“Yusuke’s here.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go outside.”
I released my grasp and turned to close the door. I stepped out onto the path in front of my house. Nazuna followed wordlessly. The calls of the morning cicadas were gone; only the dusk cicadas were singing now.
“Sorry, he just suddenly came over and wanted to hang out…”
“…Well, what are you going to do? Are you canceling on me?” Her response was a bit prickly. Yeah, my explanation did sound like an excuse.
I took a step forward to escape her piercing gaze.
“J-just hang on a sec. I’m thinking…”
In truth, I had no idea what to do. What would happen if I just left with her? What would Yusuke do if I didn’t come back?
A window rumbled open above us.
“Hey, Norimichi!”
“!!”
I looked up and saw Yusuke sticking his head out the window. Nazuna seemed to be hidden by the eaves. He hadn’t noticed her.
“I was thinking, we oughtta go to the shrine, after all.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, they’re all expecting us.”
“…You gotta be kidding…”
“I’ll come down. Let’s head over.” Yusuke closed the window as he made his latest announcement.
What on earth? Why’s he suddenly…?
I stared at the window in disbelief. A small tug came at the hem of my T-shirt. Nazuna had pressed her back up against the wall during my conversation with Yusuke. She was peering into my face now.
“…What are we going to do?”
Her eyes were not burning with anger. Rather, they seemed to be clouded with sadness.
What was I going to do?
Wait… Why is it up to me to decide anyway?
The whole situation felt absurd. I didn’t ask to go to the fireworks display with Nazuna—or even to go to Moshimo Lighthouse with Yusuke and the others. They all pressed that stuff onto me! Why did Nazuna even ask me to go see the fireworks in the first place…? It was just because I came in second place at the pool, right…? So if… If it hadn’t been me, and Yusuke had been in second place instead, then she’d have invited…
The door clicked open, and I heard Yusuke shoving his feet into his sneakers.
She’d have invited him instead?
My mind went blank at the thought. I impulsively grabbed Nazuna’s hand and began to run.
“This way!”
“Huh?!”
Between my tugging and the weight of her luggage, Nazuna almost lost her balance. I yanked her along to the front of the store. I hastily righted my bicycle, which had been leaning against the door.
“Get on!”
“Huh?”
“Just do it!”
“But…”
While Nazuna was hesitating, Yusuke’s voice rang out from the back of the house.
“Where’d you go…? Hey! Norimichi!”
I snatched the suitcase from Nazuna’s hands and balanced it across the bike’s front basket.
I turned to Nazuna once more—this time looking her directly in the eyes.
“Get on.”
I saw her indecision melt away as soon as our eyes met. The clouds of sadness from before were nowhere to be found. A burst of confidence spread across her face, and she nodded.
“Got it.”
She circled an arm around my waist and hoisted herself up on the narrow luggage rack behind the saddle, her legs dangling to one side.
I pushed into the pedals. I wasn’t used to the extra weight of a second passenger, and the handlebars wavered unsteadily. As soon as the wheels hit the grade of the slope, however, the ride evened out, and we began to pick up speed.
I heard Yusuke’s footsteps rushing around to the front of the store.
“Hey! …Huh? …Nazuna? …Norimichi! What the heck are you—?”
Yusuke’s voice was drowned out by the roar of the wind whipping by.
As the slope became more intense, so did our speed. Nazuna’s hand tightened on my waist, and I felt her draw her body closer to my back. I’d never had a girl ride on the back of my bike before. The fact that it was Nazuna dawned on me anew. I felt her warmth spread from my back and around to my stomach. The handlebars wobbled again as my concentration shifted, and Nazuna let out a small yelp. With a jolt, I refocused my attention on steering.
As we continued downward, the sea drew nearer. I could smell the ocean air; it mingled with the scent of Nazuna’s hair fluttering behind me.
Nazuna called forward in a loud voice, “Hey!”
“Yeah?”
“Where are we going?!”
I hadn’t thought about a destination until she posed the question. I’d been driven by instinct back at the house.
“…No idea.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“I don’t know!”
I caught the faint sound of her laughing softly behind me. Apparently, it was contagious; I found myself laughing, too.
We heard a distant boom…pop…boom…pop mixed in with the wind. I realized it must have been the sound of test shots courtesy of the fireworks crew.
The echoes returned from the mountainside, and I turned my head in that direction only to see the slowly turning propellers of the wind turbines. For the first time since they’d been erected two years ago, I felt a strange sensation looking at them.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“The wind farm… Did the propellers always turn like that?”
“Huh? I don’t know.”
“Aren’t they supposed to go clockwise?”
“I just told you. I have no idea.”
“Oh…”
Neither of us seemed to know anything about anything. I didn’t know why I was doing this, and I didn’t know what to do going forward. But all of that somehow felt like minor details. It was all stuff that didn’t really matter right now.
What I was certain of was that I was on a bicycle with Nazuna, riding along the coast.
If only this could last forever…
The thought felt like something out of a cheap pop song, but it was soon pushed aside by Nazuna’s voice from behind.
“Hey… Head toward the station!”