I felt my cheeks burn in the face of her overpowering smile. Realizing how I must have looked, and not wanting her to notice, I tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“…Yeah, and what’re we gonna do now?”
Huh?
My choice of words startled me. Had I come off sounding like I was on board with Nazuna’s “e-lope-ing” plan?!
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don’t want to elope. I’m still in seventh grade! It’s summer vacation! I still have homework to do, and…
My brain was spinning, but Nazuna was still there, her piercing eyes staring straight into mine.
“Just like I said. We’ll go to Tokyo, and we’ll start a life there together.”
“Huh?”
“If I can’t find a place at a nightclub, maybe I’ll try being a singer.”
“Are you serious?”
I let out a laugh. Nazuna, as usual, didn’t give the slightest hint as to whether she was joking or not. Her lips formed her usual subtle, mysterious smile.
“You don’t think so? I bet I’ve got what it takes.”
Nazuna suddenly straightened her back, closed her eyes, and drew in a deep breath.
“Every night must come to dawn; the sun will surely rise,”
Wistfully, you sighed to me back then
Huh? Now she was singing?
It was a song I’d never heard before. Her sudden performance made me anxious. Even though I knew we were all alone on the train, I began furtively glancing around the interior of the car.
Nazuna kept on singing, unaware of and unconcerned by my embarrassment.
The lighthouse stood behind us as we watched the bay
Our eyes filled with the endless dark of the sea
Her eyes slowly reopened and again stared at me. Flustered by her gaze, I tried to break her off before she began singing the next lines.
“Hey! Um… What… What was that?”
“My mom always sings this at karaoke. It’s by some lady named Seiko Matsuda. I’ve heard it so many times since I was little that I know it all by heart.”
Though she’d briefly gone back to normal and humored my question, as soon as she’d answered it, she resumed singing.
Troubled times, they come and go
And some days hope feels thin
But I know that all is not so bleak
Always your hand reaches out and comforts me
Lends me strength
To carry on
I had a whole slew of other questions I wanted to fire off at her. Why’d she suddenly start singing? Why this song? But as Nazuna’s voice rose with each line, I found myself entranced by the melody and lyrics.
The sunlight shining through the windows of the train car had weakened, but it seemed to provide a spotlight especially for Nazuna. Our worn-out little train had been transformed into a stage for this girl and her audience of one.
When the morning sun breaks from the horizon
Rays of light will streak across the sky
Far in the distance, the evening sun was sinking into the sea beyond Moshimo. It wasn’t the dawn, but its rays truly did appear to streak across the water and the sky.
Together, we will see once more around us
Our shining, lapis-colored earth
Having sung that much, Nazuna seemed satisfied and sat back down beside me.
I didn’t know exactly what kind of color lapis was, but when I looked outside, the sky was slowly growing bluer and bluer in contrast to the orange of the setting sun. It occurred to me that the color she’d been singing about might be the color I was seeing in the sky.
Lighthouse, sea, rays of light, together… The words from her song seemed to symbolize all the things that had happened around me that day.
There was the lighthouse I’d said I’d go to with Junichi and the others, the sea where Nazuna had stood, the rays of light that had shot out from the mysterious orb, and the extra chances I’d been given to be together with Nazuna…the wishing worlds we’d been able to visit.
Vague though the realization was, I understood now.
Twice in the past, I’d fervently wished that some event could have gone differently. As I’d done so, I’d thrown the mysterious orb that was currently in my left hand. And after each throw, I’d been transported to the point in time I’d wished to change. In other words, this orb—this wishing orb—seemed to have created each new world. It seemed to be the source of the strange phenomenon occurring around me.
But if that was so, what exactly was this strange wishing orb that Nazuna had picked up from the sea? I’d never been a fan of sci-fi stuff. I didn’t read those kinds of novels or watch those kinds of movies or cartoons. I didn’t care for plots featuring time travel or males and females swapping bodies. But I felt like the things I was experiencing might be akin to those kinds of stories.
But this isn’t a story… This is real…
Or was I even certain of that? What if this was all just a long, drawn-out dream? At some point I might wake up and head to the bathroom like I always did in the morning. Then my mom would snap at me, Hurry up and eat your breakfast! And I’d do that. Then I’d ride my worn-out bike down the slope, racing to school with Yusuke, Junichi, and Minoru. And when we got to the boardwalk…I’d catch sight of Nazuna standing at the water’s edge…
That’s right. Maybe what started this whole, strange day was the moment Nazuna picked up the wishing orb on the beach.
First, Nazuna had picked it up, and then it had rolled to my hand during the encounter at the fork in the road. I’d used it, beginning the first wishing world, and the orb had gone back to Nazuna. The next time, when Nazuna had been caught by her mother and the man, the orb again came to me. That led to the second wishing world… But even though the orb had gone back to Nazuna…later it had shown up in my left hand.
And anyway, why had Nazuna been walking out by the water in the first place?
“I know we can’t really do it. Elope, I mean…,” Nazuna murmured, pulling me back to the moment.
Since we’d boarded the train, her mood had risen and fallen dramatically, to the point of bursting into song. I felt like I was hearing her normal voice for the first time in a while.
“But before I move away… Before summer vacation is over…”
Huh? Move away…?
I felt a big thump in my chest, as if my heart had caused my entire body to jolt.