Same Name

By nightfall, Ligo returned carrying six enormous shopping bags, each stuffed full of medicine, food, and clothes. She took everything out, sorted and stacked it again, then placed it in the trunk of her car.

Once she had finished, she sat down at the dining table and looked at Hesta. "What was it you said you wanted to show me this afternoon?"

Hesta pushed Kiki's notebook over.

After reading it, Ligo flipped over the cover to look at the name. "...Wow."

"That was my reaction too."

"How old is Kiki?"

"She's the same age as Eleven. They were both eight—oh, they were eight last year, so they're nine this year."

Ligo folded her arms, resting her elbows on the table. She gazed gently at Kiki's little composition for a while longer, then took a picture and sent it to Tulan.

A rustling sound came from behind the bedroom door. Ligo and Hesta looked up at the same time and saw Eleven and Kiki emerge hand in hand.

Kiki was still bleary-eyed, while Eleven kept rubbing her eyes. Neither of them looked fully awake.

"What's wrong?" Hesta asked.

"...We need to poop," Kiki answered. "The flush button in the bathroom is broken. The poop from this afternoon still hasn't gone down."

"It stinks," Eleven said.

Hesta and Ligo got up to check.

By the time Eleven and Kiki returned to the room, Hesta had already pulled out the flushing mechanism for inspection.

"Did we poop too much today?" Kiki asked quietly.

"Not that much," Eleven said with a frown, though she did not sound very confident. "I pooped at school in the morning."

Ligo could not help laughing. "Something just got stuck. I'll move it back, and it'll be fine."

"...It's fixed." Hesta put the toilet tank lid back on. She