The Book of Heroes Read Online Free

he tapped his chin with the end of his ballpoint pen. “We talked to Hiroki’s teacher at school, and he said that ever since Hiroki started the eighth grade, he’d been having trouble getting along with his classmates. Did he ever say anything about that to you? Even something little in passing?”
    Yuriko was sitting wedged between her mother and the child counselor. When she didn’t respond to the man’s question, the counselor looked her in the eye. Then the police officer asked, “You got along well with your brother, didn’t you, Yuriko?”
    Yuriko didn’t answer. Her mouth was closed, and she looked down at her hands where they rested on her knees. She had woven the tips of her fingers together.
    “You talked to your brother about school sometimes, didn’t you? Did he ever tell you about his school?”
    Yuriko still didn’t respond, so now the counselor looked up at her mother. “Maybe you heard something?”
    Her mother was looking down at her lap. She reached out and held Yuriko’s hand. Her skin was cold. Why is Mom’s hand so cold?
    “Well they are brother and sister, and three years apart besides…and he’s in middle school…” her mother said. Her voice sounded even weaker than Yuriko’s.
    “Is that so? Yes, of course,” the counselor said, answering her own half-asked question. She looked at the policeman.
    Everyone sat in silence, waiting for someone to speak.
    The policemen’s words were echoing in Yuriko’s head. You got along well with your brother. You got along well with your brother.
    Well, yeah. But she couldn’t help feeling that that didn’t quite describe it.
    They did get along. Yuriko was fond of her brother. And she was pretty sure he didn’t dislike her. He would help her with her homework sometimes, and they would always joke around. He’d call her “little Yuri” or sometimes just “squirt.”
    When she did well on a test, he’d give her a pat on the head. And on nights when they’d seen a scary movie, and she was too afraid to go to the bathroom by herself, he would wait for her in the hall.
    All that seemed different than “getting along well.” They had a thing worked out. Her brother was the big one; she was the small one. He stood tall, and she was comfortable being at his feet.
    “Hiroki was always very protective of her,” her mother whispered, gripping Yuriko’s hand even tighter. “I don’t think he would have told her anything to make her worry.”
    That’s right. That’s the word. “Protective.” That was their relationship. That was how it was, and how it was supposed to be until they were both grown-ups.
    “He never said anything about troubles to us…” her mother said. Her voice broke, and she turned away.
    The child counselor stood up from her chair surprisingly fast and went over to her mother, putting an arm around her for support. It was a kind thing to do, and her mother looked so frail with the counselor holding her that for the first time, Yuriko was glad the counselor had come. Not for her sake, but for her mother’s. Thank you.
    Her mother was nodding and saying she was all right.
    “Right,” said the policeman. “Well, there’s nothing we absolutely have to hear from you today, Yuriko. Just, if you think of anything, even the tiniest thing, that might help us find your brother, contact us.”
    The two police officers bowed their heads and apologized for the trouble.
    “Can we go home now? I mean to the hotel,” Yuriko said. “Mom, you look really pale—”
    “Yes, of course. Thank you, Yuriko. Ms. Morisaki, we’ll escort you back to the hotel now.”
    Her mom sat in the patrol car with her eyes closed the whole way back. She wasn’t sleeping. She looked more like she had gone unconscious. Still, she gripped Yuriko’s hand tightly and didn’t let go. Yuriko squeezed her hand back, trying to warm it up with hers.

    Life at the hotel was uneventful. A week passed, then ten days, and still they hadn’t found