Swinging High

Noon Encarnacion:

"This is crazy," I say, swinging my invisible ghost hands. "This is stupid. This is insane. Emica. I am not agreeing to this plan!"

"We have no choice," Emica whispers. "This may be the only way to prove Akio's innocence."

"But," I start before stopping. I try thinking of another way to prove Akio's innocence, but no matter what, I just can't think of another way. "But Emica! This is Nemo!"

"Noon. I know about your feelings for Nemo, but-"

"This isn't about my feelings for Nemo," I shout, cutting Emica off. "This is about Nemo's safety."

I turn to look at Nemo. He's just standing by himself a few feet away, looking at Emica.

"Nemo isn't like you, Emica. He can't jump or flip or fight. What happens if he gets hurt? I mean, I'm not saying I don't believe in you, but still. This is too much."

Emica sighs. Her head and shoulders drop.

"You're right," Emica says. "I don't want to put Nemo in danger. He can tell us which way the thief went. Then we can go after him."

"Thank you," I say. I sigh with relief, knowing that Nemo wouldn't be in danger.

"I'll go and tell him."

Emica nods her head before turning away from me. As she walks toward Nemo, I float behind her.

"Nemo," Emica starts, "I am-"

"I am going with you," Nemo says, cutting Emica off like I did.

"No," Emica replies, shaking her head. However, Nemo also shakes his head.

"I am going," Nemo repeats. "The thief stole some glass flowers from the museum. Those same glass flowers, my parents were in charge of them. I have to make sure they're delivered back to the museum in the same condition they were stolen. Listen. It doesn't matter if you take me or not. I am going after that thief."

I cross my arms and tap my foot. I look between Emica and Nemo.

"Well," I say. "Come on! Tell Nemo no! Tell him! What are you waiting for?"

I tap my foot even faster, waiting for Emica to speak up. For some reason, she's not saying anything.

"Emica?"

I slowly stop tapping my foot and uncross my arms.

"Emica? Are you there still? Hello?"

"Fine," Emica says.

"What," I yell.

"Thank you," Nemo answers. "Now, please follow me."

Waving his hand, Nemo starts walking toward the ledge of the rooftop. While Nemo is walking away, I fly in front of Emica.

"Emica! What are you doing!"

"There was no point in telling Nemo no," Emica answers. "Did you see the look in his eyes?"

"The look in his eyes?"

"The look in his eyes," Emica repeats. "A look of pure determination. A look of pure focus. Of no hesitation. That is the look of a warrior. The look of a ninja."

I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. My mind is blank, and all I can do is watch Emica join Nemo at the rooftop's ledge.

"The thief, a girl with long orange hair, was heading that way," Nemo starts. "It wasn't easy keeping an eye on her as she drove, but I think she was headed there."

Emica and I follow Nemo's finger and turn our heads. He's pointing at a small store a few miles away.

"How can you be sure the thief was headed there," Emica asks.

Nemo Farid:

"Uhh...," I start. I think back to when Akio jumped onto the girl's car. After jumping on, I remember seeing a bunch of plastic bags inside. All of the plastic bags had the same name on them.

"The Quick Thrift," the bag read, in bold, red letters.

"I remember the Quick Thrift," I think. "It was a thrift store. Oscar and I used to shop there if we needed something fast and affordable for one of his videos. If I remember correctly, the owner closed the store because he and his family moved out of the state."

"Uhh...," I go on, thinking of what I could say. "When the thief was driving away, I saw a bag fly out of her car. It had the store's name on it. The Quick Thrift."

"The Quick what?"

"Thrift. The Quick Thrift. It's a thrift store."

"Nemo," Akio whispers. "What's a thrift store?"

Lowering my head and turning away, I whisper.

"It's a store where you drop off things you don't want or used anymore and then the store sells them."

"Wait. You drop things off, and then the store sells them? The store doesn't buy them? Why not?"

"Because again, it's thing you don't want or used. It's a way to get rid of old things that are taking up space in your house."

"We didn't have thrift stores back in ancient Japan."

"Well, no offense or anything, but I doubt you had a lot of things that weren't being used."

"That is true," Akio replies.

"Excuse me," Emica says, waving her hand in front of me.

Snapping my head back up, I look right at her.

"Did you hear what I asked," Emica asks, putting her hand down. "I asked if you're ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Ready for travel."

Pulling out her chain, Emica throws one end into the air. The end wraps around the top of a nearby rooftop. Pulling her chain, Emica turns toward me.

"Grab on," she says, pointing behind her.

"...I'm sorry," I say, blinking my eyes. "What?"

"Grab on," Emica repeats, pointing behind herself again. "Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on."

Everything freezes right there and then. The birds stop flying. The wind stops blowing. Even the ears stop working. I have to hit my ears in order to restart them.

"What," I say again. "I'm sorry. You want me to-"

"Wrap your hands around my neck and hold on. I'll use my chigiriki to swing us over there. We'll get there faster and hopefully catch this thief."

"Okay," I say, nodding my head. "Yeah. Okay! Yes! Make sense! That makes sense. Total sense!"

Clearing my throat, I walk over to Emica and stand behind her. Opening my arms, I start leaning forward. Pulling away slowly, I shake my head and lean forward again.

Wrapping my arms around Emica's neck, I inhale deeply before blowing some of her hair out of the way.

"Are you ready," Emica asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "Totally! Yes! I am ready. Ready I aammm!"

While still talking, Emica starts running. Dragging me behind her, we both jump off the ledge.

Biting my tongue and trying not to scream, my cheek quickly filled up with air. As Emica and I swing through the air, she pulls her chain, and it comes loose from the rooftop. Flipping through the air, Emica lands gracefully on her knee. Not wasting a second, she starts running again while spinning her chain in circles.

"Hold on," Emica yells, throwing her weapon again. Wrapping around another nearby rooftop, Emica jumps into the air, and together, we swing through the sky, getting closer and closer to the abandoned store.

As I hold onto the back of Emica, her hair keeps getting in my face, and I can't help but smell it.

"It smells like...strawberry. I like strawberry."

Feeling my face get a little hot for some unknown reason, I snap out of it when, after one last flip, we land in front of the closed thrift store. Letting go of Emica, I jump back.

"Okay," Emica says, pulling her chain back. "We're here. You can go now."

"I'm not leaving," I say. "I need to get those flowers back. Come on!"

Like Emica, I don't waste a second and run over to the front of the store. As I approach the store, I stop.

"Something is wrong," I say. I look around the small store and see all the windows boarded up.

"What is it," Emica also asks, walking to my side.

"Why are all the windows boarded already? The store hasn't been closed for that long. It's not abandoned, just closed. Something feels very wrong."