I grabbed her wrist and yanked her to me with all my might. The two of us fell into the train just as the door finished sliding shut.
“Nazuna! Get back here!!”
We could hear her mother’s voice from outside, but the train rocked gently and began slowly rumbling out of the station.
By the time we pulled ourselves up from the floor of the railcar, we’d already left the platform. Through the window, we saw the shouting figures of Nazuna’s mother and the man slowly shrink into the distance. As they grew smaller, the vast sky filled our view instead. The shade was a bit bluer than when we’d seen it at the station. It would grow dark soon.
I was reminded that it was the night of the fireworks display. Soon I’d be watching the show with Junichi and the others…
No, I’ll be watching it with Nazuna… Wait… Huh?
Which was it? Who had I made plans with?
When I tried to pull the events of that day from my memory, my eyes unconsciously shifted downward and landed on the mysterious orb clutched in my left hand.
Huh…? When did I…?
I was sure I’d seen the orb fall onto the platform at the station… Why was it in my hand?
Suddenly, Nazuna’s voice cut through the haze of questions clouding my mind.
“That was amazing! Norimichi, I had no idea you knew how to fight like that!”
When I looked over, I found that Nazuna had sat down on one of the car’s benches.
“Oh, um, I think it was really just momentum… Hey, who was that guy anyway?”
“Hmm? He’s my mom’s new fiancé.”
“Huh?”
She’d said it casually, but from the way she averted her gaze as she spoke, I suspected that her feelings toward the man were complicated.
“Oh, I see…” Was I supposed to ask more about the man? Was I supposed to change the subject? I’d inadvertently unearthed another small question that was now squirming around in my mind.
“Anyway, come have a seat. We’ve got the whole place to ourselves.” Nazuna patted an adjacent space on the red-upholstered seats.
I looked around the narrow railcar. We were the only two there.
I felt a little embarrassed to just sit down at her invitation, but a moment later, the train happened to go into a short tunnel. I took advantage of the momentary darkness and sat next to Nazuna—or more precisely, on the same bench about two feet away.
“My mom says she’s going to get remarried.”
When we came back out of the tunnel, I was surprised to find her closer to me than I’d expected. She faced forward as she spoke. I started to lift myself up, intending to scoot a little farther away, but just then Nazuna scooted in toward me.
“Can you believe it?! It’ll be her third time!”
I dropped my weight back down in the seat, searching for something to say but unable to come up with anything worthwhile.
“…Huh. I had no idea…”
In truth, I did know that Nazuna’s mother had been remarried. Nazuna’s dad had been the second husband—before his death.
“The first time my mom was married, she started having an affair. That was with my dad. But when she got pregnant with me, the two of them decided to elope. It sounds like something out of a soap opera or a movie. That means I’m the daughter of a forbidden romance. Pretty cool, huh?”
It felt like Nazuna was intentionally trying to sound lighthearted as she talked about that cheerless episode. I tried to play along, keeping my responses casual. Inside, however, I felt dejected.
Right after Nazuna had moved to Moshimo, I’d overheard my mom and dad talking about Nazuna’s mother. My mom had said something with a disapproving look on her face: “She’s fickle, that woman.” For whatever reason, those words had stuck with me ever since.
I didn’t understand what fickle was supposed to mean at the time, and honestly, I still didn’t have a good grasp of what my mom had wanted to say.
But after Nazuna’s dad passed away, her mother started working at a bar. I’d heard people say she was popular among the men around town, and I figured her being “fickle” probably had something to do with it.
“But then my dad died.” Nazuna’s next words came a little heavier.
Her father had died in the summer of last year.
A while after the tsunami, the surfers who had stopped coming to Moshimo Beach had started to trickle back in small numbers. Business had picked up again at the surf shop Nazuna’s dad ran.
Around that time, one inexperienced surfer vacationing from Tokyo had been swept out to sea. Nazuna’s father had swum out to rescue him but got caught in the surf himself. Both drowned. The tidal currents around the Moshimo coast were strong. Two days later, in the morning, the body of Nazuna’s father washed up on the shore.
I remembered that day, too. My own mom and dad had been in a harried state all morning. Finally, my dad had run out of the house, heading toward the beach. I’d followed.
A huge crowd had assembled there. On the sand was a blue tarp with a small lump in the center. Nazuna and her mother had clung to the tarp, both sobbing.
Nazuna had knelt facing her father’s remains as she wailed, oblivious to the soaking waves rolling up around her. She was clutching the tarp so tightly that her hands had gone completely white. Even from where I was standing, I could see those hands clearly.
“It hasn’t even been a year since then, and already she’s with a new man… It’s unbelievable…”
Nazuna’s hands were clenched tight, just like that day.
Her head was down, so I couldn’t see her expression. But the exchange put to rest a number of the questions writhing in my brain. It seemed Nazuna wasn’t happy with the new fiancé and didn’t want him living in her home, and that was why she wanted to leave.
“…So that’s why you decided to run away?”
I turned to face her, but her head remained down, and no reply came.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” I said.
At that, Nazuna popped out of her seat. She stared down at me as she said, “Could you stop calling it that? ‘Running away’ sounds so kiddish.”
Her sudden movement had caught me off guard, but I tried to hide my surprise with a casual response.
“Then what is it?”
Nazuna leaned in toward me and brought her index finger right in front of my nose.
“E-lo-ping.”
“Huh?!”
“You and me. We’re eloping. My mom’s a slut, and that makes me one, too. I’ve got her blood.”
“…”