Alice-Miranda in Japan 9 by Jacqueline Harvey Page A

large pot of noodles on the stove. After a few minutes her arms felt like lead and she wondered how long she could keep it up.
    â€˜You tired, boy?’ Obaasan said. She may not have been able to see too much but she was perceptive nonetheless.
    Kiko nodded. ‘Hai,’ she said softly.
    â€˜You’re a good worker for a beginner. When you’ve had more practice you will be even better. I’m glad you sleep on my doorstep.’
    â€˜What is the matter with Ojiisan?’ Kiko asked.
    The old woman stood up on another small stool next to Kiko and scraped some meat into a sizzling pan. ‘Ojiisan is just old,’ she said.
    â€˜But he shakes,’ Kiko said.
    â€˜His heart is broken,’ Obaasan said. ‘But I look after him and he has a good life. Better than if he had stayed out there.’
    Out there. The words turned over in Kiko’s mind. ‘Out there’ was where she needed to go. But first she had to find her necklace and get her mother’s diary back.

 
    On their return journey to the inn, the children attracted a lot of attention. Hugh wondered if they’d ever get back, as people constantly stopped them for photographs. Finally they emerged from the station in Asakusa.
    Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta decided that they would change before dinner. Although being Itoshii Squirrel had been fun to start with, Millie was finding it difficult to breathe inside all that fur.
    â€˜Can you imagine how tired Uncle Lawrence must get of being asked for photographs?’ Alice-Miranda said as the children walked towards the inn.
    â€˜Yes, but he’s a movie star,’ Millie replied. ‘He sort of brought it on himself, really.’
    â€˜And he’s so handsome,’ said Jacinta with a sigh. ‘Who wouldn’t want to have their photograph taken with Lawrence Ridley?’
    Millie and Alice-Miranda giggled.
    The adults were lagging behind when Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta turned the corner into their street. The children walked past a large house, which Alice-Miranda noticed was built in the same style as their inn. Between the house and the inn was an alley. Like the inn, the house sat right on the edge of the road. In the downstairs window closest to the alley, the curtains were open a fraction, revealing a desk with a large screen on top of it.
    â€˜I wonder what they’re watching,’ Millie said as she noticed something playing on the screen.
    â€˜I haven’t even thought about television since we’ve been here,’ Alice-Miranda said. The girls’ room at the inn was completely devoid of technology, apart from the toilet. ‘I don’t think we’d be able to understand much of it anyway.’
    She and Jacinta kept walking but Millie peered through the window at the monitor. Then she stepped back and glanced up under the building’s eaves. A tiny video camera stared back at her.
    â€˜Hey, look at this!’ Millie rushed forward, grabbed Alice-Miranda’s arm and pulled her back to the window. ‘Look, on the screen.’ Millie pointed.
    Jacinta hurried back to join them.
    â€˜That’s us on there,’ Millie said, waving at the camera to prove her point.
    Jacinta cupped her hands and stared through the window.
    â€˜So it is.’ She looked up and spotted the camera. ‘I wonder why they need surveillance. I thought Japan was a really safe place.’
    â€˜It is,’ Alice-Miranda said, ‘and we probably shouldn’t be looking into people’s windows.’
    Millie stepped away but Jacinta continued to look.
    Jacinta’s jaw dropped. ‘Oh my goodness, it’s him! The kid from the Itoshii Squirrel shop just walked into that room.’
    The boy looked up and caught Jacinta’s gaze. She turned her head and pretended that she hadn’t been watching him. He came forward and tapped on the glass. Jacinta jumped into the air. Millie and Alice-Miranda