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Sachi stomped around. Sachi liked to wield her clogs as deadly weapons. Sachi was small and snapped around, as aggressive as a piranha and a great white shark combined.
Joe loved Sachi.
Especially when all that fury was trained on him. Like now.
"You promised," she hissed.
He blinked at her.
"You promised that you wouldn't marry Miss Yoko," she clarified.
Joe had no idea what she was talking about, but Sachi's teary eyes told him that it would be a bad, bad idea to give voice to that.
"Who told you that we were?" he asked.
She glared at him a little more before deciding to believe him, hopping right into his arms, holding him tight enough to hurt. The other kids had stopped doing that. Nishi had warned them off, especially Taro, who was way too big and could excessively strain Joe's battered body. He rested his hand against her head. She rested her head against his heart.
"C'mon, Sachi, I wouldn't ever get married without you knowing about it."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
She didn't say anything more. You could forgive Joe for thinking she'd dropped the subject.
Tokyo Bay was Yoko's favorite spot, was what Joe gathered. So far she'd taken him there on nighttime drives six or seven times, Danpei always eagerly asking him 'how things went' and wilting whenever he responded with a monosyllabic 'fine' and nothing more.
For someone used to fighting for everything in his life, this whatever he had with Yoko faced almost no opposition whatsoever. Supportive grandfather, supportive gym coach doubling as a one-eyed mother, supportive gym juniors, even supportive tabloids.
This was the first time she'd taken him along to Tokyo Bay on a mid-afternoon drive. And within five minutes of them settling down and wave-gazing, his one and only opposition popped up, furious, her face as round as a hot air balloon and emitting twice as much steam.
"I knew it," Sachi said. "I knew you were lying, Joe."
Yoko raised an eyebrow at Joe.
"The gym bozos told me that Miss Yoko took you here."
Joe wasn't sure how she got the cab fare to come all the way here. Maybe she roughed up Kono and forced him to cough up some cash.
Joe held Yoko's gaze. She'd watched him fight the strongest man in the world, eager to see how he would fare until the end. And now he would watch how she would fare against Little Miss Oden Thief, the girl he'd saved from the Onihime gang all those years ago.
"We were about to go get ice cream, Sachi. What flavor do you want?"
Sachi trained her murderous eyes on Yoko. Then she trained her murderous eyes on Joe.
"You...you were going to get ice cream with her? That was our thing, Joe, our thing!"
"Sachi, Sachi, Sachi." He put calming hands on her shoulders. She didn't calm. "It's still our thing. That's why the miss asked about your favorite flavor."
Her eyes were little slits by now.
"I hate you," she snarled.
Yoko seemed to find this exchange deeply amusing.
"You're such a heartbreaker, Sachi," Joe said, and tried not to laugh when she brightened almost at once. "You know how long I've liked you."
Sachi tapped her clogs against the sand and crossed her arms behind her back. Then she straightened.
"I want three ice cream cones," she announced.
"Very well, Sachi," Yoko said.
"And I'm gonna keep an eye on you, Miss."
She stuck out her tongue to prove a point.
When she said she would keep an eye on Yoko, she meant it.
Sachi didn't like the idea of Joe and Yoko walking together. This meant that she would squeeze between the two and scowl at Yoko all the while. Bruising Joe's hands in her tight, numbing, sticky-fingered grip.
Sachi didn't like the idea of Joe and Yoko talking together. This meant that every time either opened their mouths, she'd butt in, changing the flow of conversation to who won the most recent games she and the boys played, how Tonkichi was annoying, and how Taro's scorecards were stupid.
Sachi didn't like the idea of Joe and Yoko having any kind of remotely friendly relationship together. This meant that when Joe suggested they play a game of beach ball, Sachi insisted that it would be her and Joe as a team against Yoko.
Yoko let Sachi win the game.
"How many fingers am I holding up, Joe?" she asked when it got dark.
He squinted at her hands as seriously as he could. She was satisfied.
"Ten."
She stood on her tiptoes. She was still pretty short, so her fingers just barely grazed the tip of his nose. Sachi didn't give up, though, springing up a little to gently prod at his closed eyelid, like she was checking for a lump in there. Or a switch. A light to turn back on so that she didn't have to play this game with him anymore.
"Well," she said. "You were right this time. But I'll still keep an eye on Miss Yoko for you. Just in case."
Sachi scowled at Yoko again. She was doing a lot of scowling.
"Got a problem with that, Miss?"
As it turned out, keeping an eye on Yoko proved too exhausting for Sachi. She meant to crawl into Joe's arms to fall asleep, but it was Yoko who caught her.
