Naturally, that day’s lesson was singularly unproductive. Kento and Juri were both exceedingly conscious of the other’s every move, and that vibe dominated the entire eighty minutes.
The moment it was over, both dashed off, like it was a competition to see who could leave faster.
“Have a happy…and they’re gone.”
Next up, Sakuta had a meeting with Toranosuke. Sakuta was taking over for Rio as his teacher. This was less of a formal meeting and more of a quick chat while standing in the free study space.
“Kasai, you sure you want me teaching you?”
“Absolutely.”
Toranosuke bowed his head politely, shrinking his big body down. Respecting superiors was a hallmark of sports club culture.
“Don’t blame me if you don’t get into Futaba’s college.”
“On Christmas Eve, I dreamed my mock exam scores were awful.”
“Quantum physics tells us the future is not set in stone, so let’s do our best to avoid that.”
Sakuta would just have to make sure the kid passed. At the very least, make sure the subject he taught wasn’t what held Toranosuke back.
They briefly discussed the lesson dates for the new year, and the meeting adjourned. But on the way out, Toranosuke stopped him.
“Oh, right—Azusagawa-sensei.”
“Mm?”
“Thanks for helping Sara.”
“Did Himeji tell you something?”
“I saw her outside my house after practice yesterday. And…we talked.”
Sara had probably not mentioned Adolescence Syndrome or Touko Kirishima. Given Toranosuke’s phrasing, it had likely been a pretty wide-ranging conversation. They’d grown up together, so they’d probably gone on a few trips down memory lane. And it seemed to have been enough to ease his fears about her.
“Did she mention Futaba?”
“Uh, yeah. Said she’s gonna be taking Futaba-sensei’s lessons for a while.”
Sakuta had discussed things with Sara that same day, and they’d agreed she’d drop his class and switch to Rio’s instead. But that wasn’t what Sakuta had been asking about here.
“Not that. I meant…your romantic troubles.”
“Oh, uh, well…she did say something about not letting myself get rejected by the girl I rejected her for.”
“Typical Himeji.”
“You can say that again,” Toranosuke agreed, wincing.
That was the end of Sakuta’s cram school shift, so he saw the boy out, then left himself. It was long since dark; thin clouds drifted across the night sky. Stars peeped out among the gaps every now and then.
“Still, too many people are talking about their dreams.”
It was enough to make him grumble out loud.
There wasn’t much time left in the year. Maybe once the new one arrived, everyone would have forgotten about the dreaming hashtag.
Part of him hoped they would, and part of him knew they wouldn’t.
✦ ✦ ✦
January 3, a whole new year.
Shortly after noon, Sakuta took Mai to his parents’ place in Yokohama.
The New Year’s programming on TV was starting to calm down a bit now, and they all watched that while eating his mother’s zoni—for the first time since the previous year. Kaede had stayed over the night before, so she was eating with them.
The zoni soup contained mochi, chicken, Chinese cabbage, carrots, and sliced red-and-white kamaboko. They’d placed an order for this last ingredient in Odawara on their way back from Hakone and arranged for it to be delivered on New Year’s.
“Mai, thanks for the kamaboko,” his mother said as Sakuta savored a bite of it.
“We sent that in my name!” he said.
“But we all know it was Mai’s idea.”
Mai said nothing, but her smile said everything.
“You can’t put anything past my mom.”
“This boy, I swear.”
Mai watched them bicker, grinning happily.
After lunch, Sakuta and his father did the dishes. Kaede, their mother, and Mai sat on the couch, watching the New Year’s programming.
Then the MC said, “But first, an update from our news division,” and the screen cut to an elderly anchor.
He bowed once and began delivering the news, his voice calm.
“Early this morning, in a residential area near Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama, a man was arrested for vandalizing license plates. The police responded to complaints from area citizens and caught him in the act. He appears to have used pliers to bend over a dozen plates. Police comments suggest the man claimed to have dreamed that he would remain unemployed after graduation in April and was lashing out. On a social media account believed to belong to the accused, there was a #dreaming post dated December twenty-fifth of last year. The police investigation will focus on how that led to this incident. That’s all from the news desk.”
He bowed again, and the brief update ended.
The screen went back to the New Year’s programming, and cheery voices echoed from the speakers.
“Well, that was weird,” their mother said.
“Mm-hmm.” Mai nodded. She didn’t know how else to answer.
It was a very weird story.
No ordinary person would get so angry about a dream that they’d take it out on other people’s cars. But this outlandish incident had made it into an ordinary news report.
Everything about that felt wrong.
But this was a real-world case. Not an obscure article found online, but something the TV news was covering, something the police were investigating and giving interviews to reporters on.
The social media outage had made the dreaming hashtag public knowledge, and Sakuta’s hopes had been dashed—even now, the world was still talking about it. Rather than fade out, #dreaming was only making itself better known.
“What did you dream about, Mai?” Kaede asked absentmindedly. Just assuming she’d had a dream. Sakuta didn’t even think that was strange.
“I didn’t have one,” Mai said. A totally normal response. She’d said the same thing the morning after. Nothing weird about it.
But for some reason, it bothered him now.
“Oh yeah?” Kaede said, blinking. Proof that in her mind, everyone had had a dream.
Most young people had. Sakuta, Kaede, Kento, Juri, Toranosuke—all of them. Ikumi’s had even overlapped with Sakuta’s.
Mai was the only person Sakuta knew who hadn’t. This was likely true for Kaede as well. That was why she’d been taken aback by Mai’s answer.
Was this just coincidence?
“Live from Kanagawa Prefecture’s own Enoshima!”
The screen cut to a female announcer in a brightly colored long-sleeved kimono.
Sakuta’s mother seemed to be struck with an idea, and she turned to Mai.
“Mai, yours is coming up this year, yes? Your coming-of-age… Oh, we don’t call it that anymore. The gathering of twenty-year-olds, was it?”
“Oh, yes, that’s next week.”
“Do you have a kimono?”
“My mother showed up yesterday and dropped one off.”
She took out her phone and showed Kaede and Sakuta’s mother a picture of it.
“Wow, that’s lovely! Perfect for you, Mai.” Kaede sounded impressed.
“That is nice! I’m looking forward to you turning twenty, Kaede.”
“That’s a long way off.”
“Only three years.”
“That’s a long time.”
Sakuta kept one ear on their delightful conversation, but that nagging doubt was still with him.
Why hadn’t Mai dreamed?