“Well...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m sorry. That’s what I am. I don’t know what you expected from me, but that’s all there is.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“But...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I lied to you. I betrayed you. Wake up and look around you, Masaki. You’re an idiot!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“But. . .I’m in love with you!” I shouted, forgetting everything but that truth.
✦ ✦ ✦
The voice echoing out of the phone momentarily robbed Aya of words.
✦ ✦ ✦
The pretense she’d barely managed to maintain was crumbling beneath her. Her face flushed, her throat trembled. She couldn’t talk.
✦ ✦ ✦
Her hands were still handcuffed behind her, and someone else was holding the phone for her. She was speaking into the receiver that Asukai Jin was silently holding out for her. Her hands were empty, but covered in sweat. She balled them up, trying to stop them from shaking.
✦ ✦ ✦
“H-how can you say...” she managed, stifling the quaver in her voice.
✦ ✦ ✦
She had to.
✦ ✦ ✦
She couldn’t rely on Masaki here.
✦ ✦ ✦
She couldn’t drag him any further into this. She couldn’t bear it any longer.
✦ ✦ ✦
She could never tell him how she felt.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Where are you, Orihata?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“N-none of your business!”
✦ ✦ ✦
She wanted to see him.
✦ ✦ ✦
One more time, with her own eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
But those feelings were her enemy now.
✦ ✦ ✦
She could only protect Masaki if he hated her. That was the it only way.
✦ ✦ ✦
She remembered what Suema Kazuko had said, on the roof of the school.
✦ ✦ ✦
“It’s impossible to live without someone hating you.”
✦ ✦ ✦
«you’re missing the concept of that “struggle.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“And you really need to get that.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Now was that moment.
✦ ✦ ✦
She had to fight her enemy, had to struggle with her own emotions.
✦ ✦ ✦
“F-forget about me...leave me alone. . . l”
✦ ✦ ✦
But she couldn’t say it forcefully.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Orihata. . . !” Masaki’s voice didn’t falter.
✦ ✦ ✦
Aya couldn’t talk anymore. “G-goodbye...” she managed.
✦ ✦ ✦
Tears made her voice sound funny.
✦ ✦ ✦
"............"
✦ ✦ ✦
Asukai Jin watched Aya’s suffering with mechanical detach-ment.
✦ ✦ ✦
When it became obvious that Aya was not going to speak anymore, he held the phone to his own ear.
✦ ✦ ✦
Is someone else there?” the boy’s voice asked, with surprising perception.
✦ ✦ ✦
Asukai did not reply.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I know you’re listening. I don’t know who you are, but you’re standing right next to her, aren’t you?”
✦ ✦ ✦
"............"
✦ ✦ ✦
“I don’t give a shit who you are. You do anything to Orihata, and I guarantee you that I’ll be your enemy. And I will fight you for her!”
✦ ✦ ✦
"..............." Asukai looked down at Aya.
✦ ✦ ✦
She had not heard this last speech. Her head was down, her body quivering-she was crying.
✦ ✦ ✦
He looked at her, but this did not change Asukai’s expression.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hey! Are you lis-” and Asukai hung up, cutting the boy off.
✦ ✦ ✦
A second later, he heard the distinctive roar of an airplane passing through the sky over the Paisley Park construction site.
✦ ✦ ✦
The noise grew in strength, and was soon easily identifiable.
✦ ✦ ✦
(Did he hear that. . .? No, it was still too faint. He won’t have recognized it.
✦ ✦ ✦
The phone rang again, but Asukai shut the phone off.
✦ ✦ ✦
He spoke to Aya. “Satisfied?”
✦ ✦ ✦
"............"
✦ ✦ ✦
“You were happy to hear his voice.”
✦ ✦ ✦
She looked up at him.
✦ ✦ ✦
And, surprisingly...she nodded. “Yes.”
✦ ✦ ✦
She wasn’t forcing herself. She honestly meant it.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Okay. Then your life was not in vain. In that respect, you have the advantage on me,” Asukai said, smiling faintly.
✦ ✦ ✦
I looked up.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nothing. I couldn’t see any sign of it.
✦ ✦ ✦
(No! It’s gotta be there! It’s gotta be somewhere close!) With a feeling bordering on faith, I searched the sky. If anyone had seen me, I must have looked like I was searching for UFOs.
✦ ✦ ✦
At last, I found it.
✦ ✦ ✦
A black shadow, high up in the air. The sky was gradually darkening, and I could just make out the flashing lights on the tips of the wings.
✦ ✦ ✦
I took the direction it was flying and thought.
✦ ✦ ✦
(It’s heading this way, so. . .it must have been over there...
✦ ✦ ✦
which means...)
✦ ✦ ✦
The more I thought, the uneasier I grew.
✦ ✦ ✦
I thought I had heard an airplane...I think. I was hardly certain.
✦ ✦ ✦
And you can hear airplanes over an absurdly large area. Was I going to search it all?
✦ ✦ ✦
(Like I have any choice...)
✦ ✦ ✦
The lights of the airplane were getting closer, and now I could pick up the sound.