She bared her teeth at Yoko and drifted off as soon as the moon rose from beyond the clouds.
She woke up halfway through the drive back to the gym. It looked like she had preprogrammed her face into another snarl in the event of waking up in Yoko's arms, but she was happy enough to wake up in the backseat with Joe.
"You smell nice, Joe," she mumbled into his side. "Not like those gym bozos and their gross cologne."
"It has to be Yoko's perfume," Joe said. "We're in her car."
She cut up his face real good with her nails for that.
Sachi hated the idea of Joe marrying anyone (except her, of course...not that she would admit it). She hated the idea of crusty Miss Yoko snatching Joe away from her and locking him up out of sight. Worse, she hated the idea that after enough trips to the beach with Miss Yoko, Joe would get ideas in his head. The idea to leave her behind.
"Where are they going today?" she asked Kono, the gym bozo she had roughed up to get enough cab fare.
Kono gave her a wary glance.
"I...I think, probably bowling -- h-hey, I don't have -- "
"I bet you thought you could get rid of me, Miss," she declared soon after gate-crashing the bowling alley.
Joe was bowling terribly, his aim so off-kilter that his bowling ball was arcing three lanes away. But he seemed to be enjoying himself and the chaos he was causing so much that he didn't even notice her arrival, much to Sachi's displeasure.
Yoko stroked the top of her head.
"Sachi, how are you affording all this cab fare? Yabuki-kun told me that your father is paralyzed and that your family is in debt."
"The gym bozos." She'd...have words with Joe over how he'd apparently talked to Miss Yoko. About her. Giving vital information to the enemy. What was he thinking?
Miss Yoko winced. It was like a ripple across her beautiful face.
"You don't have to do that, you know."
"Yes, I do! I mean, how else will I keep an eye on you?"
"You could just come along in my car."
Sachi pouted. Yoko tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I hate you," Sachi murmured.
A smile flitted across Yoko's face.
"That's a shame," she murmured right back. "Because I quite like you, Sachi."
And then somehow Sachi's stomach hurt. Telling Miss Yoko that felt a lot worse than telling Joe that. Because Miss Yoko sounded like she meant it. 'Course, Joe meant it too, but --
"Why don't you go bowling with Joe? He'd be happy to see you."
She didn't discuss liking Yoko, or hating Yoko, or anything like that. She was content to hold Joe's arm and throw bowling balls in a wide, soaring arc over her head.
"Joe?" she mumbled.
"What's up, Sachi?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
Joe once said that Miss Yoko was never nice just to be nice. He said that she was only nice so that she would look good. But that was a long time ago, and Sachi didn't see who Miss Yoko would look good in front of for being nice to her. It wasn't Joe. Because Miss Yoko's voice had been really quiet. He couldn't have heard her.
Sneaking into the Shiraki house uninvited was pushing it, though. Sachi knew that. Still, she had to do what she had to do.
It was all for Joe, she reminded herself. This was about protecting Joe. It was only a matter of time before Joe would wind up here, out of sight, away from her. Miss Yoko was probably keeping some pitchforks up here or something.
It was all an act, this being a nice lady stuff. An act to snag Joe.
She wiped her sweaty palms on her knees and was plucked off her perch immediately.
"There you are, Sachi," and Miss Yoko had her like a mother cat holding a kitten by the scruff of its neck.
Sachi hissed.
Yoko smiled.
"Yabuki-kun isn't here," she said. "I guess you're disappointed to see me."
Her laugh held a tinge of gloom that made Sachi's stomach hurt again.
"That's not true. I came here to see you. On purpose."
"You did?" Miss Yoko had that funny Spanish smile, the Mona Lisa smile. Or maybe the Lisa lady wasn't Spanish, but that wasn't the point. A smile where you couldn't tell what she was thinking. That was the smile.
"Yeah." She struggled out of the kitten hold, but Miss Yoko brushed dried leaves off Sachi's figure anyway. "I'm here to...to..."
"To?" Now Miss Yoko was straightening up her clothes.
Sachi's dad used to do that before the stroke got to him and he couldn't move his hands or blink his eyes too well.
"To...to tell you..."
She blinked at the ground.
Miss Yoko hugged her. She smelled like Joe had a few nights ago. That nice, warm smell.
Sharing Joe. With Miss Yoko.
"Don't worry," Miss Yoko whispered. And she knew Joe wasn't there. There wasn't any reason to whisper.
"I'll return him to you just as I found him."
Sachi wiped her eyes on Miss Yoko's clothes, who let her do this for whatever reason.
"I want oden," she declared.
"I'll get you the whole cart."