't been gone very long. She was just thinking about what to make for lunch! O-nigiri rice balls were easy enough: she'd take tasty bits of leftovers and pickles, place them in the center of a small handful of seasoned cooked rice from this morning, and mold the rice into triangl
