The Book of Heroes by Miyuki Miyabe Page B

old.”
    Yuriko remembered Uncle Takashi saying that if the location were just a little better, or the place in a little better shape, it might make sense for them to put money into renovations and make it a summer cottage the whole family could enjoy. “But not like it is now,” he had said. “The place is a bona fide ruin.”
    “Those books, though—Takashi was talking about showing them to a specialist at some point. There were so many of them there, one or two might actually be worth something,” Yuriko’s mother said. “Did your brother ever say anything about them, Yuriko?”
    Her mother was sharp. Yuriko shook her head. “Nope. But I remember he was pretty impressed with how many there were, and how our great-uncle must have collected them all by himself.”
    That was true. When her brother had seen the reading room at the cottage, he had wanted to stay in there for hours. He said he thought there must be books from all over the world there. Check it out, little Yuri. Here’s one in English, and here’s one in French, and I’ve never even seen this language before. This one looks like it might be hundreds of years old.
    “Hiroki always was fond of reading,” her mother said in a soft voice.
    “Come to think of it, it’s been almost five months since we were there. I wonder if the place is locked?” her father muttered, suddenly worried.
    “If it were locked, he would’ve just broken in through a window,” her mother said, urging Yuriko’s father to drive faster. He shifted his grip on the wheel. Yuriko stuck her hand back inside her backpack.
    Mom really thinks he’s there waiting for us.
    —There’s nothing you can do about that. She’s his mother.
    But it’s my fault.
    —If you’re going to wimp out now because you’re afraid of hurting your mother’s feelings, you’ll never make it where we’re going. Besides, the red book added, you should get some sleep.
    How can I possibly sleep? I’m not even sleepy.
    —Then tell me what you know about the owner of the cottage, your great-uncle.
    You mean you don’t know? Didn’t my great-uncle buy you?
    —I want to know what you know. So I can put what you know and what I know together. You don’t have to explain it to me, just try to remember by yourself. I’ll hear.
    Yuriko leaned back in her seat and started to remember everything she could about her great-uncle.
    The first time she had even heard about him had been about a year ago, in the summer, when the weather was still warm. They had been sitting around the dinner table when her father suddenly said, “You know, it seems I have an uncle.”
    Her father’s father—Yuriko’s grandfather—was an only child. He had no siblings. So how could a great-uncle suddenly appear out of nowhere?
    “The circumstances are a little complicated. My parents never mentioned it to us until now,” her father explained to her mother, who was just as shocked as the children were.
    Apparently, from the time Yuriko’s grandfather was in fourth grade to the time he was in eleventh grade, he had an adopted brother.
    “He was the son of a man who had helped out my father’s father at work.”
    Though Yuriko’s father had made the announcement to everyone at the table, when it came to talking about the details, he spoke only to her mother. As it always was with talk between adults, Yuriko couldn’t follow a lot of what he was saying. Her brother just kept eating like he wasn’t particularly interested, but Yuriko knew he was listening because when she shot him a glance to ask what something her father was saying meant, he would give her a “you don’t need to understand” look back. If you really need to know, I’ll tell you later.
    “There was all kinds of trouble,” her father was saying. “The child had been passed from relative to relative. No one wanted the burden, and so in the end they came to my grandfather, begging him to adopt. He had a reputation for his generosity, I