✦ ✦ ✦
"......!"
✦ ✦ ✦
Oh......!
✦ ✦ ✦
Even when you can see the airplane, you can’t necessarily hear it yet. Light travels faster than sound. There’s a gap between the moment you see it, and the time the sound actually reaches your ears.
✦ ✦ ✦
(Sothat means. . .it was further away than it was when I found it...)
✦ ✦ ✦
My imagination sprang into action, making a mental map of the air.
✦ ✦ ✦
(That means. . .it came from outside of the city?) There was nothing but mountains there. Nobody lived out there. It was completely deserted.
✦ ✦ ✦
(Or wait. . .I did hear something about an abandoned construction site...)
✦ ✦ ✦
I felt myself getting excited.
✦ ✦ ✦
That was it. It had to be!
✦ ✦ ✦
“That’s where she is!”
✦ ✦ ✦
I started running.
✦ ✦ ✦
I burst out onto a nearby street, saw that it was deserted, found a motorcycle parked by the side of the road, and crouched down to look at the lock.
✦ ✦ ✦
The key wasn’t in the ignition or anything, but I knew how to get the engine started. You tend to pick up a few tricks when you spend your time living abroad.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sure, I didn’t have a license or anything, but I’d driven one before.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Sorry. Next time, use a chain!” I muttered to the absent owner, and opened the throttle.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kotoe stared absently at the ceiling.
✦ ✦ ✦
"........."
✦ ✦ ✦
It was white, but the slanting rays of the sun gave it a reddish color.
✦ ✦ ✦
She was still under the supervision of the police. Once she was released, she would have a lot of questions to answer, but her father was in a prominent position in the city, and she was being treated well. It was very easy for people to get permission to visit her like this.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Is there anything you’d like me to bring, Kotoe?”
✦ ✦ ✦
"Mom..."
✦ ✦ ✦
"Yes?"
✦ ✦ ✦
“What’s going to happen to me?” she whispered.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Don’t worry! You have nothing to worry about. Your father said so! He didn’t even need to put any pressure on anyone. The police just took care of everything on their own. There’s even talk of them actually giving you some sort of award!”
✦ ✦ ✦
"........." That wasn’t what she’d meant, but Kotoe didn’t try to explain herself.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh, that reminds me. About Jin-kun...” her mother suddenly said.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kotoe turned to look. “Jin-niisan? What about him?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“It sounds like he’s suddenly decided to study abroad!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Eh...?"
✦ ✦ ✦
“He came by this morning. He said they can only take so many people, and that he has to leave immediately. He told me to say,
✦ ✦ ✦
‘Hi’ to you. That boy is doing so well!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“He’s. . . gone?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yes. . .he said someone would be round to pick up his things at the apartment later.”
✦ ✦ ✦
"..............."
✦ ✦ ✦
“You were friends with him, right? You’ll miss him?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yeah...” Kotoe nodded, expressionless.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was a knock at the door.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yes?” her mother said, opening it.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was a policeman in the hall. “Excuse me, but there’s someone asking to see her. Is that okay?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Someone?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Says she’s friends with your daughter,” the policeman said, turning sideways so they could see the girl standing behind him.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m Suema Kazuko. I spoke with you on the phone, once...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh, yes, I remember you! I recognize your voice.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I wanted to speak with Kinukawa-san, if I could...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Just a moment,” and her mother went back into the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Your friend Suema-san is here,” she said.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Suema-san.
✦ ✦ ✦
“If you’re too tired, we can ask her to come back.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Uh, n-no. . .I want to see her. Please, let her in. And Mom...?"
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yes?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“C-could we have some privacy?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Her mother was slightly surprised, but agreed pleasantly.
✦ ✦ ✦
Suema Kazuko came in as her mother left, and closed the door.
✦ ✦ ✦
“How are you feeling?” she said gently, following the standard if progression of the sickbed Visit.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Fine.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“That’s good,” Suema smiled.
✦ ✦ ✦
There didn’t seem to be anything lurking behind that smile, so Kotoe relaxed a little.
✦ ✦ ✦
“S-surprised? Didn’t think I’d end up like this...” she asked, hesitantly.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yes, well. I guess it was a bit unexpected,” Suema said, very sweetly. “But not as surprising as it was earlier.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Earlier?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“When I heard how everyone’s opinion of you had changed.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Kotoe looked down. “I can imagine...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“They were pretty harsh.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yeah..."
✦ ✦ ✦
“‘Course, soon as your warrior legend spreads, that ought to change pretty quickly. People’s reputations can change just like that,” Suema grinned, snapping her fingers.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kotoe felt like something warm was rising out of her chest.
✦ ✦ ✦
She had been right, she thought. This girl would accept anything.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Thank you. So, uh, did you come to cheer me up?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Nope,” Suema shook her head. “I needed to ask you point-blank.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“What?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Who or what was controlling you?”
✦ ✦ ✦
I knew it was a leap, but I was sure of myself.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kotoe’s eyes widened.
✦ ✦ ✦
But I didn’t flinch. I’m used to people thinking I’m weird.